Table Of ContentMY EXCEL GUIDE
BEGINNERS, INTERMEDIATE, ADVANCED
- Faith Abbey
Table of contents
Definition, Importance and Loading Procedures
Terminologies
Entering Data
Commands and their Functions
Calculations in Excel: Excel Formulas
Excel Functions
Some Excel Skills
How To’s
DEFINITION OF MICROSOFT EXCEL
Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet software program, used for organizing and
calculating data. It is a powerful data visualization and data analysis tool and
all sizes of firms use it to do financial analysis and the likes.
It can also be defined as a spreadsheet package likewise a generic application
software that can perform both simple and complex mathematical
calculations.
IMPORTANCE OF MICROSOFT EXCEL
Excel has been the preferred tool for most people wishing to perform quick
data analysis over the years. It is one of the most used applications in our
daily life.
There are so many compelling reasons to learn how to use Excel! You need
Excel skills for Data entry, Data management, financial analysis, charting and
graphing which helps you present your data in compelling ways, accounting,
Balancing Sheets, Budgets, Editorial calendars, Data calculators,
programming, time management, Inventory tracking, creating forms, project
management, Data visualization, financial modeling, Forecasting, Expense
task management, tracking and almost anything that needs to be organized.
Also, learning how to analyze data in Excel using its tools and formulas will
undoubtedly increase the efficiency of your life.
LOADING PROCEDURES
There are two ways of loading excel into the computer memory:
By using the keyboard
By using the mouse
KEYBOARD
From the windows key or Ctrl (control) + Esc (escape) key together on the
keyboard to activate the start menu.
Use your directional or arrow key by moving it to select programs from the
start menu or hit letter “P” that is the underline word for programs.
Use your down direction key to select Microsoft Excel
Hit the enter key for acceptance.
THE MOUSE
Click on start button at the bottom left of the desktop
Select “All program” from the pull-up menu, another pull-up menu appears
Slide your mouse pointer to Microsoft Office.
Left click on Microsoft Excel from the drop down menu that appears.
You will receive the MICROSOFT EXCEL SCREEN.
The Microsoft Excel screen consists of the
Office Button
Quick access tool bar
Title Bar
Status bar
Ribbons
HOW TO SAVE A WORK SHEET
Pressing Ctrl S on the keyboard will prompt the computer to display the ‘save
as’ dialog box for further conversation.
Or
Move the mouse pointer to the “File menu”, move the pointer to “Save As”
and click on it. A “Save As” dialog box will appear, choose the folder to save
it in and type in the file name of your choice.
TO OPEN A FILE
Go to the “File Menu”
Click on “Open”
And double on any file name for the file to open.
TO CREATE A NEW WORK BOOK
Go to “File Menu” click on “New” from the drop down menu. A dialog box
will appear, then click on blank workbook or you could pick from the
templates already made available in Excel.
TERMINOLOGIES
TITLE BAR: The bar at the top of an application or document that indicate
its name.
TABS: These are rectangular tabs located at the top of the Excel Workbook.
Such as the home tab, page layout, formulas tab etc.
v
File tab menu: File tab is a coloured tab located in the upper-left
corner of Ms Excel. It is used to open, save, print and close a
document. To display file menu, hold the Alt key down and press F.
v
Home tab: It consists of seven groups which provides an
assortment of useful commands that apply to rows, columns and
sheets. It is used to execute regular instructions like bold, underline,
copy and paste. It is also used to apply formats to cells in a
worksheet. It contains Font, Alignment, Number, Cells and Editing.
v
Insert tab: This tab is for inserting tables, charts, pictures, headers
into a document.
v
Page Layout: It contains options that helps you arrange your
document pages. Like setting margins, adding sections and applying
themes
v
Formulas tab: It is used to insert functions, outline the name,
produce the name and review the formula. It allows you select from
so many Excel functions already present in Ms Excel. These
functions are grouped into categories; logical, financial, statistical,
engineering, lookup and reference, date and time, text, math and
trig, information and compatibility and cube.
