IN THIS CHAPTER
This chapter is an introductory overview of Excel 2016. If you're already familiar with a previous version of Excel, reading (or at least skimming) this chapter is still a good idea.
Excel is the world's most widely used spreadsheet software and is part of the Microsoft Office suite. Other spreadsheet software is available, but Excel is by far the most popular and has been the world standard for many years.
Much of the appeal of Excel is due to the fact that it's so versatile. Excel's forte, of course, is performing numerical calculations, but Excel is also useful for nonnumeric applications. Here are just a few of the uses for Excel:
Here's a quick summary of what's new in Excel 2016, relative to Excel 2013. Keep in mind that this book deals only with the desktop version of Excel. The mobile and online versions do not have the same set of features:
You perform the work you do in Excel in a workbook. You can have as many workbooks open as you need, and each one appears in its own window. By default, Excel workbooks use an .xlsx
file extension.
Each workbook contains one or more worksheets, and each worksheet is made up of individual cells. Each cell can contain a value, a formula, or text. A worksheet also has an invisible draw layer, which holds charts, images, and diagrams. Each worksheet in a workbook is accessible by clicking the tab at the bottom of the workbook window. In addition, a workbook can store chart sheets; a chart sheet displays a single chart and is accessible by clicking a tab.
Newcomers to Excel are often intimidated by all the different elements that appear within Excel's window. After you become familiar with the various parts, it all starts to make sense, and you'll feel right at home.
Figure 1.1 shows you the more important bits and pieces of Excel. As you look at the figure, refer to Table 1.1 for a brief explanation of the items shown in the figure.
Table 1.1 Parts of the Excel Screen That You Need to Know
Name | Description |
Active cell indicator | This dark outline indicates the currently active cell (one of the 17,179,869,184 cells on each worksheet). |
Collapse the Ribbon button | Click this button to temporarily hide the Ribbon. Click it again to make the Ribbon remain visible. |
Column letters | Letters range from A to XFD — one for each of the 16,384 columns in the worksheet. You can click a column heading to select an entire column of cells or drag a column border to change its width. |
File button | Click this button to open Backstage view, which contains many options for working with your document (including printing) and setting Excel options. |
Formula bar | When you enter information or formulas into a cell, it appears in this bar. |
Horizontal scrollbar | Use this tool to scroll the sheet horizontally. |
Macro recorder indicator | Click to start recording a Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macro. The icon changes while your actions are being recorded. Click again to stop recording. |
Name box | This box displays the active cell address or the name of the selected cell, range, or object. |
New Sheet button | Add a new worksheet by clicking the New Sheet button (which is displayed after the last sheet tab). |
Page View buttons | Click these buttons to change the way the worksheet is displayed. |
Quick Access toolbar | This customizable toolbar holds commonly used commands. The Quick Access toolbar is always visible, regardless of which tab is selected. |
Ribbon | This is the main location for Excel commands. Clicking an item in the tab list changes the Ribbon that is displayed. |
Tell me what you want to do | Use this control to identify commands or have Excel issue a command automatically. |
User name | The name (and associated image) of the person logged in. |
Ribbon Display Options | A drop-down control that offers three options related to displaying the Ribbon. |
Row numbers | Numbers range from 1 to 1,048,576 — one for each row in the worksheet. You can click a row number to select an entire row of cells. |
Sheet tabs | Each of these notebook-like tabs represents a different sheet in the workbook. A workbook can have any number of sheets, and each sheet has its name displayed in a sheet tab. |
Sheet tab scroll buttons | Use these buttons to scroll the sheet tabs to display tabs that aren't visible. You can also right-click to get a list of sheets. |
Status bar | This bar displays various messages as well as the status of the Num Lock, Caps Lock, and Scroll Lock keys on your keyboard. It also shows summary information about the range of cells selected. Right-click the status bar to change the information displayed. |
Tab list | Use these commands to display a different Ribbon, similar to a menu. |
Title bar | This displays the name of the program and the name of the current workbook. It also holds the Quick Access toolbar (on the left) and some control buttons that you can use to modify the window (on the right). |
Vertical scrollbar | Use this to scroll the sheet vertically. |
Window Close button | Click this button to close the active workbook window. |
Window Maximize/Restore button | Click this button to increase the workbook window's size to fill the entire screen. If the window is already maximized, clicking this button “unmaximizes” Excel's window so that it no longer fills the entire screen. |
Window Minimize button | Click this button to minimize the workbook window. The window displays as an icon in the Windows taskbar. |
Zoom control | Use this to zoom your worksheet in and out. |
This section describes various ways to navigate the cells in a worksheet.
