Introduction to Microsoft Excel
by Louise Balle, Demand MediaMicrosoft Excel was first developed in 1984 by Bill Gates of the Microsoft Corporation. The graphical layout made it easier to use than similar spreadsheet programs that were in existence at the time. Its purpose is to give everyone from accountants and business owners to soccer moms the ability to manage finances. It is a database that is combined with a calculator, so you can store your data and crunch numbers at the same time.
General Format
Microsoft Excel is set up very similar to a standard word processing program. There is a menu that runs across the top of the screen that includes formatting, insertion, page layout, formula, data and viewing options. Each spreadsheet comes with multiple worksheets, that run across the bottom of the screen. The worksheet is made up of a series of cells. A letter is assigned to each column and a number to each row. The cell is a row-column combination. For example, a cell may be identified as C5, which means third column over, fifth row down, or Z20, which is 26th column over, 20th row down. These cell assignments are crucial to the operation of the Excel worksheet. Numerical and text data can be inserted into each of these cells.
Formulas
Once data is inserted into the cells, the user can then proceed to make calculations using formulas. There are basic mathematical formulas using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The formula is written using cell assignments such as "=C5+D5" without the quotes. You can also choose from more complex formulas that are defined by the Excel program. There are financial, logical, text and sum formulas that are pre-defined by the program.
Worksheets
The worksheets are important because they allow the user to store similar data regarding a project or task in one spreadsheet file. For instance, you can have a spreadsheet containing the financial information for a new business that has one worksheet for your income statement, another that lists information about your cash flow, and yet another that does a break-even analysis for the business, all in one file. Excel also allows the user to link cells across each worksheet when typing in individual formulas.
Charts
One benefit of using Microsoft Excel over similar programs is that the user can easily create charts and graphs to visually depict the data. Choices include pie, line, column, bar, area and scatter charts. These charts can also be copied and pasted over into other programs, both inside and outside of the Microsoft Office software package.
Formatting
Once your data is inserted, you can make your Microsoft Excel spreadsheet look more attractive and easy to follow using the numerous, convenient formatting options. For instance, you can change the color of cells, format text, change the alignment of data, create borders around the cells, and also format the way your numbers appear. You can set all of the cells that are related to dollar figures so that a dollar sign automatically appears in front of the number.
