Basics of Spreadsheet

INTRODUCTION
A spreadsheet is the computerized equivalent of a general ledger. It’s an essential business and
accounting tool which can vary in complexity and use for various reasons, but their primary
purpose is to organize and categories data into a logical format. Once this data is entered into
the spreadsheet, you can use it to help organize and grow your business. However, spreadsheet
has taken the place of the pencil, paper, and calculator. Spreadsheet programs were first
developed for accountants but have now been adopted by anyone wanting to prepare a
budget, forecast sales data, create profit and loss statements, compare financial alternatives
and any other mathematical applications requiring calculations. The electronic spreadsheet is
laid out similar to the paper ledger sheet in that it is divided into columns and rows. Any task
that can be done on paper can be performed on an electronic spreadsheet faster and more
accurately. The problem with manual sheets is that if any error is found within the data, all
answers must be erased and recalculated manually. With the computerized spreadsheet,
formulas can be written that are automatically updated whenever the data are changed.
Importance of spreadsheet in an organization
Aside from email, spreadsheet programs may be the most widely used applications in all
organizations today ranging from banking, education, manufacturing etc. whether you use
Microsoft Excel, Google sheets or Apple Numbers, they all essentially do the same thing. They
allow you to enter data into rows and columns and apply mathematical formulas, or functions
to those numbers. Spreadsheets are easy to use and have a range of features and functions to
store, manipulate and analyze data. Below are few among the importance of spreadsheet in
organization
Quick Calculation of Data: there are number of reasons why the use of spreadsheets in
organizations is important. From sales quotes and invoices to cost analysis and Return of
Investments (RoI) figures, spreadsheets are invaluable for calculating data. Simply type in your
numbers and, assuming the functions have been entered correctly, your spreadsheet will
automatically do the math for you. The biggest benefits for doing calculation in a spreadsheet is
that you only have to enter the formulas once.
Storing and Tracking Information: any information that you need to record can usually be done
on a spreadsheet, such as a list of clients and their contact information, weekly sales, purchase
or employee timesheets. Over time, saved spreadsheet can provide a wealth of useful
information for an organization. Spreadsheets use very little memory, so they can be saved for
many years without causing a storage problem. They are also searchable, both with file name
and the data they contain. So, if you want to search for any information, it can easily be done.
Visualizing Data Graphically: Data arranged in columns and rows isn’t always the most effective
way to make an impression. With just a few clicks, information in spreadsheet can be displayed
graphically, like in pie charts, bar charts etc. this makes spreadsheet program ideal when you
need to visualize the big picture and have a comprehensive analyzing of a report during
presentation.
Having stated few among the importance of spreadsheets, this application (spreadsheet) has its
own drawbacks and the most common on is Human Factor
Human Factor as a drawback in Spreadsheet; a spreadsheet is only as good as the data and the
formulas that have been entered into it. Because spreadsheets are managed by humans, the
likelihood of having errors is very high. If someone input a data which requires decimal points
or fractions, if it was skipped by mistake, the result will be totally wrong due to the little
mistake.
Types of Spreadsheet
Today, Microsoft Excel is the most popular and widely used spreadsheet program, but there are
also many alternatives. Below is a list of spreadsheet programs that can be used to create a
spreadsheet
⮚ Google sheets (Online and free)
⮚ iWork Numbers
⮚ LibreOffice
⮚ Lotus 1-2-3 (discontinued)
⮚ Microsoft Excel

