Step by Step tutorial Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel Menubar

The Excel Menubar consists of the choices shown below. In the Microsoft Office 2000 suite of products you will see many similarities between products. The menubars of each product will become familiar to you. Each menubar begins with the File menu item. The next choice is Edit followed by View, Insert, etc. The last two choices are always Window and Help.

Excel 2000 Menubar

Microsot Excel Standar d Toolbar

The Excel 2000 Standard Toolbar consists of a group of buttons labeled with icons. The Standard Toolbar in Excel 2000 is used to create a new workbook, open an existing workbook, save a workbook, print, preview what the printed output will look like. There are also buttons for frequently used functions, such as, spell checking, cut, copy, paste, undo, redo, etc. The Standard Toolbar may be customized to meet individual preferences.

Excel 2000 Standard Toolbar

Microsoft Excel Formattin Toolbar

The Excel Formatting Toolbar consists of a group of buttons labeled with icons. The Formatting Toolbar in Excel 2000 is used to select fontface, font size, font style, such as, bold, Italics, or underline. The Formatting Toolbar may be customized to meet individual preferences.

Excel 2000 Formatting Toolbar

A worksheet is a set of spreadsheets used to store numeric data. The worksheet data may be printed, graphed, sorted, and used in a variety of calculations. Your first worksheet will consist of a single spreadsheet that contains climatic data for Michigan and Alaska.

Create a new worksheet

1. Select File / New / Workbook. 2. Type the following information in the cells of your sheet1. (A cell is the intersection of a row and column in a spreadsheet. A cell is named with the Column letter and Row number, i.e. B3, A4, G127) Use the tab key or arrow keys to move from cell to cell in your sheet. Note: The example data is not scientifically accurate.

Saving Your Work.

1. Select File / Save As. The Save As dialog box will appear. 2. Save In: Choose drive A: (If you have a geography folder from a previous exercise, save your work in it. 3. Filename: Name the file weather. 4. Save as type: Microsoft Excel Wookbook .xls 5. Click Save.

Printing Your Output.

1. Choose File/Print. The Print dialog box will appear.

2. Click Preview button to see what printed output will look like. (Note that the data spans 2 pages.) 3. Click Close. This closes the Print Preview only.

Lets change the settings so all the output fits on one piece of paper. 4. Choose File / Page Setup. The Page Setup dialog box will appear.

Formatting a worksheet
Your sheet will look like the one illustrated below when you complete this activity.

Changing Font
1. Select all the cells that contains names of the months. To do this, point to the cell that contains Jan, hold down the left mouse button, and drag the mouse pointer until Feb, Mar, . . ., Nov, and Dec have been selected. If the formatting toolbar is visible,

2. Choose a font typeface from the drop-down list. 3. Choose a font size from the drop-down list. 4. Choose bold, italic, underline. (optional) If the formatting toolbar is not visible, 2. Choose Format | Cells. 3. Select the Font Tab. (See below)

4. Choose a font typeface from the drop-down list. a. Choose a font size from the drop-down list. b. Choose bold, italic, underline. (optional)

5. Click OK. Top of Page

Centering Data
1. Select all the cells that contains temperatures in Alaska and Michigan. If the formatting toolbar is visible,

2. Click on the Center button.

If the formatting toolbar is not visible, 2. Choose Format | Cells. 3. Choose the Alignment Tab. (See below) a. Choose Center. 4. Click OK.

Shading Data
1. Select all the cells that names of states (Alaska and Michigan). 2. Choose Format | Cells. 3. Select the Pattern Tab. a. Choose a light color or light gray. 4. Click OK.

Using AutoFormat
1. Select all the cells in your worksheet. (A1 through M3). 2. Choose Format | AutoFormat. 3. Select a format from the drop-down list. The example is Classic 3. 4. Click OK.

Adding a Heading or Title Row

1. Select any cell in row 1 of your worksheet by clicking on it. 2. Choose Insert | Rows. The new row will be inserting above the selected cell. 3. Click on cell A1. 4. Type the heading or title of your sheet. For example, Temperatures in Alaska and Michigan

Merging Cells and Centering Data Across Columns

Note that the heading is left-justified. We would like to center the heading across all the columns of our sheet.

1. In row 1, select cells A1 through M1. (All the cells in row 1.) If the formatting toolbar is visible, 2. Click on the Merge and Center button.

If the formatting toolbar is not visible, 2. Choose Format | Cells. 3. Choose the Alignment Tab. a. In Horizontal text box choose Center. b. Under Text Control, select Merge Cells. 4. Click OK.

Changing the Text Color

Lets change the color of the heading. 1. In row 1, select cells A1 through M1. (All the cells in row 1.) If the formatting toolbar is visible, 2. Click on the Font Color button.

3. Click on the color of your choice. If the formatting toolbar is not visible, 2. Choose Format | Cells. 3. Select the Font Tab. a. Choose Color. b. Click on color choice from the palette. 4. Click OK.

Changing the Background Color

Lets change the background color of the heading. In row 1, select cells A1 through M1. (All the cells in row 1.)

If the formatting toolbar is visible, 1. Click on the Fill Color button.

2. Click on the color of your choice. If the formatting toolbar is not visible, 1. Choose Format | Cells. 2. Select the Patterns Tab. a. Click on color choice from the palette. b. Click OK.

Save your worksheet Print your worksheet

Caution: Some color choices do not print on black and white printers. You may need to experiment to see what colors choices will work. Your sheet will look like the one illustrated below when you complete this activity.

