Lesson 1

Formatting Toolbar

The contents of a highlighted cell can be formatted in many ways. Font and cell attributes can be added from shortcut buttons on the formatting bar. If this toolbar is not already visible on the screen, select View|Toolbars|Formatting from the menu bar.

Format Cells Dialog Box

For a complete list of formatting options, right-click on the highlighted cells and choose Format Cells from the shortcut menu or select Format|Cells from the menu bar.

• Number tab - The data type can be selected from the options on this tab. Select General if the cell contains text and number, or another numerical category if the cell is a number that will be included in functions or formulas.
• Alignment tab - These options allow you to change the position and alignment of the data with the cell.
• Font tab - All of the font attributes are displayed in this tab including font face, size, style, and effects.
• Border and Pattern tabs - These tabs allow you to add borders, shading, and background colors to a cell.

Dates and Times

If you enter the date "January 1, 2001" into a cell on the worksheet, Excel will automatically recognize the text as a date and change the format to "1-Jan-01". To change the date format, select the Number tab from the Format Cells window. Select "Date" from the Category box and choose the format for the date from the Type box. If the field is a time, select "Time" from the Category box and select the type in the right box. Date and time combinations are also listed. Press OK when finished.

Styles

The use of styles in Excel allow you to quickly format your worksheet, provide consistency, and create a professional look. Select the Styles drop-down box from the formatting toolbar (it can be added by customizing the toolbar). Excel provides several preset styles:

• Comma - Adds commas to the number and two digits beyond a decimal point.
• Comma [0] - Comma style that rounds to a whole number.
• Currency - Formats the number as currency with a dollar sign, commas, and two digits beyond the decimal point.
• Currency [0] - Currency style that rounds to a whole number.
• Normal - Reverts any changes to general number format.
• Percent - Changes the number to a percent and adds a percent sign.

Style Dialog Box

Create your own styles from the Style Dialog Box.

1. Highlight the cell(s) you want to add a style to.
2. Select Format|Style... from the menu bar.
   
3. Modify the attributes by clicking the Modify button.
4. Check all the items under Style includes that the style should format.
5. Click Add to preview the formatting changes on the worksheet.
6. Highlight the style you want to apply to the paragraph and click Apply.

Create a New Style

1. Select the cell on the worksheet containing the formatting you would like to set as a new style.
2. Click the Style box on the Formatting toolbar so the style name is highlighted.
   
3. Delete the text in the Style box and type the name of the new style.
4. Press ENTER when finished.

Format Painter

A handy feature on the standard toolbar for formatting text is the Format Painter. If you have formatted a cell with a certain font style, date format, border, and other formatting options, and you want to format another cell or group of cells the same way, place the cursor within the cell containing the formatting you want to copy. Click the Format Painter button in the standard toolbar (notice that your pointer now has a paintbrush beside it). Highlight the cells you want to add the same formatting to.

To copy the formatting to many groups of cells, double-click the Format Painter button. The format painter remains active until you press the ESC key to turn it off.

AutoFormat

Excel has many preset table formatting options. Add these styles by following these steps:

1. Highlight the cells that will be formatted.
   
    
2. Select Format|AutoFormat from the menu bar.
3. On the AutoFormat dialog box, select the format you want to apply to the table by clicking on it with the mouse. Use the scroll bar to view all of the formats available.
   
    
4. Click the Options... button to select the elements that the formatting will apply to.
5. Click OK when finished.
   

Create and Use Templates

Step 1: Understand Templates Templates in Excel work like outlines or bare-bones worksheets. Basic information, formatting, and formulas are usually entered; the rest of the information is filled out and customized when the template is used. For repetitive forms, templates can be a real time-saver. Step 2: Create the Template Templates are created just like worksheets: You use all the commands to format, insert functions, and lay out the worksheet. The only thing missing is the actual information that varies from worksheet to worksheet. Step 3: Name the Template Open the File menu and choose the Save As command. The Save As dialog box opens. Choose Template from the Save as Type drop-down list; that way the template can be used over and over. Type a name for the template in the File Name field. Be descriptive so you can easily remember what template you made. I've typed Travel Report. Step 4: Save in the XLSTART Folder Excel templates work best when all of them are saved in a specific spot on disk-the XLSTART folder. (Every template in this folder is displayed in the New dialog box when you go to open a new workbook in Excel.) To save your new template in this folder, open the Save As dialog box's Save In drop-down list; click the icon representing your PC's hard drive, click the Windows entry, choose Application Data, Microsoft, Excel, and then click XLSTART. Click Save. The template is saved to disk. Step 5: Close the Template Choose Close from the File menu to close the template. If you don't close the template, any changes you make to it will be reflected in the template, not in a new worksheet. Step 6: Make a New Worksheet In Excel, open the File menu and choose New. The New dialog box displays any templates that you have created, along with a generic Workbook template. Double-click the template you want to use to create a worksheet. Step 7: Enter Data in the Worksheet A new worksheet that is based on your template opens. From here on, progress continues just as it normally would in Excel, although you have a lot of work already done for you. Don't forget to save the workbook to disk!

