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Table of Contents

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................ 4

Screen Elements and it’s Functions .................................................................................................................................. 6

The Ribbon: Overview and How to Hide the Ribbon ...................................................................................................... 7

Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) - Adding and Removing Commands ........................................................................... 10

Customize Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) - Adding Commands to the QAT .............................................................. 12

View Options - Page Layout, Page Break and Normal View ....................................................................................... 15

Using Smart Tags in Your Excel Work ............................................................................................................................ 16

Applying Galleries to the Spreadsheet Objects ............................................................................................................. 17

Types of Formulas and Guide to Create Formulas ....................................................................................................... 18

The Advantages of Using Functions in your Formulas ................................................................................................. 20

Function Argument Types ................................................................................................................................................. 21

Relative Cell Reference (Example Demonstration) ...................................................................................................... 22

Absolute Cell Reference (Example Demonstration - Part 1) ....................................................................................... 24

Absolute Reference (Example Demonstration - Part 2) ............................................................................................... 28

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Introduction

Excel is a spreadsheet program that allows you to store, organize,

and analyze information. In this lesson, you will learn your way around

the Excel 2010 environment, including the new Backstage view, which

replaces the Microsoft Button menu from Excel 2007.

We will show you how to use and modify the Ribbon and the Quick

Access Toolbar, and how to create new

workbooks and open existing ones. After this lesson, you will be ready

to get started on your first workbook.

To start Excel 2010 from the Start Menu

Click on the Start button, then click All Programs.

From the Application Programs menu appears, click on Microsoft Office and click on Microsoft Office Excel 2010.

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The first screen that you will see a new blank worksheet that contains grid of cells. This grid is the most important part of the Excel window. It's where you'll perform all your work, such as entering data, writing formulas, and reviewing the results.

Microsoft Excel 2010 Workbook and Worksheet

An Excel worksheet is the grid of cells where you can type the data. The grid divides your worksheet into rows and columns.

Columns are identified with letters (A, B, C, and so on), while rows are identified with numbers (1, 2, 3, and so on).

A cell is identified intersection of each column and row.

Each cell has its own unique cell address, which includes both the column letter and the row number. For example, C5 is the address of a cell in column C (the third column), and row 5 (the fifth row).

A worksheet in Excel 2010 consists of 16,384 columns and over 1 million rows. The worksheets in turn are grouped together into a workbook.

By default each workbook in Excel 2010 contains 3 blank worksheets, which are identified by tabs displaying along the bottom of your screen. By default the first worksheet is called Sheet1, the next is Sheet2 and so on as shown here.

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Screen Elements and it’s Functions

When you first launch Excel 2007, the program opens up the first of three new worksheets (named Sheet1) in a new workbook file (named Book1).

The Excel 2010 program window containing this worksheet of the workbook is made up of the following components as shown below.

Similar to the Excel 2007, the Excel 2010 ribbon offers a set of tabs, each of which includes tools related to a specific task you want to accomplish with the program.

Excel 2010 screen elements

The diagram below show the elements of an Excel 2010 screen.

Quick Access Toolbar: A small toolbar on top of the screen next to the Excel logo contains shortcuts for some of the most common commands such as Save, Undo, and Redo buttons.

Ribbon: A combination of old versions menu bar and toolbar, arranged into a series of tabs ranging from File through View. Each tab contains buttons, lists, and commands. A contextual tab is a special tab that offers extra commands.

Name box: Displays the address of the current active cell where you work in the worksheet.

Formula bar: Displays the address of the active cell on the left edge, and it also shows you the current cell's contents.

Worksheet: This area contains all the cells of the current worksheet identified by column headers, using letters along the top, and row headers, using numbers along the left edge with tabs for selecting new worksheets.

Sheet tabs: Excel 2010 contains 3 blank worksheet tabs by default. Click on the intended tab will go to the particular worksheet.

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Status bar: Reports information about the worksheet and provides shortcuts for changing the views (Normal, Page Layout and Page Break) and the zoom (dragging the slider to change).

