Microsoft Excel I
General Spread sheeting
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents............................................................................................... 2
Shortcut keys ..................................................................................................... 3
Worksheet Overview ......................................................................................... 4
What’s the difference between a workbook and a worksheet? ............................................ 4
Navigating within a worksheet........................................................................... 5
Selecting a cell ................................................................................................... 7
AutoFill working with fill handle ...................................................................... 10
Selecting a large area of data ........................................................................... 11
Basic format in cells ......................................................................................... 14
Cell alignment ....................................................................................................................... 14
Wrap text in cell.................................................................................................................... 15
Merge & centre .................................................................................................................... 15
Viewing all tabs ..................................................................................................................... 16
Inserting a new worksheet ................................................................................................... 17
Deleting a worksheet ............................................................................................................ 17
Naming the worksheets........................................................................................................ 18
Moving a worksheet – Drag and drop .................................................................................. 19
Moving/Copying a worksheet - Different workbook (file) ................................................... 20
Selecting continuous sheets ................................................................................................. 20
Selecting non-continuous sheets ......................................................................................... 20
Format painter ................................................................................................. 30
Example Questions .......................................................................................... 31
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Shortcut keys
The following are common shortcut keys, and you can also use them for other Microsoft Office suits.
Copy
Paste
Cut (“X” looks like a pair of scissors)
Select All
Undo
Bold
Italic
Show Desktop (Minimise all windows)
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Worksheet Overview
Function Bar
Row
Column
Cell
What’s the difference between a workbook and a worksheet?
Workbook
It’s a Microsoft Excel file and one workbook can contain multiple worksheets.
Worksheet
It’s also known as a spreadsheet. There can be up to 256 worksheets in one workbook.
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Navigating within a worksheet
When you work with the keyboard, it will give you more control and work more efficiently.
Navigation keys (right, left, top or down)
Navigation keys move one cell in a worksheet.
Page Up
Scrolling the document up one screen in a worksheet.
Page Down
Scrolling the document down one screen in a worksheet.
Home
Moves to the beginning of row in a worksheet
CTRL + Home
CTRL (control) and HOME keys will take you back to the beginning of the spreadsheet (A1).
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CTRL + End
CTRL (control) and END keys will bring you to the last cell with data (the bottom right corner of worksheet).
CTRL + RIGHT arrow key
CTRL (control) and RIGHT navigation keys will bring you to the last cell of the row.
CTRL + DOWN arrow key
CTRL (control) and DOWN navigation keys will bring you to the last cell of the column.
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Selecting a cell
When you select a cell with your mouse, remember to mouse over the centre of the cell rather than the edge
of it.
Correct
Tip
Your mouse cursor should be the Selection
pointer – a thick white cross sign.
Incorrect
When you have four arrows and pointer, it will
move the cell, i.e., dragging and dropping cell(s).
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Entering data
ENTER
Down
The cell below becomes the active cell.
TAB
The cell to the right becomes the active cell.
To the right
F2 to edit the cell
After you type something in the cell and want to edit it, select it and press the F2 key to edit the cell. Your
cursor will be put at the end of the figure/text.
Or you can click on the cell you wish to edit and click in the formula bar and edit the contents of the cell
Or you can double click in a cell
The cursor will be placed at the
end of the figure.
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Highlighting an Area and then typing with the TAB key
1.
Select the area where you are going to enter data
2.
Type the first data in the cell (B2)
3.
Press the TAB key which brings you to the next cell (the active cell goes to the cell C2)
4.
Keep tabbing as you type.
TAB moving
Tips:
This is only useful if you have a certain area where you are expecting to input some data, eg. Timetable, data
table. You can keep typing until the last cell.
If you make any mouse actions, e.g. click anywhere on the spreadsheet, you will lose the highlighted area. In
that case, you have to go back to step 1.
Pressing the SHIFT and TAB key together will bring you back to the previous cell within the highlighted area.
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AutoFill working with fill handle
Remember to use the Fill Handle if you are repeating the same function.
1.
Perform the calculation (eg. Place the result in the cell, G2)
2.
Click and Drag the Fill Handle at the bottom right corner of the cell (eg. G2). (When you mouse over the
corner, the cursor changes to a black cross sign.)
Click and drag the
fill handle
3.
The result appears.
(Formula view version)
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Selecting a large area of data
This is useful when you are dealing with a large area of data and you cannot see all of the data on the screen.
You have to scroll down to the bottom. When you wish to select large amounts of data using the mouse, you
could go over the border and lose control of your mouse.
1.
Select the top left cell where the data starts
2.
Scroll down to the last data entry (but don’t click anywhere yet!)
Last line
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3.
