Basic Excel 2007 Loading (starting) the Excel 2007 Program

Northbrook Public Library – Basic Excel – Version 3 Page 1

Basic Excel 2007

Microsoft’s Excel 2007 is the electronic spreadsheet program within the Microsoft Office Suite. An electronic

spreadsheet is an application you use to perform numeric calculations and to analyze and present numeric data.

Loading (starting) the Excel 2007 Program

There are several ways to start, or load the Excel program. The two most common methods are by using the Start

menu (far left-bottom of the screen) or by clicking a desktop shortcut for the Excel program if it is available. If you

use the Start menu, the steps will vary slightly depending on the version of Windows you are using. At this time,

we will load the Excel 2007 program from the Start menu, and observe the screen layout.

Getting started with Excel 2007 you will notice that there are many similar features to previous versions. You will

also notice that there are many new features that you’ll be able to utilize. There are three features that you should

remember as you work within Excel 2007: the Microsoft Office Button, the Quick Access Toolbar, and the

Ribbon. The function of these features will be more fully explored below.

Spreadsheets

A spreadsheet is an electronic document that stores various types of data. There are vertical columns and horizontal

rows. A cell is where the column and row intersect. A cell can contain data and can be used in calculations of data

within the spreadsheet. An Excel spreadsheet can contain workbooks and worksheets. The workbook is the holder

for related worksheets.

Entering Data

Data – Three types of data are entered onto worksheets:

Text – starts with an alphabetic character

Numbers – starts with a number

Formulas and functions – starts with “=”

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Exercise 1 - Creating a Workbook <depress the “Enter” key or the arrow keys after each line>

Cell Type this data

A1 NPL-Basic Excel Example 1

A3 Type your actual first and last name (example: “Joe Smith”)

C5 Travel Books

D5 Qty

C6 Hawaii

C7 California

C8 Florida

D6 10

D7 2

D8 4

D9 =d6+d7+d8

Home tab: Font, Alignment and Number groups

Font Group – Font shape and size; bold, italics and underline; fill and font color

Alignment group – left, center and right justification; top, middle, and bottom align

Number group – Number, currency, percentage, date, text,”$”, and more

Exercise 2 - Manipulating Data - Excel allows you to move, copy, and paste cells and cell content through

cutting and pasting and copying and pasting. You must “Select” the data prior to moving or deleting.

Select Data - To select a cell or data to be copied or cut:

 Click the cell – click cell C5

 Click and drag the cursor to select many cells in a range from C5 to D9

Cut and Paste - To cut (move) and paste data:

 On the Clipboard group of the Home tab, click the scissors icon meaning Cut

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 Within the spreadsheet, click on cell C15

 On the Clipboard group of the Home tab, click Paste

Undo and Redo - To undo or redo your most recent actions, In the Quick Access Toolbar - Click Undo or Redo

Exercise 3 - Modifying a Worksheet – depress “Enter” key or arrow keys after each line

Cell Type this data

E4 Average

E5 Cost

E6 18

E7 22

E8 20

F5 Total

F6 =D6*E6

F7-F8 we will select cell F6, and fill down through cell F8

F9 =Sum(F6:F8)

Insert Cells, Rows, and Columns - To insert cells, rows, and columns in Excel:

 Place the cursor in the row below where you want the new row, or in the column to the left of

where you want the new column

 Click the Insert button on the Cells group of the Home tab

 Click the appropriate choice: Cell, Row, or Column

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Exercise 4 - Modifying a Worksheet – Inserting a row

Insert a row after row 7 (between California and Florida):

Cell C8: Illinois Cell D8: 5 Cell E8: 15 Cell F8: fill down from cell F7

Is there a Problem?

To show formulas within the worksheet

Click “Formulas” tab

In the “Formula Auditing” group, click “Show Formulas”

Ribbon

The ribbon is the panel at the top portion of the document and has seven tabs: Home, Insert, Page Layouts,

Formulas, Data, Review, and View. Each tab is divided into groups. The groups are logical collections of

features designed to perform function that you will utilize in developing or editing your Excel spreadsheets.

