Microsoft Excel

You can open Microsoft Excel using a shortcut on your desktop or from the Windows menu.

When you launch Microsoft Excel, the Excel window will open, allowing you to start entering data to a blank workbook (Excel’s name for a collection of spreadsheets) or you can open a saved workbook that you have data saved to.

The Excel window resembles the windows from the other Microsoft 365 applications (Word, PowerPoint etc.).

Office 365 displays its commands through a combination of icons stored within different tabs.  This arrangement of tabs and icons is known as the Ribbon and it appears in all Microsoft Office programs.

In the top left hand corner of the screen is the File tab.  This has commands such as Open (to Open a workbook that you’ve previously been working on), Save (to Save a copy of your current workbook) and Print (to Print a copy of a spreadsheet).

Sheets and Cells

Here are some common terms used in Excel.

• An Excel workbook can be divided up into different Sheets, each Sheet containing different data sets.
• To add a new Worksheet to a workbook, click the plus icon at the bottom of the screen.
• Within each Sheet, data is managed by Rows (labelled as numbers) and Columns (labelled as letters).
• Each space in a Worksheet is called a cell and is defined by its Column and Row position.
  • Cell A1 is the cell that is located in Column A Row 1.
  • Cell F7 is the cell that is located in Column F Row 7.
• 

Entering Data

Data can be entered into a spreadsheet as numbers, letters or special characters. The most common data entered are numbers.

To enter data, click on cell and begin to type.  When you’ve finished, press the Return/Enter or Tab key on your keyboard to move to the next cell.

Adding Rows and Columns

Sometimes you will need to add additional Rows or Columns to your Worksheet to add more data.

To create an additional column in your worksheet, follow these steps:

1. Selecting a Column: Hover your mouse pointer over the letter label of the existing column you want to place the new column next to. For example, hover over the letter "A" to select Column A. The mouse pointer will change to a downward-pointing arrow. Click to select the entire column.
2. Inserting a Column: Once the column is selected, navigate to the Home tab on the Ribbon. In the Cells group, locate and click the "Insert" icon. This action will insert a new column to the left of the selected column.

To create an additional row in your worksheet, follow these steps:

1. Selecting a Row: Hover your mouse pointer over the number label of the existing row you want to place the new row above. For example, hover over the number "1" to select Row 1. The mouse pointer will change to a right-pointing arrow. Click to select the entire row.
2. Inserting a Row: Once the row is selected, go to the Home tab on the Ribbon. In the Cells group, find and click the "Insert" icon. This action will insert a new row above the selected row.

Excel is designed to make data management easy.

When you input numbers into an Excel spreadsheet, you can specify their type (e.g. numerical value, percentage, fraction, monetary value, time, or date).

To indicate the type of data you are working with, use the Number group on the Home tab of the Ribbon. This helps Excel interpret and handle your data accurately.

Play about with the Number type dropdown menu and try adding different types of data into cells.

You might use dates and percentages fairly frequently.  If you find that you need to move the decimal point for your values, you can do that in the Number group using the Increase Decimal or Decrease Decimal buttons.

Top Tip

If you want to add telephone numbers, format the cell as "text" otherwise the zero at the beginning of the number will be deleted automatically.

Adding numbers and text is just one aspect of using Excel spreadsheets.

Excel can perform mathematical functions on the data you enter, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, all using similar formulas.

Every formula in Excel begins with an equal sign (=) and incorporates numbers and mathematical operators such as the plus sign (+), minus sign (-), asterisk (*), and forward slash (/).

To try adding a basic formula:

1. Click on any cell in your spreadsheet.
2. Type an equal sign (=).
3. Enter numbers separated by a mathematical operator. For example, type 10+12.
4. The cell will display the formula, like =10+12.
5. Press Enter on your keyboard, and Excel will calculate and display the result.

Simple Formulae Referencing Cells

You can also use formulas to interact with data within cells in your spreadsheet. After typing '=' to indicate a formula, click on a cell with your mouse to instruct Excel to include that cell's data in the formula.

Try this on your own spreadsheet:

• Place the number 10 in cell A1 and the number 12 in cell B1.
• Now, click on an empty cell (e.g., C1).
• Type '=' and then click on cell A1.
• Press the plus sign (+) on your keyboard to indicate you want to add something to the data in A1.
• Next, click on cell B1.

Excel will highlight the cells you've clicked on with a moving dotted line, often called "marching ants". Press Enter on your keyboard, and Excel will display the result of the formula.

Individually clicking each cell you want to add together can be time-consuming. Excel offers options to expedite this process, starting with learning the format for Excel formulas.

• Begin every formula with an equal sign (=) to signal Excel that a formula follows.
• Then, add an operator (the command that tells Excel what the formula should do).
• For addition, use the SUM operator, which adds selected cells together.
• After the operator, enclose the cells you want to operate on within parentheses ().
• You can specify multiple cells by listing their locations separated by commas (e.g., A1, B3, C12, D23). Alternatively, specify a range of cells within a column or row by entering the location of the first cell, a colon (:), and then the location of the last cell (e.g., B2).

On the Insert tab of the Ribbon, you will find the Table group.

If you have been collecting data in Excel, you can highlight all of your cells and convert the data to a Table.

Tables are useful as they allow Excel users to sort and filter data while keeping data sets together.

Here is an example of a Table of data in Excel.  This simple example shows items sold in a stationery shop, how much each item costs, how many the shop has sold, and the sales totals.

With data in a Table, it can be sorted using the Sort arrows next to the headers in each column.

Stationery Items could be sorted in alphabetical order by clicking the Sort arrow in column A and then selecting Sort A to Z .

Each row is locked in place so that numbers don’t get jumbled up.

The Sort feature can also be used to Filter data so that only data in a particular range is displayed.

Tables are powerful tools to use within Excel.  It might not seem obvious while working with a small dataset, but imagine a scenario where, as part of a research study, you have hundreds of data records. Being able to sort and filter that data can save so much time and allow you to pull interesting insights from the data.

Excel workbooks that contain a lot of data can be difficult to interpret.

Charts allow Excel users represent data graphically, making it much easier to identify trends throughout data.

Excel has different types of charts and you will need to select the format that best fits your data.

Three basic charts are detailed below.

Column

Column charts represent data through vertical bars.  They are useful for comparing information.  Bar charts are similar to column charts except they are displayed horizontally rather than vertically.

Line

Line charts are helpful for identifying trends when analysing data. The points in a line chart are connected and reveal whether values are increasing or decreasing over a specific point in time.

Pie

In a pie chart values are displayed as a slice of pie, displaying the data as a proportion of a whole.

Charts are added to Excel by selecting a dataset, then using the Charts group in the Insert tab of the Ribbon, you can select the chart type that will best visualise your data.

Moving Excel Charts to Word or PowerPoint

Excel tables and charts can be copied into Word documents or PowerPoint presentations.

By right clicking your mouse on the chart or table in Excel, you can choose to Copy the data. In Word or PowerPoint, simply right click again but choose Paste to insert your table or chart into your document or presentation.