Gridlines: The vertical and horizontal grids that you see when opening the Excel worksheet. You can set to turn it off if you want.

The Ribbon: Overview and How to Hide the Ribbon

The Ribbon is organized into various tabs, such as File, Home, Insert, etc and each tab contains related controls, which usually include buttons, lists, and check boxes. Not like Excel 2003, there is no menu bar in Excel 2010, so you do not use pull-down menus to access commands.

To help you better understand the ribbon, here are the tabs as it common functions:

File: This tab replaces the Office Button in Excel 2007. Use this tab to do things such as opening, saving, printing files and so on.

Home: Use this tab when creating, formatting, and editing a spreadsheet.

Insert: Use this tab when adding particular elements (including graphics, table, PivotTables, charts, hyperlinks, headers and footers, etc) to a spreadsheet.

Page Layout: Use this tab when preparing a spreadsheet for printing or reordering graphics on the sheet (including changing theme, setting margins, graphic orientations, etc).

Formulas: Use this tab when adding formulas and functions to a spreadsheet or checking a worksheet for formula errors.

Data: Use this tab when importing, querying, outlining, and subtotaling the data placed into a worksheet's data list.

Review: Use this tab when proofing, protecting, and marking up a spreadsheet for review by others.

View: Use this tab when changing the display of the Worksheet area and the data it contains.

If you are not familiar with the Ribbon, you might want to find ways to remove or hide it. In Office 2010 the ribbon can be hidden way with one simple mouse click. This function is available to the entire office suite include Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Excel.

To hide or show the Excel 2010 Ribbon

Clicking the down arrow in the upper right hand corner of the application (near the question mark) will open or close the ribbon interface (as shown below).

You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + F1 to minimize or expand the ribbon.

Click the arrow again will expand the ribbon.

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Show Ribbon:

Minimize Ribbon:

The default Excel Ribbon contains eight tabs, and each of those tabs contains lots of commands in the form of buttons, galleries, lists, and other controls. Well, you can improve your Excel productivity by customizing the Excel 2010 Ribbon with extra commands that you use frequently.

Most features in Excel 2010 are available through the commands on the Ribbon tabs. Beside the default commands, Excel 2010 has many other commands available that you may wish to add one or more of these other commands if you use any of them frequently.

To add a new command to the Ribbon, you must first create a new tab or a new group within an existing tab, and then add the command to the new tab or group.

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To display the customize ribbon tab

Right-click any part of the Ribbon and click Customize the Ribbon.

This will display the Excel Options dialog box with Customize Ribbon tab selected.

To add a new Group or Tab

From the Excel Options dialog box with Customize Ribbon tab selected displayed, click the tab you want to customize under the Main Tabs in the Customize the Ribbon section. For example, click on the Home.

Click New Group button. Excel adds an entry called New Group (Custom).

Click Rename button. This will display the Rename dialog box.

Type a new name for the group in the Display name: section (for example, type Test). You can also select a symbol that represents the group.

Click OK.

Note: You can also click New Tab button to create a custom tab.

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To add a command to the Group

From the Excel Options dialog box with Customize Ribbon tab selected displayed, click the Choose commands from drop down menu, choose the command category you want to use. For example, choose Commands Not in the Ribbon.

Then, it will display the whole list of commands. Click the command you want to add (for example, select Bullets and Numbering…).

Click the custom group or tab you want to use. For example, click on the Test group that we just created.

Click Add >> button. Excel adds the Bullets and Numbering command to the Test group.

To remove the added command, click on it and then click << Remove button.

Click OK.

Excel adds the new group and command to the Ribbon.

Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) - Adding and Removing Commands

The QAT is an area of the user interface that provides quick access to commands. The QAT is designed to reduce the amount of navigation you have to do in the Ribbon to access the features that you use frequently.

As you can see, the QAT contains three default commands (Save, Undo, and Redo) and the Excel logo is not part of QAT; you can add additional commands.

