Microsoft Excel 2004 Quickstart
A spreadsheet document, often called a worksheet, is a grid made of numbered rows and alphabetized columns. Data is entered into cells which result as the intersection of the rows and columns. The default (and maximum) size of an Excel worksheet is 256 columns by more than 65,000 rows.
To launch Excel, locate and open your "Microsoft Office 2004" folder, and double-click on the Excel application; or double-click on an existing Excel file.
Window and Worksheet Parts Identification
Creating a new Worksheet
The fastest way to open a new worksheet is through the Project Gallery window that appears as soon as Excel is launched. Just leave the default selection highlighted and single-click the OPEN button.
To open a new worksheet from within the application, from the FILE menu, select NEW WORKBOOK. Or you can use the command key combination -- COMMAND/N.
To open an existing worksheet after Excel is launched, from the FILE menu, select OPEN... (or press COMMAND/O) and locate your desired file by navigating through your hard drive; the same open dialogue is accessible from the Project Gallery via the OPEN OTHER... button.
Navigating the Worksheeet
A cell can be selected by either clicking once on the desired cell or by pressing one of the following keys to move from cell to cell:
- Return : down one cell
- Shift+Return : up one cell
- Arrow keys : one cell in the direction of the arrow
- Tab : right one cell
- Shift+Tab : left one cell
- Command+left arrow (hold down) : to "jump" cells to the beginning of a row
- Command+right arrow (hold down) : to "jump" cells the the end of a row
- Command+up arrow (hold down) : to "jump" cells to the beginning of a column
- Command+down arrow (hold down) : to "jump" cells to the end of a column
Move around the entire file using the horizontal and vertical Scroll Bars.
Select an entire row or column by single-clicking on the desired heading.
Select a cell range by holding down the mouse button on the first cell and dragging to the end.
Note: selecting a cell range before entering data can save time.
When you are ready to enter the data, select the range--as data is entered, the next selected cell becomes the active cell. The order that data is entered, though, still depends on whether you press RETURN or TAB (or combinations with SHIFT) to navigate the selected cells; use TAB to move horizontally, RETURN to move vertically. One other feature of this selection mechanism is that, at the end of a row or column, pressing respectively the TAB or RETURN key advances the active cell to the beginning of the next row or column (often called "wrapping").
Entering Data
- Type text, numbers, or formulas into the active cell.
- When you start typing, several things occur:
- Whatever you have typed appears in both the active cell and the Formula Bar--if you make a mistake while typing, use the DELETE key to backspace (NOT the arrows keys, as this changes the selected cell!)
- Press ENTER, RETURN, or TAB key to store the data in the active cell
-- or --
as data is initially entered into a cell, a Cancel (X) button and an Enter (checkmark) button appears on the left side of the formula bar--after typing in the data, click on either box to cancel or enter the data.
- Information can only be entered into one cell at a time.
- Use the Formula Bar to edit entered data:
- To delete a cell entry after it has been stored, click on the cell and press the delete key.
- To correct a portion of a cell information, select the cell, select the data to be corrected using the cursor in the formula bar, and press the correct keys.
Using the Calculator
Excel's built-in calculator allows you to perform simple calculations with current cell contents and insert that result into a new cell.
Click on the Calculator icon to the left of the Formula Bar.
- Normal addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division functions can be used.
- To use the contents of a certain cell as a component of your equation, click once on that cell and its label (i.e. C5) appears on the calculator's "screen."
- In the "Place in cell" box, type in the location of the cell you want the result to go.
- Click OK once you are done with your calculation and the result appears in that cell.
Notice there are also three other buttons: "If...", "Sum...", and "More..." These are more advanced methods of calculation.
- IF... allows you to write a 'true/false' statement. (Excel's example: if cell D9 > 300, do the operation you wrote in the TRUE box; if not, perform the operation in the FALSE box)
- SUM... is a simple method of selecting a large range of cells across multiple rows and columns, and summing their values.
