Microsoft Excel: an Introduction

Microsoft Excel is a very versatile program that offers users a wide range of functions. Excel is a program that is far more developed than the database option that comes in Works, Microsoft’s basic software that comes free with any new Windows computer. The Works database is useful for mailing lists and few other things. It works well within on Works option, such as a mail merge document. Excel also works well with information databases but provides extensive number crunching functions that make it the choice program for financial record keeping. In fact, all of the programs that Microsoft provides in the 2007 version of Office have so many options that it couldn’t all fit into one toolbar. This version includes multiple toolbars at the top of the page, viewing one at a time. It may be a bit overwhelming for Office 2003 users when upgrading since many of their favorite functions are now relocated.

                While Excel has great depth to it, it is always ideal to begin with some basics. Regardless of the purpose of your file, whether financial or informational, it is always good to know how to adjust cells to allow you to view all of the information. In the 2007 version of Excel clicking on ‘Format’ option on the ‘Cell’ toolbar gives you options to set specific heights and widths for selected cells or to AutoFit. AutoFit is a great option because it will automatically adjust the selected cells to allow for all information in the cells to be seen. Another commonly used function is the ‘Sort’ function.  This can be found on the ‘Data’ toolbar and allows users to sort their information by any column, order or both. It also allows you to sort to multiple levels, meaning that you could sort by City, then Zip Code or Last Name then First name. This will give you a more precise organization of information. Also on the ‘Data’ toolbar is the ‘remove duplicate’ button. This appropriately named option allows you to remove all duplicate entries from selected cells. This option can prevent mailing multiple pieces to the same address and giving you an accurate reading of how many unique entries you have obtained.

                As mentioned earlier, Excel provides a seemingly endless amount of functions, that can be incorporated into financial and numerical data sheets. These are specifically called ‘functions’. While many are involved, the primary and most used one is the ‘SUM’ formula. This is a simple command but needs to be mastered before moving on to more complex formulas. All  formulas, are initiated by clicking the ‘fx’ just to the left of the content bar, just below the main toolbar. Once you choose ‘SUM’, you can then either manually enter the cell position (like F2, E16, etc) or easier yet, click the button that allows you to simply select the cells you want to total. Formulas can also be manually entered in the content bar just like mathematical lines, being sure to appropriately divide sections with parentheses. For example a mathematical line could look like: (12*3)+(10*4). In Excel, your formula would simple need to start with an equals sign (=), and can replace numbers with cell coordinates. So the same formula above could look like this: =(E4*3)+(E5*4) or even =(E4*F4)+(E5*F5).

                Once you begin to master using an Excel sheet with formulas and functions it is then possible to use multiple sheets within an Excel document together. For example, if you need a sales record sheet for each salesman , create a separate sheet for each person, then one to collect information from all of the other sheets. Each ‘salesman’ sheet would provide a means for tracking personal sales while one ‘totals’ sheet would include just the primary numbers from each salesman that you need for comparison and totals. You can reference information from other cells by entering the formula =(Sheet2!C8), where ‘Sheet2’ is the name of the sheet within the file that you are referring to and ‘C8’ is the specific cell coordinate that contains the information you want.

                Microsoft Excel provides so many options that it would impossible to cover even all of the basics in a dozen articles, let alone one. Hopefully I have been able to provide you with enough information on some of the most common uses that you can begin to investigate the possibilities of Excel. No one person will ever need to know every option and function within the program so start with these basics to help you determine what you want your Excel sheet to do. You can then determine which functions you need to master and which ones you can ignore.