Please note that we only add the most frequently used command to the QAT to easy access.

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To add a command to the QAT

Select the Ribbon tab that contains the command you want to add.

Right-click the command and click Add to Quick Access Toolbar in the menu that appears.

To quickly add some commands to the QAT

Click the arrow to the right of the quick access toolbar and choose a command from the menu.

The default 3 commands that appear on the QAT have the 'tick' beside the command.

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To add an entire Ribbon command group to the QAT

Just right-click an area in the command group name (for example, Paragraph in the Home tab) and choose Add to Quick Access Toolbar.

If you think there are too many commands in the QAT, you can remove the command from the QAT. Also, you can move the toolbar from the title bar to a separate location below the Ribbon.

To remove a command (including the default commands) from the QAT

Right-click the command you want to remove from the QAT.

Choose Remove from Quick Access Toolbar in the menu that appears.

You can access commands on the Excel 2010 Quick Access toolbar using the keyboard. Press the Alt key and then a number key that represents the KeyTip for the command you want to access.

For example, Alt + 1 will save the worksheet.

Customize Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) - Adding Commands to the

QAT

As you continue to work with Excel 2010, you might discover that you use certain command buttons much more often than others. In that case, you can make the button accessible with one click by adding the button to the Quick Access Toolbar.

Once added the command buttons to the Quick Access Toolbar, you can run the commands with a single click, so adding your favorite commands saves time. By default, the Quick AccessToolbar contains three buttons: Save, Undo, and Redo, but you can add any of Excel's hundreds of commands.

Since there is only so much room for the Quick Access Toolbar in Excel's menu bar, consider moving the Quick Access Toolbar below the Ribbon to gain more space for your custom commands. This article will guides you on that.

To customize the quick access toolbar

Click the down arrow at the right to the Customize Quick Access Toolbar and from the menu displayed, click More Commands option.

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From the Excel Options dialog box displayed, Excel automatically displays the Quick Access Toolbar tab.

Click the Choose commands from: drop-down menu and select the appropriate tab that contains the command that you wish to add to the QAT. For example, select the File Tab.

You will notices that a list of commands from the File tab appears. Click the command you want to add (for example, click the Open command).

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Click Add >> button. Excel adds the Open command to the QAT.

To remove a command, click it (such as Open command) and then click << Removebutton.

When finish, click the OK button. Excel adds a button for the command to the Quick AccessToolbar.

To move the quick access toolbar

Click the down arrow at the right to the Customize Quick Access Toolbar and from the menu displayed, click Show Below the Ribbon option. The QAT moved to the bottom of the Ribbon.

If you wish to move the toolbar back to the default location, click the down arrow at the right to the Customize Quick Access Toolbar and from the menu displayed, click Show Above the Ribbon option.

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View Options - Page Layout, Page Break and Normal View

The Excel View options allow you to view or see the spreadsheet differently. You can adjust the Excel window to

suit what you are currently working on by changing the view to match your current task.

Excel offers three different views:

Page Layout - displays worksheets as they would appear if you printed them out;

Page Break Preview - displays the page breaks as blue lines, as described in the first Tip on the next page; and

Normal - normally use this view for building and editing worksheets.

Besides that, Excel 2010 also allows you to customize your views to include additional information to the view. The Full Screen view allows you to view the spreadsheet in full screen mode.

This article shows you how to switch to different views in Excel 2010.

To switch to Page Layout View

Click the View tab.

In the Workbook Views group, click the Page Layout icon. You can also click the Page Layout button located at the Status bar.

Excel switches to Page Layout view.

To switch to Page Break Preview

Click the View tab.

In the Workbook Views group, click Page Break Preview icon. You can also click thePage Break Preview button located at the Status bar.

The Welcome to Page Break Preview dialog box appears, click OK.

Excel switches to Page Break Preview.

To switch to Normal View

Click the View tab.

