excel beginners

EXCEL XP Beginner's Guide

IT SERVICES, The Robert Gordon University St Andrew Street Aberdeen AB25 1HG

Excel XP Beginner's Guide

First Edition: October 2003

Written by: Jeanne Holt

Based on the Course Notes for the ITNS Beginners course for Excel

EXCEL XP BEGINNER’S GUIDE

CONTENTS

1. Basic Excel Terminology...............................................................................1

2. The Workbook Screen ...................................................................................2 To select a group of cells: ....................................................................................3 To select groups of non-adjacent cells:................................................................3 To move to another sheet: ...................................................................................3 To rename a sheet: ..............................................................................................3 To alter the proportion of the display given to the sheet tabs and the screen scroll bars:............................................................................................................3

3. Opening and Saving Workbooks ..................................................................4 To open an existing workbook .............................................................................4 To save your workbook ........................................................................................4 To exit from Excel.................................................................................................4

4. Entering and Editing Data .............................................................................5 To enter data into a cell........................................................................................5 To edit a cell .........................................................................................................5 To clear a cell .......................................................................................................5 To delete a cell .....................................................................................................5 To undo an action ................................................................................................6 To redo an action .................................................................................................6 To insert a completely new row............................................................................6 To insert a completely new column......................................................................6

5. Shortcuts for Entering Data ..........................................................................7 To repeat data across rows or columns (Autofill) .................................................7 To undo part of an Autofill ....................................................................................7 To Autofill a complete column(s) ..........................................................................7 To make a new Custom List.................................................................................7

6. Formulae .........................................................................................................8 To calculate the sum of a set of numbers ............................................................8 To use Insert Function .........................................................................................8

7. Formatting the Display ..................................................................................9 To magnify or reduce the display size..................................................................9 To freeze a column or row ...................................................................................9 To unfreeze the display........................................................................................9 To sort data ........................................................................................................10 To change the format of a cell(s) ......................................................................10 To change the size of columns and rows...........................................................10 To change font and alignment within a cell ........................................................11 To add borders...................................................................................................11 To change the colour of a cell ............................................................................11 To change the colour of text in a cell .................................................................11 To autoformat a table or range of cells ..............................................................11 To add graphic objects to a worksheet ..............................................................12 To add a text box to a worksheet .......................................................................12

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8. Conditional Formatting................................................................................12 To apply conditional formatting ..........................................................................12

9. Printing Worksheets ....................................................................................13 To print ...............................................................................................................13 To preview, before printing.................................................................................13 To see page breaks ...........................................................................................13 To adjust page breaks for printing......................................................................13 To change page size, orientation, margins, headers and footers, printing of gridlines etc ........................................................................................................13

10. Creating a Chart .......................................................................................14 To create a chart ................................................................................................14 To move a chart .................................................................................................14

11. Editing a Chart..........................................................................................14 To select a chart.................................................................................................15 To resize a chart ................................................................................................15 Using the Chart toolbar ......................................................................................15 To alter a component of a chart .........................................................................16

12. Data Analysis............................................................................................17 To use Goal Seek ..............................................................................................17 To use Solver .....................................................................................................17

13. Excel On-line Help....................................................................................18 To get help on a topic.........................................................................................18 To get help in dialogue boxes ............................................................................18 Using the Screen Tips pointer............................................................................18 Using the Office Assistant ..................................................................................18

EXCEL XP BEGINNER’S GUIDE

1. Basic Excel Terminology An Excel file is called a workbook. You can work on a number of workbooks at any time. Each workbook contains one or more worksheets. The worksheet on which you are currently working is termed the active worksheet. Worksheets are made up of cells, arranged in columns (vertically), and rows (horizontally). Cells contain labels (text), values (numbers), or formulae.

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2. The Workbook Screen When you first enter Excel the screen will look like the following:

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a.

b.

c.

d.

e. f.

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a.Title Ba

x

h. Column anRow Heading

s e

Title Bar. This contains the name of youExcel gives default names, Book 1, Book

Menu Bar. The list of Excel commands. found in the File menu to the far left of th

Tool Bars. Shortcut versions of commanappropriate button can access the Save c

Note: If you are uncertain of what a buttover it and a small box will appea

Active Cell. The active cell, or range of entering or editing will be put.

Name Box. Shows the column and row

Formula Bar. This indicates the content

EL XP - 2 -

b. Menu Ba

c. Tool Bar

d. Active Cell
f. Formula Bar
g. Fill Handle

e. Name bo

d s

k. Task Pane

i Sheet Tab
j. Tab Split Lin
r workbook. For new workbooks 2, etc.

