Introduction to MS Excel

Getting Started with Excel

XP
Outline
 Overall feature of Microsoft Excel,
 Build spreadsheets,
 Worksheet fundamentals,
 Working with basic formulas,
 Working with Formula functions,
 Creating charts,
 Sorting and filtering concept
What is MS Excel
• is a software program from Microsoft Company.
• is capable of creating and editing spreadsheets that are saved with
a .xls or .xlsx file extension.
• General uses of Excel include cell-based calculation, pivot tables,
and various graphing tools.
• For instance, with an Excel spreadsheet, you could create a monthly
budget, track business expenses, or sort and organize large amounts
of data.
 What is MS Excel
• Unlike a word processor, such as Microsoft Word, the Excel
documents consist of columns and rows of data, made up of
individual cells.
• Each of these cells can contain either text or numerical values
that can be calculated using formulas.
Worksheet
 An Excel worksheet is a single spreadsheet that contains
cells organized by rows and columns.
 A worksheet begins with row number one and column A.
 Each cell can contain a number, text or formula.
 In Excel 2010, the maximum size of a worksheet is
1,048,576 rows by 16,384 columns.
 (17,179,869,184 cells per worksheet)
Workbook
 A workbook is an Excel file that contains one or more
worksheets.
 Each of the workbook's worksheets are in separate tabs on
the bottom of the Excel window.
 By default, a new Excel workbook will contain three
worksheets.
 You can switch between worksheets by clicking on the
worksheet' tab on the bottom of the Excel window.
Excel Components
 MS Excel
File menu:
 When clicked, this button opens the new Backstage View
containing a bunch of file-related options including:
 Save
 Save As
 Open
 Close
 Info
 Recent
 New
 Print
 Share and
 Exit
 MS Excel
Quick Access toolbar:
 You can click the Save, Undo, and Redo buttons to perform
common tasks to save your work and undo and redo editing
changes.
MS Excel
Ribbon:
 Most Excel commands are contained in the Ribbon.
 They are arranged into a series of tabs ranging from Home through
View.
MS Excel
Formula bar:
 This displays the address of the current cell along with the contents
of that cell.
MS Excel
Status bar:
 This bar keeps you informed of the program’s current mode and
any special keys you engage, and enables you to select a new
worksheet view and to zoom in and out on the worksheet.
MS Excel

 A column in Excel is a vertical arrangement of data, and a row in

Excel is a horizontal arrangement of data.
 Vertical columns are numbered with alphabetic values such as A,
B, C.
 Horizontal rows are numbered with numeric values such as 1, 2, 3.
 A cell is the intersection between a row and a column on a
spreadsheet that starts with cell A1.
 So cell B4 means: Column B, Row 4
MS Excel
MS Excel – Data Type
• A cell can only store 1 piece of data at a time.
• The cell in the worksheet in which you can type data is called
the active cell.
• Cells can hold four basic types of information:
– Numbers - which includes formulas, dates, and times;
– Text data - often referred to as text strings or just strings;
– Boolean values (logical values) - TRUE or FALSE only;
– Error values - such as #NAME!, #REF!, and #DIV/0! - which are
generated by the program when it encounters a problem with the data
in a cell.
MS Excel
 MS Excel - Selection
 To select with mouse, drag the mouse over the data
you want to select.
 It will select those cells as shown below.
 MS Excel
 To select with special, If you want to select specific
region, select any cell in that region.
 Pressing F5 will show the below dialogue box.
 MS Excel
 Click on Special button to see the below dialogue
box. Select current region from the radio buttons.
 Click on ok to see the current region selected.
 MS Excel
 So, once you have selected all cells you can applyany
formatting you like.
 What’s the value?
 In a typical spreadsheet, numbers (or numeric data entries) can be
as prevalent as the text entries.
 Number entries that you make in your spreadsheet can be divided
into three categories:
 Numbers that you input directly into a cell.
 Date and time numbers that are also input directly into a cell
but are automatically displayed with the default Date and Time
number formats.
 Numbers calculated by formulas that you build yourself by
using simple arithmetical operators and/or Excel’s sophisticated
built-in functions.
 Inputting numbers
 When inputting numbers, you can mix the digits 0–9
with the following keyboard characters: + – () $ . , %

 Preface the digits of the number with a plus sign

(+) when you want to explicitly designate the
number as positive, as in +(53) to convert
negative 53 into positive 53.
 Excel considers all numbers to be positive unless
you designate them as negative.
Inputting numbers
 Preface the digits of the number with – or enclose
them in a pair of parentheses to indicate that the
number is a negative number, as in –53 or (53).

