MAY 2013

EXCEL BASICS
Excel: Fundamentals!
Microsoft Excel® is an effective tool to use in conjunction with PowerSchool. While PowerSchool!
successfully manages your data, Excel helps you organize that data in a graphical, easy-to-use!
format. This course covers the following topics:!
• Learning basic Excel terminology!
• Using formulas and functions to calculate data!
• Improving the appearance of the data using cell background colors and conditional formatting!
• Controlling how the worksheet prints using Page Setup

Basic Excel Concepts

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Open Excel and look at the rows on the top of your screen. Depending on which version of Excel
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you are using, the rows should look similar to this screen shot:!
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NOTE: This screen shot shows Excel 2011 for Mac; Excel 2007 and Excel 2010 for the PC are similar.!
If you use a different version of Excel, some of your options may appear in a different order or format.!
• The first row is the menu bar, which includes the File and Edit menus!
• The second row is the Ribbon, where the majority of commands that you'll use are grouped!
into individual tabs; a few examples include:!
o The Home tab, which deals primarily with formatting cells!
o The Layout tab, which has all the page setup commands!
o The Formulas tab, which lists the different functions in Excel, by type!
• The third row is the Formula Bar, where you edit formulas that you enter into cells!
Become familiar with some Excel terminology:!
• A cell is described by the column letter, then the row number!
For example, the cell located in the first column and row is A1. The cell located in the third!
column and fifth row is C5.!
• A cell is a single field for data within a worksheet!
• Worksheets are pages in a workbook!
• A workbook is another name for an Excel file!
• An Excel workbook can have an infinite number of worksheets, but more than 30 worksheets!
may affect performance!
• The number of rows and columns in a worksheet depends on your version—Excel 2011 for the!
Mac and Excel 2010 for the PC each have 16,384 columns and 1,048,576 rows

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ACTIVITY 1 – FINDYOUR WAY AROUND IN EXCEL

Learn how to open an Excel workbook, then move around and enter some text.!
1. Open the ExcelFund.xls file!
Tip: To Change the Width of a
2. Click cell A8, type Copy Paper, and press Enter!
column: 1. Place the mouse pinter
3. Click Undo!
on the line between column A and
4. Click cell A8, type Copier Paper, press Enter again!
B. 2. The pointer will change to a
5. Click the Disk icon to save your file!
! double - headed arrow.
FORMULAS AND FUNCTIONS IN EXCEL
3. double click. The column will
automatically widen to match the
Formulas and functions are the cornerstones for success in longest entry in that column.
Excel. Excel has over 200 different!
functions in the following categories:!
• Date and time (add months or years to a date, add hours to a time)!
• Math and trig (most have to do with trigonometry)!
• Statistics (average, minimum, maximum)!
Most people use five or six functions on a regular basis, and advanced users may use 15–
20 functions.!
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ACTIVITY 2 – CREATEYOUR FIRST FORMULA

Now that you know how to navigate in Excel, use a formula to find the sum of three
numbers.!
1. Click cell E3!
2. Type the formula =B3+C3+D3, and press Enter!
3. Click cell C3, change the entry to 201, and press Enter!
What happens?!
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4. Now, click Undo to replace the cell with the original value!

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ACTIVITY 3 – USE THE SUM FUNCTION

The SUM function is a more efficient way to add up a series of numbers.!
1. Select cells B4 through E4!
2. Select the Formulas tab, and click AutoSum!
3. Click cell E4, then click Copy!
4. Click cell E5, and click Paste to copy the formula from E4 to E5!
What is the formula in E5?!
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ACTIVITY 4 – USE PASTE SPECIAL

When you copy and paste in Excel, unexpected results may occur. Use Paste Special to
control the results.!
1. Copy cell E3!
2. Click cell B15!
3. Select the Home tab, click the arrow below Paste, and select Paste Special!
4. Select Values, and click OK!
5. Look at the Formula Bar - What does the formula say?!
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SETTING UP FORMULAS

As you prepare to set up a formula, recall the mnemonic you may have been taught in grade school to

help you remember the order of mathematical operations: “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally.” Excel

follows the same order when completing calculations, which is: parentheses, exponents,

multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction.

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ACTIVITY 5 – USE PARENTHESES IN FORMULAS

Find the average of how much toner was used in the first three months of the year.!
1. Click cell G3!
2. Find the sum of the toner for January, February, and March by entering =B3+C3+D3!
3. To find the average, divide by 3!
4. Type =B3+C3+D3/3!
Is the average calculated correctly?