For example the Save command is e menu bar.

ds. For example simply clicking the ommand.

on does, simply position the pointer r giving a description of its function.

cells, indicates where data you are

reference for the active cell.

s of the active cell.

BEGINNER’S GUIDE

g. Fill Handle. This is for using Excel’s Auto Fill features. These will be described later.

To select a group of cells: Click on the top leftmost cell of the group

and drag the mouse across the range of cells.

To select groups of non-adjacent cells:

Hold down the Ctrl key whilst selecting the cells with the mouse.

h. Column and Row Headings. Worksheets contain up to 256 columns, coded

A to Z, AA to AZ, ... IA to IV, and up to 65,536 rows, and accept 255 characters in a cell. This is unchanged from Excel97.

i. Sheet Tabs. Used to mark individual worksheets in the workbook. Excel

gives worksheets default names, Sheet 1, Sheet 2, etc.

To move to another sheet: Click on the required sheet tab.

To rename a sheet: Double-click on the sheet tab name. Alternatively, right click once on the tab with the mouse to display a pop-up menu of options associated with sheet tabs. The use of the right-hand button in this manner is common throughout Excel and will always give you a shortcut menu of options associated awith that portion of the display at which the mouse is currently pointing.

j. Tab Split Line.

To alter the proportion of the display given to the sheet tabs and the screen scroll bars:

Point at the Tab Split line and click and drag to slide it along.

k. Task Pane

This may be visible and contains common commands or tasks that you may want to do. The pane can be closed with the X, and can be opened from the View menu.


3. Opening and Saving Workbooks

To open an existing workbook File...Open from the menu bar and select the name of your workbook OR

the Open button on the Standard toolbar may also be used. OR Use the New Workbook Task Pane

Note that the default extension for an Excel file is .XLS.

To save your workbook the Save button , on the Standard toolbar OR File...Save or ...Save As. from the menu bar.

As with any program where you are inputting data you should get into the habit of regularly saving your workbooks. If you try and exit from Excel, without first saving your work you will be asked if you want to save the changes. If you choose not to, your work will be irretrievably lost.

To exit from Excel File...Exit

EXCEL XP - 4 - BEGINNER’S GUIDE

4. Entering and Editing Data

To enter data into a cell Click on it and type in the contents you want.

To edit a cell Double-click on it and make whatever changes you want using the standard Windows editing features.

To enter the data into the worksheet you can either press ‘Enter’ or simply make another cell active.

Note how the current contents of the active cell are displayed in the formula bar. This area can be used for editing as an alternative to editing in the cell itself. Use the tick to accept the edits, or the X to cancel them.

Pressing Enter moves you down a row, whereas Tab moves you along a column. (The Enter default can be changed in Tools… Options, Edit if wanted.) If groups of cells are selected, Tab will also move you through each selected cell in turn.

To remove the contents of a cell you need to understand the distinction between clearing a cell and deleting it. Clearing simply clears the contents of the cell from the worksheet. It is identical to selecting the cell for editing and repeatedly pressing the delete key to remove all the characters in it. Deleting is more drastic and actually deletes the cell itself as well as its contents. Having removed a cell in this way Excel will shuffle adjacent cells along to fill the gap that has been left.

To clear a cell Right mouse click on it, and choose Clear Contents OR Click on it and press the Delete or Backspace key OR Edit.. Clear.. Contents

To delete a cell Right mouse click on it, and choose Delete

OR

Click on it and Edit.. Delete Then choose how to shift the remaining cells.


To undo an action Click on the Undo button once to undo the previous action and repeat to step back through previous actions. The arrow beside the button brings up a list of the previous actions from which one can choose how far back to undo.

OR

Edit…. Undo…

To redo an action The redo button . Works similarly to the Undo button but in reverse.

OR

Edit… Redo…

To insert a completely new row Select the one before which you want to make the insertion (by clicking on the row heading), and Insert...Rows.

To insert a completely new column Select the one before which you want to make the insertion (by clicking on the column heading), and Insert... Columns.

More than one row or column at a time can be inserted in this way by selecting the required number of rows or columns before Inserting.


5. Shortcuts for Entering Data It is quite likely that whenever you are creating worksheets much of the data you are entering is similar in character.

As well as having copy and paste operations, Excel provides a quick way of entering repetitive data using Auto-Fill.

To repeat data across rows or columns (Autofill)

Select one or more cells, click and drag the fill handle (the square at the bottom right-hand corner of a selected cell)

across the rows or columns you want to fill.

To undo part of an Autofill Select the cells you want to clear, and click and drag the fill handle back over the selection.

To Autofill a complete column(s)

Select the whole column(s) and drag the fill handle.