Keep holding the SHIFT key
4.
Click the last data entered cell with your mouse (still holding the SHIFT key at this point)
5.
Release your mouse and SHIFT key
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Other Keyboard Shortcuts to help select
large amounts of data
CTRL + Home
CTRL (control) and HOME keys will take you back to the beginning of the spreadsheet (A1).
CTRL + Shift + End
CTRL (control) and END keys will bring you to the last cell with data (the bottom right corner of worksheet).
CTRL + Star
*
CTRL (control) and Star will select all cells that contain data in the worksheet.
Basic format in cells
Cell alignment
1.
2.
Select a cell, cells, column or row that you wish to apply alignment
Click on the options within the Alignment group on the Home tab. There are several options for
alignment of cell contents:
Top Align:
Aligns text to the top of the cell
Middle Align:
Aligns text between the top and bottom of the cell
Bottom Align: Aligns text to the bottom of the cell
Align Text Left: Aligns text to the left of the cell
Center:
Centres the text from left to right in the cell
Align Text Right: Aligns text to the right of the cell
Decrease Indent: Decreases the indent between the left border and the text
Increase Indent: Increase the indent between the left border and the text
Orientation:
Rotate the text diagonally or vertically
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Wrap text in cell
1.
Select the cell or cells where you wish text to be wrapped.
2.
Click on the Wrap text within the Alignment group on the Home tab.
3.
Done!
Merge & centre
Merging cells is often used for headings or titles. The quick way to merge two or more cells and centre the
text is to use the Merge & Centre button on the Alignment group of the Home tab.
The four choices for merging cells are:
Merge & Center: Combines the cells and centres the contents in the new, larger cell
Merge Across: Combines the cells across columns without centring data
Merge Cells:
Combines the cells in a range without centring
Unmerge Cells: Splits the cell that has been merged
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Working with multiple worksheets
Microsoft Excel
You can have up to 256 worksheets within the same workbook (file), and each new file automatically contains
3 worksheets.
Viewing all tabs
When you have many worksheets, some of them are hidden by the horizontal scroll bar. Use the button at the
left bottom corner of the worksheets to view hidden ones.
Move to the previous worksheet
Move to the last
worksheet
Move to the first
worksheet
Move to the next worksheet
Or
Stretch out the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom right corner of the worksheet.
1.
2.
Mouse over the border of the scroll bar and tab.
Hold the mouse down when the cursor becomes
3.
Drag it out to the right.
Horizontal scroll bar
Keyboard shortcuts to move between the worksheets
are:
Move to previous sheet
Move to next sheet
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Inserting a new worksheet
1.
RIGHT click on a worksheets > Insert
2.
Click OK (Worksheet is selected as default)
Or, Home > Insert > Insert Sheet
Deleting a worksheet
RIGHT click on a worksheet > Delete
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Note: Keyboard shortcut for Insert Worksheet
Shit +F11
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Or, Home > Delete > Delete Sheet
Naming the worksheets
1.
2.
3.
4.
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RIGHT click on the worksheet
Click on Rename
Enter the new name
Press ENTER key to complete renaming.
OR
1.
2.
3.
Double click on the worksheet tab to rename
Enter the new name
Press ENTER key to complete renaming.
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Moving a worksheet – Drag and drop
1.
2.
Click the tab of the sheet to be moved
Drag the selected tab to a new location
Insertion Marker
Mouse Pointer
Copying a worksheet (a quick way)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Click the sheet tab to be copied
Hold the CTRL key down
Drag the sheet to a different location.
Release the mouse button
Release the CTRL key.
Tip: When copying, a plus sign will appear in the
worksheet picture of the mouse pointer
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Moving/Copying a worksheet - Different workbook (file)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
RIGHT click on the worksheet
Choose Move or Copy
Click on the To book drop down box
Choose the workbook name
Click on the OK button
Click here to
choose a different
workbook to
move or copy
Tick this box if you want to copy
Selecting continuous sheets
1.
2.
Click the first sheet tab to be included in the group
Hold the SHIFT key down and click on the last tab to be
included.
Selecting non-continuous sheets
1.
2.
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Grouping worksheets is a quick way of
moving, copying, inserting and deleting tabs
in some cases
For example, you can insert more than one
tab at the same time if you use this tip!
Click the first sheet tab to be included in the group
Hold the CTRL key down and click on each tab to be
included.
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Dragging & dropping cells
Microsoft Excel
This is a quicker way to move a group of cells, rather than cutting and pasting cells to the new location within
the same spreadsheet.
1.
Highlight the cells to be moved
2.
Mouse over on the outer borders of the selected block. The mouse cursor should change to a 4-way
arrow (
).
3.
