INTRODUCTION TO EXCEL

Gerard Burnane 17757995

CONTENTS
What is excel?......................................................................2
Navigating Excel.3
Excel Taskbar...4
Workbooks in Excel.5
Entering Data6
Average and Sum Functions.7
Naming Groups and Individual cells..8
Graphs and Tables9
Hyperlinks.10
Changing colour of cells11
Errors .12
Conclusion..13
References .14





WHAT IS EXCEL?
Microsoft Excel is a electronic spreadsheet program that enables you to
enter and manipulate data. It allows you to use graphs, tables and
equations to calculate and analyse numerical data.






This is what excel looks like it is a spreadsheet with rows and columns
which you can enter data and information into.

NAVIGATING TO EXCEL
To navigate to excel you must go to the start
menu and in the Search All Programs and
search Excel
Start>Search Programs Excel>Excel
Start Button
Search All
Programs
Excel
EXCEL TASKBAR
The excel taskbar is where you will find things to assist you in representing
your data and making the spreadsheets look presentable. It is where you
can change font and font size, inserting tables and graphs and change
the page layout of your spreadsheet.
The Taskbar has many different tabs thats are useful in the creation of a
good spreadsheet. The Insert tab enables you to insert graphs, tables
and pictures. The Formulas tab gives you the different financial,
numerical and trigonometry formulas etc. This makes it much faster to input
data as the computer does the math for you.
Home ribbon
area
Tabs
WORKBOOKS IN EXCEL
A workbook contains a number of worksheets (max 255) that can you
can use to create multiple spreadsheets that compliment each
other, giving the different worksheets access to more information.
You can create and access the different spreadsheets by clicking
on the sheet name at bottom of the excel document
ENTERING DATA
To enter data in excel all you have to do is click the cell and type the
required information. Furthermore you merge a group a cells for a title or
heading. To merge cells highlight the desired cells then click the Merge &
centre button. This allows text to be typed in the centre of the newly formed
cell. Once you have merged the cell you can also change the orientation of
the text by right clicking the merged cell and pressing Format
cell>Alignment>Orientation and move the line to the angle you wish the
text to be. You can also edit text in the cell through the formula bar by
pressing the desired cell and making the desired change.
You can type
the desired
angle here
Formula Bar
Merge and
centre Button
AVERAGE AND SUM FUNCTIONS


In a spreadsheet you may need to average a group of given data this can be easily done with
the use of the function tool. This can be done by typing =Average(then click and drag the
amount of cells you want)in the cell, this will give you the average of the selected units.
E.g.
Moreover you also may need to add all the data in one column. This can be achieved using the
sum function. =sum(click and drag amount of cells you want)



NAMING GROUPS AND
INDIVIDUAL CELLS
Sometimes it is more for a group of cells to
have the same name so it is easier to
average or sum them together. For
example, on a sales spreadsheet buy
grouping ones employees sales numbers in
the same cells name would make it easier
to sum this employees numbers together.
To do this you must highlight the column
and in the name box change it to desired
thing.
This column could be the
sales figures for 1 employee
GRAPHS AND TABLES
In excel you can represent data in a number of ways. This can
include charts, tables and graphs. These different methods of
data representation help you understand the data and can
reveal relationships that are evident within the sample.
These tools can be accessed through "Insert>then clicking the
table/graph you want
HYPERLINKS
Hyperlinks are a very useful way of navigating internally in your
worksheets or externally to the internet. They can be created by
typing the desired name in the cell, right click on this cell and then
click hyperlink, this window should pop up.
You can also navigate to places in the same spreadsheet by using
the Places in the document tab.
You must type the address
you wish to navigate to
Just put the cell
number you wish
to navigate to
CHANGING THE COLOUR OF CELLS
To change the colour of a cell click on it and in the home ribbon
there is a paint bucket, click on this and it will allow you to
change the colour of the cell.
Paint Bucket
ERRORS
Some common errors include ##### which means there is not
enough room in the cell for what is being typed, #REF! which
the cell reference coordinate is not correct, #DIV/0 this is when
the formula tries to divide by zero and #NAME? is when the
Excel doesn't recognize the text in a given formula.

CONCLUSION
Excel is a great piece of software that enables you to display data
and information in a convenient and easy to follow format. This
guide should have equipped you with the tools you need to enter
data and manipulate it. This guide should help you understand all
the basics of excel and give you the tools you need to advance
and become a better user of excel.
REFERENCES

Author Title URL
Ted French (2009) How To enter Data in a
Spreadsheet.
http://spreadsheets.about.
com/od/excel101/ss/enter
_data_3.htm
Ted French (2009)

Excel Error Message Help http://spreadsheets.about.
com/od/excel101/tp/0909
16-excel-error-message-
hub.htm