Google Sheets: Introduced in 2006 after Google acquired writely, google sheet is free online
spreadsheet web application. It includes nearly all capabilities of a traditional spreadsheet
program such as excel. One of the benefit of using google sheets is that it offers cloud storage
which means that users documents are saved automatically and may be retrieved even if their
hard drive or memory fails
Features of Google Sheets
⮚ Text formatting
⮚ Formula input
⮚ Image import
⮚ Ability to create charts and graphs from data sets
⮚ Ability to utilize scripts
⮚ iWork Numbers: the iwork suite is an Apple Office suite available for apple computers
and the iPhone OS that include keynote, pages, and Numbers
⮚ keynotes- presentation program
⮚ pages- Word Processor
⮚ Numbers- spreadsheet
LibreOffice: LibreOffice suite is a derivative of OpenOffice.org that contains applications for
word processing, spreadsheet, presentations, database management and graphics editing. It is
compatible with other similar software suites like Microsoft Office and works on several
platforms, including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux
Lotus 1-2-3: these was a popular command line spreadsheet program in the 80s that was
designed by Mitchell Kapor and release on January 26, 1983 by lotus software, which is now
part of IBM. Lotus 1-2-4 later release a graphical user interface (GUI) version of their
spreadsheet, however, with the popularity of Microsoft Excel it did not gain wide acceptance.
Today, the successor to Lotus 1-2-3 is Lotus Symphony
Microsoft Excel: Microsoft Excel is spreadsheet that has data and information arranged in rows
and columns. As you know, Excel is one of the most widely used spreadsheet applications. It is a
part of Microsoft Office suite. They are quite useful in entering, editing, analyzing and storing
data. Arithmetic operations with numerical data such as addition, subtraction, multiplication
and division can be done using Excel. You can sort numbers/ characters according to some
given criteria (like ascending, descending etc.) and use simple financial, mathematical and
statistical formulas. Ms Excel comes with different version ranging with Years. Ms Excel 1987,
1990, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2018 and 2019.
However, the most common is the 2003 and 2007.
FEATURES OF SPREADSHEETS
There are a number of features that are available in Excel to make your task easier. Some of the
main features are:
1. AutoSum - helps you to add the contents of a cluster of adjacent cells.
2. List AutoFill - automatically extends cell formatting when a new item is added to the end of
a list.
3. AutoFill - allows you to quickly fill cells with repetitive or sequential data such as
chronological dates or numbers, and repeated text. AutoFill can also be used to copy functions.
You can also alter text and numbers with this feature.
4. AutoShapes toolbar will allow you to draw a number of geometrical shapes, arrows,
flowchart elements, stars and more. With these shapes you can draw your own graphs.
5. Wizard - guides you to work effectively while you work by displaying various helpful tips and
techniques based on what you are doing.
6. Drag and Drop - it will help you to reposition the data and text by simply dragging the data
with the help of mouse.
7. Charts - it will help you in presenting a graphical representation of your data in the form of
Pie, Bar, Line charts and more.
8. PivotTable - it flips and sums data in seconds and allows you to perform data analysis and
generating reports like periodic financial statements, statistical reports, etc. You can also
analyses complex data relationships graphically.
9. Shortcut Menus - the commands that are appropriate to the task that you are doing will
appear by clicking the right mouse button.
FEATURES OF MS EXCEL 2007
(a) Results-oriented user interface
The new results-oriented user interface makes it easy for you to work in Microsoft Office Excel.
Commands and features that were often buried in complex menus and toolbars are now easier
to find on task-oriented tabs that contain logical groups of commands and features. Many
dialog boxes are replaced with drop-down galleries that display the available options, and
descriptive tooltips or sample previews are provided to help you choose the right option.
(b) More rows and columns, and other new limits
The grid of Excel 2007 is having 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns. Thus it provides a user
with 1,500% more rows and 6,300% more columns than the Microsoft Office Excel 2003. The
last column in Excel 2007, is XFD instead of IV in Excel 2003. The number of cell references per
cell is increased to limit as maximum available memory. The formatting types are also increased
to unlimited number in the same workbook as compared to the earlier limit of four thousand
types of formatting.
(c) Office themes and Excel styles
By the help of a specific style, in Excel 2007, the data can be quickly formatted in the worksheet
by the help of a theme. You can share themes across other releases of Office 2007 e.g. Word
2007, Power point 2007.
⮚ Applying a theme: Themes are used to make great-looking documents. A theme is
defined as a predefined set of colors, lines, fonts and fills effects. Theme can be applied
to a specific item like tables, charts or it can also be applied to entire workbook.
⮚ Using styles: A predefined theme based format is called style. It can be applied to
change the appearance of Excel charts, tables, PivotTables, diagrams or shapes. Styles
can be customized to meet user specific requirements. It is important to note that in
case of charts you cannot create your own styles, but you can use preexisting styles.

(d) Rich conditional formatting

It is easy to use and apply conditional formats. A few tricks are required to observe the
relationships in data, which helps to great extent for analysis purposes. Important data trends
and exceptions can be easily observed by the help of implementation and management of
multiple conditional formatting rules which apply rich visual formatting in the form of data bars,
gradient colors, and icon sets to data that meets those rules.
(e) Easy formula writing
Some improvements that make formula writing much easier are as given below
⮚ Resizable formula bar: To prevent the formulas to cover the other data in worksheet,
the formula bar automatically resizes to accommodate complex, long formulas. More
levels of nesting can be used to write longer formulas as an enhanced feature of earlier
versions of Excel.
⮚ Function AutoComplete: Function AutoComplete feature helps to write the proper
formula syntax more quickly. It helps in detecting the functions that you want to use
and helps in completing the formula.
⮚ Structured references: Excel 2007 provides structured references to refer the named
ranges and tables in a formula. This is in addition to the cell references, like D1 and
A1C1.
⮚ Easy access to named ranges: You can organize, update and handle multiple named
ranges in a central location by the help of Excel 2007. This helps you to work on your
worksheet, interpret its data and formulas.

