knowware get going with excel 2000 · table of contents © 2000, palle gronbek: get going with...

KnowWare

© 2000, Palle Gronbek: Get going with Excel 2000

2

Get going with Excel 2000Palle Gronbek, [email protected]: Linda L. Gaus© Copyright 2000 Author and KnowWare

Acrobat Reader: How to ...F6 opens/closes bookmarks/thumbnails: Click a bookmark to jump to it.

In menu VIEW you can set, how the file is displayedCTRL+0 = Fit in Window, CTRL+1 = Actual size, CTRL+2 = Fit widthYou can set SINGLE PAGE, CONTINUOUS VIEW or CONTINUOUS FACING

.. try them out and you will see the differences.

NavigationARROW LEFT/RIGHT: forward/backwards one pageALT+ARROW LEFT/RIGHT: same as in a browser: forward/back

ZoomCTRL++ zooms in AND CTRL +- zooms out

Table of contents


3

Is This Booklet for You? ........................4Technical Language – Only for Nerds? . 4The structure................................... 4

Excel – the first impression ...................5General concepts................................ 5

What is a spreadsheet? ..................... 5Inserting text and numbers ............... 5Data types ...................................... 6

Creating formulas............................... 7Menus – and How You Use Them.......... 9Editing.............................................. 9

Changing the contents of a cell .......... 9Deleting the contents of a cell ............ 9Undo .............................................. 9Column width ................................ 10

Data Entry in Columns ...................... 12Simple number formatting................. 12

Selecting cells................................ 12Copying cells .......................................14

Summing data ................................. 15Saving a file .................................... 16

Help.....................................................17Household budget................................18

Permanent preferences ................... 18The Household budget ...................... 19

Insert rows.................................... 20Inserting and deleting columns......... 21Font and font size........................... 21

Fill (series)..........................................23Creating your own lists.................... 24

Numbers and formulas in our budget ..25Selecting formulas.......................... 26Saving the budget .......................... 26

Absolute cell references..................... 26Annual total................................... 27Checking your formulas................... 28

Navigation ...........................................30Formatting...........................................31Excel and Windows..............................33

Toggling formats ............................ 33Viewing the spreadsheet .....................34

Zoom ........................................... 34Freeze panes ................................. 34

The Last Formulas….......................... 35Saving .......................................... 35

Summary.............................................36Save As ........................................ 37

Formatting the household budget........38AutoFormat ..................................... 38Manual formatting ............................ 39

Moving data using the mouse........... 39Moving data using the keyboard ....... 39Updating Formulas ......................... 39

Borders........................................... 40Changing a border.......................... 41Removing a border ......................... 41Removing gridlines ......................... 41

Shading and color ............................ 41Copying formats............................. 42

Printing the budget........................... 42

Data layout ..................................... 43Centering headings......................... 43Vertical layout................................ 43

Naming cells .......................................44Other advantages of using names....... 44

Entering formulas........................... 44Jumping to named cells................... 44

Names in the ‘Household budget’........ 45Printing ...............................................46

Margins......................................... 46Headers and footers........................ 46Scaling the printout ........................ 47Manual page breaks........................ 47Repeating headings ........................ 48Print area ...................................... 49Fixed print area.............................. 49Printing named areas ...................... 49

Toolbars ..............................................50Customizing toolbars ...................... 50

Charts .................................................52The Chart Wizard ............................. 52

Updating a chart ............................ 53Adjusting the format in a chart......... 543-D perspective.............................. 55A chart on this sheet....................... 55

Printing charts ................................. 56Household Budget .......................... 56

Working with worksheet tabs .............57Naming tabs .................................. 57Deleting a sheet ............................. 57Inserting a sheet ............................ 57Copying sheets .............................. 57

Functions ............................................59Average ........................................ 59

Calculating loan payments ................. 59Naming cells in functions ................. 61

Links ...................................................62Sorting & filtering data .......................63

Sorting ........................................... 63Filtering .......................................... 63

User defined filters ......................... 64

Introduction


4

Is This Booklet for You?This booklet is for Excel beginners. Basictopics will be discussed thoroughly with afocus on fundamental concepts of spread-sheets in general and Excel in particular.If you can relate to one of the followingstatements, you can benefit from readingthis booklet: You have no idea what a spreadsheet

is, and what it is used for. You have heard of spreadsheets, but

never had the chance to work with one. You have worked with other

spreadsheet programs, but need tolearn about the differences in Excel.

Arithmetic and calculation have neverbeen your strong points.

Maybe you are fascinated by numbersand mathematics.

My goal is that this booklet will help youunderstand the program in such a waythat you will continue to learn after youhave completed the exercises. At the sametime, you will have drawn up a householdbudget, something that most of us will finduseful in our daily life.No matter what you come to use Excel for,you will find that the program is easy tocome to grips with, yet advanced enoughto be able to solve most problemsinvolving numbers.If you feel that Excel is a little bit toodifficult at first, then remember the wisewords: ‘Every beginning is fun….’

Technical Language – Only forNerds?The computer industry uses a lot oftechnical abbreviations and terms, whichare difficult for a beginner:Pentium 150MHz, 32 Mb RAM, 8 x CD-ROM, 2.1 GB hard disk etc. etc.‘Pentium – is that part of the keyboard?How does the computer RAM something?CD-ROM, is that something to do withmusic…?’As a new user it is easy to get confused byall this gobbledegook. To understand themost basic terms, then I suggest you readthe KnowWare booklet ‘Make Friends withyour PC’, while terms that are Excel spe-cific will be explained the first time theyappear in the booklet.For words that are directly relevant forWindows 98/95, see the booklet Getgoing with Windows 98/95.

About the AuthorI’ve been teaching since 1980. In thecomputer arena I’m an autodidact,something that I regard as an advantage.Hopefully my experience can be of use toyou.Your backgroundI do not expect you to have anyknowledge of spreadsheets. You shouldhave a basic understanding of Windows98/95 and have followed Exercises forWindows 98/95.Your opinionThis booklet is written for you, so I wouldreally appreciate hearing your comments,either by letter to the publisher, or directlyto me via e-mail.

The structureThis booklet is designed around a series ofpractical examples. By following it fromstart to finish, you will learn to use theExcel methodology and increase yourknowledge in a natural way.Throughout the booklet sometypographical conventions have beenused. These make it easier to read andallow you to practice the most importantpoints quickly and effectively.SymbolsIf you see CTRL+C, you should hold theCTRL key down while pressing the letter C.You may also have to hold down two keyswhile pressing a third: CTRL+SHIFT+%.Function keys are indicated in squarebrackets, for example, [F4]. Menucommands will appear with vertical lines inbetween them, for exampleFORMAT|LINE|HEIGHT.In some places we have used the followingsymbols in the left margin to highlight aparticular section:This symbol indicates an important and usefultip. It will often be especially useful if youfollow the exercises a second time.

Text marked this way is important forusing the program – in order to use itaccording to the programmers’intentions and to avoid mistakes andimpractical “detours.”

Enjoy yourself, both with the booklet andwith Excel itself!

Excel – the first impression


5

Excel – the first impressionIf you have some experience with the pro-gram, you can skip this section, or justbrowse through it to pick up any usefultips you may not already know.Throughout the booklet I will describe theparts of the screen as we meet them, sothey are introduced to you when theybecome relevant. I will use Microsoft’s ownnames and terminology so you can searchfor more help in the Excel’s Online Help.

General conceptsThe first time you run Excel, anintroduction program shows you the mostimportant functions and principles in theprogram on your screen. Exit from thiswindow; you can always return to it later.Before we begin on a household budget wewill first try a little sample budget forredecorating my living room. I suggestthat you follow it on your own computer.

What is a spreadsheet?In principle, a spreadsheet is nothing morethan a large sheet of paper with lots oflittle squares on it. So that an individual‘square’ can be used in a calculationtogether with other ‘squares’, each has tohave a way of differentiating it, a uniqueaddress.For the program to be able to manageindividual ‘squares’ in large spreadsheets,it works in three dimensions, with eachindividual spreadsheet built up as a tablein two dimensions. These two dimensionsare called respectively rows (horizontal)and columns (vertical). Columns arealways given a letter as a name, and rowsare always given a number. An individualsheet can also be called a worksheet.The fact that there can be more than onespreadsheet in a file gives Excel the thirddimension, as entries on one spreadsheetcan link to entries in another spreadsheet.There can be up to 256 spreadsheets in afile, which in Excel is called a workbook .At the bottom of each workbook you willfind a sheet tab for every spreadsheet, orpage, in the workbook. Each time youopen a new workbook Sheet1 will beselected.

You can move to another worksheet byclicking on its sheet tab. Try clicking on

different tabs, then return to Sheet1before continuing.Cells are the individual ‘squares’ in aworksheet.A cell is where a column and a row cross.The name of a cell comes from the nameof the column (letter) together with thename of a row (number). So, the cellwhere column C and row 5 cross eachother has the address C5.

Inserting text and numbersWhen a new worksheet is selected, thecursor will always be in cell A1 (it isselected).1. Type Material: and press Enter. Cell

A2 will automatically be selected.2. Type Brush and press Enter. Cell A3

will automatically be selected.3. Type Primer and press Enter.4. In A4 type Paint and press Enter.

If the cursor jumps automatically to thenext cell as soon as you press enter, youshould use the command TOOLS|OPTIONSand have a look at the Edit tab. Here’swhere you can deactivate Move selectionafter Enter.

If you mistype anything you can correct itimmediately by using the Backspace orDelete keys. You must do this before youpress Enter, and you cannot use the arrowkeys. If you notice a mistake afterpressing Enter, simply retype the correcttext over the incorrect text. The contentsof the cell are overwritten when you pressEnter. Editing the contents of a cell will bediscussed in more detail later on in thisbooklet; for now, let's take a closer look atthe data we've just entered. Select cell A4by pressing the Up arrow key:

Notice that the word Paint is visible bothin the cell and on the formula bar (justunder the toolbars). This field shows whatyou typed, and the cell shows the result ofyour typing.1. Use the arrow keys, or click with the

mouse to select cell B1.2. Type Net price: and press Enter.3. In B2 type 5 and press Enter.



6

4. In B3 type 25 and press Enter.5. In B4 type 30 and press Enter.

It is important to understand how differententries are interpreted by Excel.

Data typesExcel differentiates between two datatypes; text and formulas. Numbers areregarded as formulas. When you havetyped data into a cell you can immediatelysee in the cell itself how your data hasbeen classified:If data is aligned to the left, then it is text(text being written from left to right).If the cell data is right-aligned, then Excelhas interpreted your data as a number ora formula (numbers are usually writtenright-aligned, so that decimal points lineup vertically under each other). This maysound banal, but it’s very important tounderstand that you’re having a kind ofdialogue with the program whenever youenter data.

If you think you have typed a number,but Excel has displayed it left-aligned,then you have probably made a mistake.Maybe you have typed a comma insteadof a period when you typed the decimal.

Do not delete the data you have just typedin Sheet1 – we will come back to it later.

Click on Sheet2 to start with a cleanworksheet. We can test the principles forinserting data in Excel mentioned above.



7

Creating formulasIf you mix text and numbers, your datawill be understood as text. If you type inan equation, for example, 125-12, the ‘-’will be interpreted as a hyphen, not aminus sign, and Excel will behave as if thecell contains only text. Whenever you typea formula, you must always start with anequals sign: =125-12. Try the followingexample:1. Type two numbers separated by a

minus sign in Sheet2, cell A1, forexample 120856-2895, and thenpress Enter. Even though it is longerthan the cell, it is obvious that thedata flows from left to right over thenext cell. It has been interpreted astext, which is correct.

2. Now type in the same data in A2, butthis time with an equals sign in frontof it: =120856-2895 and pressEnter.

You can also begin a formula with a plus orminus sign (‘+’, ‘-’). In every case Excel willadd an equals sign in front of the formula. But Iwould strongly suggest starting formulas with‘=’. It is a good habit and will help youunderstand all of Excel’s built-in functions.

OperatorsWhen you type formulas, you can use anyof the following operators:

+ add- subtract* multiply/ divide^ raise to the power of (as in 3^3 =3*3*3 = 27).

If you want to type a number as text, youmust begin with an apostrophe (forexample ‘125).

Order of OperationsWhen you type a formula containingseveral numbers and operators, youshould remember that all calculations arecarried out according to the following orderof operations:

first calculation : ( ) and ^second : * and /and finally : + and -

Type the following formula in cell A3:= 20 + 20 / 4 and press Enter.The result is 25, as 20 / 4 is calculatedfirst.

Now type the same formula in A4, but thistime in brackets:

= (20 + 20) / 4 and press Enter.The result is now 10, as the numbers inbrackets are calculated first.

Even though brackets are not necessaryfor calculations using operators on thesame level such as plus and minus, theycan often make a formula easier to read. Ioften use brackets for precisely this rea-son.

Formula barOn the far left side, this bar refers to theactive cell (the selected cell). Next to thisis a field for displaying and typing aformula.

Active cell(Name box)

Data of the cell(Formula bar)

All entries in cells take place here.A cell consists of two ‘levels,’ thebackground, which contains the dataentered (shown on the formula bar), andthe foreground, which contains the resultof the entry. It is the foreground that isactually displayed in the cell, and isprinted out, while the background createsthe result. A cell has to be selected to seethe background in the formula line.Of course if you type in text or a number,there is no difference between what youtype and the result – there is only adifference with data that is calculated(formulas).Select A2 and check the formula on theformula bar. Press the Down arrow andcheck the formulas in A3 and A4.All changes to the contents of a cell happen inthe background layer – as shown in the formulaline.

You probably noticed that while you weretyping data in the cell, two small buttonsappeared on the formula line:



8

Let us look at these buttons a little moreclosely:1. Try typing your name in cell A5.

Now the formula has apparentlydisappeared, but only apparently.

2. Now try pressing Esc and you will seethat your name disappearsimmediately (just as if you’d clickedon the red cross).

3. Type your name again and press Enter(the same as clicking on the greencheckmark). The formula is replacedby your name.

The buttons show that you are editingthe cell. So far so good. But I wouldnever click on them; instead, I stronglyadvise that you use the Esc and Enterkeys.

A word processor inserts text and numberswhile you are typing them. In Excel theyare not inserted until you actively chooseto insert them.Now click on Sheet1 and we’ll continueour work on our example.We have been able to buy everything thatis necessary from a wholesaler. So there isno sales tax included in the price. We mustwork out both this and the total price forourselves.To do this, we must alter the heading incolumn B.1. Select cell B1, type in Net price and

press the right arrow key. The text isinserted and the cursor moves in thedirection of the arrow to cell C1.

2. Type in Sales tax and press Enter.3. …and in D1, type Price and press

Enter.

We now need to enter the formula forcalculating the sales tax on brushes. Wecould just type in =5*15%, which wouldcalculate the sales tax on the net price.Quite honestly, if we did that, we couldjust as easily forget about the computerand take out our pocket calculator!It is in exactly this kind of situation thatExcel shows its strength…when you type ina new net price, the new sales tax andtotal price should be calculatedautomatically.It is totally wrong to insert variables in aformula on a spreadsheet. If the valuechanges at a later time (for example, anexchange rate), you would have tochange every cell manually. Instead, it isbetter to point out the cell containing the

appropriate value. This way, all youhave to do is edit that cell every timethe value changes, and formulas will beupdated automatically.

Here’s how it’s done:

1. Select C2 and type the followingformula: =b2*15%Press Enter and the Up arrow to seeboth the result and the formula.I was quite clear about what I was doingabove when I typed a small ‘b’ in referenceto cell B2. I want to start a dialogue withExcel. When you pressed Enter, the ‘b’ waschanged to a large ‘B’, which is theprogram’s way of saying ‘cell addressunderstood’. If I discover later that there isa mistake in the formula, I know forcertain that it has nothing to do with thereference to cell address B2.

2. After typing a formula it should betested. Type a new net price in cellB2 and check that the sales tax in C2changes. Now type the original netprice again.

3. For the sake of the exercise youshould type the formula for the salestax for two more materials in thesame way. Type the formula=b3*15% in cell C3 and =b4*15%in C4.

By default, only as many decimal placesas necessary are shown in each cell. So,even if you type in 24.00, only 24 isshown. Later we will format numbers totwo decimal places.

Now we will calculate the total price. Inother words, what we want to calculate is:

=Net price + Sales tax

1. In D2, type the formula = B2 + C2.2. Continue by yourself with the formula

for calculating the price of the nexttwo materials.

Your spreadsheet should now look likethis:

It is only for the sake of the exercise thatwe have typed all the formulas heremanually. Normally all you need to do is



9

type a formula once, check that it works(here you’d type in a new net price), andthen copy it to all the other cells!When you have checked that the firstformula works as it should, why run therisk of typing an error in the followingformulas?

Menus – and How You UseThemWhenever you open a menu, Excel onlyshows you a few of its commands. Theones that you’ve used the most are theones that are visible – which can lead to asituation where some of the menu optionschange themselves around. The point ofthis is to avoid confusion caused by thepresence of too many possibilities.

1. If you click on the EDIT menu, you’llsee adouble arrow at the bottom.

2. Click the double arrow or wait amoment until all the commands onthis menu appear. The additionalpossibilities appear below.