 Preface the digits of the number with a dollar sign

($), as in $500, to format the number with the
Currency style format as you enter it

 Input a period (.) in the digits of the number to

indicate the position of the decimal point in the
number, as in 500.25.
Inputting numbers
 Input commas (,) between the digits of a number
to indicate the position of thousands, hundred
thousands, millions, billions, and the like, and to
assign the Comma style number format to the
number, as in 642,153.

 Append the percent sign (%) to the digits of a

number to convert the number into a percentage
and assign the Percent number style to it, as in
12%.
 Format cells
 To format a cell, select the cell column header you
want to format,
 right click --> Format cells
 or (Ctrl + 1)
 Custom formats
 Custom formats are a powerful tool for taking control
of how Excel formats your numbers.
 Unfortunately, they aren’t exactly easy to master.
 the format string $#,##0.00 translates into the
following series of instructions:
 $..............tells Excel to add a currency symbol
before the number.
 #,##........tells Excel to use commas to separate
thousands.
 0.00........tells Excel to always include a single
digit and two decimal places, no matter what the
number is.
 Custom formats
 0 ------This digit placeholder forces a zero to appear whenever a
number isn’t provided. (0.000 displays .3 as 0.300.)
 ? ------This digit placeholder forces a space to appear whenever a
number isn’t provided. (?.??? displays .3 as “ .3 [(“) quotations
used to indicate spacing].
 # ------This digit placeholder indicates where you can place a
number, but doesn’t automatically insert a 0 or space if there isn’t a
number in this position. You can use this symbol to set the
precision of decimal values or to indicate where commas should
go. (###.# displays .3 as .3 and #,### displays 9999 as 9,999.)
 Custom formats
 . -----------The period, or decimal point, determines
where the decimal place will go. You use it in
conjunction with the digit placeholders 0, ?, and #.
(#.## truncates 1.23456 to 1.23.)

 [color] -----Applies a specified color to the text that

follows the closing bracket. The color name goes
inside the square brackets. Excel supports eight
colors: [black], [blue], [cyan], [green], [magenta],
[red],[white], and [yellow]. ([red]#,### displays the
number that follows the brackets in red lettering.)
Excel Selection Techniques
 Selecting a range of connecting cells
 Click the first cell within the range
 Then press and hold shift key
 Then click the last cell
 Selecting a range of non-connecting cells
 Click the first cell you want to select
 Then keeping pressed ctrl key
 Then click on the other cells
Selecting a range of connecting rows
 Select the first the row you want to select
 Then keeping pressed shift key
 Then click on the last row(the same applies to
column)
Selecting a range of non-connecting rows
 Select the first the row you want to select
 Then keeping pressed ctrl key
 Then click on the last row(the same applies to
column)
Conditional Formatting (Alt+O+D)
• Format cells based on a condition
– Red font for expenses that exceed $100.
– Highlight the cells you would like to apply a conditional formatting rule.
– In Home tab, select Conditional Formatting. Select Highlight Cell Rules and
Greater Than.
– Select a cut point number (100) and a style of text.
Conditional Formatting
• Explore more conditions
– Top/Bottom Rules: Top 10, Above Average
– Data columns
– Formatting Styles
– Color Scale
– Icon Set
Data Validation
• Excel allow us to validate the data provided by end user
whether it meets minimum requirement or not.
• Select the cell where the data is going to be and under
data menu select data validation tab.
Manipulating rows and columns
Inserting rows
 Select the row/cell where you want to insert
 Then right click
 Then click on the Insert >>Entire row
Inserting columns
 Select the row/cell where you want to insert
 Then right click
 Then click on the Insert >>Entire column
Deleting rows
 Select the row header you want to remove
 Then right click
 Then click Delete

or
 Select a cell
 Right click
 Select Entire row
Deleting columns
 Select the column header you want to remove
 Then right click
 Then click Delete

or
 Select a cell
 Right click
 Select Entire column
Auto-filling
 There is an easy method to fill the data in columns and rows.
 The data may be Numeric or dates and text.
 When the mouse pointer changes shape, press the mouse button
move down the column or to the right where you want to autofill
or copy your data.
 When you release the mouse button you will see that the Excel has
Auto-filled the range you dragged across.
Auto-filling
Auto-filling
Auto-filling
Auto-filling
Inserting a Cell
 You can insert cells, columns or rows when necessary to change
the arrangement of the data on the worksheet.
 When you insert cell(s) into a worksheet, existing cells shift their
position to the right or down.
 For example, if you select A1 and then insert a cell (by shifting
cells right), the data that was in cell A1 is shifted to the right and
becomes cell B1.
 If you select A1 and then insert a cell (by shifting cells down), the
data that was in cell A1 is shifted to the bottom cell and becomes
cell A2.
Inserting a Cell
Inserting a Cell
Protect sheet
 Protect particular cell
 To protect your cell
 Protection tab
 check locked button
 Review tab
 Changes group
 Review tab
 Protect sheet
 Type & confirm password
 Cell Reference
 When you create a formula that references other cells, Excel
attempts to simplify your life by applying automatic formatting.