In the Workbook Views group, click Normal icon. You can also click the Normal button located at the Status bar.

Excel switches to Normal view.

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Using Smart Tags in Your Excel Work

The Excel 2010 smart tags is a special icon that appears when you perform certain Excel tasks, such as pasting

data and using the AutoFill feature.

With the smart tags feature, you can make your Excel work faster and easier. This article will demonstrate how to use this feature with Excel 2010.

Generally, clicking the smart tag displays a list of options that enable you to control or modify the task you just performed. Some smart tags appear automatically in response to certain conditions. For example, if Excel detects an inconsistent formula, it displays a smart tag to let you know.

This tutorial will let you know the overview on how to use the smart tag so that you will know how to utilize it when the smart tag options appear while working in a worksheet.

To work with Excel 2010 smart tags

Perform an action that displays a smart tag, such as copying and pasting data or object in a cell. We will look at how to copy and paste data in the worksheet.

Once you pasted the data, the smart tag appears (as shown below).

Click the smart tag or press the Ctrl key and it will displays a list of its options.

Click the option you want to apply. Excel 2010 applies the option to the task you performed in the first step.

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Applying Galleries to the Spreadsheet Objects

The Excel 2010 galleries are a large collection of tools that look like the choice they represent.

In Excel's Ribbon, a gallery is a collection of preset options that you can apply to the selected object in the worksheet. The objects can be charts, tables and lists of data, or graphics that you add to the worksheets.

Excel 2010 is jammed full of style galleries that make it a snap to apply new sophisticated and colorful formatting to the object in the spreadsheet. To get the most out of galleries, you need to know how they work.

Although some galleries are available all the time, in most cases you must select an object before you work with a gallery.

Excel 2010 Galleries and Live Preview

Coupled with the Excel 2010 Live Preview feature, Excel's style galleries go a long way toward encouraging you to create better looking, more colorful, and interesting spreadsheets.

Although Excel 2010 galleries help to give you an idea of what your object will look like when an option is selected, Live Preview takes it to the next level.

Live Preview displays your object or data as it will look right on the worksheet when you hover over the gallery tool. By hovering mouse over the various tools in the gallery, you can see exactly what your object will look like before you commit to a format.

To work with a gallery list

If necessary, click the object (ex; a clip art, graphic, etc) with which you want to apply an option from the gallery. You will notice that a new Picture Tools Format tab exists.

In the Picture Styles group, click the gallery's More arrow. You can also scroll through the gallery by clicking the Down and Up arrows. Move the mouse over a gallery option to see a preview of the effect.

Click the gallery option you want to use. Excel applies the gallery options to the selected object.

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To work with more gallery effects

If necessary, click the object with which you want to apply an option from the gallery.

In the Picture Styles group, click the Picture Effects drop-down arrow button. Excel displays a list of the gallery's contents.

If the gallery contains one or more sub-galleries, click the sub-gallery you want to use. Excel displays the sub-gallery's contents.

Move the mouse over a gallery option to see a preview of the effect. Excel displays a preview of the effect.

Click the gallery option you want to use. Excel applies the gallery option to the selected object.

Types of Formulas and Guide to Create Formulas

The Excel 2010 Formulas is fantastic! It can do things for us like add numbers, calculate the number of hours worked, lookup a product price, create a label for a report, or tell us whether two accounts are in balance and so on.

Those are things that formulas can do but let's get more specific about what makes a formula and look at the following topics in this article: 1) Different types of formulas. 2) Guide to creating formulas. 3) Formula elements (What can go into a formula?).

5 Types of Excel 2010 Formulas

In general, there are five types of formulas that we can create:

1) Calculating formulas that calculate a number answer (like adding).

2) Lookup formulas that lookup an item in a table (like looking up a tax rate or customer phone number).

3) Text formulas that deliver a word to a cell or create labels for reports (like an Income Statement label).

4) Logical Formulas that give you a logical value, either TRUE or FALSE, like formulas that say whether or not two accounts are in balance.

