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Foundation Training Manual

Excel 2007

AL ATTIYA LEARNING CENTER


TABLE OF CONTENTS

SECTION 1: Getting Started .......................................................................................................... 1


Lesson 1.1: Starting Out .......................................................................................................................... 2
What is Microsoft Excel 2007? ...............................................................................................................................2
Opening Microsoft Excel ........................................................................................................................................3
Interacting with Excel .............................................................................................................................................6
Closing Excel ..........................................................................................................................................................8
Lesson 1.2: About Workbooks .............................................................................................................. 10
Creating a New Workbook....................................................................................................................................11
Opening a Workbook ............................................................................................................................................15
Saving a Workbook ...............................................................................................................................................17
About Excel File Types .........................................................................................................................................19
Closing a Workbook .............................................................................................................................................20
Lesson 1.3: Exploring your Workbook ................................................................................................ 23
Using Worksheets .................................................................................................................................................23
The Active Cell ......................................................................................................................................................25
Selecting Cells.......................................................................................................................................................26
Exploring a Worksheet .........................................................................................................................................26
The Zoom Feature.................................................................................................................................................27
Lesson 1.4: Getting Help in Excel 2007 ................................................................................................ 31
Using the Help Screen ..........................................................................................................................................31
About Online Help ................................................................................................................................................33
About Offline Help ................................................................................................................................................36
Section 1: Review Questions .................................................................................................................. 38

SECTION 2: The New Interface .................................................................................................. 40


Lesson 2.1: The Quick Access Toolbar ................................................................................................. 41
The Default Buttons ..............................................................................................................................................41
Adding Buttons ......................................................................................................................................................42
Removing Buttons .................................................................................................................................................43
Customizing the Toolbar.......................................................................................................................................43
Lesson 2.2: The Home Ribbon .............................................................................................................. 47
Clipboard ..............................................................................................................................................................47
Font .......................................................................................................................................................................50
Alignment ..............................................................................................................................................................52
Number ..................................................................................................................................................................53
Style .......................................................................................................................................................................54
Cells ......................................................................................................................................................................55
Editing ...................................................................................................................................................................56
Lesson 2.3: The Insert Ribbon .............................................................................................................. 57
Tables ....................................................................................................................................................................57
Charts ....................................................................................................................................................................58
Illustrations ...........................................................................................................................................................58
Shapes ...................................................................................................................................................................60
Links ......................................................................................................................................................................61
Text ........................................................................................................................................................................62
Lesson 2.4: The Page Layout Ribbon .................................................................................................. 63
Themes ..................................................................................................................................................................63
Page Setup ............................................................................................................................................................68
Scale to Fit ............................................................................................................................................................70
Sheet Options ........................................................................................................................................................71
Arrange .................................................................................................................................................................72
Lesson 2.5: The Formulas Ribbon ........................................................................................................ 76
The Function Library ............................................................................................................................................76
Defined Names ......................................................................................................................................................78
Formula Auditing..................................................................................................................................................79
Calculation............................................................................................................................................................80
Lesson 2.6: The Data Ribbon ................................................................................................................ 81
Get External Data .................................................................................................................................................81
Connections...........................................................................................................................................................82
Sort and Filter .......................................................................................................................................................82
Data Tools.............................................................................................................................................................83
Outline...................................................................................................................................................................84
Lesson 2.7: The Review Ribbon ............................................................................................................ 85
Proofing ................................................................................................................................................................85
Comments ..............................................................................................................................................................86
Changes.................................................................................................................................................................87
Section 2: Review Questions .................................................................................................................. 88

SECTION 3: Excel Basics ............................................................................................................ 90


Lesson 3.1: Working With Excel 2007.................................................................................................. 91
Columns, Rows, Cells, and Ranges ......................................................................................................................91
Creating Worksheet Labels ..................................................................................................................................93
Entering and Deleting Data .................................................................................................................................94
Printing Your Worksheet ......................................................................................................................................96
Lesson 3.2: Basic Excel Features ........................................................................................................... 98
What is AutoFill? ..................................................................................................................................................98
What is AutoSum? ...............................................................................................................................................101
What is AutoComplete? ......................................................................................................................................102
Working with Basic Formulas ............................................................................................................................103
Lesson 3.3: Moving your Data ............................................................................................................. 106
Dragging and Dropping Cells ............................................................................................................................106
How to Cut, Copy, and Paste Cells ....................................................................................................................107
How to Cut, Copy, and Paste Multiple Cells and Items.....................................................................................108
How to Use Paste Special ...................................................................................................................................111
How to Insert and Delete Cells, Rows, and Columns ........................................................................................113
Using Undo, Redo, and Repeat ..........................................................................................................................118
Lesson 3.4: Smart Tags and Options Buttons.................................................................................... 120
What Are Smart Tags? ........................................................................................................................................120
The Error Option Button ....................................................................................................................................121
The AutoFill Option Button ................................................................................................................................122
The Paste Option Button.....................................................................................................................................123
Setting Smart Tag Options ..................................................................................................................................123
Lesson 3.5: Editing Tools ..................................................................................................................... 125
Using AutoCorrect ..............................................................................................................................................125
Using Spell Check ...............................................................................................................................................126
Using Find and Replace .....................................................................................................................................128
Adding Comments ...............................................................................................................................................130
Section 3: Review Questions ................................................................................................................ 133

SECTION 4: Editing Your Workbook ....................................................................................... 135


Lesson 4.1: Modifying Cells and Data ................................................................................................ 136
Changing the Size of Rows or Columns .............................................................................................................136
Adjusting Cell Alignment ....................................................................................................................................138
Rotating Text .......................................................................................................................................................140
Creating Custom Number and Date Formats ....................................................................................................144
Lesson 4.2: Cell Formatting................................................................................................................. 147
Conditional Formatting ......................................................................................................................................147
The Format Painter ............................................................................................................................................154
Cell Merging and AutoFit...................................................................................................................................156
Find and Replace Formatting.............................................................................................................................157
Lesson 4.3: Enhancing a Worksheet’s Appearance .......................................................................... 161
Adding Patterns and Colors ...............................................................................................................................161
Adding Borders ...................................................................................................................................................165
Working with Styles ............................................................................................................................................167
Lesson 4.4: Working With Charts ...................................................................................................... 172
Creating a Chart .................................................................................................................................................172
Formatting a Chart .............................................................................................................................................174
Modifying Charts with the Layout Ribbon .........................................................................................................181
Manipulating a Chart .........................................................................................................................................192
Enhancing a Chart with Shapes and Graphics ..................................................................................................200
Lesson 4.5: Working with Charts, Part 2........................................................................................... 203
Changing the Type of Chart ...............................................................................................................................203
Changing the Source Data..................................................................................................................................205
Working with the Chart Axis and Data Series ...................................................................................................209
Saving a Chart as a Template.............................................................................................................................216
Section 4: Review Questions ................................................................................................................ 218

SECTION 5: Printing and Viewing your Workbook ................................................................ 220


Lesson 5.1: Using the View Ribbon .................................................................................................... 221
Using Normal View.............................................................................................................................................221
Using Full Screen View ......................................................................................................................................223
Using Page Layout View ....................................................................................................................................225
Page Break Preview............................................................................................................................................229
Lesson 5.2: Managing a Single Window............................................................................................. 232
Creating a New Window .....................................................................................................................................232
Hiding a Window ................................................................................................................................................234
Unhiding a Window ............................................................................................................................................234
Freezing a Pane ..................................................................................................................................................235
Lesson 5.3: Managing Multiple Windows .......................................................................................... 239
Switching Between Open Workbooks .................................................................................................................239
Arranging Workbooks .........................................................................................................................................240
Comparing Workbooks Side by Side ..................................................................................................................244
Synchronous Scrolling, Resetting a Window, and Saving a Workspace............................................................245
Lesson 5.4: Printing your Workbook ................................................................................................. 247
Opening Print Preview .......................................................................................................................................248
Using the Print Preview Ribbon .........................................................................................................................250
Quick Printing.....................................................................................................................................................253
The Print Dialogue .............................................................................................................................................254
Using Page Setup ................................................................................................................................................256
Section 5: Review Questions ................................................................................................................ 260

Index............................................................................................................................................. 262
SECTION 1: Getting Started

In this section you will learn:


 What Microsoft Excel 2007 is
 How to open Microsoft Excel
 How to interact with Excel
 How to close Excel
 How to create a new workbook
 How to open a workbook
 How to save a workbook
 How to close a workbook
 About Excel file types
 How to switch worksheets
 About the active cell
 How to select cells
 How to explore a worksheet
 How to use the zoom feature
 How to use the Help screen
 How to use Online Help
 How to use Offline Help
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Lesson 1.1: Starting Out

Microsoft Excel is one of the most powerful and widely used spreadsheet applications available
today. Excel’s functionality and popularity have made it an essential component on computers
in countless organizations, businesses, and other institutions throughout the world.

If you are new to Excel, the extensive array of features and capabilities that it provides may
seem daunting at first, but don’t worry. The keys to becoming proficient with Excel are
patience, practice, and a solid foundation built on the basics.

What is Microsoft Excel 2007?

Microsoft Excel 2007 is the latest version of Microsoft’s famous spreadsheet application. In a
general sense, Excel is a very powerful and flexible tool for organizing and analyzing data.
Although Excel is often used for managing financial information, it is just as well suited to
scientific data, sports statistics, or practically any other kind of information you need to work
with.
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Excel 2007 provides a wealth of financial, mathematical, and statistical functions that you can
apply to your data. Excel 2007 also offers numerous formatting and presentation options that
will help you create slick, professional looking reports. You can use Excel as a database, a
graphing and charting tool, a means of evaluating complex formulas, and as a way of sharing
data and collaborating with others. When you change data in an Excel spreadsheet, Excel will
recalculate your totals, functions, and formulas accordingly.

Excel 2007 is comprehensive enough to meet the needs of beginners and experienced users
alike. With Excel you can perform a wide range of tasks, from building basic spread sheets to
performing advanced data analysis. Excel can help you process, interpret, and extract
meaningful conclusions from your information. If you start at the beginning and work your way
up, it won’t be difficult to learn and work with Excel at any level you want.

Opening Microsoft Excel

There are a number of ways to open the Excel 2007 program. First, look for the Excel 2007 icon
on your desktop ( ) and double click it. The Excel 2007 screen should open for you.

If you cannot find the Excel 2007 icon, click the Start button on the bottom left corner of your
desktop to display the Start menu. When the Start menu appears, move your mouse pointer to
the menu item called Programs to display a second menu. On the second menu, move your
pointer to the Microsoft Office menu item. The positions of the menu items are likely to differ
from computer to computer, depending on what software is installed.
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When you see the third menu (a list of Microsoft Office programs) move the mouse pointer
over the Microsoft Office Excel menu item and click the left mouse button. Excel 2007 should
now open.

If you cannot find the Excel 2007 icon anywhere on the desktop and you cannot locate Excel
2007 on the Start menus, move your pointer down the Start menu and select Run. You will now
see the Run dialogue box shown below. Type Excel and click the OK button. Excel should now
open.
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Interacting with Excel

Once you open Excel 2007, you should see an Excel screen (also called a user interface) like the
one shown below.

Ribbon Tabs Excel Title Bar

Spreadsheet Tabs Status Bar

The largest part of the Excel 2007 screen consists of a grid like pattern of cells. These cells are
indexed by letters along the top of the grid and by numbers down the left side of the grid. An
individual cell is simply one of the small rectangles formed by the crossing grid lines.

When the Excel screen is first opened, you should notice a heavy black border around the cell in
the upper left corner of the grid. If you press the arrow keys on your computer keyboard, you
should see the heavy black border move from cell to cell in the direction of the arrow keys you
are pressing. This grid area is an extremely important part of the Excel program because it is
where all of your data will be entered, organized, and displayed. If you hold the Ctrl key and
press an arrow key, the black border will move to the extreme end of the row or column of cells
you are in, according to what arrow you press. If you type numbers or letters at the keyboard,
they will be entered into the cell that is surrounded by the heavy black border.
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You will also notice that as you move the heavy black border from cell to cell, the letter at the
top of the grid above the cell and the number at the side of the grid to the left of the cell will be
highlighted with an orange-brown color. This combination of letter and number can serve as a
kind of name for an individual cell. For example, the cell with the heavy black border in the
following image could be called C7, because the cell’s column is C, and the cell’s row is 7.

Every cell in your spreadsheet has a name that can be formed by a letter-number combination.
This very important concept is one of the keys to controlling how your data elements will relate
and interact with each other.

Continuing on this note, one of the major improvements in Excel 2007 is an increased number
of cells in your spreadsheet. An Excel 2007 spreadsheet contains 16000 columns and more than
1000000 rows. This means that there are more than 16000 X 1000000 = 16000000000
individual cells in a spreadsheet!

Above the grid area of the Excel screen, you will see a region with several tabs, labels, buttons,
and other controls.

This part of the Excel interface is what allows you to control, format, and edit the data stored in
the Excel grid area of the spreadsheet. This part of the interface also gives you access to Excel’s
automated features, functions, and other options. This is also where the tools that help you
analyze, interpret, organize, and present your data are found.
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If you are familiar with older versions of Excel, you will notice that the new user interface in
Excel 2007 has some significant changes. This is another major innovation for Excel 2007. In
older versions, the large number of menus and associated menu options made many Excel
features difficult to find and remember. This new interface is designed to be more intuitive to
the user, providing even more functionality with less clutter and confusion.

This panel of buttons and controls is called a “Ribbon.” If you left click one of the labeled tabs
above the Ribbon (Home, Insert, Page Layout, Formulas, Data, Review, View), you will see the
buttons and controls in the Ribbon change according to the tab you click on.

If you let your mouse pointer hover on a button or control in the new interface, you will see a
shaded box appear. This box will show you the name and a brief description of the button or
control in question. In the image provided below, you can see an information box for
conditional formatting. This information was displayed by letting the mouse pointer hover over
the conditional formatting control.

Try viewing the different Ribbons available by clicking on each tab (word) above the Ribbon. Let
your mouse pointer hover over the individual controls and buttons in a Ribbon to see
information about them.

Closing Excel

If you feel you are ready to close down the Excel 2007 program, there are three main ways to
do so. First, you can simply click the X in the upper right corner of the Excel screen.

You can also display the Office menu by clicking the Office menu button in the upper left corner
of the screen.
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When the Office menu appears, you will see a “Close” option and an “Exit Excel” option. Left
clicking the Close menu item will close the current workbook, while leaving the Excel 2007
program open. Clicking on the Exit Excel button will close the Excel 2007 program.

If you attempt to close Excel 2007, and you haven’t saved recent changes to your work, you will
be presented with the following alert box.

If you click the Yes button, any changes you have made to your spreadsheet will be saved and
Excel will close. If you click the No button, any changes you have made to your worksheet will
be discarded and Excel will close. Clicking the Cancel button will cancel the closing action, and
Excel 2007 will remain open.
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Lesson 1.2: About Workbooks

In the previous lesson, you learned how to open Excel 2007 and how to close it. You also
received a brief introduction to Excel spreadsheets, cells, and the new Excel 2007 user
interface. All of these concepts and more will be dealt with in greater detail as this manual
proceeds.

For now, the next topic of discussion is Excel workbooks. As you already know, a spreadsheet
(sometimes called a worksheet) consists mainly of a large grid-like array of cells that contain
data or information. Essentially, a workbook is just a collection of individual spreadsheets. As a
matter of fact, when you open Excel 2007, you are not opening a single spreadsheet, but rather
a workbook that contains three spreadsheets. Take a look at the three spreadsheet tabs at the
bottom of the newly opened Excel screen.
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Creating a New Workbook

As mentioned above, simply opening the Excel 2007 program automatically creates a new
workbook. This workbook is named Book1 by default. Once Excel is open, you can create
additional new workbooks by clicking on the Office menu button.

Clicking this button will display the Office menu options. The first option in the Office menu is
the New button.
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When you click the New button, the New Workbook dialogue box will be displayed.

This dialogue box allows you to choose a blank workbook, a workbook based on a template, or
a workbook created from an already existing workbook. If you are starting a workbook from
scratch, then you would click the Blank Workbook option. If you would like your workbook to
follow a pre-existing pattern that you can enter data into, click the Templates option. If you
would like to create a workbook based on the organization and data of an existing workbook,
click the New from Existing button. This button will display a dialogue box which will allow you
to browse to a particular folder on your computer and open a new workbook based on the
existing workbook of your choice.
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Simply highlight the workbook of your choice from the list of available workbooks and click the
Create New button to create a new workbook based on it. You can use the panel of locations
(directories) on the left to help navigate to the location of your choice.

This dialogue box behaves just like the “Save As” dialogue or any other file navigation dialogue.
If you click the Cancel button, a new workbook will not be created. Clicking on the Tools button
will allow you to show the properties of, print, rename, or delete the workbook that is
highlighted in the dialogue box. If you click the X in the upper right of this dialogue box, it will
close, and you will be returned to the original New Workbook dialogue.

If you choose the Templates option from the New Workbook dialogue, you will be able to
create a workbook based on templates that you have created and stored on your computer, or
based on templates that can be downloaded from the Internet. A template (discussed in
greater detail in the Intermediate manual) is just a pre-designed layout for a workbook.

If you choose the Blank Workbook option from the New Workbook dialogue box, you will
create a second blank workbook in addition to the original that you opened with Excel. Please
take note of the two distinct workbooks (Book1 and Book2) that are available in the following
Excel screen. The names of the workbooks are visible in their respective title bars.
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Either of these two workbooks can be minimized, expanded, or closed independently of the
other. When you create or open more than one workbook at a time, the names of these
workbooks will be visible in the task bar, normally located at the bottom of your desktop. The
following is an image of a task bar showing that there are three workbooks available.

In this image, Book2 has darker shading than Book1 or Book3 in the task bar, meaning that
Book2 is the workbook that is currently active.

Finally, you can also create a new workbook by using the Ctrl + N keyboard shortcut. When
Excel is open and running, pressing the Ctrl key and the N key at the same time will create a
new blank workbook in exactly the same way as choosing the Blank Workbook button from
within the New Workbook dialogue box.
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Opening a Workbook

It is often the case that you simply want to open an existing workbook without creating
anything new. The simplest way to do this is to navigate to an existing Excel workbook file on
your computer and double click on its icon.

Double clicking the Excel workbook icon shown above will open the workbook named
Marketing Department in Excel.
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Another way to open a Workbook is to display the Excel 2007 Office menu and then choose a
workbook from the Recent Documents list.
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You can also click the Open command in the Office menu. When you click this option, an Open
dialogue box will be displayed. You can use this dialogue box to navigate to a location
(directory) of your choice, and then open the workbook of your choice by first highlighting it in
the dialogue box’s window and then clicking the Open button as shown in the following image.

Finally, you can display the same Open dialogue box by pressing the Ctrl + O keyboard shortcut
with Excel running. The Open dialogue will appear allowing you to navigate to and open the
workbook of your choice.

Saving a Workbook

One way to save an Excel Workbook is to choose the Save As option from the Excel 2007 Office
menu.
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Choosing this option will display the Save As dialogue box. (Another quick way to display the
Save As dialogue box is to press the F12 key.) You can enter a name for your file in the File
Name text field and click the Save button to save the current workbook under that name. You
can also use the Save In drop list to find a folder to save your files in. If you are saving an
existing workbook, using Save As will let you save the workbook as a new file with a new name.
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This is the folder


where the file will be
saved. Clicking the save
button will save the
file under the name
you specify.
This is where you
name your file.

Another way to save your workbook is to click the Save button in the top left of the Excel
2007 screen or press Ctrl + S on the keyboard. If you are working with an existing workbook,
and you click the Save button or press the Ctrl + S keys, any changes you have made to the
workbook will be saved under its current name (that is, the workbook with changes will be
saved over the original). This type of save option is also available under the Excel 2007 Office
menu as a button labeled Save.

About Excel File Types

When you start working with Excel 2007, it is a good idea to get a feel for some basic Excel 2007
file types and extensions. Excel 2007 uses a new file format known as Microsoft Excel XML
format. XML (extensible mark up language) is a type of mark-up language that looks something
like HTML, but is designed more for communication of information rather than the presentation
of information. XML has been incorporated into the Office 2007 file formatting system to
facilitate communication of data between Microsoft Office programs, and other applications.

