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Get to work in Excel

Before you begin

During the practice, this window will stay on top of the program you are working in. When it covers an area you need to use, move and resize it as follows:

• To move this window, click the title bar of the window (as shown below) and drag it to a new location:

  

• To resize this window, drag the resize handle in the lower-right corner.

Exercise 1: Insert a column

In this exercise you'll insert a column, and take a look at some of the other commands that are grouped in the same area as Insert Sheet Columns.

Note    When you open an Excel file created in a previous version, or when you save a file created in 2007 as a previous version, Compatibility Mode is automatically turned on. The practice file was created in Excel 2003, so it says Compatibility Mode at the very top of the window.

1. At the top of the Ribbon, the Home tab on the left should be highlighted. If it isn't, click it.
2. In the worksheet, click anywhere in the Supplier column. For example, click in cell D4.
3. Now, on the Ribbon, in the Cells group, click the arrow to the right of Insert, and then click Insert Sheet Columns.

   A column is inserted to the left of the Supplier column.

   Note    If you click Insert instead of the arrow to the right of that text, the Insert dialog box opens instead of the list of choices.

4. At the top of the new column, in cell D1, type the column title, Category. Now fill in a little data. In cell D2, type Dairy Products. In cell D3, type Grains/Cereals. That will do for now.

   The text you entered is too wide for the column. If you did the practice for the first lesson, do you recall where the command is to adjust the column width?

   Here's how    First, select the column heading for column D. Then, on the Home tab, look in the Cells group, click the arrow on Format, and click AutoFit Column Width. If you prefer to double-click the right edge of column heading to increase column width, do that instead.

5. Notice that there are a number of commands for working with rows, columns, cells, and sheets in the Cells group. If you'd like to take some time to see what is located here, go ahead.

Exercise 2: Use Sum

In this exercise you'll enter a formula by using the Sum button.

1. Place the cursor in cell C51, so that you can add up the number of products listed in the Quantity column.
2. On the Home tab, in the Editing group, click the Sum button. Then press ENTER.

   Excel adds up the total, using the SUM function, and enters the total, 1177.

Exercise 3: Enter a formula using Formula AutoComplete

If you want to enter formulas on your own, but don't necessarily recall the arguments, you can get some help. In this exercise, you'll enter the same formula, but without using the button, by using a new feature called Formula AutoComplete.

1. Click in cell C52. Type an equal sign (=) to start the formula, and then type S for the SUM function.
2. A list appears with the functions that you might want to insert. You will have to scroll a bit in the list to see SUM.

   

3. Double-click SUM to enter it in the worksheet. The arguments for SUM, displayed in a function tip (number1,[number2],...), are the numbers to sum up. (If you press ENTER while SUM is highlighted in the list, instead of double-clicking it, you may see an error in the worksheet.)

   To complete this formula, type C2:C50) and then press ENTER.

   Now you have the same formula entered twice; once with the Sum button in cell C51, and once by using Formula AutoComplete in cell C52.

Exercise 4: Add a header and a footer

In this exercise you'll create a header and footer for the worksheet in Page Layout view.

1. Change from Normal view to Page Layout view. On the View tab, click Page Layout View in the Workbook Views group. (Or click Page Layout View on the View toolbar in the bottom right of the window.)
2. Scroll up to the top of page 1, or press CTRL+HOME. Click where it says Click to add header. Notice that as soon as you click there, a new tab appears on the far right side of the Ribbon, the Design tab, under Header & Footer Tools.

   Note    If you are in Page Layout view, but you cannot see the area that says Click to add header, it means that white space is hidden. Either press CTRL+SHIFT+W, or click once in the space between pages to show the white space.

   Type June Sales Report.

3. Scroll to the bottom of the first page. Click where it says Click to add footer. In the Header & Footer group, click the arrow on Footer, and then click Page 1. "Page 1" is inserted. But if you click back in the footer area, you'll see Page &[Page], which is Excel code for the page number.

   Note that an auto footer can be inserted only in the center of the worksheet. The same goes for an auto header.

4. Click the right side of the footer area. Enter one empty space. In the Ribbon, in the Header & Footer elements group, click Sheet Name. You'll see &[Tab] inserted in that part of the footer area. Click the worksheet, and you'll see the name of the worksheet, "Contoso Sales Data," in the footer area.

   Note that the Design tab and the Header & Footer Tools go away when you click the worksheet, because you aren't working with a header or a footer. To get the tab and tools back if you need them, just click in the header or footer area. If you don't see the commands, click the Design tab.

Tip    You can also enter headers and footers by clicking the Insert tab. Then in the Text group, click Header & Footer. All the commands to enter headers and footers are automatically displayed.

Exercise 5: Add a few finishing touches

In this exercise you'll add a cell style, and you'll change font format. You can stay in Page Layout view for now.

1. Scroll up to the top of page 1, or press CTRL+HOME. First, add two new rows to the top of the worksheet so that you can add a title and have an empty row separating that title from the worksheet data. Place the cursor in the first row. Do you recall where the command is to insert rows?

   Here's how    On the Home tab, in the Cells group, click the arrow next to Insert, and then click Insert Sheet Rows. Click Insert Sheet Rows again to insert a second row, or press F4 instead.

2. In cell A1, type Contoso Sales Data.
3. Select cells A1 through E1. On the Home tab, in the Styles group, click the arrow next to Cell Styles, and then select any style you like for the sheet title. Sheet Title is in the list, or you could use Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, or anything else you see. Quick, isn't that?

   If you point at any of the styles in the list and wait a moment, the title appears in that style, to give you a preview of how it will look if you choose it. When you see a style you want to keep, click it.

4. Merge the cells across the top, and then center the title. Select cells A1 through E1, and in the Alignment group, click the Merge and Center button .
5. Finally, select the column titles in row 3. In the Font group, click the Bold button to show all the titles in bold type.

Exercise 6: Print options

In this exercise you'll check out some of the options on the Page Layout tab for preparing your worksheet for printing.

1. Your worksheet should still be in Page Layout view, with some space in between the pages.
2. At the top of the Ribbon, click the Page Layout tab.
3. In the Page Setup group, click Margins. Click Narrow. You can see the change to the worksheet on your screen. Click Margins again, and then click Wide. Again, you can see the change on your screen. Scroll to the right to see how the wider margin has moved the last column onto a page by itself. Click Margins again and click Normal to adjust the margins a final time. Now all the columns are on one page again.
4. In the Page Setup group, click Orientation. Click Landscape. You see the change on your screen. Notice how more columns appear on the right. Click Orientation again, and then click Portrait. The setting changes again on the screen. There are fewer columns and a grayed-out second sheet.
5. Now click Size in the Page Setup group, and then click A5. You see on the screen how that would look. You have two fairly narrow pages. Click Size again, and then click Letter. All the columns are one page.
6. If you want to print column and row headings, that's easy. In the Sheet Options group, under Headings, select the Print check box.

   Note that the option to print gridlines is just next door; under Gridlines, there's a check box for Print.

7. To see how the worksheet will look before printing, use Print Preview. Click the Microsoft Office Button , click the arrow next to Print, and then click Print Preview.
8. Close Print Preview without printing. Click Close Print Preview on the Print Preview tab.
9. To return to Normal view, on the View tab, click Normal in the Workbook Views group.

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