MICROSOFT EXCEL TERMINOLOGIES

1. Workbook - a spreadsheet program file that you create in Excel. A workbook contains worksheets of rows and
columns in which you can enter and calculate data.

2. Worksheet – the primary document that you use in Excel to store and work with data. Also called a spreadsheet. A
worksheet consists of cells that are organized into columns and rows; a worksheet is always stored in a workbook.

3. Cell - a cell is a rectangle or block housed in a worksheet. Any data that you want to enter into your worksheet must
be placed in a cell. Cells can be color coded, display text, numbers and the results of calculations, based on what you
want to accomplish.

4. Columns and Rows - refer to how your cells are aligned. Columns are aligned vertically while rows are aligned
horizontally.

5. Column and Row headings - these headings are the lettered and numbered gray areas found just outside of
columns and rows. Clicking on a heading will select the entire row or column. You can also alter the row height or
column width using the headings.

6. Workspace - much like worksheets in a workbook, a workspace allows you to open numerous files simultaneously.

7. Ribbon - above the workbook is a section of command tabs called the Ribbon. A multitude of options are found
behind each tab of the ribbon

8. Cell Reference - a cell reference is a set of coordinates that identifies a specific cell. It's a combination of letters
and numbers. A5, for example, would point to the cell located where column A and row 5 intersect.

9. Cell Range - a cell range is a collection of cells that have been identified as a group based on a variety of criteria.
By using a colon (:) between cell references, Excel can determine the range, also known as an array. A range in a row,
for example, could look like A1:C1, telling the formula to look at the cells in a row between A1 and C1, while B4:D9
would tell the formula to look at all cells in a box bounded by columns B and D and rows 4 and 9. A 3-D reference
refers to a range that encompasses more than one worksheet in the same workbook.

10. Merged Cell - when two or more cells are combined, it's become what is known as a merged cell.

11. Template - a template is a formatted workbook or worksheet designed to help users fulfill a specific need in
Excel. Examples of this include stock analysis, process map, and calendar.

12. Operator - operators are symbols or signs that indicate which calculation must be made in an expression.
Operators do not necessarily refer to simple mathematical types; comparison, text concatenation or reference operators
also exist.

13. Formula - sequence inside a cell that is used to produce a value. It must begin with an equal (=) sign. This could
be a mathematical equation, cell references, functions or operator. A formula is also known as an expression.

14. Formula Bar - nestled between the ribbon and workbook, the Formula Bar will display the contents of an active
cell. In the case of formulas, the formula bar will display all components of the formula.

15. Function - functions are formulas that are pre-built into Excel. They are designed to help simplify potentially
complex formulas in a worksheet.

16. Error Code — error codes appear if Excel finds a problem with a provided formula.

17. Cell Formatting - this is the act of changing the in which cell data is displayed in the spreadsheet. When you
format cells, only the visual appearance of the cells is changed; the value within the cells remain constant.

18. Conditional Formatting - formatting is applied only when the cell meets determined criteria such as duplicate
values or values above or below a threshold.
19. Filter - filters are rules that you can employ to decide which rows in a worksheet to display. These filters can use
data such as conditions or values.

20. Freeze Panes - freezing panes allows you to select specific columns and/or rows to remain visible on the
worksheet, even if you are scrolling, such as header cells that label a column.

21. AutoFill - this enables you to effortless copy data to more than one cell.

22. AutoSum - this feature will add up the numbers you have entered in your sheet and displays the total in a cell of
your choosing.

23. AutoFormat - this is an automated format application to cells that match pre-determined criteria. This could be as
simple as font alignment and size.

24. Pivot Table - this is a data summarization tool most commonly used to sort, average to sum up data automatically.
The information is pulled from one table while the results are displayed in another. Pivot Tables makes it easy to
retrieve specific information from a large source of data.

25. Pivot Chart - this type of chart provides a visual aid for pivot tables. By providing graphical representations of the
pivot table data, the user can provide a level of interactivity with the data.

26. Source Data - this is the information used to create your pivot table. It can either exist within the worksheet or
from and an external database.

