Instructions for Spreadsheet using Excel

Instructions for Spreadsheet using Excel

Different menus are visible depending on where your cursor is.

Always click in a cell in a spreadsheet to make menu options available.

To set Print Range

First highlight the area you want to print.

Click on the File menu and click on Print Area.

It is important to do this to avoid the possibility of printing the entire spreadsheet.

Click on the File menu and click on Print Preview or click on the Print Preview button on the toolbar.

Click on Close to return to Normal View of the spreadsheet.

To set Display Options

Click on the File menu and click on Page Setup and click on the Sheet tab.

Column and Row headings and Gridlines will not automatically show up on printed copies.

To print row and column headings, check Row and column headings.

To print the grid, add a check mark next to Gridlines.

To move around the spreadsheet

Use Tab to move to the adjacent cell on the right.

Use Enter to move to the adjacent cell below

Use the Home key to move to the beginning of the row.

Use the End key to move to the end of the row.

Use Control and Home to move to the beginning of the Spreadsheet.

Use Control and End to move to the end of the Spreadsheet.

To resize rows and columns

To resize columns using the mouse:

Move the pointer over the column border

When it changes to a double arrow,

drag the column border to the position you want.

To resize rows using the mouse:

Move the pointer over the row border.

When it changes to a double arrow,

drag the row border to the position you want.

To resize columns or rows using menus:

Click on the Format menu and click on Row or Column.

Here you can determine the Height or Width or select AutoFit.

To automatically format row height by double-clicking:

To make the row height fit the contents, double-click the boundary below the row heading.

You can highlight more than one row and change many at a time.

To automatically format column width:

To make the column width fit the contents, double-click the boundary to the right of the column heading.

To insert and delete rows or columns:

To insert rows and columns:

First highlight the area next to where you would like to insert the row or column.

A row will be inserted above the area you have highlighted and a column will be inserted to the left of the area you have highlighted.

Click on the Insert menu and click on Rows or Columns.

To delete cells, rows or columns:

Highlight the cells you want to delete, click on the Edit menu and click on Delete.

To fill a cell with color or pattern:

Highlight the cell or cells you wish to change. Click on the Format menu, click on Cells and click on the Patterns tab.

Click on the arrrow next to Pattern: to change the pattern and click on the color of your choice. Click on OK.

If a mistake is made, you undo or you can change the color and pattern back to plain white.

You can also use the Toolbar buttons:

Fill Color and Pattern.

To add or remove borders around cells:

Highlight the cells you want to change.

Using Menus:

Click on the Format menu and click on Cells…

You can select Outline and Inside and then click on OK.

Using the Borders Toolbar Button:

Click on the pull down arrow next to the Borders button and Click on your selection on the pop-up menu shown below:

To insert pictures from Clip Art:

Click on the Insert menu, and then click Clip Art, or click on the Insert Clip Art button

on the toolbar.

If you do not have many pictures in Clip Art, you may not have installed Clip Gallery when you installed Microsoft Office. To do this, consult your help menu and find instructions to "Install or remove individual components of Microsoft Office or Microsoft Excel".

To insert pictures from Clip Art Gallery Live online:

Click on the Insert menu, click on Clip Art and click on the Connect To Web for more clips button shown below:

If you are connected to the Internet and Internet Explorer is your default browser, this automatically opens up Clip Gallery Live, Microsoft’s online clip art website for licensed Office users. It is easy to find the picture you want using the searches, click the red arrow next to the picture of your choice and it will be downloaded and added to your Clip Art Gallery. You can then insert it.

If Netscape is your browser, this gets complicated and I recommend using clip art from another source.

To duplicate a picture:

Click on the picture, hold down the Control key and drag to where you want the picture to go,

or hold down the Control button and press D on the keyboard.

To modify Clip Art pictures:

Click on the picture to select it. Click on the Draw toolbar at the bottom of the screen.

Click on Ungroup. You will notice that each part of the picture becomes a separate picture that can be deleted, moved, colored etcetera. You can remove the rectangle around the picture in this way.

To regroup the pieces of the picture, click on the pointer arrow in the draw menu and hold down your mouse and drag it over the picture to select all the parts, then click on the Draw menu and click on Regroup.

To sort spreadsheet data:

Select the rows or columns you want to sort.