Because of this file format change, Excel 2007 file types are different from the file types of
previous versions of Excel. You should have no problems using Excel 2007 to open and work
with files created with earlier versions of Excel. If you find that you can’t use Excel 2007 files
with earlier versions of Office, like Office XP or Office 2007, you may require a software patch
available from Microsoft Office Online or Microsoft Update.
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When you are saving a workbook file with Excel 2007, you can specify Excel 97-2007 Workbook
as the file type by using the Save As type drop list in the Save As dialogue box. This can be
helpful if you are worried about compatibility with earlier versions of Microsoft Office.

In most computer systems, a file is normally identified by a file name and a three or four letter
file type extension. Abstract.doc, for example, is a Microsoft Word document named Abstract.
The three letter “doc” extension signifies that this file is a Microsoft Word document. The
following table summarizes some of the file types associated with Excel 2007.

xlsx This file extension signifies an Excel 2007 workbook file. Earlier versions of Excel used
the xls extension.

xlsm This Excel 2007 file extension signifies a macro enabled workbook.

xltx This extension signifies an Excel 2007 template file. (Earlier versions used xlt.)

xltm This extension indicates that the file is a macro enabled Excel 2007 template file.

xlsb This extension signifies an Excel binary workbook.

xlam This extension signifies an Excel add-in. An add-in is a type of program that adds extra
features or functionality to Excel.

You may also see file type extensions like HTML, HTM, or MHTML associated with Excel files if
they are being published as Web pages. These file types are most commonly used on the World
Wide Web, or in help files that are to be viewed with a Web browser.

It is always a good idea to keep your files organized by creating and naming appropriate folders
to contain your files. You should also give your Excel files names that imply something about
their content, like Budget03 or YearlyReport05.

Closing a Workbook

Closing a workbook is different from saving a workbook. If you have not made any changes to
the workbook, just left click the X in the upper right corner of the workbook.
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If the workbook is maximized within the Excel 2007 screen, this X may not be visible. If this is
the case, you can also close a workbook be displaying the Excel 2007 Office menu and clicking
the Close menu item.

Clicking this option will close the currently active workbook. You can also close the active
workbook by using the Ctrl + F4 keyboard shortcut (pressing Ctrl and F4 at the same time).
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If you make changes to a workbook and attempt to close it, you will see an alert box appear.
The alert box will ask if you want to save the changes that you made to the work book.

If you click the Yes button, the changes will be saved and the workbook will close. If you click
No, the changes will not be saved and the workbook will close. If you click Cancel, the workbook
will not close.
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Lesson 1.3: Exploring your Workbook

Now that you are familiar with the basic concepts of spreadsheets, cells, and workbooks, it is
time to learn how to explore and navigate your workbooks in greater detail.

In this lesson, you will learn how to switch between worksheets in a workbook, how to select
cells in a worksheet, how to move around in a worksheet, how to use the active cell, and how
to use Excel’s zoom feature.

Using Worksheets

A workbook is just a collection of worksheets. If you look near the bottom of the Excel screen
you will see a group of worksheet tabs.

These tabs are labeled with the names of worksheets (spreadsheets) belonging to the current
workbook. You can easily switch between worksheets by left clicking on the tab of the
worksheet that you want to view. The name of the worksheet that you are presently working
with will be in bold type, and the tab itself will have slightly less shading. In the image shown
here, Sheet2 is the worksheet that is currently being used.

You can also use the worksheet navigation buttons just to the left of the worksheet tabs to
switch between worksheets. This technique is especially useful if you have so many worksheets
that the worksheet tabs cannot all be displayed. Simply right click on one of the arrow buttons,
(just to the left of the sheet tabs), and you will see a list of the worksheets available in your
workbook. You can then switch to a particular worksheet by clicking on its name in the list.
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You can also quickly add a new worksheet (spreadsheet) to the workbook, by clicking the new
sheet button.

If you right click on any worksheet tab, you will see a menu with several options.

You can use these options to insert, delete, or even rename a worksheet. If you display the sub
menu for the Tab Color option, you can specify a color for the tab of the worksheet in question.
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Here, the worksheet names have been changed, as well as the tab colors.

To quickly switch between workbooks using the keyboard, use the Ctrl +Page Up and Ctrl + Page
Down keyboard shortcuts. Ctrl + Page Up will move to the next worksheet to the right, (relative
to the worksheet tabs), while Ctrl + Page Down will move to the next worksheet to the left.

The Active Cell

When you left click on a cell in an Excel worksheet, it becomes enhanced with a thicker border.
You will also notice that the number at the far left of the cell row, and the letter at the top of
the cell column, will be shaded differently. The cell you have chosen is now the active cell, and
its name or reference is the cell column letter followed by the cell row number (the number
and letter that are shaded differently).

The active
cell is G4

In this image, cell G4 (the one with the thick border) is the active cell. The column letter and
row number of the active cell are displayed in a text field near the upper left corner of the Excel
grid. If you enter a column letter and row number into this text field (a cell reference), the
corresponding cell will become active.

You can enter text or a number directly into the active cell. If you click one of the formatting
buttons on the Home Ribbon (such as bold, italics, underline), the formatting will be applied to
the active cell. If there is already data in the active cell, the formatting option you choose will
be applied to this data.

In summary, to change the contents (formatting or data) of any individual cell, click on it to
make it active, and then make your changes.
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If you enter text or numbers into the formula bar, the text or number that you type will also be
entered into the active cell. If you make a cell containing data the active cell, the data will also
appear in the formula bar. You can even edit the contents of the active cell in the formula bar if
you wish.

Selecting Cells

To select a group of cells, place your mouse pointer in the center of a cell. When the pointer
turns into a thick white shaded cross, hold the left mouse button down and drag the pointer
across the row or down the column of cells you want to select.

As with the active cell, the numbers at the left ends of the selected rows, and the letters at the
top of the selected columns, will be shaded differently. In this image, the cells B2 to B4 have
been selected. You can also drag the thick cross pointer diagonally across a block of cells to
select multiple columns and rows. A block of cells that you select will be highlighted in blue, and
surrounded by a heavy black border.

You can also select cells by using the Shift key. Simply click on the first cell of your selection,
press Shift, and then click on the last cell of your selection. To make the selection shown above,
you would click cell B2, making it active; press Shift, and then click cell B4.

Exploring a Worksheet

It is not difficult to move around in an Excel spreadsheet. If you click a cell to make it active,
pressing the Enter key will make the cell immediately below it active. If you keep pressing Enter,
you will see the enhanced border move down the column from cell to cell.

If you use the Up arrow key you can move to the cell just above. The Down arrow key will move
you to the cell just bellow. The Right arrow key will move one cell to the right, and the Left
arrow key will move one cell to the left.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 27

Using the Page Up key will move you up one full screen (grid of cells). Using the Page Down key
will move you down one full screen. Alt + Page Up and Alt +Page Down move you one full
screen left and right respectively.

If you have a block of cells that contain data, pressing Ctrl + Left arrow will move you to the left
side (beginning) of the block while the Ctrl + Right arrow will move you to the right side (end) of
the block. Similarly, Ctrl + Up Arrow will move you to the top of the data block, and Ctrl + Down
arrow will move you to the bottom. If the spreadsheet is empty, these same shortcuts will
move you to the extreme left, right, top, and bottom of the spreadsheet grid respectively.

Pressing the Ctrl + Home keys you will move to the top left of the spreadsheet grid. If your
spread sheet contains data, pressing Ctrl + End will move you to the bottom right of the data
area.

You may also notice that on some Excel menus, you will see the first letter in a menu option
underlined. This simply indicates that if you press Ctrl + the underlined letter on your keyboard,
the menu option will be activated.

The Zoom Feature

A single Excel 2007 spreadsheet can contain more than 1000000 rows and 16000 columns. This
means that there can be as many as 16 billion cells in a spreadsheet. This poses a problem for
viewing large spreadsheets. How can you possibly get a big picture of your work if it is spread
over a large number of cells?

By using Excel’s Zoom feature, you can change the viewing scale of a work sheet. By default, a
workbook opens at 100% zoom. In the image that follows, you can see that at the current zoom
level, (100%), you cannot see the entire block of data.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 28

Zoom slider

You could use the scroll bars at the right side and the bottom of the grid area to view all of the
data, or you could use the zoom slider switch in the lower right corner of the screen.
You can drag the slider with your mouse toward the negative (-) sign to decrease the zoom
level, or toward the (+) sign to increase the zoom level. You can also left click on the current
zoom amount (100% in the following image) to display preset magnification options, or to enter
your own custom level of magnification.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 29

You can use these options to choose from a preset zoom value, or you can select a custom
value by entering it in the small text field provided. When you have made your selection,
clicking the OK button will implement your choice.

This image above shows the Excel spread sheet zoomed out to 20%.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 30

The following image is of the same spreadsheet zoomed in to 320%.


Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 31

Lesson 1.4: Getting Help in Excel 2007

Before we get into the nuts and bolts of working with Excel 2007, it is probably a good idea to
learn about Excel’s help features.

Almost anyone who works with a spread sheet program, word processor, or any application
with many functions and options, will find themselves needing help at some point. You may
know exactly what you want to do, but not how to do it.

In this lesson, you will learn how to get help by using the Excel 2007 Help Screen. You will also
learn about online and offline help. Knowing how to use these features can help you access the
information and instructions you need to accomplish your Excel goals.

Using the Help Screen

If you find that you need help with a given topic in Excel 2007, you can access the Excel Help
Screen by clicking on the question mark button in the upper right corner of the Excel screen.
You can also display the Help Screen by pressing F1 on your computer keyboard.

When you first open your help screen it may not be fully expanded. To maximize the help
screen just click the maximize button in the upper right hand corner.
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If your computer is connected to the Internet, your Help screen will look something like the
following.

You can use the scroll bar on the left of the screen to see any information that is out of view.

From this screen you can access both online and offline help. (Online help requires an Internet
connection, while online help only requires the help files that are stored on your computer
when you install Excel.)
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If you are not connected to the Internet, your help screen will look something like this:

If you click “Show me offline help from my computer,” a list of offline help topics will appear on
your help screen.

About Online Help

When you display the Online Help Screen (by clicking the help button or pressing F1 with your
computer connected to the Internet), you will see a screen displaying a number of hyperlinks. If
you click on any of these links, you will be presented with additional links that are more specific
to the subject you are finding help on.
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As an example, if you click on the charts hyperlink in the help screen, you will see these choices:

If you continue to follow the links, you will get even more specific subject headings until you
reach the information and instructions that are closest to what you are looking for.

You can click the back and forward buttons ( ) to move between pages that you have
visited in the help screen. (These buttons behave very much like the back and forward buttons
in a Web browser.) You will also notice a Refresh button near the top of the Help screen and an
Excel Home button. Clicking on the Excel Home button will take you to the original online help
screen that you started with.

There is also a table of contents button ( ) if you prefer to work through a table of contents
like the one shown below.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 35

You can print the information in the help screen by clicking the printer icon, or you can make
sure the help screen stays visible while you are working with Excel by clicking the keep on top
button ( ).

You can refine your search for help topics by specifying a particular section of help topics to be
searched (in this example, Developer Reference) and then entering a particular term to search
for (in this case, VBA). When you are ready to search, click the green arrow button to start.

Click here to start


your search.
Specify a section
of help topics with
this list.

Search results

If you want to close the help screen, simply click the close button in the upper right corner of
the help screen.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 36

About Offline Help

It may sometimes be the case that you need help with Excel, but an Internet connection is not
available. In this instance there is still an offline help option that you can take advantage of.

When you display the help screen without an Internet connection, it will look like the following
image.

Click here to show


offline help
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 37

If you click on the “Show me offline help” link, you will see the following screen.

Each one of the subject links on this page will lead to information that is stored locally on your
computer. To follow the links simply click on them. Each link will take you to more specific
subject links that you can follow until you find the information that is closest to what you are
looking for.

The search option and the table of contents are still available to you just as they were in online
help, but in offline help there will be significantly less information at your disposal. For this
reason, it is a good idea to use online help if you are able to.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 38

Section 1: Review Questions

1. Excel 2007 is designed for…


A. The organization and analysis of data
B. The Formatting, presentation, and charting of data
C. The calculation of complex functions and formulas
D. All of the Above

2. An Excel Workbook is composed of several….


A. Worksheets
B. Cells
C. Pages
D. All of the above

3. To switch between worksheets you should…


A. Click the switch worksheets button on the Home Ribbon
B. Use the worksheet tabs
C. Close one worksheet, and open another
D. A and C

4. Which of the following statements is false?


A. To enter data directly into a cell, it must be active.
B. You can edit cell contents in the formula bar.
C. A valid cell reference could be 3B.
D. A valid cell reference could be B3.

5. There are over how many rows in a typical Excel 2007 worksheet?
A. A million
B. A thousand
C. One hundred thousand
D. Two million

6. There are essentially two kinds of help in Excel 2007. What are they?
A. Offline and Research
B. Offline and Online
C. Research and Reference
D. Onscreen and hard copy
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 39

7. Which of the following is a valid way to open Excel 2007?


A. Double click the Excel desktop icon.
B. Find an Excel 2007 option on the Start menu.
C. Type Excel in the Run dialogue box.
D. All of the above.

8. In Excel, rows are indexed by…


A. Numbers
B. Letters
C. Icons
D. Row names

9. In Excel, Columns are indexed by…


A. Numbers
B. Letters
C. Icons
D. Column names

10. Excel is often referred to as a ….


A. Spreadsheet program
B. Word processor
C. Integrated development environment
D. Graphical user interface
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SECTION 2: The New Interface

In this section you will learn about:


 The default toolbar buttons
 Adding buttons
 Removing buttons
 Changing icon size
 The Home Ribbon (buttons and controls)
 The Insert Ribbon (buttons and controls)
 The Page Layout Ribbon (buttons and controls)
 The Formula Ribbon (buttons and controls)
 The Data Ribbon (buttons and controls)
 The Review Ribbon (buttons and controls)
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 41

Lesson 2.1: The Quick Access Toolbar

One of the major differences between Excel 2007 and its predecessors is the new graphical user
interface. The new user interface does not rely on multiple tool bars and menus; instead it
offers a cleaner, more intuitive, Ribbon-based layout.

An important component of the new interface is the Quick Access Toolbar (or the QAT for
short). The Quick Access Toolbar is a part of the user interface that you can use to store buttons
or features that you rely on heavily. When features are added to the quick access toolbar, they
can be brought into play with a single click, even when the associated Ribbon is unavailable.

In this lesson, you will learn all about the Quick Access Toolbar. You will learn about the default
buttons, how to add and remove buttons, how to change the icon size, and how to customize
the toolbar.

The Default Buttons

The Quick Access Toolbar is located in the upper left of the Excel 2007 screen, just to the right
of the Office menu button.

By default, the Quick Access Toolbar holds three buttons. These buttons are, from left to right,
the Save button, the Undo button, and the Repeat button. Have a look at the table on the next
page for a more detailed description of each command.
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Save button Clicking this button will save your current workbook. If the
workbook has not been previously saved, the save as dialogue will
open. If you are working on something that has been saved already,
this button will save the changes you have made since your last
save.

Undo button This will undo the very last action you performed. If you continue to
click the Undo button, the next most recent action will be undone,
and so on. You can also click the downward pointing triangle to
show a list of recent actions. You can highlight actions in this list
and then click to undo them all at once.

Redo / Repeat button If you want to redo an action (perform an action that you undid
with Undo), you can click the Redo button on the Quick Access
Toolbar. If you click redo multiple times, each successive action that
was undone will be redone.

You can also repeat an action using the Redo button. If you perform
an action on a cell, (making it a certain format for example) you can
then click on another cell or select a range of cells and use the redo
button to repeat the action on the additional cells.

Adding Buttons

Excel 2007 allows you to add buttons to the Quick Access Toolbar. This can be quite useful for
features that you use frequently. As an example, you could add the bold button from the Home
Ribbon to the toolbar. If you did this, the bold button would always be available even if the
Home Ribbon was closed.

To add a button to the quick access toolbar, simply right click the button in question and click
the Add to Quick Access Toolbar option.

If you wish, you can add a group of buttons to the QAT at once. To do this, right click on the
word that defines the group (such as Font). When you do this, the same menu that you have
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 43

seen before will be displayed. Simply choose the Add to Quick Access Toolbar option to add the
button group to the QAT.

Below you can see that a button representing the Font group ( ) has been added to the QAT.
If you click this button, the Font button group will be displayed even though it is the Review
Ribbon that is currently visible.

Removing Buttons

It is very easy to remove a button or a button group from the quick access toolbar. Just right
click on button and click the Remove from Quick Access Toolbar option. The button will be then
be removed from the QAT.

Customizing the Toolbar

Excel 2007 also allows you to customize the quick access toolbar by using the Excel Options
screen. To do this, click on the small down-pointing arrow at the right of the quick access
toolbar.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 44

You will then see the following menu appear.

If you click the More Commands option, the Excel Options screen will be displayed.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 45

In the left most panel of the Excel Options screen, the customization option will be highlighted.
In the main window area of the screen you will see a list of commands and options (on the left)
and a list of buttons (on the right) that are already on the quick access toolbar. Between these
two lists are two buttons: Add and Remove.

If you click on a command or option in the list on the left (highlighting it) and then click the Add
button, the command or option in question will be added to the quick access toolbar. If you
highlight a button from the list on the right (the buttons that are on the QAT) and then click the
Remove button, the button in question will be removed from the quick access toolbar.

Near the top of the Excel Options screen, on the left side, you will see a drop list labeled Choose
Commands From. You can use this list to select different groupings of Excel tasks and options.
The specific commands related to your selection will appear in the list on the left, and you can
then add them to the quick access toolbar using the procedure just described.

Above the list of toolbar buttons on the right, you will see a drop list labeled Customize Quick
Access Toolbar. From this drop list you can choose to have your customizations apply to all
Excel documents or just the current workbook.

At the far left of the Excel Options screen you will see two arrow buttons.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 46

If you select an item from the list of buttons that are on the quick access toolbar, you can use
these arrows to shift the position of the button on the toolbar. The up arrow will move a button
upward in the list (to the left on the toolbar) and the down arrow will move a button downward
in the list (to the right on the toolbar).

If you click the Reset button near the bottom of the Excel options screen, the quick access
toolbar will be reset to its default configuration.

Finally, you can choose to display the quick access toolbar at the bottom of the Ribbon instead
of the top using the QAT menu.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 47

Lesson 2.2: The Home Ribbon

The most notable feature of the new Excel 2007 interface is the Ribbon format. By default Excel
has seven Ribbons available through tabs. These Ribbons are:

 The Home Ribbon


 The Insert Ribbon
 The Page Layout Ribbon
 The Formulas Ribbon
 The Data Ribbon
 The Review Ribbon
 The View Ribbon

In this lesson, you will learn about the Home Ribbon and the different button groupings that it
contains:
 The clipboard group
 The font group
 The alignment group
 The number group
 The style group
 The cells group
 The editing group

The Home Ribbon buttons are very important buttons to get comfortable with. This Ribbon
contains the most frequently used buttons and features that Excel has to offer.

Clipboard

The clipboard button group is at the far left of the Home Ribbon.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 48

This group of buttons relates to the tasks of cutting, copying, and pasting items from one
location to another. The clipboard is the place where copied items are stored until they are
needed. The following table describes the functions of these buttons.

Paste Buttons The top paste button (looks like a clipboard) will paste the most recently
copied item from the clipboard to the location starting at the active cell.
Items on the clipboard can be text, numbers, cell selections, and more.
The clipboard can store up to 24 copied items. (Shortcut key: Ctrl + V)

The bottom paste button (with the small down pointing arrow) will display a
menu of paste options when clicked.

Cut Button This button will remove the selected item from its original location and
place it on the clipboard for future use. (Shortcut key: Ctrl + X)

Copy Button This button will copy a selection or other item from the spreadsheet to the
clipboard. Unlike cut, copy will not remove the selection or item from its
original location in the spreadsheet. (Shortcut key: Ctrl + C)

Format Painter This button will copy a specific format from one area, which can than be
applied to another area. For example, you can select a group of cells and
then click the format painter button to copy their format. You will then see
a small paint brush next to your mouse pointer. When you select another
different group of cells, the copied format will be applied (painted) to them.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 49

Office Clicking this button will display a task pane showing all of the items
Clipboard currently stored on the Office Clipboard.