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5. Add parentheses so the formula calculates the average correctly!
6. Enter =(B3+C3+D3)/3!
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ACTIVITY 6 – FIND THE AVERAGEVALUE IN A RANGE

To find the average value in a range, you don't have to manually enter data in each cell or
figure out how many cells you're averaging. Instead of typing =(B3+C3+D3)/3, use the
AVERAGE function.!
1. Click cell G4!
2. Click the arrow next to the AutoSum icon (on the Formulas Ribbon), and select Average!
3. Click cell B4 and drag the mouse to D4; then, click the check mark in the Formula Bar!
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Practice on Your Own
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ACTIVITY 7 – FIND THE LOWESTVALUE IN A RANGE

The MIN function finds the smallest number in a range of selected cells.!
1. Click cell H3!
2. Click the arrow next to the AutoSum icon, and select Min!
The cell formula is =MIN(B3:G3), which means data from columns B through G are included
in the calculation.!
3. Change the formula to =MIN(B3:D3) so that only the individual months’ amounts in cells
B3, C3, and D3 are compared to find the minimum dollar amount!
4. Press Enter!
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ACTIVITY 8– FIND THE HIGHESTVALUE IN A RANGE

The MAX function is the opposite of MIN, but it works the same way.!
1. Click cell I3!
2. Click the arrow next to the AutoSum icon, and select Max!
The cell formula is =MAX(B3:H3), which means data from columns B through H are
included in!
the calculation.!
3. Change the formula to =MAX(B3:D3) so that only the individual months’ amounts in cells
B3, C3, and D3 are compared to find the maximum dollar amount!
4. Press Enter!

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BACK TO GROUP ACTIVITY

ACTIVITY 9 – COPY FORMULAS WITH AUTOFILL

You may reuse a formula in Excel by copying and pasting it. However, AutoFill is the most
effective approach.!
1. Click cell E5!
2. Place your pointer in the lower-right corner of the cell!
3. When your pointer changes to a black plus sign, double-click your mouse!
4. Look at the result in cell E7, and notice that you copied the formula down!
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Why does it work?!
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5. Repeat the result for cells F4, G4, H3, and I3

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! Quick Export

Quick Export is used to export Student data for the current student selection. In addition to
allowing administrators to export data from the Students table, data from related tables may
also be exported via Quick Export using various Data Access Tags.

1. Create a student selection.

2. Navigate to Start Page > Special Functions > Importing & Exporting > Quick
Export

3. In the box directly under the words Export the xx selected students, type in the fields you
would like to export, one field per line. If you don't know the name of the field you want
to export, click the FIELDS link (bottom of screen). This will bring up a list of all of the
fields in the students table. The link opens a new browser window. Copy and paste the
field names you want to export into your quick export page.

Example fields:
student_number
first_name
last_name

^(*DABS) (Total Daily Absences)

4. Leave the Field delimiter and Record Delimiter default. Check the ✓ Check Column
titles on the 1st row.

5. If you use FireFox choose to open with Excel and save this choice.

6. Click submit.

7. If you use another browser: Open the export file with Excel

Tip: If this is an export that you will use again save in a word doc so that next time you need it
you can copy and paste the fields, or create an export template. PowerSchool will only save
your last export.

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TIPS AND TRICKS - MAC

Key or Key Combination What is does
A
Select all items in the front Finder window (or desktop if no
Command-A window is open)

Command-Option-A Deselect all items

Command-C
!Copy selected item/text to the Clipboard
Command-V Paste

Command-X Cut

Undo / Redo
Command-Z

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KEEP COLUMN NAMES VISIBLE AS YOU SCROLL

Many worksheets have Headers for each column. As you scroll thru a worksheet it’s helpful to be able to see
those name. Here’s how.
• Select the row immediately below the row you want to freeze.
• In the Window menu, click on Freeze Panes. Excel will put a thick line under the row to freeze.
• To unfreeze the row, go to Window menu again and click on Unfreeze panes.
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FORCE A LINE BREAK IN A CELL

Ever have a string of text spill out of one cell into the next? You already know that you can prevent that by formatting
the cell for text wrapping (choose Format -> Cells, click on the Alignment tab, and check the Wrap Text box). But that
doesn’t mean your text will break where you want it to: Goals for 1st Quarter might end up as Goals for 1st / Quarter
instead of the preferable Goals for / 1st Quarter. The solution is simple: To force text to break at the spot you want—
whether or not you’ve enabled text wrap—click where you want to split the line and press Control-Option-Return.

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