Drag the block out to the new location
An outline of the cells will
move with you!
Tip: Quick Cells Copy!
Hold the CTRL key and you will see plus sign will come up next to the mouse cursor.
This will quickly make a copy of the data.
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. Then drag the block of cells.
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Inserting & deleting row and column
Microsoft Excel
Inserting a new row
Tip
Don’t click on the cell. You need to click on the row
number on the left side. Your mouse cursor
changes to a thick black arrow.
1.
Click on the row number below where you wish to insert a new row
2.
RIGHT click > Insert
3.
Done
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Tip
RIGHT click on the shadow part, not on empty cells.
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Deleting a row
1.
Click on the row number that you wish to delete
Tip
Don’t click on the cell. You need to click on the row
number on the left side. Your mouse cursor
changes to a thick black arrow.
2.
RIGHT click > Delete
Tip
RIGHT click on the selected area, not on empty cells.
3.
Done
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Inserting and deleting a column
Perform exactly the same as you do for row but click on the column heading. Your mouse cursor changes to a
thick black arrow.
Tip: Inserting / Deleting multiple rows or columns at once – QUICKER & EASIER!!
1.
2.
Select multiple rows / columns
Insert
e.g. If you wish to insert 5 new rows at once, first select 5 rows and then insert rows.
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Tip: Deleting multiple non-sequential rows or columns at once
1.
2.
Select multiple non-sequential rows / columns
Hold CTRL key and select rows/columns to be deleted
e.g.) If you wish to delete row 2-3,5-6, and 8 at once, first hold CTRL key and click those 5 rows and then
delete them.
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Adjusting the row / column width and height
Microsoft Excel
Resizing a single column width
1.
Place your cursor over the dividing line, i.e., between column headers
Tip
Your mouse pointer should become
(Resize Column shape).
2.
Click and drag the dividing line.
3.
Release your mouse
Resizing multiple columns simultaneously
1.
Select columns that you wish to alter (click on the column header)
Tip
When you double click in the
same spot (the right edge of the
column), it will fit to the longest
text in any cell in the column.
2.
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Click and drag one of the selected columns’ header
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3.
Release your mouse when you reach the desired column width.
Resizing multiple columns to fit individual cell contents - AutoFit Selection
1.
Select columns that you wish to fit the column size according to the cell contents
2.
Home > Format
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Done!
Note: Column width fit to the
longest text in the column
Resizing Row or Columns Numerically
To adjust the size of Rows or Columns numerically right click on the row or column and select Row Height or
Column Width, enter desired value in window. You can also select multiple Rows or Columns to adjust
multiple cells height or width at once.
Note: if the Row Height or Column Width box is empty the current selection contains different values, enter a
value to make the cell sizes uniform.
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Format painter
Microsoft Excel
The format painter is a very useful tool! It appears in most Microsoft Office applications such as Word and
PowerPoint. It copies the formatting (font size, font colour, font style, borders, shadows, alignments,
AutoShape etc...) and applies it to the next text or object you click.
Format Painter
1.
Select the cell that you want to copy the format from.
2.
Click on the Format Painter on the tool bar (Your mouse pointer will look like a paint-brush and the
cell border will have a running marquee.)
Flashing dots are
called Running
Marquee.
3.
Paint-brush
Click the cell that you want to apply the format to
Tip
If you are going to perform more than one block of cells to format, double-click on the Format Painter icon at the
Step 2. It will retain the formatting until you click on the Format Painter icon once again or press the ESC key on the
keyboard.
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Example Questions
Q1
Open “Q1.xlsx”
Choose the whole table by holding “shift” key
Click “Format as Table” on the Home tab
Add a new column called “Population (million) (2010 estimates)” to the right of the “Population (million)
(2005 Estimates) column
Find the entry of New Zealand and complete the record by using the information below:
Continental
Region
Country
Population
(million)
(2010
estimates)
Population
(million)
(2005
estimates)
No. of
native
spoken
languages
Main Spoken
Languages/Language Groups
(with estimated % of first
language speakers if over
10% of population)
Languages
with official
status
Languages
with national
or regional
status
Oceania
New
Zealand
4.3
4.0
<10
English (80%), Maori
English (de
facto), Maori
Niuean,
Tokelauan
Q2
Open “Q2.xlsx”, choose worksheet “31 Mar”.
Calculate the totals for each category (in blue) Hint use Auto Sum.
Complete the weekdays and total by using auto fill.
Create a new excel workbook called “Stats 2009” under same folder
Copy “31 Mar” worksheet from “Q2.xlsx” workbook to “Stats 2009” workbook
Rename “31 Mar” worksheet to “Wk4Mar2009”.
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