The Excel Screen

Title Bar

Using Menus

Using Menus

(cont.)

Using Menus

(cont.)

Using Menus

(cont.)

Using Menus

(cont.)

Using Menus

(cont.)

Using Menus

(cont.)

Using Menus

(cont.)

Displaying Full Menu Commands

Displaying Full Menu Commands

(cont.)

Displaying Full Menu Commands

(cont.)

Displaying Full Menu Commands

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Displaying Full Menu Commands

(cont.)

Displaying Full Menu Commands

(cont.)

Toolbars

Toolbars

(cont.)

Toolbar Options

Toolbar Options

(cont.)

Personalised Toolbars

Personalised Toolbars

(cont.)

Personalised Toolbars

(cont.)

Personalised Toolbars

(cont.)

Personalised Toolbars

(cont.)

Displaying Toolbars in Rows

Displaying Toolbars in Rows

(cont.)

Displaying Toolbars in Rows

(cont.)

Displaying Toolbars in Rows

(cont.)

Displaying Toolbars in Rows

(cont.)

Displaying Toolbars in Rows

(cont.)

The Worksheet

Cells

Cells

(cont.)

Identifying the Active Cell

Formula Bar

Formula Bar

(cont.)

Formula Bar

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Formula Bar

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Sheet Tabs

Sheet Tabs

(cont.)

The Status Bar

The Windows Taskbar

Hiding the Taskbar

Hiding the Taskbar

(cont.)

Hiding the Taskbar

(cont.)

Hiding the Taskbar

(cont.)

Hiding the Taskbar

(cont.)

Hiding the Taskbar

(cont.)

Mouse Pointer Shapes

The I-Beam Cursor

The Thick Cross Pointer

The Thick Cross Pointer

(cont.)

The White Arrow

The White Arrow

(cont.)

The Fill Handle

De-selecting Cells

De-selecting Cells

(cont.)

In this course, we will use a workbook called Connor's Health Suite to learn about Excel's screen components.

The Title bar displays the Connor's Health Suite workbook File name, alongside the Excel application name.

The Menu bar provides access to Excel's various commands.

These commands are grouped logically into menus with only the menu name displayed.

To access a command you must first open the relevant menu by clicking on it.

Notice that the commands on the File menu are all in black text.

This confirms that all of the options are currently available.

Depending on what you are doing at the time Excel may make some options unavailable in which case they will be displayed in grey text.

Commonly used commands such as Save also display icons and Shortcut keys.

The icons indicate that the option can also be selected from a Toolbar (we will cover Toolbars later in this course).

Shortcut keys are for people who prefer to use the keyboard rather than the menus or Toolbars.

As well as selecting Save from the File menu, you can click on its Toolbar button or hold down the Ctrl key and press the S key.

To select a menu command, you simply click on it.

We will be doing plenty of this as the training progresses.

Once one menu is open you can also display another by simply pointing to the one you require.

When you first start Excel only the most commonly used commands are displayed on what is called a short menu.

A full menu (showing all of the commands available) can be viewed by either pointing to the menu for several seconds, double-clicking on the menu, or clicking on the arrows at the bottom of the menu.

The View menu now also includes the less common commands.

Full menu viewing is carried over to any other menus that you might point to until either a command is selected or an action is performed.

Excel will add the commands that you select to your short menu.

Let's select the Full Screen command.

In Full screen mode only the menu options are displayed.

Elements such as the Taskbar are hidden so that more of the document can be displayed.

Let's now re-open the View menu to see if the Full Screen command has been added to the short menu.

Notice that the Full Screen command now appears on the View short menu.

If you do not use this command again it will eventually stop displaying there.

Let's now de-select the Full Screen command, so that the menus are automatically displayed again. To do so you simply select the Full Screen command again.

The Customize command on the Tools menu allows you to permanently display full menus.

Now select the Customize command.

To de-activate the default short menus and permanently display full menu commands we need to select the Always show full menus option.

Displaying Full Menu commands is as easy as that.

Let's now close this box and check that the setting is active.

To verify that short menus have been turned off, let's re-open the View menu.

The full set of commands for the View menu are now automatically listed, so the arrows do not appear at the bottom of the menu.

Let's close the View menu, this time using the Esc key on your keyboard.

Toolbars contain buttons that offer instant access to the most commonly used commands.

Excel offers many different Toolbars to support different tasks that you are working on, so each can be turned on or off.

