How To Use Microsoft Excel Complete Beginner S Guide 40 Tips

To start from scratch, click Blank workbook. Otherwise, you can open an existing workbook or create a new one from one of Excel’s helpful templates, such as those designed for budgeting.

Columns are vertical and labeled with letters, which appear above each column. Rows are horizontal and are labeled by numbers, which you’ll see running along the left side of the worksheet. Every cell has an address which contains its column letter and row number. For example, the top-left cell in your worksheet’s address is A1 because it’s in column A, row 1. A workbook can have multiple worksheets, all containing different sets of data. Each worksheet in your workbook has a name—you can rename a worksheet by right-clicking its tab and selecting Rename. To add another worksheet, just click the + next to the worksheet tab(s).

Click the File menu and select Save As. Choose a location to save the file, such as on your computer or in OneDrive. Type a name for your workbook. All workbooks will automatically inherit the the . XLSX file extension. Click Save.

When you type something into a cell, the input text is called a value. Entering data into Excel is as simple as typing values into each cell. When entering data, the first row of your worksheet (e. g. , A1, B1, C1) is typically used as headers for each column. This is helpful when creating graphs or tables which require labels. For example, if you’re adding a list of dates in column A, you might click cell A1 and type Date into the cell as the column header.

When you start practicing more advanced Excel features like creating formulas, this bar will come in handy. You can also copy and paste text from other applications into your worksheet, tables from PDFs and the web.

In a blank column, type 1 into the first cell, 2 into the second cell, and then 3 into the third cell. Hover your mouse cursor over the bottom-right corner of the last cell in your series—it will turn to a crosshair. Click and drag the crosshair down the column, then release the mouse button once you’ve gone down as far as you like. By default, this will fill the remaining cells with the value of the selected cell—at this point, you’ll probably have something like 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3. Click the small icon at the bottom-right corner of the filled data to open AutoFill options, and select Fill Series to automatically detect the series or pattern. Now you’ll have a list of consecutive numbers. Try this cool feature out with different patterns! Once you get the hang of AutoFill, you’ll have to try flash fill, which you can use to join two columns of data into a single merged column.

To expand the contents of column B, hover the cursor over the dividing line between the B and C at the top of the worksheet—once your cursor is right on the line, it will turn to two arrows pointing in either direction. [2] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source Click and drag the separator until the column is wide enough to accommodate your data, or just double-click the separator to instantly snap the column to the size of the widest value.

To delete the contents of a cell, click the cell once and press delete on your keyboard.

Select a cell, column, row, or multiple cells at once. On the Home tab, click Cell Styles if you’d like to quickly apply quick color styles. If you’d rather use more custom options, right-click the selected cell(s) and select Format Cells. Then, use the colors on the Fill tab to customize the cell’s background, or the colors on the Font tab for value colors.

Select the cell you want to format. If you’re working with an entire column or row, you can just click the column letter or row number to select the whole thing. On the Home tab, click the drop-down menu at the top-center—it’ll say General by default, unless you selected cells that Excel recognizes as a different type of number like Currency or Time. Choose one of the formatting options in the list, such as Short Date or Percentage, or click More Number Formats at the bottom to expand all options (we recommend this!). If you selected More Number Formats, the Format Cells dialog will expand to the Number tab, where you’ll see several categories for number types. Select a category, such as Currency if working with money, or Date if working with dates. Then, choose your preferences, such as a currency symbol and/or decimal places. Click OK to apply your formatting.

Tables traditionally apply different or alternating colors to every other row for easy viewing. Many table options also add borders between cells and/or columns and rows.

Once you get the hang of tables, you can return here to customize your table further by selecting New Table Style.

If you chose a numerical column, select Number Filters, then choose an option like Greater Than… or Does Not Equal to be extra specific about which values to hide. For text columns, you can choose Text Filters, where you can specify things like Begins with or Contains. You can also filter by cell color.

To unfilter your data, click the funnel icon, click Clear filter from (column name), and then click OK. You can also filter columns that aren’t in tables. Just select a column and click Filter on the Data tab to add a drop-down to that column.

If you’re working with numbers, click Smallest to Largest to sort in ascending order, or Largest to Smallest for descending order. [6] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source If you’re working with text values, Sort A to Z will sort in ascending order, while Sort Z to A will sort in reverse. When it comes to sorting dates and times, Sort Oldest to Newest will sort with the earliest date at the top and the oldest date at the bottom, and Newest to Oldest displays the dates in descending order. When you sort a column, all other columns in the table adjust based on the sort.

For math calculations, click the Totals tab, where you can select Sum, Average, Count, %Total, or Running Total. You’ll be able to choose whether to display the results at the bottom of each column or to the right. To create a chart, click the Charts tab, then select a chart to visualize your data. Before you settle on a chart, just hover the cursor over each option to see a preview. To add quick chart data to individual cells, click the Sparklines tab and choose a format. Again, you can hover the cursor over each option to see a preview. To instantly apply conditional formatting (which is usually a little more complex in Excel) based on your data, use the Formatting tab. Here you can choose an option like Color or Data Bars, which apply colors to your data based on trends.

Click the cell below the numbers you want to add (if a column) or to the right (if a row). [8] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source On the Home tab, click AutoSum toward the upper-right corner of the app. A formula beginning with =SUM(cell+cell) will appear in the field, and a dotted line will surround the numbers you’re adding. Press Enter or Return. You should now see the total of the numbers in the selected field. This is here because you created your first formula—which you didn’t have to write by hand! If you change any numbers in your data after using AutoSum, the AutoSum value will update automatically.

Add: — Type =SUM(cell+cell) (e. g. , =SUM(A3+B3)) to add two cells’ values together, or type =SUM(cell,cell,cell) (e. g. , =SUM(A2,B2,C2)) to add a series of cell values together. If you want to add all of the numbers in a whole column (or in a section of a column), type =SUM(cell:cell) (e. g. , =SUM(A1:A12)) into the cell you want to use to display the result. Subtract: Type =SUM(cell-cell) (e. g. , =SUM(A3-B3)) to subtract one cell value from another cell’s value. Divide: Type =SUM(cell/cell) (e. g. , =SUM(A6/C5)) to divide one cell’s value by another cell’s value. Multiply: Type =SUM(cellcell) (e. g. , =SUM(A2A7)) to multiply two cell values together.

If you want to add all of the numbers in a whole column (or in a section of a column), type =SUM(cell:cell) (e. g. , =SUM(A1:A12)) into the cell you want to use to display the result.

For example, to select the formula for finding the tangent of an angle, you would scroll down and click the TAN option.

For example, if you select the TAN function, you’ll type in the number for which you want to find the tangent, or select the cell that contains that number. Depending on your selected function, you may need to click through a couple of on-screen prompts.

Typically speaking, the left column is used for the horizontal axis and the column immediately to the right of it represents the vertical axis.