Commonly utilized features are displayed on the Ribbon. To view additional features within each group,

click the arrow at the bottom right corner of each group.

Tabs Groups contained within the Tab

Home: Clipboard, Fonts, Alignment, Number, Styles, Cells, Editing

Insert: Tables, Illustrations, Charts, Links, Text

Page Layouts: Themes, Page Setup, Scale to Fit, Sheet Options, Arrange

Formulas: Function Library, Defined Names, Formula Auditing, Calculation

Data: Get External Data, Connections, Sort & Filter, Data Tools, Outline

Review: Proofing, Comments, Changes

View: Workbook Views, Show/Hide, Zoom, Window, Macros

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Quick Access Toolbar

The quick access toolbar is a customizable toolbar that contains commands that you may want to use. You can

place the quick access toolbar above or below the ribbon. To change the location of the quick access toolbar, click

on the arrow at the end of the toolbar and click “Show Below the Ribbon”.

You can also add items to the quick access toolbar. Right click on any item in the Office Button or the Ribbon and

click Add to Quick Access Toolbar and a shortcut will be added.

Mini Toolbar

A new feature in Office 2007 is the Mini Toolbar. This is a floating toolbar that is displayed when you select text

or right-click text. It displays common formatting tools, such as Bold, Italics, Fonts, Font Size and Font Color.

Microsoft Office Button

The Microsoft Office Button performs many of the functions that were located in the File menu of older versions of

Excel. This button allows you to create a new workbook, Open an existing workbook, save, print, send, or close.

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Delete Cells, Rows and Columns - To delete cells, rows, and columns:

 Place the cursor in the cell, row, or column that you want to delete

 Click the Delete button on the Cells group of the Home tab

 Click the appropriate choice: Cell, Row, or Column

Find and Replace - To find data or find and replace data:

 Click the Find & Select button on the Editing group of the Home tab

 Choose Find or Replace

 Complete the Find What text box

 Click on Options for more search options

Exercise 5 – Using Find and Replace

Find your first name, and replace it with the word: Excel

Go to the Quick Access toolbar, and click “Undo”

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Exercise 6 - Save a Workbook - When you save a workbook, you have two choices: Save or Save As.

To save a document:

 Click the Microsoft Office Button

 Click Save As (directs the file to a folder and names the file)

You may need to use the Save As feature when you need to save a workbook under a different name or to save it

for earlier versions of Excel. Remember that older versions of Excel will not be able to open an Excel 2007

worksheet unless you save it as an Excel 97-2003 Format. To use the “Save as” feature:

 Click the Microsoft Office Button

 Click Save As

 Type in the name for the Workbook

 In the Save as Type box, choose Excel 97-2003 Workbook (extension is “.xls”)

 Save As “Excel Workbook” will save file in Excel 2007 format (extension is “.xlsx”)

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Exercise 7 - Open a Workbook - To open an existing workbook:

 Click the Microsoft Office Button

 Click Open

 Browse to the workbook you want to open, and then click the title of the workbook

 Click Open

Exercise 8 - Page properties and printing

Change Page Orientation

To change the page orientation from portrait to landscape:

 Click the Page Layout tab

 At the Page Setup group, Choose Orientation, then Portrait or Landscape

Exercise 9 - Printing

 Click the Office Button at the top-left corner of the screen

 Choose Print, then Print

OR, just click in the Quick Access Toolbar, the Quick Print icon

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Exercise 10 – Change the “look” of your worksheet

Click the “Page Layout” tab

Within the “Themes” group, click the “Themes” icon

Click the “Aspect” theme

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Practice / Practice / Practice

The best way to retain what you learned today …

… practice using Excel daily for the next several days

Thank you for participating in Basic Excel 2007

Consider enrolling in the next session

INTERMEDIATE EXCEL 2007

Covers inserting charts into spreadsheets, validating formulas and functions, page

numbering, changing chart types, and reviewing Excel templates.