Understanding Microsoft Excel
Lesson 1 – Microsoft Excel 2010
History of Excel, Part 1
History of Excel, Part 2
Learning Goals
• The goal of this lesson is for students to
successfully explore and describe the Excel
window and to create a new worksheet. The
student will learn to edit a worksheet, save the
workbook and properly exit the program.
Learning Objectives
•
On completion of this lesson, students will be able to do the following:
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Create a workbook
Understand Microsoft Excel window elements
Select cells
Enter text, numbers, and dates in a worksheet
Enter a range of data
Edit cell contents
Adjust the size of rows and columns
Align cell contents
Find and replace cell contents
Insert and delete cells, rows, and columns
Cut, copy, paste, and clear cells
Use additional paste techniques
Move between worksheets
Name and save a workbook
Open a workbook
Rename a worksheet
Preview and print a worksheet
Close a workbook and exit Excel
What is Excel?
• Lets you put numbers into
a spreadsheet so that you
can do things such as
calculations, graphs, and
statistical analysis quickly.
• Uses:
– Logging my daily
workouts
– Creating a household
budget
– Calculating grades
Starting Excel
Clicking on
an Icon on
the Desktop
Using the Start
Menu
What
else???
Spreadsheet Terms
• Spreadsheet – The type of program that is used
to perform calculations.
• Worksheet – A blank page in a spreadsheet file.
• Workbook – A collection of worksheets.
More Spreadsheet Terms
Name Box
Title Bar
Active Cell
Column
Headers
Formula
Bar
Row
Headers
Opening and Closing Worksheets
• When you first open Excel, you see
one blank worksheet.
• The visible worksheet is actually
part of a workbook that contains
three sheets. (Sheet1, Sheet2,
Sheet3).
Close a
worksheet
Open a blank
worksheet
Naming and Saving a Workbook
• A filename and location should be assigned the first
time a workbook is saved. Save often!!!
• The file name can be up to 255 characters in length.
• The / \ < > * ? " | : ; characters may not be used
when naming a workbook.
• Save a workbook for the first time using either the
Save option in Backstage view or by clicking the Save
icon on the Quick Access Toolbar.
• Save it with a new name or new file type by clicking
“Save As” in the Backstage view.
Templates
• For spreadsheets that have already been set up
for specific purposes, use a template
• You can save spreadsheets that you create to use
as templates later.
What would be the
benefit of using a
template?
Selecting Cells
You can select 1
cell or a group of
cells (a range).
Cell ranges are identified by
the first cell address and the
last cell address, separated
by a colon.
Use the “select all”
button to select all cells.
How would
you identify
the cell range
shown?
Cell Selection, continued.
Select non-adjacent
cells by holding
down CTRL.
The “Name Box”
shows the
address of the
active cell.
Click the row or
column header to
select an entire
row or column.
Entering Data into a Worksheet
Text (sometimes called labels)
– words or numbers that
won’t be used in math
Notice that anything typed
in the active cell appears
in the formula bar.
Formula - a mathematical
equation used to calculate a
value.
Numbers – Values that will
be used in math
Cell Alignment
• By default, text is left
aligned and values are
right aligned.
• You can also adjust
vertical alignment.
Row and Column Size
• Row height is measured in points.
– A point is a unit of measurement that determines
the height of a character.
– A point is approximately 1/72 of an inch
• How tall is 72 point font?
• Excel’s default column width is 8.43 characters
wide
• A cell can contain up to 32,000 characters.
What if it Doesn’t Fit?
Non-formatted values
(numbers) are shown in
scientific notation.
Formatted numbers
are replaced by
####.
Text spills over if
there is room,
cuts off if there
isn’t.
Adjusting Row and Column Size
• Mouse over the border
between rows or
columns until the cursor
changes as shown.
• To resize-
You can resize several rows or
columns at once by selecting
them all and the resizing using
the same methods.
– Hold down the left
mouse button and drag
to the desired size.
– Double click to autofit
the size to the cell’s
contents.
• Which do you prefer?
Entering a Range of Data
What is a range???
• To enter data in a range
more easily select the
range and start typing.
• Press “Enter” or “Tab”
to move to the next cell
in the range.
Numeric Data in a Spreadsheet
Consists of –
Currency (money!)
Percentages
Decimals
Fractions
Exponents
Which are negative???
Entering Dates in a Worksheet
When might you use
dates in a calculation?
• Dates can be entered
using a combination of
text and numbers, or
just numbers.
• Change the format on
the Home tab in the
Number group.
• Regardless, dates are
serial numbers and can
added, subtracted, and
used in other
calculations.
Editing Data in a Cell
Double click on a cell or
click in a cell and then in
the formula bar to edit
its contents.
Use the “cancel” or
the ESC key to cancel
an entry before it is
actually entered in
the worksheet,
restore the cell’s
contents, and exit
Edit mode.
You can click the Enter button or
the Enter key to complete an entry.
Finding and Replacing Cell Contents
• A worksheet contains more than 65,000 rows and
256 columns.
• The Find and Replace option can quickly search a
large worksheet and replace erroneous data with
correct data.
• A formula can be typed into a
search string by choosing
formulas in the Look In drop
down option.
• Data can be searched for by
using a search string as well as
matching the case of the data
or matching the entire contents
of the cell.
Inserting and Deleting Cells,
Rows, and Columns
• Insert or delete rows or
columns by
– Right clicking on the
heading and choosing your
option.
– Using the Cell group on
the Home tab.
• New rows are inserted
about the selected row,
new columns to the left.
Cutting, Copying, Pasting, and
Clearing Cells
• Cutting data from a cell and
pasting it to a new cell is actually
moving the data.
• Copying data from a cell and
pasting into another location
actually makes a duplicate of the
data without affecting the
original cell.
• Contents can be removed from a
cell without removing the cell
formats.
Moving to a New Worksheet
• Remember that each workbook is made up of
three worksheets by default.
• Click the Sheet Tabs at the bottom of the page to
change the active worksheet.
• You can move data between worksheets.
Renaming a Worksheet
• Worksheets are named Sheet1, Sheet2, etc. by
default, according to their location in the
workbook.
• Workbooks should be named appropriately
based upon their contents.
• Double-click the sheet tab and enter the new
sheet tab name to rename the sheet.
• You can change the tab color by right clicking on
the tab.
Previewing and Printing a Worksheet
• Viewing a spreadsheet
prior to printing it is
important to pinpoint
errors in a worksheet.
• Clicking anywhere on the
preview will toggle the
zoom.
• An entire worksheet, a
selected range in a
worksheet, or an entire
workbook can be printed.
Closing a Workbook and Quitting Excel
• Closing the file and quitting Excel
will keep the task bar uncluttered.
• Closing a workbook window will
not close the Excel window.
• Close a workbook window by
choosing Close found under the
File Tab.
• Close Excel by choosing Exit from
the File Tab menu list.