Basic Screen Elements

Let's start at the top and work our way down.  

The name of the current workbook is always displayed at the top of the program screen.  When a new workbook is opened, Excel names the workbook "Book1" by default.  This changes when the file is saved and a name is given.  Minimize, Maximize/Restore, and Close buttons are in the upper right-hand corner.  The top set of buttons is for the program itself.  The bottom set is for the current file, and will minimize, maximize and close the file within Excel without affecting the program.

The Menu Bar contains all the features and tools used in Excel.  You will learn about the menus by working in Excel and throughout the tutorials on this site.

The Standard Toolbar, Formatting Toolbar, and Formula Bar are present on the screen by default and are the tools most often used.  These are gone over in great detail in the next section of this tutorial.

The Active Cell is the cell where data is being entered.  Single-click on any cell to make it active and start typing data.  You do not need to see a flashing cursor within the cell before you start typing.  If you need to edit the contents of a cell, double-click on the cell and a cursor will appear for you to make changes.  Formulas and functions can also be entered in active cells.  The small black square in the lower right-hand corner of the active cell is called the Fill Handle.  This is used to automatically fill in common series, sequences and patterns.  To learn more, see my tutorial on Using AutoFill.

In the lower left-hand corner, you will find page navigation.  The active sheet tab is shown in white.  You can move throughout the sheets in a workbook by clicking on the sheet tabs.  To quickly give the sheet a different name, double-click on the sheet tab, type a new name, and press Enter.  To learn more, see the tutorial on Organizing Worksheets.  The arrows to the left of the sheet tabs help you to manage workbooks with many sheet tabs.  The middle set of arrows allow you to go to the previous or next sheet.  The outer arrows take you to the first and last sheet in the workbook.

Basic Toolbars

The Standard Toolbar

The first half of the Standard toolbar contains the following tools:

• New:  This opens a new, blank workbook.  Any other open workbooks remain open until you close them.  You can navigate between open workbooks by choosing the workbook name from the Window menu on the Menu Bar.

• Open:  This button opens an existing workbook file.  Choosing the button opens a box that allows you to navigate and find which file you want to open.

• Save:  When a file is saved for the first time, the Save as dialog box opens and allows you to give the file a name.  If the file has previously been saved, this button saves the changes under the same file name. 

• Print:  The Print button prints the file with the default printer settings.  This normally means one copy of the entire workbook.  To choose more options before printing, choose Print from the File menu.  To learn how to add headers and footers, work with page breaks and more, see the tutorial on Setting Print Features.

• Preview:  Choosing this button lets you see a preview of what the worksheet will look like when printed.  To return to the main Excel screen, choose the Close button on the print preview screen.

• Spell Check:  Ah, good ol' spell check!  You can run a spell check on the sheet by choosing this button or by pressing F7.  The Spelling dialog box is displayed and offers suggestions for the misspelled word.  In essence, select the correct word and choose the Change button.  If a word comes up during the spell check that is correctly spelled in the sheet (like a proper name) you can choose the Add button to add it to the dictionary so that it will not come up during spell check again.  Look for a more detailed tutorial on using spell check coming soon.

• Cut, Copy & Paste:  This set of buttons allows you to move data around on the worksheet without having to retype and manually delete.  Cut removes the data and holds it on the clipboard (don't look for the clipboard - just know it's there) so that you can paste the data in a new location.  Copy leaves the data in the original location and also places it on the clipboard to be pasted in an additional location.  Paste puts whatever is currently on the clipboard (whatever you cut or copied) in the new location.  So, you would either cut or copy, then move the active cell to the new location and choose Paste.  For a list of shortcuts for this and much more, see the tutorial on Excel Shortcuts.

• Format Painter:  This is a very handy tool.  Use it to "paint" the format from one area to another.  In other words, if you have formatted a number or text to be bold with a particular font and would like to use that same format on another number, select the cell with the original number, choose this button and select the cell where you would like the same formatting.  Excel places the same formatting on the new number.  You can also double-click this button if you have more than one cell that needs the same format of the original cell.  This allows you to click on several cells and apply the format.  In this case, when you are done formatting, click the Format Painter button again to turn it off.

• Undo:  Choosing this button lets you "undo" your last action and is a lifesaver.  You can click this button more than once to undo several actions.  You can also click the small drop-down arrow next to the Undo button and undo several actions at once.  Keep in mind, that choosing an action to undo from the drop-down arrow means that everything you did after that action is also undone.

• Redo:  Works the same way as Undo, but instead will "redo" an action - or several actions if you use the drop-down arrow.

The second half of the Standard toolbar contains these tools:

• Insert Hyperlink:  Allows you to link text or data to a Web site or another file.

