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Excel 2010: Create your first spreadsheet

Goals:

After completing this course you will be able to:

Create a new spreadsheet.

Add, subtract, multiply, and divide in a spreadsheet.

Enter and format column titles.

Let Excel fill in some information for you.

Add or delete columns, rows, and spreadsheets.

Keep column titles in sight as you scroll down a spreadsheet.

Select some printing options.

What is Excel?

Excel is a spreadsheet program in the Microsoft Office system. You can use Excel to create and

format workbooks (a collection of spreadsheets) in order to analyze data and make more

informed business decisions. Specifically, you can use Excel to track data, build models for

analyzing data, write formulas to perform calculations on that data, pivot the data in numerous

ways, and present data in a variety of professional looking charts.

Common scenarios for using Excel include:

Accounting You can use the powerful calculation features of Excel in many financial

accounting statements—for example, a cash flow statement, income statement, or profit

and loss statement.

Budgeting Whether your needs are personal or business related, you can create any type

of budget in Excel—for example, a marketing budget plan, an event budget, or a

retirement budget.

Billing and sales Excel is also useful for managing billing and sales data, and you can

easily create the forms that you need—for example, sales invoices, packing slips, or

purchase orders.

Reporting You can create various types of reports in Excel that reflect your data analysis

or summarize your data—for example, reports that measure project performance, show

variance between projected and actual results, or reports that you can use to forecast data.

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Planning Excel is a great tool for creating professional plans or useful planners—for

example, a weekly class plan, a marketing research plan, a year-end tax plan, or planners

that help you organize weekly meals, parties, or vacations.

Tracking You can use Excel to keep track of data in a time sheet or list—for example, a

time sheet for tracking work, or an inventory list that keeps track of equipment.

Using calendars Because of its grid-like workspace, Excel lends itself well to creating

any type of calendar—for example, an academic calendar to keep track of activities

during the school year, or a fiscal year calendar to track business events and milestones.

Find and apply a template

Excel 2010 allows you to apply built-in templates, to apply your own custom templates, and to

search from a variety of templates on Office.com. Office.com provides a wide selection of

popular Excel templates, including budgets.

To find a template in Excel 2010, do the following:

1. On the File tab, click New.

2. Under Available Templates, do one of the following:

To reuse a template that you’ve recently used, click Recent Templates, click the

template that you want, and then click Create.

To use your own template that you already have installed, click My Templates, select the

template that you want, and then click OK.

To find a template on Office.com, under Office.com Templates, click a template

category, select the template that you want, and then click Download to download the

template from Office.com to your computer.

Note You can also search for templates on Office.com from within Excel. In the Search

Office.com for templates box, type one or more search terms, and then click the arrow button to

search.

Create a new workbook

1. Click the File tab and then click New.

2. Under Available Templates, click Blank Workbook.

3. Click Create.

Save a workbook

1. Click the File tab.

2. Click Save As.

3. In the Save As dialog box, in the Save as type list, select Excel Workbook

4. In the File name box, enter a name for your workbook.

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5. Click Save to finish.

Enter data in a worksheet

1. Click the cell where you want to enter data.

2. Type the data in the cell.

3. Press enter or tab to move to the next cell.

Format numbers

1. Select the cells that you want to format.

2. On the Home tab, in the Number group, click the Dialog Box Launcher next to

Number (or just press CTRL+1).

3. In the Category list, click the format that you want to use, and then adjust settings, if

necessary. For example, if you’re using the Currency format, you can select a different

currency symbol, show more or fewer decimal places, or change the way negative

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numbers are displayed.

Apply cell borders

1. Select the cell or range of cells that you want to add a border to.

2. On the Home tab, in the Font group, click the arrow next to Borders, and then click the

border style that you want.

Create an Excel table

1. On a worksheet, select the range of cells that you want to include in the table. The cells

can be empty or can contain data.

2. On the Home tab, in the Styles group, click Format as Table, and then click the table

style that you want.

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Create an Excel table

To make working with data easier, you can organize data in a table format on a worksheet.

Tables provide easy filtering, in addition to calculated columns and total rows, which make

calculations simple.

How?

On a worksheet, select the range of cells that you want to include in the table. The cells can

be empty or can contain data.

On the Home tab, in the Styles group, click Format as Table, and then click the table

style that you want.