5) Array formulas are advanced formulas that can deliver more than one item (different from non-array formulas that deliver a single item).

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Guidelines for Creating Formulas in Excel 2010

When creating formulas you must follow these guidelines:

1) Most of the time you put formulas in cells. But you can also build a formula in the NameManager - New Name dialog box or the Conditional Formatting dialog box (we'll see examples later).

2) You must enter an equal sign as the first character in the cell (or dialog box) in order to signal to Excel that what you are creating is a formula and not a number or word.

3) If you have a space before the equal sign, the formula will not calculate.

4) If a cell is pre-formatted with the Text Number format, the formula will not calculate.

5) Formulas deliver a single item to a cell (or dialog box) such as a number, word or logical value.

Excel 2010 Formula Elements (What can go into a formula?)

Here is a list of the different sorts of things that we can put into formulas:

1) Equal sign (starts all formulas).

2) Cell references (also: Defined Names, sheet references, workbook references).

3) Math operators (plus, subtract, multiply, etc.).

4) Numbers (If the number will not change, like 12 months, 24 hours).

5) Built-in Functions (AVERAGE, SUM, COUNTIF, DOLLAR, PMT, etc.)

6) Comparative operators (=, >, >=, <, <=, <>)

7) The join symbol, ampersand, "&" (Shift + 7)

8) Text that is in quotes (example: "For The Month Ended")

9) Arrays constant (example: {1,2,3})

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The Advantages of Using Functions in your Formulas

Introduction to Excel 2010 Functions

A function is a built-in tool that you use in a formula. In other words, it's a predefined formula that performs a specific task.

Worksheet functions allow you to perform calculations or operations that would otherwise be impossible. A typical function (such as SUM) takes one or more arguments and then returns a result. The SUM function, for example, accepts a range argument and then returns the sum of the values in that range (see demonstrations below).

Because of this, you need to understand the advantages of using functions, and you need to know the basic structure of every function. This is what we will covers in this tutorial.

Why you need to master the Excel 2010 Functions?

You'll find functions useful because they:

1) Make simple but cumbersome formulas easier to use.

2) Perform otherwise impossible calculations

3) Speed up some editing tasks

4) Provide decision-making capability

Let see it with real-life examples.

1.) Make simple but cumbersome formulas easier to use

For example, you might need to calculate the total of the values in 10 cells (B1:B10). Without the help of any functions, you would need to construct a formula like this:

=B1+B2+B3+B4+B5+B6+B7+B8+B9+B10

No doubt that you can get the end result correct. But how about if you need to calculate the total values in cells B1 to B50? Even worse, you would need to edit this formula if you inserted a new row in the B1:B10 range and needed the new value to be included in the total.

However, you can replace the above formula with a much simpler one that uses the SUM function:

=SUM(B1:B10)

2.) Perform otherwise impossible calculations

For example, you need to determine the smallest value in a range. A formula can't tell you the answer without using a function. This formula uses the MIN function to return the smallest value in the range A1:C50:

=MIN(A1:C50)

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3.) Speed up some editing tasks

Assume that you have a worksheet that contains 500 names in cells A1:A500 and that all the names appear in all-uppercase letters. You has been asked to convert all the names to the lowercase!! For example, JOHN SMITH must change to John Smith.

You can use the function such as the following, which uses the PROPER function to convert the text in cell A1 to proper case:

=PROPER(A1)

Type this formula in cell C1 and then copy it down to the next 499 rows using drap and drop method.

Select ranges C1:C500 and press Ctrl + C to copy the range to the Clipboard.

Click on cell A1 and from the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click the Paste (down arrow) button and click Paste Values to convert the formulas to values.

Delete column C.

Bingo! You just eliminated several hours of tedious work in less than a minute.

4.) Provide decision-making capability

Suppose that you need to calculates sales commissions. If a salesperson sells at least $10,000 of product, the commission rate reaches 10 percent; otherwise, the commission rate remains at 5.0 percent.