3. Close the menu by pressing ESC.

EditingChanging the contents of a cellYou have already tried changing thecontents of a cell. However, there aremany ways of doing it:

Type new data over the old and pressEnter. If you mistakenly start typingdata in the wrong cell, you can undoyour mistake by pressing Esc.

Click directly on the formula bar…

or press the F2 key (edit).

If a long piece of text or formula needsediting I prefer F2. If it is a short piece oftext or formula, I prefer overwriting thecell.Try both methods now:

1. Change cell A3 to Primer Color byusing F2 and the Backspace key. Thecell is too small for the text – but we’llfix that later.

2. Change the net price for Primer to 35by selecting B4, typing the numberin, and pressing Enter.

Deleting the contents of a cellYou have deleted the contents of a cellseveral times by using Delete. This issimple – if you only know how. I haveseen students try to use the Backspace keymany times, and even seen them try touse the spacebar.Try pressing the spacebar and then ENTER.Apparently the cell is empty – but look atthe error messages in cells C2 and D2:

The formulas in C2 and D2 are trying tocalculate the sum of the net price and aspace! There is no way we can expect ananswer.

If a cell should be emptied, use Delete!

UndoThe formula in cell C2 should berewritten. If you have just deletedit, then click on the Undo button, orchoose Edit|Undo. You can also use theCtrl+Z keys, which function the same wayas in most other Windows programs.I would strongly suggest that you useCtrl+Z.



10

You can undo the last 16 actions. So ifyou have deleted a cell, then formattedanother cell in bold type, then you mustpress Ctrl+Z twice to undo your deletion.

But even when you have carried out a lotof actions, they are easy to undo.1. Click the small Undo arrow on

the toolbar.2. Drag the mouse down the drop-down

list until you have selected all theactions you want to undo. Notice thatyou cannot undo individual actionsalone, you must select a whole list.

3. You can redo actions that youhave undone by using theRedo button. This drop-down list onlycontains the actions you haveundone. Try undoing and redoingsome actions so you are confidentabout using this function. You canalso press Ctrl+Y to redo actions oneat a time.

When you type in new values to checkformulas, you can use Ctrl+Z to return tothe original number. It often happens thatthe display updates so fast that it is hardto check whether the values are changedin all the relevant formulas. The solution isas follows:1. Select cell B2.2. Type a new price, and keep an eye on

the sales tax and the Price (C2 andD2) when you press Enter.

3. If these values changed as theyshould, restore the original price bypressing Ctrl+Z.

4. The formulas were calculated so fastthat it can be difficult to check themboth simultaneously. Click Ctrl+Y(undoing your undo, if youunderstand what I mean). Keepswitching using Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y asoften as you want until you arecertain that all cells with formulasdependent on cell B2 have beenchanged correctly.

Column widthLet’s have a look at A3 again. Here, wetyped Primer Color, which didn’t fit intothe cell, so it was shortened by theprogram. If you want to ensure that thecomplete text appears in a cell, select thatcell and have a look at the cell’s contentsin the formula bar. And how can we make

space for a word that doesn’t fit into acell?Try this:1. Leave A3 in peace, move to A5, type

Spatula Size and press Enter.2. If B3 is empty, Excel will simply allow

the text to flow over the border intothe next cell.

3. Now type 15 in B5 and press Enter.

Only part of the text can be seen.

When you change the width of this cell, itwill apply to the entire column – luckily!Can you imagine how confusing it wouldbe to work with a spreadsheet where cellA5 was double the width of all the othercells? Cell B5 would be under column C,cell C1 under D…chaos!How to change the column widthPlace the mouse pointer on the linebetween columns A and B. The mousepointer will change into a split arrow.Now, you can drag the column divider inthe direction you want by holding downthe left mouse button.

If you adjust the column width, the fieldnow shows the column widthmeasurement before you release themouse button. The width is shown as thetypical number of characters and pixelsthat will fit in the column, and is not anabsolute value. The width of a characterdepends on the font, its size, and whichcharacter you type (an ‘i’ fills much lessthan an ‘m’, for instance).This makes it difficult to calculate theprecise column width that willaccommodate all text.If, for example, 100 cells in a columncontain text, they’re not all visible at the



11

same time, so it’s very hard to determinethe appropriate column width.Therefore, we’ll try another, much morepractical method of automatically alteringthe width of a column to accommodate thewidest contents:Double click when the arrow chan-ges to a split arrow, and the widthof the column on the leftautomatically changes (AutoFit).Automatic adjustment can also beused on rows in the same way. Inthis picture the height of row 4 willbe adjusted when you double click.Basic Principles for ConstructingLarge CalculationsYou may ask, ‘couldn’t I just insert thetext in column A, leave column B blankand then type the numbers in column C?You could do this, but it would be a bigmistake! Blank columns or rows split upthe data area and make it difficult to addcolors and borders or use the manyadvanced Excel functions.It is good practice to enter data inadjoining cells. Avoid using blankcolumns and rows when data belongtogether.

Uniform Column Width

If you’d like several columns to have thesame column width, select them all anduse the mouse to adjust their width to suityour taste.Mark a column by clicking its heading.Try selecting the columns B:D by draggingthe mouse from the heading B to theheading D, then changing the width of onecolumn.



12

Data Entry in ColumnsFor our living room renovation, we’ll stillneed more materials – luckily thereforewe’ll have the chance to learn aboutcopying formulas, in this case the ones forthe sales tax and total price.1. Enter the following data in columns A

and B – and make sure that younotice what happens when you beginentering data in A6:

Entering Values in CellsAutomaticallyWhenever you enter data into a column,Excel compares your current entry withthe other cells in the column.If, for example, youtyped “P” here, Excelwould promptly offer youthe same text as in A3,since the data in bothcells begins with thesame letter. Thepreliminary entry is selected and markedas a suggestion, which can be replaced byyour actual entry.If you’d like to accept the suggestion,press ENTER. If, on the other hand, thecell should contain only a P, then pressDELETE.This principle applies within a continuousarea – and it eases the process of enteringa word several times in a column. In thisway, I created a budget for my firm,where I arranged the expenses accordingto categories such as office supplies andtransport costs.This function is extremely practical onspreadsheets – you type a letter and Excelfills in the rest.

If you would like to deactivate thisfunction, choose TOOLS|OPTIONS and clickthe Edit tab…

…then remove the checkmark next toEnable AutoComplete for cell values.

Simple number formattingThe numbers need to be formatted so thatthey all appear with an equal number ofdecimal places. In the example, this is twodecimals.1. Select cell B2, and click twice

on the Increase decimal button.Excel starts with the format ofthe selected number and shows onemore decimal each time you click thebutton.

2. Select cell B7 and click once onthe Decrease decimal button.Now the number 5.15 isdecreased to one decimal place. Ofcourse, this does not mean that Excelhas forgotten about the last decimalplace, something you can check bylooking at the formula bar.

3. Click on Decrease decimal again. Nowthe number is shown without anydecimals. Click twice on Increase deci-mal, to make it appear with twodecimals again.

No matter how you decide to format a cell,calculations are performed in the same way.By default, Excel calculates to 15 decimalplaces.All the cells in column B should beformatted to show two decimals. Insteadof trying to format each individual cell,let’s learn how to select cells.Move to Sheet2 before continuing.

Selecting cellsTo format a cell, it has to be selected orhighlighted. By selecting several cellssimultaneously you can format them in thesame way, so that they all have the sameappearance. A selected range of cells isindicated by the address of the first andthe last cell, separated by a colon.Selecting B2:D6 will highlight all the cellsin a rectangle with B2 at one corner andD6 at the opposite corner.



13

The mouse pointer should be a large crosswhen you begin highlighting. The firsthighlighted cell will always be white as it isthe ‘focus’. The black frame surroundingthe selection will clearly show that it is apart of the highlighted area.Try selecting the following area using themouse.1. Select B2:D6 (as shown above) by

clicking the left mouse button on cellB2, holding the left mouse buttondown, and dragging to cell D6.

2. Before doing anything else, place themouse pointer over cell H10, hold theleft mouse button down (the firstselection disappears), drag to cell C2and release the mouse. The areaH10:C2 is now selected.

The first cell selected will always be white,no matter which method you use.

It is even easier to select cells using thekeyboard. Hold Shift down while you expandthe selected area using the arrow keys. Try thison different parts of the spreadsheet.You can select several cells in different parts ofa spreadsheet by clicking on one of them, thenpressing the CTRL key and selecting the othercells.Remember, selecting is not an action initself. You typically select cells beforecarrying out an action on them (forexample, displaying two decimal places, orchanging text to bold type).Click on Sheet1 again. We will now formatall numbers in column B to display twodecimal places.1. Select cells B2 to B15.2. The cell with the focus (white), in this

case B2, will determine how manydecimal places appear in each cell.Click Increase decimals and Decrease deci-mals until all cells show two decimals.

3. Repeat the same process with cellsC2:D4.

Your model should now look like this:

Formatting a cell means that all future entriesin the cell will be shown with two decimalplaces, no matter what numbers you enter. Theformat is only changed by choosing anotherformat for the cell.

If you are still unsure about how youselect cells, format decimals or entersimple formula then you should practice alittle more now. Use another sheet andthen delete any extra data you type forpractice before moving to the next section.

Copying cells


14

Copying cellsWhen you’ve entered a formula andchecked that it works, you should thencopy it to the other relevant cells.

Relative referencesThe formula we typed into C2 can beunderstood as: ‘Take the value in the cellto the left and multiply it by 15%’. A cellreference is relative when it refers to a cellthat has a distinct position in relation tothe first cell, as here.

When you copy data, it is thebackground you copy (the formula), notthe result. When you copy a formula onecell down, the relative cell references inthe formula will also ‘follow’.

There are many ways to copy data. Whichmethod is best to use depends on whatyou want to do with the copy. Here I willconcentrate on the two methods I findmost useful: using the keyboard and usingthe mouse.

Copying using the keyboardTo the right of the Copy and Pastecommands on the Edit menu you can seethat the Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V keys can also beused. I recommend this method when youwant to paste the copied data into cellsthat are not directly adjacent to the cellsyou copied from.The principle is that the selected area iscopied to the Windows Clipboard, fromwhere it can be pasted to a new cell orarea in the spreadsheet (or in any otherWindows program, for that matter).The function is carried out by:a) selecting the cell with the formula

that should be copied.b) choosing Copyc) selecting the area that should ‘inherit’

the formulad) and choosing Paste.Try the following example:

1. Use the arrow keys to select C4.2. Press Ctrl+C to copy the data. The

dotted frame around the selected cell“vibrates” to indicate that the copyfunction has been initiated.Notice the message on the status line

3. Select cells C5:C15 using Shift+Down

arrow, and press Enter. Copying is nowcomplete.

If you want to copy the formula to several ar-eas, then paste it by using Ctrl+V, which keepsthe copy function active. This means that youcan continue pasting it by using Ctrl+V. Thecopying is terminated by pressing Esc.

Press Down arrow to check the sales taxformulas. I have cheated a little in thenext picture and shown all formulas di-rectly in the cells for you to compare withyour own formulas:

Copying with the mouseNow you are going to copy the formula forthe total price by using the mouse. Iusually recommend using the keyboard asmuch as possible, but I have to admit thatfor this operation the mouse is really good– a stroke of genius!Click in cell D4 – this is the formula thatyou want to copy.

1. Point the mouse to the small blacksquare at the bottom right handcorner of the cell (the pointer changes

Copying cells


15

to a little black cross) and then dragthe mouse down to cell D15 whileholding down the left mouse button.

2. The instant you release the mousebutton, the copying is carried outautomatically! Voila!

Notice the difference between selectingand copying. When you select, all the cellsare black (except the first). When youcopy, all the cells are white.Microsoft calls the little black square a ‘Fillhandle’ because it copies or ‘fills the areaup’ with data depending on the kind ofdata the cell contains.I will return to the ‘Fill handle’ function.There are buttons for both Copy and Pasteon the toolbar, but force yourself to usethe methods above; it will pay off later.

Summing dataIt is now time to work out what ourdecorating project will cost in total. Wecould, of course, add the individual cellstogether, but there is a faster and moreflexible method. Excel has many built infunctions, including one for summation ofdata. All functions are built up in the fol-lowing way:=NAME(arguments)NAME is the function name (what youwant Excel to do for you). Arguments canbe cells or other calculations. In ourexample the function is called SUM, andthe arguments are the cells that should beadded together, as follows:=SUM(B2:B15)You can type the formula manually, butthere is no need. Microsoft has assumedthat you will need to sum data in the

majority of spreadsheets and hasdeveloped the following extremelyeffective and easy to use function:

1. In A16 type Total: and press Enter.2. Cell B16 must contain the sum

of all the net prices. Click onthe AutoSum button on thetoolbar and wait a second. It is notenough that the formula has beenwritten out for you; Excel has alsounderstood which cells you want toadd together (not so bad!).

The dotted frame surrounding yourdata shows which cells the programsuggests – because it is only asuggestion. In the formula the cellsare black, meaning that all you needto do is overwrite the references ifthey are incorrect.

3. Press Enter to accept the formula.4. Copy the sum formula for the sales

tax and the total price from cell B17to cells C17 and D17, with thefollowing results:

Instead of clicking on the AutoSum button,use the Alt+= keys (you are actually pressingAlt+Shift+0).

AutoSum calculates both horizontally andvertically on the same principle. Let usprove this by changing the formula forcalculating the total price:1. Select D2:D15 and press Delete. The

cells are empty and the sum formulain D16 displays ‘0’.

2. Select cell D2 and click on AutoSum.3. Press Enter and click on AutoSum

from cell D3.4. Press Enter and repeat the click on

AutoSum in cell D4; but be careful,this time the suggestion is incorrect!

Copying cells


16

If there are numbers in both the cells aboveand to the left of the selected cell, Excel willsuggest summing the numbers above. Verticalsummation takes priority over horizontalsummation.

Even though AutoSum is smart and easyto use, you should still remember theprinciple of a spreadsheet: when a formulais inserted once, it should be copied to theother relevant cells!Undo the last formula (Esc or Delete) andinstead copy the formula like this:

1. With D3 selected, drag the Fill handledown to D15. If you drag it too far byaccident, you can drag the Fill handleback into the selected area. As longas the cells are selected, you canexpand or reduce the copying.

2. Use an arrow key or click with themouse in any other cell to cancel theselection.

If you need to see the sum of the numberswithout having the result displayed in a cell,then just select the cells and read the result onthe status line:

Right-click the field in the status line andchoose, if need be, another calculation of theselected numbers.Our model is now ready. Try changingsome of the net prices and see how thecalculations reflect the changed numbers.You can also smarten the model up a bitby adding a little color and formatting, butI will tell you how to do this later. Just nowit is more important to repeat andemphasize the basic principlesYour spreadsheet should be saved so youdo not lose it when you shut down yourcomputer. After all, you must be able toretrieve it again the next time youdecorate your house.

Saving a fileThe first time you save a workbookyou will be asked to specify a name.Using the File menu, choose theSave or Save As command. You can alsojust click the Save button on the toolbar.

In the Save As dialog box, you can choosean existing folder (directory), or create anew one for the examples in this booklet. Iwould suggest the latter. If you feelunsure when working with folders andfiles, you can follow the example here:

1. In the Save in field, choose C: (thecomputer’s hard disk).

2. Click the Create New Folder buttonand call it Get going with Excel.Press Enter, which creates the folderand displays it in the large white field.

3. Double click your newly created folderto open it. The folder name should bein the Save in field:

4. Click on the File name field, and typeDECORATING. Press Enter (or click OK).Your spreadsheet is now saved, andthe dialog box disappears from thescreen.

5. Notice that the file name now appearson the title bar (all Excel spreadsheetfiles have an XLS extension).

For more detailed information aboutmanaging folders and files, I suggest thatyou read the ‘Get going withWindows98/95’ booklet from thispublisher, or study Excel’s own Helpfunction, which lets you search forassistance in more ways than the WindowsHelp program. Let’s take a closer look atit.

Help


17

HelpWithout any doubt, the programs of thefuture will contain larger and better Helpprograms and come with thinner printedmanuals.You have already seen how theHelp function works in Excel. The smallyellow ‘tips’ that appear next to thebuttons on the toolbar and the longerdescription on the status line are both partof the complete Help program.The ‘real’ Help fuction in Excel is a kind ofshortened user manual that can be readon screen while you are working. If youhave a standard installation of Excel, theHelp function will be available. If it is not,you can run the installation program againand choose to add it. To start the Helpprogram, choose Help|Microsoft Excel Help,or press F1.

You can also click the Office assistant buttonon the toolbar. A help screen appears asan “Office Assistant”, which gives you tipsand lets you search for help for aparticular subject. If you right-click on theassistant and choose ANIMATION, this littleguy will show you what he can do.You can choose your own particular‘assistant’ out of the selection of animatedcharacters available (all of whom arerather fun!). I have chosen this rathercompetent looking guy to help me:

Now, type your question into the yellowspeech balloon.1. type “Help” and press ENTER…2. …you’ll see several keywords. Choose

one of them or try reformulating yourquestion. The cursor will change intoa little hand and the blue bullet nextto a keyword will “light up” when youpoint to it with the hand. In ourexample, we chose How do I gethelp while I’m working?