(f) Improved sorting and filtering

Enhanced filtering and sorting techniques of Excel can be used to arrange worksheet data more
quickly to find the desired answers. In Excel 2007 you can sort data by color and by more than 3
levels. You can also filter data by color or by dates, display more than 1000 items in the
AutoFilter drop-down list, select multiple items to filter, and filter data in PivotTables.
STARTING EXCEL
1. Click on (with the help of mouse) the Start button on the Taskbar at the bottom left corner of
the Screen
2. Highlight the All Programs item. The program menu will open.
3. Select Microsoft Office from the list of programs. (these steps are shown in the Figure below)
4. Click on Microsoft Excel.
Symbolically these actions are shown below.
Select Start→ All Programs→ Microsoft Office→ Microsoft Excel 2007 commands from your
menu bar
Figure 1: How to start up MS Excel
Note: You can also start Excel 2007 through run menu as shown below

Figure 2: MS Excel through Run Command

Type excel in the open text box and click OK button. It will start MS Excel 2007. Using either
method, below is the Excel Environment you should see
Figure 3: Worksheet Environment
EXCEL WORKSHEET
Excel allows you to create worksheets much like paper ledgers that can perform automatic
calculations. Each Excel file is a workbook that can hold many worksheets. The worksheet is a
grid of columns (designated by letters) and rows (designated by numbers). The letters and
numbers of the columns and rows (called labels) are displayed in gray buttons across the top
and left side of the worksheet. The intersection of a column and a row is called a cell. Each cell
on the spreadsheet has a cell address that is the column letter and the row number. Cells can
contain text, numbers, or mathematical formulas.
FIGURE 4: WORKSHEET AND WOOKBOOK
Selecting, Adding and Renaming Worksheets
The worksheets in a workbook are accessible by clicking the worksheet tabs just above the
status bar. By default, three worksheets are included in each workbook. One can add more
worksheet in a workbook also. To do that
Insert a new worksheet
To quickly insert a new worksheet at the end of existing worksheets
Click the Insert Worksheet tab as shown below
Figure 5: Open New worksheet
To rename a worksheet
1. To rename a worksheet follow the steps as
2. Right click on the worksheet tab which you want to rename
3. Select rename from the Pop Up menu
4. Type new name for the Worksheet (OTM 124 or your name as example)

Figure 6: Rename Sheet

SELECTING CELLS AND RANGES
To enter data into your worksheet you must first have a cell or range selected. When you open
an Excel worksheet, cell A1 is already active. An active cell will appear to have a darker border
around it than other cells on the worksheet. The simplest way to select a cell is with your
mouse pointer. Move your mouse to the desired cell and click on it with right button. Whatever
you type goes into the cell. To select a range of cells, click on one cell, hold down the left mouse
button and drag the mouse pointer to the last cell of the range you want to select. You can also
use keyboard shortcuts given at the end of this lesson for selecting cells.
Another way to select particular range of cells is
1. Go to Name Box
2. Select range by typing (A1:C5)
3. Press Enter
4. All the cells between range A1 to C5 will be selected.
Steps are explained pictorially as

Figure 4: selecting cells and range

DATA ENTRY
You can enter various kinds of data in a cell.
1. Numbers: Your numbers can be from the entire range of numeric values: whole numbers
(example, 25), decimals (example, 25.67) and scientific notation (example, 0.2567E+2). Excel
displays scientific notation automatically if you enter a number that is too long to be viewed in
its entirety in a cell. You may also see number signs (# # # # # #) when a cell entry is too long.
Widening the column that contains the cell with the above signs will allow you to read the
number.
2. Text: First select the cell in which data has to be entered and type the text. Press ENTER key
to finish your text entry. The text will be displayed in the active cell as well as in the Formula
bar. If you have numbers to be treated as text use an apostrophe (‘) as the first character. You
cannot do calculations with these kind of data entry.
3. Date and Time: When you enter dates and times, Excel converts these entries into serial
numbers and kept as background information. However, the dates and times will be displayed
to you on the worksheet in a format opted by you.
4. Data in Series: You can fill a range of cells either with the same value or with a series of
values with the help of AutoFill.
CELL REFERENCES
Each worksheet contains a number of columns and rows. Each cell of the worksheet has a
unique reference. For example, A8, refers to the cell containing column number A and row
number 8.
FIND AND REPLACE DATA IN A WORKSHEET
You may want to locate a number or text that is already typed in the worksheet. This is done
through Home Tab→ Find. You can also locate your data and replace with new data with Home
Tab→ Find →Replace.