To enter a formula you need to know the calculation needed and the cells to be used in the calculation. In this example, we will calculate the average of the January temperatures in Alaska and Michigan. We will use Alaskas January temperature (located in cell B3) and Michigans January temperature (located in cell B4) and place the result in cell B5. 1. Click in cell B5 or whatever cell is below the January temperature for Michigan in your sheet. 2. Type the formula =(b3+b4)/2. Note: The equal sign (=) is critical. Without it, Excel does not know that you want to perform a calculation. All formulas and functions must be preceded with an equal sign (=).

3. Press Enter|Return. Note: The result -4 is returned. 4. Change Alaskas January temperature to -6. 5. Press Enter|Return. Note: The result 3 is returned. You did not need to re-enter the formula or recalculate the result. Excel did that for you.

Using Copy and Paste

You need to enter the same formula for February, March, April, . . . December. That can be very time consuming. Instead of re-entering the formula, we will copy and paste. 1. Click in cell C5 or whatever cell contains the January average. 2. Choose Edit | Copy. -orClick on the Copy button. 3. Click in cell C5 or whatever cell contains the February average. 4. Choose Edit | Paste. -orClick on the Paste button. Note: The result 20 is returned. You did not need to re-enter the formula or recalculate the result. When Excel copied the formula for you it determined that this time you wanted to calculate data in column C. -or5. Click in cell C5 or whatever cell contains the January average. 6. Drag the botoom, right corner of cell C5 through Cell M5. Excel will automatically recalculate the values for February, March, etc.

Using Copy and Paste - (More)

You still need to copy the formula to March, April, . . . December. Even with copy and paste that could be very time consuming. We will copy from one cell and paste to many cells. 1. Click in cell B5 or whatever cell contains the January average. 2. Choose Edit | Copy. -orClick on the Copy button. 3. In row 5, select cells D1 through M1. (All the cells in the "average" row with no formula.) 4. Choose Edit | Paste. -orClick on the Paste button. Many times you use a spreadsheet to handle large quantities of data. If you had to calculate the average annual temperature in Alaska, you could enter the formula =(B3+C3+D3+E3+F3+G3+H3+I3+J3+K3+L3+M3)/12. However, this would be a lot of typing. Instead, you could use a function. Excel has hundreds of functions available for you to use. The function we need is the AVERAGE function. Using the AVERAGE function, you indicate the starting cell and ending cell addresses, but not all the addresses in between. 1. Click in cell N3 or whatever cell is to the right of the December temperature for Alaska in your sheet. 2. Type the formula =AVERAGE(B3.M3) -orType the formula =AVERAGE(B3:M3) -or-

Type the formula =AVERAGE(B3..M3) Note: The equal sign (=) is critical. Also, the period (.) or colon (:) or double dots (..) each tell Excel to average the RANGE of numbers between B3 and M3. The function =AVERAGE(B3,M3) with the comma separating the two cell addresses would tell Excel to average Januarys temperature and Decembers temperature and ignore February, March, etc. 3. Press Enter|Return. Note: The result 30.75 is returned. Calculate the average for Michigan by entering the function or by copying and pasting. Functions Available with Excel To see a complete list of the worksheet functions available with Excel, 1. Choose Help | Contents and Index. 2. Select Index Tab 3. Type Functions.

Inserting a Chart into your sheet.

Your sheet will look like the one illustrated below when you complete this activity.

Click the ChartWizard button. The first of several ChartWizard boxes appears.

1. Step 1 of 4 1. Select the Chart Type and Subtype. 2. Click Next.

2. Step 2 of 4 A. Select the Data to include in the chart. In the example, this is the RANGE A2 through M4. We are including the months of the year and the names of the states in the range. (Click cell A2, then, while holding down the Shift Key, click in cell M4.) B. Click Next.

3. Step 3 of 4 . Type Temperatures in Alaska and Michigan as the chart title. A. Type Months as the Category (X) axis title. B. Type degrees as the Value (Y) axis title. C. Look through the other tabs of the Chart Options dialog box. D. Click Next.

4. Step 4 of 4 . Select As New Sheet or As Object In Sheet1.

For the example, we choose As Object in Sheet1. A. Click Finish.

5. Re-size and Move the chart if necessary.

Save your worksheet

First, we need some data to work with.

1. Create a new database like the one shown below.

Save your Planet worksheet.

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Sort data alphabetically.

We need to list the planets in alphabetical order. 1. Select the data we want to sort. A. In this case we will select A4 through D8. Note: We do not just select the names. We need to select the data that goes with each planet. (Click cell A4, then, while holding down the Shift Key, click in cell D8.) 2. Choose Data | Sort.

3. Select Column A and Ascending for A to Z

-orSelect Column A and Descending for Z to A. 4. Click OK. Your sheet will look like the one shown below.

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Sort data by distance.

We need to sort the data in descending sequence by distance from earth. 1. Select the data we want to sort. A. In this case we will select A4 through D8. (Click cell A4, then, while holding down the Shift Key, click in cell D8.) 2. Choose Data | Sort. 3. Select Distance and Descending. 4. Click OK. Your sheet will look like the one shown below.

Inserting Clipart in your worksheet.

1. Save any work that you have. 2. Choose File | New to create a new document. -orOpen the file named Weather.xls that you created earlier. 3. Choose Insert | Picture | Clipart. A. Select a category and several clipart images will be displayed that pertain to that category. B. Select an image which is appropriate. C. Click Insert. Your worksheet will look similar to the one shown below.