CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE
 
Beginner's Guide to Excel 2000:
2

Getting Started

Launching Your Excel 2000 Application

  1. Click the Start icon button on the Taskbar at the bottom left corner of your screen.
  2. Point to Programs.
  3. Click Office 2000 from the submenu, and then select Microsoft Excel.
 

Understanding the Excel Environment

The Workbook Window

The Excel workbook window is shown in Figure 1 (below). Descriptions follow.
 
FIGURE 1. The Excel Workbook Window
Excel Workbook Window
 
Menu Bar. The Menu Bar at the top of the screen gives you access to different commands that are used for such tasks as opening and closing files, printing documents, formatting data, and other operations. Screen captures of the Menu Bar options and their functions are shown in Figures 1 through 9 in the Appendix of this training guide.
 
Toolbars. On the sample window in Figure 1 (above), immediately below the Menu Bar is a row of icon buttons called the toolbars. There are two toolbars that provides quick access to a number of the most commonly used Excel features. The first bar is the Standard Toolbar; the second is the Formatting Toolbar. By positioning the mouse pointer on a toolbar icon (without clicking), a yellow box will appear next to the icon with a brief description of that icon’s use.
 
Notes: The example in Figure 1 shows the Standard and Formatting toolbars on separate rows for ease of viewing; however, on your screen you may see these toolbars on a single row. Whenever only a partial toolbar is displayed, you can click the double arrows at the end of the toolbar to see additional icon buttons.

You can control how the Standard and Formatting toolbars are displayed using the Tools menu, as follows:

  1. On the Menu Bar click Tools.
  2. Choose (click) Customize from the drop-down menu.
  3. Click the Options tab to bring it to the front.
  4. Check or uncheck the box next to "Standard and Formatting Toolbar share one row":
    • An X in the checkbox means the toolbars will share a single row.
    • A blank checkbox means the toolbars will be displayed on separate rows.
  5. Click the Close button to return to your workbook window.

The Standard Toolbar is illustrated in Figure 2 (below). The buttons, from left to right are: New Worksheet, Open Worksheet, Save, Print, Print Preview, Spell Check, Cut, Copy, Paste, Format Paint, Undo, Redo, Insert Hyperlink, Web Toolbar, AutoSum, Function Wizard, Sort Ascending, Sort Descending, Chart Wizard, Mapping, Drawing, Zoom, and Help. Each of these features can also be initiated from one of the pull-down menus.
 
FIGURE 2. Standard Toolbar
Standard Toolbar
 
The Formatting Toolbar is illustrated in Figure 3 (below). The buttons are, from left to right: Font Type, Font Size, Bold, Italics, Underline, Margins (left, center, right, merge & center,) Currency Style, Percent Style, Comma Style, Increase Decimal, Decrease Decimal, Decrease Indent, Increase Indent, Borders, Fill Color, and Font Color. Each of these features can also be initiated from one of the pull-down menus.
 
FIGURE 3. Formatting Toolbar
Formatting Toolbar
 
Toolbars are very useful. They give direct access to commands without having to go through the menu items. Excel offers many toolbars. To see a listing of all the available toolbars, click “View” on the Menu Bar and select “Toolbars.” A submenu appears displaying the toolbars. To select a toolbar simply click on it in the submenu. A check mark will appear in front of your selection and will now make that selection viewable from your worksheet.


Formula (or Function) Bar. The Formula Bar displays the contents of the active cell or the active block. It includes text, numbers, formulas, and functions.

Active Cell. The active cell is the currently selected cell. A thick border block, called the Cell Pointer, surrounds the active cell. Data is entered in the active cell.

Active Sheet. Often a file consists of more than one worksheet. Each sheet contains a tab you click to move from one sheet to another. You can rename sheets to make it easier to remember what each one contains. You may do so by double-clicking the sheet name, e.g., Sheet1, typing a new name, and tapping the ENTER key.

Worksheet Window. The worksheet window displays the Excel worksheet. It is comprised of rows and columns. The columns are labeled with the letters of the alphabet, i.e., A, B, C, etc. The rows are numbered down the left side. Rows and columns intersect to form cells. Each cell can be referenced via its column name followed by its row number. For example, the intersection of row 2 and column B is cell B2 (as shown in Figure 1, above).
 

Navigating In a Workbook

At the bottom of the workbook window (where the sheet tabs are located) are a number of controls you can use to move from worksheet to worksheet within a workbook. Use the four tab scrolling buttons in the lower left corner only when you have more worksheets in a workbook than can be displayed at once.You can drag the tab split box to change the number of the sheet tabs displayed. To reset the tab display, simply double-click the tab split box.
Another way to navigate in a worksheet is by utilizing the scrollbar to the right side of worksheet.The down arrows allow you to move forward and backward in your document.A single click on the arrow will move you one row in your worksheet.If you click in the gray area of the scrollbar, it will move you one screen at a time in your worksheet.
You can also navigate a worksheet using the arrows to the right of your keypad — up, down, left, or right. 
Of course, you can always use point and click with your mouse.
 

Selecting a Range (or Block) of Cells

  1. Click the first cell you want to include in the range
  2. While holding the mouse button down, drag the mouse to include all cells you want to include in the range.
  3. Release the mouse button. The range selected will appear highlighted except for the first cell of the range.
 
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Prepared by Tina Actis-Purtee, User Support Services
March 19, 2001

 
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