BASIC EXCEL

1.  Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program with many new features not found in earlier versions of Excel. New language formulas allow you to intuitively build equations. New charting format options help you to present data more meaningfully. And the enhanced Chart Wizard consolidates chart-building and formatting in one place. 

2.  Excel allows you to chart and analyze data. Open Excel by clicking on the letter X on the Office Toolbar at the top of your screen or double-clicking on the Excel icon on your desktop. Unless otherwise noted, click your left mouse button.

3.  If the Office Assistant pops up in the lower-right corner, click on Start Using Microsoft Excel.

Worksheets and Workbooks

4.  Excel refers to a spreadsheet as a worksheet. At the bottom of the page, you will see tabs for Sheet1, Sheet2 and Sheet3.  You can have many sheets or worksheets in a workbook. These sheets allow you to create separate worksheets in one workbook for different information sets. A group of worksheets comprises a workbook.

5.  The worksheet is made up of rows and columns. Their intersection points are called cells. Cell A1 (from Column A, Row 1) is now highlighted.

The Menu Bar

6.  Note the menu bar at the top of the screen with File, Edit, View, etc. options. These options have drop-down menus to allow you to perform a variety of functions with your worksheet.

7. Click on File/ Page Setup. Click on the different tabs to see how you can modify your document.

8.  Click on the Sheet tab and click on the white box before Gridlines. When you print your worksheet, you will be able to see the same gridlines you see on the screen. Click on the Page tab. Note that you can choose either Portrait or Landscape for your document. Click on Landscape. Click OK to close the window.

9.  Look at some of the other menu bar options. Click on the option and look at some of the choices in the drop-down menus. Click outside the drop-down box to close it.

The Toolbars

10.  Below the MenuBar at the top of the screen is the StandardToolbar. It contains buttons for commonly-used options in the MenuBar. You can see what each button is used for by pointing to the button. A small tag called a ScreenTip will appear that explains what the button is used for. Point to the fourth button. It is a small printer. The tag will say Print followed by the printer you have access to. Point to the other buttons to see their functions.

Help and the Office Assistant

11 . The last button (on the right) on the StandardToolbar is the Office Assistant. You can elect to use the Office Assistant by clicking on it. Also, every once in awhile, when the program detects you are having a problem, the Office Assistant will pop up. Click on the Office Assistant. If you click in the white box and type in a question, it will provide helpful information to you.

12.  Click in the white box. The text in the box will disappear. Type the following: Charts and graphs and hit Enter. Several print options appear which you can choose from. Click on See more. Then click on combination charts for showing mixed data. Close the box by clicking on the X in the upper-right corner. You can leave the Office Assistant open and click on it whenever you need help. Or you can close it.

13 . Click on the Office Assistant. You can also change the Office Assistant image by clicking on Options/Gallery and choosing a new icon. Click on the Next button to see each of the different options. Choose one and then click OK to close the box.

14.  Another way to get help is by clicking on Help on the Menu bar.  

15. Underneath the StandardToolbar is the FormattingToolbar. It allows you to change appearance of the text in your document. Again, each option contains a tag, so if you point to it, the tag will appear. Point to the U and you will see the word Underline. This option allows you to underline your text.

16.  There are several other toolbars available in Excel. 

The Status Bar

17.  At the bottom of the screen is the Status Bar. The word Ready below the tabs indicates Excel is ready to take your information.

Excel Templates

18.  Excel has some templates for you to use. Click on File/New. Then click on the Excel or Spreadsheet Solutions tab and double-click on the Invoice icon. If a warning screen appears, click on EnableMacros.

 
Saving Your Worksheet

Put your media in the selected drive and click on File/ Save from the menu bar. The Save As window appears. At the top, you will see Save in: followed by the current drive.   Click on File/Close to close.

Creating a Worksheet

Click on the New icon on the Menu Bar. You enter information in the worksheet cells. Each cell has an address. Type a number in cell A1.

You can create a worksheet that calculates your monthly household income and expenses.    

The GoTo Command

Go to cell E3. An easy way to do this is with Excel's Go To command. Hit CTRL and G. A GoTo box will pop up. Type e3 and hit Enter. In cells E3 through E10, enter the names of all of the companies or other sources of the monies you will expend for this month. This could include electric, gas, telephone, Internet service provider (ISP), car payment, savings, child care, lawn maintenance, etc. Try to include all of the month's expenses. End your list at E10. Now go back to column D and enter approximate amounts you will pay for each of these expenses. It may be easier to use the numeric keypad to enter numbers. 

 41.   Excel can produce negative numbers too!). Go to cell F12 in the Balance column. This column will tell us if we are over or under budget for the month. Click on the AutoSum icon. Then click on your income total from cell B12. Hit the minus (-) sign, then click on your expenditures in cell D12. Hit Enter. The amount you see is the total dollars you have remaining after you pay your monthly expenses. As you can see, the following worksheet indicates this person is now within budget.