When you click on one of these tabs, a ribbon is what appears.
RIBBON: Ribbon is the row of tabs and icons at the top of the Excel
Window that allows you quickly find and use commands. Each ribbon is
subdivided into groups
NAME BOX: It gives the name of a cell or a table. It is located on the left
side of the Excel window
FORMULA BAR: It shows the data and formulas you enter into your
worksheet, located directly above the spreadsheet.
SPREADSHEET: Spreadsheet is a grid-based file made for organizing or
carrying out any kind of calculation on any data. It consists of cells that are
organized into columns and rows.
COLUMN: It runs vertically in the work book and are numbered
alphabetically e.g. A C B, which is located at the top of the worksheet. Excel
have 16,384 columns in total.
ROWS: Runs horizontally and are labeled numerically. Excel have 1,048-
576 rows in total.
CELL: A cell is the basic building block of a worksheet. It is where a
column and a row meets (the intersection between a column and a row).
Every cell has a name. (A1, E6, G7)
ACTIVE CELL: The highlighted cell where you type in data.
RANGE: A range is a collection of cells or a group of cells altogether. A
range can also be named e.g. (F6:K19)
FUNCTION: A function is a predefined formula or a formula with a name
and it is already available in Excel. For example, ‘SUM’ which adds numbers
together. Function = SUM()
FORMULA: A formula is an expression which calculates the value of a cell,
such as adding, multiplying, taking the average, etc. Formulas in Excel
always begin with an equal sign. Formula =5+4
WORKSHEET: A worksheet is where Excel stores all your text, numbers
and formulas. Worksheets make up your workbook
WORKBOOK: A workbook is simply another name for your Excel file.
SCROLL BAR: A gray horizontal/vertical line that enables the mouse to
scroll the screen.
SCROLL ARROW: Clicking the arrow move you up and down the
document.
ZOOM SLIDER: It is used to quickly zoom in or out of your worksheet.
SHEET TAB: Allow you to switch between worksheets and also shows you
the worksheet numbers.
TEXT STRING: Is a string, text or a text value. A group of characters used
as data in a spreadsheet program. They comprise of words, numbers, special
characters etc.
CLEAR FORMAT: Removes only the formats from the selected cells,
graphics or chart items.
CLEAR ALL: This removes the content and the format from the selected
cells.
Fig: Cell and Range in Excel
Fig: Excel Workspace
ENTERING INFORMATION IN A CELL
To enter any data into a cell, take the following steps:
1. Click on a Cell
2. Type the entry (texts or numbers without decimal points) into the
cell
3. Hit enter or click on the green check mark on the formula bar.
TO ENTER MULIPLE DATA INTO CELLS
Instead of having to move the cell pointer after each entry to a new location,
select a range of cells.
To do this whether the range consist of adjacent or non-adjacent.
1. First select the range of
cells.
2. To add non adjacent cells, select by pressing Ctrl while clicking the
cells
3. To activate the cell, hold down Ctrl key.
4. After selecting the range, type the first entry and continue to enter.
Each time you hit enter, the pointer moves through the selected range
from top to bottom e.g. downward through the first column then to the
top of the next column to the right
5. To move in different direction within the pre –selected range:
Hit enter to move down
Press Shift + Enter to move up
Hit Tab to move right
Press Shift + Tab to move left
Or use the arrow keys on the keyboard
6. When you have finish enter data, click on any cell to deselect the range.
Another method of data entry involves the fill command. This command
allows you to duplicate data down a column or across a row. You do this by
going to Edit, select Fill and the option box appears. Select the direction you
want to fill. To do this first select a range of cells you want to fill, starting
with the cell that contains the data you wish to copy.
Also another way to fill in a range of cells at once is to select, starting from
the cell you want to copy its data to then end of the selected range, then hit
