HSD 021 Basic and Applied Computer Skills

Microsoft Excel
Excel is a spreadsheet program from Microsoft and a component of its Office product group for business
applications. Microsoft Excel enables users to format, organize and calculate data in a spreadsheet.

By organizing data using software like Excel, data analysts and other users can make information easier
to view as data is added or changed. Excel contains a large number of boxes called cells that are ordered
in rows and columns. Data is placed in these cells.

Common Excel use cases

Excel is most commonly used in business settings. For example, it is used in business analysis, human
resource management, operations management and performance reporting. Excel uses a large
collection of cells formatted to organize and manipulate data and solve mathematical functions. Users
can arrange data in the spreadsheet using graphing tools, pivot tables and formulas.

Organizations use Microsoft Excel for the following:

• Collection and verification of business data

• Business analysis
• Data entry and storage
• Data analysis
• Performance reporting
• Strategic analysis
• Accounting and budgeting
• Administrative and managerial management
• Account management
• Project management
• Office administration

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Parts of a excel document/window

1. Name box

Show the location of the active cell, row, or column. We have the option of selecting multiple options.

2. Formula Bar

Formula bar permits us to observe, insert or edit the information/formula entered in the active cell.

3. Spreadsheet Area

It is the place where we enter our data. It includes all the rows, cells, columns, and built-in data in the
spreadsheet. We can use shortcuts to perform toolbar activities or formulas of arithmetic operations
(add, subtract, multiply, etc.). The insertion point is the blinking vertical bar known as the "cursor." It
specifies the insertion location of the typing.

4. Leaf Bar

Leaf bar is present at the bottom of the spreadsheet, which says sheet1 is shown. This sheet bar
describes the spreadsheet which is currently being worked on. Using this, we can alternate a number of
sheets or add a new one as per our convenience.

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5. Columns Bar

Columns are a vertically ordered series of boxes across the full sheet. This column bar is located below
the formula bar. The letters of the alphabet are used to label the columns. Begin with the
letter A to Z, and then after Z, it will continue as AA, AB, and so on. The number of columns that can be
used is limited to 16,384.

6. Rows Bar

The row bar is the left part of the sheet where a sequence of numbers is expressed. Begin with number
one (1), and further rows will be added as we move the pointer down. There are a total
of 1,048,576 rows available.

7. Cells

Cells are those parallelepipeds that divide the spreadsheet into many pieces, separating rows and
columns. A spreadsheet's first cell is represented by the first letter of the alphabet and the number
one (A1).

8. Status Bar

The status bar is present at the bottom of the window that displays critical information. It also indicates
whether something is incorrect or whether the document is ready to be printed or delivered.

This shows the result of the selected digits such as sum, average, count, maximum, minimum, etc.

By right-clicking on the status bar, we can configure the status bar. Any command from the specified list
can be added or removed.

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How to enter & edit data in a worksheet

1. Select the cell you’d like to enter data and double click on that cell.
2. After double clicking, you’ll be able to start entering/typing data.
3. Same can be done when editing data, simply double click on the cell and you can edit the data.

Image above showing the word DATA typed in the cell C3

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How to select cells in worksheet

1. Simply use your mouse and move the cursor to the cell you’d like to select and click on that cell.
2. You can also use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move around the worksheet and select the
cell you’d like.

How to select multiple cells in worksheet

1. Simply use your mouse and move the cursor to the cell you’d like to select and click on that cell
and whiles holding down the left click button on the mouse, drag the mouse either left, right,
top or bottom until you’ve selected the cells you would like.
2. You can also use the arrow keys and shift key on your keyboard to move around the worksheet
and select the cells you’d like. Simply press and hold shift whiles pressing on either the up,
down, left or right arrow keys until the cells you would like are selected.

To learn more about selecting cells, click here

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How to print an excel worksheet

1. Using your mouse, move the cursor to the top left-hand corner of the application and click on
the menu option File.
2. After clicking on File, a window will open and along the left-hand corner of the application will
have different options such as: New, Open, Save, Save As, Print, etc.
3. Move the cursor and click on the option that says Print.
4. After clicking on Print, the screen of your computer will look similar to the image below. (Note:
the appearance & color of the screen may vary depending of the version of the software you’re
using but the steps are the same)

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5. After clicking on Print, you will have different options to select or choose from (As shown
below), such as:
• # of copies you’d like to make
• Which printer you’d like to use (applies to computers that are setup to use different
printers)
• Which pages or if all of the pages to print
• Paper Size & Margin Size (Which can also be edited or set in the application itself (under the
Layout section of the toolbar) before going to print

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To learn more about printing in excel, click here

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Using Formulas to make calculations

To learn more about;

• Adding, click here

• Sigma Addition, click here
• Subtraction, click here
• Average, click here
• Sigma Average, click here

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Understanding relative cell reference

Please visit the website below:

https://www.javatpoint.com/what-is-relative-reference-in-excel

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How to add images & clipart

1. Using your mouse, move the cursor to the Ribbon or Toolbar and click on Insert.
2. Then under the Illustrations command group, click on the icon or command that you’d like to
use, for example, if you’d like to add an image to your document, click on the Pictures icon, if
you’d like to insert a shape or clipart, click on the Shapes command or the Icons command.

To learn more, click here

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How to create hyperlinks to a website or email

1. Using your mouse, move the cursor to the Ribbon or Toolbar and click on Insert.

2. After clicking on Insert, look for the command group or ribbon group that’s labeled Links.

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3. Select the cell you’d like to create a link for. After selecting the cell, click on the Link command
in the Links command group under the Insert tab. After clicking on Link, the following window
should appear.

4. When the window appears, look for the section that says Address and type in the address of the
website you’d like to link your text to. If you’re trying to link the text to an email address, then
go to the email section of the Hyperlink window and type the email you’d like to link (as shown
below)

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How to apply cell formatting like, cell color, pattern & borders

1. Using your mouse, move the cursor to the Ribbon or Toolbar and click on Home.
2. Then select or click on the cell you’d like to format.
3. Under the Home toolbar, look for the Font command group and click on the Dialog Box
Launcher. (As shown below)

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4. After clicking on the Dialog Box Launcher, the following window will appear.

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5. When the window appears, click on Border and the following window will appear which will
provide different options for border location, styles & colors.

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6. Or, if when the appears (as shown in step 4), click on Fill and the following window will appear
which will provide different options to for the cell color, effects & patterns.

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How to use templates

1. Using your mouse, move the cursor to the Ribbon or Toolbar and click on File.
2. Under File, click on New and the following window should appear.

3. When the window appears, a list of templates will appear to choose from, or you can search
online for templates by clicking on Search for online templates and typing the name of the
template.

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How to save a Excel worksheet as a HTML file

1. Using your mouse, move the cursor to the top left-hand corner of the application and click on
the menu option File.

2. After clicking on File, a window will open and along the left-hand corner of the application will
have different options such as: New, Open, Save, Save As, Print, etc. (As shown below)

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3. Move the cursor and click on the option that says Save As.
4. After clicking on Save As, look a bit to the right for the option that says Browse and click on it.
5. After clicking on Browse a window (see diagram below) will appear giving you the option to
select where you would like to save your file (whether it be in the Documents Folder, on the
Desktop or a USB Flash Drive etc.) and what name to save your file as. (As shown below)
6. After selecting where you would like to save your file and the name you would like to save your
file as, look at the bottom of the file name for the option Save as type, click on Save as type and
select Web Page.

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