If you click on any particular item in the Office Clipboard pane, it will be
pasted to the location starting at the active cell. If you let your mouse
pointer hover over an item on the clipboard, you will be presented with an
option to delete the item.

There is also an options button on the bottom of the clipboard task pane
that will allow you to control some of the Office Clipboard features.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 50

Font

The font button group lies on the Home Ribbon next to the clipboard group.

These buttons allow you to change a font’s type, size, color, and style. The following table
provides a brief description of the functions of these buttons

The Font Face This button allows you to change the type of font. Clicking the small
Button down pointing arrow will allow you to select from a large list of available
fonts. The scroll bar at the side of the font list will allow you to view all
of the fonts available.

Each individual item in the list is depicted in its own font.


Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 51

The Font Size Use this button and its associated list of sizes to change the font size.
Button You can also enter a size directly by clicking on the area that displays the
current size and then entering a new number.

Increase And These buttons will increase and decrease the font size of a selected cell
Decrease Font Size or cells by increments of one.
Buttons

Bold, Italic, and These buttons will apply bold, italicized, or underlined effects to a cell or
Underline Buttons selection of cells.

Borders Clicking the small arrow on this button will display a list of borders that
you can apply to a cell or selection of cells.

Fill Color and Font The fill color button (paint bucket) will fill a cell or selection of cells with
Color the specified color. The arrow next to the button displays a palette of
color options.

The font color button (letter A) will color the text in a cell or selection of
cells with the color that is specified. The arrow will display a palette of
color options.

Font Group Button Clicking the small arrow at the right of this button will display the font
tab of the Format Cells dialogue box, which provides numerous options
related to cell formatting.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 52

Alignment

The buttons in the alignment group control how data (text or numbers) appears in spreadsheet
cells.

The following table provides brief descriptions of the alignment buttons.

Horizontal The Align Left button will align the data in a cell or a selection of cells to
Alignment the left edge of the cells. The Align Center button will align cell data in
the center of the cells. The Align Right button will align cell data to the
right edge of the cells.

Decrease and These buttons will increase or decrease the amount of indent for the
Increase Indent data in a cell or group of cells. The button with the left pointing arrow
decreases the indent, while the button with the right pointing arrow
increases the indent.

Vertical Alignment These buttons align your data relative to the top, middle, and bottom of
the cells.

Text Orientation This button will rotate the text in a cell to various positions.

Wrap Text If there is too much data for the length of a cell, the wrap text button
will display the data on multiple lines so that it is visible.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 53

Merge and Center This button will merge multiple selected (empty) cells into one larger
cell. Data in the new large cell will be centered.

Alignment Group Clicking the small arrow on this button will display the alignment tab of
the Format Cells dialogue box.

Number

The number button group controls how numerical values are displayed in cells. In Excel,
numbers can have different formats including normal, number, accounting, scientific, fraction,
percentage, date, and time.

Let’s take a look at each command in this group.

Number Format List Use this list to choose what format will be applied to a cell or selection
of cells.

Currency, Percent, Use these buttons to select a type of currency, a percent, or a comma
and Comma separated number format for a cell or group of cells.

Increase/Decrease These buttons will increase or decrease the amount of decimal places
Decimal Places shown for a cell or selection of cells.

Number Group Clicking the small arrow at the right of this button will display the
Number tab of the Format Cells dialogue box.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 54

Style

The style button group allows you to quickly apply table styles to groups of cells and individual
styles to individual cells. There is also a conditional formatting control which allows you to
quickly apply special color coding and other rules to cells conditionally (based on particular
aspects or qualities of the data).

Conditional Formatting This button allows you to create formatting rules based on conditions
of your choice. For example, you can ask Excel to automatically color
a cell red if the value in a cell is less than or equal to a certain
number.

Format as Table Clicking this button allows you to quickly format a selection of cells
with one of several preset table styles.

Format Cell Clicking this button allows you to quickly format a cell or selection of
cells with any one of a number of preset cell formats.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 55

Cells

The Cells group gives you control over inserting, deleting, and adjusting the size of a cell or
group of cells.

Clicking the small arrow on each button displays a menu of options corresponding to the button
in question (insert, delete, or format).

As you might expect, the Insert button drop down menu allows you to insert cells, rows,
columns, or sheets, while the Delete button drop down menu allows you to delete cells, rows,
columns, or sheets.

The Format button drop down menu allows you to change the height, and the width of cells. It
also provides options for hiding sheets, rows, or columns, as well as options for organizing and
protecting your worksheets.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 56

Editing

The editing button group provides quick access to some useful arithmetic features, filtering and
sorting features, and a convenient search and replace feature.

The small arrow next to the summation symbol (∑) will display a menu of simple but useful
mathematical formulas. The button immediately below this (with a thick blue arrow) provides a
menu of options for continuing a pattern of data into another adjacent selection of cells.

The sort and filter button provides options for sorting in ascending or descending order, as well
as options for applying filters to selections of data.

Finally, the Find and Select button’s drop menu allows you to quickly find cells with formulas,
cells with comments, or cells with conditional formatting or data validation rules. Moreover,
there are also options that will display the Find and Replace dialogue box, as well as the Go To
dialogue box.

Don’t be alarmed if you don’t know what all of these features do. The functions of these tools
will become clearer as you progress through the manual. For now, explore the Home Ribbon
and the other Ribbons by clicking on the Ribbon tabs. If you let your mouse pointer hover over
a button, an information box will appear with a description of the button’s function. You can
also try using the help features to look up information on some of the features you find
particularly interesting.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 57

Lesson 2.3: The Insert Ribbon

The next interface component that we will explore is the Insert Ribbon. The buttons on this
Ribbon are used for inserting a variety of different objects into your spreadsheets. You can
create professional looking charts and insert numerous eye catching graphics with this Ribbon.

Tables

You can use the Tables button group to apply table functionality and formatting to a selection
of data.

The Pivot Table button will allow you to apply a pivot table to a selection of data. A pivot table
lets you investigate relationships and dependencies in your data.

The Table button will allow you to apply a standard table to your data. These tables can help
you organize, sort, and filter data based on criteria that you create.

When you click these buttons, a Create Table or Create Pivot Table dialogue box will appear
(depending on which button you click). In these dialogue boxes, you can specify the cell ranges
that your table will apply to.
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Charts

Excel has always been known for its extensive charting features. This legacy is certainly
continued with Excel 2007.

Each button in the chart button group will display a menu of possible charts belonging to the
chart type represented by the button. There are a number of different column charts that you
can choose from, including, line charts, pie charts, bar charts, area charts, and other charts.

If you click the small arrow in the lower right of the charts button group, a dialogue box
containing choices from dozens of different chart types will appear.

The subject of charts will be dealt with in greater detail in lessons 4.4 and 4.5.

Illustrations

The Illustrations button group allows you to quickly add pictures, Smart Art, and Clip Art to your
spreadsheet.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 59

The Picture button (first on the left) allows you to insert a picture that is saved on your
computer or an image from a scanner or camera. When you click on this button, an Insert
Picture dialogue will appear allowing you to navigate to and select images from the folder of
your choice.

The Clip Art button allows you to add Clip Art graphics to your spreadsheets. Clicking the button
will display the Clip Art Task Pane.

With the Clip Art Task pane you can search for clip art in the locations of your choice (online or
locally) by choosing from the Search In list. You can also refine your search by specifying the
type of media to search for in the Results should be field.

The Smart Art button allows you to select diagram and flow charting designs from a broad array
of options displayed in a Smart Art window.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 60

Shapes

At the left of the Insert Ribbon, you will see a Shapes button group.

To insert a shape into your worksheet, just click on an individual shape icon in the shape button
group and use your mouse to drag the shape into place on your worksheet as you require.

You can add multiple shapes to a workbook and you can add text to the shapes if you wish.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 61

When you add a shape to a workbook, a Format Ribbon will be available with even more
options for modifying the shape.

Links

The Hyperlink button allows you to add a hyperlink to your spreadsheet. This feature can link to
a Web page, an e-mail address, a file, or another location in the same spreadsheet or
workbook.

If you click the Hyperlink button, you will see the Insert Hyperlink dialogue box.

This dialogue box lets you navigate to a file on your computer, a place in the current document,
or browse the web to find a target for your hyperlink.

Once you’ve entered your information, click OK to see the link in your spreadsheet.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 62

Text

Finally, the Text button group provides buttons for adding text boxes and headers and footers
that will be visible on printed documents.

There are also buttons for inserting Word Art, signature lines, objects from other applications,
and symbols that can’t be found on your keyboard (such as mathematical symbols or characters
from other languages).

This image shows an example of some word art and a text box inserted into a spread sheet.

Remember that you can let your mouse pointer hover over a button to get a brief description of
its function. You can also use Excel’s help feature to investigate any of the tools mentioned
here.
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Lesson 2.4: The Page Layout Ribbon

The Page Layout Ribbon allows you to change the theme of your Excel document, arrange the
layout of objects in your document, and prepare your document for printing.

The Page Layout Ribbon is a great help when it comes to enhancing the visual effectiveness of
charts, tables, and your print outs.

In this lesson you will learn about the Themes button group, the Page Setup button group, the
Scale to Fit button group, the Sheet Options button group, and the Arrange button group.

Themes

The Themes button group allows you to change the colors, fonts, and other visual effects
associated with a given Excel 2007 theme.

The Themes button will display a menu of preset themes when you click it.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 64

Clicking any one of these preset themes will apply it to your document, affecting the color and
style of charts, tables, and headings. The theme in the upper left of the menu (Office) is the
default theme.

Each preset theme is a combination of a color scheme, a font, and a visual style or effect. These
individual theme components can be accessed with the other three buttons in this grouping.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 65

The colors and fonts buttons open menus with preset styles.

Colors Fonts
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 66

The Effects button will display a menu of visual styles that can be applied to your theme.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 67

The following image shows a spreadsheet with the Civic preset theme applied to it.

This next image shows the same spreadsheet and theme with a grayscale color scheme applied
to it. (This was applied with the Colors button menu).
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 68

Page Setup

The Page Setup button group is for laying out your workbook pages for printing.

The Margins button will display a menu that allows you to select Normal, Wide, Narrow, or
Custom margins for your print out.

The Orientation button will switch the printed pages from portrait (vertically oriented) to
landscape (horizontally oriented). Sometimes this can help fit more data on one printed page,
depending on the layout of your spreadsheet.

The Size button lets you select the appropriate paper size for your print out. The menu under
this button allows you to select letter, legal, executive, envelope, and other preset sizes.

The Print Area button allows you to set a print area, clear a print area, or add to a print area.
You can use this button if you want to print only a specific section or area of a spreadsheet.
Simply select the cells that you want to print, choose Set Print Area from the button’s menu,
and then click the Print button on the quick access toolbar.

The Breaks button allows you to insert or remove page breaks. These will define the boundaries
of your printed pages and are especially useful when your spreadsheet is so large that it
requires several pages to print it all.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 69

The Background button displays the Sheet Background dialogue box, which you can use to
insert an image as a background for your spreadsheet.

You can use the Print Titles button to specify column headings and row headings that will be
repeated on successive pages as you print a spreadsheet. (This button actually invokes the
Sheet tab of the Page Setup dialogue box.)

Clicking the small page setup arrow will display the Page tab of the Page setup dialogue box.
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This dialog is the central location for your page settings.

Scale to Fit

The scale to fit group of controls will let you shrink or scale your printed output to fit on a
specified number of pages.

The Width control will allow you to choose a specific number of pages for your printout. This
means the width of the information being printed will be adjusted so that it prints on the
number of pages you specify.

The Height control performs the same task as the width button, except that in this case, the
height of the output will be adjusted to fit the specified number of pages.
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Finally, the Scale control allows you to increase or decrease the scale of your printed output
directly. You can click the small up and down arrows at the right of the button to change the
scale incrementally, or you can double click on the actual scale value, and then type in a new
value.

Finally, if you click the small arrow on the bottom right of the group you will display the Page
tab of the Page setup dialogue box.

Sheet Options

The Sheet Options control group will let you add or remove the gridlines and/or headings from
a printout or from the Excel screen.

Clicking the Custom Views button will display a dialogue box that you can use to save the
current display and print settings. (These saved settings are called custom views.)

Clicking Add will display a second dialogue box in which you can enter a name for your saved
settings and specify what will be included in your custom view.
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Arrange

The Arrange control group is used to arrange various objects (such as shapes, images, or other
graphic elements) in your spreadsheet. You can use the arrange controls to align, center, and
adjust the positions of the objects in your spread sheet to obtain the look or effect you that you
want.

The image on the next page shows three shape objects that have been inserted into in a
spreadsheet.
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You will notice that the cylinder shape has been selected; we did this simply by clicking the
shape. If you now click the Bring to Front button, the cylinder will be placed in front of the
other shapes.

If you wanted to put it behind the other shapes again, you would select it by clicking on it and
then click the Send to Back button.

If you select all three shapes (by pressing the Ctrl button when you click on each shape) you can
then click the Align button to display a menu of alignment options for the selected objects.
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Here are the shapes after they have been aligned middle (from top to bottom) and aligned
center (from left to right).

If you click the Group button (just beneath the align button), the objects will be combined
together as a group. In this image, the shapes have been selected together with the Group
button, and then rotated.
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You can also rotate an object or group of objects with the options under the Rotate button, or
by dragging the green ball on the shape with the mouse pointer.

Clicking the Selection Pane button will display a pane that lists all of the objects that have been
inserted into the spreadsheet.

The highlighted items are items that are currently selected in the spreadsheet. You can select
an item by clicking directly on it in the spreadsheet, or by clicking on its name in the selection
pane.
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Lesson 2.5: The Formulas Ribbon

When you reach the point where you are doing advanced work with Excel, the Formulas Ribbon
will become very important to you. This is the user interface component that provides access to
Excel 2007’s preset functions and to Excel’s formula auditing tools. Don’t be alarmed if you
know very little about formulas, functions, or cell references at this point. You will understand
these topics more and more as you progress in Excel. The purpose of this lesson is to show you
how and where you can access some of these features.

The Formulas Ribbon contains a number of important features designed to help you access
Excel’s formula and function tools.

The first section of the Formulas Ribbon is the Functions library. Functions are preset
mathematical formulas or algorithms designed to perform a specific task. Excel 2007 provides a
large library of functions designed to solve a variety of problems.

In addition, you can create your own custom formulas in Excel, which may involve features like
functions or range names. This is where the Defined Names section will come in handy. You
may also have to audit (find errors in) a complex formula that you create. To help with this, the
Formulas Ribbon presents a Formula Auditing button group.

Getting a little familiarity with these buttons and concepts now will help you later on when it is
time to work with them in depth.

The Function Library

As mentioned above, Excel 2007 contains an extensive library of functions that you can call
upon to help you solve problems. These tools are available in the Function Library button
group.

The first and largest button is Insert Function. This button will open a dialog allowing you to
search for and insert hundreds of functions. This feature is a key part of Excel’s powerful
mathematical functions, and we will be looking at it very closely in the sections to come.
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The next button is AutoSum. Clicking the top part of the AutoSum button will implement the
AutoSum feature. This feature will add together the numbers that are in a column of adjacent
cells immediately above, or in a row of adjacent cells immediately to the left of, the active cell.

If you click on the small arrow at the bottom of the AutoSum button, you will display a menu of
basic automated arithmetical features. These include:

Sum Compute the sum of a group of numbers

Average Compute the average of a group of numbers

Count Numbers Find the total number of numbers in a group

Max Find the largest number

Min Find the smallest number

Clicking the Recently Used button will reveal a menu of your most recently used functions.

Clicking the Financial button will display a lengthy menu of wide ranging financial functions for
you to choose from. (You will have to scroll through the list of financial functions to see all of
them.) You can use these functions to calculate future values, present values, loan payments,
and much more.
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The Logical, Text, and Date & Time buttons will display menus of functions relating to these
subjects. Logical functions deal with formal logic operators like and, not, true, false. Text
functions deal with analyzing and arranging strings of characters (text). Finally, Date and Time
functions provide current times and dates, as well as elapsed times between specified points.

The Lookup & Reference button will display a menu of functions for finding, referencing, and
retrieving data elements in your spreadsheet.

The Math & Trig button will provide an extensive menu of math functions useful in science and
engineering.

Last but not least, the More Functions button will display a list of additional function categories,
such as Statistical, Engineering, or Information. Under each of these additional categories, you
will find even more functions.

Defined Names

In Excel, you can give names to individual cells or groups of cells. In many cases it is easier to
refer to a group of cells by a name you give them, rather than some abstract cell reference like
A6:B12 (meaning all of the cells from A6 to B12).

The Name Manager button will display the Name Manager dialogue box. This dialogue box will
allow you to create additional names for a range, edit the name of a range, and delete a range
name.

To create a range name, you can select a cell or group of cells, and then click the Define Name
button. When you click this button, you will display a dialogue box has a field in which you can
enter a name for your range and select a scope (the part of the workbook where the name will
be valid) for your named cells.
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The Use in Formula button will insert the name of a range in your spreadsheet into the formula
that you are currently building. The Create from Selection button will help you come up with a
name by automatically generating one based on your row or column labels.

Formula Auditing

The formula auditing button group can help you track chains of cell references and find formula
errors. These buttons are useful for correcting complex formulas that have hard to find errors.

Trace Precedents Shows all of the cells that feed data to a given cell.

Trace Dependents Shows all of the cells that are dependent on the results of a given cell.

Remove Arrows Will remove the arrows drawn by the trace buttons.

Show Formulas Will toggle formula display or result display in the entire spreadsheet.

Error Checking Will find formula errors in the spreadsheet.

Evaluate Formula Will calculate formulas.

Watch Window Will display a window that you can use to watch cells in one area of the
work book, while you change data in another area. This is useful if
changes to the data affect cells in another sheet or that are off screen in
a very large spreadsheet.
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Calculation

The main part of the Calculation Ribbon is the Calculation Options button.

If you click this button, you will see a menu with options for how Excel 2007 will calculate the
data in a workbook.

This menu allows you to specify automatic calculation, automatic except for data tables, and
manual.

If you select Automatic (the default), the spreadsheet will be recalculated automatically every
time you change data. If you select Automatic Except for Data Tables, all data except that in
tables will be recalculated

If you specify Manual, you must perform an action to have Excel recalculate the spreadsheet.
This is where the other two buttons on the Calculation Ribbon come in handy.

Calculate Now Will calculate the entire workbook.

Calculate Sheet Will calculate just the current worksheet.


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Lesson 2.6: The Data Ribbon

The Data Ribbon is the part of the user Interface that gives you access to Excels data controls.
These buttons will allow you to import data from external sources, manage your data
connections, merge and organize data, and more.

The button groups on the Data Ribbon are:


 Get External Data
 Connections
 Sort & Filter
 Data Tools
 Outline

Get External Data

The Get External Data button group provides tools for importing data into Excel from other
sources such as a database, a web page, or a text file.

To get data from a Microsoft Access database, click the From Access button. This button will
display the Select Data Source dialogue box.

To get data from a web page, click the From Web button. This button will display the New Web
Query dialogue box.

To get data from a text file, click the From Text button. This button will display the Import Text
File dialogue box.

If you click the From Other Sources button, you will display a list of menu items that can serve
as possible data sources. These sources include:
 From SQL server
 From Analysis Services
 From XML Data Import
 From Microsoft Query
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 From Data Connection Wizard

The Existing Connections button will show a list of the commonly used data sources in the
current worksheet, or on your computer.

These external data features are often required for advanced Excel users, who use Excel to
manage and tabulate data from external databases and other sources.

Connections

When your spreadsheet depends on data from external sources, you may periodically have to
update or refresh the data so the data in your spreadsheet reflects any changes to the data in
the external sources. The Connections button group can help you do this.

If you click the Refresh All button, the data that is based on connections to external sources will
be refreshed (updated so that any changes in the external data since the last time it was
refreshed will be implemented in the spreadsheet). If your workbook maintains connections to
external data sources, this action will keep your spreadsheet data current.

If you click the Connections button, you will display all of the connections to external data
sources contained in the workbook. The Properties button will allow you to manage how the
cells that receive data from external sources behave (i.e. what happens if the external data
source grows or if data is removed from it). The Edit Links button will allow you to edit the
source for a particular connection.

