Microsoft Excel XP/X

Getting Started with Excel

Excel is an electronic worksheet that adapts calculations from paper and the calculator to the computer. Well-designed worksheets can save hours of work and help you try a wide variety of scenarios with little effort. Before creating a worksheet, you should do some initial planning. Although it is not difficult to change a worksheet, it can take a lot of time to make the necessary adjustments. This document will cover the following:

Opening Excel
Saving Your Work
Creating a Workbook
Entering Text
Entering Numbers
Enter Dates or Times

Opening Excel

When you open Excel, it will open in its own window and start with a blank worksheet. An Excel worksheet file is called a workbook. A workbook is the Excel worksheet file in which related data and information for a specific project are stored. A workbook consists of many worksheets, or multiple layers, which are for listing and analyzing data. For more information on Excel terminology refer to Worksheet Basics.

Windows: From the Start menu, select All Programs » Microsoft Office » Microsoft Excel
Macintosh: From the Desktop Dock, click MICROSOFT EXCEL
The Excel dialog box appears.

Microsoft Excel

Saving Your Work

When saving your worksheet for the first time, you will want to use the Save As option. With this you will be able to give your worksheet a name and indicate the location where you want the file saved.

Saving for the First Time

The following steps will be used when you are saving a worksheet for the first time, when you want to save it in a new location (perhaps a backup), or when you want to save a copy of it with a different name.

From the File menu, select Save As ...
The Save As dialog box appears.
Windows: From the Save in pull-down list, select the proper directory and disk drive
Macintosh: From the Where pull-down list, select the proper directory and disk drive
Windows: In the File name or Name text box, type a filename
Macintosh: In the Save As text box, type a filename
NOTE: You do not need to type the file extension ".xls." The file extension will be automatically added to the filename.
When everything is correct, click SAVE
The file is saved under the filename you selected.

Saving Subsequent Times

From the File menu, select Save
OR
On the Standard toolbar, click SAVE
The file is saved.

Creating a Workbook

An Excel file is called a workbook which contains multiple worksheets. The worksheet is a single layer or single sheet within the larger workbook. Worksheets can be used to group information together. A worksheet can contain either data or charts, or both.

Creating a Workbook: Menu Option

Windows:

From the File menu, select New…
The New Workbook task pane appears
From the task pane, select Blank Workbook
A new workbook appears.

Macintosh:

From the File menu, select New Workbook
A new workbook appears.

Creating a Workbook: Toolbar Option

On the Standard toolbar, click NEW
A new workbook appears.

Entering Text

A cell which contains text and numbers or text only cannot be used in formulas (even if numbers exist with the alphabetic characters).

Select the cell where you want the text to appear
Type the alpha-numeric text that should be in the cell
HINT: To enter numbers as text, change the Cell Format to text, then enter the data.
To accept the information, press [Enter] or an arrow key
Windows: To force text to wrap at a specific point in a cell, press [Alt]+[Enter].

Entering Numbers

Numeric cells can be used for calculations and functions. A numeric cell may contain: numbers, plus (+ ), minus (-), currency ($).

Select the cell where you want the number(s) to appear
Type the numeric information that should be in the cell
HINT: To enter a fraction, include a "0" and [Space] before the fraction; otherwise, Excel will interpret the fraction as a date.
To accept the information, press [Enter] or an arrow key
NOTES:
Excel automatically right aligns values and left aligns text.
There can be no spaces or alphabetic characters in a calculation cell.

Entering Dates or Times

Enter Dates or Times Manually

Select the cell where you want the date or time to appear
If entering a date, type it in one of the following formats (6/23/2003, 6-23-2003, or June 23, 2003)
If entering a time, type the time
NOTE: AM or PM can be indicated by pressing [A] or [P], respectively.
To accept press [Enter]

Enter Today's Date or Current Time Automatically

To enter today's date, press [Ctrl]+[;]
To enter the current time, press [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[;]
To accept press [Enter]