What is Excel?

Excel is pronounced "Eks - sel"

It is a spreadsheet program developed by
Microsoft. Excel organizes data in columns and
rows and allows you to do mathematical
functions. It runs on Windows, macOS, Android
and iOS.
The first version was released in 1985 and has
gone through several changes over the years.
However, the main functionality mostly remains
the same.
Excel is typically used for:
 Analysis
 Data entry
 Data management
 Accounting
 Budgeting
 Data analysis
 Visuals and graphs
 Programming
 Financial modeling
 And much, much more!
Why Use Excel?
 It is the most popular spreadsheet program in
the world
 It is easy to learn and to get started.
 The skill ceiling is high, which means that you
can do more advanced things as you become
better
 It can be used with both work and in everyday
life, such as to create a family budget
 It has a huge community support
 It is continuously supported by Microsoft
 Templates and frameworks can be reused by
yourself and others, lowering creation costs

Overview
This chapter is about giving you an overview of Excel. Excel's structure is
made of two pieces, the Ribbon and the Sheet.

Have a look at the picture below. The Ribbon is marked with a red rectangle
and the Sheet is marked with a yellow rectangle:
First, let's start with explaining the Ribbon.

The Ribbon explained

The Ribbon provides shortcuts to Excel commands. A command is an action
that allows you to make something happen. This can for example be to:
insert a table, change the font size, or to change the color of a cell.

The Ribbon may look crowded and hard to understand at first. Don't be
scared, It will become easier to navigate and use as you learn more. Most of
the time we tend to use the same functionalities over again.

The Ribbon is made up by the App

launcher, Tabs, Groups and Commands. In this section we will explain
the different parts of the Ribbon.
App launcher
The App launcher icon has nine dots and is called the Office 365 navigation
bar. It allows you to access the different parts of the Office 365 suite, such
as Word, PowerPoint and Outlook. App launcher can be used to switch
seamlessly between the Office 365 applications.

Tabs
The tab is a menu with sub divisions sorted into groups. The tabs allow users
to quickly navigate between options of menus which display different groups
of functionality.

Groups
The groups are sets of related commands. The groups are separated by the
thin vertical line break.

Commands
The commands are the buttons that you use to do actions.

Now, let's have a look at the Sheet. Soon you will be able to understand the
relationship between the Ribbon and the Sheet, and you can make things
happen.

The Sheet explained

The Sheet is a set of rows and columns. It forms the same pattern as we
have in math exercise books, the rectangle boxes formed by the pattern are
called cells.

Values can be typed to cells.

Values can be both numbers and letters:

Copy Values

Each cell has its unique reference, which is its coordinates, this is where the
columns and rows intersect.

How to fill range in Excel********************

Sequence of Dates
The fill function can also be used to fill dates.

Test it by typing A1(29.07.2021):

And fill the range A1:A10:
The fill function has filled 10 days from A1(29.07.2021) to A10(07.08.2021).

Note that it switched from July to August in cell A4. It knows the calendar and
will count real dates.

*********Adding Rows and columns************

Relative and Absolute References

Cells in Excel have unique references, which is its location.

References are used in formulas to do calculations, and the fill function can
be used to continue formulas sidewards, downwards and upwards.
Excel has two types of references:

1. Relative references
2. Absolute references

Absolute reference is a choice we make. It is a command which tells Excel to

lock a reference.

The dollar sign ($) is used to make references absolute.

Example of relative reference: A1

Example of absolute reference: $A$1

Relative reference
References are relative by default, and are without dollar sign ($).

The relative reference makes the cells reference free. It gives the fill function
freedom to continue the order without restrictions.

Let's have a look at a relative reference example, helping the Pokemon

trainers to count their Pokeballs (B2:B7) and Great balls (C2:C7).

Absolute References
Absolute reference is when a reference has the dollar sign ( $).

It locks a reference in the formula.