27. Close Button – close the window on which the button appears.

28. Active Cell – is designed by a thick border, which will be affected when you type or edit data.

29. Minimize or Restore Down Button – toggles (switch back and forth) between maximizing a window and
restoring a window to its previous size

30. Menu Bar – list of names of the menus in excel.

31. Name Box – displays the address of the active cell.

32. Screen Tip – is a small pop-up box that displays the name of all object or toolbar button if you point to it with the
matter.

33. Select All Button – select your displays worksheets in the open work book.
 MICROSOFT EXCEL

Microsoft Excel
- is a software program produced by Microsoft that allows users to organize, format and calculate data with
formulas using a spreadsheet.
- developed by Microsoft for Windows, macOS, Android, iOS and iPadOS.
- it features calculations or computation capabilities, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming
language called Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).
-
November 19, 1987; 35 years ago
- Initial release

September 28, 2023

- Stable release

History of Excel and its Evolution

How to open Microsoft Excel

1. Select "Start"
2. Then All Programs
3. The next step is to select MS Office
4. Finally, choose MS Excel as your option
5. Alternatively, you can select the Start button and type MS Excel into the available search box.

KEY FEATURES OF MS EXCEL

Home
- font size, font style, color, background color, alignment, formatting options and styles, cell insertion and
deletion, and editing options are all included under the title "Home."

Insert
- this feature includes choices for creating graphs, sparklines and different types of chart in Excel, entering
images and figures, changing the header and footer, and adding equations and symbols to tables.

Page Layout
- this includes options for themes, orientation, and page setup.

Formulas
- since MS Excel allows you to create tables with a lot of data, you may use this function to add formulas to
your table and obtain quicker results.

Data
- this category includes tools for adding external data (from the web), filtering choices, and data tools.

Review
- a reader can submit comments after proofreading an Excel sheet (similar to spell-checking) in the review area.

View
- views can be altered, and we can choose which ones we wish to use to display the spreadsheet. This area
provides options for pane arrangement and zooming in and out.
 PARTS OF MICROSOFT EXCEL

Quick Access Toolbar

- let you access common commands no matter which tab is selected. You can customize the commands depending on your
preference.

Ribbon
- contains all of the commands you will need to perform common tasks in Excel. It has multiple tabs or components,
each with several groups of commands.

Tell Me
- it works like a search bar to help you quickly find tools or commands you want to use.

Microsoft Account
- from here you can access your Microsoft account information, view your profile, and switch accounts.

Name Box
- displays the location, or name, of the selected cell.

Formula Bar
- you can enter or edit data, a formula, or a function that will appear in a specific cell.

Columns
- is a group of cells that runs the top of the page to the bottom. In Excel, columns are identified by letters.

Cell
- any rectangle workbook. It is also the intersection of a row and a column.

Row
- is a group of cells that runs from the left of the page to the right. In Excel, rows are identified by numbers.

Worksheets
- excel files are called workbooks. Each workbook holds one or more worksheets. Click the tabs or components to switch
between them, or right-click for more options.

Vertical and Horizontal Scroll Bars

- allows you to scroll up and down or side to side. To do this, click and drag the vertical or horizontal scroll bar.

Worksheet View Options

- ways to view the documents.

Zoom Control
- click and drag the slider to use the zoom control. The number of the slider reflects the zoom percentage.

 Worksheet Views

1. Normal view – is the default view for all worksheets in excel.

2. Page Layout view – displays how your worksheets will appear when printed. You can also add headers and footers in this
view.
3. Page Break view – allows you to change the location of the page breaks, which is especially helpful when printing a lot of data
from Excel.

Backstage view
- gives you various options for saving, opening a file, printing, and sharing your workbooks. To access the backstage view,
click the File tab or component on the ribbon. You can use the arrow to close backstage view and return to excel.

