An electronic spreadsheet program is used for doing calculations on data. The spreadsheet is similar to a squared paper, that is, it consists of rows and columns. Where a row meets a column is called a cell. The data that is inserted in a cell can be a value (number), a label (text) or a formula for doing calculations.

Advantages over manual spreadsheet:

Calculations are carried out quickly.

More accurate.

Graphs can be drawn easily.

Changes are re-calculated automatically.

Work can be saved.

You enter your data into a worksheet. It consists of rows and columns and is essentially a very large table.

The worksheets in turn are grouped together into workbooks. By default each workbook in Excel contains 3 worksheets, which are identified by tabs displayed along the bottom of your screen, which identify the individual worksheets making up the workbook. By default the first worksheet is called Sheet1, the next is Sheet2 and so on.

• Click on the Start icon to display the Start menu and then move the mouse pointer onto All Programs.
  
  
• From the sub-menu select Microsoft Excel.

• From the File menu, select Exit
  OR press Alt+F4
  OR click on the Excel Close icon (top-right of the Excel program window).

• From the File menu, choose Open
  OR click on the Open icon on the Standard toolbar.
  
  
  
• Locate the file which you wish to open and then double click on the file name to open it. If you need to change to a different folder, then you can use the Up One Level icon
  OR you can click on the down arrow next to the Look in field.
  
  

NOTE: By default the My Documents folder is displayed.

• Click on the Open icon which will display the file Open dialog box. Click on the first file of the block which you wish to select, and then while depressing the Shift key, click on the last file of the required block. When you release the Shift key the entire block will remain selected.

• Click on the Open icon which will display the file Open dialog box. Click on the first file which you wish to select and while keeping the Ctrl key depressed, click on the other files which you wish to select. When you release the Ctrl key, the selected files will continue to be highlighted.

• Click on the New icon located within the Standard toolbar
  OR press Ctrl+N

• To save the workbook, click on the Save icon, and you will see the Save As dialog box.

• In the section of the dialog box called File Name, enter a name for your file. Then click on the Save button to save the file.

• Click on the File drop down menu and then select the Save As command. The Save As dialog box will be displayed. If necessary select a different folder in which you may wish to save the file.
  
  
• Enter the new file name in the File name text box.
  
  
• Click on the Save button.

• Click on the File drop down menu and select the Save As command. A dialog box will be displayed similar to that illustrated.

• Click on the down arrow to the right of the Save in section of the dialog box, which will display a drop down menu, as illustrated.

• Select the 3 1/2 Floppy (A:) icon.
  
  
• Enter a file name and then click on the Save button.

• Click on the required worksheet tab, displayed along the bottom of your screen, as illustrated.

• Click on the required workbook icon, displayed within the Windows Status Bar, which is along the bottom of your screen, as illustrated.

• Within Excel, click on the Window drop down menu, and you will see workbooks listed, as illustrated (in this case Book1 and Book2)

• From the File menu, select Close.

•  You will be asked if you wish to save any changes you have made to the file. Select Yes to save, or No to ignore the changes.
  
  
• If you are saving a new file, the Save As dialog box will be displayed. In the File name text box, enter a name and click on the Save button.

Use the Zoom icon within the Standard Excel toolbar.

To display a toolbar, select the Toolbars command from the View menu to display the Toolbars drop down menu. A list of toolbars is displayed.

·        Choose the Toolbar you want to display by clicking on it from the list.

• Select the cell in which you want to enter a number and type in the number. If you want to make the number a negative, type a minus sign in front of it or enclose it in parentheses (i.e. brackets).
  
  
• To indicate decimal places, you type a full stop.
  
  
• The numbers will be right aligned by default. If you wish to enter a number or formula as text, type an apostrophe before it.

• Select the cell in which you want to enter the date or time and then type in the date or time. Separate the date with either hyphens or slashes.
  
  
• To enter the current date, press Ctrl+; to enter the current time, press Ctrl+:

• Simply click on the cell and start typing the text which you wish to appear in that cell. To move to the next cell use the Tab key. To move down a cell press the Enter key.

• Click on the cell you wish to select.

• Click on the first cell you wish to select.
  
  
• Depress the Control key.
  