Click on the Data menu and choose Sort.

If you are sorting more than one row or column, you can select the order in which to sort them.

To make a chart:

Highlight the cells containing data you want to show on your chart.

Click on Insert and click on Chart.

The Wizard will allow you to choose the type of chart, select series in rows or columns, label x and y axes.

To remove the word "Series" on the chart and replace it with the column headings make sure that Series in Columns is checked.

When you click on Finish, the computer will generate a graph.

To edit a chart/graph:

Right - click on the chart and the Chart Options window will open up.

To change the color of a slice on a pie chart or a bar in a bar graph:

Click on the part of the chart that is colored. This will select all the colored pieces on the chart. Click again on the piece you want to change to select one at a time.

Click on the Format menu and on Selected data point. You can then select your color.

To add a header or footer:

Click on the View menu, click on Header or Footer.

The following dialogue box will appear.

Click on Custom Header … or Custom Footer… Type in the desired text. Click on OK.

The Excel button bar

Below see some of the buttons that I like to include on the Excel toolbar.

Font size Bold Underline Center Merge cells and center Color Fill Pattern Fill Italicize Left align Right align Insert Clip Art Format font , color Format borders Currency Format

To add a button to a toolbar:

Click on the Tools menu, click Customize, and then click the Commands tab.

Click on a category, under Categories and click on the command you want on the toolbar under Commands.

Hold down your mouse and drag the button to the toolbar at the top of your Excel document.

To format a number:

Highlight the cells you want to change, click on the Format menu, click on Cells, and click on the Number tab. Select the type of number and the number of decimal places you need.

You may experience problems formatting fractions, as Excel reads numbers separated with a back slash as dates. To avoid this error, first type in a zero and a space, then the fraction, for example,

Type: 0 then space then 1 then backslash then 2 to show ½.

To use formulas:

Formulas make calculations with cell data.

Select the cell where you want the formula to go.

Type an equal sign, = to let the computer know that you're entering a formula.

Be very careful about where you click next, as this will become part of your formula. If you make a mistake, backspace or delete the formula and start again. If this does not work, press the Escape key.

Type in the formula. Example =A1+ A2 (The cell address can be typed in or it can be entered by clicking on that cell.)

Math symbols on computer include:

add + subtract – multiply * divide / exponent ^

To show or hide formulas on the worksheet:

Click on the Tools menu, click on Options, and click the View tab.

Add a check mark next to Formulas to show formulas.

To use functions:

Functions are readymade formulas.

To insert a function, click on the Insert menu and click on Function. Select the function you want, then highlight the words in parentheses (arguments) and replace them with the addresses of cells containing the data you want in the calculation. Press enter and the formula is placed in the cell.

To add cell contents: =SUM(number1,number2,…)

To multiply cell contents: =PRODUCT(number1,number2,…)

To average cell contents: =AVERAGE(number1,number2,…)

To find the largest value in the selected cells: =MAX(number1,number2,…)

To find the smallest value in the selected cells: =MIN(number1,number2,…)

To count the number of values in cells: =COUNT(value1,value2,…)

To find the square of a number: =SQRT(number)

Functions can be applied to cells containing text also

To find out how many letters in a cell: =LEN(text)

This includes spaces, numbers, and punctuation marks.

To select the letters at the end of the word=RIGHT(text, number-of-characters)

Example =RIGHT(B1,3), if B1 is "going", the returned text would be "ing"

To select the letters at the beginning of the word=LEFT(text, number-of-characters)

Example =LEFT(B1,2), if B1 is "bicycle", the returned text would be "bi"

To join two strings of text together: CONCATENATE (text1, text2,...)

Spaces or specific words or letters can be included if they are added between quotation marks.

Example:

=CONCATENATE(B4,"e") would add an "e" to the end of the string in cell B4.

To Fill Down or Fill Right

Spreadsheet can fill other cells with data or a repeating pattern from highlighted cells, or with numbers, dates, or times in increments that you stipulate. It can also fill formulas.

Highlight the cells containing the data you want to duplicate.

Hold down the Control key and press D to fill down or R to fill right.

You can also drag cell contents across or down by holding down the mouse on the corner of a cell and dragging. The contents of that cell will be duplicated in other cells that you highlight.