Beginning Excel for Windows

Contents

• Moving around the spreadsheet
• Creating labels
• Adding values
• Saving a spreadsheet
• Formatting cells
• Creating formulas
• Changing columm widths
• Editing cells
• Aligning cells
• Save an existing file with a new name
• Inserting a new row
• Using @ Functions
• Copying cells
• Changing cells
• Printing the spreadsheet

Practice moving the cursor using the keyboard

Cell Right			Right Arrow
Cell Left			Left Arrow
Cell Down			Down Arrow
Cell Up				Up Arrow
Screen Up			[ALT]+[PG UP]
Screen Down			[ALT]+[PG DN]			
Beginning of row		[HOME]
Beginning of worksheet		[CTRL]+[HOME]
Last cell in worksheet		[CTRL]+[END]
Help				[F1]
Go to a certain cell		[F5]
Cancels current operation	[ESC]

Practice using the mouse

Selecting single cells
Selecting blocks
Dragging and moving cells
Scroll bars

Creating Labels

Enter a title for the spreadsheet

1. Press [CTRL]+[HOME] to move the cell pointer to A1
2. Type S.T.A.R., Inc. Payroll Report

Enter a column of labels into the spreadsheet

1. Move the cell pointer to cell A5
2. Type Anderson and press [ENTER]
3. Type Chapman and press [ENTER]
4. Type Curtis and press [ENTER]
5. Type Dexter and press [ENTER]
6. Type Matthews and press [ENTER]

Adding Values

Enter a column of values into the spreadsheet

1. Move the cell pointer to cell B5
2. Type 23 and press [ENTER]
3. Type 32 and press [ENTER]
4. Type 45 and press [ENTER]
5. Type 40 and press [ENTER]
6. Type 37 and press [ENTER]

Saving a spreadsheet

Save the worksheet to a file on disk

1. Select File­Save
2. Type payroll as the filename and click on OK
   Note: Excel will automatically add the extension³.xls² to your filenames. A file name must have this extension to be recognized by Excel.

Formatting Cells

Insert divider lines into the spreadsheet

1. Select cells A4..B4
2. Place the mouse pointer over the selected cells
3. Click the right mouse button
4. Select Format Cells
5. Select Border
6. Click on Bottom
7. Click on the thickest line
8. Click OK

1. Select cells A10..B10
2. Place the mouse pointer over the selected cells
3. Click the right mouse button
4. Select Format Cells
5. Click on Top
6. Click on the thickest line
7. Click OK

Creating Formulas

Enter a formula to total cell values

1. Position the cell pointer in cell A10
2. Type Total: and press the right arrow key
3. Type +b5+b6+b7+b8+b9 and press [ENTER]

Alter the value in one of the cells used in the above formula

1. Position the cell pointer in cell B6
2. Type 40 and press [ENTER]
3. Note that the total in cell B10 now reflects this change
4. Select Edit­Undo Entry to return the cell's contents to 32
   Note that the total in cell B10 is updated

Enter a formula to compute the average of the values in cells B5 through B9

1. Position the cell pointer in cell A11
2. Type Average: and press l
3. Type +b10/5 and press [ENTER]

Changing Column Widths

Alter the width of column A using the column header

1. Click on the column header for column A
2. Move the mouse pointer to the right boundary of the column; note the pointer changes to a double-headed arrow
3. Click and hold the mouse button and drag the mouse to the right to widen the column

Alter the width of column A using the Column Width command

1. Select any cell in column A
2. Select Format­Column­Width
3. Type 20 to change the width of column A to twenty characters
4. Click on OK

Editing cells

Edit the contents of cells

1. Position the cell pointer in cell A5
2. Press [F2] to edit the contents of the current cell
3. Type , Donna to append this text to the end of the name in this cell and press [ENTER]
4. Click in the edit bar to edit the contents of the current cell
5. Type , Jim and press [ENTER]
6. Repeat the above procedure to edit cells A7 through A9 so that they contain the following names:
   Curtis, Gene
   Dexter, Alice
   Matthews, Sylvia
   

Aligning Labels

Add headings to columns A and B

1. Position the cell pointer in cell A4
2. Type Name and press the right arrow key
3. Type Hours and press [ENTER]

Right-align the heading in cell B4 using a label prefix

1. Position the cell pointer in B4
2. Click the right mouse button and select Format Cells
3. Select Alignment
4. Select Right in the Horizontal section
5. Click OK