Every worksheet consists of rows (numbered 1 through 1,048,576) and columns (labeled A through XFD). Column labeling works like this: After column Z comes column AA, which is followed by AB, AC, and so on. After column AZ comes BA, BB, and so on. After column ZZ is AAA, AAB, and so on.
The intersection of a row and a column is a single cell, and each cell has a unique address made up of its column letter and row number. For example, the address of the upper-left cell is A1. The address of the cell at the lower right of a worksheet is XFD1048576.
At any given time, one cell is the active cell. The active cell is the cell that accepts keyboard input, and its contents can be edited. You can identify the active cell by its darker border, as shown in Figure 1.2. Its address appears in the Name box. Depending on the technique that you use to navigate through a workbook, you may or may not change the active cell when you navigate.
Notice that the row and column headings of the active cell appear in a different color to make it easier to identify the row and column of the active cell.
Not surprisingly, you can use the standard navigational keys on your keyboard to move around a worksheet. These keys work just as you'd expect: the down arrow moves the active cell down one row, the right arrow moves it one column to the right, and so on. PgUp and PgDn move the active cell up or down one full window. (The actual number of rows moved depends on the number of rows displayed in the window.)
The Num Lock key on your keyboard controls the way the keys on the numeric keypad behave. When Num Lock is on, the keys on your numeric keypad generate numbers. Many keyboards have a separate set of navigation (arrow) keys located to the left of the numeric keypad. The state of the Num Lock key doesn't affect these keys.
Table 1.2 summarizes all the worksheet movement keys available in Excel.
Table 1.2 Excel Worksheet Movement Keys
Key | Action |
Up arrow (↑) | Moves the active cell up one row |
Down arrow (↓) | Moves the active cell down one row |
Left arrow (←) or Shift+Tab | Moves the active cell one column to the left |
Right arrow (→) or Tab | Moves the active cell one column to the right |
PgUp | Moves the active cell up one screen |
PgDn | Moves the active cell down one screen |
Alt+PgDn | Moves the active cell right one screen |
Alt+PgUp | Moves the active cell left one screen |
Ctrl+Backspace | Scrolls the screen so that the active cell is visible |
↑1 | Scrolls the screen up one row (active cell does not change) |
↓1 | Scrolls the screen down one row (active cell does not change) |
←1 | Scrolls the screen left one column (active cell does not change) |
→1 | Scrolls the screen right one column (active cell does not change) |
* With Scroll Lock on
To change the active cell by using the mouse, just click another cell, and it becomes the active cell. If the cell that you want to activate isn't visible in the workbook window, you can use the scrollbars to scroll the window in any direction. To scroll one cell, click either of the arrows on the scrollbar. To scroll by a complete screen, click either side of the scrollbar's scroll box. You can also drag the scroll box for faster scrolling.
Press Ctrl while you use the mouse wheel to zoom the worksheet. If you prefer to use the mouse wheel to zoom the worksheet without pressing Ctrl, choose File Options and select the Advanced section. Place a check mark next to the Zoom on Roll with IntelliMouse check box.
Using the scrollbars or scrolling with your mouse doesn't change the active cell. It simply scrolls the worksheet. To change the active cell, you must click a new cell after scrolling.
In Office 2007, Microsoft made a dramatic change to the user interface. Traditional menus and toolbars were replaced with the Ribbon, a collection of icons at the top of the screen. The words above the icons are known as tabs: the Home tab, the Insert tab, and so on. Most users find that the Ribbon is easier to use than the old menu system; it can also be customized to make it even easier to use. (See Chapter 24, “Customizing the Excel User Interface.”)
The Ribbon can be either hidden or visible. (It's your choice.) To toggle the Ribbon's visibility, press Ctrl+F1 (or double-click a tab at the top). If the Ribbon is hidden, it temporarily appears when you click a tab and hides itself when you click in the worksheet. The title bar has a control named Ribbon Display Options (next to the Help button). Click the control and choose one of three Ribbon options: Auto-Hide Ribbon, Show Tabs, or Show Tabs and Commands.
The commands available in the Ribbon vary, depending upon which tab is selected. The Ribbon is arranged into groups of related commands. Here's a quick overview of Excel's tabs:
The preceding list contains the standard Ribbon tabs. Excel may display additional Ribbon tabs, resulting from add-ins that are installed.
The appearance of the commands on the Ribbon varies, depending on the width of the Excel window. When the Excel window is too narrow to display everything, the commands adapt; some of them might seem to be missing, but the commands are still available. Figure 1.3 shows the Home tab of the Ribbon with all controls fully visible. Figure 1.4 shows the Ribbon when Excel's window is made more narrow. Notice that some of the descriptive text is gone, but the icons remain. Figure 1.5 shows the extreme case when the window is made very narrow. Some groups display a single icon; however, if you click the icon, all the group commands are available to you.
