Getting Started With Excel

Once you have Excel open, come back to the tutorial. Remember, you can use ALT+TAB to switch between Excel and the tutorial.

When you first open Excel, the screen you see will look like the example below:

The Parts of the Excel Screen

Throughout the tutorial, you will be asked to use the various tools and menus that Excel shows on its screen. This section of the tutorial will teach you what each part of Excel is called and explain its basic function.

The Title Bar

The Title Bar is located at the very top of the screen. On the Title bar, Microsoft Excel displays the name of the file that is currently open.

Exercise: Switch to Excel now, you should see the title bar at the very top, like this:

The Menu Bar

The Menu bar is directly below the Title Bar. It shows all of the menu options for Excel. Each item on the menu, such as File, Edit, Windows and so on contains various functions that you can use in Excel.

To access the menus, click on the menu option with yuor mouse. You will see a drop-down menu with more options. To select a menu option, just click on it with your mouse. An ellipse (...) after a menu item means there is another sub menu. If you select that item, you will get another set of choices.

The menu bar will usually only display menu items that have been recently used. If this is the case, you will see two arrows at the bottom of the pull down that you can click on to see the rest of the menu choices.

Exercise:

1. Switch to Excel. Find the menu bar and click on the "FILE" menu item until its drop down box appears.
2. Click on the arrows at the bottom of the drop down menu and look at the rest of the menu choices that are available.

The Tool Bars

Excel has two default tool bars that will normally appear directly below the menu bar unless someone has customized Excel so it will not show them.

The standard tool bars are the "Default Toolbar" which has functions to open and close files, cut and paste and so on. The other one that is generally open is the "Formatting Toolbar" which has functions to format text. In some Excel windows, they will be side by side rather than up and down from one another.

If the default toolbars are not displayed, click on the menu item "VIEW", then on toolbars and click on their titles on the drop down list.

Exercise: Switch to Excel. Find the two default toolbars. If you cannot find them, then use the VIEW menu item and the Toolbar drop down to display them.

The Formula Bar

The formula bar is usually right below the the standard tool bars. It is used to enter information into a particular area in the body of the Excel spreadsheet. It also keeps track of where the information will be entered on the spreadsheet.

Exercise: If the formula bar is missing, then click on the the menu item "VIEW" and click on Formula Bar. The formula bar will then be displayed.

The Worksheet

The worksheet is the main part of the Excel spreadsheet, where information is displayed. You can also enter information directly into the the worksheet. An Excel file can contain one or more worksheets. The entire collection of worksheets in an Excel file is called a "workbook". The individual worksheets are call "worksheets".

The Tab Bar

Each worksheet in an Excel workbook is accessed by clicking on its tab on the Tab Bar. The Tab Bar is always at the bottom of each worksheet. The Tab Bar also has horizontal scroll bars you can use to access tabs that extend beyond the display area of the worksheet screen.

Exercise: Click on each tab that is showing in the Excel window to see how the tabs work.

The Status Bar

At the very bottom of the screen is the Status Bar. It should be displaying the word "Ready" in the lower left hand corner. This means that Excel is ready for work to be done. Other words will appear on the Status bar as various functions are turned on and off. For example, if you have the number lock turned on, you will see "NUM" displayed.

Exercise: If the status bar is missing, then click on the the menu item "VIEW" and click on Formula Bar. The formula bar will then be displayed.

Docking and Undocking Toolbars

Tool bars can be undocked, which means that they can be detached from their usual position. They will then float over the top of the Excel screen.

To undock a tool bar, hold the mouse cursor over the vertical line or lines on the left hand corner of until you see a "cross" symbol.

When you see that, hold your left mouse button down and drag the toolbar out of the toolbar dock area.

The toolbar will look like this when it is undocked:

You can drag the tool bar around by holding the mouse down on the title area at the top.

To dock the tool bar, simply grab it by its title and drag it back into the dock area. It will re-position itself when it is in the dock area.

Exercise: Grab the standard toolbar and undock it. Drag it to the middle of the screen. Then dock it in its default position at the top of the screen.

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