Sort and Filter

The Sort and Filter button group gives you finer control over how your spreadsheet data is
sorted or filtered. Sorting is the process of ordering data based on some criteria, while filtering
is the process of extracting data from a larger group based on some criteria.
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The two buttons to the left of the main Sort button will allow you to perform simple ascending
or descending sorts.

Clicking the Sort button displays a dialogue box that will let you apply multiple sort levels and
other criteria to be used when sorting your data.

The filter buttons can help you extract certain data from a much larger list or group of data
based on criteria that you can choose or create. The sorting and filtering tools are especially
useful for advanced Excel users who may use Excel as a simple database.

Data Tools

The Data Tools button group provides even more features for controlling and manipulating your
spreadsheet data.

The Text to Columns button can arrange a large uninterrupted block of text into individual data
elements stored properly in columns. This can be a useful feature if you are trying to cut and
paste data into Excel from another program.
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The Remove Duplicates button will attempt to remove redundant rows of data from your
spreadsheet. Clicking on the button will display a dialogue box that allows you to specify which
columns are searched for duplicate information.

The Data Validation button will allow you to specify what kind of data will be permitted in a
particular cell or group of cells. You can also create an error message that will be displayed to
the user if the information entered into a cell is invalid.

The Consolidate button can help you merge spreadsheet data from different regions into one
new area.

The What-if Analysis button will display a menu with options for building scenarios using goal
seek or using a data table. These features can help you explore what kinds of values are
required to achieve a desired outcome in the context of your data and formulas.

Outline

The Outline button group will let you organize your rows and columns of data into groups that
can be collapsed or expanded. This is useful for large spreadsheets where you may want to
temporarily hide data that is not important, or for reducing the size of a printout when only
certain data elements are required.

The Group button will make a specified selection of rows or columns a collapsible group, while
the Ungroup button will remove a grouping structure from a specified selection of rows or
columns. The two buttons to the right of the block will collapse or hide groupings.

Finally, the Subtotal button will automatically generate totals and subtotals for a specified
selection of cells. The Subtotal button will also impose groupings on the selected data that
correspond to the totals.
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Lesson 2.7: The Review Ribbon

The Review Ribbon gives you access to the tools you need to proof and review your
spreadsheets. The spell checker, thesaurus, and research task pane are all available on the
review Ribbon. Moreover, the review Ribbon provides features for annotating your
spreadsheets with comments. Perhaps most importantly, the review Ribbon contains a button
group that can be used to tighten the security of your spreadsheet.

The Review Ribbon is composed of three main button groups: the Proofing group, the
Comments group, and the Changes group.

Proofing

The proofing button group contains the Spelling button, as well as the Thesaurus, Research, and
Translate buttons.

To check the text on your spreadsheet for spelling errors, just click the Spelling button. Like the
spelling features in other Office programs, Excel’s spell check will offer a list of suggested
spellings for any misspelled word that is found.

If you click the Research button, the research task pane will appear. You can type a term or
phrase to search for, and then click the arrow button to search for information related to what
you typed.

The Thesaurus button will also display the research task pane, where you can take advantage of
an English, French, or Spanish thesaurus to find just the word you are looking for.

If you click the Translate button, the research task pane will appear again, allowing you to
translate a word or phrase from one language to another. You can specify the word or term in
the Search For text field, and then specify the languages to translate to and from with the
respective drop menus.
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Research Thesaurus Translate

Comments

There may be times when certain data elements or formulas in your spreadsheet need some
explanation. Annotating a spreadsheet is a good idea if you intend on sharing it with other
users. Your notes will help the people you share your spreadsheet with understand what is
going on. The Comments button group allows you to add comments and explanations to your
spreadsheet as you see fit.
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The New Comment button can be used to add a comment to your spreadsheet.
You can delete a selected comment with the Delete button, or move between comments with
the Previous and Next buttons.

The Show/Hide Comment button will show or hide the comment associated with the currently
selected cell. The Show All Comments button will show all of the comments that have been
added to the spreadsheet. The Show Ink button will show only those comments that have been
added via an ink device (such as a handwriting tool).

Changes

The Changes button group is used to help guard against unwanted data modification and to
track changes made to a workbook that is shared with others.

Protect Sheet Will allow you to specify what actions can or cannot be performed on
the worksheet in question. (If you wish, you can set a password that
will be required for full change permissions.)

Protect Workbook Will allow you to guard against unwanted changes to the structure of
the workbook. (If you wish, you can set a password that will be
required for full change permissions.)

Share Workbook Will allow multiple users to view and collaborate on a workbook at the
same time.

Protect and Share Will allow you to share your workbook and also add password
protection so the tracking of changes cannot be turned off.

Track Changes Allows you to manage the change tracking options for the shared
workbook.
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Section 2: Review Questions

1. The Quick Access Toolbar is for what type of Excel tools?


A. The tools that you use most frequently.
B. The tools that you use least.
C. The Printing tools.
D. The Calculation tools.

2. The new Excel user interface is designed around….


A. Numerous menus and toolbars.
B. Ribbons and buttons.
C. The user interface is mostly unchanged from earlier versions of Excel.
D. None of the above.

3. Most of Excel 2007’s formatting controls are located on what Ribbon?


A. The Home Ribbon
B. The View Ribbon
C. The Data Ribbon
D. The Review Ribbon

4. Most of Excel 2007’s page enhancement tools are located on what Ribbon?
A. The Home Ribbon
B. The View Ribbon
C. The Page Layout Ribbon
D. The Data Ribbon

5. The Formulas Ribbon mostly contains….


A. Tools for editing data
B. Tools for functions and mathematics
C. Tools for creating charts
D. None of the above

6. The Insert Ribbon contains buttons related to


A. Charts
B. Tables
C. Graphics and Shapes
D. All of the above.
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7. To find tools that will help you use Excel with an Access database, you would…
A. Try the Formulas Ribbon
B. Try the Insert Ribbon
C. Try the Data Ribbon
D. Try the Design Ribbon

8. The Spelling button is located where?


A. The Data Ribbon
B. The Insert Ribbon
C. The Review Ribbon
D. The Page Layout Ribbon

9. Which of the following is not a user interface Ribbon?


A. The Design Ribbon
B. The Formulas Ribbon
C. The Calculation Ribbon
D. The Data Ribbon

10. What are button groups?


A. Subgroups of buttons that make up Ribbons.
B. A dialogue box containing specific buttons.
C. Customizable toolbars.
D. There is no such thing in Excel.
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SECTION 3: Excel Basics

In this section you will learn how to:


 Work with columns, rows, cells, and ranges
 Create worksheet labels
 Enter and delete data
 Print your worksheet
 Use the AutoFill feature
 Use the AutoSum feature
 Use AutoComplete
 Work with basic formulas
 Drag and drop cells
 Cut, copy, and paste cells
 Copy and paste multiple items
 Use paste special
 Insert and delete cells, rows, and columns
 Use undo, redo, and repeat
 Use Smart Tags
 Use the error option button
 Use the AutoFill option button
 Use the Paste Option button
 Use AutoCorrect
 Use Spell check
 Use Find and Replace
 Document a worksheet with comments
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Lesson 3.1: Working With Excel 2007

The main purpose of an Excel 2007 worksheet is to organize and analyze data. To accomplish
this, you must learn to work with the basic structures found in every worksheet. You must also
be able to enter and group your data according to different categories so your worksheet has
meaning.

In this lesson you will learn about the basic building blocks of worksheets: columns, rows, cells,
and ranges. You will learn about worksheet labels and you will learn how to enter and remove
data in a worksheet. Finally, you will learn how to print a worksheet.

Columns, Rows, Cells, and Ranges

Columns, rows, and cells are the most fundamental components of a work sheet.
A column is a vertical series of adjacent cells from top to bottom. A row is a horizontal series of
cells from left to right. A basic cell is an individual rectangle anywhere in the grid area of a
worksheet.

There is a letter or combination of letters at the top of every column. Since there are only 26
letters, and far more than 26 columns on a spreadsheet, the next columns after column Z are
indexed by the letters AA, AB, AC, and so on until the last column (XFD).
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At the far left of a row you will see an index number. The rows are numbered, staring at the
top, 1 through to 1048576. The top left cell in the worksheet is indexed by the letter number
combination A1.

The Active Cell


Cell C7

Column F

Row 9

Excel is designed to have data organized down the sheet under column headings more so than
across the sheet in rows. This is why there are over a million rows down the sheet and only
about 16000 columns.

In Excel, a range can be described as a series or block of adjacent cells. A range can be a very
useful tool because it allows you to make changes (such as applying formatting) to multiple
cells at once. To select a range, let your pointer hover over the center of a cell. When you see
the thick cross, hold the left mouse button down, and drag your pointer to select a range. (A
selected range will be highlighted in blue.)
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If you have a block of data in a worksheet, you can click on any data cell in the block, and press
the Ctrl + Shift +8 keys. This will select the block of data as a range. Excel will use the empty
cells adjacent to the data-filled cells as boundaries to the range.

Still another way to select a range is to enter it directly into the Cell Name field.
If you enter the range A1:A7 into the cell name field, the range shown below will be selected.

Cell name field

You can also select a range by clicking on the first cell in a block that you want to select, then
press Shift, and click on the last cell in the block you want to select.

When you make a selection of cells, you should notice some numbers that appear on the Excel
status bar. These numbers, located near the bottom of your screen, tell you the average, the
count, and the sum of the data in only the cells that you have selected.

Creating Worksheet Labels

It is always a good idea to label or identify your data so that your worksheet can be understood
by whoever uses it. It would be extremely difficult to make sense of multiple rows and columns
of unidentified numerical data. Basically a label is a simple text description of the data it
represents.

For example, if your worksheet contains information about the age, height, and weight of a
group of people, the words age, height, and weight, would make ideal labels for the data.
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Label

Label

Entering and Deleting Data

Now that you understand the basics of columns, rows, ranges, and labels, it is time to start
working with data. One way to enter data into an Excel worksheet is to click on the cell you
want to use (making it the active cell) and enter the information directly into it. When you type
something in the active cell, what you type will also be displayed into the formula bar.

Formula Bar

Cell C2 is the
active cell

If you type text, numbers, or formulas in the formula bar and press Enter, the data or formula
you typed will be entered into the active cell. When you enter data in the formula bar, you will
see an X and a check mark next to the data entry field. If you click the X (cancel), the data in the
formula bar will be cleared. Clicking the check mark will enter the data just like the Enter key.

To delete data from a cell, right click on the cell to display the drop down menu. Clicking the
Clear Contents option will remove the cell data, but not the cell formatting. New data entered
into the cell will be formatted like the previous data.
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If you click the Delete option, a delete dialogue box will be displayed as shown. Note that in the
sample below, the Shift cells left radio button is selected.

If you click OK both the data and formatting will be removed, and the data from the cell to the
immediate right will be shifted left into the now vacant cell. If the Shift Cells Up radio button
had been selected, the data in the cell immediately below would be shifted up into the vacant
cell. Clicking Cancel will cancel the delete operation.

You can also delete rows and columns by clicking the Delete button on the Home Ribbon.
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Clicking the small arrow at the right of the delete button will display a menu with options to
delete cells, delete rows, or delete columns. To delete rows, first select a row or rows. Then,
click the Delete Button Arrow to display the delete menu, and then click the Delete Sheet Rows
option. This will delete the row, and shift the below cells up.

To delete columns, select the column or columns you want removed, and then choose the
Delete Sheet Columns option. The columns to the right of the deleted data will be shifted left.

Remember, clearing contents only removes the data, while deleting removes data and
formatting.

It is important to keep in mind that Excel treats text and numbers differently. A number is seen
as a value in Excel, something that can be used in mathematical operations. Text is often used
as labels or identifiers. If you want to enter a number as text (use a number as a label), put an
apostrophe (‘) in front of it.

Printing Your Worksheet

To print your worksheet, click on the Office menu and select Print from the menu items.

If you let your mouse pointer hover over the small right pointing arrow (just to the right of the
printer icon on the Office menu) you will see an option for Quick Print, which will print your
worksheet using the default settings.

In addition, you will also see an option for Print Preview. In the print preview screen you can
zoom in on your data if you need a closer look. This is done by clicking the print preview with
the magnifying glass mouse pointer. You will learn more about printing workbooks and the
Print Preview screen in Section 5.

If you click directly on the Print option in the Office menu, the Print dialogue box will be
displayed.
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From this dialogue box you can choose whether to print an entire workbook, an active sheet or
sheets, or a selection. Pressing the Ctrl + P keys is another way to display the Print dialogue box.
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Lesson 3.2: Basic Excel Features

When working with spreadsheets, it is often the case that you must repeat data in a large
number of cells. Excel helps you do this efficiently by automating some basic and repetitive
tasks for you.

In this lesson we will discuss some of the most fundamental and useful Excel features: AutoFill,
AutoSum, and AutoComplete. In addition to covering these automated features, you will learn
another key concept: how to work with basic formulas.

What is AutoFill?

Excel’s AutoFill feature can help you enter repeated or incremental text or numbers quickly.
Say, for example, that you have to enter all of the years from 1990-2010 in a worksheet. Rather
than typing each year into a cell manually, you can take advantage of the AutoFill feature to
enter the data quickly and easily.

By dragging your pointer down a column, you can make AutoFill enter consecutively increasing
or decreasing values in adjacent cells by what ever increment is defined between the first two
selected cells.

If you wanted to enter all of the years from 1990 to 2010 into the sample worksheet shown
above, you can enter the year 1990 in cell A2 (under the Year label) and 1991 just below in cell
A3. If you select both cells, and place your mouse pointer over the small black square in the
lower right corner of the selection, your mouse pointer will turn into a thin cross.
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If you hold down the left mouse button and drag the + pointer down column A, a small
comment box will appear telling you what AutoFill is putting in each cell.

When you see 2010 in the comment box, stop dragging.


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The worksheet will now contain the years 1990-2010. Note that you have to select two
adjacent data items, and they have to change incrementally for AutoFill to enter the correct
consecutive values. If you selected only 1990 and dragged down the column, AutoFill would
enter 1990 into every cell.

Depending on what you want to do, however, this can work to your advantage. For example, if
you select a single cell and drag the corner with the + pointer, AutoFill will fill the cells you drag
over with the value in the original cell.
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What is AutoSum?

It is often useful to have totals or sums for the rows and columns of numbers in your
worksheet. AutoSum can easily add all of the numerical data in a column or row.

First, make the cell immediately below the column of data (or immediately beside the row of
data) the active cell. Next, click the Formulas tab and then click AutoSum button.

The column or row of data to be summed will now be enhanced by an animated border. Notice
that you can see the range to be summed in the active cell (C2:C9).
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Press Enter and the total, 68, will be displayed in the cell.

What is AutoComplete?

AutoComplete will help you enter data by completing what you type, based on similar data in
adjacent cells in the same column. If you enter the name John in a cell, and then type the letter
J in the cell immediately below it, AutoComplete will fill in the letters ohn completing the word
John. You simply need to press Enter to accept the substitution. If you have two words with the
same first letter in a column of adjacent cells, John and Jack for example, and you type a J,
AutoComplete will wait until you type a second letter to discern the most likely match to
complete the entry.
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If you want to turn the AutoComplete feature off, display the Office menu and click the Excel
Options button at the bottom of the menu. When you see the options screen, click the
Advanced option in the panel on the left, and then clear the check box next to words Enable
AutoComplete for cell values. When you click the OK button, AutoComplete will be turned off.

Working with Basic Formulas

Formulas are mathematical expressions that operate on cell contents. When cells contain
numerical data, you can add, subtract, multiply, and divide the cell contents as your worksheet
requires. The results of these operations will be shown in the cell that contains the formula.
Formulas can be simple, like adding two cell values, or quite complex, involving multiple
mathematical operations.

You can enter a formula directly into a cell or by using the formula bar.
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Cell Formula bar

When entering formulas, the formula should be preceded by an equals sign (=). Formulas can
contain cell references (like A1) or raw numbers (like 23) or even functions (like Sum (B2:B9)).

=A1+23, = D2-C2, and =B10+B11-C6 are all valid formulas.

If you include a cell reference in a formula, and that cell reference itself contains a second
formula, the second formula will be evaluated and the result will be used in the first formula.

In this worksheet, we want to multiply Quantity by Price to get total sales.

When you enter the formula =B2*C2 in the formula bar, what you type can also be seen in the
active cell (D2). In Excel the * symbol is the multiplication operator, so =B2*C2 means, the
contents of cell B2 multiplied by the contents of cell C2. When Enter is pressed, cell D2 will
show the result.

You can tell if a cell contains a formula by making it active. If there is a formula in the active cell,
it will be shown in the formula bar.
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Formulas can contain multiple cell references from a single worksheet, or even references from
different worksheets or workbooks.
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Lesson 3.3: Moving your Data

The ability to manipulate your data is crucial to building worksheets and workbooks. To work
with your data efficiently, you should know how to cut, copy, and paste single and multiple
items. You should also know how to insert and delete cells, rows, and columns, and understand
how to use paste special. You should also know how to drag and drop cells, and be familiar with
Excel’s undo, redo, and repeat features.

Dragging and Dropping Cells

It is a simple matter to drag and drop cells. First, select a cell by clicking on it, making it the
active cell.

When you see the thick black border around the cell, move your mouse pointer over one edge
of the border. You will see your pointer turn into a four-headed arrow.

Now, hold your left mouse button down and drag the cell contents to a new location.

In this example, the value 200 was dragged from position A3 to position C3.

If you select a group of cells, the selection will be surrounded by a thick black border. You can
mouse drag a selection by grabbing this border, just as you dragged a single cell.
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You can drag and drop cells pretty much anywhere in the worksheet. If you drag a cell with a
formula, the formula will move to the place you drop it. If you drag a cell that is referenced in a
formula (a single cell, or a selection of cells) all formulas that reference the cell will be adjusted
to reference the new location.

Be careful when dragging and dropping in a worksheet. It is easy to drag and drop cells by
mistake when trying to perform other operations.

How to Cut, Copy, and Paste Cells

To be able to move your data effectively, you must know how cut, copy, and paste cells. To cut
and paste a cell, right click on the cell and select Cut from the drop down menu.

The cell will be surrounded by a dark and light flashing border. When you see this flashing
border, move your mouse pointer to one of the border’s edges and when it turns into a cross
arrow, you can drag the cell to another location.

You will notice that the data has been removed (cut) from its original location (C3) and
relocated in the place where it was dropped (D3).

You can also right click on a cell, select the Cut option, and then point and click or use the arrow
keys to move to your destination. When you select a destination cell, right click it, and select
Paste from the drop down menu. The data will be relocated in the destination cell and removed
from its original location.
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Often, data needs to be duplicated in another area of the worksheet without disturbing the
original cells. To achieve this goal, use the Copy feature. To use Copy, once again right click on a
data cell, but this time select Copy from the drop down menu. The cell will once again have a
dark and light flashing border.

Now move to a new location as before, by dragging, pointing, and clicking, or by using the
arrow buttons.

The data will be pasted to its new location, and the original cell and data will remain
unchanged.

Notice that as long as the flashing dark and light border is around the source cell, you will be
able to paste data that you copied from it. It is also important to remember that cutting and
copying moves formatting information to the destination as well as the data.

How to Cut, Copy, and Paste Multiple Cells and Items

Cutting copying and pasting multiple cells is a lot like cutting copying and pasting single cells.
The important difference is that you must select a range of cells first.

To begin, select a range of cells by dragging the thick cross pointer.


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When you have made your selection, right click on any cell in the selected range, and choose
Cut or Copy from the dropdown menu. The selected range will have a light and dark flashing
border.

The next step is to select a destination area by dragging and dropping, pointing and clicking, or
using the arrow keys.

If you choose a destination cell by pointing and clicking the mouse, or with the arrow keys, the
selected block of cells will be copied so that the destination cell is in the upper left corner of the
new block.

If you cut a selection of data, it is just like cutting a single cell in the sense that the cell
information in the original selected area will be removed (cut) from the worksheet.
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When you cut or copy items, they are saved to the clipboard. You can view the items on your
clipboard at any time by accessing the Clipboard Task Pane. You can do this by clicking the
Home tab to display the Home Ribbon, and then clicking the small arrow at the bottom right of
the clipboard button.