Add $ to the formula to use absolute references.

The dollar sign has three different states:

 Absolute for column and row. The reference is absolutely locked.

Example =$A$1

 Absolute for the column. The reference is locked to that column. The
row remains relative.
Example =$A1
  Absolute for the row. The reference is locked to that row. The column
remains relative.
Example =A$1

Let's have a look at an example helping the Pokemon trainers to calculate

prices for Pokeballs

Type or copy the following data:

Copy Values

Data explained

 There are 6 trainers: Iva, Liam, Adora, Jenny, Iben and Kasper.
 They have different amount of Pokeballs each in their shop cart
 The price per Pokeball is 2 coins

Help them to calculate the prices for the Pokeballs.

The price's reference is B11, we do not want the fill function to change this, so
we lock it.

The reference is absolutely locked by using the formula $B$11.

How to do it, step by step:

1. Type C2(=)
2. Select B11
3. Type ($) before the B and 11 ($B$11)
4. Type (*)
5. Select B2
6. Hit enter
7. Auto fill C2:C7
Excel Format Painter
Format Painter
The format painter is a command which lets you copy formatting from one
cell to another.

It is a great tool, which saves you lots of time!

The Format painter can be used to copy to single cells or ranges.

Format Painter is used by clicking on its button in the Ribbon, found in the
Clipboard group.

How To Use the Format Painter

1. Select the cell that you want to copy
2. Click the Format Painter button
3. Select a cell or range

Number Formats
The default Number format is General.

Why change number formats?

 Make data explainable

 Prepare data for functions, so that Excel understands what kind of data
you are working with.

Examples of number formats:

  General
 Number
 Currency
 Time

Number formats can be changed by clicking the Number format dropdown,

accessed in the Ribbon, found in the Numbers group.

Note: You can switch the Ribbon view to access more Number format
options.

Excel Sorting
Ranges can be sorted using the Sort Ascending and Sort
Descending commands.

Sort Ascending: from smallest to largest.

Sort Descending: from largest to smallest.

The sort commands work for text too, using A-Z order.

Note: To sort a range that has more than one column, the whole range has
to be selected. Sorting just one can breaks the relationship between
columns.

Excel Filter
Filters can be applied to sort and hide data. It makes data analysis easier.

Note: Filter is similar to formatting a table, but it can be applied and

deactivated.

The menu is accessed in the default Ribbon view or in the Data section in
the navigation bar.

Applying Filter
Filters are applied by selecting a range and clicking the Filter command.

It is important to have a row of headers when applying filters. Having

headers is useful to make the data understandable.

Note: Filters are applied to the top row in a range.

Conditional Formatting
Conditional formatting is used to change the appearance of cells in a range
based on your specified conditions.

The conditions are rules based on specified numerical values or matching

text.

Changing the appearance of cells can visually highlight interesting data

points for analysis.

The browser version of Excel provides a number of built-in conditions and

appearances:

Note: The web browser version of Excel only offers a selection of built-in
conditional formatting options.

The Excel application has the option of creating fully customized conditional
formatting rules.

Highlight Cell Rules

Highlight Cell Rules is a premade type of conditional formatting in Excel used
to change the appearance of cells in a range based on your
specified conditions.

The conditions are rules based on specified numerical values, matching text,
calendar dates, or duplicated and unique values.

Here is the Highlight Cell Rules part of the conditional formatting menu:

Appearance Options
The web browser version of Excel offers the following appearance options for
conditionally formatted cells:

 Light Red Fill with Dark Red Text

 Yellow Fill with Dark Yellow Text
 Green Fill with Dark Green Text
 Light Red Fill
 Red Text
 Red Border

Here is how the options look in a spreadsheet:

Cell Rule Types
Excel offers the following cell rule types:

 Greater Than...
 Less Than...
 Between...
 Equal To...
 Text That Contains...
 A Date Occurring...
 Duplicate/Unique Values