Keyboard shortcut You can also press CTRL+L or CTRL+T.

If the selected range contains data that you want to display as table headers, select the My

table has headers check box in the Format as Table dialog box.

Table headers display default names if you do not select the My table has headers check

box. You can change the default names by selecting the default header that you want to

replace, and then typing the text that you want

3. If the selected range contains data that you want to display as table headers, select the My

table has headers check box in the Format as Table dialog box.

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Apply cell shading

1. Select the cell or range of cells that you want to apply cell shading to.

2. On the Home tab, in the Font group, click the arrow next to Fill Color , and then

under Theme Colors or Standard Colors, click the color that you want.

Filter your data

1. Select the data that you want to filter.

2. On the Data tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click Filter.

3. Click the arrow in the column header to display a list in which you can make filter

choices.

4. To select by values, in the list, clear the (Select All) check box. This removes the check

marks from all the check boxes. Then, select only the values you want to see, and click

OK to see the results.

Sort your data

To quickly sort your data, do the following:

1. Select a range of data, such as A1:L5 (multiple rows and columns) or C1:C80 (a single

column). The range can include titles that you created to identify columns or rows.

2. Select a single cell in the column on which you want to sort.

3. Click to perform an ascending sort (A to Z or smallest number to largest).

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4. Click to perform a descending sort (Z to A or largest number to smallest).

To sort by specific criteria, do the following:

1. Select a single cell anywhere in the range that you want to sort.

2. On the Data tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click Sort.

The Sort dialog box appears.

3. In the Sort by list, select the first column on which you want to sort.

4. In the Sort On list, select either Values, Cell Color, Font Color, or Cell Icon.

5. In the Order list, select the order that you want to apply to the sort operation —

alphabetically or numerically ascending or descending (that is, A to Z or Z to A for text

or lower to higher or higher to lower for numbers).

Create a formula

1. In a cell, type an equal sign (=) to start the formula.

2. Type a combination of numbers and operators; for example, 3+7.

3. Use the mouse to select other cells (inserting an operator between them). For example,

select B1 and then type a plus sign (+), select C1 and type +, and then select D1.

4. Press ENTER when you finish typing to complete the formula.

Create a formula

Formulas are equations that can perform calculations, return information, manipulate the

contents of other cells, test conditions, and more. A formula always starts with an equal sign (=).

The following table shows some examples of formulas and their descriptions.

Formula Description

=5+2*3 Adds 5 to the product of 2 times 3.

=SQRT(A1) Uses the SQRT function to return the square root of the value in A1.

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=TODAY() Returns the current date.

=IF(A1>0,"Plus","Minus")

Tests the cell A1 to determine if it contains a value greater than 0. If the

result of the test is true, the text "Plus" appears in the cell; if the result is

false, the text "Minus" appears.

How?

Select a cell and start typing

In a cell, type an equal sign (=) to start the formula.

Fill in the rest of the formula

Do one of the following:

Type a combination of numbers and operators; for example, 3+7. Use the mouse to select other cells (inserting an operator between them). For example,

select B1 and then type a plus sign (+), select C1 and type +, and then select D1. Type a letter to choose from a list of worksheet functions. For example, typing "a"

displays all available functions that start with the letter "a."

Complete the formula

To complete a formula that uses a combination of numbers, cell references, and operators, press ENTER.

To complete a formula that uses a function, fill in the required information for the function and then press ENTER. For example, the ABS function requires one numeric value — this can be a number that you type, or a cell that you select that contains a

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number.

Your completed formulas might look like the following examples:

Formula Description

=3+7 Adds two numbers

=B1+C1+D1 Adds the values in three cells

=ABS(-3) Converts a number to its positive value

Chart your data

1. Select the data that you want to chart.

2. On the Insert tab, in the Charts group, click the chart type that you want to use, and then

click a chart subtype.

3. Use the Chart Tools to add chart elements such as titles and data labels, and to change

the design, layout, or format of your chart.

Chart your data in a worksheet

A chart is a visual representation of your data. By using elements such as columns (in a column

chart) or lines (in a line chart), a chart displays series of numeric data in a graphical format.

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The graphical format of a chart makes it easier to understand large quantities of data and the

relationship between different series of data. A chart can also show the big picture so that you

can analyze your data and look for important trends.

How?

Select the data that you want to chart.