 It reads the number format that the source cells (that is, the cells
being referred to ) use, and applies that format to the cell that
contains the formula.

 Absolute Reference
 Relative Reference
 Mixed Reference
 Relative Reference
 When a formula is copied, the relative reference is used.
 Relative reference is the distance, in rows and columns,
between the reference and the cell containing the formula.
 For example, in Cell A1, type the number 100. In Cell B1, type
the formula =A1.
 Cell B1 is one column to the right of Cell A1.
 When the formula is copied from Cell B1 to Cell B10, the
distance between the reference and the cell containing the
formula remains one column.
 Absolute Reference
 Use the previous example and select Cell B1.
 In the formula bar, select the reference A1, and press F4. The
result is =$A$1.
 Copy the contents of Cell B1 to Cell B10.
 Notice that the formula does not change; the formula reference
remains constant as =$A$1.
 Use F4
 Example:
 relative reference to the column and row, =A1.
 absolute reference to the column and row, =$A$1.
 Mixed Reference
 Some formulas don’t require you to change the entire cell
reference from relative to absolute in order to copy them
correctly.
 In some situations, you only need to indicate that the column
letter or the row number remains unchanged in all copies of the
original formula.
 A cell reference that is part relative and part absolute is called a
mixed cell reference.
 Example: relative reference (column) and absolute reference
(row), =A$1.
 Absolute reference (column) and relative reference (row), =$A1
Health Break
 Basic Formula
 What is formula?
 A formula is a series of instructions that you place
in a cell in order to perform some kind of
calculation.
 These instructions may be as simple as telling Excel
to sum up a column of numbers.
 You enter each formula into a single cell.
 Excel calculates the result of a formula every time
you open a spreadsheet or change the data a
formula uses.
 Most formula results are numbers, but you can
create formulas that have text or Boolean (true or
 Basic Formula
 One of the simplest formulas you can create is this
one: =1+1
 Every formula must begin with the equal sign. It
signals to Excel that the cell contains a formula, not
just ordinary text.
 We can use simple operators like
+,-,/,*,^(exponent) and %.
 Excel's order of operations
 Mathematician-speak for deciding which
calculations to perform first when there’s more than
one calculation in a formula.
 For example, given the formula:
=10-2*3

The result depends on your order of operation, either:

24 or 4.
 Excel's order of operations
• Excel abides by the standard rules for the order of
operations, meaning it doesn’t necessarily process
your formulas from left to right.
• Instead, it evaluates complex formulas piece-by-
piece, in this order:
• 1. Parentheses (Excel always performs any
calculations in parentheses first)
• 2. Percent
• 3. Exponents
• 4. Division and Multiplication
• 5. Addition and Subtraction
 Excel's order of operations
For example, consider the following formula:
=5 + 2 * 2 ^ 3 - 1
To arrive at the answer of 20, Excel first performs the
exponentiation (2 to the power of 3):
=5 + 2 * 8 - 1 And then the multiplication:
=5 + 16 - 1 And then the addition and subtraction:
=20
To control this order, you can add parentheses. For example,
notice how adding parentheses affects the result in the
following formulas:
5 + 2 * 2 ^ (3 - 1) = 13
(5 + 2) * 2 ^ 3 - 1 = 55
(5 + 2) * 2 ^ (3 - 1) = 28
5 + (2 * (2 ^ 3)) - 1 = 20
 Functions
What are functions?
• A function is allows you to calculate a result such as adding
numbers together, or finding the average of a range of
numbers.
• Functions are located under the Formula tab.
• AVERAGE
• COLUMN
• COUNT: calculate only cells which have numbers in selection
• COUNTA: calculate cells which have which have numbers and text in selection
• COUNTBLANK: Calculate blank cells
• MAX
• MIN
• SUM
 MAX
• This function is used to return a maximum number
 MIN
• This function is used to return a minimum number
 COUNT
• This function is used to count cells with numbers in the list
 COUNTA
• This function is used to count the number of cells that are
not empty (cells with any value)
 COUNTBLANK
• This function is used to count empty cells within the range
 RANK
• This function is used to get the rank for the specified range
 Error
• Excel identifies errors in several ways.
• The first way is to display an error code in the cell
holding the formula generating the error.
• When a cell with an erroneous formula is the active
cell, an Error button is displayed next to it.
• Pointing to the Error button causes it to display an
arrow on the button’s right edge.
• Clicking the arrow displays a menu with options that
provide information about the error and offer to help
you fix it.
 Error
Error code & its description
• #####..........The column isn’t wide enough to
display the value.
• #VALUE!.........The formula has the wrong type of
argument (such as text in a cell where a numerical
value is req
• uired).
• #NAME?.........The formula contains text that Excel
doesn’t recognize (such as an unknown named
range).
• #REF!...............The formula refers to a cell that
doesn’t exist (which can happen whenever cells are
Functions
 If functions
• This function allows us to evaluate values and make
decisions based on the result of the evaluation.
• General Syntax:
• IF(LOGICAL_TEST, ACTION_IF_TRUE, ACTION_IF_FALSE)