- MORE... opens Excel's Function Library, which allows you to incorporate advanced operations (like averages) into your calculation (see below: Formula Shortcuts, for more information on this library)
Building Formulas
To create a simple formula:
- Click once on the appropriate cell
- Type in an equal sign (=) -- all formulas start with an equal sign (this tells Microsoft Excel to get ready to calculate what follows)
- Click on the first cell -- notice the flashing border on the cell, and what occurs in the Formula bar as you are building your formula
- Type in the appropriate math symbol (+, =, *, /)
- Click on the next cell
- Press Enter, Return, or Tab -- notice the calculation is made with the answer displayed in the cell, and the formula displayed in the formula bar
- The reference in a formula is the address of the selected cell or cell range
- To indicate a range of cells, a colon (:) is used between the first and last cell--for example, B6:B15 refers to the cells B6 through B15
- To indicate a list of cells, a comma (,) is used--for example, B4, D6, G4 refers to cells B4, D6, and G4
- Formula paths can also be typed by hand (instead of identifying cells by mouse-clicking)
Important Note on Formula Calculation
Formulas that reference a cell label always use the "real-time" value of the cell. That is, if you have a sum formula that refers to cell A1 where at the time you make the formula A1 contains the value 11, but at a later time someone changes the A1 value to 90, the formula always uses the current value (in this case, 90). This is usually extremely beneficial, as errors made in typing data can be easily corrected without needing to redo all the formulas yourself. It is important to be aware of this convention, however, as some unexpected results can arise if you are not careful.
Formula Shortcuts: Function words and the "AutoSum" button:
- Microsoft Excel has hundreds of worksheet functions which enables you to perform specialized calculations; these functions are special built-in formulas that perform an operation on the values that you provide in the cell.
- for example, the formula =SUM(A5:A25), uses the SUM function to add all of the cells in the range A5:A25
- A function can be entered by typing it in or by using the FORMULA menu's "Paste Function..." command--if you use the "Paste Function..." command, an equal sign automatically is entered into the cell.
- The "argument" in a function is the information which the function uses to produce a new value or perform an action; the argument is the cell information which appears in the parentheses after the function name [for example, "A5:A25" is the argument in the formula "=SUM(A5:A25)" ]
- There are numerous function categories, including mathematical, trigonometric, logical, statistical, matrix, text, lookup, database, date and time, financial, and information.
- Here are some common formula functions:
AVERAGE: returns the average of the arguments
COUNT: counts how many numbers are in the list of arguments
DATE: returns the serial number of a specified date
DAY: converts a serial number to a day
DAYS360: calculates the number of days between two dates based on a 360-day year
FV: returns the future value of an investment
IPMT: returns the interest payment for an investment for a given period
MIRR: returns the internal rate of return where positive and negative cash flows are financed at different rates
MIN: returns the minimum value in a list of arguments
SUM: adds the arguments
- The list goes on and on. Microsoft provides a Function Reference section of the Help Assistant. Consult this reference when you are ready to start building complicated formulas.
The AutoSum button located in the toolbar can be used as a short-cut for the SUM function. This tool automatically pastes the SUM function into the active cell.
- Click on the cell to contain a formula
- Click on the AutoSum button
- The program "guesses" the cells you want to sum:
- If the cell containing the forumula is at the end of a column of numbers that were just entered, Excel "guesses" you mean to add all those previous entries. Similar for a row.
- If you did not intend for the program to sum the "guessed" range, select and highlight the cells to be added by single-clicking each desired cell
- Click the AutoSum button again or press ENTER to accept the proposed range
Saving a Worksheet/Workbook
To save a file, go to the FILE menu, then select SAVE AS... In the SAVE AS: window, type the desired name of your worksheet, select the location for the file, and click on the SAVE button.
Printing a Worksheet
Excel prints all of the worksheet that contains data. However, it is best to select the area that you desire to print.
- Click and drag the cursor to highlight the area you want to print
- From the FILE menu, select PRINT
- In the Print Window, choose Copies & Pages from the pull-down menu
- Click in the radio button labeled "Selection" next to the "Print what:" label
- Click on the PRINT button at the bottom right corner of the window
Written by Matthew Dull '01; updated for 2004 by Jordan McDonnell '08