In addition to the standard tabs, Excel includes contextual tabs. Whenever an object (such as a chart, a table, or a SmartArt diagram) is selected, specific tools for working with that object are made available in the Ribbon.
Figure 1.6 shows the contextual tabs that appear when a chart is selected. In this case, it has two contextual tabs: Design and Format. Notice that the contextual tabs contain a description (Chart Tools) in Excel's title bar. When contextual tabs appear, you can, of course, continue to use all the other tabs.
When you hover your mouse pointer over a Ribbon command, you'll see a pop-up box that contains the command's name and a brief description. For the most part, the commands in the Ribbon work just as you would expect them to. You'll find several different styles of commands on the Ribbon:
Some of the Ribbon groups contain a small icon in the bottom-right corner, known as a dialog box launcher. For example, if you examine the groups in the Home tab, you find dialog box launchers for the Clipboard, Font, Alignment, and Number groups — but not the Styles, Cells, and Editing groups. Click the icon, and Excel displays a dialog box. The dialog launchers often provide options that aren't available in the Ribbon.
At first glance, you may think that the Ribbon is completely mouse centric. After all, the commands don't display the traditional underlined letter to indicate the Alt+keystrokes. But in fact, the Ribbon is very keyboard friendly. The trick is to press the Alt key to display the pop-up keytips. Each Ribbon control has a letter (or series of letters) that you type to issue the command.
Figure 1.8 shows how the Home tab looks after I press the Alt key to display the keytips and then the H key to display the keytips for the Home tab. If you press one of the keytips, the screen then displays more keytips. For example, to use the keyboard to align the cell contents to the left, press Alt, followed by H (for Home), and then AL (for Align Left).
Nobody will memorize all these keys, but if you're a keyboard fan (like me), it takes just a few times before you memorize the keystrokes required for commands that you use frequently.
After you press Alt, you can also use the left- and right-arrow keys to scroll through the tabs. When you reach the proper tab, press the down arrow to enter the Ribbon. Then use left- and right-arrow keys to scroll through the Ribbon commands. When you reach the command you need, press Enter to execute it. This method isn't as efficient as using the keytips, but it's a quick way to take a look at the commands available.
In addition to the Ribbon, Excel features many shortcut menus, which you access by right-clicking just about anything within Excel. Shortcut menus don't contain every relevant command, just those that are most commonly used for whatever is selected.
As an example, Figure 1.9 shows the shortcut menu that appears when you right-click a cell. The shortcut menu appears at the mouse-pointer position, which makes selecting a command fast and efficient. The shortcut menu that appears depends on what you're doing at the time. For example, if you're working with a chart, the shortcut menu contains commands that are pertinent to the selected chart element.
The box above the shortcut menu — the Mini toolbar — contains commonly used tools from the Home tab. The Mini toolbar was designed to reduce the distance your mouse has to travel around the screen. Just right-click, and common formatting tools are within an inch of your mouse pointer. The Mini toolbar is particularly useful when a tab other than Home is displayed. If you use a tool on the Mini toolbar, the toolbar remains displayed in case you want to perform other formatting on the selection.
The Ribbon is fairly efficient, but many users prefer to have certain commands available at all times, without having to click a tab. The solution is to customize your Quick Access toolbar. Typically, the Quick Access toolbar appears on the left side of the title bar, above the Ribbon. Alternatively, you can display the Quick Access toolbar below the Ribbon; just right-click the Quick Access toolbar and choose Show Quick Access Toolbar Below the Ribbon.
Displaying the Quick Access toolbar below the Ribbon provides a bit more room for icons, but it also means that you see one less row of your worksheet.
By default, the Quick Access toolbar contains three tools: Save, Undo, and Redo. You can customize the Quick Access toolbar by adding other commands that you use often. To add a command from the Ribbon to your Quick Access toolbar, right-click the command and choose Add to Quick Access Toolbar. If you click the down arrow to the right of the Quick Access toolbar, you see a drop-down menu with some additional commands that you might want to place in your Quick Access toolbar.
Excel has quite a few commands (mostly obscure ones) that aren't available on the Ribbon. In most cases, the only way to access these commands is to add them to your Quick Access toolbar. Right-click the Quick Access toolbar and choose Customize the Quick Access Toolbar. You see the Excel Options dialog box, shown in Figure 1.10. This section of the Excel Options dialog box is your one-stop shop for Quick Access toolbar customization.