Here you can uses the IF function to check the value in cell C1 and make the appropriate commission calculation:

=IF(C1<10000,C1*5%,C1*10%)

The formula is making a decision: If the value in cell C1 is less than 10,000, then return the value in cell C1 multiplied by 5 percent. Otherwise, return the value in cell C1 multiplied by 10 percent.

To conclude, a thorough knowledge of Excel 2010 functions is essential for anyone who wants to master the art of formulas.

Function Argument Types

You should know that almost all the functions use a set of parentheses. The information within the parentheses is the function's arguments. For example, the function =SUM(A3:A7). The argument for this function is A3:A7.

Functions vary in how they use arguments. A function may use:

No arguments such as =RAND( )

One argument

A fixed number of arguments

An indeterminate number of arguments

Optional arguments

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If a function uses more than one argument, a comma separates the arguments. For example, the LARGE function, which returns the nth largest value in a range, uses two arguments. The first argument represents the range; the second argument represents the value for n. For example, the formula =LARGE(A1:A50,3) returns the third-largest value in the range A1:A50

There are several types of argument for a function:

Names as arguments Functions can use cell or range references for their arguments. When Excel calculates the formula, it simply uses the current contents of the cell or range to perform its calculations. The SUM function returns the sum of its argument(s).

For example, =SUM(C1:C30) will calculate the sum of the values in C1:C30. If you defined a name for C1:C30 such as Salary, you can use the name in place of the reference: =SUM(Salary)

Entire Row or Column as arguments Sometime, you may need to use entire row or column as an argument. For example, = AVERAGE(15:15) will averaging all values in the row 15. The formula =SUM(E:E) will sums all values in column E.

Literal values as arguments A literal argument refers to a value or text string that you enter directly. For example, the =SQRT(20) will calculates the square root of 20.

There are some other more difficult types of arguments for a function such as expressions and array as arguments.

Relative Cell Reference (Example Demonstration)

Create a worksheet as shown below:

In the figure above, we can see a formula sitting in cell D2. This formula will be copied down the column so that we can avoid having to create six separate formulas. That formula is using the cell reference B2.

However, from the point of view of the formula, the formula does not see a B2 cell reference, but instead it sees the relative position "two cells to the left of whatever cell the formula is sitting in (housed in)".

Similarly, the cell reference C2, is not really C2, it is "one cell to the left of whatever cell the formula is sitting in (housed in)". Even though you see the cell reference B2 with our eyes, that is not what the formula sees.

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Now, let's prove that when you copy the formula down, the formula does not really see "B2 minus C2", but instead it sees "Two cells to the left minus one cell to the left".

Click in cell D2 and create the formula: =B2-C2

Then, copy the formula down to cell D3. Click on cell D2 and press Ctrl + C (shortcut for Copy), then click on cell D3 and press Ctrl + V (shortcut for Paste).

Put the formula in cell D3 into Edit Mode by pressing the F2 key.

In the figure above, we have proved that "when you copy the formula, the formula does not really see "B2 minus C2", but instead it sees "Two cells to the left minus one cell to the left."

The formula in cell D3 does not have a B2 or a C2 cell reference. When we copied the formula down, the row reference 2 changed to 3. We can see with our eyes that "=B2-C2" changes to "=B3-C3".

This further proves that the original formula was not "B2 minus C2" because if it were, when we copied it down, it would still say "B2 minus C2".

If you are to become great with formulas, you must read formula just as Excel reads them. The formula "=B3-C3" that sits in cell D3 is read as; "two cells to the left minus one cell to the left. Now let's copy the formula down the whole column.

Select Cell D3.

Double click the Fill Handle with your Cross Hair Cursor to copy the formula down.

Put cell D7 into Edit Mode by pressing the F2 key.

In the figure above, we can see with our eyes the formula "=B7-C7", but we know that because these are Relative Cell References and we are copying the formula, the proper way to read this formula is "two cells to the left minus one cell to the left.