When you first start Excel the most commonly used commands appear as buttons on either the Standard or Formatting Toolbars.

To discover a specific button's use you can display its Tool tip by holding the mouse pointer still for a couple of seconds over it.

You will notice that most of the buttons offer options for formatting text.

This is because the Formatting toolbar is using most of the space at the moment.

The Standard toolbar is positioned to the left of the Formatting Toolbar, with only it's Save button displayed.

The rest of the Standard Toolbar buttons are hidden under its Toolbar Options button.

The Toolbar Options offer access to buttons that are not currently displayed.

Let's find out what each of these buttons do by displaying their Tool tips.

For convenience, both the Standard and Formatting Toolbar options offer access to buttons from both Toolbars.

As you work with Excel the Toolbars can be personalised by displaying buttons that you select from the Add or Remove Buttons option.

For convenience, both the Standard and Formatting Toolbar options offer access to buttons from both Toolbars.

As you work with Excel the Toolbars can be personalised by displaying buttons that you select from the Add or Remove Buttons option.

A check on this menu confirms the buttons that are currently displayed on the Toolbars.

Let's select the Font Color option.

The Font Color button has been added to the Formatting Toolbar.

It has replaced the Increase and Decrease decimal buttons, placing them on the Toolbar options list.

Excel will have calculated that these buttons are used less often than any other buttons currently displayed.

Let's close the Add or Remove Formatting menu, by pressing the Esc key.

Let's try using the Font Color button.

The Font Color button has changed the worksheet's title to red. We will find out more about this tool in a later course.

You can customise your toolbars by selecting the Customize option from either the Tools menu or the Toolbar Shortcut menu.

The Toolbar Shortcut menu can be opened by right-clicking anywhere on a Toolbar.

The Toolbar Shortcut menu displays the various Toolbars that are available.

The Picture Toolbar for example, provides access to tools for working with graphic images.

The checks beside the Standard and Formatting Toolbars confirm that they are currently selected.

To close the Toolbar menu without making a selection you either click outside it or press the Esc key.

Let's have a look at the settings that are available to us under the Customize command.

When customising Excel, it is easy to make a mistake so the Reset menu and toolbar usage data button can be used to reset any changes that you make.

You can also display each Toolbar in a separate row so that more of the buttons are displayed at the same time.

Let's confirm the setting and close the Customize box.

This can be done by either clicking on the Close button or pressing the Enter key.

The Standard and Formatting toolbars are now displayed on separate rows and so are able to display more of their respective buttons.

A worksheet consists of a grid of columns and rows.

You can only see some of the columns and rows and therefore a portion of the total worksheet on screen at any time.

The columns are named alphabetically from left to right, starting at column A.

The rows are named numerically from top to bottom, starting at row 1.

The box that is formed at the intersection of a row and a column is called a cell.

Cell C5 for example, is the intersection of column C and row 5.

C5 is an example of a cell reference, which is used to exactly describe a specific position in the worksheet grid.

Cells can contain any one of three types of data.

The entry at cell A5 is an example of a text label.

Cell B8 contains a numeric entry, while cell D9 is the result of a formula.

The rectangular highlight in cell A1 is called the Cell Indicator.

The Cell Indicator highlights the current cell.

You can change the current cell by simply clicking on another.

Let's select cell A5.

We have selected cell A5 so the Formula bar displays the contents of that cell.

If the selected cell is empty, the Formula bar will also be empty.

An Enter button and a Cancel button are displayed on the Formula bar.

When you edit the contents of a cell you can use these buttons to either confirm or cancel your entry.

If you point to the buttons a ToolTip will appear displaying each button's name.

The button marked fx is the Insert Formula button.

It opens a palette designed to assist you when entering a formula.

The button cannot be activated at the moment, because formulas cannot be entered into a text cell.

Let's leave the current cell as it is, by simply pressing the Enter key, which will also move us down one cell.

When you press Enter the Cell Indicator is automatically placed in the cell below.

The Cell Indicator has moved down to cell A6 as is confirmed by the Name Box on the left of the Formula bar.

In Excel a file is referred to as a workbook.

Although a workbook can contain up to two hundred and fifty five worksheets, they are pre-set to offer three when first created.

Each worksheet displays a tab with its name on it.

The first worksheet is named Sheet1 and is currently active, so its tab is white with bold text.

To display a worksheet you simply click on its tab.

If you add more worksheets than can be displayed across the bottom of the pane, the Tab scrolling buttons allow you to display those tabs that are not in view.