 Info - will appear whenever you access backstage view. It contains information about the current workbook.
 New – from here, you can create a new blank workbook or choose from a large selection of templates.
 Open – from here, you can open recent workbook, as well as workbooks saved to your Onedrive or on your computer.
 Save and Save As – use save and save as to save your workbook to your computer or to your OneDrive.
 Print – from the print, you can change the print settings and print your workbook. You can also see a preview of your
workbook.
 Share – from here, you can invite people to view and collaborate on your workbook. You can also share your workbook
by emailing it as an attachment.
 Export – you can choose to export your workbook in another format, such as Portable Document Format (PDF) /
Extreme Performance System (XPS) or excel 1997-2003
 Publish – here, you can publish your workbook to Power BI, Microsoft’s cloud-sharing service for excel workbooks.
 Close – click here to close the current workbook.
 Account – from the Account pane, you can access your Microsoft account information. Modify your theme and
background, and sign out of your account.
 Option – here, you can change various excel options, settings, and language preferences.
 UDERSTANDING ONEDRIVE

OneDrive
- is Microsoft’s online storage space that you can use to save, edit, and share your documents and other files.
- You can access OneDrive from your computer, smartphone, or any of the devices you use.

 Benefits of using OneDrive

Once you’re signed in to your Microsoft account, there are a few of the things you’ll be able to do with OneDrive:

Access your files anywhere:

- When you save your files to OneDrive, you’ll be able to access them from any computer, tablet, or smartphone that has
an Internet connection. You'll also be able to create new documents from OneDrive.
Back up your files: Saving files to OneDrive gives them an extra layer of protection. Even if something happens to your
computer, OneDrive will keep your files safe and accessible.

Share files:
- It’s easy to share your OneDrive files with friends and coworkers. You can choose whether they can edit or simply read
files. This option is great for collaboration because multiple people can edit a document at the same time (this is also
known as co-authoring).

 Saving and opening files

When you’re signed in to your Microsoft account, OneDrive will appear as an option whenever you save or open a file. You still
have the option of saving files to your computer. However, saving files to your OneDrive allows you to access them from any
other computer, and it also allows you to share files with friends and coworkers.
 CREATING AND OPENING WORKBOOKS

Excel files are called workbooks. Whenever you start a new project in Excel, you'll need to create a new workbook. There are
several ways to start working with a workbook in Excel. You can choose to create a new workbook—either with a blank
workbook or a predesigned template—or open an existing workbook.

 To create a new blank workbook:

1. Select the File tab. Backstage view will appear.

2. Select New, then click Blank workbook.
3. A new blank workbook will appear.

 To open an existing workbook:

1. Navigate to Backstage view, then click Open.
2. Select Computer, then click Browse. You can also choose OneDrive to open files stored on your OneDrive.
3. The Open dialog box will appear. Locate and select your workbook, then click Open.

 To pin a workbook:

1. Navigate to Backstage view, then click Open. Your recently edited workbooks will appear.
2. Hover your mouse over the workbook you want to pin. A pushpin icon will appear next to the workbook.
Click the pushpin icon.
3. The workbook will stay in Recent Workbooks. To unpin a workbook, simply click the pushpin icon again.

 Using templates

Template
- is a predesigned spreadsheet you can use to create a new workbook quickly. Templates often
include custom formatting and predefined formulas, so they can save you a lot of time and effort when starting a new
project.

 To create a new workbook from a template:

1. Click the File tab to access Backstage view.

2. Select New. Several templates will appear below the Blank workbook option.
3. Select a template to review it.
4. A preview of the template will appear, along with additional information on how the template can be used.
5. Click Create to use the selected template.
6. A new workbook will appear with the selected template.

Compatibility Mode
Sometimes you may need to work with workbooks that were created in earlier versions of Microsoft Excel, like Excel
2010 or Excel 2007. When you open these types of workbooks, they will appear in Compatibility Mode.
Compatibility Mode disables certain features, so you'll only be able to access commands found in the program that was used to
create the workbook. For example, if you open a workbook created in Excel 2003, you can only use tabs and commands found in
Excel 2003.
In the image below, you can see that the workbook is in Compatibility Mode, which is indicated at the top of the window
to the right of the file name. This will disable some Excel features, which will be grayed out on the Ribbon.
To exit Compatibility Mode, you'll need to convert the workbook to the current version type. However, if you're
collaborating with others who only have access to an earlier version of Excel, it's best to leave the workbook in Compatibility
Mode so the format will not change.