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Absolute Cell Reference (Example Demonstration - Part 1)

Create a worksheet as shown below:

In the figure above, we can see that we have 18 item prices in the range B3:D8. Our goal in the range E3 to G8 is to increase all the prices by 5%. This means we need to create 18 formulas, one for each price.

In cell E3 you can see we have started to create our formula. Currently we see Relative Cell References in our formula that would be read as "three cells to the left times three cells to the left and eight cells below". But is that really the formula we want? To find out, let's see what happens when we copy this formula.

1. Click in cell E3 and create the formula: "=B3*B11"

2. Enter the formula and then copy it down to cell E4 by clicking on cell E3 and press Ctrl + C(shortcut for Copy), then click on cell E4 and press Ctrl + V (shortcut for Paste).

3. With cell E4 selected, use the F2 key to put the cell in Edit Mode.

4. The F2 key not only puts a formula into Edit Mode, put it also gives us a "color coded cell reference map" called Range Finder. Range Finder helps us to audit our formula and track down errors.

In the above figure, we can see that the formula is not correct. The formula we really need to calculate the new price for the head lamp based on the 45% margin is not "=B4*B12", but instead "=B4*B11".

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The Relative Cell Reference, B4, which is "three cells to the left", is correct. But the B12 should be B11!

What happened is that the row reference, 11, moved to 12 even though we did not want it to move. We can see that the green Range Finder rectangle is highlighting one cell below our "Increase In Price number, 1.05". This is not correct.

We really want our formula to always be looking at the number in cell B11. We do not want the "B11" part of our formula to be a Relative Cell Reference. We need the "B11" to be "locked" or "absolute" as we copy the formula to the rest of the cells.

Before we see how to "lock" a cell reference, let's see what happens when we copy the formula, not down, but instead to the right.

5. Click the Esc key to get out of Edit Mode.

6. Hit the Delete key to remove the formula from cell E4.

7. Click in E3 and copy the formula over to cell F3.

8. Click in cell F3 and hit the F2 key to show the formula in Edit Mode.

In the figure above, we can see that the formula is not correct. The formula we really need to calculate the new price for the sofa based on the 50% margin is not "=C3*C11", but instead "=C3*B11".

The Relative Cell Reference, C3, which is "three cells to the left", is correct. But the C11 should be B11!

What happened is that the column reference, B, moved to C even though we did not want it to move. We can see that the green Range Finder rectangle is highlighting one cell to the right of our "Increase In Price number, 1.05". This is not correct.

We really want our formula to always be looking at the number in cell B11. We do not want the "B11" part of our formula to be a Relative Cell Reference. We need the "B11" to be "locked" or "absolute" as we copy the formula to the rest of the cells.

Let's see how to lock our cell reference to make an Absolute Cell Reference.

9. Click the Esc key to get out of Edit Mode.

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10. Hit the Delete key to remove the formula from cell F3.

11. Click in E3 and create the formula: =B3*B11

We can see that we have a formula that uses two cell references. We already saw that the Relative Cell Reference, B3, which is "three cells to my left", will work perfectly.

When we copy the formula down one row, the 3 will move to a 4 to give us B4; and when we copy the formula to the right one column, the B will move to a C to give us C3. So that Relative Cell Reference will work perfectly.

But the B11 needs to be locked on B11 when we copy it down across the rows and to the right across the columns. We can lock cell references in formulas by placing $ signs (dollar signs) in front of either the row or column reference.

For us we need the cell reference, B11, to be locked in both directions when we copy the formula across the rows and across the columns, so we need our formula to look like this:

=B3*$B$11

When you have a $ sign in front of both the letter (column reference) and number (row reference), this is called an Absolute Cell Reference.

Why a dollar sign? No reason, they just picked a symbol and used it to designate that either the row or column should be "locked" or absolute throughout the copy action.

