Microsoft Excel 2003 Spreadsheets

Excel can be used to store and analyze mainly numeric information such as sales, grades, bills, and so on. Basically, Excel is a spreadsheet application. You can use Excel to enter, manipulate, summarize, and analyze numbers for all sorts of situations. A spreadsheet doesnt hold only numbers, and certainly not just static numbers. You can enter formulas from simple to complex to manipulate those numbers. However, spreadsheets can do a lot more than just manipulate numbers and show the results. You can use them to easily create complex, professional-looking charts and graphs, add and format text, and add lines, pictures, and other graphical elements, all to spruce up a spreadsheets appearance and make it more useful by conveying more information.

Using Cells
A spreadsheet is made up of rows and columns of cells. Each cell can contain a unique item of information, such as a number, formula, or text string. By default, the rows in an Excel spreadsheet are numbered top-to-bottom, starting at 1. Columns are labeled with letters, left-to-right, starting with the letter A. See below for an example of rows and columns.
Name box Formula Bar Cell Columns

Rows

Sheets

The intersection of a row and column is called a cell. For example, Cell B8 references Column B, Row 8. Youll see that cell references are important when creating formulas (this is covered later). The cell reference is like the address of the data in the cell and the means by which you work with that data. A single spreadsheet can contain more than one sheet. By default, Excel creates three sheets in a new spreadsheet. The sheets dont need to be related to one another, but generally they are. For example, lets say you need to analyze sales figures for your East, West, North, and South divisions. Each division could have its own sheet, with a fifth sheet to summarize all the information. The mouse pointer changes in different areas of Excel. For example, it appears as a large addition sign when its over a cell. The pointer changes to a right arrow when it hovers over a row heading and to a down arrow when it hovers over a column heading. If you place the pointer between two column headings, the pointer changes to a left-right arrow for dragging the columns edge to make it wider or narrower. You can enter information, including formulas, right in a cell. The Formula Bar is the place to go when you need to edit some information or a formula without retyping it. Finally, like other Office and Windows applications, Excel includes a menu bar and toolbars that give you quick access to its commands and features.

Selecting Cells
If you have followed these instructions so far, you already have some experience in selecting cells. To enter a value, formula, or text in a cell you must first select the cell. Just click in a cell to select that cell. In many situations, you need to select more than one cell. For example, perhaps you want to select a range of numbers to add. Or you may need to format the text in several cells as bold. Selecting multiple cells is really no different from selecting multiple paragraphs in a Word document. Just click one cell, hold down the mouse button, and drag the pointer to select other cells. You can select cells in a rectangular area by using this method, whether in a single column, single row, or more than one row or column. See below for an example of a range of cells selected in a spreadsheet.

Sometimes it is necessary to select multiple cells that are not in a rectangular shape. For example, you might want to format several cells that contain text with a particular font, font colour, or background colour, but those cells are not side by side. To select multiple cells in this type of situation, click the first cell, hold down the Ctrl key and click another cell. Continue to hold down Ctrl while you select all the needed cells.

Changing Row & Column Properties

Excel starts with a default row and column size, but you are certainly not locked into using those properties. For example, you might need to make a column wider to show the numbers it contains or make a row taller to fit multiple lines of text. Resizing a column or row is easy: Just click on the edge of the column or row header and drag with the mouse to change the width or height, respectively. When the pointer is over the column or row edge, the pointer changes to an up/down or left/right resize arrow, as shown below:

Resizing rows and columns in this way isnt very precise. Sometimes you might want an exact size or you might want to reset a row or column size back to the default setting. Excel provides a handful of commands to accomplish these tasks. First, lets look at rows. You can click in a row and choose Format, Row, followed by one of these commands: Height Select this command to open the Row Height dialog box (shown below) and enter a value, in points, between 0 and 409.

Auto Fit Select this command to automatically resize the row to accommodate the tallest data in the row. For example, if one cell contains three lines of text and all others contain one or two rows, Excel resizes the cell to the minimum needed to contain the three lines.

You can change the width of a column by clicking in the column and choosing Format, Column, followed by one of these commands: Width Select this command to open the column width dialog box, with which you specify the column width, in points, from 0 to 255. AutoFit Selection Select this command to automatically resize the column to accommodate the text or numbers in the currently selected cell or range of cells. Standard Width You can choose the Standard Width command to open the Standard Width dialog box. In this dialog box, you specify a width, in points. When you click OK, Excel resizes all columns that do not have the width explicitly set.