Many Excel commands display a dialog box, which is simply a way of getting more information from you. For example, if you choose Review Changes Protect Sheet, Excel can't carry out the command until you tell it what parts of the sheet you want to protect. Therefore, it displays the Protect Sheet dialog box, shown in Figure 1.11.
Excel dialog boxes vary in the way they work. You'll find two types of dialog boxes:
Most people find working with dialog boxes to be quite straightforward and natural. If you've used other programs, you'll feel right at home. You can manipulate the controls either with your mouse or directly from the keyboard.
Navigating dialog boxes is generally very easy — you simply click the control you want to activate.
Although dialog boxes were designed with mouse users in mind, you can also use the keyboard. Every dialog box control has text associated with it, and this text always has one underlined letter (a hot key or an accelerator key). You can access the control from the keyboard by pressing Alt and then the underlined letter. You can also press Tab to cycle through all the controls on a dialog box. Pressing Shift+Tab cycles through the controls in reverse order.
Several Excel dialog boxes are “tabbed” dialog boxes; that is, they include notebook-like tabs, each of which is associated with a different panel.
When you select a tab, the dialog box changes to display a new panel containing a new set of controls. The Format Cells dialog box, shown in Figure 1.12, is a good example. It has six tabs, which makes it functionally equivalent to six different dialog boxes.
Tabbed dialog boxes are quite convenient because you can make several changes in a single dialog box. After you make all your setting changes, click OK or press Enter.
Yet another user interface element is the task pane. Task panes appear automatically in response to several commands. For example, to work with a picture that you've inserted, right-click the image and choose Format Picture. Excel responds by displaying the Format Picture task pane, shown in Figure 1.13. The task pane is similar to a dialog box except that you can keep it visible as long as you like.
Many of the task panes are complex. The Format Picture task pane has four icons along the top. Clicking an icon changes the command lists displayed next. Click an item in a command list, and it expands to show the options.
There's no OK button in a task pane. When you're finished using a task pane, click the Close button (X) in the upper-right corner.
By default, a task pane is docked on the right side of the Excel window, but you can move it anywhere you like by clicking its title bar and dragging. Excel remembers the last position, so the next time you use that task pane, it will be right where you left it.
This section presents an introductory hands-on session with Excel. If you haven't used Excel, you may want to follow along on your computer to get a feel for how this software works.
In this example, you create a simple monthly sales projection table, plus a chart that depicts the data.
Start Excel and make sure that you have an empty workbook displayed. To create a new, blank workbook, press Ctrl+N (the shortcut key for File New Blank Workbook).
The sales projection will consist of two columns of information. Column A will contain the month names, and column B will store the projected sales numbers. You start by entering some descriptive titles into the worksheet. Here's how to begin:
In this step, you enter the month names in column A.
Your worksheet should resemble the one shown in Figure 1.14.
Next, you provide the sales projection numbers in column B. Assume that January's sales are projected to be $50,000 and that sales will increase by 3.5 percent in each subsequent month.
=B2*103.5%
When you press Enter, the cell displays 51750. The formula returns the contents of cell B2, multiplied by 103.5%. In other words, February sales are projected to be 103.5% of the January sales — a 3.5% increase.
At this point, your worksheet should resemble the one shown in Figure 1.15. Keep in mind that, except for cell B2, the values in column B are calculated with formulas. To demonstrate, try changing the projected sales value for the initial month, January (in cell B2). You'll find that the formulas recalculate and return different values. All these formulas depend on the initial value in cell B2, though.
The values in the worksheet are difficult to read because they aren't formatted. In this step, you apply a number format to make the numbers easier to read and more consistent in appearance:
At this point, you have a functional worksheet, but it could use some help in the appearance department. Converting this range to an “official” (and attractive) Excel table is a snap:
Your worksheet should look like Figure 1.16.
If you don't like the default table style, just select another one from the Table Tools Design Table Styles group. Notice that you can get a preview of different table styles by moving your mouse over the Ribbon. When you find one you like, click it, and the style will be applied to your table.
The worksheet displays the monthly projected sales, but what about the total projected sales for the year? Because this range is a table, it's simple:
How about a chart that shows the projected sales for each month?
Figure 1.17 shows the worksheet with a column chart. Your chart may look different, depending on the chart style you selected.
Printing your worksheet is easy (assuming that you have a printer attached and that it works properly).
Until now, everything that you've done has occurred in your computer's memory. If the power should fail, all may be lost — unless Excel's AutoRecover feature happened to kick in. It's time to save your work to a file on your hard drive.
If you've followed along, you may have realized that creating this workbook was not difficult. But, of course, you've barely scratched the surface of Excel. The remainder of this book covers these tasks (and many, many more) in much greater detail.