Any items copied from other Microsoft Office applications like Power Point, Word, or Access,
(up to 24 items) will be saved on this clipboard. You can paste items to your Excel worksheet (at
the location of the active cell). You can also copy items to the clipboard from Excel, and paste
them to another program like Word.

You can clear all the items from the office clipboard by clicking the Clear All button, or you can
paste all of the items on the clipboard by using the Paste All button.
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How to Use Paste Special

Paste Special is a very interesting and useful Excel feature. You can use Paste Special to perform
a lot of operations that might be awkward and tedious to perform using other Excel tools.

Paste Special does more than just paste data. It allows you to use the values you will paste to
perform operations on the destination cells.

In this worksheet we have a column labeled quantity, a column labeled price, and a column
labeled sales which is calculated with the formula (quantity * price).

Suppose that all prices are to be raised by 20%. You can manually enter the new prices, use a
formula in a new column to calculate the prices, or you can use paste special.

To use paste special for this situation, we would enter the value 1.2 (the numerical equivalent
of 20%) in cell D1, then right click on cell D1 and choose Copy, giving the cell a flashing border.
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Next, select the column of prices by dragging the thick cross pointer. When the selection is
highlighted in blue, right click on the selected area, and choose Paste Special from the drop
down menu.

This will display the Paste Special dialogue box.

There are a number of options In the Paste Special dialogue box that you can choose from.
Since we want to increase the prices in the selected range by 20%, we want to multiply each
price in the selected range by 1.2 (the value that we copied). To do this we would select the
Multiply radio button and then click the OK button.
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Notice that the prices have now been increased by 20%, and Sales have increased as well,
taking the new prices into account.

By using paste special, we have not copied the value 1.2 in cell D1 to the selected range.
Instead, we have used the value to perform a multiplication operation on the values in the
selected range.

Remember, you must copy the value or values that you want to paste, creating a flashing light
and dark border around the cell or range, and then select the cell or range that you want to
paste to, before invoking the Paste Special dialogue.

Like the regular copy and paste operation, you can use single or multiple items with Paste
Special. You can copy and Paste Special a single item to a single cell, a single item to multiple
cells, and multiple items to multiple cells.

With Paste Special you can choose to add the copied value, subtract it, multiply it, or divide by
selecting the appropriate radio button. You can also choose to paste only values, so a formula
will not be copied but its result will.

Take a look at the options available to you in the dialogue box, and remember, the default
setting under the Paste heading is All.

How to Insert and Delete Cells, Rows, and Columns

Suppose you are building a worksheet with Excel 2007, and you realize that you forgot to
include a row or column of important data. It could also be the case that a row or column of
data is unnecessary or contains multiple errors and must be removed. Excel provides a simple
way for you to delete or insert columns or rows if you have to.
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To insert a column in a worksheet, first right click on the letter at the top of the column. A drop
down menu will be displayed.

Click the Insert option from the menu. Now, all of the data to the right of, and including the
highlighted column, will be shifted one column to the right. In this example, the data in column
B will now be shifted to column C, the data in column C to column D, and so on.
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Now there is an empty column where you can enter a new label and data.

This procedure is essentially the same for inserting rows. To insert a row, just right click on the
row number and choose Insert from the menu. All of the data in the row you selected as your
insertion point, and the data in the rows beneath it, will be shifted down one row. This will
leave an empty row where you can enter new data.

On the next page is a worksheet, just before inserting a row at position 8.


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This is a worksheet just after inserting a row at position 8.

It is also easy to delete rows and columns. To delete a column, right click on the letter at the
top of the column and choose Delete from the drop down menu. All of the data to the right of
the column will be shifted one row to the left, and the old information will be replaced with the
data that was in the column to the immediate right.

To delete a row, right click on the row number and choose Delete from the drop down menu.
All of the data below the column will be shifted up one row, and the old information will be
replaced with the data that was in the row directly beneath.
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To insert a cell, right click on it and click Insert. The Insert dialogue box will appear.

When you insert a cell, the existing data must be relocated. You can click the radio buttons in
the dialogue box to specify how the data will be moved. Selecting Shift Cells Right and clicking
OK will move the item in the active cell, and all the items to the right of it, one cell further to
the right, leaving a blank cell at the original location. For example, the data in cell A1 would
move to B1, and the data in B1 would move to C1 and so on, leaving cell A1 empty.

Selecting Shift Cells Down will perform a similar operation, but in the direction of the bottom of
the worksheet. For example, if you inserted a cell at location B1, the data in B1 would shift to
B2 and the Data in B2 would shit to B3, and so on, leaving B1 empty.

The Entire Row or Entire Column options allow you to insert a row or a column as previously
discussed.

Let’s look at an example. Here is our worksheet before inserting a cell at C5:
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After inserting a cell at C5 (shifting cells right):

Using Undo, Redo, and Repeat

Anyone can make mistakes, especially when creating a complex worksheet. Excel provides a
way of backtracking over, or undoing incorrect or unintended actions.

To undo an action, click the Undo button on the Quick Access Toolbar.

This will undo the very last action you performed. If you continue to click the Undo button, the
next most recent action will be undone, and so on. You can also click the downward pointing
triangle to show a list of recent actions. You can select actions from this list and then click the
selected item to delete it and any other actions above it in the list.

If you want to redo an action (perform an action that you undid with Undo), you can click the
Redo button on the quick access toolbar.

Here, you can also use a drop down list to select multiple actions to Redo, in just the same way
as with Undo.
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In certain cases, the Redo function will change to a Repeat command. If you perform an action
on a cell, (making it currency style for example), you can then click on another cell, or select a
range of cells and use the Redo button to repeat the action on the additional cells.
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Lesson 3.4: Smart Tags and Options Buttons

Excel’s Smart Tags and Option Buttons can provide you with information and actions based on
the context of what you are currently doing with your worksheet.

In this lesson you will learn what smart tags are and how to use them. You will also learn about
the Error option button, the AutoFill option button and the Paste option button, and how they
can make tasks easier.

What Are Smart Tags?

When working in Excel, buttons will sometimes appear based on the context of your current
actions. These buttons will provide a menu of options related to the information you are
entering or the action you are performing. A Smart Tag is a button that appears in response to
information you enter in a worksheet.

As an example, if you are working in Excel 2007, and you enter the letters XRX in a cell, a small
purple triangle will appear in the lower right corner of the cell. This indicates the presence of a
smart tag.

In this case, XRX happens to be the stock exchange symbol for Xerox Corporation. If you let your
mouse pointer hover over the triangle a small button will appear.

If you move your mouse pointer over the button, a drop down list will become available. Click
the downward pointing triangle (list indicator) and a menu of options will appear.
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If you have an Internet connection, you can click one of the Smart Tag options and receive
online information about this company and you can insert information about the company’s
stock into your worksheet.

The Error Option Button

Let’s say you are building an Excel worksheet like the one shown here, and you enter the
formula =A2/B2 into cell C2.

Because cell B2 has the value 0, the formula =A2/B2 causes an error (division by zero is
mathematically undefined). Notice that there is a small green triangle in the upper left of the
cell. If you click on this triangle, you will see the Error option button. This button has a drop
down menu that offers options to help resolve the error.
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This is a good example of how Smart Tags and Option Buttons can provide context sensitive
help. If you made another type of error (other than division by zero), the choices on the option
button’s menu would change to reflect this error.

The AutoFill Option Button

After using AutoFill to complete a row or column, the AutoFill option button will appear.

Once again, options are provided that are dependent on the context of your actions. If you use
AutoFill to complete dates, for example, the AutoFill option button provides a set of options
that will pertain to dates.
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The Paste Option Button

Another option button provided with Excel is the Paste option button. You will see this button
appear after you perform the paste command.

If you click the menu indicator on the button (small downward pointing triangle), a menu will
drop down with options regarding whether the source or destination format will be retained,
whether the cell widths will be adjusted, or if the cells should be linked.

Setting Smart Tag Options

You can configure Smart Tags by displaying the Office menu and then clicking the Excel Options
button near the bottom of the menu. When the Excel Options screen appears, select Proofing
from the panel on the left, and then click the AutoCorrect Options button.
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When the AutoCorrect Dialogue box appears, click the Smart Tags tab to see the smart tags
options.

To make smart tags available in your worksheets, you should put a check in the Label Data with
Smart Tags check box. If you change the smart tag settings, click the OK button to activate the
changes.
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Lesson 3.5: Editing Tools

Excel 2007 offers a variety of editing tools to help ensure that your worksheets are accurate,
free from spelling errors, and well documented.

In this lesson you will learn about AutoCorrect and Spell Check, two features that can help you
fix typing and spelling errors. You will also learn how to use Find and Replace, a great tool for
finding and fixing mistakes. Finally, you will learn how to add comments to a worksheet in order
to clarify and explain your data.

Using AutoCorrect

AutoCorrect can help you avoid common spelling mistakes and typographical errors as you
type. Excel keeps a list of common misspellings called AutoCorrect entries. If you type a
misspelling that is in the AutoCorrect list, Excel will replace the mistake with the correct word
when you press Enter or hit the space bar.

AutoCorrect also enforces rules such as capitalizing the first word in a sentence, capitalizing the
names of days, and correcting two successive capital letters.

You can modify the AutoCorrect options by clicking the AutoCorrect Options button from the
Excel Options screen under the Office menu. This action will display the AutoCorrect dialogue
box.
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You can configure a number of AutoCorrect behaviors by checking or clearing the various
options in the dialogue box.

You can also see a list of common symbols and misspellings, along with the symbols and words
that AutoCorrect will use to replace them.

You can add your own replacement combinations to this list by clicking on the Replace Text
field, entering the text to be replaced, and then clicking on the With field, and entering the text
to replace it with.

Using Spell Check

Spell check is an Excel editing feature that you can use to check your worksheets for spelling
mistakes. It is much more comprehensive than the AutoCorrect feature, which is designed to
quickly correct simple, common typos.

When you invoke spell check, Excel will compare the words in your worksheet against a
dictionary. If a word is not found in the dictionary, you can choose a substitute to replace it or
add it to the dictionary so it will no longer be a spelling error.
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To spell check a worksheet, click cell A1 to get to the beginning of the sheet and left click the
Spelling button in the left corner of the Review Ribbon. (You can also use the F7 keyboard
shortcut for quick access to the Excel spelling feature.)

If you want to spell check a selection of cells, just select a range by dragging the thick cross over
the cells you want, and then click the Spelling button. You can also click on a single cell and click
the Spelling button to check that cell.

If the spell checker finds a word that is not in the dictionary, it will display the Spelling dialogue
box.

You can choose to ignore what has been found, replace it from a list of other words, or add it to
the dictionary so it will not be interpreted as a mistake. You can also click the AutoCorrect
button to enter the mistake and replacement word into the AutoCorrect list.

If you display the dictionary language list, you will find several dictionaries that you can choose
from. The dictionary you choose will be the one that the spell checker compares words against.
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Using Find and Replace

You can search a selection or a worksheet for a particular word or number by using Excel’s Find
and Replace feature. To use Find and Replace, press Ctrl + F at the same time. You can also click
the Find and Select button on the far right of the Home Ribbon.

Either action will display the Find and Replace dialogue box.

Type what you want to find in the text field (note that the drop down list contains recently used
search terms that you can select from) and click the Find All button or the Find Next button. If
you click the Find All button, Excel will provide a list of cell references that contain the text or
number that you are looking for. Clicking Find Next will take you to the next cell that contains
the text or number you are looking for.

If you click the Options button, the dialogue box will present options for refining your search.
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You can now choose to search within a sheet or workbook, or by rows or columns, by making
selections in the drop down lists.

If you click on the Replace tab, you will be presented with the option to enter a replacement
term for the one you are finding. (You can jump directly to this tab by pressing Ctrl + H.)

If you enter a term in the Replace With field, Excel 2007 will search for the word or number
entered in the Find What field. If any instances of this word or number are found, they can be
replaced with the replacement term. All that you have to do is click the Replace button each
time Excel finds something.

If you click the Replace All button, Excel will replace every instance of the word or number it
finds with the replacement term, without waiting for you to click Replace for each one.

You can use Find and Replace on a selection of cells as well. Just select the block of cells you
want to search through, and then while the selection is still highlighted press Ctrl + H.
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If you right click on the worksheet tabs near the bottom of the Excel screen, you will see a pop
up menu. If you click the Select All Sheets option from this menu, and then use find and
replace, the find and replace feature will search the entire workbook (every worksheet).

Adding Comments

Sometimes it is necessary to include explanations for data or formulas, especially if your


spreadsheet is very complex. Comments allow you to place explanations or definitions where
ever you need them in your spreadsheet.

If a cell contains a comment, there will be a small red triangle in the upper right corner.

If you let your mouse pointer hover over the cell, the comment will be displayed in a light
yellow box.

It’s easy to insert comments into your Excel 2007 worksheet. Just choose the cell that you want
to add a comment to and click on it, making it the active cell. Next, click the New Comment
button on the Review Ribbon, or right click on the cell in question, and select Insert Comment
from the drop down menu.
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A comment box will appear with a name (normally the computer’s owner) and a flashing cursor.

You can resize the comment box by moving your mouse pointer to one of the small circles on
the outside edge of the box. When your pointer turns into a short double headed arrow, you
can hold the left mouse button and drag to increase or decrease the size of the box.

You can change the name to whatever you want by clicking on it and typing a new name. You
can also click in the main body of the box and type the comment or explanation that you need.

When you are finished, left click outside the comment box and the comment will disappear,
leaving a small red triangle in the upper right corner of the cell.
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If you ever need to edit a comment, just select the cell with the comment you want to change
and right click on it. A menu will appear with options to Edit Comment and Delete Comment.
Clicking the Edit Comment option will open the comment box for editing, while clicking the
Delete option will remove the comment and the small red triangle from the cell.
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Section 3: Review Questions

1. What is a worksheet label?


A. A worksheet label is a kind of identifier that describes the data in your worksheet.
B. A worksheet label is a column or row heading.
C. A worksheet label is often composed of text.
D. All of the above

2. Which of the following statements is false?


A. An Excel worksheet has thousands and thousands of cells.
B. There are more rows than columns in a worksheet.
C. There are more columns than rows in a worksheet.
D. Excel 2007 worksheets can hold more data than the worksheets in earlier versions of
Excel.

3. When you enter a formula in Excel, what sign should go in front?


A. >
B. #
C. =
D. Does not matter.

4. Which of the following statements is false?


A. In Excel, you can copy and paste selections.
B. In Excel, you can drag individual cells.
C. In Excel, you cannot use paste special on multiple cells.
D. In Excel, copied items are stored on the clipboard.

5. Autocorrect is useful because it…


A. Corrects most formula errors
B. Corrects most logical errors
C. Corrects poor formatting
D. Corrects spelling as you type

6. A range can be defined as…


A. A single cell
B. A collection of adjacent cells
C. A collection of non adjacent cells
D. All of the above.
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7. Clearing cell contents will….


A. Remove data
B. Remove data and cell formatting
C. You cannot clear a cell
D. None of the above

8. To take advantage of Smart Tags in Excel you need to ….


A. Have an Internet connection and enable smart tags for your workbooks
B. Install the Smart Tag add-in
C. Learn how to develop XML
D. Excel has no smart tag functionality

9. In Excel, what is a comment?


A. A section of descriptive text that will be stored in your workbook
B. A tool for annotating your spreadsheets
C. Descriptions of obscure or complex spreadsheet components that appear in yellow
boxes
D. All of the above

10. The find and replace feature can do which of the following?
A. Find a word or number in the spreadsheet
B. Find every occurrence of a word or number in a selection of cells
C. Find and replace every occurrence of a word, number or text string in a selection of
cells
D. All of the above
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SECTION 4: Editing Your Workbook

In this section you will learn how to:


 Change the size of rows or columns
 Adjust cell alignment
 Rotate text
 Create custom number or date formats
 Use conditional formatting
 Use the Format Painter
 Merge cells
 Use AutoFit
 Find and replace formatting
 Add patterns and colors
 Add borders
 Work with styles
 Create charts
 Format charts
 Enhance charts with drawing tools
 Change the chart type
 Change the source data for a chart
 Work with chart axes and data series
 Create a chart template
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Lesson 4.1: Modifying Cells and Data

To make the most out of your worksheets, you should understand the many ways that you can
modify cells and data in Excel. In this lesson you will learn about changing the size of rows and
columns, adjusting cell alignment, creating custom formats, and rotating text.

Changing the Size of Rows or Columns

Sometimes it will be necessary to change the size of a row or column to fit the data contained
in it. Or, you may want to change the size of a row or column just for the change in appearance.
In either case, changing the size of a row or column is quite easy.

To change the size of a column, place your mouse pointer on the line that divides the column
letters at the top of the column you want to change. For example, if you wanted to change the
size of column B, you would place your mouse pointer on the line separating B and C. Your
mouse pointer will turn into a vertical line with a small arrow on either side.

When you see this pointer you can change the column size by holding the left mouse button
and dragging the column edge to the left or right.
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Now the size of column B has been changed.

To change the size of a row, place your pointer on the line separating the row numbers at the
left of the worksheet. When you see the pointer with a vertical line and an arrow on either side,
drag the edge of the row to change the size.

In this instance, the size of row 6 has been changed by dragging the column edge between the
numbers 6 and 7 downward.

You can also change the size of rows or columns by clicking the small arrow at the right of the
Format button in the Cell button group on the Home Ribbon. This will display a menu where
you can choose a height or width option.
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If you click the Row Height option, for example, you would see a Row eight dialogue box like
this.

Changing the value in this box will change the height of the selected rows.

Adjusting Cell Alignment

To align data within a cell, just follow these simple steps.

First, select the cell with the data you want to align.
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Click on the alignment button of your choice in the Alignment group on the Home Ribbon.

The data will now be aligned the way you want it. In this case the data was centered in the cell
by clicking the center button on the formatting toolbar.

To align multiple items, select a range of cell by dragging the thick cross mouse pointer. Once
the range of cells is selected, click the alignment button of your choice on the formatting
toolbar. In this instance the left alignment button was clicked, aligning all the data in the
selected range to the left walls of the cells.

You can also align single or multiple items using the indent buttons in the alignment button
group. Just select the cell or range of cells with the data you want to align, and then click the
indent buttons to adjust the alignment in increments.

Note: Using the indent buttons may change the width of the column that contains the data.
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Rotating Text

Rotated text can make your worksheets look better, improve organization, and improve
readability. Rotating text can also make viewing or printing a large worksheet easier because
the column widths do not have to accommodate the length of your text descriptions.

To rotate text, first select the cell or range of cells you want to rotate.

Once you have selected a cell or range, click the Orientation button in the Alignment button
group on the Home Ribbon. When the menu is displayed, click the option that represents the
type of alignment that you want.

You can also right click on any cell in the selected range and click on Format Cells in the drop
down menu.

This action will invoke the Format Cells dialogue box.


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To rotate the text in the selected cells, put your mouse pointer on the red diamond in the
orientation field. Hold your left mouse button down and drag the diamond to the degree that
you need. For example, if you want the text to be vertical in the cells, drag the diamond 90
degrees to the bottom of the orientation field.
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You can, of course, also set additional options on the left hand side of the dialogue.
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Click the OK button after you make your adjustments to implement them. Let’s look at a
sample.

Now the text labels are aligned vertically in the cells. Remember, you can decrease the width of
the columns by dragging the column separators.
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Now you have vertical text in columns that are only as wide as they need to be to contain the
data.

Creating Custom Number and Date Formats

Excel 2007 provides a variety of number and date formats for you to choose from, but it may be
the case that you require something different. You can create your own custom number and
date formats in Excel, to present your data exactly as you wish.

To create a custom number format, select a cell that contains a number you want to format and
invoke the Format Cells dialogue box. You can do this by right clicking on the cell and choosing
Format Cells from the drop down menu, or by clicking the small arrows in the lower right corner
of the Font, Alignment, or Number button groups on the Home Ribbon. When you see the
dialogue box, click the Number tab.

You can see the number you are formatting in the Sample area of the box.
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To create a custom format, you must select Custom from the bottom of the category list at the
left of the dialogue box.