When putting $ signs into your cell references, instead of typing them in, you can use the F4 key. When the Insertion Point in a formula is touching a cell reference, the F4 key will add the $ signs to the cell reference. Let's see how this works.

12. With the Insertion Point in a formula touching B11, hit the F4 key.

13. Notice the F4 key puts in two $ signs - one for column B column and one for row 11.

Next we need to copy the formula to the entire range E3: G8. This means we need to copy the formula down and then over. This is a two-step process. Let's see how to do it.

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14. To put the formula in cell E3 and keep the cell selected use Ctrl + Enter.

15. The first copy step is to double-click the Fill Handle with the Cross Hair cursor to copy the formula down across the rows.

16. A smart tag may appear after the first copy step, but you can ignore it.

17. The second copy step is to click on the Fill Handle with the Cross Hair cursor and drag to the right across the columns.

18. Notice that we are copying a whole column of formulas with our Fill Handle and Cross Hair trick.

19. When you drag your Cross Hair cursor to the right, you will see a grey rectangle. When the grey-rectangle surrounds the F and G column, let go of the mouse.

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20. Click in Cell G8 and hit the F2 key to put the cell in Edit Mode.

In the above figure, we can see that our formula works perfectly. The Relative Cell Reference, D8, is looking "three cells to the left" and the Excel Absolute Cell References is looking at Cell B11.

With our knowledge of cell references and our two step copy process, we made 18 calculations with one formula! That is 18 times faster than doing it individually!

How about one step to replace the 2-step process describe in this tutorial? Yes, you can learn how to apply the Ctrl + Enter keyboard trick to enter (or populate) an entire range of cells with formulas, visit Excel absolute cell reference example - part 2.

Absolute Reference (Example Demonstration - Part 2)

In this tutorial, we want to see how to apply the Ctrl + Enter keyboard trick to enter (or populate) an entire range of cells with formulas.

This trick will allow us to enter the formula into all the cells (E3:G8) at one time and will avoid having to use the two step copy process that we used in the part 1. Avoiding the two step copy process can save time!

1. Highlight the range E3:G8.

2. Hit the Delete key to delete all the formulas.

3. Notice that the upper left cell is light colored and the rest of the highlighted cells are a darker color. The light colored cell is called the Active Cell.

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In the above figure, we have highlighted the range E3:G8: all of these cells will get the same formula.

Because all the cells get the same formula, we can create our formula in the Active Cell (light-colored cell, namely E3), and use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Enter to populate all the cells with the formula.

4. In cell E3 create the formula:

"Three Cells To The Left Times B11"

5. The description I just gave of the formula is the "idea" or "concept" of the formula. This is the way you should think of it when you create formulas like this. Explicitly, here is the formula:

=B3*$B$11

It is important to note that we must build the formula from the point of view of the Active Cell, E3. This means that if the formula has a Relative Cell Reference that is "three cells to the left", the Relative Cell Reference you put in the formula must be "three cells to the left" of the Active Cell.

6. To populate all the cells with the formula from the Active Cell use:

Ctrl + Enter

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In the above figure, we can see that the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Enter populated all the highlighted cells with the formula. Anytime you have a range of cells that will get the same formula, number or word, you can use this method for entering the same item into a range of cells.

When you use the Ctrl + Enter method to enter a formula into a range of cells, you want to verify that you actually entered the correct formula.

To do this, check the lower right corner to see if that formula is correct. If that one is correct, you can infer that all the rest are correct also. One fast way to more from corner to corner in a highlight range is to use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + period.

7. With the Active Cell in the upper left corner, to move to the lower corner use the keyboardshortcut:

Hold Ctrl and tap the Period key two times.

8. To verify that the formula is correct, hit the F2 key to put the formula into Edit Mode.

9. The formula looks correct.

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When learning how to use this Ctrl + Enter trick to populate a range of cells with a formula, remember: it is a substitute for copying. So it is always important when you are creating the formula to think about what cell references are required for the "copying" action.