  
• Click on the other cells which you wish to select.
  
  
• Release the Control key when you have finished.

• Click on the first cell in the range.
  
  
• Hold down the left-hand mouse button and drag over the cells you wish to include in the selection.

• Click on the first cell of the rectangular block which you wish to select (i.e. the top-left hand corner).
  
  
• Move down to the cell which marks the bottom-right corner of the rectangular block.
  
  
• Depress the Shift key (and keep it depressed).
  
  
• Click once on the last cell of the required block.
  
  
• Release the Shift key.

• Click the Select All icon in the top, left-hand corner of the worksheet where the row heading and column heading meet, or press Ctrl+A.

• Click on the first sheet tab.
  
  
• Click on other sheet tabs you wish to select whilst depressing the Ctrl key.

• Click on a sheet tab using the right-hand mouse button to display the shortcut menu. Choose Select All Sheets.

• Click the row heading number.

• Click the row heading number of the first row which you wish to select.
  
  
• Position the mouse pointer at the last row in the range which you wish to select.
  
  
• Depress the Shift key and keep it depressed.
  
  
• Click on the last row in the range which you wish to select.
  
• Release the Shift key.

• Click the row heading number of the first row which you wish to select.
  
  
• Position the mouse pointer at another row heading of a row which you wish to select.
  
  
• Depress the Ctrl key and keep it depressed.
  
  
• Click on further row heading numbers which you wish to select.
  
  
• Release the Ctrl key. The selected row(s) will remain selected, as illustrated.

  

• Click on the column-heading letter.

• Click the column heading number of the first column which you wish to select.
  
  
• Position the mouse button at the last column in the range which you wish to select.
  
  
• Depress the Shift key and keep it depressed.
  
  
• Click on the last column in the range which you wish to select.
  
• Release the Shift key.

• Click the column heading number of the first column which you wish to select.
  
  
• Position the mouse button at another column heading of a column which you wish to select.
  
  
• Depress the Control (Ctrl) key and keep it depressed.
  
  
• Click on further column heading numbers which you wish to select.
  
  
• Release the Control (Ctrl) key. The selected columns will remain selected, as illustrated.

• Find the right-hand border of the column you wish to change and follow it to the top of the worksheet into the area of the column heading.
  
  
• When the mouse pointer is moved in this area, it changes to a thick crosshair.
  
  
• Click on the right-hand column heading border and drag the mouse to the left to reduce the column, or to the right to increase the column size.
  
  NOTE: If you enter text which exceeds the column width, it will spill over into the next column as long as the cell does not contain any data. If it contains data the entry will be truncated at the edge of the cell. Although the entire entry does not appear, it will still be intact. If you enter a number which exceeds the width of a column, ### signs will be displayed in the cell to let you know that the column is not wide enough.

• Find the right-hand column border in the column heading area.

• Double click on the border to make the column change to fit the data in it. The column will be as wide as the largest entry in it.

• Click on the heading (column letter) of the first column you want to change, and drag to highlight the other columns.
  
  
• Double click on the right-hand border of the column heading of any of the highlighted columns.
  
  
• The column widths will change to match their largest entry.

• From the Format menu, choose Column Standard Width to display the Standard Width dialog box.

• Enter a new width for standard columns and click on OK.

• Select the row(s) you wish to change and from the Format menu, select Row and choose Height from the Format Row menu. The Row Height dialog box is displayed.

• Enter the value you want (from 0-409) in the Row Height text box. The value represents the row height in points and click on OK.

• Select the row(s) you wish to change and from the Format menu, select Row and choose AutoFit from the Format Row menu.

• Click on the cell containing the data which you wish to change. In the example shown, we have clicked on cell A2 containing the text Accounts for 2002.

• Let’s say that we wanted to change the data in the selected cell from Accounts for 2002 to Accounts for 2003 There are two ways of doing this:
  
  
• Method One: Click in the editing bar towards the top of your screen, where you will see the contents of the selected cell displayed. Make your changes.
  
  
• Method Two: Called 'in place editing'. Double click on the cell containing the data which you wish to edit, and then edit the data directly within that cell.

• Click on the cell contents which you wish to replace. Type in the new data and the data you enter will automatically replace the existing contents.
  

