Getting started with Excel 2010

This document is a brief introduction to Excel 2010. It looks at some of the changes since Excel 2003, and highlights some key features to help you get going. For help with using the Office 2010 interface, see Getting Started with Microsoft Office 2010.

The Basics New, Open, Close and Save

All accessible through the File tab, also known as Backstage View. In addition, Save is on the Quick Access Toolbar by default. You may wish to add the other commands.

Zoom

Use the slider at the bottom right of the Excel window to zoom in and out.

Basic formatting – text, borders and shading

Home tab, Font group.

Inserting, deleting and resizing rows/columns

Home tab, Cells group.

Headers and footers

Use the View tab (not Insert or Page Layout as you might expect!). In the Workbook Views group select Page Layout, then click in your spreadsheet’s header or footer to activate the Header and Footer Tools tab.

Moving and copying worksheets

Home tab, Cells group.

Adding a worksheet

Click the Insert worksheet tab at the bottom of the workbook next to the existing worksheet tabs.

Spell check

Review tab, Proofing group.

Page setup

Check your page setup options on the Page Layout tab before printing.

Print and print preview

File tab (Backstage View). When you click Print, you will automatically see a preview of the printed spreadsheet and the printing options become visible. Click any tab to exit.

Help

File tab (Backstage View).

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Getting started with Excel 2010

Getting started with Excel 2010

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General and interface features Spreadsheet size Spreadsheets are now much bigger – the number of rows has increased from 65,536 to 1,048,576, and columns from 256 to 16,384.

Views As well as the familiar Page Break Preview and Normal views, Excel 2010 has additional Page Layout and Full Screen views. In Page Layout view, page breaks are shown as separations rather than dotted lines and a ruler is visible at the top of the page. Use this view to add and edit headers and footers and change the margins. Page Layout view:

In Full Screen view the ribbon is removed so you can see more of your data on the screen. Press Ctrl with the F1 key to toggle to and from full screen view.

Formula bar and name box In Excel 2010, you can now increase the size of both the Formula Bar and the Name Box so that you can see long entries fully within these boxes. Simply hover the cursor over the bottom edge of the Formula Bar or the right edge of the Name Box, and drag to an appropriate size. Formula Bar:

Name Box:

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Formatting your worksheet Excel 2010 has a range of formatting tools and features that not only help you present your data in an attractive way but also help you emphasise highs and lows, spot trends, or see negatives. The options on the Home tab enable you to perform quick and simple formatting on cells in a worksheet.

Using cell styles Cell styles are a new addition since Office 2003 and make it much easier to apply formatting. Simply select your cells and apply a style from the Cell Styles gallery on the Home tab. You can add shading and heading styles to cells, apply some basic number styles and use good-bad-neutral styles to classify data values. You can also modify existing styles and create your own. Live preview allows you to see what the cell and its contents will look like before you confirm your selection, which is particularly useful in Excel.

Cell styles are linked to Themes - sets of design elements and colour schemes that you can apply to your documents to give them a consistent appearance. They are available in Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Outlook, and make it much easier to create worksheets, documents, presentations and e-mails with a cohesive look. Once you have applied styles, you can change the appearance of your worksheet by choosing a different theme from the Page Layout tab.

Number formatting You can apply number formatting using the Number group on the Home tab. This is much easier in Excel 2010 due to a graphical Custom option that gives you a better idea of what your numbers will look like before you make your selection. This is just as well, as Live Preview doesn’t work here! It’s worth noting that the separate Accounting icon on the ribbon now allows you to make a choice of £, € and $ symbols directly using its drop-down selector.

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Conditional formatting Conditional formatting is formatting that displays when your data meets certain conditions. You choose your data range and set the condition, then the relevant cells are coloured or shaded according to your rules. Using this feature, you can visually show trends, exceptions, and relationships between sets of data. Conditional formatting is in the Styles group of the Home tab. Use Top/Bottom Rules to highlight the top/bottom values in your data range (e.g. top 20%).

Use Data bars to display a coloured bar representing the data value and its relation to the largest value.

Use Color Scales to display a 23 colour gradient across the range, each representing the value of the cell.

Use Icon Sets to display an icon, related to the data value, within each cell.

You can also format cells containing specific values using Highlight Cells Rules.

Data representation Creating charts In Excel 2010, the chart wizard is no longer available. Charts are created from the Insert tab. Choose from a range of common types, or click on Other Charts for more specialised options. With the chart selected, use the contextual Chart Tools Design, Layout, and Format tabs to help you create professional-looking charts.

Using Sparklines Sparklines are a new feature in Excel 2010. They are mini-charts that are placed into a single cell, and can be used to represent trends and patterns in your data for quick and easy reference. From the Insert tab, you can create three different types of Sparklines: The Line Sparkline displays as a line. A Column Sparkline displays as vertical bars. The Win/Loss Sparkline displays positive values in one colour above an imaginary line and negative values in another colour below. To remove a Sparkline, click on Clear on the Sparkline Design Tools tab. Data table with Line Sparklines:

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Performing calculations Function compatibility In Excel 2010, many functions have been renamed and calculation methodologies have been enhanced and improved. Both old and new functions are included in the new version, with the old ones now referred to as Compatibility functions. You can see a full list of functions that have been replaced by new and updated functions by clicking More Functions on the Formulas tab and choosing Compatibility.

If you are creating a workbook in Excel 2010 that will be used in earlier versions, save the file in the format Excel 97-2003 Workbook to turn on Compatibility Mode. This will ensure that you do not use functions that are not supported in earlier versions. You can also use the Compatibility Checker by clicking Check for Issues under Info on the File tab.

Calculating quickly with AutoSum For quick calculations, you can find AutoSum in two locations: the Editing group on the Home tab, and in the Function Library group on the Formulas tab. For the full range of functions, click the down arrow next to the button and select More Functions.

Creating formulas The Formulas tab contains all the commands you need to create formulas and use functions in Excel. Formulas are equations that perform calculations on values in your worksheet; functions are pre-defined formulas within Excel (e.g. SUM).

Formulas are organised into categories in the Function Library group, making it easier to perform complex mathematical operations.

Using Formula AutoComplete The Formula AutoComplete feature makes it easier to create and edit functions. Type the equals sign (=) and the first letters of your function. A list of available functions, names and text strings that match what you have typed will display below the cell, from which you can make your selection. ScreenTips help you to make the right choice.

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Show Formulas If you want to see the formulas in your cells rather than the calculated values, click Show Formulas in the Formula Auditing group of the Formulas tab. Data table showing formulas in the Total column:

Data analysis Slicer Slicer is a new data analysis tool for use with PivotTables. PivotTables allow you to analyse data in much more intuitive ways than staring at a flat table of data. You can use them to ‘slice and dice’ your information and view it in different ways, but without changing the original data. A Slicer is a special filter that can be applied to a PivotTable. It appears on your spreadsheet as a floating rectangle containing a series of buttons that you can click to filter the data. You can create Slicers using the Slicer command on the Insert tab. PivotTable and Slicer showing the number of attendees at courses taken by Beth:

Resources For the full range of Getting started guides, and the material for the course Upgrading to Microsoft Office 2010, see the Basic technology and information skills section at: www.ed.ac.uk/skills/documents-catalogue.

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