Once you click on Custom, you will see a text window containing a list of symbolic formatting
codes underneath the heading Type. If you click on a symbolic formatting code, you will see
what your number will look like with this formatting applied to it in the sample area above the
formatting code list. Try clicking on different format codes until you find one that formats your
number close to the way you want it.
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Let’s say that you want to format your number so there are two places after the decimal, and a
dollar sign at the right side of the number. To achieve this, click on the #, ##0.00 format code
from the list, and look at your number in the sample field. Now add a $ directly to the right side
of the format code where it is displayed directly beneath the Type heading. The format code for
your custom number format will be saved at the bottom of the format code list in the Format
cells dialogue box. Click OK to format the cell or range of cells with this new custom format.

Here is the new custom number format applied to the cell.


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Lesson 4.2: Cell Formatting

When it comes to the quality and clarity of a workbook, layout and appearance play a major
role. Excel puts an extensive array of formatting features at your disposal, letting you create
practical worksheets with a professional look and feel. This lesson deals with some of the cell
formatting tools that can help you present your data in a polished and meaningful way.

In this lesson you will cover conditional formatting and the format painter. You will also learn
about cell merging, AutoFit, and Find and Replace Formatting.

Conditional Formatting

In Excel 2007 you can design a worksheet in such a way that data is formatted differently, based
on the values the data assume at any given time. This is called conditional formatting.

This spreadsheet is conditionally formatted to highlight cells in different colors depending on


the cell values.

To use conditional formatting, first select a range of data that you want to apply the formatting
to.
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The next step is to click on the Conditional Formatting button on the Home Ribbon.

This will display a menu of conditional formatting options. From this menu, you can choose:

Highlight Cells Rules This will highlight cells that are greater than, less than, between or equal
to values that you can specify.

Top/Bottom Rules This option will allow you to highlight the top or bottom numbers or
percent in the selected cells.

Data Bars Will display colored bars that are indicative of the value in the cell. This
is what is used in the image above.

Color Scales Will use different shades of color to represent different values, from low
to high.

Icon Sets Will use sets of similar icons that will visually indicate a cell’s value.
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You will also notice at the bottom of the menu options for creating a new rule, for clearing
rules, and for managing rules.

Each one of the conditional formatting menu options will display either a sub menu or a
dialogue box. In the image on the previous page, you can see the sub menu for the Data Bars
option. As you let your mouse pointer hover over an option in the sub menu, you will see a
preview of the type of conditional formatting that your pointer is on applied to the cells that
you selected. To implement the conditional formatting, just click the submenu option of your
choice.

You can apply multiple conditional formatting rules to a group of cells by simply re-selecting the
group, and then adding another conditional format by using the menu system discussed
previously. The following image shows a group of cells with a data bar conditional format and
an icon set conditional format.

The black and red circle icons represent low values, while the yellow and green icons represent
higher values. You can also see that the size of the data bar in each cell corresponds to the
given cell’s value.

If you click the new rule option near the bottom of the conditional formatting menu, you will
display the following New Formatting Rule dialogue box.
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In this dialogue box you can configure more precise and specific conditional formatting rules.
The options in the Edit the Rule Description panel will change as you clicking the different items
in the Select a Rule Type panel.
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As an example, here is a rule set up for cells that contain text starting with “budget.”

Notice how the options in the Edit the Rule Description panel have changed.

If you click the Format button, the Format Cells dialogue box will appear, allowing you to
specify exactly what format you want for cells that meet the criteria you designed.
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Remember to click the OK button when you are finished specifying your format.

If you want to remove conditional formatting rules, simply use the Clear Rules option from the
menu. This option will let you clear rules for selected cells or for an entire spreadsheet.
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The Manage Rules option will allow you to delete, edit, or add new conditional formatting rules.
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The Format Painter

The format painter is a very useful feature that can be accessed from the Home Ribbon. With
the format painter you can format a cell or selection of cells with an existing format from
another cell.

To use the Format Painter, select a cell by clicking on it, and then click the paint brush button
on the Clipboard section of the Home Ribbon.

The cell that you selected will be enhanced with a flashing dark and light border and your
mouse pointer will turn into a thick cross with a paint brush beside it. When this happens, any
cell or range you select with the cross and paint brush pointer will assume the format of the cell
that you selected your format from. In other words, you paint your selection with the format
from the original cell.

Let’s look at a sample. Let’s say we’ve formatted the Month cell a certain way, and we now
want to copy that format to the Sales cell. First, we’ll select the Month cell and click the Format
Painter.
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Then, we’ll click the Sales cell.

Now, both cells are formatted the same way.


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Cell Merging and AutoFit

Cell Merging and AutoFit are two Excel features that help you change the dimensions of your
cells, rows, or columns. You may need an extra long cell for a heading, or you may need to
resize your columns or rows so that long items can be displayed. Excel makes it easy to handle
both of these situations with cell merging and AutoFit.

If you need to put some text or a value into a cell, but the cell is too small to contain it, use the
merge feature. With merge you can select a group of cells, either across a row or down a
column, and combine them to form one big cell.

To do this, select a group of adjacent cells and click the Merge button in the Alignment group
on the Home Ribbon.

These rows:

Become…

Now the group of cells you selected is merged together (into one big cell). Data entered into
the cell will have a center alignment. The merged cell can still be referenced in formulas by the
column letter and row number of the cell in the upper left corner of the group that the new cell
was merged from.

You can also use AutoFit to ensure that your columns and rows will accommodate data that
may be longer than expected. For example, when you see a string of number signs (########)
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in a cell, you know that the data is too long for the column width. In this case, double click the
separator line to use AutoFit.

The column will automatically adjust to fit the longest data present.

You can also adjust rows with AutoFit by clicking on the line between row numbers, just below
the row you want to adjust.

Find and Replace Formatting

You can use Excel’s find and replace feature to find and replace a specified formatting. This
feature is ideal for replacing a formatting style that is scattered throughout a spreadsheet. To
use Find and Replace with formatting, click the Find & Select button on the Home Ribbon.

This will display the Find and Replace dialogue box.


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Click the Options button to display the options for formatting. Then, open the drop down list
under the Format button and click Format.

You will now see the Find Format dialogue box.

From this box you can select a Number format from the category list. You can also select a
format option from the tabs at the top of the box. (You can search for alignment, color, font
type, and more!) You can even choose a format from a cell by clicking the Choose Format from
Cell button.
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If you click this button, you will see a thick cross mouse pointer with an eye dropper beside it.
Click this pointer on a cell with formatting that you want to find, and the Find and Replace
dialogue box will be displayed again.

Next, make sure that the Replace tab on the dialogue box is selected to show the options for
choosing a replacement format. You can choose a replacement format in the same way that
you chose a format to find.

In the second half of the dialog, there are options in the list boxes to search worksheets,
workbooks, and formulas.

Once your options are set, click Replace to replace the unwanted format one cell at a time, or
click Replace All to perform all of the replacements at once.

As a side note, when you right click on a cell in Excel 2007, you will see a small formatting
toolbar at the top of the pop up menu. From this small toolbar, you can apply Bold and Italics to
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your data, as well as cell highlighting and font color. The Borders button, the Format Painter,
and the Font Type drop list are also available on the small toolbar.

This feature really comes in handy when you have a Ribbon other than the Home Ribbon in
view, but you need to format some cells. Basically all you have to do is right click after you
make your selection, and most of the formatting tools that are on the Home Ribbon are
available for use, at the top of the pop up menu.
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Lesson 4.3: Enhancing a Worksheet’s Appearance

Up until now, you have been dealing with formatting individual values or ranges of cells.
In this lesson you will learn how to further enhance your worksheet’s appearance by applying
colors, patterns, borders, and fill effects. You will also learn what styles are and how to use
them.

Adding Patterns and Colors

To add colors to a worksheet, first select the range of cells you want to add color to.

Then, click on the Fill Color button in the Font group on the Home Ribbon to display your color
choices.
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You can choose shades of colors from the theme you are currently using (theme colors) or you
can choose from a selection of standard colors. As you let your mouse hover over each color in
color menu, the selected cells will be previewed in that color.

When you are ready, click on the color of your choice from the color menu and the color will be
applied to the selected cells. The range will now be shaded with the color you selected.
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The procedure to add patterns to a range is almost the same as for adding color. First, select a
range of cells. Then, right click and choose Format Cells from the menu.

When the Format Cells dialogue box appears click the Fill tab, select a color, and choose a
pattern from the drop down palette.
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You can see what the pattern will look like in the sample bar at the bottom of the dialogue.

Here is the spreadsheet with the fill pattern applied to the selected cells.
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Adding Borders

Borders can help to separate and distinguish selected data within a worksheet, or give a
worksheet a more polished overall appearance.

To add a border to your worksheet, select a range of data and display the borders option menu
from the Borders button (on the Home Ribbon) by clicking on the small down pointing arrow.

From the menu, click on the type of border you wish to apply to the range, and the borders will
be added.
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You can gain more control over the borders by clicking the More Borders option on the border
drop down Menu. This will once again display the Format Cells dialogue box, this time with the
Border tab activated. You can also display this dialogue box by clicking directly on the Borders
button.

Customize line position

Customize line thickness

Here you can customize a border by choosing line thickness and the line position in and around
the cell. When you are finished building a custom border, click OK to implement it on the
selected cells.

Here is the selected data after borders have been applied.


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Working with Styles

A style is a set of formats that can be given a name, saved, and applied to a cell or a range of
cells. You can create a style or modify an existing style to build the formatting options you need
for your worksheets. Excel 2007 even provides a large menu of preset styles that you can
choose to apply to your cells.

To create a style, first enter some data in a cell and apply the formats (font color, fill color, font
size, bold, italic, and so on) that you want to include in the new style.

Here, we have entered the word Hello, and selected bold, a font size of 12, a grey font color,
and a shade of blue for the cell color.

Next, display the cell style options by clicking the Cell Styles button, and then click the New Cell
Style option near the bottom of the menu.

When you perform this action, the Cell Style dialogue will be displayed.
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If you click the Format button, you will display the Format Cells dialogue box. This will allow you
to add pretty much any kind of formatting you want to the new style. You can also select or
deselect elements to include in your style with the various checkboxes.

If you just click the OK button, the formatting you added to the selected cell will be saved as a
style.

In the image on the next page, notice that the new cell style that was created is now available
in the Custom section of the style menu.
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Applying your new style (or any of the preset styles) to a selection of cells is easy. Just select the
cells you want to modify, and then click on your new style or the preset style of your choice
from the Style menu.

Styles are saved with the workbook they are created in. If you want to use a style from another
workbook, the Merge button will allow you to bring in the styles you need.

To do this, you must have two workbooks open. (Remember, you can open multiple workbooks
at the same time with Excel). Then, activate the workbook you want to bring styles to, and click
the Merge command in the Cell Styles menu.
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That command will open this dialog:

In the Merge Styles box select the workbook with the style you want and click the OK button.
Excel will copy all of the styles from the workbook you selected into the workbook you want to
bring styles to. You will be asked if you want to merge styles if there are styles in both
workbooks that have matching names.
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Once again, to use a style, select a cell or range of cells and choose the style you want from the
Cell Styles menu shown previously. If it is a new style that you created, it will appear in the
Custom region of the Style menu. To remove a Style from the Style menu, just right click on the
particular style in the menu and choose Delete from the list of options that appears.
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Lesson 4.4: Working With Charts

Sometimes it can be hard to discern patterns or relationships in your data from basic tables of
numerical entries. Excel 2007’s powerful chart tools can help you create a more meaningful
representation of your data, by making it easy to build professional looking charts.

In this lesson you will learn how to create, format, and manipulate a chart. You will also learn
how to enhance your chart with Excel’s drawing tools and how to add titles and tables.

Creating a Chart

One of the major changes in Excel 2007 is the way that charts are created and handled. In
previous versions of Excel, charts were often created with the chart wizard. In Excel 2007, a
new approach is taken in hopes that a professional looking chart can be created in just a few
clicks. Instead of a chart wizard, Excel 2007 provides a series of chart buttons and controls on
the Insert Ribbon.

Before you create a chart, first consider the type of chart that you require. Pie charts and bar
charts are good for showing comparisons. Line graphs can be useful for showing trends and
plotting relationships between variables. If you want a really visually interesting chart, consider
a three dimensional type.
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To create a chart, first select the data that you want to base your chart on.

Our aim here is to create a pie chart. To do this, we have selected the region labels and the
sales data. The region labels will give us category headings for our chart and the sales figures
will comprise the actual data for our chart.

Once you select the data, you can proceed by clicking the Insert tab to display the Insert
Ribbon. On the Insert Ribbon, click the Pie Charts button to display a menu of possible pie
charts. For this example, we will click on the Exploding 3-D Pie Chart option.

This action creates an exploding 3-D chart in the spreadsheet, showing comparative slices for
the sales per region.
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Formatting a Chart

Even after you create a chart, you can still alter its appearance. The easiest way to do this is to
single click inside the box (chart area) that surrounds the chart. When you do this, you will see
the words Chart Tools appear in the Excel title bar.

If you click on the words Chart Tools, you will see the Design Ribbon appear. (You can also make
the design Ribbon appear by double clicking on the Design tab.)

This Ribbon provides you with a variety of quick and easy chart reformatting options. At the far
left of the Ribbon, there is a button to completely change the chart type if you wish.

For now, we will only worry about changing the general format of the chart. To begin, if you
right click on the chart legend and choose Format Legend from the pop up menu, you will see a
box (with circles and squares) appear around it, and you will see a Format Legend dialogue box
on your Excel screen.
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Chart
legend

In this dialogue box, you can select any one of the legend position radio buttons to place the
legend in the position specified. If you click the Fill option on the panel on the left, you will see
options pertaining to the legend background fill color.

As an example, if you select the Gradient Fill radio button, you will see options for fill gradients.
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If you click the Presets arrow, you can choose a fill gradient for the legend background from a
drop menu.
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Here you can see the results of selecting the top radio button for the legend position, and a
gradient fill for the legend background.

If you click in the area of the box that is close to the chart itself, you will see a second inner box
surround the chart. This box defines the plot area of the chart. (In the image above, you can see
a thin line forming a box that is inside the heavy outer box.)

If you right click inside the plot area and select Format Plot Area from the pop up menu, you
will display a Format Plot area dialogue box.

You can use the options in this dialogue in the same way as the Format Legend dialogue.
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Here is the same chart with the plot area formatted as a parchment gradient.

Finally, if you right click on the blank white area of the chart (around the sales heading and
legend) and then select Format Chart Area from the pop up menu, you will display the Format
Chart Area dialogue box.

Just as in the previous two examples for the legend and plot area, you can use this dialogue box
to format the Chart Area. Just select a radio button for Gradient fill, Solid fill, or No fill, and then
choose from the available options.
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The following image shows the pie chart from above with a solid fill color added to the chart
area.

As mentioned at the beginning of this formatting discussion, clicking inside the box (chart area)
around a chart will allow you to display the design Ribbon.

In the design Ribbon, you will see a button grouping that is fantastic for reformatting your
chart. This grouping is called the Chart Styles grouping. With these style buttons, Excel 2007 can
provide professional looking charts in just a few clicks.

The styles available in the Chart Styles button group have been carefully composed to use
complementary colors, shading, and formatting. It is most often the case that a quick style will
produce a better looking chart than manual formatting, and with less time and effort!

You can cycle through the quick styles by clicking the buttons and watching your chart’s
formatting change. You can use the scroll bar at the right of the button group to display several
more style options. More often than not, the quick styles buttons will provide a formatting
option that you will find quite satisfying.
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Here is the same chart that we have been using, after being formatted with a quick style.

If you single click on the title of the chart, a box with a thin border will form around the title. If
you then double click on the title, formatting options will be displayed.
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You can use these options to align your title, bold your title, italicize it, change the font color,
and more.

Modifying Charts with the Layout Ribbon

As you already know, when you create a chart in Excel 2007, there will be new Ribbons
introduced on the user interface. For example, the Design Ribbon (discussed previously)
becomes available when you select the chart. You can use the buttons on the design Ribbon to
quickly change the overall appearance and style of your chart.

Another Ribbon that can be very helpful when working with charts is the Layout Ribbon. When
you create a chart, and select it by clicking on it, you should see a layout tab near the top of the
Excel 2007 screen. If you click on this tab you will display the layout Ribbon.

The most important sections of the layout Ribbon (in terms of charts) are the Labels button
group, the Axes button group, the Background button group, and the Analysis button group.

To see how these tools work, take the following Excel chart as an example.

If we click on the chart to select it, we can then click the Layout Ribbon to see what layout
options we have for this chart.
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In the Layout Ribbon, if you click on the Chart Title Button (In the Labels button group), you will
reveal a small menu of title options.

Currently the chart in this example has no title, so there are two options on this title menu that
we can use. You can display a title above the chart by clicking the Above Chart option, or you
can place a title over the chart by clicking the Centered Overlay option. Let’s use the Centered
Overlay title.

If we decide we don’t like that one, we can easily switch to the Above Chart option.
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Once you have chosen a title option, you can click on the words Chart Title to display a cursor.
When the cursor appears, you can type whatever text you want for your chart title.

You may have noticed a More Title Options item at the bottom of the title menu. If you click
this item, a Format Chart Title dialogue box will appear. This will allow you to change virtually
every aspect of your title.

If you click the Legend button on the Layout Ribbon, a series of options for modifying the chart
legend will appear.
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Clicking on any of these options will implement the particular style of legend described.

You should notice that each legend option has a small image/icon showing the location of the
legend in relation to the chart.

If you want to apply labels directly to the data in the chart, click the Data Labels button.

Once again, the small images that accompany each option will give you a rough idea of what
the results of the given option will look like.
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Here is the chart without data labels.

Here is the same chart after adding a title and data labels. The chart was also resized by
dragging with the mouse in order to make the data labels legible.

The Axes button will provide you with several options for modifying the chart axes.
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Notice that there are two main options labeled Primary Horizontal Axis and Primary Vertical
Axis. Each of these two main options contains a submenu of modification options. These
submenus allow you to change the scale and numerical values used on the axis to coordinate
the data.

The Gridlines button (also found in the Axes button group) will allow you to add or remove
Minor and Major Gridlines to and from your chart. You can add horizontal gridlines, vertical
gridlines, or both if you wish. The gridlines will represent the axis units on the chart to give you
a clearer picture of the specific value of the data at a given place in the chart.
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Here is the same chart as before, with minor horizontal gridlines added.

You can also add a data table to your chart by using the Data Table button on the Layout
Ribbon in the Labels button group.

A data table will help to clarify the meaning of your chart by displaying the data groupings in
your chart in tabular form.

The Trendline button in the Analysis button group can be useful for pointing out a specific
behavior or trend in your chart’s data.
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Under this button, you will see a number of trendline options.

Once again, the image accompanying a given option shows a preview of what the option may
look like when implemented.

If you want to add error bars to your chart data (to show a range around the values depicted in
the chart that the data may or may not assume) just click on the Error bars button to reveal the
error bars options.
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Here is the same chart as before with 5% error bars added to it. The error bars show the values
that the data columns could assume, if we have an estimate of 5% error.

If you are working with 3-D charts, the Background Charts button group has some useful and
convenient options.

Let’s take the following 3-D chart as an example.


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If you click the Chart Wall button on the Layout Ribbon in the Background group, you will see
options for showing or clearing the chart wall. The following image shows the same chart as
above, with the chart wall cleared.

As you can see, the chart wall represents the back plane and bottom plane of the chart. These
areas show the units that the chart data is measured by. (If you clear the chart wall, the data
units and gridlines will remain, just the fill color will be removed.)

The chart floor, on the other hand, represents the bottom or side plane of the chart, where the
data labels are shown. Here is the same chart with the wall fill color added and the floor fill
color cleared. This was done with the Chart Floor button.
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The orientation of the chart floor and chart wall may depend on the type of chart that you
create. Here is a 3-D chart with the floor removed.

Here is the same chart with the floor added. As you can see, the orientation of the floor and
wall of the chart differs from the chart in the previous example.

When you are working with 3-D charts, you can also use all of the options in the Labels button
group and the Axes button group.
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This Labels group was discussed previously in the context of 2-D charts. The buttons and menus
work with 3-D charts in an exactly similar way. Here is a 3-D chart that has been modified with
the Layout Ribbon and design Ribbon.

Remember, the results you get when you use the buttons on the Layout Ribbon may vary
between chart types, different sized charts, and between 2-D and 3-D charts.