• Click the Undo icon on the Standard toolbar

  

  
  OR select Undo from the Edit menu
  OR press Ctrl+Z.

• Click the Redo icon on the Standard toolbar.

  

• Select the cell or range which you want to delete.

• Press the Delete key.
  
  NOTE: If you delete values from cells, which are used in formulas, the formulas will return errors.

• Place the cursor in the cell where the formula will appear.
  
  
• Enter an = (equal) sign.
  
  
• Enter the expression which will produce the result you want. This can consist of operands, values, variables, and symbols which represent mathematical procedures such as A5+E5.
  
  You can use the following symbols: -

• When the formula is complete, press Enter. The result of the formula will be calculated and displayed in the cell.
  
  
• You can display the formula itself in the Formula bar at the top of the screen by placing the cell pointer on the cell.
  
  
• If there is an error in a formula, an error message is displayed which will begin with a # sign.
  

NOTE: If you cannot find an error in a function you can use the Paste Function to debug it. Highlight the problem cell and click on the Paste Function icon on the formula bar or Standard toolbar.

• Enter the formula up to the point of the cell or range reference, e.g. to enter the formula =E2+E5, only enter the equal (=) sign.
  
  
• Move the cell pointer to the first cell reference using the arrow keys. The formula will track your progress and enter the current address into the formula.
  
  
• Press Enter to complete the formula when you have reached the cell you require.

In Microsoft Excel operators are executed in this order:

• Select the cell or range of which you wish to change the text size.
  
  
• Click on the down arrow to the right of the Font Size icon located on the Excel formatting toolbar.
  
  
• Select the required font size.

• Select the cell or range to which you wish to apply text formatting.

• Click on the down arrow in the Font section of the Excel formatting toolbar. Select the required font.

• Select the cell or range to which you wish to apply text formatting.
  
  
• Use the Bold icon located on the Excel formatting toolbar.

• Select the cell or range to which you wish to apply text formatting.

• Use the Italic icon located on the Excel formatting toolbar.

• Select the cell or range to which you wish to apply text formatting.

  ·        Use the Underline icon located on the Excel formatting toolbar.

• Select the cell or range to which you wish to apply double underline formatting.

• To apply double underlining, then you must access the Font dialog box. To do this click on the Format drop down menu and then select the Cells command. This will display the Format Cells dialog box.

• Select the Font tab within the dialog box.

  Click on the down arrow to the right of the underline section of the dialog box, and then select the required type of underlining, such as Double.

  

• Click on the OK button to close the dialog box. An example of this effect is illustrated below.

  

• Select the cell range which contains the contents of which you wish to change the colour.

• Use the Font Color icon located on the Excel formatting toolbar. Click in the down arrow to display a range of colour options.

  

• Select the cell or range to which you wish to apply a different background colour.

• Right click on the selected range and select Format Cells. This will display the Format Cell dialog box.

• Select the Patterns tab within the dialog box.

  
  
  

• Select the colour you wish to use for the cell background (be careful that you select a colour which will allow you to still see the cell contents, for instance, do not select a dark background, if you are using black as the cell contents colour!)

• Press the OK button when you have made your selections. An example is illustrated below.

  

• Click on the File drop down menu and select the Page Setup command. This will display the Page Setup dialog box.
  
  
• Select the Margins tab and modify your margins as required.
  
  

• Click on the File drop down menu and select the Page Setup command. This will display the Page Setup dialog box.
  
• Select the Page tab. Select Portrait or Landscape orientation, as well as the desired paper size.

• Click on the File drop down menu and select the Page Setup command. This will display the Page Setup dialog box.
  
  
• Select the Page tab and modify the Fit to section of the dialog box to print on a single page.

• Click on the Print Preview icon within the Standard Excel toolbar.

  

• You will see a new toolbar displayed. Click on the Close button to return to the normal Excel view of your data.

  

• From the File menu, choose Page Setup to display the Page Setup dialog box
• Select the Sheet tab.
• To print gridlines make sure that the Gridlines check box (in the Print area of the dialog box) is ticked. To turn off the printing of gridlines make sure that this option is not ticked.

• Select OK