Tip The data should be arranged in rows or columns, with row labels to the left and

column labels above the data — Excel automatically determines the best way to plot the

data in the chart.

On the Insert tab, in the Charts group, click the chart type that you want to use, and then

click a chart subtype.

Tip To see all available chart types, click to launch the Insert Chart dialog box, and

then click the arrows to scroll through the chart types.

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When you rest the mouse pointer over any chart type, a ScreenTip displays its name.

For more information about any of the chart types, see Available chart types.

Use the Chart Tools to add chart elements such as titles and data labels, and to change the

design, layout, or format of your chart.

Tip If you don't see the Chart Tools, click anywhere inside the chart to activate it.

Print a worksheet

1. Click the worksheet or select the worksheets that you want to preview.

2. Click File and then click Print.

Keyboard shortcut You can also press CTRL+P.

Note The preview window will display in black and white, regardless of whether your

worksheet(s) includes color, unless you are configured to print on a color printer.

3. To preview the next and previous pages, at the bottom of the Print Preview window, click

Next Page and Previous Page.

4. To set the printing options, do the following:

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To change the printer, click the drop-down box under Printer, and select the printer that

you want.

To make page setup changes, including changing page orientation, paper size, and page

margins, select the options that you want under Settings.

To scale the entire worksheet to fit on a single printed page, under Settings, click the

option that you want in the scale options drop-down box.

5. To print the workbook, do one of the following:

To print a portion of a worksheet, click the worksheet, and then select the range of data

that you want to print.

To print the entire worksheet, click the worksheet to activate it.

6. Click Print.

Activate and use an add-in

1. Click the File tab.

2. Click Options, and then click the Add-Ins category.

3. Near the bottom of the Excel Options dialog box, make sure that Excel Add-ins is

selected in the Manage box, and then click Go.

4. In the Add-Ins dialog box, select the check boxes the add-ins that you want to use, and

then click OK.

5. If Excel displays a message that states it can't run this add-in and prompts you to install

it, click Yes to install the add-ins.

Activate and use an add-in

Add-ins are a feature in Microsoft Excel that provide additional features and commands. Two of

the more popular add-ins are the Analysis ToolPak and Solver, both of which provide extended

data analysis capability for "what-if" planning. To use these add-ins, you need to install and

activate them.

This topic includes procedures that show you how to install and activate the Analysis ToolPak

and Solver, and how to get started analyzing your data with each. You can use the same general

process for installing and activating many other add-ins. Some other add-ins, such as those

created by third parties, may have their own installation program.

How?

Install and activate the Analysis ToolPak and Solver.

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Install and activate the Analysis ToolPak and Solver

Click the File tab.

1. Click Options, and then click the Add-Ins category.

2. Near the bottom of the Excel Options dialog box, make sure that Excel Add-ins is

selected in the Manage box, and then click Go.

3. In the Add-Ins dialog box, select the check boxes for Analysis ToolPak and

Solver Add-in, and then click OK.

4. If Excel displays a message that states it can't run this add-in and prompts you to

install it, click Yes to install the add-ins.

Note In this case, because you are installing two add-ins, Excel prompts you to install an

add-in twice; once for the Analysis ToolPak and once for Solver.

On the Data tab, note that an Analysis group has been added. This group contains

command buttons for Data Analysis and for Solver.

Now you're ready to start using these add-ins.

Get started using the Analysis ToolPak

1. On a worksheet, click a cell.

2. On the Data tab, in the Analysis group, click Data Analysis.

3. In the Data Analysis dialog box, click the tool that you want to use and click OK.

4. In the dialog box that appears for the tool you chose, enter the parameters and

select any options as needed.

Get started using Solver

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1. On a worksheet, enter a formula and then make sure the cell that contains that

formula remains selected.

2. On the Data tab, in the Analysis group, click Solver.

3. In the Solver Parameters dialog box, choose between Max, Min, and Value Of. If

you select Value Of, enter a value in the box.

4. In the By Changing Variable Cells box, enter a cell or a range for the cells for

which you want to solve.

5. Click Add to add a constraint for a cell, and enter the condition for that cell.

6. Click Add again to add more cell constraints (you can have multiple constraints for

a single cell), and click OK when you are finished. Then click Solve.

The Solver Results dialog box appears, with a success or failure message.