3. Almost immediately, you’ll see a largedialog box appear on the screen. Ifyou click the printer button in theupper right-hand corner, you canprint out relevant topics.

4. The window with the help text willremain on your screen while you’reworking. If you need help on anothertopic, just click on one of theunderlined hypertext topics.

5. If you click on the Help button, you’llsee a broad help window appear onyour screen. This window has threetabs:

Contents tab …is a list of topics, where you can double-click on a topic you want to learn moreabout. It should remind you of theWindows Explorer.Answer Wizard tab…is just that – a kind of wizard, or assistant.Type in your own words what you’d like todo and press ENTER to search for relevanttopics. Then just click the topic you’reinterested in and read the help text.Index tab…is very useful. The program watches whatyou type in Type keywords: field, andmoves to the subjects you can findinformation about. But it does mean thatyou need to know the name of thefunction you need help for.Shift+F1It can be annoying trying to search for afunction without knowing what it is called.So you can find help for the function youhave on your screen, or the menu itemyou are using. Press Shift+F1 and click on abutton on the toolbar, or a menu item, andrelevant help text is displayedimmediately.Tip WizardFinally there is the Tip Wizard tool, whichtries to follow your working method. If itthinks that you could have performed aprocedure in a better and more effectiveway, it will suggest it. Well, that is thetheory…unfortunately the practice doesnot always live up to expectations!The Tip Wizard is represented by a littlelight bulb in the Office assistant windowthat turns yellow when it has a suggestionto make. Click on the button to read theWizard tip. If you are not displaying theOffice assistant window, then the Officeassistant button will display the light bulbinstead. No matter what, the light is‘switched off’ when you have seen the tip,and it is ready to ‘switch on again’ as youcarry on working. Try keeping an eye onthe bulb and clicking on it the next time itlights up yellow.Help for dialog boxesIf you want help with a field or button in adialog box, then all you need to do isright-click it a field.

Household budget


18

Household budgetWhen I first installed Excel many yearsago, I had only a vague idea what I coulduse it for. I had heard so much about theprogram that I was curious to try it formyself. Well, I thought, it might also helpme find out why my budget never seemedto balance.It was when I started working with theprogram that I realised that a spreadsheetdid not just function like an addingmachine. It could also show me theconsequences of my insurance ratesincreasing by 5% while my salary onlyincreased 2% and my eldest son begantake driving lessons …all I needed to dowas type in a couple of figures and myincreased overdraft was calculated in amoment.At first I found it frustrating that a taskcould be carried out in so many differentways. Which was the best? Wasn’t itenough for example just to be able to copyin one way?Why not limit all these methods to one forthe mouse and one for the keyboard?…Buton the other hand, who would go into aclothes shop that only stocked black andwhite sweaters, or a restaurant that onlysold meatballs and mushy peas? Peopleare so different that we need choice. Somy task here is to guide you so that youcan choose the method that is best foryou.I have decided, therefore, to describemost of the options available while you areworking with a weighty task. So you willnot find a section that describes copying,for example, by itself. Different techniqueswill be described several times, often in amore and more detailed fashion, butalways in situations where they arerelevant. This will allow you to review andgo deeper into the most important func-tions. It might make it more difficult tolook up a single function, but if you workthrough this booklet several times, I amsure that you will get the most out of thismethod. Before starting with our exercisethere are a couple of preferences I want tochange.

Permanent preferencesExcel comes with a number of default(standard) preferences. The idea is thatyou can change them as you work tooptimize the program to suit your needs.Try this on your own machine:

1. Click on the menu Tools|Options.2. The first tab we want to change

options on is the Edit tab:

I would strongly suggest deactivating thefollowing two options:1. Click Edit directly in cell and Move

selection after Enter with the rightmouse button, so that you can readwhat they mean. Remove thecheckmark in both boxes to deselectthem (just click on the checkmarks).

2. Press Enter or click OK to close thedialog box.

3. In the DECORATING file, select cell D17and press Enter – the cursor remainswhere it was, which makes it mucheasier to read and edit formulas whenthey are entered.

4. Double click on the cell. The cellsused in the formula are selected. Thisis smart, especially when a formularefers to cells that are notimmediately visible.

5. Now, if you press [F2], the cursor willjump to the formula bar. The cellsthat belong to the formula arecolored. If you’re finished editing,press ESC.

If you’re working with a long formula, Ihighly recommend deactivating Editdirectly in cell.If this option is active, the cells to the right ofthe formula are hidden while you’re working. Ifthis option is deactivated as in the aboveexample, you can see and select all cells in thecalculation. I would suggest that you work fora while with both of these options deselectedbefore you decide whether to select themagain.

Household budget


19

Let’s look at some other things you can doin Tools|Options:The Edit tab contains a field EnableAutoComplete for Cell Values, whichlets you choose whether or not Excelshould suggest text as you begin typing.On the View tab you can change theamount of information displayed on thescreen. Gridlines are the small linessurrounding every cell in the spreadsheet.If you deselect them, they will not be seenon the screen or on a printout.Later you will see that it is possible to printa document without the gridlines, eventhough they are shown on the screen.You should know about two fields on theGeneral tab:1. In the Sheets in New Workbook

field you can specify how manyspreadsheets new workbooks containby default. Set the number of sheetsto four. You can always add morelater.

2. In the Default File Location fieldyou can decide where Excel saves andlooks for its files. Type in C:\GetGoing With Excel. When you are fin-ished working through this booklet,you can change it to another folder.

Incidentally, it is strange that you cannotclick your way to the folder. You have toenter the exact path to it yourself.Therefore, you should note the path,perhaps using the Windows Explorer.Press Enter to accept the changes andclose the dialog box. Close the DECORATINGfile. If Excel asks you if you want to savethe file, choose Yes. The program willnever close without giving you theopportunity to save any changes you mayhave made.

Household budget


20

The Household budgetWe are going to create a household budgetthat details income and expenditures. Youcan choose to enter your own figuresimmediately, or begin by following thisexample using my fictional figures for afamily with two children, and change themto suit your own situation later.Start by opening a new workbook (Ctrl+Nor the New Workbook button on thetoolbar).Your new workbook contains only fourspreadsheets, as you specified in Options.In Sheet1, type the following text incolumns A and B and adjust the width ofcolumn A until the ‘indentation’ of the textin column B is suitable:

You can use Excel’s suggestion that thetext in B3 should be the same as the textin B2. Press Enter to accept the suggestionand change ‘husband’ to ‘wife’.A1 and A5 should be highlighted usingbold type, which we will do simultaneouslyfor both cells:

1. Select A12. Hold Ctrl down while you click A5.3. Press Ctrl+B (or click the Bold button).4. Cell B4 should be italic. Press Ctrl+I

(or click on the Italic button).

If you want to select several unconnected cells,hold the Ctrl key down while you are selectingthe individual cells. When selecting adjoiningcells, hold down the Shift key while pressing thearrow keys (you can also click on the first celland then hold Shift down while you click on thelast cell). Practice these important keys beforeyou continue.

Insert rowsWhoops, I forgot to leave room for aheading at the top of the spreadsheet. Thebudget should contain the income andexpenditures for every month of the year.This is easily corrected by inserting a rowwhere row 1 is at present. We will try itfirst using the mouse:1. Click on the grey row number 1 on

the left side to select the entire row.

2. While pointing at the selected row,click the right hand mouse button.Choose Insert on the object menu.

A click on the right mouse button willopen the object menu for the object themouse is pointing at! You should pointat one of the selected cells beforeopening the object menu. Try pointing ata cell at random and clicking the rightmouse button. Close the object menuusing Esc. Repeat the exercise a coupleof times so you are sure that youunderstand how it works.

We need to insert one more row. This timelet’s do it using the keyboard:1. Select a cell in Row 1.2. Press Ctrl+Plus using the plus sign on

the numerical keyboard. If you have alaptop PC without a numericalkeyboard, you might need to pressCtrl+Shift+Plus. (Note that this optionalso works with some ordinary PCkeyboards, and that the WindowsRegional settings have an influenceon how your keyboard functions. Tryyours to see if it works).The following dialog box is displayed,allowing you to choose what you wantto insert:

3. Down arrow to Entire row and pressEnter.

There you are! Any problems you hadpositioning the mouse exactly areeliminated.

Household budget


21

Deleting rowsYou can delete rows in the same way byusing either the mouse (choose Delete onthe object menu) or the keyboard bypressing Ctrl+Minus and Down arrow toEntire row.

Insert/delete several rowsDrag the mouse over the rows you want toselect, or use the keys like this:1. First select a cell in every row by

holding down Shift while pressing theDown arrow.

2. Press Ctrl+Plus or CTRL+Minus and Downarrow to Entire row and press Enter.Excel inserts or deletes just as manyrows as there were selected cells.

3. Delete or insert cells so that yourspreadsheet has two blank rows atthe top (Income should be in cellA3).

Inserting and deleting columnsLet’s look at editing columns:If you’re using the mouse, all you need todo is click the column heading to select it.Other than that, everything is the same aswhen inserting/deleting rows.On the keyboard, do the following:

1. Select any cell, for example one incolumn B.

2. Press Ctrl+Plus and Down arrow toEntire Column.

3. Press Enter to close the dialog box andinsert a column. The existing columnsmove to the right.

Repeat the exercise with more columnsusing the same method (select severalcells using Shift+Right arrow), and thendelete them again. Keep trying until thisbecomes second nature.

Font and font sizeA1 is to contain the heading for the entirespreadsheet. Type Household budget1999 here, and press Enter. The textshould be larger and in a different fontthan the rest of the spreadsheet:

1. Click on the Font field on the toolbar.2. Scdrop-down and choose the Times

New Roman font.3. Choose 20 in the Font size field. The

size is given in points, a point beingapproximately 0.35 millimetres. (Youcould try typing in a formula thatcalculates the size of letters in mm).

If you’re looking for a specific appearancefor your heading and do not know whatthe font is called, it is better to use theFont dialog box:

1. With the cursor still in cell A1, openthe object menu using the rightmouse button and choose FormatCells…

2. Choose the Font tab and click on aname in the Font field. An exampleshowing what the font looks like isdisplayed at the bottom right of thedialog box.

Use the arrow keys to move around in theinstalled fonts. When you find the one youwant, choose its size, style and any othereffects, and press Enter to confirm yourchoice (remember that Esc will let youcancel it). Choose a font and size that youlike for your heading.

A field needs to be selected before you can usethe arrow keys to move around in it. Therefore,you need to click on the Font field before usingthe arrow keys to select a font. You can alsopress the TAB key until the field has beenselected.

Choose a size of 12 points for the wordsIncome and Expenses in cells A3 andA7.Continue typing under Expenses,inserting the following text:

Household budget


22

The text in A8, A12 and A16 is formattedto be bold, while the text in B11, B15and B21 is italic.Depending on the size of your screen, youmight not be able to see the top rows. Usethe scroll bar on the far right, or theCtrl+Home keys. I recommend the latter, asit selects cell A1 immediately.Whoops, I forgot a couple of categories, soyou will need to insert a couple of rows:

1. Insert a blank row between Mortgage(B9) and Electricity (B10)and type inHeating (row 10).

2. Between Insurance (B19) and Repairsand Maintenance (B20) there shouldbe a row with the text Gasoline & oil(row 20).

The months should be typed in the emptysecond row:1. Type January in C2 and press Right

arrow.2. In D2, type Febr…hang on a

moment! Press Esc to cancel yourtyping and read this:

If you already think Excel is smart, thenjust see what the programmers atMicrosoft have come up with here. Thinkhow often you have to type every monthof the year in a new spreadsheet.

Fill (series)


23

Fill (series)You have already tried copying a few timesusing the Fill handle at the bottom right ofa cell. While you were dragging thehandle, the status line cryptically informedyou: ‘Drag outside selection to extendseries or fill, drag inside to clear’.Honestly, who understood that …!Once again, Microsoft has introducedanother nerd term to the computerindustry: ‘Fill’. Even though the messageabove may appear confusing, it is actuallytelling you about a simply amazingfunction.. Try this example:

1. Select cell C2 and type January2. Use the mouse to grab onto the Fill

handle and drag it to the right. Whenyou get about halfway through cellD2, a dotted frame appears.

3. While still pressing the mouse button,keep dragging to the right until youreach December (cell N2).

4. If you drag too far (when you hit theedge of the window the screen picturecan roll very fast), then just dragback to N2.

One of the basic principles of Excel is thatall trivial and repetitious insertions shouldbe performed by the program.And before you come to the conclusionthat this is all the function can do, followthis example:1. Click on the sheet tab for Sheet3. We

can use this to play with.2. Type Monday in any cell, press Enter

and drag downwards with the Fillhandle…

3. In another cell, type Jan, press Enterand drag the Fill handle horizontallyor vertically (but not diagonally).Notice that the program continues touse capital letters.

4. Now try typing a list beginning withJune and then drag the Fill handle.Excel does not pay any attention tothe month with which you start.

5. Type 1st quarter in yet another celland repeat the procedure. Try

dragging further than 4th quarter (ifyou use the English version of Excel,it starts again at 1st quarter. If youuse it in another language, type it asyou usually do, for example ‘1.quarter’).

So how does a function find out when itshould copy and when it should make aseries like the ones we have just seen?Let’s try some numbers. Type 1999 in acell and drag. What do you end up with?Now type Year 1999 in another cell anddrag.The function differentiates betweennumbers and text. When you mix text andnumbers in a cell, the whole entry is takento be text and the function allows thenumber part to grow.On the other hand, a ‘pure’ number issimply copied, which is wise…in a momentwe will type the mortgage payments intothe budget. The number is the same everymonth, so in this case you need to copy. Itwould be a little embarrassing if the func-tion made your mortgage increase by adollar every month.Let us imagine that you want to type aseries of numbers starting with 12 andgrowing by 6 every time (cell). It’s donelike this:1. Type 12 in one cell and 18 in the cell

under it.2. Select both cells. Now the program

knows that it should start the numberseries with 12 and increase it in stepsof 6.

3. Drag the Fill handle as far as youwant.

Now try this with other number series, likepercentages and dates (dates should betyped using hyphens or slashes, forexample 10/08/97, and times should betyped with colons, for example 08:30:00).

If you often need to insert date series, it willpay you to try the following. Type a date in acell, and drag using the Fill handle and theright mouse button. When you release themouse button you can use the object menu tochoose how the series should be continued. Ifyou choose Fill Weekdays, Excel leaves outthe weekends (and it also recognises leapyears…and has no problem with the year2000). Someone has obviously used their greymatter at Microsoft.

Fill (series)


24

Creating your own listsDo you often need to type the same data,like the names of your co-workers, stocknumbers, etc?Then you can create your own lists, whichfunction in exactly the same way asExcel’s own built in ones.

1. Type some names, or a sequence ofsome sort (I used signs of thezodiac).

2. Select all the names or text andchoose Tools, Options and the CustomLists tab.

3. Click on the Import button.4. You can correct your own lists in the

List entries field. Click to the right ofa name and press Enter. As long as thecursor is in this field, you can use theEnter, Delete and Backspace keys toedit and enter new lines in the list.

5. Click on Jan, Feb… in the Customlists field.

6. This time, the list elements aregreyed out in the List elements field.Try clicking in the field. You cannotedit Excel’s own lists.

Whenever you want to use a user definedlist, type one of the terms in a cell anddrag the fill handle. The list begins withthe term you typed and continues in thecorrect order.You do not need to start with the firstname in the list.You can delete a list permenantly bychoosing Tools, Options, marking the listyou want to delete, and pressing theDelete button.You can use your new list in all files youcreate from now on.

If you list consists of long names, be smart andset it up with a short name as number one.This will only be used to ‘start’ the list.When you want to use the list, all you need todo is type the ‘short name’ in a cell, drag usingthe fill handle, then delete the first cellcontaining the small name again. Try thisexample:PresFranklin Delano RooseveltHarry S. TrumanDwight David EisenhowerJohn Fitzgerald KennedyLyndon Baines JohnsonRichard Milhouse Nixon…and so on

Ausfüllen (serien)


25

Numbers and formulas in our budgetClick back to Sheet1, where we will nowtype numbers and formulas. Type thenumbers without thinking about formattingat the moment.We will start with income:

1. The husband has a monthly netincome of $958. Type this amount incell C4.

2. His wife earns net $1025. Type thisamount into C5.

3. Copy both incomes to the othermonths using Ctrl+C, selecting andEnter.

The formula for Total income should betyped into C6 and copied.This formula could be given as =C4+C5,but this would not be particularly flexible.If you add further rows with other incomesat a later time, these will not appear in thesummation. Instead, we will use thefunction =SUM(C4:C5), which will allowus to insert rows between rows four andfive, and include them in the formulas. Wewill demonstrate that later.You can use the Autosum button, but tryusing the following shortcut instead:

1. Select C6.2. Press Alt+= and the formula is ready:

3. Press Enter and copy the formula tothe other months.

The mortgage for our fictional family’sapartment is constant, but the heating andelectricity costs are shared among all thedifferent apartments, based on theirrelative sizes. The mortgage is $387.50.per month, which you should type inJanuary and copy.The heating bill for the entire building lastyear was $1,125. per month, and thefamily’s apartment has floor spacecorresponding to 0.12 of the total. So theformula for calculating the total is=1125*0.12.The final monthly payment for heating isactually not finalized yet, and our familywould like to be able to see the effect ofany changes. And the way the heating billis divided could also be changed. If wechoose to type 1125 and 0.12 in everyformula, we would have to change every

Numbers and formulas in our budget


26

single one if either of the figures changes.At the risk of repetition, I will just repeat apoint from earlier in the booklet:

It is totally wrong to insert variables in aformula. They should be put in separatecells. All formulas that use this variablewill get the value for this cell. If avariable is changed, just correct this onecell and the entire spreadsheet will beupdated!