It is usually fairly easy to undo ( ) a change that you make to a chart, so don’t be afraid to
experiment with the Layout Ribbon.

Manipulating a Chart

Sometimes it may be necessary to resize or even move your chart around in your spreadsheet.
To do this, first single click in the chart area to display the chart area border.
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If you place your mouse pointer on the corner of the chart border and let it hover, you will see
your pointer turn into a double headed arrow. If you drag the chart corner with your mouse,
you can resize the chart.

Dragging your mouse horizontally will resize the length of the chart. Dragging your mouse
vertically will resize the height of the chart. Finally, dragging your mouse diagonally will resize
both dimensions of the chart.
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If you look carefully at the sides of the chart border, you will see a series of four dots. If you let
your mouse pointer hover over these dots, you will see a double headed arrow. You can drag
theses side edges (with the double headed arrow pointer) to increase the length or height of
your chart.

If you drag the corner of the chart inwards toward the center, you will make the chart smaller.
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To move the chart, let your mouse pointer hover over the one of the sides of the border, or
over the top or bottom edge of the border. When you see your mouse pointer turn into two
crossed arrows, you will be able to move the chart around your screen by mouse dragging.
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Here, the chart has been resized (smaller) and relocated (dragged) underneath the data.

If you want to make a chart an object in another worksheet, or move the chart to a sheet of its
own, do the following.

First, right click on the chart and choose Move Chart from the drop down menu.
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This will display the Move Chart dialogue box.

In this example, the New Sheet radio button has been selected, which will place the chart in a
new sheet called Chart1. (You can enter whatever name you like for the new sheet.) After you
are ready, click the OK button to move the chart.
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The chart has been now been moved to a sheet of its own.

Note that you can also click the Move Chart button in the Design Ribbon to display the Move
Chart dialogue box.

This time, if you select the Object In radio button, you can specify an existing sheet to place the
chart in. In this case, we will use Sheet2.
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As soon as you are ready, click the OK button to move the chart.

Now, the chart has been embedded as an object into the worksheet.

To remove a chart from your worksheet, click in the chart area, and press the Backspace or
Delete key on your keyboard.
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Enhancing a Chart with Shapes and Graphics

There are times when you may want to add additional graphic elements to a chart, such as
arrows or callouts, to point out and explain important features.

In a chart like the following, you may want to point out that cone number 4 shows the greatest
percentage of profits.

To add a callout to the chart, click the lowest down pointing arrow beside the Shapes button
group on the Insert Ribbon.

This action will display a large menu of preset shape options.


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Find and select a callout from the bottom of the shapes menu, and then draw it out by dragging
with the mouse over the chart. (For our purposes, we’ll use the cloud callout.)
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You can enter text into the callout by right clicking on it and selecting Edit Text from the drop
down menu.

You can use this procedure to add as many shapes or graphic elements to your chart as you
think are necessary.
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Lesson 4.5: Working with Charts, Part 2

This lesson will expand on the concepts covered in the previous lesson. In this lesson you will
learn how to apply a new chart type to your source data and how to change the source data
while maintaining the same chart type. You will also learn how to create chart templates and
how to work with the chart axis and data series.

Changing the Type of Chart

What do you do if you create a chart based on your spreadsheet data and you find that it just
isn’t quite what you were hoping for? If you are using Excel 2007, it is a quick and simple matter
to apply a new chart type to your data.

To change the chart type, first display the Design Ribbon by clicking on the chart area and then
click the Design tab. Now, look for the Change Chart Type button.

If you click this button, you will display the Change Chart Type dialogue box.
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With this box, you can select a new chart type or variation, based on the data in the existing
chart. For example, to change this chart to a clustered pyramid column chart, simply select
Column from the panel on the left, and then click the clustered pyramid chart type from the
column chart options that are displayed. After you make your choices, click the OK button to
change the chart type.

Your chart will be automatically changed according to the selections you make. Here is an
example of the new chart type.
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You can also display the Change Chart Type dialogue box by right clicking on the chart area and
selecting Change Chart Type from the drop down menu that appears.

Changing the Source Data

As you have just seen, Excel 2007 makes it easy to change the chart type for a given set of chart
data. The great thing is that Excel 2007 also makes it easy to change the source data for your
chart while retaining the original chart type.
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In this example, the pie chart above is based on sales data per region. If you wanted the chart
to depict Expenses per Region, you would have to change the source data of the chart from the
sales data (cells B2 through to B5), to the expenses data (cells D2 through to D5).

The first step in doing this is to right click on the chart area and click Select Data from the menu
that appears.
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This action will display the Edit Data dialogue box.

At the top of the dialogue box, you will see a long text field labeled Chart Data Range. This will
show the range of cells that serve as the current data source for the chart. To change the data
source, use your mouse to select the new data range from the spreadsheet. As you do this, you
will see the new range entered into the data source field.
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When you complete your data selection, you will see the new data range in the Edit Data
Source dialogue box.

The next step is to click the OK button in the lower right of the box. Now, you can see that the
size of the pie slices have changed to reflect the new data.
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You may notice that now, having changed the source data, the title of the chart (Sales), is not
accurate. To change the title, right click on it and select the Edit Text option from the drop
down menu. You can now edit the text to change the title to whatever you wish. (In this case,
the appropriate title choice is Expenses.)

Keep in mind that if you enter new data directly into the spreadsheet cells that serve as the
data source for the chart, the chart itself will be updated automatically to represent the
changes. You do not have to do anything special to update direct modifications to the source
data cells.

Working with the Chart Axis and Data Series

In a typical chart, the axes are the horizontal and vertical scales that you use to coordinate your
data. Basically, data is charted with respect to its numerical position along an axis.

A series is a group of data (normally a selection of cells) that is to be charted against an axis.
You can have more than one series represented in a chart to show how the different series
(selections of data) compare to each other.

To add more than one series to a chart, right click on the chart and click Select Data from the
menu that appears. This will display the Edit Data dialogue box. In this dialogue box you will see
buttons for adding and removing a series.
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To add a new series to the chart click the Add button. This will display an Edit Series box where
you can enter a name for the series in the name field that is provided.

Next, you can enter a range of data for the series by dragging your mouse pointer to select a
range from your spreadsheet. (In this example, we are adding the sales data to a column graph
that shows expense data.) You can enter data sources and series by typing a range directly into
its field in a dialogue box, but selecting with the mouse is usually simpler.

After you select the appropriate data, click the OK button on the Edit Series dialogue and then
on the Edit Data Source dialogue.
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Here you can see that two series (Expenses and Sales) are represented in the chart.

If you display the Edit Data Series dialogue, you will see two names in the series section of the
dialogue box.

You can select either one of these series and click Remove to remove it from the chart. You can
also click the Add button to add even more data series to the chart if you wish.
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In the following stacked line chart, the Sales data and Profit data are represented against a Y
axis consisting of dollar amounts.

If you right click on one of the dollar amounts on the Y axis, you will display a drop down menu.
From this menu, you can choose a Format Axis option.

This will display a Format Axis dialogue box.


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In this box, you will find controls to specify the units and adjust the scale, tick mark, and
position of the Axis labels.

If you select a different heading from the panel on the left of the box (the heading highlighted
in this image is Axis Options) you can change the line style of the axis, the shadow, and other
aspects of its format.

If you want to change the labels on an axis, invoke the Select Data dialogue box.
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You can see an edit button in the Axis Labels area (on the left) of the dialogue box. If you click
the Edit button, an Axis Labels box will appear, and you will be able to select the labels you
want from the spreadsheet. Just drag your mouse to select the appropriate cells or manually
type the cell range into the box provided.

Her is the same chart that was shown previously, with its axis and labels changed.
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A more convenient way to quickly select a chart layout is to use the Chart Layout buttons
available on the Design Ribbon.

With these buttons, you can quickly apply numerous layouts to your chart by clicking. You can
also use the scroll bar at the right of the button group to view more layout types.

Here are a couple of different layouts for the chart. Both were chosen with the chart layout
buttons.
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Saving a Chart as a Template

Once you get your chart looking just the way you like it, you can save the chart type, colors, and
formatting as a template that can be reused to make on future charts.

Assume that this image represents a chart style and format that we are happy with and that we
would like to use in the future.

To save this chart as a template, display the Design Ribbon by clicking on the chart area. On the
Design Ribbon, click the Save as Template button.

This will display a Save Chart Template dialogue box; it’s virtually identical to the regular Save
dialog. Just enter an appropriate name for your chart template and then click the Save button.
By default, the templates will be saved in an Excel chart folder.

When you want to use the template, just select a data range for the new chart from whatever
spreadsheet you are working on and then click the small arrow at the lower right of the Charts
button group. This will display the Create Chart dialogue box.
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If you select Templates in the pane on the left of the box, you will see the chart template that
you saved displayed on the right side. Just click the template icon to apply the template to the
selected data.
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Section 4: Review Questions

1. To automatically adjust the size of a column, you should...


A. Single click the line separating the column letter from the letter to its immediate left
B. Double click the line separating the column letter from the letter to its immediate
left
C. Double click the line separating the column letter from the letter to its immediate
right
D. Right click on the cell and choose AutoFit

2. What reason is there to rotate text?


A. To improve the appearance of your spreadsheet
B. To conserve space in your spreadsheet
C. To preserve a specified column width
D. All of the above

3. To add borders to a selection of cells….


A. You must draw them manually
B. You cannot add borders to a selection
C. You can use the Borders button on the Home Ribbon
D. None of the above

4. Tools for creating charts can be found on the…


A. Data Ribbon
B. View Ribbon
C. Formulas Ribbon
D. None of the above

5. You can create a 3 dimensional chart in Excel 2007 by…


A. Choosing one from the menu of chart types
B. Creating a chart and then clicking the 3-D button
C. You cannot create 3-D charts in Excel 2007
D. You can only create a 3-D chart by customizing a 2-D chart

6. Which of the following statements is true?


A. You cannot reformat an existing chart.
B. You cannot move an existing chart.
C. You cannot change the data source for an existing chart.
D. You can change the chart type that in an existing chart.
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7. What des the Cell Merge button do?


A. Merge together all of the data in a selection
B. Merge selected cells together into one larger cell
C. Combine formulas
D. None of the above

8. What does Conditional Formatting do?


A. Formats cells based on a criteria that you create
B. Apply formatting that you specify to cells meeting specific criteria
C. Color cells differently depending on cell values
D. All of the above

9. Which of the following statements are true?


A. In Excel 2007, you can customize a chart and save it as a chart template.
B. In Excel 2007 you can easily select from a variety of chart types with the click of a
button.
C. The charts in Excel 2007 are visually superior to charts from earlier versions of Excel.
D. All of the above

10. Which of the following is not a default chart type in Excel 2007?
A. Scatter
B. Pie
C. Gantt
D. Area
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SECTION 5: Printing and Viewing your Workbook

In this section you will learn how to:


 Use normal view
 Use the Page Break Preview
 Use the Page Layout view
 Use the Full Screen view
 Manage a single window
 Create a window
 Hide a window
 Freeze a pane
 Manage multiple windows
 Switch between open workbooks
 Arrange windows
 Compare workbooks side by side
 Reset windows
 Save a workspace
 Use Print preview
 Use the print dialogue
 Use the Page Setup dialogue
 Use Quick Print
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Lesson 5.1: Using the View Ribbon

In Excel 2007 there are a few different ways to view your workbook. These different views are
designed to make certain tasks easier. If you are ready to print, for example, you probably don’t
want to view your workbook as a normal spreadsheet. If you do, it will be hard to tell exactly
where your printed pages will begin and end. Sometimes, you may want to view a larger
section of the grid area, or you may want to view several spreadsheet pages at once.

The options for the different Excel 2007 views can be found on the View Ribbon.

In this lesson, you will learn about the normal view, the page break view, the page layout view,
and the full screen view.

Using Normal View

The first of the different views that we will discuss is the normal view. Basically, the normal
view is the view that Excel 2007 will open with by default.

The normal view displays the user interface ribbon, the quick access toolbar, the Ribbon tabs,
the status bar at the bottom, and a reasonably large part of the Excel cell grid. This view is best
suited for general work in Excel, because it provides easy access to many controls and features,
as well as the working area (grid).
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You will notice though, that in the image above you cannot see all of the information in the
spreadsheet without scrolling. The chart beneath the data area is partially hidden. To overcome
this, click the View tab near the top of the screen to display the View Ribbon.

In the View Ribbon, you can see that the Normal view is currently selected. You will also see
several other options for different views.

You will also see checkboxes for Gridlines and for the Formula Bar on the View Ribbon.
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Clearing these check marks will cause the formula bar and gridlines to disappear from your
Excel screen. You can get them back by placing checks back in the appropriate boxes.

This View Ribbon is the key to finding the Excel 2007 display that is most appropriate for your
work. Of all of the views available on the View Ribbon, the one you will probably use the most,
is the Normal view.

You may notice a group of buttons in the lower right of your screen on the status bar. You can
use these buttons to quickly switch between workbook views.

Starting at left, the first button will switch to Normal view. The second button will switch to
Page Layout view, and the third button will switch to Page Break preview. These buttons are
useful because they will be available on the status bar regardless of the Ribbon that is currently
displayed at the top of your Excel 2007 screen.

Using Full Screen View

As pointed out for the spreadsheet shown previously, the normal view does not necessarily
show as much spreadsheet work area as you would sometimes like. To see a larger view of the
working area of the spreadsheet without having to scroll or navigate with the arrow keys, click
the Full Screen button in the Workbook Views button group on the View Ribbon.

This will reveal a larger view of the working (grid) area.


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In full screen view, you can see the data and the entire chart. It is important to note that this is
a functional view. That is, you can enter and modify data in the cells, and perform cutting
copying and pasting actions.

If you right click on a cell in full screen view, a menu of options will be displayed just as in
normal view.
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This menu allows you to choose formatting options from the small formatting bar, even though
the main Home Ribbon is not available. As you can see, you can still insert comments, use paste
special, and work with other options through the drop down menu, even though the Ribbons
are hidden.

To return back to normal view from full screen, just press your Escape key.

Using Page Layout View

Another great feature of Excel 2007 is the Page Layout view. This view will clearly show you the
boundaries of your printed pages, almost like a print preview. The difference is that this view
provides all of the Excel functionality that is available in any other view. You can edit, format,
enter and delete data, add charts, and do pretty much anything else, all from within this view.

To get to Page Layout view, click the Page Layout button in the Workbook Views button group
on the View Ribbon. This will display your spreadsheet in page layout view.
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In page layout view, you can see the breaks between pages that would occur if the document
was printed. The quick access toolbar, the Ribbons, the Office menu, and the status bar are all
available in page layout view.

If you adjust the zoom control toward the minus sign, you will see even more of your
spreadsheet, broken into pages.
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If you click on the very edge of a page, you can hide the margins.
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You can navigate between the pages by using your arrow keys to move amongst the cells. You
can also see rulers at the top and left side of the screen, showing the dimensions of the pages.

In the images shown on the previous page, the paper size is the default letter size of 8.5 by 11.
If you change the size to any other size, the pages in the Page Layout view will be adjusted
accordingly. (You can adjust paper size with the Size button on the Page Layout Ribbon.)

As a matter of fact, any changes you make with respect to page margins, orientation, and page
size, will be reflected in the page layout view. This makes the page layout view ideal for
preparing a worksheet or workbook for printing.

When it comes to printing your document, you can use the page layout view to add headers
and footers to your printed pages. To do this, just click on the page right where it says Click to
add header.

Once you click on this area, you will be able to enter a header for your printed pages. The
situation is the same for footers.
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Here is a page layout view with the page size increased to 8.5 by 14, the margins set to wide,
and a header added. Remember, the page layout view still retains all of the Excel functionality!

Page Break Preview

Excel worksheets can get very large. In fact, most real worksheets contain too much data to fit
on one printed page. To print a large worksheet, you have to break up the data into
manageable sections. The point where one contiguous sheet of data is broken into separate
pages is called a page break.

If you print an Excel worksheet that is too big for a single page, Excel will define page breaks for
you based on the size of the cells, the size of the paper that your pages will be printed on, and
the print scale you choose. However, Excel doesn’t care very much about the meaning or
interpretation of your data when it sets up page breaks. On a large worksheet, the data can be
broken into pages in awkward, illogical ways. This is why it is a good idea to learn how to
manage page breaks on your own.

If you click the Page Break Preview button on the View Ribbon, you will display an Excel view
that shows page breaks in your spreadsheet as blue dotted lines. The solid blue lines indicate
the boundaries of the printed page.
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The Page Break view, though not great for actually working with your data, does provide
functionality. That is, you can still edit, copy, remove data, and choose from menus in this view.

This view is designed to help you organize your spreadsheets for printing. If you find that your
data overlaps onto another page, but you would like to keep it on a single page, you can drag
the blue dotted lines with your mouse to adjust where one page ends and another begins.
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If you use print preview (which we will discuss in lesson 5.4), you can get a better idea of what
this page will look like when printed, now that the page breaks have been adjusted.
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Lesson 5.2: Managing a Single Window

When you open a workbook in Excel, the actual working area (grid area with column letters and
row numbers), is defined as its own region. That is to say, this working area is bounded by a
border and can be minimized, closed, or resized independently of the Excel program itself. This
self contained working area can be referred to as a window.

In this image, you can see a workbook represented as a window within the larger Excel screen.

In Excel 2007 you can have multiple windows for the same workbook open at the same time, or
multiple windows representing completely different workbooks open at the same time.

In this lesson, you will learn how to create a new window, hide a window, unhide a window,
and how to freeze panes in a window.

Creating a New Window

In Excel 2007, it is easy to create a new window. If you have a workbook open, just display the
View Ribbon, and then click the New Window button.
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This will create a new, additional window for the same workbook. In the following image you
can see two task bar elements, one for the original workbook window called newtemp:1, and
another for the new window called newtemp:2. (Excel will attach a :number to the name of the
workbook for each new window you create for the same workbook. This is Excel’s default
naming convention.)

Each new window you create will have its own minimize, restore, and close buttons in the
upper right.

This allows you to minimize, restore, and close each window individually, though the window
has to be active for these buttons to be visible. In addition, the windows can be individually
resized by dragging their respective borders.
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If you have two or more windows open for the same workbook and you change or modify data
in one window, the data will be changed in all of the other windows as well.

Hiding a Window

To hide a window from view, click the Hide button on the View Ribbon.

All traces of the currently active window will disappear from your Excel 2007 screen, but it is
not really gone. The hide feature is great if you have multiple windows open, and you want to
put a window (or a few windows) aside for a moment for less clutter, or perhaps to prevent
accidental modifications or closure.

Any hidden windows can be brought back to the Excel screen at your convenience.

Unhiding a Window

When you hide a window in Excel 2007, the Unhide button on the View Ribbon will become
accessible.
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When you click this button, an Unhide box will appear showing any windows that have been
hidden.

To display the window, select it in the unhide box and click the OK button.

Freezing a Pane

It is sometimes convenient to be able to keep an eye on one part of a spreadsheet while


simultaneously viewing other parts of the same spreadsheet (for example, keeping cells with
headings in place while scrolling through the data). If you want to see multiple parts of your
worksheet at the same time, you can segment your Excel 2007 screen into more than one
viewing area by using Excel’s Freeze feature.

To use Freeze, open a workbook window, and click the Freeze Panes button on the View tab.
Clicking this button will display a menu of freeze options that you can choose from.
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You can freeze part of your window based on a cell selection you make prior to freezing (the
first option). You can also choose to freeze the top row, or the first column (the second and
third options). This is useful as it will allow you to keep your column or row labels in place,
while scrolling through your data.

The other option in the View menu that is related to the Freeze command is Split. With this
command, you can choose to break your window into four parts that you can scroll through
independently.

This image shows a window that has been frozen based on a selection. The highlighted area of
cells was selected and the Freeze Panes button was then clicked. Using the scroll bars on the
left and bottom will scroll through the bottom two panes and the pane in the upper right, but
not the one that has been frozen (the one with the highlighted cells).
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If you select a single cell and click the Split button, you will break the window into four panes
around the selected cell. The four scroll bars will now let you view each pane independently.
This window was split around cell J10.

If you want to split your window into four equal sections, select cell A1 as the active cell before
you click Split.