 To convert a workbook:

1. Click the File tab to access Backstage view.

2. Locate and select the Convert command.
3. The Save As dialog box will appear. Select the location where you want to save the workbook, enter a file name for the
workbook, and click Save.
4. The workbook will be converted to the newest file type.
 Introducing Formulas

While a spreadsheet is a great place to store and organize data, the real power of spreadsheets comes with formulas. A formula
performs a mathematical calculation. These calculations can be simple or complex.

A formula always begins with an equal sign (=). This tells Microsoft Excel that the text following the equal sign is a formula.

A variety of mathematical operators are available in Excel. These include: + (addition), - (subtraction), * (multiplication), /
(division), and ^ (exponentiation). These operators can be combined with values, cell references, and functions (to be discussed in
the next section) to create a formula.

When working in Microsoft Excel, it is recommended to use cell references whenever possible. By using cell references instead of
the values in the cell, our spreadsheet will automatically adjust if changes are made.

In Microsoft Excel, the Formula bar appears under the ribbon. The Formula bar shows us what is happening behind the scene in
Excel.

Copying a formula
To use this formula in other cells, we could retype it each time, or we could copy and paste it. Let's copy the formula from cell D2
and paste it into cells D3:D6.
Step 1. Copy the formula in cell D2.
a. To copy the formula in cell D2, on the Home tab,
When text or data is copied in Microsoft Excel, a dotted line appears around the copied area.
Now we need to tell Excel where to paste this copied data. We can paste data into multiple cells at the same time by selecting the
cells before pasting the data.
Step 2. Paste the formula in cells D3:D6.
The formula has been copied to cells D3:D6, and we now see the formula results in those cells.
Exploring relative references
Copying a formula down a column works because the cell references used in the formula are relative. This means as the formula
moves down each row, the cell references adjust to reflect the new location. Let's see how this works.
Step 1. Inspect the formula in cell D3.
a. To make cell D3 the active cell,
CLICK in cell D3
While the value of cell D3, $456.00, appears in the cell, the formula =B3*C3, is visible in the Formula bar. The formula has
adjusted to reflect the new row.
Step 2. Inspect the formula in the other cells in column D.
a. To inspect the formula in the other cells in column D, on the keyboard, press:
DOWN ARROW KEY
In each row, the formula has adjusted to reflect the location.
Before we move on to exploring functions, let's save the workbook.
Step 3. Save the workbook.
a. To save the workbook, on the keyboard, press:

Microsoft Excel Basics - The Fundamentals

The File Option:

It helps you with a set of operations to navigate your existing file, to print, save or create a new sheet.

The Home Option:

It will have the onboard tools to change your font, font color, and spreadsheet format.

The Insert Option

The Insert option will help you insert data into your sheet. The data can be an image or any data from either your local system or
an online source.

The Draw Option

The Draw option helps you to withdraw any specific visualizations into your Excel sheet.

The Page Layout Option

The next option is the Page Layout. The Page Layout option provides the page printing options to modify the way your sheet
could represent the data.
The Formula Option
The Formulas option will help you with the inbuilt business analytical formulas.

The Data Option

Data options will help you with data sources, queries, and data management options.

The Review Option

The Review option will help with spellings, worksheet statistics, and notes.

The View Option

The View option is similar to the page layout. This option will help you with basic operations like zoom, page setup, etc.

The Help Option

The Help option provides you with the possibility of contacting the technical support team and so on.

The Power Pivot Option

The Power Pivot option provides the options to manage workbooks and formulas used in the sheet.

The Toolbar Ribbon

Each Toolbar option has a set of sub-options that fit into a tray called Tool-bar Ribbon. The Ribbon looks like shown below.

The Group
Each Ribbon has specific functions, and all the functions are categorized into groups. Each group is made up of functions that are
interrelated to each other and have a dedicated functionality.