1. Select cells A10..A11
2. Click on the Align Right icon in the toolbar

Saving an existing file under a new name

Make a copy of the current file

1. Select File­Save As
2. Type payroll2 as the filename and click on OK

Inserting a New Row

Insert a new row between row 5 and row 6

1. Position the cell pointer in cell A6
2. Select Insert­Rows
3. Type Campbell, Trish and press the right arrow key
4. Type 53 in cell B6 and press [ENTER]

Using @ Functions

Use the @SUM function

1. Position the cell pointer in cell B11
2. Press the [DEL] key to clear the contents of cell B11
3. Select cells B5..B11
4. Click on the Sum icon in the toolbar to create the @SUM function
5. Verify that the total is now the correct value

Use the @AVERAGE function

1. Position the cell pointer in cell B12
2. Note that the current formula in this cell assumes that there will only be five employees
3. Type @average(b5.b10) and press [ENTER]
4. Verify that the average is now the correct value

Insert another row in the spreadsheet

1. Select the row heading for row 10
2. Select Insert-Rows
3. Position the cell pointer in cell A10
4. Type Key,Carole and press the right arrow key
5. Type 38 in cell B10 and press [ENTER]
6. Verify that cells B12 and B13 automatically update to reflect the new entry

Adding other formatting

1. Select cells A4..B4
2. Click on the Bold icon in the toolbar to make the headings bold

Inserting a New Column

1. Select the column heading for column B
2. Select Insert­Columns

Enter the headings and divider lines for the newly inserted column

1. Position the cell pointer in cell B4
2. Type Pay Rate as the new column heading and press [ENTER]
3. Enter data into the newly inserted column
4. Position the cell pointer in cell B5
5. Type 12.85 as the pay rate for Donna Anderson and press [ENTER]
6. Type 15.33 as the pay rate for Trish Campbell and press [ENTER]
7. Type 14.96 as the pay rate for Jim Chapman and press [ENTER]
8. Type 15.90 as the pay rate for Gene Curtis and press [ENTER]
9. Type 13.15 as the pay rate for Alice Dexter and press [ENTER]
10. Type 16.05 as the pay rate for Carole Key and press [ENTER]
11. Type 12.90 as the pay rate for Sylvia Matthews and press [ENTER]

Copying cell contents

Enter a column header for column D

1. Position the cell pointer in cell D4
2. Type Gross Pay as the column header and press [ENTER]
3. Select Format­Column­AutoFit selection
4. Enter a formula to calculate the gross pay for an employee
5. Position the cell pointer in cell D5
6. Type +B5*C5 as the formula and press [ENTER]

Copy the formula from cell D5 to the range of cells D6 through D11

1. Position the cell pointer in cell D5
2. Use the Copy icon on the toolbar to copy the cell contents to the clipboard
3. Click and drag from D6 to D11 to select those cells as a block
4. Use the Paste icon on the toolbar to paste the cell contents from the clipboard

Copy the total and average formulas from column C to column D

1. Select cells C12..C13
2. Select Edit­Copy
3. Select cells D12..D13
4. Select Edit­Paste

Copy cell formats

1. Select cells C4..C12
2. Select Edit­Copy
3. Select cells D4..D12
4. Select Edit­Paste Special
5. Select Formats
6. Click OK

Changing cell formats

Change cell formats for numeric data

1. Select cells B5..B11
2. Position the cell pointer over the selected cells
3. Click the right mouse button and select Format Cells
4. Select Number
5. Select Currency as the category
6. Select the entry showing 2 decimal places as the Format Codes (third option)
7. Click OK

1. Select cells D5..D13
2. Position the cell pointer over the selected cells
3. Click the right mouse button and select Format Cells
4. Select Currency as the category
5. Select the entry showing 2 decimal places as the Format Codes
6. Click OK

Change cell formats for 1 decimal position

1. Select cells C5..C13
2. Position the cell pointer over the selected cells
3. Click the right mouse button and select Format Cells
4. Select Number
5. Click in the Code Box
6. Type 0.0
7. Click OK

Printing a spreadsheet

Save and print the worksheet

1. Click on the Save icon on the toolbar
2. Highlight the area of the spreadsheet you want printed
3. Select File­Print
4. Click OK to print the spreadsheet

Maintained by:
Academic Computing Support
D.W. Mattson Computer Center
Tennessee Technological University
Revised April, 1996