It is often quicker to repeat fairly repetitive data in this fashion and then edit the differences, than enter the raw data from scratch.

As well as simply copying data in this manner Excel can also automatically change data as it proceeds with the Autofill. • If a cell contains text and a number, the number will automatically be incremented

when autofilling i.e. Week 1 will become Week 2, Week 3 etc. as it autofills; 1st Quarter will become 2nd Quarter, 3rd Quarter etc.

• If the content of the cell is part of a Custom List, then the values from the list are used to autofill i.e. Tuesday will become Wednesday, Thursday etc. as it autofills. The lists already set up can be seen by looking under Tools… Options, Custom Lists tab. There are lists for days of the week and months of the year. You can make your own custom lists.

To make a new Custom List Tools… Options, Custom Lists tab, then click on NEW LIST. Type the list in the right-hand pane and click the Add button.

• If a cell value is recognised as a Date or Time, then the values will be incremented by a day or an hour on autofilling i.e. 13:30 becomes 14:30, 15:30 etc.

• If more than one cell containing data values that could be interpreted as a series is selected, Excel will continue the series i.e. 3 and 5 will be autofilled with 7, 9 etc. (Take care with this, the sequence may not be continued as expected. Try 1 2 4 8 , to see an example.)

• Immediately after an Autofill operation, you will see a Smart tag . Clicking on this will give options on what sort of Autofill you want, such as a series, or copying values, which is useful if the default is not giving you what you want.


6. Formulae A powerful feature of spreadsheets is that as well as displaying values in cells they can also automatically apply calculations, formulae, to those values in order to work out sums, percentages etc. Excel provides a wide range of built-in formulae, called functions and you can also write your own ones specific to your needs. In particular, Excel provides a special button on the top toolbar, for calculating the sum of a set of numbers, as that is such a commonplace requirement.

To calculate the sum of a set of numbers

Select the numbers to be totalled and

click on the AutoSum button . The result will be put in the empty cell at the end of the selected cells.

When positioned on a cell containing a formula, the cell shows the result of the formula and the formula bar displays the formula itself. Note how every formula starts with an = sign. Simple formulas can be typed into the formula bar directly. Start it with =, and operators such as +, -, *, /, can be used. For cell references you can click on the appropriate cells. Click on the tick when completed. Changing a value used in a calculation will cause the result of the calculation to be updated. There are a number of built-in functions within Excel that you can use.

To use Insert Function Position on the cell where you want the function, then click on the Paste Function

button in the Formula bar. You can search for a function or choose a category of function, and select a function from the pane below. Click OK. A Function Arguments window will appear (which can be dragged about the screen if gets in the way). Fill in cell references or values as appropriate, and click OK when finished.

Functions can also be copied across rows or columns by Autofill.


7. Formatting the Display If your worksheet on your screen does not quite fit into the space available for display; Excel offers a way around the problem.

To magnify or reduce the display size Use the Zoom button , on the

top toolbar. Either choose a value from the drop-down menu or type in a percent value between 10 and 400. Choosing ‘selection’ will resize the selected cells to fit the display

OR

View...Zoom. Another problem commonly encountered is that as you enter or view data a long way down or across the worksheet, you will lose from the display your column and row headings. It can thus become difficult to determine to what the various cells refer. Excel has a way around this by enabling you to freeze columns and rows so that they stay on the screen as you move around the worksheet.

To freeze a column or row To freeze a column you first select the column to the right of it. Then select Window...Freeze Panes from the menu. Likewise, to freeze a row, first select the row beneath it.

You can freeze a row and a column together by first selecting the top-left cell in the block to be ‘not frozen’.

To unfreeze the display Window...Unfreeze Panes Excel also has a wide range of features to allow you to change the format of your worksheet. The following is a brief overview of these functions:


To sort data To the right of the AutoSum button are two buttons, ,that sort cells into ascending and descending

order. . Click in the column that you want sorted, and click on one of these buttons. (Note that selecting the data will sort only that data; selecting the column heading of the data or clicking in the column of data will rearrange the rows based on the values of the sorted column data in order to keep associated data together.)

OR

Data… Sort. You can choose multiple levels of sort from here.

On the Formatting toolbar are a set of five buttons that change the way in which numeric information is displayed. From left to right they display currency symbols, percent style, comma style (when displaying thousands), increase zeros and decrease zeros after a decimal point.

To change the format of a cell(s)

Select a cell(s) and if it is numeric data you could use one of the buttons above

OR

Format… Cells, and choose a Category and type.

You might find that some operations result in the number being displayed as a series of ‘hash marks’; ########. This is Excel’s way of telling you that the number in that cell is too long to fit into the space available. You can change the format until it does fit, or change the size of the cells as described below.