The distinguishing feature of a spreadsheet program such as Excel is that it allows you to create mathematical formulas and execute functions. Otherwise, it is not much more than a large table for displaying text. This page will show you how to create these calculations.

Formulas

Formulas are entered in the worksheet cell and must begin with an equal sign "=". The formula then includes the addresses of the cells whose values will be manipulated with appropriate operands placed in between. After the formula is typed into the cell, the calculation executes immediately and the formula itself is visible in the formula bar. See the example below to view the formula for calculating the sub total for a number of textbooks. The formula multiplies the quantity and price of each textbook and adds the subtotal for each book.

Linking Worksheets

You may want to use the value from a cell in another worksheet within the same workbook in a formula. For example, the value of cell A1 in the current worksheet and cell A2 in the second worksheet can be added using the format "sheetname!celladdress". The formula for this example would be "=A1+Sheet2!A2" where the value of cell A1 in the current worksheet is added to the value of cell A2 in the worksheet named "Sheet2".

Relative, Absolute, and Mixed Referencing

Calling cells by just their column and row labels (such as "A1") is called relative referencing. When a formula contains relative referencing and it is copied from one cell to another, Excel does not create an exact copy of the formula. It will change cell addresses relative to the row and column they are moved to. For example, if a simple addition formula in cell C1 "=(A1+B1)" is copied to cell C2, the formula would change to "=(A2+B2)" to reflect the new row. To prevent this change, cells must be called by absolute referencing and this is accomplished by placing dollar signs "$" within the cell addresses in the formula. Continuing the previous example, the formula in cell C1 would read "=($A$1+$B$1)" if the value of cell C2 should be the sum of cells A1 and B1. Both the column and row of both cells are absolute and will not change when copied. Mixed referencing can also be used where only the row OR column fixed. For example, in the formula "=(A$1+$B2)", the row of cell A1 is fixed and the column of cell B2 is fixed.

Basic Functions

Functions can be a more efficient way of performing mathematical operations than formulas. For example, if you wanted to add the values of cells D1 through D10, you would type the formula "=D1+D2+D3+D4+D5+D6+D7+D8+D9+D10". A shorter way would be to use the SUM function and simply type "=SUM(D1:D10)". Several other functions and examples are given in the table below:

Function Wizard

View all functions available in Excel by using the Function Wizard.

1. Activate the cell where the function will be placed and click the Function Wizard button on the standard toolbar.
2. From the Paste Function dialog box, browse through the functions by clicking in the Function category menu on the left and select the function from the Function name choices on the right. As each function name is highlighted a description and example of use is provided below the two boxes.
   
3. Click OK to select a function.
4. The next window allows you to choose the cells that will be included in the function. In the example below, cells B4 and C4 were automatically selected for the sum function by Excel. The cell values {2, 3} are located to the right of the Number 1 field where the cell addresses are listed. If another set of cells, such as B5 and C5, needed to be added to the function, those cells would be added in the format "B5:C5" to the Number 2 field.
   
5. Click OK when all the cells for the function have been selected.

Autosum

Use the Autosum function to add the contents of a cluster of adjacent cells.

1. Select the cell that the sum will appear in that is outside the cluster of cells whose values will be added. Cell C2 was used in this example.
2. Click the Autosum button (Greek letter sigma) on the standard toolbar.
3. Highlight the group of cells that will be summed (cells A2 through B2 in this example).
4. Press the ENTER key on the keyboard or click the green check mark button on the formula bar .