With this in mind, we will create an area touse for variables:1. Insert five rows above the

spreadsheet so that we can easily seethe variables while we work with theformulas.

2. Type Total apartment block: in A1.3. Continue typing as follows:

The formula for calculating the amount ofheating used should appear as in the nextillustration, but wait just a moment beforetyping it.First I want to show you two easiermethods for entering formulas. Onemethod uses the mouse and the otheruses the keyboard.

Selecting formulasThe more complex formulas become, andthe more of them you enter, the greaterthe chance becomes of making mistakeswhen you type them yourself. Use thismethod instead:

1. With C15 selected, type = to anchorthe cursor to the cell.

2. Click C3. A dotted frame surroundsthe cell. Notice the text ‘Point’appears on the left side of the statusline. If you click in the wrong cell, justkeep clicking until you hit the correctone.

3. Press *, and then you are ready toclick on the next cell.

4. Click C2 and press Enter.

You can also select the cells using the arrowkeys, a method that is preferable when theyare close together.

When you have begun to type a formula,the arrow keys can only be used forpointing out cells. This is the reason thatentering a formula must always befinished by pressing Enter!

Saving the budgetBefore continuing, you should save yourbudget. In contrast to many otherprograms, Excel does not automaticallysave its spreadsheets at fixed intervals.(In fact this can be set, but to do it is sotroublesome that it appears that theprogram’s designers did not intend for thisfunction to be used).Click on the Save button, or use the Ctrl+Skeys. Type Household budget and pressEnter (the file will be saved in our defaultfolder). I would suggest that you pressCtrl+S regularly to save the data you enter.(In the industry it was once said that:‘Real men never backup their data’ – thenlater it was said that ‘Real men cryoften’…I know exactly what they mean!).

Absolute cell referencesThe formula for calculating the monthlycost of heating is ready for copying…or isit?Try and copy the formula from C15 onecell to the right. There is something wronghere, the result in D15 is zero! Select D15and see if you can work out yourself whatis wrong with the formula before you goon.



27

The formula you have copied was told touse the content of the cell positioned 12rows above it in the same column, andmultiply it with the cell 13 rows above it.When you copied the formula to column D,Excel remembered these relativereferences and moved them to column D.The program did not make a mistake, itdid exactly what it was asked to.So we have to find a way to explain to theprogram that the references should befixed, no matter where we copy theformula to.This fixing of a reference to a cell is calledan absolute reference, and is defined usinga $ (dollar) character in front of both thecolumn and row reference, like this:=$C$3*$C$2Why a $ character?Well, I cannot really give you a goodreason, but I would guess that it isbecause it was the Americans whoinvented the spreadsheet. No matter, it isstandard in all spreadsheet programs.But this does not mean that you shouldtype a $ character in yourself. Use the F4key instead:1. Select C15.2. Press F2 to edit the cell, and use the

Left arrow until the cursor is placed bythe reference to C3 (it does notmatter if the cursor is in front, in themiddle or at the end of thereference).

3. Press F4. The reference is now lockedto cell C3. Try pressing F4 again. Nowonly the row is locked, and pressingF4 yet again will lock the column only.

4. A last press will remove the lock fromeverything. Finally, press F4 to lockthe column and row references.

5. Use the Right arrow to move the cursorto the other side of the multiplicationsign. Press F4 again. Now C2 is

locked. Now press Enter (the resultshould be 135).

6. You can now copy the formula to theheating costs cell for all the othermonths (D15:N15).

When you edit a formula using F2, you can usethe arrow keys to move backwards and for-wards on the formula line.Now try changing the result of the monthlyheating bill by changing the overall use ofthe building in cell C3 to 1600. Themoment you press Enter, you have the newfigures for each month. Go back to theoriginal figure by pressing undo (Ctrl+Z).Try using other figures for the apartment’sshare to see what happens to the total.The formula for Electricity should betyped in and made absolute. This time, wewill do it all at one time:1. Select C16, type = and click C4.2. Press F4 and type *.3. Click C2 and press F4.4. Press Enter – the result should be 144.

We will now copy the formula using thekeyboard:1. Select C16 and press Ctrl+C.

Notice the text in the status line.2. Use Shift+Right arrow to select the cells

D16:N16 and press Enter.

Calculate the Total house expenses inC17 by using the sum formula. Rememberthe Alt+= keys.For January, the formula looks like this:=SUM(C14:C16)and the result should be: 666.50.Copy the formula to the other monthsusing the keyboard.

Annual totalWe still have to add all the monthly figuresto get a total for the year.In O7, type the text Total:, and in O9 usethe Alt+= keys to sum the formula. Theresult for the annual total house expensesshould be 7,998.All the rows containing data should besummed. Of course you could just copythe sum formula all the way from O9 toO17, but that would also insert theformula in cells O12 and O13. Instead,use the keys for copying:1. Select O9 and press Ctrl+C.2. Select the area O10:O11 and press

Ctrl+V. You should not press Enter, as



28

that would finish the copying. Whenusing Ctrl+V to paste, the copyfunction is still active. (check thestatus line).

3. Move the cursor to O14 and selectthe area O14:O17 by using Shift+Downarrow. Since we are not going tocontinue copying after this range, youcan press Enter. (If you want to stopcopying without inserting data, pressEsc).

Checking your formulasType another apartment share in C2. Nowall the formulas react to the changednumber.Use undo (Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y) to swapbetween the two last entries while youcheck to see that all the formulas forheating, electricity and Total houseexpenses have changed.Continue typing the following data. Whenyou copy the data, try using the keyboard;it will pay off in the long run.

Insurance:Home:

January ...................................................125July .........................................................125

Accident:December ...............................................975

Transport:Car loan:

Each month.............................................125Parking:

March......................................................199Insurance (car):

January ...................................................362April.........................................................362July .........................................................362October ...................................................362

Petrol and oil:Every month............................................125

Repairs & maintenance:January ...................................................600July .........................................................600

Now you have a number of cells thatcontain data, and some that do not. Thereis no problem with that, but the emptycells make it difficult for Excel to work outwhich cells should be summed when youenter formulas for Total insurance, Totaltransport and a year total.

Select C28, Total transport and pressAlt+= or click on the AutoSum icon. Nowthe cells C25:C27 are selected – the

empty cell C24 stopped the selection, sothat Car loan and Parking were notincluded.

Change the formula using this method:

1. You have to select the correct cellsyourself. Select cells C23:C27 andpress Enter (Remember that theAutosum only suggests cells. As longas they are highlighted in black youcan change the selection).Copy the formula to the remainingmonths.

2. Type the formula for Total insurance(C21) and copy it to the remainingmonths.

The formula for the calculation of theyear’s total in column O has the sameproblem – there are a number of emptycells each month.An empty cell splits up the spreadsheet, socells that are part of an area should not beempty. Instead, they should contain avalue of ‘0’ (zero), as an accountant wouldexpect them to.

1. Insert a ‘0’ (zero) in every empty cellin the area C19:N20.

2. Insert a ‘0’ (zero) in every empty cellin the area C24:N27.

3. Type a sum formula in O19 and copyit to O20:O21 and O23:O28.Remember to copy using Ctrl+C andCtrl+V.

Your spreadsheet should now look like thenext illustration.To understand what I mean it is necessaryto illustrate the entire spreadsheet – Ihope you can read it!



29

Navigation


30

NavigationWhen you want to move around in a largespreadsheet (Microsoft calls it navigating),it is not so easy to use the mouse and thescroll bars. Think about it. You type datausing the keyboard and have to break off,move your hand to the mouse, move themouse pointer, click and then go back tothe keyboard. It is much easier to keepyour hands on the keyboard for the entireoperation.If you use the mouse constantly, sooner orlater it will result in problems with yourwrist and shoulder, so stick with thekeyboard.Try the following keys until you feelrelaxed using them. Write them out on apiece of paper and put it next to yourkeyboard in the beginning.

HomeSelects the first cell in the row.

Ctrl+HomeSelects cell A1.

Ctrl+EndSelects the last cell on the spreadsheetthat contains data or formatting.

Ctrl+ArrowSelects the last cell containing data in thedirection of the arrow. When the cells areempty, the cursor will move to the last rowor column in the direction of the arrow.Try pressing Ctrl+Right arrow – the cursor isnow in column IV. Press Ctrl+Down arrow –the cursor is now in the last cell in thespreadsheet (IV16384 = 4.194.304 cells!!!).

F5Opens a ‘Go to’ dialog box. Type theaddress of the cell you want to move to inthe Reference field (for example CD1250)and press Enter. Press F5 again, type D48and press Enter. Press F5 again. All thecells you have jumped to are displayed inthe Go to area. Try to double click on oneof them. These references disappear whenyou exit the workbook.When you keep pressing the F5 key, theprogram will keep suggesting that youjump back to where you have just jumpedfrom.Smart detail!

Formatting


31

FormattingNow it is time to do something about theappearance of our spreadsheet.The heading in row 7 should be centeredand formatted in bold type:1. Click on the row number to select the

entire row and choose bold by usingCtrl+B

2. With the row still selected,center all text by using theCenter button (there is no keyfor centering data!).

All numbers should bedisplayed with two decimalplaces. You can choosebetween several methodswhen you have to select a lot of data, ashere. You can select entire rows, or entirecolumns, or even the entire spreadsheet(click on the small grey field at theintersection of the row numbers andcolumn letters). There is just one problemwith formatting the entire sheet.It can lead to printing problems, and willmost definitely slow down themachine…just think how many cells haveto be worked through for no reason at all.So we will format only the cells containingdata using the following method:

1. Select the area C9:O28 (Shift+Arrowkeys).

2. Click the Increase decimal buttonuntil all numbers display twodecimals.This will help a little, but it would beeven easier if the thousands were alsoselected by commas: 1,000.00 (Note:Many countries use a point forthousands, and a comma fordecimals. The way your spreadsheetdisplays will depend on the Regionalsettings you’ve selected in theWindows control panel).

1. Now click on the Comma style(you really need to have triedthis button to understand what itdoes.).

Now, all numbers have thousandseparators and are displayed to twodecimal places. When you type in orformat a number, Excel will automaticallyadjust the column width to suit it. But thisonly applies to cells containing numbers.If you alter a column width manually sothat it is too narrow, then hatch (number)

characters will be displayed (######) assoon as the cell cannot display the numberin full.We have seen earlier that if there is notenough space in a cell to display all thetext, it is simply cut short. Luckily,Microsoft has chosen a different procedurewith numbers…if not, can you imagine thechaos: You type 17,000 – but there is notenough space in the cell, so Excel justremoves the last three zeros!A double click adjusts every selectedcolumn to their individually required width.If you want all columns to have the samewidth, then drag the right border of one ofthe selected columns. When you releasethe mouse, all the other columns in theselection will be given the same width asthe column you adjusted.Let us just test this out:1. Select column C:O. If cells C9:O28

are still selected, then it is easiest tosimply press Ctrl+Space. If not, thendrag the mouse over the top of thecolumns.

2. Now drag in the column you want touse to define the width for the othercolumns. Release the mouse, and allcolumn widths are the same.

Notice the extra space to the right of thecell containing numbers. The Commastyle format is a bit special. Theappearance it gives depends on how youhave Windows configured. Let us see howyour machine is set up.1. Select the cells C9:O28.2. Click on the Currency style

button.Now all you numbers have a ‘$’ infront of them if you have a standardWindows98/95 US configuration.

Remember that a cell has two layers. Wehave just formatted the foreground layer,while the background layer, the formula,remains unaffected. You can check this bychanging a number in one of the formattedcells. Try typing 12000 in cell C9. As soonas you press Enter, the number will bedisplayed in the format you have chosenfor the cell. Return to the original numberby using Ctrl+Z.


32

Notice that the zeroes in the ‘empty’ cellsare shown as dashes. (This is applied byboth currency style and comma style).

Excel and Windows


33

Excel and WindowsThis booklet is not about Windows…but allprograms using Windows are dependanton its configuration, as discussed abovewhen formatting cells using the currencystyle.

Without closing or minimising Excel, clickthe Start button and choose Settings,Control panel. Double-click the RegionalSettings icon.I’m assuming that the value in theRegional Settings tab is English (US),but it could be any one of a number oflanguages. This sets a standard for num-bers, currency symbols, time and date.The Number tab shows the decimal andthousands separator (English speakingcountries standard: 1,250.00). If you workon a machine that shows the decimal as acomma, then it is probably set up toreflect continental European standards(French, German, etc. etc.).The Currency tab shows the currencysymbol used by Excel (and otherprograms). If you are on the defaultEnglish (US) setting, then the $ sign willbe there. Maybe you are sitting in anAmerican company in Japan, working withJapanese accounts, and have defined ¥ asyour currency symbol.You can set all the individual values inRegional settings to suit your ownneeds.Check that the currency is what it shouldbe, and at the same time specify that itshould be placed in front of both negativeand positive amounts:

Click Apply and OK to close the Regionalsettings program and the Control panelwindow. Return to the household budget.All the cells formatted with currency stylehave been adjusted to your new settings.Your numbers might take up a little morespace, so you might see some hatches(######) in some places. Adjust thecolumn widths.You can also get around the problem bychoosing another format, as here:

Toggling formatsSelect the area C9:O28, as follows:1. Select cell C9.2. Hold Shift down while you press

Ctrl+Down arrow. Excel selects to thenext blank cell. Keep holding downShift and continue to press the Downarrow until the selection has reachedthe last row of data..

3. Continue holding Shift down and pressCtrl+Right arrow.

Even though selecting using the keyboarddemands quite a few strokes, it is by farthe most precise method.Now shift between the Comma formatand Currency format, whichsimultaneously adjusts the columns’ width.Notice that the numbers do not actuallychange place. The only difference is thedisplay of your currency unit.You remove a format by choosinganother.You can choose to delete only some of a cell’smany properties. Choose Clear on the Editmenu. If you choose to clear only the Formats,the data in the cell remains untouched.

There are a multitude of formats to choosefrom. With the cells C9:O28 still selected,press Ctrl+1 or open the object menu (rightmouse button) and choose Format Cells.Click the Number tab. (Ctrl+E is used insome language versions of the program).On the Number tab, try clicking thedifferent options in the Category field andkeep watching the Example field.

Later on, you will define your our ownformats.

Viewing the spreadsheet


34

Viewing the spreadsheetOur model has now become so large that itis difficult to keep track of the individualdata. Using the arrow keys, move to O28– Total transport (press F5, type O28and press Enter). Depending on the size ofyour screen and its resolution, youprobably cannot see any of the headings.It would be an advantage to keep the textin columns A and B and also the months inrow 7 fixed on the screen as you scrollthrough the data. There are severaldifferent ways to do precisely that:ZoomWe will start by testing the entire budgeton your screen.1. Press Ctrl+Home to select A1.2. Click on the Zoom button on the

toolbar. Try choosing 50%. Now youcan probably see the entirespreadsheet, but can you read it?Now try 75%, I’m sure that is better.

3. Notice that you can click on the Zoomfield, type a number (you do not needto type %) and press Enter. Try thiswith different values until all the datais visible on screen. Can you read it?

Let’s just try a smart detail: Select somecells, try with A6:E18. Now chooseSelection on the Zoom drop down box.This lets you quickly zoom in and out ondifferent areas of the spreadsheet. Thisdoes not, of course, ensure that someareas are always visible, which is thefunction we need to look at now. Return to100% zoom before continuing.Freeze panesFreeze panes gives you the option tohave certain columns and rows alwaysappear on the screen. Select the first ‘free’cell. When you choose to Freeze panes,all the columns to the left and rows abovewill be ‘frozen’. We want to freeze row 7and columns A and B. With this in mind,select C8 and choose Window|Freeze panes.A vertical and horizontal line show wherethe freezing has taken effect. Try usingthe arrow keys to move around in the

spreadsheet. Ctrl+Home usually selects A1,but now the cursor stops at the first ‘free’cell. You can still move into the lockedarea using either the arrow keys or themouse.Switch the function off again using Window|Unfreeze panes.We do not need to see the total houseexpenses while we work with the budget,but we do want as much space as possiblefor displaying data. Follow the examplehere:1. Without freezing the panes, scdrop-

down the spreadsheet until row 7 isthe first visible row.

2. Select C8 and freeze the panes. Nowonly row 7 is visibly locked:

The following data should be entered whilethe panes are frozen.