To change the size of columns and rows

Point the cursor at the thin line dividing the column and row headings. The cursor will change to a small bar marker and can be dragged along the heading bars to change the size of the column or row. Double clicking on the divider at the right of a column heading will AutoFit the column width to accommodate the data.


To change font and alignment within a cell

Select a cell(s) and use the set of buttons on the Formatting toolbar:

OR

Format...Cells , Font and Alignment tabs, both of which also provide further features.

To add borders Select a cell(s) and use the Borders button

The drop-down list will give a choice of where the border will be applied

OR

Format...Cells , Border tab OR draw borders using the Borders toolbar.

To change the colour of a cell Select a cell(s) and use the Fill Color button

OR

Format...Cells , Patterns tab

To change the colour of text in a cell

Select a cell(s) and use the Font Color button

OR

Format...Cells , Font tab Drastic changes to the look of the whole worksheet can be made by autoformatting it.

To autoformat a table or range of cells

Select a range of cells or click in a table of data, then Format...Auto Format and choose a table format style.

To use only parts of the autoformat, click Options, and clear the check boxes for the formats you don't want.

The ‘drawing’ button brings up the Drawing toolbar, which can be used to add a variety of graphic objects such as shapes, arrows and WordArt etc.


To add graphic objects to a worksheet

Use the Drawing toolbar, see above. Click on a shape and drag it out on your worksheet.

To add a text box to a worksheet Use the. .button on the Drawing toolbar. Click

on it and drag out a box, then type. Such a box can be used to hold comments about the data on the worksheet.

8. Conditional Formatting When conditional formatting is applied to a cell or range of cells then Excel can automatically apply formatting to the cells if the values match criteria you specify (i.e. the values fall within or outwith set limits). You are able to set multiple conditions on the cells, for example all values below 0 may appear in red, while all values over a thousand may have a blue background. Formatting can change the font, background and border of the cells.

To apply conditional formatting

Select the cells to which you want to apply the conditional formatting, and choose Format... Conditional Formatting from the menu.

Set the condition you require by filling in the boxes. Click on the Format button and specify the formatting to apply should the condition be true.

Additional conditions (up to three) can be set by clicking on the Add button.

The conditions themselves may refer to absolute values or to other cells (e.g. that all cells with a value greater than that in A5 will have the formatting applied.)


9. Printing Worksheets

To print Use the print button on the Standard toolbar

OR

the menu option File...Print (or press Ctrl-P), and choose the appropriate options.

To first see what your output will look like, use Print Preview.

To preview, before printing Use the Print Preview button,

OR

the menu option File...Print Preview You may often find that the worksheets you have produced will not physically fit on the printed page without some adjustment, similar to the way in which you had to shrink them to fit on the screen

To see page breaks In the Print Preview screen, there is a button named Page Break Preview

OR

The menu option View… Page Break Preview. When you change to this view the page breaks on your worksheet appear as blue lines and each page is clearly numbered in grey.

To adjust page breaks for printing

Drag the blue lines to include the data you want printed on each page. Excel automatically scales the information on the page to fit. You can see the results of this in the Print Preview window.

To change page size, orientation, margins, headers and footers, printing of gridlines etc

The menu option File… Page Setup , and choose options from under the appropriate tab.


10. Creating a Chart Another useful feature of spreadsheet programs is that they allow you to display your data in the form of graphs and charts very easily. In Excel, charts can be placed anywhere in a workbook, and can be easily moved and modified.

To create a chart Use the Chart Wizard. First select the cells containing the data you want to display. Then click on the Chart Wizard icon from the

button on the Standard toolbar.

You are then given a list of the types of chart you may want to use, along with a list of sub-types. Choose a type appropriate to the data. After you have made your selections by clicking on them, select Next> to proceed to the next stage. (If you want to change your mind, select <Back to go back a step.)

Step 2 gives you the chance, under the Data Range tab, to check the data range and the choice of viewing the chart source data by rows or columns. You can see the difference between the two options by choosing the other. Under the Series tab you can also choose to exclude a series from the chart. Click Next to proceed.

Step 3 gives you a range of options, under different tabs, to edit labels, titles and legend options etc.. Click Next to proceed. Step4 allows you to choose where to locate the chart i.e. as a new sheet, or as an object on the sheet. When you have chosen, click on the Finish button and your chart will appear.

To move a chart Click on a blank area on the chart and drag to the required position.

11. Editing a Chart Each element of a chart, the type of chart, the title etc. can easily be changed. To make changes the chart first has to be selected.


