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Microsoft Office
Excel

Microsoft Excel
Lesson 1: Introducing Excel

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Microsoft Office
Excel
Lesson Objectives
• explain what an electronic
spreadsheet is
• understand what Excel is and what it
can do
• identify elements on the Excel screen
• understand some basic terminology
• move around in Excel
• use keyboard shortcuts
• enter text, numbers, dates, and times
• move around a worksheet
• use the Backstage view to save, create
new, open, and close workbooks
• switch among open workbooks
• save in a previous Excel format, and
check for compatibility issues
• manage files and folders
• select cells
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Microsoft Office
Excel

What is Excel?
• Excel is an electronic spreadsheet program used for analyzing and presenting
information
• Excel consists of three programs in one
– Spreadsheet
– Graphics
– Database

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Microsoft Office
Excel

Starting Excel
• Click Start, then select the Excel tile

• Click Start, select All apps, then click/tap Excel

• Click the Excel Quick Launch icon in the taskbar

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Microsoft Office
Excel

Looking at the Screen

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Microsoft Office
Excel

Understanding Basic Terminology

• Workbook • Cell Address
– A single Excel file containing one or – The column-by-row intersection
more worksheets point of a cell (for example, B6)
• Worksheet • Sizing
– An arrangement of cells in rows and – When the window is not maximized,
columns use the mouse pointer at any of the
• Cell four edges or corners of the
window to adjust the window’s
– The intersection of a row and
width and height
column

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Microsoft Office
Excel

Mouse Symbols

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Microsoft Office
Excel

Using the Quick Access Toolbar

• Contains buttons for frequently used commands

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Microsoft Office
Excel

Using the Ribbon

• Commands are grouped on tabs

• Many ribbon buttons are toggle buttons
• Contextual ribbons appear only when needed

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Excel

Using the Ribbon

• Click the More button to display a full gallery

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Microsoft Office
Excel

Using the Ribbon

• Click the dialog box launcher at the lower right of a group to
open a dialog box or task pane

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Microsoft Office
Excel

Identifying Screen Symbols

• Circular References
– This indicator appears in the status bar when Excel finds a problem due to one
cell referencing another cell that refers back to the first cell.
• Auto Fill options
– This button appears when you use the AutoFill feature to copy data or formulas
into adjacent cells. Point and then click to view the drop-down menu.
• Paste Options
– This button appears when you paste an item; it provides a drop-down menu of
options for pasting content.

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Excel

Types of Data
• Numeric
– Consists of number, date, and time values
• Text
– Includes alphabetic and numeric characters, and most printable symbols
• Formulas
– Composed of values, cell references, arithmetic operators, and special
functions for calculating/displaying results

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Microsoft Office
Excel

Entering Text
• You can enter and edit data directly in the:
– Active cell
– Formula bar
• Move the mouse to the desired cell, click it, and then type an entry
• Use the BACKSPACE key to erase typographical mistakes
• Moving from cell to cell
– Press ENTER to move the cell pointer down one cell
– Click in any cell
– Press any arrow key to move one cell in that direction

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Microsoft Office
Excel

Entering Numbers
• Default alignment is right
• No automatic commas
• Extra zeroes at far left/right not displayed
• Values containing a mixture of alphabetic and
numeric digits are treated as text
• Numbers can be formatted in a variety of ways

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Excel

Entering Dates and Times

• Dates
– If you enter month, day, year, Excel
displays the date in dd-mmm-yy format
– If you enter only the name of a month,
or only the day and year, Excel will not
recognize the entry as a date
• Times
– You must enter hours and minutes at
a minimum

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Microsoft Office
Excel

Moving Around the Worksheet

• Scroll Bars
• LEFT, RIGHT, UP, DOWN ARROWS on the keyboard
• HOME – moves to column A
• CTRL+HOME – moves to cell A1
• CTRL+END – moves to last cell in a data table
• CTRL+G or F5 – displays the Go To dialog box

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Microsoft Office
Excel

Saving Workbooks
• The first time you save a
worksheet, the Save As dialog
box will open
– after that, you can simply click Save
• Use Save As when you want to
save a workbook as a different
file type, or with a different name
• Basic Rules for File Names
– Maximum of 255 characters
– No special characters:
/:*?“<>|
– .xlsx extension is automatically
assigned

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Microsoft Office
Excel

Creating a New Workbook

• To create a new blank workbook:
– Click File, click New, then click
Blank workbook; or
– Press CTRL+N
• To create a new workbook from a
template, click File, click New and
then click the template you want
to use

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Microsoft Office
Excel

Switching Between Workbooks

• On the View tab, in the Window group, click Switch Windows;
or
• Point at the Excel button on the taskbar to display a preview
of each open workbook; or

• Press CTRL+TAB to jump to the next open workbook; or

• If using cascade view, click the title bar for the appropriate workbook to
pull it to the front

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Microsoft Office
Excel

Opening a Workbook
• On startup, click the desired workbook in the Recent list;
or
• Click Open Other Workbooks;
or
• Right-click the Excel Quick Launch icon in the taskbar and
select the desired workbook from the list of Recent Workbooks;
or
• Click File, click Open, then click a location from Recent Workbooks;
or

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Excel

Opening a Workbook
• Click File, click Open, click This PC,
locate the file and click the workbook
to open it; or
• Click File, click Open, then click
Browse to display the Open dialog
box; or
• Press CTRL+O or CTRL+F12 to display
the Open dialog box

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Microsoft Office
Excel

Closing a Workbook
• Click File and then click Close; or
• Press CTRL+W; or
• Press CTRL+F4; or
• Click the Close button

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Excel

Working with the Compatibility Mode

• Compatibility Mode allows you to work with files
saved in earlier versions of Excel
• When converting a new workbook to an older
format, use the Compatibility Checker to see
which features will not be supported
– Click File, click Info, click Check for issues, then
click Check Compatibility

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Excel

Selecting Cells
Single cell Click the cell

Extend the selection Click a cell, press and hold the left mouse button, drag to the end of
the desired range, and then release the mouse button

Entire row Click the row heading

Entire column Click the column heading

Entire worksheet Click the Select All button in the top left corner of the worksheet

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Microsoft Office
Excel

Selecting Cells
Make a selection Click the beginning cell in the range, point to the ending cell in the
range, and then press and hold SHIFT while clicking the ending cell in
range
Extend/shrink Press and hold SHIFT and click inside the previously selected range to
selection shrink the selection, or click outside the range to extend the selection
Non-adjacent Click the cell, column, or row; move the pointer to the next cell, column,
columns, rows, or or row, press and hold CTRL, then click and drag
cells
Extend row Click the row number, press and hold the left mouse button, then drag
selection
Extend column Click the column letter, press and hold the left mouse button, then drag
selection

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Microsoft Office
Excel
Lesson Summary
• explain what an electronic
spreadsheet is
• understand what Excel is and what it
can do
• identify elements on the Excel screen
• understand some basic terminology
• move around in Excel
• use keyboard shortcuts
• enter text, numbers, dates, and times
• move around a worksheet
• use the Backstage view to save, create
new, open, and close workbooks
• switch among open workbooks
• save in a previous Excel format, and
check for compatibility issues
• manage files and folders
• select cells
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