• The Logical_Test evaluates an expression to see if it passes

the test, i.e, TRUE or do not pass the test, i.e, FALSE.
• ACTION_IF_TRUE can be a value or an operation which the
result is placed in the cell if the logical test is TRUE.
• ACTION_IF_FALSE can be avalue or an operation which the
result is placed in the cell if the logical test is FALSE.
If functions
Nested-If functions
SUMIF functions
SUMIFS functions
 Match one criterion exactly -- COUNTIF
In Excel, count cells that meet a specific criterion.
Select the cell in which you want to see the count (cell A12 in
this example)
• Type an equal sign (=) to start the formula
• Type: COUNTIF(
• Select the cells that contain the values to check for the
criterion. In this example, cells A1:A10 will be checked
• Type a comma, to separate the arguments
• Type the criterion. In this example, you're checking for text,
so type the word in double quotes: "Pen"
• Note: upper and lower case are treated equally
• Type a closing bracket
• The completed formula is: =COUNTIF(A1:A10,"Pen")
 Average cells that match criteria --
AVERAGEIF
• In Excel, average cells that meet a specific criterion.
• In this example only the quantities for the Pen orders will be
averaged.
• In this example, cells A1:A10 will be checked
• Type a comma, to separate the arguments
• Type the criterion. In this example, you're checking for text,
so type the word in double quotes: "Pen"
• Note: upper and lower case are treated equally
• Type a comma, to separate the arguments
• Select the cells that contain the values to average. In this
example, cells B1:B10 contain the values
• Type a closing bracket
• The completed formula is:
=AVERAGEIF(A1:A10,"Pen",B1:B10)
 Criterion and operator-- AVERAGEIF
• You can use an operator with a criterion.
• In this example only the rows where the quantity is greater
than or equal to ten will be averaged.
• Type a comma, to separate the arguments
• Type the criterion. In this example, you're checking for rows
where the quantity is greater than or equal to 10. The >=
operator is used before the number, and the entire criterion
is enclosed in double quotes: ">=10"
• Note: Even though this is a numerical criterion, it must
enclosed in double quote marks.
• Type a closing bracket
• The completed formula is:
=AVERAGEIF(B1:B10,">=10")
• Press the Enter key to complete the entry
Graph/Charts
Charts
• Microsoft Excel can display data graphically in a chart.
• Excel displays values from worksheet cells as bars, lines,
columns, pie slices, or other shapes in a chart.
• When you create a chart, the values from the worksheet
are automatically represented in the chart.
• Presenting data in a chart can make it easier to read and
more interesting to interpret.
• Charts can also help you evaluate your data and make
comparisons between different values.
Charts
• To create a chart, select the cells that contain the data
and text that you want to appear in the chart.
Sort and Filter
Sort and Filter
• The sorting feature in Excel allows you to place records in
order alphabetically or numerically.
• You may specify up to three sort levels (e.g. sort first by
state, then by city, then by last name).
• Sorts may be ascending (A-Z or 0-9) or descending (Z-
A or 9-0).
• You should always save the workbook before you sort.
Sort and Filter
• The spreadsheet AutoFilter allows you to view and
quickly locate data that meet specific criteria.
• This feature is faster and more productive than scroll
through your entire spreadsheet to find specific data
criteria.
• Once the information is filtered, you can printout the
displayed data.
• Once filtering is turned on, click arrows in the column
header to choose a filter for the column.