The Status bar currently displays Ready, indicating that Excel is waiting for your actions.

On the right of the Status bar, an indicator appears when keys such as Num Lock are activated.

For the purpose of this course we have activated the Num Lock indicator.

The Taskbar is generally located below the Status bar at the bottom of the screen.

It displays a button for each file that you have open at any time.

If you would like to free up screen space so that you can display more of your worksheet at one time, you can hide the Taskbar.

To do so you need to access the Taskbar Properties box from the Taskbar Shortcut menu.

Let's open the Taskbar's Properties box.

Notice that the Auto-hide option is not currently selected.

Let's click on the Auto-hide the taskbar option and then confirm the setting by clicking on the OK button.

Notice that the Auto-hide option is not currently selected.

Let's click on the Auto-hide the taskbar option and then confirm the setting by clicking on the OK button.

With the Taskbar hidden more of the worksheet can be displayed.

To access the Taskbar now you simply point to the bottom of the screen.

The Taskbar will disappear again as soon as you point back to the Worksheet.

The mouse pointer changes shape as you point at different parts of the Excel screen and is also based on the task that you are performing.

Learning what each mouse shape does will help you to understand how to navigate the many features that Excel offers.

When you edit data on the Formula bar or in a cell the pointer is displayed as an I-Beam.

The I-Beam is shaped to help you exactly position the insertion point, as well as to select text.

The Thick Cross pointer is displayed when the cursor is in the worksheet cell area.

Clicking on the first cell you require and then holding down Shift and clicking on the last cell can select a range of cells.

Let's try selecting the cells A5 to C9.

The Thick Cross pointer is displayed when the cursor is in the worksheet cell area.

Clicking on the first cell you require and then holding down Shift and clicking on the last cell can select a range of cells.

Let's try selecting the cells A5 to C9.

The diagonal left pointing White Arrow is the default cursor and is displayed during tasks such as selecting commands from Menus and Toolbars, or using Scroll bars.

The White Arrow also appears when you position the pointer over the borders of a selected range of cells.

Once it appears, you can drag the contents of the cell or cells to another location on the worksheet.

The Fill handle is the small box displayed at the bottom right corner of the cell indicator.

The mouse pointer is displayed as a black cross when placed over it.

Dragging the black cross will fill a block of cells with either the same entry, or entries that form a series.

Let's de-select cells A5 to C9 by clicking on another cell.

The grouped cells are immediately de-selected and cell A3 is now the active cell.

This concludes the topics covered in this course.

Please click on the File menu.

Please point to the View menu.

Please click on the arrows at the bottom of the View menu.

Please click on the Full Screen command.

Please click on the View menu.

Please click on the Full Screen command.

Please click on the Tools menu.

Please click on Customize.

Please click on the Always show full menus option.

Please click on the Close button.

Please click on the View menu.

Please press the Esc key.

Please position the mouse pointer over each button on the Toolbars and then click on Next when you have finished.

Please click on the Toolbar Options button for the Standard Toolbar.

Please position the mouse pointer over the additional buttons and then click on Toolbar options on the Formatting toolbar when you have finished.

Please click on the Add or Remove Buttons option and then point to Formatting.

Please click on the Add or Remove Buttons option and then point to Formatting.

Please click on Font Color option.

Please press the Esc key.

Please click on the Font Colour button.

Please right-click on the toolbar by the arrow.

Please place the mouse cursor over the down arrow to display the bottom of the Toolbar menu.

Please click on Customize.

Please click on the Show Standard and Formatting toolbars on two rows option.

Please click on the Close button or press the Enter key on your keyboard.

Please position the mouse pointer over each button on the Standard and Formatting Toolbars and then click on Next when finished.

Please click on cell A5.

Please click to the right of Aerobics on the Formula bar.

Please point to the Enter and the Cancel buttons and then click on Next when you have finished.

Please press Enter.

Please right-click on the Taskbar to open its Shortcut menu.

Please click on Properties.

Please click on the Auto-hide the taskbar check box and then click on the OK button.

Please click on the Auto-hide the taskbar check box and then click on the OK button.

Please point to the bottom of the screen.

Please point to the Worksheet.

Please move the pointer inside the Formula bar and then click on Next when you have finished.

Please click in cell A5 and then while holding down the Shift key click in cell C9.

Please click in cell A5 and then while holding down the Shift key click in cell C9.

Please click on cell A3.