To select a chart Click anywhere on it, akin to making a cell active by clicking on it. The chart will then be surrounded by a small border with ‘frame handles’, small black squares at the corners and along the sides.

To resize a chart Drag a frame handle. Having used the Chart Wizard or having selected a chart, a small ‘Chart toolbar’ will be displayed on the screen.

Using the Chart toolbar

The Chart Objects list allows different parts of the chart to be selected, such as the legend or individual segments. This allows specific changes to font style or legend position for example to, be made.

This brings up a Format screen appropriate to whatever part of the chart is selected.

Can be used to change the type of the chart, for example making a pie chart into a bar chart. Click on the arrow to see the range of chart-types available..

Places a legend on the chart. It is a toggle that can be used to turn the legend off or on.

Inserts a Data Table so you can view the data that makes up the chart.

Buttons used for altering the view of the data series , either by Row or by Column.

If a text item on the chart is selected these buttons can be used to position the text at an angle.


The components of the chart, the title, colour, legend etc., can all be formatted individually from appropriate formatting screens.

To alter a component of a chart

Double-click on the component and a menu of options associated with it will appear

OR

Right click on a chart item to bring up a context sensitive menu with formatting options

OR

Select a component (a single click) and use the Format.. menu

OR

Use the Chart toolbar as described above to select and format an item.

Note that if a value changes in the table upon which the chart is based, the chart will reflect the change and be automatically redrawn. Further if an extra row of data is inserted with a new label within the data range, this also will be added to the chart.


12. Data Analysis Spreadsheets also allow you to perform analysis of your data, exploring different permutations of values to see what effect they have etc. You have already encountered some examples of this when you saw how Excel automatically recalculates formulae and redraws graphs whenever the data on which they depend changes. Excel also however offers some more powerful tools to examine the effect of changes. Firstly, there is Goal Seek, which adjusts the value of a single cell until a formula dependant on that cell reaches the result you specify. Thus if you are seeking an answer to a question like ‘In order for this formula, which depends on values I, J and K, to have value X, what would the value of I have to be?’.

To use Goal Seek

Select Tools...Goal Seek from the menu. Select the cell whose value you want to change. You can specify cells by typing in the reference or, more easily, clicking on them with the mouse. Enter the value you are seeking. Then select the cell you want to change to achieve the result. Clicking OK will set Excel off to find a solution, which it will then enter on the worksheet. A status box allows you to choose OK to keep the change, or Cancel will restore the sheet to its former values.

A limitation of Goal Seek is that it only allows you to change one cell in order to reach the goal. Another tool, Solver, is more flexible.

To use Solver

Select Tools...Solver from the menu. (If it is not there, you may need to go to Tools Addins, and add it in.)

Select the cell whose value you want to change. (It must contain a formula).

To have the value of this cell be as large as possible, click Max. To have the value be as small as possible, click Min. To have a particular value, click Value of, and type the value in the box.

Then select the cell(s) you want to change to achieve the result. You can specify up to 200. Clicking the Guess button will suggest possible cells.

Enter any constraints you want to apply in the Subject to the Constraints box.

Click Solve to set Excel off to find a solution. You will be offered a choice of keeping the solution or restoring the original values.


13. Excel On-line Help The on-line help facilities give detailed help on all of Excel’s features. To get help on a topic Key words or a question can be typed into the Ask a

Question box at the top right of the screen.

Alternatively, go to the menu, Help, Microsoft Excel Help . Click the Contents tab to get a table of contents of help files. Click the Answer Wizard tab to bring up a search screen for Help. Type what you want to know about and click on the Search button. Select a topic from the list that appears, in order to display it.

Click the Index tab to bring up a search screen for Help. Type a keyword(s) or choose from the list of keywords and click on the Search button. Select a topic, from the list that appears, to display it.

When you are viewing a help screen, you could choose from the toolbar buttons to print the topic or go back to earlier help screens displayed, or X to close it down.

The Help icon on the Standard toolbar, OR F1 will also bring up the Help screens.

To get help in dialogue boxes

Click on the ? button at the top right of a dialogue box and then click on the area you need help on. Click away from the help text to remove it from the screen.

Using the Screen Tips pointer

Help menu,

What’s This? Click on the area you need help on. (as above) Click away from the help text to remove it from the screen.

Using the Office Assistant

If the Office Assistant is not displayed, then the Help menu, Show the Office Assistant will turn it on.

You can click on it and then type-in keywords for the area on which you require help.

If a light bulb is displayed, clicking on it will bring up a tip related to what you are doing.

When the Office Assistant is active, all help requests will appear via it.

To turn Office Assistant off, click on Options and untick Use the Office Assistant.


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