SPREADSHEET

Microsoft Excel is a program that provide worksheets comprised of rows and columns. Textual data can be stored in the workbook similarly to a Microsoft Word table, but the power of Excel is its ability to perform to complicated mathematical calculations.

The Excel Worksheet (Spreadsheet) and Workbook

An Excel worksheet, or spreadsheet, is a two-dimensional grid with columns and rows. The column names are letters of the alphabet starting with A, and the rows are numbered chronologically starting with the number one. The cells in the first row are A1, B1, C1, and so on. And the cells in the first column are A1, A2, A3, and so on. These are called cell names or cell references.

WORKBOOK & WORKSHEET

A workbook is a spreadsheet program file that you create in Excel. A workbook contains one or more worksheets.

A worksheet (also known as a spreadsheet) consists of cells in which you can enter and calculate data. The cells are organized into columns and rows. A worksheet is always stored in a workbook.

A workbook is a collection of worksheets or spreadsheets. When the Excel program is opened, a workbook opens with three blank worksheets. The names of the worksheets are displayed on tabs at the bottom of the Excel window.

What is a Cell?

Cell: A cell is a rectangular area formed by the intersection of a column and a row. Cells are identified by the Cell Name (or Reference, which is found by combining the Column Letter with the Row Number.

For example the cell in Column "C" in Row "3" would be cell C3.  How are rows and columns labeled?

In all spreadsheet programs, including Microsoft Excel, rows are labeled using numbers (e.g., 1 to 1,048,576). All columns are labeled with letters from A to Z, then with two letters. For example, after the letter Z, the next column is AA, AB, AC, ..., AZ and then incrementing to BA, BB, BC, etc., to the last column XFD (16,384 columns)

The Name Box is located in the area above Column A, and displays the cell reference of the selected cell - the cell where the cursor is resting. In our spreadsheet above, the selected cell is C2. Notice that the column letter (C) and the row number (2) change color.

The beginning of the Formula Bar can be seen in the area above Column D on our worksheet. The Formula Bar displays the contents of the selected cell.

Moving from Cell to Cell

The arrow keys can be used to move left, right, up, and down from the current cell. Press the Enter key to move to the cell immediately below the current cell, and press the Tab key to move one cell to the right.

Selecting Cells

There are a variety of ways to select cells in an Excel spreadsheet:

To select one cell, click in the cell.

To select one or more rows of cells, click on the row number(s).

To select one or more columns of cells, click on the column letter(s).

To select a group of contiguous cells, click in a corner cell and, with the left mouse button depressed, drag the cursor horizontally and/or vertically until all of the cells you want selected are outlined in black.

To select multiple cells that are not contiguous, press and hold the Ctrl key while clicking in the desired cells.

To select every cell in the worksheet, click in the upper right corner of the worksheet to the left of "A."