Viewing the spreadsheet


35

The Last Formulas…for calculating total expenses and themonthly profit/loss should still be entered,as follows:1. In A29, type Total expenses. For

January, the formula in C29 shouldlook like this: =C17+C21+C28. Theresult should be {INSERT RESULT!!}

2. Copy the contents of this cell into thecells for the other months and thenpress HOME and DOWN ARROW – thiswill select C30.

3. Here you should enter the formula forIncome - Expenses; type in =C11-C35 and copy it into the cells for theother months. In C30, the resultshould be {INSERT RESULT!}

4. Now you need to create thesummation formula in cells O29:O30.The annual total should be {INSERTRESULT!}.

As you can see, this isn’t so bad afterall…in any case you should add othernormal household costs such as food,clothing, travel, etc. If you’d like, you canadd these categories to your very ownbudget.SavingIf you have not already done so, save allthe changes you have made to our budgetby clicking the Save button or pressingCtrl+S.You’ll see that only when you save the filefor the first time are you asked to enter afilename. You’ll only need to use themenu option FILE|SAVE as if you want tosave changes to the file under a newname.

Summary


36

SummaryYou have now tried just about all thefunctions necessary for building up a largespreadsheet. Maybe it is a good idea tostop a moment and review some of themost important functions (and if you don’tagree, then just go straight on to page 38.I want to focus on the principles ofabsolute references. Leave the householdbudget on the screen, and open DECO-RATING.XLS using Ctrl+O.On the Window menu, you can see thatboth files are open. Click on the file youwant to work with, or use Ctrl+Tab, toavoid using the menu and mouse.The supplier we are buying from is a mailorder company. Apparently they want todeliver the goods directly from theirwarehouse in Canada. What we thoughtwere American Dollars have turned out tobe Canadian Dollars, which are cheaper,as the Canadian Dollar is worth less thanthe American Dollar (at this time).First, calculate the net price of the orderedgoods in American Dollars, then the salestax and finally calculate the total price. Wewill be paying American sales tax, but itwould be interesting to see what the resultwould be with another sales tax…after all,one never knows...The exchange rate for the Canadian Dollarand the American sales tax rate should beplaced in their own cells so that they canbe changed quickly if necessary. Try itnow:1. Insert a new row 2 (Ctrl+Plus and Down

arrow to Entire Row).2. Insert a new column C (Ctrl+Plus and

Down arrow to Entire Column).3. Change the text in B1 to Net price

CAN$: and in C1 to Net price US$:4. Adjust the column width.5. Insert the exchange rate 0.66 in C2

and the sales tax rate to 15% in D2.6. Format rows 1 and 2 with bold, and

center C2 and D2.

You are now ready to build a formula thatwill calculate the net price in AmericanDollars:The formula in C3 should multiply theCanadian net price in B3 by the exchangerate in C2. In C4, the net price in B4should be multiplied by the exchange rate

in C2, etc. The reference to C2 should beabsolute.

When the same cell is to be used inseveral formulas, the reference to itshould be absolute.

Have a go at inserting and copying theformula yourself first. Use the arrow keysto select the different cells and forcopying.How did it go? This is how I would havedone it:1. Select C3 and type =.2. Press Left arrow to select B3.3. Type ‘*’ and press Up arrow to select

C2.4. Press F4 to lock the reference (make

it absolute). The formula should nowread =B3*$C$2.

5. Press Enter and select down to C17using Shift+Down arrow.

6. Press Ctrl+D to copy the formula.7. Type a new exchange rate in C2 and

check using Ctrl+Z, that all the netprices change.

The formula for calculating the sales taxshould not contain a value of 15%, butshould get a value from cell D2.1. Select D3, press F2 to edit the for-

mula. Delete 15%.Try pressing the Up arrow – nothinghappens, because you are in theprocess of editing.

2. Press F2 again. Now you can press Uparrow to select D2. Press F4 to lock(make absolute) the reference (theformula should read =C3*$D$2)

3. Press Enter and select the areaD3:D17, then press Ctrl+D to copy theformula.

4. Type a new sales tax rate and checkthat the dependant cells adjustcorrectly.

5. Copy the sum formula in B18 to C18.6. Check the sum formula in E3. It is

incorrect at the moment, as it addstogether all three cells to the left of it.

7. Change this formula so that it onlyadds C3 and D3 together, and thencopy it.

Summary


37

With an exchange rate of 0.66 and salestax at 15%, the total price (in cell E18)should be $220.36.

The edit key has two functions: Press F2 onceto edit the contents of a cell, and F2 againwhen you want to point to a cell reference.

Save AsOur new model should be saved, but wewant to keep the original DECORATING aswell. Using F12 or File|Save As change thename to DECORATING – CANADIAN and closethe workbook.

Formatting the household budget


38

Formatting the household budgetOur household budget should be mademore attractive and easier to read. Thegridlines on the screen seldom look goodon a printout. The effect is much strongerif you just have lines where you wantthem to be, to highlight or separate yourdata.Rather than defining all frames and colorsmanually, the program can do it all for youwith a built in automatic function:

AutoFormatOne of the smartest things with Excel isthat you do not have to select aconsecutive area first. All you have to do isselect one of the cells in the area. Try it onyour own computer:1. On the Household budget sheet,

start by choosing the Window menuand the Unfreeze panes command.Press Ctrl+Home to see the entirespreadsheet.

2. Save the changes in the file (Ctrl+S orthe Save button). You can alwaysreturn to the original appearance.

3. Select any cell in the householdbudget, C10 will do fine.

4. Choose the Format menu and theAutoFormat command. Notice how allconnected cells in the entire budgetare automatically selected. If you hadleft an empty row or columnsomewhere, then Excel would havestopped selecting there.

5. The Down arrow key lets you move

among the different options in theTable format field, and also displaysan example of each of them in thecenter of the dialog box.

6. Choose a format and press Enter.7. Look at the different areas of the

spreadsheet and see how they areformatted.

8. Choose the Format menu and theAutoFormat command again, andchoose another format for yourspreadsheet.

9. Repeat step 8 above as often as youwant.



39

AutoFormat is a quick method to formatyour spreadsheet, even though you haveonly a limited influence over what theprogram actually does. I mainly use thefunction when I am busy and have toprepare some data for printing in a hurry.If you want to make your spreadsheetmore personalized, then AutoFormatfunction is not the function to use.You can decide just how much theAutoFormat function will change theappearance of your data. Click on the Optionsbutton in the AutoFormat dialog box andremove the check marks in the fields you donot want changed by the function.

Removing an AutoFormatAn applied AutoFormat can be removedin the following way:1. Choose Format|AutoFormat and None in

the Table format list (at thebottom). As you can see, allformatting except the number formatsis removed.

2. Naturally you can also undo this. Butwe don’t want to do that here – in thenext exercise, we’ll want to workmore on our spreadsheet withoutAutoFormat.

3. Luckily we were sensible enough tosave our spreadsheet before weplayed with the AutoFormatfunction. Close the file and click Nowhen you are asked if you want tosave changes, then open it again.

Remember that you can always find thelast four opened files at the bottom of theFile menu. It is easy to open a file usingthe keyboard:1. Press Alt+F (the Alt key activates the

menu line, while F is the underlinedletter in the menu name).

2. Press the number corresponding tothe file you want to open (1 willalways be the last saved file).

Manual formattingI do not think that our budget looksparticularly good – the figures are fine, itis just its appearance that I am unhappywith. I must admit that I was not veryconsistent in my formatting. I will dosomething about this now, using the datato help me find a suitable format for eachpart of the spreadsheet.The Total income heading in B11 shouldactually have been entered in A11, and it

should have been in Bold instead of initalic:You have probably already guessed thatdata can be moved in many differentways.I will demonstrate the two most usedmethods.

Moving data using the mouseIf you work with the computer in the sameway I do, you will already have discoveredthat the mouse is not the easiest tool tocontrol. It is very sensitive and needs agood deal of precision to be usedefficiently.It is very important to keep an eye on themouse pointer’s appearance as you movethe mouse. The mouse pointer appears asone of three basic shapes. You have seentwo of them earlier in this booklet:

Select: Fill & Copy: Move:

Point at the frame of the selected cell orarea, and the mouse pointer changesinto an arrow.

1. Select B11 and move it to A11 bydragging it with the mouse when thepointer is an arrow.

2. Format row 11 to be Bold and notItalic using Ctrl+I and Ctrl+B.

Moving data using the keyboardIt is not practical to have the Totalapartment block expenses at the top ofthe spreadsheet. They should not appearin a place where they tend to dominate theentire budget. When data is to be movedoutside the viewing area, the keyboard isbetter than the mouse.1. Select cells A1:C4.2. Cut the selection using Ctrl+X. Notice

the text on the status line.3. Use the Down arrow to select cell A34

and press Enter.4. Press Ctrl+Home to select cell A15. Select rows 1:5, (which are now

empty), and remove them usingCtrl+Minus.

Now the heading ‘Household budget 1999’should now be in A1, and the ‘Totalapartment block’ costs are in the areaA29:C32.

Updating FormulasWhat has happened to our formulas forcalculating heating and electricity? They



40

originally took their information from cellsC2, C3 and C4.Select C10, heating for January:Formulas “remember” which cells they refer to,and use them no matter where you movethem, whether the references were absolute orrelative:

BordersYou can divide your spreadsheet intoappropriate areas by using borders (lines).Borders should only be used for cellscontaining data, not for whole rows or col-umns. Even though it is easier to select anentire row or column, it may causeproblems when you print.The principle is as follows:First select the area you want aborder around, then use the Bordersbutton on the toolbar. If you just click onthe button, the border style shown will beused. If this is not what you want, thenyou should click on the small arrow on theright part of the button.The following choices are then given:If you need to do a lotof work with borders,it is a good idea todrag this menu ontothe display. Grab holdof the little grey bar atthe top of the menuand drag it to where you want it. Thewindow is closed as usual by clicking onthe small cross at the right side of the titlebar.The first choice re-moves all borders inthe selected area,while the last three puta border around theentire selected area.Try playing aroundwith this function, andremember that only the selected cells aregiven borders. Remove any borders youadd before continuing.1. Select cells A6:O62. Choose the pattern that puts a single

line at the top and a double line at thebottom of the selected area (as in theexample above).

3. To make further formatting with thesame type of border easier, thebutton remembers the last bordertype you used. Select A24:O24 andclick the Borders button.

4. Select B12:O12 and choose thepattern with a thin line above and

below (second from right in the centerrow).

5. Continue adding borders to highlightthe part(s) of the spreadsheet youwant.

That looks better; although the borderoptions were a little limited. You cannotchoose a color for the lines, and there areno thin dotted lines, nor extra thick lines …Use the toolbar as a shortcut to moresubtle options. You have seen earlier howeverything to do with formatting cells iscontained in the Format Cells dialog box:1. Select A1:O2. You will add a colored

line under these cells.2. Open the object menu using the right

mouse button and choose FormatCells or press Ctrl+1.

3. Choose the Border tab.Your choicehas to be made in two steps. First youchoose the appearance of the line(Style), then which part of the cellshould have a line around it like this:

4. Select a thick line in the Style field.5. Choose a suitable color for the line.

Note that all the lines in the Stylefield now have the chosen color.

6. You now have to tell Excel where theselected line style should be inserted.Click at the Bottom of the Borderfield, or on the small button markedwith a line at the bottom.

7. Press Enter and press an arrow key to

cancel the selection (format optionsare difficult to see when the cells areselected).

Do you think this way of doing things isstrange? I did at first, but now I have toadmit that I do not think that there is abetter way of doing it. While the dialogbox is open, you can give lines an individ-ual format. The example on the picture isan attempt to demonstrate what ispossible (though you cannot see the col-ors, which may be a good thing!).The Outline field places a border all the wayaround the selected area.



41

Changing a borderIf you want to change a border, all youneed to do is put the new style ‘over’ theold.

Removing a borderIf you want to remove a border, click theNone option on the Borders pop-up box.If you’d rather remove individual elementsof a border, open the FORMAT|CELLS dialogbox, click on the Borders tab and removethe desired part of the frame with a click.

Removing gridlinesOur household budget has a lot of bordersin it, but as long as the gridlines are visibleit is hard to see if they are going to helpproduce a clear and understandableprintout.We will remove the gridlines from thescreen:1. Choose Tools|Options and remove the

checkmark in the Gridlines checkboxon the View tab.

2. Choose OK to close the dialog box.

Shading and colorYou can color and shade cells. Just as withborders, you can click on the Color buttonto use the color it displays or click on thearrow on the button to choose anothercolor.We want to pep up some areas in ourbudget by making them anothercolor.1. Select the area A1:O2.2. Click on the Color button (the

standard color is grey).3. Press an arrow key to cancel the

selection.

Let us try another color. Try using Undoto select the cell again (it actually removesthe color formatting, but as the area wasselected before we applied the color, itselects the area for us again). As you aregoing to choose another color, it is notimportant that Undo removes the greybackground.1. Press Ctrl+Z.2. Click on the little arrow on the Color

button. Choose a color.3. Press an arrow key to cancel the

selection.

Continue doing this to test different colors.If you want to remove the color completelyat some stage, then just choose the largefield None.If you prefer a dark basic color, then it issensible to choose white text:

1. With the area still selected,press the Font Color button.

2. Use the same method you used forthe background color to change thefont color.

Invisible Buttons on the Toolbar

…can be made visible by clicking on thelittle arrow underneath the double arrownext to the last visible button.Then, if you’ve clicked one of the invisiblebuttons, the program will group the butonson the toolbar so that the last one youused is visible. Not so stupid…You can combine a background color witha pattern to give exactly the effect youwant.I will just introduce you to the principle, soyou can play around with it as much asyou want in your own time:1. Select an area, choose Format Cells

and the Pattern tab.2. Click the Pattern button. Another

color palette appears. This is startingto get confusing. The new colorpalette only applies to the pattern youcan add over the background color(the cell color can have two ‘layers’):

That is to say, you can look through thecoloured pattern and see the backgroundcolour.



42

After you have experimented with thisfunction a little, choose a light backgroundcolor with a pattern of white dots over itfor your cells.When a printout of a spreadsheet is to becopied, it is best to choose a dotted pattern asa background color. Copy machines do not copysolid colors well.

Copying formatsThe format of cells B12:O12 should becopied to Total insurance, Totaltransport and Total household, etc.This is done as follows:1. Select the format for copying,

B12:O12.2. Click the Format Painter button. The

mouse pointer turns into a littlebrush.

3. Click on B16. Cells B16:O16 ‘inherit’the formatting (number format, linesand colors). There is no need to selectall the cells.

The copying stops automatically. Whenyou want to copy to several areas, as inthis example, then do the following:1. Hold the area B16:O16 selected and

double click on the Format Painter.2. Click in B23. The function remains

active.3. Click in B29 and then copy the format

of lines 24 and 25 (TotalExpenditures and Income-Expenditures). If you’d like, chooseyour own format for line 25.

If you want to copy a format repeatedly,double-click on the Format Painter button.Now this function will remain active until youclick the ESC key or click the button again.

Save the workbook (Ctrl+S) and continueto format the budget as you wish. Youmay want to change the text colors forincome and expenses…it’s up to you.

Printing the budgetThe easiest way to print the budget isto press the Print button. However,the standard printout layout is notespecially suited to our spreadsheet. I willnow briefly show you how to adjust aprintout.I recommend that you use the PrintPreview button, as this function willshow you exactly how your printer prints.You can see how many pages will beprinted at the bottom of the screen. Itwould be best to print our budget inlandscape format (horizontal layout).Click the Setup button and chooseLandscape on the Page tab.You can use the Scaling area to fit yourprintout on a single page. This is anefficient function as the printout will becompressed to fit on one page, even if itotherwise would take many pages! SelectFit to 1 page wide by 1 page tall.

Click OK (Enter) and check, at the bottomof the page, that the printout now fits onone page.Click on the Setup… button again and theAdjust to field will show you how muchthe spreadsheet has been compressed(between 10 and 400 percent).Press Esc to close the Setup… dialog boxand click on Close to return to theworking area.All you need to do now is press the Printbutton to see the budget as ‘hardcopy’.



43

Data layoutCentering headingsThe heading ‘Household budget 1999’ canbe centered across the entire spreadsheet:1. Select the heading and the cells

it should be centered across(A1:O1).

Click on the Merge and Center button. Excelnow treats the cells as one large cell.

Vertical layoutYou can create more space in thespreadsheet by increasing the height ofrows. This is done by dragging the bottomline of the row number:Drag down toincrease the height.1. Drag the height

of row 1 to beapproximately30.

2. Select the row and choose FormatCells (Ctrl+1).

3. On the Alignment tab, chooseCenter in the Vertical field.

Entire rows or columns can be selectedwhen you want to format the text tobold, or center it. When you want to adda border to cells in a spreadsheet, youshould only select cells containing dataas previously described.

Continue as follows:

1. Change the height of row 6 and row24 to be approximately 20. Theheight of row 31 should be about 25.

2. Select rows 6, 24 and 25 and chooseVertical Centering.

You can select several independent areas byholding down Ctrl while clicking on other rowsor columns.It is difficult to really assess the layoutproperly before looking at a hard copy ofthe spreadsheet. I suggest that you printone page before deciding whether you aresatisfied with the layout or not.This is what my ‘Household budget’ lookslike now (you may need a magnifyingglass to see the lines I have added):

Naming cells


44

Naming cellsThe model on Sheet1 in the DECORATING –CANADIAN file is very small and easy tomaintain.

