Use Excel 2007
Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program that is part of Microsoft Office. Excel 2007 has an interface that looks different from previous versions and takes some time to get used to. Whether you are new to Microsoft Excel 2007 or Excel spreadsheets in general, start by creating a simple spreadsheet and looking over the various menu options to learn how to use Excel 2007.
Steps
- Become familiar with general Microsoft Office 2007 features. Learn how to save and open files, use the help features, print and do other common Office tasks before learning more about how to use Excel 2007.
- Click on a cell with the left mouse button. Enter desired text or numbers into the cell. Click another cell or press enter to finish.
- Make cells wider or longer as necessary. Click on a line between columns or rows and hold the left mouse key down until the pointer becomes an arrow. Drag to make columns or rows larger. To make all columns or rows larger, click on the top left hand square, which will highlight all the cells. Adjust the width or length in one column or row to make changes to the whole spreadsheet.
- Learn to "drag select" to apply changes to a group of cells. Left click on the first cell in the spreadsheet. Hold down the mouse button and move to the last cell in the spreadsheet. All the cells will be highlighted, allowing you to make changes to all at the same time.
- Format the appearance of cells. Left click the top cell. Drag select all the cells in the spreadsheet. Click the Home tab at the top of the screen and select "Cell Styles." Choose a cell color and font color from the options. Change the font style and size for the whole selection. Click the drop down arrow next to the default font. Choose a new font. Repeat for the font size.
- Choose one of the options in the "Alignment" section to center or align the cell data. Choose "Wrap Text" to make all data fit in a cell and automatically change its size.
- Select the "Number" section to change the cell format to text, number, time and other options. To refine it further, like changing the time format or the number of decimal points, select "More number formats" at the bottom of the menu. Under "Category," make a selection and change the options under "Type."
- Use the "Insert" menu to add a picture, shape, chart or other object to a cell in the spreadsheet. To create a link to a web site or to another spreadsheet or document, use the "Links" option.
- Left click the "Page Layout" menu item to adjust margins, add page breaks, or change the page orientation from portrait to landscape. Determine how gridlines--the lines around each cell--appear when viewing and printing under the "Sheet Options" selection.
- Experiment with formulas on the "Formulas" tab. Click the "Fx" icon to insert a function. A drop down list of functions will appear, along with a link to get help and more information about the function. To quickly sum numbers in a column, highlight the cells to be summed and click "AutoSum." This can be done on multiple columns. The sum will show up in the cell below the selection.
- Sort or filter data on the "Data" tab. To filter a selection, click a cell and select "Filter." From the drop down menu in the top cell, deselect "Select All" and click the number or data to filter. Only cells with that value will be shown. To sort, click on a column and select "Sort." Choose "Expand selection" to sort all data in the spreadsheet so that it matches the sorted column.
