Lesson 1 introduction to spreadsheet

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Welcome to Elective ICT for SHS 2
Lesson 1 - Introduction to Spreadsheet Application
Introduction:
RPK
Every month we try to organise how we spend our money. Whenever we receive money we
try to prioritise our needs and spend money on them. List some of the things we consider
important before committing to it.
Objectives:
In this lesson, we will look at the following:
 Layout of Microsoft office Excel Spreadsheet application
 Differentiate a workbook from a worksheet
 Customize a worksheet
 Navigate within the worksheet
 Categorise the data entered onto the spreadsheet
 Resize cells
Notes:
It is very easy to get confused once you launch Microsoft Excel Application. The basic
endurance skills is to understand how to navigate within the Excel Application and access the
features you are looking for.
Getting Started with Microsoft Excel Application
Starting Microsoft Excel
 Click the start button
 Click Programs
 Look for Microsoft Office Excel
 Click to launch Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel Application contains vertical lines (Columns) and horizontal lines (Rows)
also called grid lines. Columns and rows intersect to form a cell. Each cell is referenced by
an address in a format Letter and a Number. The lines will not show when printed unless a
border is added or inserted. Columns are identified by the column heading which is labelled
bya letter andthe row headingidentifiedbynumberse.g. A1.TheletterA representscolumn
A and the number 1 represents row number 1. An excel file is called a workbook, a workbook
contains worksheet.

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Spreadsheet Layout/User Interface
There are important areas on the screen that needs attention. A new user needs to identify
these to make better progress and judgement in using the application. The following:
 Quick Access Toolbar:
This is a place where all the important tools can be placed. When you start Excel for the very
first time,it has only 3 icons(Save,Undo,Redo).But you canadd any feature of Excelto Quick
Access Toolbar so that you can easily access it from anywhere (hence the name).
 Ribbon:
This displays the Menu for each Tab in an expanded format. It illustrates all the features of
Excel in easy to understand form. As the spreadsheet contains 1000s of features, they are
grouped in to several ribbons. Icons are grouped on the ribbon according to the unique
features they exhibit. The most importantribbons are – Home, Insert, Page Layout, Formulas,
Data and others
 Formula Bar:
Active cell,
cell A1
Scroll Bar
Sheet tab
Column
Row
worksheet
Formula bar
Auto fill
handle
Name box
Title bar showing ‘Workbook’Quick Access Toolbar Ribbon
New sheet

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This is where any calculations or formulas you write will appear. You will understand the
relevance of it once you start building formulas.
 Spreadsheet Grid:
This is where all your numbers, data, charts & drawings will go. Each Excel file can contain
several sheets. But the spreadsheet grid shows few rows & columns of active spreadsheet. To
see more rows or columns you can use the scroll bars to the left or at bottom. If you want to
access other sheets, just click on the sheet name (or use the shortcut CTRL+Page Up or
CTRL+Page Down).
 Status bar:
This tells us what is going on with Excel at any time. You can tell if Excel is busy calculating
a formula, creating a pivot report or recording a macro by just looking at the status bar. The
status bar also shows quick summaries of selected cells (count, sum, average, minimum or
maximum values). You can change this by right clicking on it and choosing which summaries
to show.
Name Description
Title bar The title bar spans the top of the program window and displays the
name of the workbook and the program. The buttons on the right side
of the Title bar are used to get help; change the display of the Ribbon;
and minimize, restore, maximize, and close the program window.
Quick Access
Toolbar
Appears on the left side of the Title bar and contains frequently used
commands that are independent of the tab displayed on the Ribbon.
Ribbon Extends across the top of the program window, directly below the
Title bar, and consists of a set of tabs, each of which contains groups of
related commands.
Formula bar Appears below the Ribbon and displays the data or formula stored in
the active cell. It can also be used to enter or edit cell contents.
Name Box Appears on the left side of the Formula bar and displays the active cell
address or the name of the selected cell, range, or object.
Sheet tab Each worksheet has a tab that appears below the workbook window
and displays the name of the worksheet.
Scroll bars Appear along the right side and bottom of the workbook window and
enable you to scroll through the worksheet.
Status bar Appears at the bottom of the program window and displays the status
of Excel (such as Ready). The tools on the right side of the Status bar
can be used to display the worksheet in a variety of views and to
change the zoom level.

