An easy guide to Microsoft Excel

You may notice that Word and Excel are set up so that the commands are similar. Learning one should make the other easier.

Creating a worksheet

1. Like in Word, when you start Excel, you are automatically given a new worksheet file. You can begin typing the worksheet.
2. To open an old file, drag the mouse to the Open option. A menu will pop up giving you a list of the Excel files you have in your account. Select the one you want by dragging the mouse to it and clicking on OK.
3. If you wish to open a new file once you are in Excel, move the mouse to point at the File option on the main menu. To open a new file, drag the mouse to New.
4. Excel reads data in rows and columns. To keep things straight for yourself, you should organize your independent variables (x variables) into columns and the dependent variables (y variables) into rows.
5. You can label your data using a row above the first line of data to label the independent variables, and a column to the left of the data to categorize the dependent variables.
6. If you want to move to a particular cell at any time, move the arrow to that cell, and click the mouse.
7. You can add a title to the worksheet (or any text) without affecting the data.
8. Once you have finished the worksheet, you can make a chart.

Creating a chart (graph) from your worksheet

1. Move the mouse so that the pointer points the blank cell at the upper left of the data. "Click " and "drag" the mouse to the lower right hand corner of the data so that all of the data is highlighted.
2. Move the mouse so that the pointer points to Edit on the main menu. Click and drag the mouse to Copy, and release. The border of the highlighted section should now be "moving."
3. Now, select File/New. Another menu will pop up asking for the type of file you wish to open. Select Chart and click on OK.
4. Now you must "paste" the data you copied into the chart. To do this, move the mouse back to the edit command, and click and drag it to Paste. You should now see a bar graph of your data. You will also notice that the main menu bar at the top of the screen has changed.
5. To enlarge the graph: You will see a small box with a dash (-) inside in the upper left-hand corner of the graph. Click on this box, and drag the mouse to Maximize.
6. If you do not want a bar graph, you can select another type of graph. Move the mouse to point to gallery, and select the type of graph you want. Do not be afraid to experiment.

NOTE: an alternate way of creating a chart from the data in your worksheet is to select the respective data,then, on the Standard toolbar click on the Chart Wizard button and follow the instructions.

Adding text and legends to your chart

1. Select the Chart option on the main menu for the graph. The options you will most likely find useful are Add Legend and Attach Text.
2. Add Legend will provide you with a key or legend of your dependent variables.
3. Selecting Attach Text will give you a sub menu. The main options are:

• add title
• Value Y Axis (select this to label the vertical axis)
• Value X axis (select this to label the horizontal axis)

Saving your worksheet and chart

At any time when you are working, you can select File/Save off the main menu bar. A sub menu will appear asking you to name the document. After you do this, you can select OK.

After you do it one time, each time you save, the updated file will be saved to that name. If you wish to save the file to a new name, use the File/Save As command . This allows you to keep separate copies.

DON'T FORGET TO SAVE BOTH THE WORKSHEET AND THE CHART! They are in separate files, so you will have to save them separately. It is a very good idea to save your files often, so that if you lose your work for some reason, you will have an updated copy.

Printing

Printing in Excel, both for worksheets and charts, is very similar to that in Word. The main difference is that there is now a Page Set-up command. This is found under the File command on the main menu bar, or it can be accessed from the Print Preview section.

With this you can adjust the margins, the header of the page (the top line), the footer (bottom line), or the layout of the page (Portrait lays the print vertically, Landscape lays it out horizontally). The other printing features are virtually the same.

Exiting Excel

When you exit the program, select File/Exit. You will be asked if you want to save the files you have created.

It is always a good idea to do this so you are sure you have not lost any of your work.

Copying Excel files to Word

There are several techniques for copying worksheets and charts from Excel to Word. The following procedure describes one of these, whereby, once copied into Word, alterations of the worksheet/chart in Excel are automatically made in the Word document also.

Copying Worksheets

1. To copy worksheets form Excel to Word it is necessary to have both of them open. This can be achieved by first opening the relevant Word document. Now hold down the Alt button and press the Tab button until a small box appears on the screen. Choose Excel from the windows you already have open. (Switching between already open applications such as Word and Excel can be done easily by pressing the Tab key while holding down the Alt key. Each time you press Tab a small notice in the center of the screen will tell you which application will be switched to if you release the buttons).
2. In Excel select (highlight) the worksheet (or part of it) you wish to copy. Select Edit/Copy from the main menu.
3. Switch to the Word document into which you wish to copy the worksheet.
4. Position the Insertion point (shaped like an I) where you wish to place the worksheet. From Edit in the main menu, select Paste Special.
5. A small table will appear on the screen, with a default setting selected under Data Type. Leave the default setting and using the mouse select Paste Link.
6. The worksheet will appear in the Word document. The worksheet can be edited to a limited degree in Word, however these changes are not reflected in the associated Excel worksheet file. It is recommended that changes be made in Excel, where Word will automatically be updated.

Copying Charts

1. Open the Chart file you are interested in.
2. With the chart file, open select Edit/Copy from the main menu.
3. Switch to the Word document using Alt and Tab as described earlier.
4. Select Edit/Paste Special.
5. In the Data Type box, select Picture.
6. Select the Paste Link button and the choose OK. The chart will be copied to the Word document.
7. The size of the chart can be changed in Word. Clicking the mouse in the chart surrounds it with a thin dash lined rectangle. Dragging the small squares at each corner, or between each side of the rectangle, will change the size of the rectangle and of the chart when the mouse button is released.

REMEMBER THAT THIS TECHNIQUE FOR COPYING BOTH WORKSHEETS AND CHARTS AUTOMATICALLY LINKS THE EXCEL AND WORD FILES. THEREFORE, ANY CHANGE TO THE EXCEL WORKSHEET OR CHART WILL OCCUR TO THE COPY IN THE WORD DOCUMENT.

To make changes to worksheets or charts once copied simply use Alt and Tab to switch to Excel, and then make the changes in the relevant Excel file.

Additional Notes

Excel also has several icons. For every command on the menu, there is also an icon. You can experiment with these if you like.

Also, this is not a complete instruction guide. If you get a bit further, you can check the manual. You can also use the Introducing Excel and Learning Excel modules, which can be found by selecting the Help command from the menu bar. These are both very helpful. Again, don't be afraid to experiment.

Additional help

Note that these instructions are only a guide. For additional help, you may want to try the Learning Excel module found under the Help command on the main menu bar.

You might also want to consult the links to other online tutorials presented in the MS Excel course page.