Figure 7: Find and replace environment

MODIFYING A WORKSHEET
Insert Cells, Rows, Columns and Delete Cells
Insert blank cells on a worksheet
⮚ Select the cell or the range (range: Two or more cells on a sheet. The cells in a range can
be adjacent or nonadjacent.) of cells where you want to insert the new blank cells.
Select the same number of cells as you want to insert. For example, to insert five blank
cells, you need to select five cells.
⮚ On the Home tab, in the Cells group, click the arrow next to Insert, and then click Insert
Cells.
⮚ You can also right-click the selected cells and then click Insert on the shortcut menu.
⮚ In the Insert dialog box, click the direction in which you want to shift the surrounding
cells.

Insert rows on a worksheet

1. Do one of the following:

To insert a single row, select the row or a cell in the row above which you want to insert the
new row. For example, to insert a new row above row 5, click a cell in row 5.
To insert multiple rows, select the rows above which you want to insert rows. Select the
same number of rows as you want to insert. For example, to insert three new rows, you
need to select three rows.
To insert nonadjacent rows, hold down CTRL while you select nonadjacent rows. 2. On the
Home tab, in the Cells group, click the arrow next to Insert, and then click Insert Sheet
Rows.
Insert columns on a worksheet
1. Do one of the following:
To insert a single column, select the column or a cell in the column immediately to the right of
where you want to insert the new column. For example, to insert a new column to the left of
column B, click a cell in column B.
To insert multiple columns, select the columns immediately to the right of where you want to
insert columns. Select the same number of columns as you want to insert. For example, to
insert three new columns, you need to select three columns.
To insert nonadjacent columns, hold down CTRL while you select nonadjacent columns.
2. On the Home tab, in the Cells group, click the arrow next to Insert, and then click Insert Sheet
Columns.
Delete cells, rows, or columns
1. Select the cells, rows, or columns that you want to delete.
2. On the Home tab, in the Cells group, do one of the following:
To delete selected cells, click the arrow next to Delete, and then click Delete Cells.
To delete selected rows, click the arrow next to Delete, and then click Delete Sheet Rows.
To delete selected columns, click the arrow next to Delete, and then click Delete Sheet
Columns.
3. If you are deleting a cell or a range of cells, in the Delete dialog box, click Shift cells left, Shift
cells up, Entire row, or Entire column.
SUM Function
The SUM function is categorized under Excel Math and trigonometry functions. The function
will sum up cells that are supplied as multiple arguments. It is the most popular and widely used
function in Excel. SUM helps users perform a quick summation of specified cells in MS Excel. For
example, we are given the cost of 100 items bought for an event. We can use the function to
find out the total cost of the event.
Formula
=SUM (Number1, [number2], [number3] ………………………). However, most time the numbers
are combination of columns and rows e.g., A8. A stand for the COLUMN while 8 stand for ROW.
In the formula, it can be separated by special characters such as comma, semicolon, full stop
and plus sign.
FILE OPEN, SAVE AND CLOSE
(A) You can open an existing File by several methods:
1. Go to windows explorer and find out the file you want to open. Double-click on the file.
2. Start MS Excel. Click on office button on the dropdown menu click 'open'. select the file you
want to open from the pop-up menu.
(B) When you have finished your work on the file you can save it by either clicking on the 'file
save' icon at the top left corner or Click on office button → click on save at the dropdown menu.
(C) When you are saving the worksheet for the first time follow the steps given below:
1. Click office button
2. Select file 'save as’ on the drop-down menu.
3. On the pop-up menu select the location where you want to save the file.
4. Type the file name
5. Click on 'save' in the pop-up menu.
(D) When your work is finished and it has been saved properly:
Select Print from Office Button
1. Select (Click) Close Command to close your file
2. Select (Click) Exit Excel Command to exit from MS Excel
WORKBOOK PROTECTION
Set a password for a workbook
1. Click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Save As.
2. Click Tools, and then click General Options.
3. Do one or both of the following:
⮚ If you want reviewers to enter a password before they can view the workbook, type a
password in the Password to open box.
⮚ If you want reviewers to enter a password before they can save changes to the
workbook, type a password in the Password to modify box.

4. If you don’t want content reviewers to accidentally modify the file, select the Read-only
recommended check box. When opening the file, reviewers will be asked whether or not they
want to open the file as read-only.
5. Click OK.
6. When prompted, retype your passwords to confirm them, and then click OK.
7. Click Save.
8. If prompted, click Yes to replace the existing workbook