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Navigating within a worksheet
Mouse Moves to every direction on the worksheet
Enter key Moves downwards one cell at a time only when pressed
Up arrow key Moves upwards one cell at a time
Down arrow key Just like the enter key, it moves downwards one cell at a time
Left arrow key Moves to the left of the active cell one cell at a time
Right arrow key Moves to the right of the active cell one cell at a time
Page up key Moves the page up
Page down key Moves the page down
Tab key Just like the right arrow key, it moves one cell at the time
Data types
Data entered into the data sheet (worksheet) are categorised into the following:
 Values or constant: Generally raw numbers
 Labels: Basically text, they are descriptive pieces of information such as date, year,
event, names (product, people, institution, team, country) or anything that can
identify or be used statistically to organize data on the worksheet.
 Formula: In Excel, a mathematical operation begins with an equal symbol (=). It
alerts Excel that calculations is to be performed
Column headers
Active cell
Column
worksheet
Row headers
Cell
Row

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Customise your workbook/worksheet
Renaming Worksheets
The worksheet is labelled with a default name as sheet followed by a number 1. You can
replace the default worksheet names with descriptive names to help you easily locate data in
a workbook.
To rename a worksheet:
 Double-click the tab of the worksheet that you want to rename.
 Or, right-click the sheet tab, and then click Rename on the shortcut menu.
 The worksheet name is selected on the tab.
 Type a new name, and then press the Enter key. The sheet tab size adjusts to fit the
name.
Double click sheet tab
Right click on sheet tab
To insert a worksheet:
 Click the tab of the worksheet to the left of which you want to insert a new
worksheet.
 Click the New sheet button located on the right side of the last visible tab. This
inserts a new worksheet to the right of the active sheet.
Sheet 1 is ready for editing.
Sheet tab is highlighted for renaming
Right click the sheet1 tab,
Click on rename
Type the name you want to use

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The Formula bar displays the contents of the active cell, it can be used to enter or edit cell
contents. The Formula bar contains three buttons. The Insert Function button is always
available, but the other two buttons are only active when you are entering or editing data in
a cell. Clicking the Cancel button cancels the changes you make in the cell, which is the same
as pressing theEsc key. ClickingtheEnter button completesthechangesyoumakein thecell,
whichis thesame as pressing theEnter key.ClickingtheInsertFunctionbuttonopensadialog
box that helps you construct formulas.
To enter data from the formula bar,
Click on a cell and then click in the formula bar
Type the data
You will see the data in both the formula bar and the active cell
Resize a Cell
When data entered into a cell gets into the adjoining cell, there is the need to expand the cell
to accommodate the word, placing the mouse in between the affected cell will turn the mouse
pointer into a double headed arrow, one arrow head pointing to the right and the other
pointing to the left as shown in the diagram below.
New sheet button
Worksheet
Insert Function Button
Cancel
Button
Enter
Button
Move mouse pointer to the gap between column B and C,
 Double clicking will automatically expand to
accommodate the word “Assessment”
 Click hold and drag to the right will also expand to
accommodate the word “Assessment”

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Labels Values
Formula
showing on
worksheet
Formula showing
in formula bar
Click the enter icon
to accept the data
Place mouse button on
the bottom right hand
corner to engage the
fill formula handle. Let
it turn into a plus
You may double click
to fill the formula
down or click hold and
drag down
Mouse pointer turns into plus when
moved to the bottom right hand corner
right hand corner
Formula bar displaying
content of active cell and
active buttons

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Conclusion
 Data entered on the spreadsheet are grouped under three categories
 The excel application is called a workbook
 The workbook contains worksheet
 The arrow directional keys are used to navigate within the worksheet
 The Tab key, enter key and the mouse are also used to navigate within the worksheet
 Each worksheet can be given a unique name to identify the data on it
 Clicking the enter icon accepts the data, the cell becomes the active cell