Formulas like the one depicted here arenot particularly easy to understand. Asyour spreadsheet gets larger with time, itgets even more difficult to be able to seewhat each cell actually contains.You should get into the habit of buildingup spreadsheets so that the formulas areeasy to understand. Remember that itmight be several months before you workwith it again, and by that time you mayhave forgotten what they refer to.For this purpose, the ability to name cellsis indispensable. Quite simply, it allowsyou to give cells a more meaningful namethan the ordinary cell references.In principle, all cells in a spreadsheet canbe called something other than their cellreferences. The cell containing theexchange rate, C2, would be easier torefer to if it was named ExchangeRatelike this:

Two cells cannot have the same name,and names cannot contain spaces. If youwant to name a cell, for example ‘SalesTax’, it could be done without the space(SalesTax) or with an underscore insteadof the space (Sales_Tax).

1. Select C2, and click on the cellreference in the name box overcolumn A.The reference will be selectedautomatically. This means that youcan overwrite the original referencewith a new name.

2. Type ExchangeRate, followed byEnter.

You can also continue to use C2 if youwant. You can see this by selecting a cellcontaining a formula for calculating the netprice in American Dollars, like C3. Theformula is unchanged.Change all formulas in the model so thatthey refer to the cell name ExchangeRate

instead of the original cell reference, ashere:1. Select C3 and press F2.2. Delete the reference $C$2 and

instead type ExchangeRate andpress Enter. Excel will show that thereference is valid by showing‘ExchangeRate’ with a capital ‘E’.

3. Copy the formula down to cellsC4:C17.

4. Select some cells in the area C4:C17to see that the reference is correct.Type a new exchange rate in C2 andpress Enter. Did you get new prices?

If Excel displays a name that’s written withlower-case letters in a formula (and not withupper-case letters), it’s possible that the namewas entered wrong. In other words, theprogram has a very useful error-checkingfunction.

Important: References to cells withnames are automatically absolute. Inother words, you do not have to press F4when you use names.

Other advantages of usingnamesAs well as making formulas easier to read,there are other clear advantages innaming cells.

Entering formulasMove down the spreadsheet by pressingPageDown (PgDn) a couple of times. Thecell containing the exchange rate is nolonger visible.1. In a cell selected at random, type

=ExchangeRate and press Enter.Excel shows the value of C2 – you didnot need to remember which cellcontained the Exchange rate!

2. Press the Down arrow and type=250*ExchangeRate. Press Enter.Easy and efficient.

Jumping to named cellsThe exchange rate for CAN$ has changedto 0.72:1. Click the small arrow in the right side

of the name box:

Naming cells


45

2. All the names in this workbook arelisted here. In this case, there is onlyExchangeRate. Click on the nameand the cell is selected. This is a fastand flexible ‘go to’ function.

3. Type the new rate in: 0.72 and pressEnter. The entire spreadsheet isupdated.

It is not a good idea to give all cells in aspreadsheet names; but as you can see,all key cells should be named.

The cell containing the sales tax rateshould also be named.1. Select D2 and click the name box.2. Type SalesTax and press Enter.3. Change the formula in D3 to

=B3*SalesTax and press Enter.4. Copy the formula to cells D4:D17.

Column and row headings you want to usethroughout the spreadsheet can be defined asLabels. Once defined, they will be appliedautomatically as you type formulas referring tothese cells. Label areas are defined in theInsert|Name|Labels command. Search for helpon ‘Labels and names in formulas’ for moreinformation.

Names in the ‘Householdbudget’In the household budget there are threecells that should be named. Open or moveto the budget and select C36, Apartmentshare.1. Type ApartmentShare in the name

box and press Enter.2. Select C37, type Heating in the

name box and press Enter.3. Select C38, type Electricity in the

name box and press Enter.

All cells referring to these three key figuresshould be changed so that they refer tonames. Instead of changing each formulaand then copying them, we will get theprogram to do the hard work for us:1. You should select one cell; it does not

matter which one.2. We will now apply the names we have

created. Choose Insert|Name|Apply.

All the names in the workbook will beshown here. Make sure that all threenames are selected (click on them).If you have selected more than one cell whenyou choose Insert|Name|Apply, the cellreferences will only be changed in the selectedcells. But if you have only selected one cell,Excel will change the formulas in every cell inthe spreadsheet.

1. Right-click the two checkboxes,Ignore Relative/Absolute and UseRow and Column Names to readwhat they mean.

2. Click on OK or press Enter to acceptthe settings.

3. Select some cells in rows 10 and 11to check the formulas. C10, forexample:

4. We have now heard that the actualheating consumption will be higherthan expected. By using the namebox, jump up to the heating cell andchange the number to 1600.

5. Check that the formulas forcalculating the monthly heating bill inrow 10. Use Ctrl+Z to check thechanges.

6. Save the folder using the same name(Ctrl+S).

Printing


46

PrintingMaybe you have already printed theHousehold budget a couple of times. Thereare, however, many ways to customize aprintout when you need to print largespreadsheets.

Margins1. With any cell in our household

budget selected, click on thePrint Preview button.

2. When the changes were made in printsetup last time (page 42), thespreadsheet was printed on one pagein landscape format.

3. Click on the Margins button. Allmargins can be changed by draggingthem.

4. Drag the left margin as far to the leftas possible. The mouse pointer willstop automatically at the point wheretext falls out of the print area definedby your specific printer.

5. Drag the right margin as far to theright as possible.

6. Pull the spreadsheet’s top margin alittle closer to the header margin.

7. Try dragging some of the columnborders (you cannot adjust thecolumn widths automatically on thePrint Preview screen).

As we specified that the spreadsheet mustbe printed out on one page, Excel willadjust its size each time you drag amargin.

Headers and footersNow we will adjust the text shown at thetop and bottom, the header and footer:

1. Click the Setup… button, then theHeader/Footer tab.

2. Click the little arrow to the right ofthe Footer: field.

Excel is incredibly user friendly – withsome exceptions, one of them being here.The options shown on this drop-down listare usually totally useless! Create yourown footer instead:1. Click the arrow again to close the

drop-down list, and click on theCustom Footer… button instead.

2. The Footer dialog box is divided intothree sections. You can insert text oneither the left, middle or right third ofthe footer area. There are severalcodes you can choose from; the oneshown here inserts the name of thespreadsheet from the name on thetab.

All printer codes begin with anampersand (‘&’), and the action to becarried out is entered between squarebrackets.

3. If there are codes in all three fields,they can be deleted by dragging themouse over them and pressing Delete.

4. Click the Right Section fieldand click the Date button. Thiscode inserts the current dateevery time you print the spreadsheet.

5. Drag the mouse over the code&[Date] to select it and clickon the Font button.

6. Choose a font size of 8 points andclick OK or press Enter to close theFont dialog box.

7. Click OK or press Enter to accept thefooter and return to the Page Setupdialog box. The date and pagenumber are shown in the lower partof the dialog box:

The little yellow help labels do not appearwhen you point to the buttons in the PageSetup dialog box. Instead, you can gethelp by clicking them with the right mousebutton.The footer still needs some changes:

Printing


47

1. Click on the Custom Footer…button. We want to see the pagenumber together with the totalnumber of pages.

2. In the Center Section field, typePage and click the Page numberbutton (second from the left, markedwith one hatch character). This willinsert the page number. (code:&[Page]). In this way you cancombine text and codes (withouthaving to surround text withquotation marks).

3. With the cursor placed after thecode &[Page], click the Totalpages button.

The result looks very strange, because thecodes are not seperated from each other.

If you are on page one of a four-pageprintout, the codes will show thesenumbers right next to each other, so thecode looks like 14! So we need to entersome text and spaces between them:1. Click between the two codes. Check

that the cursor is between ‘]’ and ‘&’.2. Type a space, followed by of and

another space:

3. Click in the Left section field, andtype in your initials followed by aspace.

4. Click the Time button.5. Mark both text and code, and

click the Font button. The font sizeshould be 6 points. You cannot choosea size less than 8 points, but if youclick in the Size field, you can type in6. Press Enter to confirm, accept, andclose the dialog box.

6. We want the file name in the Rightsection field. Click in the field and

click the File name button. This codeensures that we can always see thename of the file.

7. The file name should be printed in avery small point size. Use the samemethod as in step 7 above. Look atthe picture on the bottom of the page.

8. Click OK to close the Footer dialogbox and OK again to close the PageSetup dialog box. You should nowreview the page layout on the PrintPreview screen.

You can insert other codes, for examplethe date, in the Custom Header… dialogbox if you want.Scaling the printoutIt is not always possible to read theprintout of a large spreadsheet when it hasbeen compressed to fit on just one page.So let us return to normal size:1. While you are in the Print Preview

screen, click the Setup… button andthe Page tab.

2. Specify that the printout should beadjusted to 100% in the Adjust tofield (click on the Adjust to: field andtype 100 and press Enter or use thesmall arrows).

3. Press Enter and look at the bottom ofthe screen to see how many pagesthe printout will be.

Manual page breaksWhen a spreadsheet takes up more thanone page, it is often necessary to decidewhere the pages should begin and end:1. While you are in the Print Preview

screen, press PageDown (PgDn) andPageUp (PgUp) to leaf through thedifferent pages. You will see that theTotal apartment block figures areprinted out on their own page, whilethe spreadsheet is divided atSeptember. Exactly where the sheetis divided depends on your particularcomputer/printer combination.

2. We want to start a new page after the

Printing


48

first half year. Press Esc, or click theClose button to return to the workingscreen. Notice that this now containsboth a vertical and horizontal dottedline. These show you where the newpages begin.

3. Click in the cell to the right of andbelow the position of the new pagebreak (hmm…difficult to explain – buteasier to see on the screen). We wantthe new page to begin between Juneand July. Select I33 and chooseInsert|Page break.

Vertical and horizontal dotted lines indicatepage breaks. The spreadsheet is nowdivided into four pages. Check that thepage breaks work properly:1. Choose Print preview and check the

pages one by one, using PageDownand PageUp.Are the page breaks where theyshould be?

2. Click the Setup… button and theSheet tab. In the Page order field atthe bottom, you can choose whichorder the pages should be printed.

3. Press Esc twice to return to theworking screen.

You can insert as many page breaks asyou want To insert a vertical page break,select a column and choose Insert|Pagebreak. For a horizontal page break, mark arow.

Removing page breaksManual page breaks can be removed byplacing the cursor to the right of or directlyunder the page break that is to beremoved.1. Try removing one of the page breaks.

Select any cell in column I, forexample I35 (but not I33). Themouse pointer is now touching thevertical page break.

2. Choose the Insert menu. The commandis now called Remove page break.Choose it.

3. The horizontal page break over row33 is still there. Now select any cell inrow 33 and choose Insert|Remove pagebreak.

If you want to remove both page breaks atonce, select the cell at the intersection ofthe horizontal and vertical page breaks(I33).

There are still a couple of things to changebefore the printout is totally satisfactory.

Repeating headingsEarlier you tried to freeze panes so thatyou could always see the text in the firstcolumn and row while you moved throughthe spreadsheet. Be aware that the FreezePane function only works on the screenand not on printouts.The first two columns and rows should berepeated on every page of the printout.It’s not a good idea to center a headingover several columns if it’s supposed toappear on several different pages.This is how you do it:1. Select A1, which will mark the entire

area to be used for headers.2. Press CTRL+1 and choose the

Alignment tab.3. Deactivate the Merge cells option by

removing the checkmark in theappropriate box and press ENTER.

Now you need to define the headings asfollows:1. Choose File|Page Setup and click the

Sheet tab. The dialog box is thesame as that you saw in PrintPreview, Setup… but now youshould choose the fields in the Printtitles area (these fields are greyedout in Print Preview).

2. The Rows to Repeat at Top field isnot relevant here, as the printout iswide and not high. Click in theColumns to Repeat at Left field andselect any two cells in columns A andB on your spreadsheet using thecursor (this is on the spreadsheetitself, not in the dialog box!).

3. The little button to the right handside of the fields for Print areaand Repeats will let you display moreof your spreadsheet. Click it to reducethe size of this dialog box. When youhave chosen your area, click it again.Now your dialog box looks like this:

4. Click the Print Preview button onthe right side of the dialog box andlook at the pages. The text next toevery category will be included on

Printing


49

pages one and three of the four pageprintout.

If you’ve specified that the heading HouseholdBudget 1999 should be printed in very bigletters, it will probably be split up by the pagebreak.

Excel has done precisely what you asked it todo! You asked for columns A and B to berepeated on all pages of the printout, and asthe heading is longer than two columns, thetext has been cut. The easiest workaround is toreduce the font size until the entire heading canfit in column A.

Unfortunately, the total apartment blockcharges have also been printed on pagetwo, and the text on page four. Thisshould be corrected.

Print area

You can limit the area to be printed. Theidea with ‘key’ cells, like our totalapartment block charges, is that it shouldbe easy to change the spreadsheet bychanging figures in a single cell, making itquick and easy to do ‘what if’ analyses.These ‘key’ cells do not necessarily have tobe printed together with the spreadsheet.

1. Select the area A1:O25.2. Press Ctrl+P or choose File|Print. The

Print dialog box appears.3. Choose Selection from the Print

what area:

4. Click the Print Preview button at thebottom of the dialog box – theprintout is now only two pages.

The choice is only valid as long as the areais selected. Next time you print aspreadsheet without selecting anything,the entire sheet will be printed.

Fixed print areaIf you want to specify an area as a fixedprint area, you do not have to select it andchoose Selection every time. This can bedone as follows:1. Select the area A1:O25 and choose

File|Print area|Set print area. Press anarrow key to cancel the selection andclick on Print Preview.

2. Now all you have to do is click thePrint button without worrying aboutselecting anything.

3. Press Esc to close Print Preview.

When you want to print another area ofthe spreadsheet, you can do it quitesimply, as follows:1. Select a smaller area, like A2:E6,

press Ctrl+P and choose Selection. Clickthe Print Preview button. The printarea previously specified is nowignored.

2. Press Esc to close Print Preview andpress any arrow key to cancel theselection.

3. Without selecting anything else, clickthe Print Preview button. Thepreviously defined print area will nowbe active again.

4. Press Esc to close Print preview.

Printing named areasWhen you define print titles and print ar-eas, they are automatically named.

Excel uses named areasto simplify themanagement of moreadvanced functions.If you learn to usenames from the very start, many routineswill be much easier to manage in thefuture. When you need to print differentareas, it is obviously best to name eacharea.Select areas that you often print, click inthe name box and type a suitable name(for example, area A1:E31 could benamed First_Quarter – note theunderscore as you cannot have spaces in aname). When you want to print this area,choosing its name in the name box willselect it. Then press Ctrl+P and chooseSelection.Or, even better, you can add a button tothe toolbar to define a print area -- as wewill see next.

Toolbars


50

Toolbars

Nearly all commands can be placed on atoolbar as a button. There are a number ofpredefined toolbars available.1. Choose View|Toolbars. The two toolbars

that are always visible are calledStandard and Formatting.

2. Choose the Drawing toolbar and clickOK to return to the working screen.

3. The Drawing toolbar appears as afloating toolbar that can be draggedto wherever youwant it (just dragthe title bar). You can also place it atthe bottom of the screen or togetherwith the other toolbars. In thesepositions, their title bars are hidden.To drag them somewhere else on thescreen, take hold of a toolbar in anarea between two buttons and dragit:

Another, faster, way to open a toolbar isto right click an empty space on any tool-bar button on the screen. You can thenselect the toolbar you want on the objectmenu. The object menu also gives you theoption of customizing the toolbars.

Customizing toolbarsTo be really effective, the buttons on eachtoolbar should reflect your method ofworking.When you have worked a while with theprogram, you will notice that you have notused some of the buttons on the toolbars.When this is the case, replace them withmore relevant buttons. Right now we need

a button to help us define printout areas.This is how to do it:

1. Right-click anywhere on the toolbar,and choose Customize followed bythe Customize tab.

2. The buttons in the dialog box are di-vided into categories corresponding toExcel’s menus. Click on the Describebutton to read a description ofselected command:

3. Go back to the File category and findthe button described as: ‘Setsselected cells as area to print’.

4. We want to make space for thisbutton on the Standard toolbar. Thisis done by dragging one or moreunneeded buttons from it. You canalways find a button again under thecategory it belongs to in theCustomize dialog box.I suggest that you remove theSpelling button. Drag it anywhere offthe toolbar and release the mouse.(Note that this can only be done withthe Custom dialog box open!).

5. Grab the new button using the mouseand drag it to the position where youwant it on the toolbar. This button willbe used when printing, so why notposition it between Print and PrintPreview:

The other buttons on the toolbarmove and the program makes spacefor the new button when you releasethe mouse button. Change theindividual positions of the buttons bydragging them around.

6. Click on Close, or press Enter to closethe Custom dialog box.

You should test out the new button:1. Select an area, A1:E6, for instance,

and click the new button, Set Print

Toolbars


51

Area. Click on Print Preview – V-oila…the area is ready for printing!