To return your window to normal after a split, click the Remove split button. This button will
appear whenever you split your screen.
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To restore your window from a freeze, use the Unfreeze Panes option that appears on the
Freeze Panes menu. (This menu item will only appear whenever you freeze your windows.)
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Lesson 5.3: Managing Multiple Windows

If you find that you frequently open a number of workbooks at the same time, Excel 2007 has
some useful features that may help you manage your windows and workbooks better.

In this lesson, you will learn how to switch between open workbooks, how to arrange
workbooks, how to compare workbooks side by side, and how to reset a window.

Switching Between Open Workbooks

When you have multiple workbooks open in Excel 2007, it is easy to switch between them.

First, if you can locate the names of your open workbooks in the status bar, you can click on a
name to activate the corresponding workbook.

For example, clicking on newtemp in the task bar in the above image will make it the currently
active workbook in Excel. If you click on the word othertemp in the task bar, this workbook will
become the currently active workbook.

If you can see two or more workbooks side by side in your Excel 2007 screen, clicking on the
title bar of a given workbook will make it active.
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When you click the title bar of a workbook in this way, it will become the currently active
workbook and take the foreground of the Excel 2007 screen.

Finally, you can use Excel 2007’s Switch Windows button to switch between workbooks. This is
especially useful when all workbooks are maximized and cannot be seen).

When you click this button, you will display a menu listing all of the open workbooks.

The checkmark in the menu indicates which workbook is currently active. If you click on any
workbook in the Switch Windows menu, it will become the active workbook.

Arranging Workbooks

There is more than one way to arrange open workbooks in Excel. First, you can resize the
workbooks as required by dragging their side and bottom edges. You can also move them
around the Excel screen by dragging them by their title bars. Resizing and repositioning the
workbook windows by dragging with your mouse can be a useful technique, but if you tire of
this, Excel also provides a means of automatically arranging your workbook windows.
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If you click the Arrange All button on the View Ribbon, you will see a box appear with a list of
options for arranging your windows.

Tiled Workbooks will be arranged adjacently over the screen area (like tiles).

Horizontal Workbook windows will be arranged lengthways (like long strips) across the
screen.

Vertical Workbooks will be arranged lengthways up and down your screen, rather than
across.

Cascade Workbooks will be layered one in front of the other, with the title bar of each
workbook visible.
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Tiled

Horizontal
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Vertical

Cascade
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Comparing Workbooks Side by Side

You can easily compare workbooks side by side with Excel 2007. To do this, click on the
Compare Side By Side button on the View Ribbon. (Note that this command will only be
available if you have two or more workbooks open.)

If there are only two workbooks open, they will be compared side by side like this:

When workbooks are compared side by side, the scrollbars are used to scroll through both
workbooks simultaneously. This allows you to compare the same areas in each different
workbook at the same time.

If there is more than one workbook open, clicking the Side by Side button will display a box with
a list of the open workbooks for you to choose from.
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The workbook you select from the list will be compared side by side to the current workbook
when you click the OK button.

When you are finished comparing workbooks, just click the Side by Side button again to return
to your previous view

Synchronous Scrolling, Resetting a Window, and Saving a Workspace

When you are using compare side by side in Excel, you can scroll through two workbooks
simultaneously. If you want to compare workbooks, but have only one workbook scroll while
the other remains fixed in position, click the Synchronous Scrolling button to disable this
feature.

This button will allow you to scroll one window while the other remains fixed. If you click on the
scroll bar area of the window that is fixed, the scroll bar for that window will become
functional, and the other window will now be in a fixed position.

When you use the side by side view, you can also use the Arrange All button to arrange the
windows you are comparing. This allows you to set up a vertical side by side configuration if you
wish. You can also resize and reposition the two windows you are comparing manually, while
maintaining the Compare Side by Side functionality. If you do resize the windows manually and
you want to return to the original side by side window configuration, click the Reset Window
Position button.
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Clicking this button will return your two windows to the original (Compare Side by Side)
position that you started with.

If you often work with multiple workbooks and windows, it may be a good idea to use a
workspace. When you save a workspace, all of the workbooks that you have open at the same
time will be linked together.

If you make changes to a workbook as part of a workspace, and then save the workspace, you
will see a prompt to save the changes you made. If you do save the changes, the workbook file
will be changed on an individual basis. This means that even if you opened the workbook
individually, (not as part of the workspace you saved), the workbook will now contain the
changes that you made to it.

You can create a workspace by clicking the Save Workspace button on the View Ribbon. It will
be saved with an .xlw extension and can later be opened just like a regular workbook. When
you open a workspace, Excel will open all of the workbooks you were using when you created
the workspace.
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Lesson 5.4: Printing your Workbook

It is often the case that printouts of your workbook (or parts of your workbook) will be required
for one purpose or another. This is especially true for the workplace, where hard copies of data
are often requested. Needless to say, knowing how to print data from your workbook is
essential.

You have already seen how the Page Layout view can help you view your spreadsheet as
separate pages in preparation for printing. Beyond this, there are a few other Excel 2007
features that can be a great help when it comes to printing your documents.

In this lesson, you will learn how to open Print Preview and how to use the print preview
toolbar to set up print options. You will review the concept of quick printing and you will learn
how to open and use the Page Setup dialogue box.
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Opening Print Preview

To open Excel 2007’s Print Preview screen, first expand the Office menu and click on the small
arrow to the right of the Print menu item. This will display a Quick Print option (like the print
option on the quick access toolbar) and a Print Preview option.

The Quick Print option will print a quick copy of your spreadsheets, without regard to page
content, margins, or any other special print set up details.

For more control over your printing, click the Print Preview icon to open the Print Preview
screen.
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If you click directly on the Print button in the Office menu, or press the Ctrl + P keys, you will
display the Print dialogue box. Here, you can click the Preview button in the lower left to invoke
the Print Preview screen.
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Using the Print Preview Ribbon

Along the top of the Print Preview screen, you can see the Print Preview Ribbon. On this Ribbon
you can find a Print button, a Page Setup button, a Zoom button, Next and Previous Page
buttons, a Show Margins button, and a Close Print Preview button.

The Print button will print the document as it is shown in the Print Preview screen. The Page
Setup button will display the Page Setup dialogue box, which you can use to further refine your
printed copies.

If your spreadsheet has multiple pages to print, you can advance or go back through these
pages using the Next and Previous page buttons. The Print Preview screen will display whatever
page of your spreadsheet/workbook you are currently at.
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At any time the preview page is zoomed out, clicking on it will zoom in. (You will see a
magnifying glass mouse pointer when you do this). If the page is zoomed in, clicking on it will
zoom out. Of course, you can also use the Zoom icon on the Ribbon.

Clicking the Margins button will display the page margins on the print preview. If you click
again, the margins will disappear.

You can also place your mouse pointer on these margins and drag to reposition them. However,
be careful when dragging margins. Keep in mind that repositioning the margins in this way may
change the appearance of your printed page.

Clicking the Close Print Preview button will close the Print Preview screen.
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Here is a print preview page after clicking on it to zoom in.

Here is the same page after clicking on it again. It is now once again zoomed out.
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Quick Printing

If you click the Quick Print item under the print option in the Office menu, you will immediately
send your workbook to the printer, with no special formatting or page setup.

Because quick printing dos not allow you to set up page breaks, margins, or headers and
footers, you may not be happy with the look of your printed pages. With this in mind, quick
print is best suited for small spreadsheets with a relatively small number of rows and columns.

Quick printing is also quite appropriate for small selections or ranges from a larger spreadsheet.
It may be the case that you have an expansive spreadsheet and only need to print a few
columns from it. To do this, just select a print region (a selection of cells) by dragging your
mouse and then click Quick Print. When you do this, only the region you selected will be
printed.
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The Print Dialogue

If you click the Printer icon on the Office menu or use the Ctrl + P keyboard shortcut, you will
display the Print dialogue box.

If this dialogue box looks familiar, it is because you have probably used it before with other
Microsoft Office programs; it is not unique to Excel.

At the top of the dialogue box, you will see a dropdown list under the Printer heading.

If you click the small down pointing arrow at the right of the drop list, you will display a group of
printer options to choose from. Your printed output will be sent to the printer that you select.
The printer that is shown in the list box when you first display the Print dialogue is your default
printer.
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In the Print range section of the Print dialogue, you can choose to print all pages or a specified
number of pages. By default, the All radio button is selected. If you want to print a specific
group of pages, select the Pages radio button and then specify the range of pages to be printed
in the From and To boxes.

On the right side of this section you can specify the number of copies to be printed. (The
default is one.) If, for instance, you specified three copies, then the page or range of pages you
chose for printing will be printed three times.

In the Print what section of the dialogue box, you can specify what part of the workbook will be
printed. If you select a cell or cells in your spreadsheet and click the Selection Radio button,
only the selected cell or cells will be printed. If you click the Entire Workbook button, the entire
workbook will be printed. If you select the Active Sheet(s) option, only the active sheets will be
printed. Remember, you can activate a sheet by clicking its tab at the bottom of the Excel
screen.

To activate multiple sheets, click the tab for the first sheet and then hold down the Ctrl button
while you click the tabs for the other sheets you want to activate.

If you check the Ignore Print areas checkbox, the printout will not be restricted to only specific
print areas (selections of cells).

If you are ready to print, just click the OK button to send your output to the printer.
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Using Page Setup

If you click the Page Setup button in the upper left of the Print Preview screen you will see the
Page Setup dialogue box. You can also open the Page Setup dialog by clicking the small arrow in
the bottom left hand corner of the Page Setup button group on the Layout Ribbon.

Here’s what the Page Setup dialog looks like.

Under the Page tab, you can select page orientation, print scale, paper size and print quality
settings. (Print quality is a kind of resolution, in dots per inch, for a printed document.)
Basically, more dots per inch will mean more print quality.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 257

Under the Margins tab, you can specify how to center your page (horizontally or vertically) and
you can directly enter values for the margins in the fields provided. You can even click on a
margin data field to place your cursor in it and then enter a margin value of your choice (as
measured in inches). Another option is to use the arrow buttons at the side of the data fields to
change the margin values incrementally.

As you may remember, Excel 2007’s Margins button on the Page Layout Ribbon also let you
change the margin to preset sizes.

Under the Header/Footer tab, you can choose headers and footers that will be visible on the
top (header) and bottom (footer) of each printed page. You can select preset headers and
footers by clicking on them in drop lists located beneath the header, and above the footer,
preview fields.

If you click the Custom Header or Custom Footer buttons, you will see a dialogue box like the
one shown below.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 258

You can use this box to design a custom header by entering text in the provided fields. You can
also format the text and enter page numbers, dates, and times by using the buttons above the
text fields.

As you can probably remember, Excel 2007’s Page Layout view (Lesson 5.1) also allowed you to
add footers and headers to your printed pages.

Under the Sheet tab you will find a control that will let you define a Print Area (a selection of
cells from your workbook). You will also see controls to Specify Print Titles (row or column
headings from your spreadsheet to repeat on each printed page). You can specify print areas or
print titles by clicking in the appropriate field in the dialogue box (to give it focus) and then
selecting the cells you want with your mouse from the spreadsheet in question. When you do
this, the cell ranges will be entered into the dialogue box fields automatically.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 259

You can also place checkmarks in the Gridlines box so that the gridlines will be included in your
printout. If you place a check in the Row and Column Headings checkbox, the row numbers and
column letters will be included on your printed pages as well.

Finally, you can specify the Page Order for a large workbook or spreadsheet. “Down then over”
will print pages from top to bottom and then move over in your spreadsheet one page width to
start printing at the top again. “Over then down” will print pages in a row from left to right,
move down one page length, and start printing at the next row of pages.

When you are finished adjusting you print settings, click the OK button in the lower right of the
dialogue to save your changes and close the dialogue. When you are ready, you can then print
your pages.
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Section 5: Review Questions

1. What is generally the most commonly used view in Excel 2007?


A. Normal view
B. Page Layout view
C. Page Breaks preview
D. Print Preview

2. Which of the following is not a view in Excel 2007?


A. Compare Side by Side
B. Full Screen
C. Outline
D. Custom

3. Which view should you use if you want to see more of the Excel grid area?
A. The full screen view
B. The Normal view
C. The Page Layout view
D. None of the above

4. The Switch Windows button allows you to…


A. Switch between open windows
B. Switch between worksheets
C. Switch between workbooks
D. All of the above.

5. What is the purpose of hiding windows?


A. To reduce clutter in your workspace
B. To prevent accidental modification of your data
C. To prevent formula errors
D. A and B

6. What is the Quick Print menu item for?


A. To quickly print data without special preparation or formatting
B. To make your printer print faster
C. To add headers and footers to your pages
D. None of the above
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7. How do you open the Page Setup dialog?


A. Print dialog
B. Print Preview
C. Page Layout Ribbon
D. All of the above

8. What extension do Excel workspaces use?


A. xlt
B. xls
C. xlw
D. wks

9. The Print What? Group of controls is located….


A. In the Page Setup dialogue
B. In the Print dialogue
C. On the Home Ribbon
D. On the view Ribbon

10. Most of the controls for window management are…


A. On the Insert Ribbon
B. On the Design Ribbon
C. On the Office menu
D. On the View Ribbon
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Index
Active Cell ....................................................................................................................................... 25
Adding a Border ............................................................................................................................ 166
Adding a Fill Color ......................................................................................................................... 162
Aligning Data ................................................................................................................................ 138
AutoFit .......................................................................................................................................... 157
Automated Features
AutoComplete .............................................................................................................. 90, 98, 103
AutoCorrect ........................................................................................ 90, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127
AutoFill .................................................................................................... 90, 98, 99, 100, 120, 122
AutoSum ................................................................................................................. 77, 90, 98, 101
Cell Merging.................................................................................................................................. 157
Cell Naming Convention ................................................................................................................... 7
Chart
Chart floor................................................................................................................................. 191
Creating a chart ........................................................................................................................ 174
Moving ...................................................................................................................................... 196
Resizing ..................................................................................................................................... 193
Charts
Adding a chart title ................................................................................................................... 183
Adding trendlines ..................................................................................................................... 188
As an object in another worksheet .......................................................................................... 197
Axes................................................................................................................... 182, 186, 187, 192
Callouts in ................................................................................................................................. 201
Changes in Excel 2007 .............................................................................................................. 173
Changing axis labels in.............................................................................................................. 214
Changing the source data ........................................................................................................ 206
Changing the type .................................................................................................................... 204
Chart wall .................................................................................................................................. 191
Data labels ................................................................................................................................ 185
Data table ........................................................................................................................... 84, 188
Design Ribbon ................................................................................... 175, 182, 199, 204, 216, 217
Error bars .......................................................................................................................... 189, 190
Formatting the chart area ........................................................................................................ 179
Formatting the legend...................................................................................................... 175, 184
Formatting the plot .................................................................................................................. 178
Gridlines .................................................................................................................................... 187
Layout Ribbon ........................................................................................................................... 182
Modifying the layout ................................................................................................................ 216
Saving as a template................................................................................................................. 217
Series in .................................................................................................................................... 210
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Styles ......................................................................................................................................... 180


Type of chart............................................................................................................................. 173
Closing a workbook ........................................................................................................................ 20
Closing Excel ..................................................................................................................................... 8
Comments
Adding comments .................................................................................................................... 130
Deleting a comment ................................................................................................................. 132
Editing a comment ................................................................................................................... 132
Conditional Formatting ................................................ 8, 54, 56, 135, 148, 149, 150, 151, 153, 154
Creating a Custom Number Format ............................................................................................. 144
Data Ribbon ........................................................................................................................ 40, 47, 81
Deleting Data .................................................................................................................................. 94
Editing Commands
Changing the size of a row or column...................................................................................... 136
Cut, copy, and paste ................................................................................................................. 107
Deleting columns ...................................................................................................................... 116
Deleting rows............................................................................................................................ 116
Drag and drop cells ................................................................................................................... 106
Format Painter.................................................................................................... 48, 135, 155, 161
Inserting cells ............................................................................................................................ 117
Inserting columns ..................................................................................................................... 114
Inserting rows ........................................................................................................................... 115
Paste Special ............................................................................................................. 111, 112, 113
Redo .......................................................................................................................................... 118
Repeat....................................................................................................................................... 119
Undo ......................................................................................................................................... 118
Entering data .................................................................................................................................. 94
Error option button ...................................................................................................................... 121
File Format Change......................................................................................................................... 19
File types associated with Excel 2007 ............................................................................................ 20
Find and Replace
Data........................................................................................................................................... 128
Formatting ................................................................................................................................ 158
Formulas
Entering a formula .................................................................................................................... 104
Valid formulas........................................................................................................................... 104
What are formulas? .................................................................................................................. 104
Formulas Ribbon....................................................................................................................... 47, 76
Getting Help.................................................................................................................................... 31
Headers and Footers .................................................................................................................... 258
Home Ribbon .... 25, 40, 42, 47, 50, 56, 95, 110, 128, 137, 139, 140, 144, 149, 155, 157, 158, 161,
162, 166, 226
Insert Ribbon .............................................................................................. 47, 57, 60, 173, 174, 201
Microsoft Excel XML Format .......................................................................................................... 19
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Foundation 264

Number of Cells in a Spreadsheet .................................................................................................... 7


Opening Excel ................................................................................................................................... 3
Page Layout Ribbon ............................................................................................ 47, 63, 88, 229, 258
Page Setup .......................................................................................... 63, 68, 69, 221, 248, 251, 257
Paste Option Button ..................................................................................................................... 123
Printing
Defining a print area........................................................................................................... 68, 259
Margins ..................................................................................................................................... 252
Print dialogue box ................................................................................................ 96, 97, 250, 255
Print Preview .............................................................................. 96, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 257
Quick Print .......................................................................................................... 96, 221, 249, 254
Selections .................................................................................................................................. 256
Showing or hiding gridlines ...................................................................................................... 260
Quick Access Toolbar............................................................................................ 41, 42, 43, 45, 118
Adding buttons ........................................................................................................................... 42
Removing buttons ...................................................................................................................... 43
Setting options ........................................................................................................................... 43
Review Ribbon .................................................................................. 40, 43, 47, 85, 88, 89, 127, 130
Ribbons ............................................................................................................................................. 8
Selecting Cells ................................................................................................................................. 26
Smart Tags ...................................................................................................... 90, 120, 122, 123, 124
Smart Tag Options .................................................................................................................... 123
Styles ............................................................................................................................................. 168
User Interface ................................................................................................................................... 6
Using Save As ................................................................................................................ 13, 17, 18, 20
Using Spell Check.......................................................................................................................... 126
View Ribbon ................................................... 47, 222, 223, 224, 226, 230, 233, 235, 242, 245, 247
Views
Compare side by side ............................................................................................................... 245
Full Screen ........................................................................................................................ 221, 224
Normal view ............................................................................................................................. 222
Page break preview .......................................................................................................... 221, 230
Page layout view............................................................................... 221, 224, 226, 229, 248, 259
Resetting a window .................................................................................................................. 246
Synchronous scrolling............................................................................................................... 246
Using zoom ............................................................................................. 1, 23, 27, 28, 29, 96, 227
Zoom slider switch ..................................................................................................................... 28
Windows
Creating .................................................................................................................................... 233
Freezing .................................................................................................................................... 236
Hiding ........................................................................................................................................ 235
Splitting ..................................................................................................................................... 238
Unfreezing ................................................................................................................................ 239
Unhiding ................................................................................................................................... 235
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Workbooks
Arranging automatically ........................................................................................................... 241
Arranging manually .................................................................................................................. 241
Creating new .............................................................................................................................. 12
Managing multiple ................................................................................................................... 240
Open an existing workbook ....................................................................................................... 15
Opening multiple ........................................................................................................................ 14
Saving an Excel workbook .......................................................................................................... 17
What are workbooks? ................................................................................................................ 10
Worksheets
Add new ...................................................................................................................................... 24
Coloring tabs ............................................................................................................................... 24
Components of ........................................................................................................................... 91
Creating labels for ...................................................................................................................... 93
Inserting, deleting, renaming ..................................................................................................... 24
Navigating ................................................................................................................................... 26
Tabs ............................................................................................................................................. 23
What is ........................................................................................................................................ 23
Worksheet tabs .................................................................................................................. 25, 130
Workspaces .......................................................................................................................... 221, 247

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