Using Ranges & Names

A range of cells is not, as you might think, a rectangular selection of cells. Although a range can certainly specify a rectangular selection of cells, a range need not necessarily be a single rectangular group of cells. So, why define and use ranges? A range can be useful in enabling you to reference data from one sheet in another or within the same sheet. Ranges are also helpful in navigating complex sheets. Rather than hunt through page after page of data to find a single value, for example, you can name a cell or a range around it. When you need to view that information, you just direct Excel to go to that named range or cell. At the left of the Formula Bar is the Name box. Naming a cell or range of cells is easy: You just click the cell or click and drag to select a range of cells. Then you need to click in the Name box and type a name for the range. If you need to assign multiple names, you can assign them in the Define Name dialog box rather than use the name box. Heres how you do it: 1. Choose Insert, Name, Define to open the Define Name dialog (shown on next page). 2. Click in the Names Workbook field and type a new name. 3. Highlight the existing range in the Refers To field and click or drag to select the range. You can also type the cell or range reference. 4. Click Add. 5. Repeat the process for other names and click Close.

Jumping to a Named Cell or Range

After you name a cell or range, you can quickly jump to that place in the spreadsheet, whether it is on the current sheet or a different sheet. To do so, you choose Edit, Go To or press Ctrl+G to open the Go To dialog box (shown below). Then you click the name and click OK.

Identifying a Named Cell or Range

As you work with named cells and ranges, you will probably need Excel to refresh your memory about which names refer to which cells or ranges. This is particularly true if you have lots of names defined. Use these steps to identify a cell or range: 1. Choose Insert, Name, Define to open the Define Name dialog box. 2. Click a name and view the cell reference in the Refers To field. 3. Click Close.

Referencing a Named Cell in a Formula

In addition to using ranges as a means of moving around a spreadsheet, you can also use names in formulas. For example, assume that you are setting up a spreadsheet to calculate commissions for your sales staff. You have three different commission levels, which depend on the tenure of the salesperson. You can enter the commission rates in three different cells and reference those cells when you need to calculate a commission, but may be you find it easier to use a name. For example, assume that youve entered the commission rates in Cells B3, B4 and B5 and that these represent low, medium and high commission rates, respectively. Why not name the cells CLow, CMed and CHigh and use the cell locations as you work in the sheet. Follow these steps to set up the sheet in this example: 1. Click in Cell B3, click the Name box and type CLow. 2. Click in Cell B4, click the Name box and type CMed. 3. Click in Cell B5, click the Name box and type CHigh. 4. Enter the numbers 0.5, .10 and .15 in Cells B3, B4 and B5 respectively. 5. Click in Cell D3 and type =C3*CLow. 6. Click in Cell D4 and type =C4*CMed. 7. Click in Cell D5 and type =C5*CHigh. 8. Enter values of your choosing in Cells C3, C4 and C5. In this example, Excel multiplies the values you enter in Cells C3, C4 and C5 by the values in the cells referenced by the names CLow, CMed and CHigh.

Using Row & Column Lables

You can label rows and columns in Excel. See below for an example in which two columns are labelled Sales and Commissions. Lets assume that youre not sure at this point how many salespeople you will enter in the spreadsheet. So you want to use the label Commissions in a formula to add up the values in the Commissions column.

First you need to configure excel to accept labels in formulas: 1. In Excel choose Tools, Options to open the Options dialog box and then click in the Calculation tab, as shown below:

2. Select the option Accept Labels in Formulas and click OK.

Now you can define and use the label in a formula: 1. Click in Cell D1 and Type Commissions. 2. Click the column header for Column D (that is, click on the D above Commissions). 3. Choose Insert, Name, Create to open the Create Name dialog box, shown below:

4. Choose Top Row and click OK. 5. Click in Cell F5 and type =sum (commissions). Then press Enter. Note that Excel highlights the column when you finish typing the label name. 6. Enter values in Column D and notice that Excel sums the values in Cell F5.

Defining Constants
Depending on the types of information with which you work in Excel, you might need to define some constants. For example, if you needed to calculate sales tax on sales, the tax rate would be a constant. You could use the constant in formulas where you needed to calculate the tax. In this example, assume that the constant will be named TAX and be set to 6%: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Choose Insert, Name, Define to open the Define Name dialog box. In the Names in Workbook field, type TAX. Click in the Refers To field, remove any existing text, and type = 0.6 Click Add and then click Close. Click in the cell where you want to use the constant and type a formula that includes the constant. For example, assume that you have defined a column label as Sales that totals the Sales column. To calculate the sales tax on that total, use the formula =sum(Sales)*TAX.