2. Repeat this with other areas and printout the different areas. Easy andelegant.

Remember: Cells and areas that you useoften should be given a name…this bearsrepeating with emphasis, because it is soimportant: Cells and areas that you useoften should be given a name!!

Charts


52

Charts‘A picture says more than a thousandwords.’ A wise and well known phrase,highly relevant when you’ve got numbersto display and analyzeIt is very difficult to understand thingsclearly from the spreadsheet data alone,especially in large models.The amount of data in our householdbudget is comparatively large, so beforewe use it, it would be a good idea to ‘play’a little with charts for a smaller example.1. Close Household Budget and choose

Yes when asked if you want to savechanges.

2. Type the following small model in anew, blank workbook. It shows afamily’s pension plan:

It is important to decide what the chartshould show before you create it because itis possible to distort reality when numbersare presented graphically.The family wants to see the relationshipbetween the budgeted and actualamounts. The chart should be created toshow, for example, the capital pension intwo columns, side by side, making themeasy to compare.At the same time, I will create the chart asa separate spreadsheet within theworkbook.

The Chart WizardA chart on a new pageFirst, you should select the data to bedisplayed. Do not include the Total (B6and C6) cells, as these columns would beenormous.We want to see the details in thespreadsheet.1. Select a cell at random within the area

A1:C4 and press Ctrl+*. The text isalso to be included in the chart, andshould therefore be included in theselection.

Mark consecutive cells quickly using Ctrl+*. Thisis yet one more reason that you should avoidhaving empty columns and rows on yourspreadsheet. Use the asterisk on the numerickeyboard for selecting cells (to use the asteriskbeside the Enter key, you must press the Shiftkey as well).

The chart is built up as follows:1. Choose Insert|Chart|As New Sheet,

or click the Chart Wizardbutton.

2. Your ‘personal guide’ appears andasks you if you want help with thisfunction. Choose ‘No’ and he politelydissapears.

3. The ChartWizard will now try andhelp you to make the right choices.The first stage of the guide takes youthrough the different types of charts.There are sub-types for every typeshown, and the guide suggests thefirst, very simple, format. Choosingformat number two shows the threepensions one above the other,showing how much is budgeted andhow much is realized (you can see thetotal pension, and also how large apart each pension type is of the total).Format number three shows thesame, but in percentages.

4. Notice the Press and hold to viewexample button, and do as it says tosee different types and sub-types ofchart.

5. Choose the first bar type and click theNext button to go to step two of theWizard:

To undo any step and return to the previousstage, click the Back button. If you press Enterby mistake instead of the Next button, thechart will be created. (Enter is the same as

Charts


53

pressing Finish). If this happens, press Deleteto delete the chart, and start from thebeginning again using the Wizard.6. The Wizard displays the selected area

in the Range field. The Series in:radio buttons let you choose betweencolumns and rows for your dataseries. Click on the rows button tosee the difference. We want tocompare the budgeted figures for apension with the actual figures, soclick on Columns before continuing.

7. Notice that step two of the ChartWizard contains two tabs. Click on theSeries tab. This lets you add orremove series, choose a differentname for an existing series, or chooseanother area of your spreadsheet forlabelling the axis. (This last is called‘Category (X) axis labels’).

8. Click on the Next button to go to stepthree of the Chart Wizard. Type 1999in the Chart title field and wait amoment. This title is displayed on thelittle example chart. You can add axisheadings in the same way.

9. Try clicking on each tab in step three.I would especially recommend thatyou try the Show data table field onthe Data Table tab.

10. Click on the Next button to go tostep four of the Chart Wizard.

11. This is where you can choose wherethe new chart should be in yourworkbook, whether it should be a newsheet or an object on an existingsheet. Choose As new sheet andlabel it as follows:

12. The chart is now finished, so choose

Finish or press Enter.

Excel displays the chart in its standardformat.

We will change the colors in a moment, butlet us first see if there is a relationshipbetween the data on Sheet1 and thecolumns on Chart1.

Updating a chartThe smallest column is Budgeted for theCapital pension where the scale on the Y-axis stops at $100,000. Let us change thisnumber to see if the chart is automaticallyupdated.

1. Click the Sheet1 tab. Change thevalue in B2 to $100,000.

Click again on CHART1 and see what hashappened to the height of the column.1. The tallest column is the actual

amount from the 401(k) plan. Changethat from $168,000 to $268,000Return to the chart and notice thatthe scale on the Y-axis now goes up to$300,000.

2. Return to Sheet1 and change thepayment in B3 back to $168,000.(Ctrl+Z).

Charts


54

Adjusting the format in a chartEvery part of a chart can be changed. Nomatter where you click in the chart area,an element will be selected. Small black‘handles’ show the selected area. Whenyou position the mouse pointer on one ofthese, it changes to a double arrow thatallows you to change the size of the object.To change a format, double click the objectyou want to change.1. Double click on one of the blue

columns (budgeted).2. The Format data series dialog box

opens. Choose another color in theArea field. You can also add a patternto the column by clicking on the FillEffects button. Take a look at theTexture tab in the Fill Effects dialogbox; it contains many attractivetextures, but be careful, it is easy toget carried away.

3. Choose OK (Enter) and format theother columns as you wish.

If you double click too slowly on acolumn, the program thinks that youonly want to select the one column.When you then choose a different color,only this column will change color – veryconfusing (undo it immediately).

1. The gray background, the Plot area,is not very attractive. Double-click itand choose a subdued color (maybe a

pale yellow, or a texture in a palecolor).

2. The legend on the right side of thechart area also needs changing.Double-click it and notice the littlefield Shadow in the Form Legenddialog box. Check the box and clickOK.

3. Grab the legend with the mouse anddrag it to a new position.

4. You can format and move the titlefield 1999 in the same way (try usingan underlined text).

Of course, you can also use the rightmouse button on any element.1. Right click the Plot area and choose

Chart Options. Click on theGridlines tab and click on the MinorGridlines radio button for the Y-axis.Click OK – and now there are enoughlines on our chart.

2. The background gridlines should notbe so obvious. Right click on one ofthem and choose Format Gridlineson the object menu (or double-clickone of the lines).

3. The Format gridlines dialog box letsyou choose a dotted line and a palercolor, like light grey.

4. Click OK – now it looks a little better.It is easy to read precise values fromyour chart.

The axis cross at $0 and the size difference

of each bar will be easier to see if theycross at a figure like $60,000.

Charts


55

1. Double-click on one of the figures onthe Y-axis. In the Format axischoose the Scale tab.

2. Type 60000 in the Minimum fieldand press Enter.

If you want to change the font of the axislabels, or tilt the text to 45°, then theprinciple is the same. Double-click the textyou want to alter. The appropriate dialogbox will always appear.

Chart typesHave you noticed the Chart toolbar? It ap-pears automatically when you select achart.

1. Click the Chart type button andchoose the three dimensional columnchart. All your formatting will besaved.

2. Try moving between the differenttypes of charts. Our model is bestsuited to column, line and area charts.

3. Choose the three dimensional columnchart before continuing.

3-D perspectiveThe columns look like skyscrapers seenfrom a helicopter – or have I just seen toomany American movies? Maybe we want tofly around the skyscrapers to see themfrom another angle:1. Click on one of the vertical axes.

There should be a small black squareat the top and bottom of the axis.

2. Click on one of the black squares. Nowthere should be black squares at thetop and bottom of every axis.

3. When the mouse is over any of theblack squares, it will turn into a small,thin cross. Drag the cross.

More than once all my attempts atformatting have ended in an illegible mess.Luckily, all formatting can be cancelled byright-clicking the chart, choosing ChartType and clicking in the DefaultFormatting check box, followed by OK..

Save chartThe chart is part of the workbook, and willbe saved together with it.1. Press Ctrl+S and save the workbook

using the name PENSIONS.XLS. Let thefile remain on the screen.

We have now gone through the majority –and the most important – principles offormatting charts. In the following section,you will create a couple of other charts,but I won’t detail each individualformatting step.

A chart on this sheetA chart can be placed directly on thespreadsheet, which is very sensible whenthe spreadsheet takes up as little space asour pension model.1. With the cursor in any cell in the area

A1:C4, click the ChartWizard button.2. Follow the guide step by step to set

up a bar chart, but stop at step four.Notice that even though you did not mark thearea A1:C4, the Wizard automatically expectsyou to use it for your chart. Most of Excel’sfunctions work like this. (Ctrl+* is automaticallyused by these functions).In step four, choose:

Notice that you can choose to place the charton another spreadsheet within the workbook.

3. Click Finish to add the chart, in aframe, to the spreadsheet.

4. The frame is selected (small tags,called handles are placed around theedge of the frame). Drag one of thehandles to change the chart’s size, oron the Chart area to move it.

5. Double-click the chart’s objects toalter their format (the font size needs

Charts


56

to be changed). When you have madethe changes you want, click any cell inyour spreadsheet, which takes youback into it.

In reality, the chart is in a frame, on top ofthe spreadsheet, and is taken to be anobject - a picture. The arrow keys let youmove the cursor under the chart’s frame.This also means that you can place thechart over some of the spreadsheet’s data.

Selecting dataYou will now create a pie chart of the datain column C, but you’ll want to use the textfrom column A.

1. Select cells A1:A4.2. Hold the Ctrl key down while using the

mouse to select cells C1:C4.

It is very important that the areaselected in column A is the same size asthat selected in column C. In principle,you will not be using A1 for anything inthe chart, but if you do not select thiscell, the program will not understandhow text and data belong together.

Now we are ready to create the chart:

1. Click ChartWizard, choose Pie, andthe sub-type Pie with a 3D visualeffect.

2. Click Next until you are on step four.3. Choose As object on sheet1 and

click Finish.4. Position the pie chart under the bar

chart and alter the sizes so that theymatch each other.

Click once on the pie chart - now all threelayers are selected. Click again, on the smallestbit, and now only it is selected. Drag the pieceaway from the center of the circle (it is called‘exploding’ the chart).

Printing chartsYou cannot be sure that the two charts canbe printed on the same page before Excelhas created the printout:

1. Click any cell in the spreadsheet sothat the chart is not selected. Click onthe Print preview button. If theprintout will fill more than one page,then return to your spreadsheet andmake the charts smaller, or movethem slightly. Notice the dotted pagebreak on your spreadsheet, whichmakes it easy to see if everything willfit on one page.

2. The gridlines are useful on theworking screen, but are distracting (tosay the least) on a printout. Click theSetup… button and the Sheet taband deselect printing gridlines.

If you would like to print out just the piechart, double-click it in the normal viewand choose Print Preview. Excelautomatically chooses the landscapeformat – not so dumb at all!

Household BudgetI would very much like to see both thehusband’s and wife’s income showngraphically. Here’s how:

1. Select the area A2:N5 and create abar chart on a new sheet in yourworkbook.

Excel has no difficulty in understandingthat the first selected column and rowshould be used as text!Now create a chart that compares Totalincome and Total expenditure like this

1. Select A2:N2, hold Ctrl now andcontinue selecting A6:N6 andA24:N25.

2. Create a column chart and notice thatagain, Excel has correctly understoodthe appropriate area as text.

Remember that each selection mustcontain the same number of cells…!

Delete a chart on a speadsheet byselecting it and pressing Delete.

Working with worksheet tabs


57

Working with worksheet tabsNaming tabsWe now have three sheets with differentdata. They should have more meaningfulnames:1. Double click the tab called Sheet1.2. The text Sheet1 is automatically

selected. You can use up to 31characters, including spaces. TypeHousehold Budget 1999 and pressEnter.

3. Double click Chart1 and type:Salary-column. Press Enter.

4. Double click Chart2 and type:Results-column. Press Enter.

The order of the sheets should also bechanged. You will want to work with thebudget often, so that should be placedfirst.1. Grab hold of the Household Budget

1999 tab and drag it to the left. Asmall picture of a page by the cursorshows you that you are holding aspreadsheet. A small triangle indicateswhere the sheet will be placed whenyou release the mouse.

2. Drag the sheet all the way to the leftand release it.

Deleting a sheetWe have unnecessary sheets in the work-book.1. Select the unused sheets as follows:

Click on Sheet2 and hold Ctrl downwhile you continue clicking on Sheet3and Sheet4 (if you have more emptysheets, select these in the same way).

2. Right-click one of the selected tabs toopen the object menu. ChooseDelete.

3. A dialog box warns you that thedeletion will be permanent. Click onOK (Enter) to accept.

Inserting a sheetAs noted earlier, a workbook can containup to 255 spreadsheets.1. Right-click a tab and choose Insert

on the object menu. The General tabin the Insert dialog box lets youchoose between inserting aspreadsheet, a chart and other moreadvanced objects. The Spreadsheet

solutions tab lets you create modelsbased on built in templates. You canexperiment with these later if youwant to – personally I am notespecially enthusiastic about them (Iam a bit of an old fashioned type; Iknow how things that I have createdmyself work, or, to put it anotherway; if mistakes are going to bemade, I am quite capable of makingthem myself…).

2. Choose Spreadsheet on the Generaltab and press Enter. The spreadsheetwill be inserted to the left of the sheetyou right clicked.

3. Drag the new sheet, Sheet 1, to theright until it is the last in theworkbook.

Copying sheetsIf you’d like to use a sheet should inanother workbook, or if you need to createa nearly identical sheet in the sameworkbook, you can copy it to a new po-sition.1. Open the DECORATING - CANADIAN.XLS

file. The spreadsheet is to be copied toHOUSEHOLD BUDGET.

2. Right-click the spreadsheet tab andchoose Move or Copy… on the objectmenu.

3. Specify that the sheet should becopied to HOUSEHOLD BUDGET.XLS in thedialog box.

4. Check the Create a copy field (clickon it).

5. Choose (move to end) in the Beforesheet field.

6. Click OK, and the screen will shift toHousehold Budget.

Working with worksheet tabs


58

7. The sheet will be called Sheet2(2)because there already is a Sheet2 inthe workbook. Double-click the taband edit the name to Decorating.

8. Go back to the DECORATING – CANA-DIAN.XLS by clicking on the Windowmenu, followed the file’s name.

9. Close DECORATING – CANADIAN.XLS.

Functions


59

FunctionsWhen Microsoft originally developed Excel,no one imagined that spreadsheets wouldbe used for as many tasks as they aretoday. That Microsoft wants the programto be used in as many ways as possible isevident from the many functions itcontains.A function is a built-in formula, built up ina very specific way:=Function name(arguments)You have already seen examples of afunction, namely the function for addingcells together: =SUM(cells). All functionsbegin by giving the operation the programshould carry out, while the cells thatshould be operated on are given inbrackets (the arguments).These arguments can be an area, singlecells or even another function.For example, the function=SUM(C3;D5;C8) adds the three givencells. A semicolon separates thearguments and is called a ‘List separator’(this is defined in Windows ControlPanel/Regional settings).

AverageThe function=AVERAGE(B3;C48;SUM(F4:G12))calculates the average of the numbers inB3, C48 and the sum of the area F4:G12.Pay special attention to how the includedfunction SUM is ‘complete’ – it has its ownarguments within brackets.

A little exercise:We’d like to create a formula to calculatethe average income and expenditures inour Household Budget. In P2 type theheading Average, and the formula in P4(type it directly in the formula line):=AVERAGE(C4:N4)Copy the formula so that every item in thebudget has an average calculated for it.Notice that this function is identical,except for its name, with the SUM formulain column O. Format the column likecolumn O (this is best done by selectingO2:O31, clicking on the Format painter,and dragging over cells P2:P31). You maywant to create a printer area covering justthese cells (see page 49).

Other functionsAs there is a big difference between thearguments that different functions need,Microsoft has chosen to build in a guide tohelp you create functions called theFunctionWizard.

Calculating loan paymentsWe are going to create a model tocalculate the exact repayment on the bankloan in the Household Budget:

1. In HOUSEHOLD BUDGET.XLS, renameSheet1 to Bank loan and press Enter.

2. Type the following model in thespreadsheet:

3. In B7, type in the formula forcalculating the monthly payments. Wedo not know exactly whicharguments the formula uses, soclick the Function guidebutton (Shift+F3).

4. All functions are listed by category.The most used functions are in theMost recently used category. But letus see how many functions areactually available in total. Click theAll category and scroll through thelist in the Function names list. Theyare listed alphabetically.

5. Now click the Financial category andscdrop-down the list in the Functionnames field until you find thefunction PMT. Click on it:

Functions


60

6. For this function, the text in the greyarea is helpful (unfortunately this notalways the case!)The first payment is nearly allinterest, and very little principal, andthe last payment is nearly all principaland very little interest – but the totalmonthly payment is the same.

7. Click on the OK button. The dialogbox disappears. The field on the leftside of the formula line lets youchoose other functions.

8. Now we are ready to type in thenecessary data. Only the fields withbold type text need to be filled in. TheRate is the interest rate on the loan.nper is the total number of paymentsto make, while nv is the total amountyou have borrowed:

As shown in the picture, you shouldpoint to the cells containing therelevant information rather thantyping the values in the fields. Thedialog box may hide the cellscontaining data, but by grabbing thegrey area, you can drag it to thebottom of your screen.

