BASIC THINGS
WINDOW BORDER
The box that surrounds the Excel screen when it is not maximized is called the window border. When the mouse is over the border, the pointer changes from a single to a double-headed arrow – clicking and dragging with this shape allows the window to be resized.
TITLE BAR
The coloured bar that appears at the top of the Excel window. The title bar tells you which application you are using and if the workbook you are in is maximized, it will also contain the name of the workbook. If the Excel window is not maximized, by positioning the mouse over the title bar and clicking and dragging, you can move the Excel window to a new location on the screen.
MAXIMISE BUTTON
When working in a workbook, the Excel screen contains two windows, an application window and a workbook window. You can maximise both windows to capitalize on the space you have on-screen. If you would like the window that your Excel application is in to fill up the whole screen, click the outermost maximise button. You may find that the workbook you are in can still be bigger – click the inner maximise button to fill the remaining space within the Excel application window.
MINIMISE BUTTON
This button is very useful if you need to temporarily switch from Excel into another application without closing Excel down completely. Click the minimise button to shrink Excel to an icon on the task bar;
RESTORE BUTTON
This button only appears when a window is maximised. A maximised window has no border and you cannot see what is behind it. If you want to put the window back inside its border so that you can move and size it, click the restore button.
CLOSE BUTTON
This button is used to close a window. If you click the close button for a workbook window you close the document. The last button will close the Excel application.
DIALOG BOX LAUNCHER
This button launches dialog boxes specific to the part of the ribbon you see them the category will be named such as FONT, CLIPBOARD etc.
Menus
Menus are no longer used in Excel they have been replaced by Ribbons and will be referred to as such throughout the manual.
Ribbons
Ribbons are tabs that show different commands with respect to what you wish to do.
The HOME ribbon shows basic commands of formatting.
The INSERT ribbon allows the insertion of any object. Just click on the named ribbon to see list of commands that you can perform by clicking on the appropriate icon.
By holding your mouse over an icon, a helpful hint will appear to show you what that command will do. Clicking will apply that command.
Any Icon on the ribbon with a down arrow offers other options and sometimes a dialog box such as the down arrow on the TABLE button. Any option within the menu that has a series of dots after it will usually display a dialog box.
Choosing to insert a chart from the INSERT ribbon’s Chart button will open a dialog box directly and offer a number of varieties of charts to insert.
Dialog Box
Within each tab, the available icons are separated into deferent ‘Groups’. The name of the group is shown under the icons, at the bottom of the ribbon e.g. Font, Paragraph etc. To the right of the Group name you may see a small icon with an arrow in it. This is the Dialogue Box launcher and allows you to launch/view the dialogue box associated with that group – simply click on the relevant dialogue box launcher.
When the dialog box is open, make a choice from the various options and click OK at the bottom of the dialog box. If you wish to change your mind and close the dialog box without making a choice then click on CANCEL. The dialog box will close without any choice being applied. If you would like help while the dialog box is open then click on the? in the top right hand corner. This will bring up a help window that will display the relevant topics.
Many dialog boxes may be more familiar if you have used EXCEL before.
File Ribbon
The FILE RIBBON is the key ribbon within excel and has many important commands and options. Such as excel settings, opening, saving, printing and closing files. This will be looked into much further later in the manual.
Quick Access Toolbar
By default there are only three buttons on the QUICK ACCESS TOOLBAR but these can be edited and other regularly used buttons can be placed there. Using the drop down menu nest to the QUICK ACCESS TOOLBAR will allow the customization of this toolbar adding your most often used commands.
Mini Toolbar
Whenever text is selected within excel a small formatting toolbar will appear above the highlighted text it will disappear if the mouse cursor is moved away from the toolbar and will reappear when the mouse cursor is moved over the highlighted text again.
Name Box
The NAME BOX is the small white box to the left of the FORMULA BAR as we will discover later has a number of useful features such as navigation, the creation and selection of named cells and ranges. Entering a cell reference and pressing return will navigate you to the specific cell entered. Using the drop down arrow to the right of it will allow you to select any specified names in the workbook. When creating functions the box will have a different appearance and will allow you to choose the most popular functions used in that workbook.
Formula Bar
The FORMULA BAR is the white bar to the right of the NAME BOX and is used for entering and editing data. Creating and editing functions and formulae. The construction of Formulae and functions can be seen in this bar even when the cell containing the formula is showing a calculated value. (Unless cell is formatted to HIDDEN and the sheet protected). The fx button on the left of the bar is a tool to create functions and formulae
Worksheets
You use worksheets to list and analyze data. You can enter and edit data on several worksheets simultaneously and perform calculations based on data from multiple worksheets. When you create a chart, you can place the chart on the worksheet with its related data or on a separate chart sheet. The names of the worksheets appear on tabs at the bottom of the workbook window. The name of the active sheet is bold.
Status Bar
The Status bar, across the bottom of the screen, displays different information at different times. To the left is an indicator, which will display Ready, Edit etc. depending on the mode in which the user is currently working. If menus are being accessed, this area will usually give details on the currently highlighted menu option. If you are in the middle of a task – copying data for example – this area will often display messages and prompts instructing you on what to do next.
To the Let on the Status bar, keyboard status indicators reveal whether the Num Lock etc. are switched on.
Task Pane
A task pane is a window that collects commonly used actions in one place. The task pane enables you to quickly create or modify a file, perform a search, or view the clipboard.
It is a Web-style area that you can either, dock along the right or left edge of the window or float anywhere on the screen. It displays information, commands and controls for choosing options. Like links on a Web page, the commands on a task pane are highlighted in blue text, they are underlined when you move the mouse pointer over them, and you run them with a single click.
A task pane is displayed automatically when you perform certain tasks, for example when you choose INSERT, Ribbon and then CLIPART to insert a picture
Smart Tags
Smart Tags, first introduced in Microsoft Office XP, make it easier for you to complete some of the most common tasks and provide you with more control over automatic features.
You do not have to complete any additional steps to make the Smart Tags appear or disappear in Excel. The Paste Options, AutoFill Options, Trace Error and Insert smart tags appear automatically to allow you to quickly choose actions and remain in place until you begin another action. For example, when you complete a paste operation, the Paste Options button remains in place alongside your text until you begin typing new text.
This feature alerts you via a smart Tag of a possible error in a cell. You can select a command to resolve the error, ignore it, or access further Error Checking options.
The example above right shows the use of a smart tag where a formula has been written into a cell with a possible error
i.e. =Sum (A1:A2) may need to read =Sum (A1:A3). If you hover over the tag, the message, the formula in this cell refers to a range that has additional numbers adjacent to it, appears then the options drop down.