• AutoSum:  If you have a list of numbers and need a total, like below, choose the cell for the total and then this button.  Excel shows you which cells will be added together.  You can either change the cells to be added by clicking and dragging over a new set, or accept the cells Excel has chosen by pressing Enter.

• Paste Function:  Functions in Excel help you to perform complex calculations.  To learn about this feature, see the tutorial on Using Functions.

• Sort buttons:  The Sort Ascending and Sort Descending buttons sort a column or set of data in either ascending or descending order.  Select the cells you want to sort by clicking and dragging, or click the letter of the column to select the entire column.  Then, choose the appropriate button.

• Chart Wizard:  You can add a chart or graph of your data to your spreadsheet by using this wizard.  Select the data in the sheet that you want to be in the chart, then choose this button to start the wizard.  The wizard walks you through creating the chart step-by-step.

• Drawing:  Opens the Drawing toolbar at the bottom of the screen where you can add AutoShapes like arrows and callout boxes, text boxes, circles, WordArt and much more.  Look for a tutorial on the Drawing toolbar coming soon.

• Zoom:  Changes the size of the worksheet on your screen so that you can see either more or less of the sheet when working with it.  You can also click in this box and type a percentage for the zoom.

• Help:  Opens Microsoft Excel Help where you can get help on a number of topics dealing with Excel's features and tools.

The Formatting Toolbar

The first half of the Formatting toolbar contains these tools:

• Font & Font Size:  Select the cell(s) and use the drop-down arrows to change the font face and font size of data in your worksheet.

• Bold, Italic & Underline:  Select the cell(s) and choose the appropriate button(s) to change the attributes.  Alternatively, you can use these keyboard shortcuts:  Ctrl + B (bold), Ctrl + I (italic), Ctrl + U (underline).  For more shortcuts, see the tutorial on Excel Shortcuts.

• Align Left, Center, Align Right:  These buttons change the alignment of the data in the cell.  Text by default is aligned left and numbers are aligned right in the cell.  To change this, select the cell and choose one of these buttons on the toolbar.  More alignment options are available by choosing Cells and the Alignment tab from the Format menu.

• Merge and Center:  Let's say you have a sheet with a title and data in several cells below it.  You want the title to be centered above the data in a single cell that spans the width of the data set.  To do this, you would select the cells above the data that you want merged together into a single cell and choose the Merge and Center button.  You now have one single cell with the title centered above the data set.

The second half of the Formatting toolbar contains the following:

• Currency Style:  Select the cells that need this style and choose the Currency Style button to apply a dollar sign and decimal points.

• Percent Style:  Quickly add a percent sign by selecting cells and choosing this button.

• Comma Style:  Select the cells in the worksheet and add commas with the Comma Style button.

• Increase Decimal & Decrease Decimal:  Select the cell(s) and increase or decrease the decimal places by choosing the appropriate button.  One decimal place is either added or subtracted with each click.

• Decrease Indent & Increase Indent:  Select the cell and decrease or increase the indention of the data in the cell by two spaces with each click.

• Borders:  Select the cell(s) and add a basic border by selecting the drop-down arrow next to this button and choosing where you want the border to be placed on the cell(s).  For example, you can outline the entire cell or just place a line at the bottom (see below).  You can also remove cell borders by choosing the first option below.  More options are available for bordering cells by going to Cells and the Border tab from the Format menu.

• Fill Color:  This is for shading the background of a cell or group of cells.  Choose the drop-down arrow next to the button to select from standard colors, or remove a fill color by selecting No Fill.  More options are available for shading cells by going to Cells and the Patterns tab from the Format menu.

• Font Color:  Choose the drop-down arrow next to this button and select one of the standard colors to change the font color of a cell.

The Formula Bar

• Name Box:  This box displays the current active cell location.  You can jump to another cell in the worksheet by clicking in this box, typing a cell reference, and pressing Enter.  You can also use this box to give a group of cells a more meaningful name that can be used in formulas (like Quarter1).  To learn how to create and use these named ranges, see the tutorial on Using Named Ranges.

Although a formula can be typed directly into an active cell by typing an equal sign and the formula, you can also enter a formula into a cell by using the Formula Bar.  Select the cell that will contain the formula and click in the Type Field in the Formula Bar.  Enter the data for the formula, and choose the Enter button.  Cancel removes anything you have typed in the Type Field.  The Edit button is used when you need to edit a formula that has already been entered into a cell.  Select the cell and choose the Edit button to edit the formula in the Type Field.  It should be noted that you can also double-click on the cell containing the formula and edit the formula directly in the worksheet.