9. First click in the Interest field, so thecursor is blinking in it, then click onB4.

10. Now click on Nper and on B5.11. Then click on Nv and on B312. But something is wrong! The gray

area above the OK button shows theresult of the calculation – it is far toobig! The interest is annual. Thepayments are monthly. At themoment we have accepted that wewill pay 8.5% interest per month for48 months. This is an expensiveloan!!

13. Change the Rate field to a monthlyinterest rate: B4/12 (click in the fieldafter B4 and type /12).

14. The result in the Value field shouldnow be minus 2,216.99. Press Finish(Enter).

Note that the cells are formatted with thecurrency format automatically (it is afinancial function we have used).If you use a function regularly, you willremember what arguments it uses. When thisis the case, you can just type the formuladirectly in the formula line – the Wizard is onlyfor when you need help in building the function.

Why are the payments negative?Some people will say that it is alwaysnegative when you owe money; but that isnot the reason. The function tells you thatmoney is ‘flowing away’ from you – whenthe loan is positive, the payments willalways be negative.But payments should be shown as positivenumbers – we know that we have to pay.With B7 selected, click again on theFunctionWizard (Shift+F3).

1. Type a minus in front of the cellreference in nv and press Enter.

2. Type 9 as the interest rate in B4(when the cell is formatted to apercentage it is enough just to type anumber – the cell already includes the% sign).

3. Type a new loan amount and numberof payments and check that thepayment amount changes in everycase.

4. Go back to the original amount againbefore proceeding.

The other two fields in the Wizard, fv andtype, are optional, so we can leave themblank.The option fv means ‘future value’. Whenwe leave this blank, it means that the loanis to be paid back in full in the number ofpayments we have specified. If you stillowe $1,000 after you have made thesepayments, then enter 1,000 in the fv field.The option type decides when in theperiod the payment is due, and can

Functions


61

contain either 0 or 1. When we leave itblank (0) it means that the payments aredue at the end of the month (normalbanking practice). If you insert a 1 theyare due on the first of the month.Press the Help button in theFunctionWizard dialog box for furtherexplanations.Here you should know that the function PMTisn’t completely correct in the way it handlesinterest. Thus, the data you receive from yourbank may be different than your own data.In addition you should be aware that manybanks constantly add specific charges to yourloan – fees for funds transfers and such.

Naming cells in functionsOur formula is not very easy to read. Itwould be easier if the cells we used hadmore descriptive names. The text incolumn A is good. We can try and use it toname the cells B3:B5:

1. Select both the text and the cells thatshould be named, A3:B5.

2. Choose the Insert|Name|Createcommand.Notice that Excel has understood thatthe left column contains names andthat these should be used in the rightcolumn. Press Enter.

3. Select B3 and look at the name box.The cell is now called Total_loan.Check the names in B4 and B5 aswell.

4. But the formula in B7 doesn’t knowyet that we have given the cellsnames. We will now use the names inthe formula. Choose Insert|Name|Apply.The three relevant names are already

selected, so just press OK (Enter) andcheck the formula in B7:

This makes the formula much easier tounderstand.Save the workbook(Ctrl+S).

Links


62

LinksOne of the clever things with aspreadsheet is that you only need to storeimportant numbers or formulas in oneplace. Other spreadsheets that need anumber or formula can get it from there. Ifthe Total apartment costs inHousehold Budget had been in anotherspreadsheet, we would have said that wehad created a link to the cells.The principle is very simple. I suggest thatwe start by practicing in a new workbook.

1. Open a new blank workbook byclicking the New workbookbutton.

2. In A1, type Sales and in B1, 25000.3. Click Sheet2. You can also press

Ctrl+PageDown to move to the nextsheet (Ctrl+PageUp moves to theprevious sheet). In cell A1, type Salefrom Sheet1: and adjust the width ofcolumn A.

You are now ready to get the number fromSheet1.

1. The link is to be created in B1 onSheet2. Start with the usual equalssign. The cursor is now anchored tothe cell.

2. Click Sheet1 tab. The tabs andformula line show you what ishappening:

Both tabs are white, and the formulais referring to Sheet1. At the sametime the status line shows that Excelis ‘pointing’.

3. Click B1 and press Enter. Excel jumpsback to Sheet2

The link is dynamic. That means that itdoes not only relate to the cell, butalso to the name of the sheet. Let uscheck both:

1. Go to Sheet1 (Ctrl+PageUp), andchange the number in B1 to 30000.

2. Go back to Sheet2 (Ctrl+PageDown) –the number in B1 is updated. The linkworks.

3. Double-click the tab for Sheet1.4. Rename the sheet to Sale 1999 and

press Enter.5. Return to Sheet2 (Ctrl+PageDown),

and look at the formula in B1:

B1 on the Sale 1999 sheet is the ‘source’of our result, but cell B1 on Sheet2 is the‘dependant’ cell.That is the principle of a link.

InformationYou can also create links between differentworkbooks, but this takes a bit of practice.You also need to be very disciplined aboutit (as with all computer-related things). Ifyou have linked several workbookstogether, it is very important that you donot change either their names or theirlocation (any changes have to take placein Excel with all the files open).If you use Windows Explorer to move asource file, then any dependant workbookswill still be looking for the workbook’soriginal name and position. The link will bebroken, and Excel will ask you for thecorrect location.Close the workbook without saving it.

Sorting & filtering data


63

Sorting & filtering dataI have chosen sorting and filtering to bethe last two subjects dealt with in thisbooklet. This is just a short introduction toboth subjects. Filtering can be used forrelatively advanced procedures, which arenot covered here.

SortingClose Household Budget and open the fileDECORATING – CANADIAN.XLS.You are going to sort the list to be inalphabetical order, but the way thespreadsheet is laid out at present will notallow this. The function expects there tobe only one row of headings.First you will have to move the Exchangerate and Sales tax cells further down inthe spreadsheet:1. Type Exchange rate: in A21 and

Sales tax: in A22.2. Move C2 to B21 and D2 to B22.3. Delete row 2 (which is now empty).4. Row 17 is not to be sorted, so it

should be on its own. Insert a newRow 17. The Total formulas shouldnow be in Row 18.

The spreadsheet is now ready for sorting.All data to be sorted is placed togetherwithout blank rows and columns.

First, we will sort the materialsalphabetically by name:1. Select any material name in column

A.2. Click the Sort ascending

button. The function leaves thefirst row alone – smart!

3. Now sort the materials indescending alphabetical order.

4. Select any price in column E and sortthe data so that the most expensivethings are at the top and the cheapestare at the bottom.

All spreadsheets can be sorted in this way,no matter what data they contain. All youhave to do is check that the cells areadjoining (next to each other).If you want to sort using severalconditions, then use the Data|Sort function.

FilteringTo search for a particular entry, you’llwant to use a ‘filter.’ As in sorting, to usethis function, the areas must be adjoining.Let’s try this out using DECORATING – CA-NADIAN.XLS:1. Select any cell in the area A1:E16.

1. Choose Data|Filter, AutoFilter. The cellsin the first row are now given a drop-down list, from which you can choosethe value you want.

2. Click the drop-down list attached tocell A1 and choose Filling knife.

All the other rows are now hidden and onlythe row that fulfills your criterion is shown.Note that the row numbers are shown inblue, and the little arrow on the drop-downlist in A1 is also blue. This shows that thelist has been filtered, and in which columnthe criteria for the filtering have beendefined.You are to find the three most expensivematerials:

Sorting & filtering data


64

1. First, remove the filtering by choosingthe drop-down list in row A1 followedby (All).

2. Click the drop-down list in B1 andchoose (Top 10…).This lets you build your own ‘top ten’list.

3. In the dialog box, display the Top 3items and press Enter:

The designation Top 10 isn’t to betaken literally; you can specify howmany items should be displayed.

4. Choose (All) on the drop-down list tomake all entries visible.

User defined filtersYou want to find all materials that costmore than 5 Dollars each. The problem issolved by creating a user defined filter:

1. Click the drop-down list in E1 andchoose (Custom…).

2. Specify the filter criteria to be largerthan (>) 5 and press Enter. Fourentries match the criteria.

3. Change the criteria to be less than 5.Nine entries match the criteria.

4. Create the criteria to display onlyentries with a sales price of between5 and 10 Dollars:

Two entries fulfill the criteria.5. Remove the AutoFilter by selecting

Data|Filter, AutoFilter. All entries aredisplayed again.

You can set criteria that filter entries aftertheir names, or other text. For example,you can find all materials starting with ‘P’.1. Choose Data|Filter, AutoFilter.2. Click the drop-down list in A1 and

select (Custom…). Specify that thecriteria should be = P* where theasterisk specifies that any and allcharacters are allowed after the P:

Two entries fulfill the criteria.

Until now you have only filtered using asingle field (column). However now, youwant to find the materials beginning withthe letter P that also cost more than $5.This is done by filtering in both cells A1and E1, as here:1. Click the drop-down list in A1 and

choose (Custom…).2. Type the criteria Begins with in the

left field, and P* in the right field andpress Enter.

3. Click the drop-down list in E1 andchoose (Custom…).

4. Type the criteria Greater than in theleft field, and 5 in the right field andpress Enter.

Primer and Paint are the entries thatfulfill the criteria.If the you want to find entries that eitherbegin with P or cost more than $10, youcannot use AutoFilter.In this case you will have to use theAdvanced filter. However, this function isnot particularly user friendly. It is obviousthat Microsoft thinks that advanceddatabase tasks should be carried out in adatabase program like Access.Nevertheless, you can go a long way withAutoFilter -- providing that you are carefulhow you arrange your data.

‘Where do you want to go tomorrow?’


65

‘Where do you want to go tomorrow?’So now we have reached the end of thisbooklet…or have we!!!I hope you do not think so. If you are nowinspired to investigate Excel further, toplay with the program and let yourimagination create new and excitingspreadsheet models, then I have achievedwhat I set out to do with this booklet.It must be obvious from my commentsthroughout the booklet that I amfascinated by Excel. But you have probablyfound out yourself that it could still beimproved in many areas. And that is whatcomputers are all about…!Programs can still only carry out the tasksthat they have been programmed to do.We people make demands on the way aprogram works – and people makemistakes, which are then reflected in theprogram. The biggest danger with thefantastic development that is taking placein the computer industry now is that weusers are becoming so fascinated with thetechnical side that we completely forgetwhat we really need, we become ‘hi-tech-freaks’.It is you, dear reader, who should decidewhat your programs should be used forand which way they should be developed.Originally, computers were difficult tomaster. Ordinary users had to learn amass of codes and were forced to think likecomputers…(!)Then came the graphical user interface andthe mouse. In one stroke, the computerwas easier to use. The mouse was the newwonder tool, and we could all click andclick without thinking about codes.But it was not long before the worm in theapple (pun intended) became visible, orrather, felt! The mouse showed that itcould easily give us arm problems, in boththe wrist and shoulder.So where are we now, and how does Excelfit in with these developments?I am happy to say that Excel has, for themost part, been designed with the user inmind. Windows98/95, Word, and Excel areexcellent examples of how the user hasbeen able to influence program develop-ment. If you think that I have focused(too) much on how the keyboard can beused – well, you are right. Over the lastfew years I have learnt how to work fastand effectively without a mouse at the endof my arm. Once you have digested thisbooklet, and maybe worked through it a

couple of times, I am sure you will seewhat I mean.On the next pages you will find a glossaryof the most used keyboard shortcuts. Isuggest that you have the booklet open atthese pages while you work further withthis wonderful program.Have fun …and remember what a wiseman once said:

‘Whether you think you can, or whetheryou think you can’t, you’re probablyright!!’ Henry Ford

Shortcuts


66

F1.............................Help

F2.............................Activate the formula line

F3.............................Displays the PasteName dialog box, ifnames are defined in theworkbook

SHIFT+F3................Displays theFunctionWizard

CTRL+F3.................Define Name command

CTRL+SHIFT+F3 ....Create Name command

F4 (on formula line) .Absolute reference ($).

F4 ............................Repeat last action(Ctrl+Y may also beused)

CTRL+F4.................Close window

ALT+F4....................Exit Microsoft Excel

F5.............................Go to command (theEdit menu)

CTRL+F5.................Restore window size

CTRL+F6.................Next window

CTRL+SHIFT+F6 ....Previous window

F7.............................Spell check

F8.............................Extend a selection (EXTdisplayed on statusline).

F9.............................Calculates all sheets inall open workbooks

F10...........................Activates the menu bar

SHIFT+F10..............Activates the objectmenu

CTRL+F10...............Maximize the window

F11...........................Creates a standard charton a new sheet, basedon the selected data

F12...........................The Save as command

TAB..........................Move to the next field ina dialog box

SHIFT+TAB .............Move to the previousfield in a dialog box

ALT+↓ ...............Opens a drop-down list

ESC .........................Cancel a command andclose the dialog box

CTRL+PGDN...........Move to the next sheetin a workbook

CTRL+PGUP...........Move to the previoussheet in a workbook

CTRL+DEL ..............Delete the text to theend of the line

ENTER.....................End an entry

ALT+ENTER ...........Insert a line shift in acell

HOME......................Move to the first columnin a row

CTRL+SHIFT+$ ......Format in currencyformat with twodecimals displayed

CTRL+SHIFT+% .....Format in percentageformat with no decimalsdisplayed

CTRL+SHIFT+! .......Format with twodecimals and thousandseparators

CTRL+S...................Save command

CTRL+1...................Open the Format Cellsdialog box

CTRL+B...................Bold text on and off

CTRL+I ....................Italic text on and off

CTRL+U ..................Underlined text on andoff

CTRL+X...................Cuts the selected area

CTRL+C ..................Copies the selected area

CTRL+V...................Inserts the contents ofthe clipboard

CTRL+Z...................Undo the last action

CTRL+D ..................Fill downwards

CTRL+R ..................Fill to the right

CTRL+Home ...........Move to cell A1

CTRL+Arrow key.....Move to the last cellcontaining data in thedirection of the arrow

CTRL+PLUS ...........Open the Insert dialogbox

CTRL+Space...........Select the column

SHIFT+ Space.........Select the row

There are far more shortcut keys thanthose that I have listed here. You can findthem by searching for shortcut keys inExcel’s help program.

Index


67

Absolute cell references,26AutoFilter, 63Autoformat, 38AutoSum, 15Borders, 40Calculating loanpayments, 59Cells, definition, 5Changing the contents ofa cell, 9Charts, 52

3-D perspective, 55

adjusting appearance, 54

on a new page, 52

on this sheet, 55

Printing, 56

Save, 55

Selecting data, 56

Types, 55

Column width, 10Columns, definition, 5Copying

Cells, 14

Copying using the keyboard,14

Copying using the mouse,14

Formats, 42

Relative references, 14

Sheets, 57

Creating formulas, 7Creating formulas

Brackets, 7

Formula bar, 7

Formulas, principles, 8

Operators, 7

Order of operations, 7

Customising ExcelDefault File Locations, 19

Customizing ExcelOptions, 18

Data layout, 43Data types, 6Decimals, 12Deleting a sheet, 57Deleting rows, 21Deleting the contents of acell, 9Editing, 9

Changing the contents of acell, 9

Column width, 10

Columns, 21

Deleting rows, 21

Deleting the contents of acell, 9

Insert rows, 20

Undo, 9

Excel and Windows, 33File location, 19Fill (series), 23

Creating your own lists, 24

Fill handle, 15Filtering, 63

User defined filters, 64

Font, 21Font size, 21

Format Painter, 42Formatting, 31

Autoformat, 38

Borders, 40

Centering headings, 43

Copying formats, 42

Data layout, 43

Format Painter, 42

Manual formatting, 39

Shading and color, 41

Toggling formats, 33

Vertical layout, 43

FormulaAbsolute cell references, 26

Check your formulas, 28

Linked spreadsheets, 62

Formula bar, 5; 7Formulas, principles, 8Functions, 59

Average, 59

FunctionWizard, 59

Loan payment calculations,59

Naming cells in functions.,61

Graphs (charts), 52Headers and footers, 46Help, 17

TipWizard, 17

Household budget, 18Insert rows, 20Insert sheet, 57Inserting text andnumbers, 5

Formula bar, 5

Links, 62Manual formatting, 39Margins, 46

Moving around in aspreadsheet, 30Moving data using thekeyboard, 39Moving data using themouse, 39Naming cells, 44

Apply name, 45

Entering formulas, 44

Jumping to, 44

Naming tabs, 57Navigation, 30New Workbook, 20Operators, 7Options, 18Order of operations, 7Page breaks, 47Print

Print Preview, 42

Print area, 49Print Preview, 42Printing, 46

Headers and footers, 46

Manual page breaks, 47

Margins, 46

Print area, 49

Repeating headings, 48

Scaling the printout, 47

Relative references, 14Repeating headings, 48Rows, definition, 5Save a file

Save, 16

Save as, 16

Saving a file, 16Selecting, 12Selecting formulas, 26Shading and color, 41Simple number formatting

Decimals, 12

Sorting, 63Spreadsheets - naming(tabs), 57Summing data, 15

AutoSum, 15

Undo, 9Updating formulas, 39Viewing the spreadsheet,34

Freeze panes, 34

Zoom, 34

Workbook, 5

knowware get going with excel 2000 · table of contents © 2000, palle gronbek: get going with...

Documents