Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Training

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Course contents
Overview: A hands-on introduction Lesson 1: Whats changed, and why Lesson 2: Get to work in Excel Lesson 3: A new file format

The first two lessons include a list of suggested tasks, and all include a set of test questions.

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Overview: A hands-on introduction

Excel 2007 has a new look! Its got the familiar worksheets youre accustomed to, but with some changes. Notably, the old look of menus and buttons at the top of the window has been replaced with the Ribbon. This course shows you how to use the Ribbon and highlights the other changes in Excel that will help you make better worksheets, faster.

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Course goals
Get a handle on the new look of Excel. Find everyday commands on the Ribbon: Cut, Copy, Paste, Insert Sheet Rows, Insert Sheet Columns, and Sum. Save workbooks in the new Excel file formats.

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Lesson 1
Whats changed, and why

Whats changed, and why

Yes, theres a lot of change in Excel 2007. Its most noticeable at the top of the window. But its good change.

The commands you need are now more clearly visible and more readily available in one control center called the Ribbon.

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Whats on the Ribbon?

The three parts of the Ribbon are tabs, groups, and commands.

Tabs: Tabs represent core tasks you do in Excel. There are seven tabs across the top of the Excel window. Groups: Groups are sets of related commands, displayed on tabs. Commands: A command is a button, a menu, or a box where you enter information.
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Whats on the Ribbon?

How do you get started on the Ribbon? Begin at the beginning.

The principal commands in Excel are gathered on the first tab, the Home tab.

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Whats on the Ribbon?

Groups pull together all the commands youre likely to need for a particular type of task.

Throughout your task, groups remain on display and readily available; commands are no longer hidden in menus. Instead, vital commands are visible above your work space.

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More commands, but only when you need them

The commands on the Ribbon are the ones you use the most.

Instead of showing every command all the time, Excel 2007 shows some commands only when you may need them, in response to an action you take. So dont worry if you dont see all the commands you need at all times. Take the first steps, and the commands you need will be at hand.
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More options, if you need them

Sometimes an arrow, called the Dialog Box Launcher, appears in the lower-right corner of a group. This means more options are available for the group.
Click the Dialog Box Launcher , and youll see a dialog box or task pane. The picture shows an example: On the Home tab, click the arrow in the Font group.

The Format Cells dialog box opens, with superscript and other options related to fonts.

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Put commands on your own toolbar

Do you often use commands that arent as quickly available as youd like? You can easily add them to the Quick Access Toolbar.

Animation: Right-click, and click Play.

Play the animation to see the process of adding a button to the toolbar and then removing a button from the toolbar.

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Put commands on your own toolbar

Do you often use commands that arent as quickly available as youd like? You can easily add them to the Quick Access Toolbar.

The Quick Access Toolbar is above the Ribbon when you first start Excel 2007. There, commands are always visible and near at hand.

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What about favorite keyboard shortcuts?

If you rely on the keyboard more than the mouse, youll want to know that the Ribbon design comes with new shortcuts.

This change brings two big advantages over previous versions of Excel: There are shortcuts for every single button on the Ribbon. Shortcuts often require fewer keys.

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What about favorite keyboard shortcuts?

The new shortcuts also have a new name: Key Tips. You press ALT to make Key Tips appear.

For example, heres how to use Key Tips to center text: Press ALT to make the Key Tips appear. Press H to select the Home tab. Press A, then C to center the selected text.

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What about favorite keyboard shortcuts?

What about the old keyboard shortcuts? Keyboard shortcuts of old that begin with CTRL are still intact, and you can use them the same way you always have. For example, the shortcut CTRL+C still copies something to the clipboard, and the shortcut CTRL+V still pastes something from the clipboard.

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A new view
Not only the Ribbon is new in Excel 2007. Page Layout view is new, too.

If youve worked in Print Layout view in Microsoft Office Word, youll be glad to see Excel with similar advantages.

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A new view
To see the new view, click Page Layout View on the View toolbar .

Heres what youll see in the worksheet: Column headings. Row headings. Margin rulers.

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A new view
In Page Layout view there are page margins at the top, sides, and bottom of the worksheet, and a bit of blue space between worksheets. Rulers at the top and side help you adjust margins. Other benefits of the new view: You dont need to use Print Preview to find problems before you print. Its easier than ever to add headers and footers. You can see different worksheets in different views.

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Working with different screen resolutions

Everything described so far applies if your screen is set to high resolution and the Excel window is maximized. If not, things look different.
When and how do things look different? At low resolution. If your screen is set to a low resolution, for example to 800 by 600 pixels, a few groups on the Ribbon will display the group name only, not the commands in the group.

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Working with different screen resolutions

Everything described so far applies if your screen is set to high resolution and the Excel window is maximized. If not, things look different.
When and how do things look different? When the Excel window isnt maximized. Some groups will display only the group name. With Tablet PCs. On those with smaller screens, the Ribbon adjusts to show smaller versions of tabs and groups.
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Suggestions for practice

1. Enter text. 2. Adjust column width. 3. Change document views. 4. Show or hide white space. 5. Add a button to the Quick Access Toolbar.

Online practice (requires Excel 2007)

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Lesson 2
Get to work in Excel

Get to work in Excel

The first lesson helped you get oriented to the new look of Excel 2007. Now its time to get to work.

Say youve got a half hour before your next meeting to make some revisions to a worksheet that you created in a previous version of Excel. Can you do the basic things you need to do in Excel 2007, in just 30 minutes? This lesson will show you how.

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Open your file

First things first. You want to open an existing workbook created in an earlier version of Excel.

Do the following: Click the Microsoft Office Button .

Click Open, and select the workbook you want. Also note that you can click Excel Options, at the bottom of the menu, to set program options.
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Insert a column
Now you want to add a column to your worksheet to identify product categories. You want it to go between two existing columns of data.

Animation: Right-click, and click Play.

View the animation to see the process of inserting a column into the worksheet.

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Insert a column
Now you want to add a column to your worksheet to identify product categories. It should go between two existing columns of data, Quantity and Supplier.
Your worksheet contains rows of products ordered from various suppliers, and you want to add the new column to identify the various products as dairy, grains, produce, and so on.

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Insert a column
Follow this procedure to add the column between the Quantity column and the Supplier column: 1. Click in the Supplier column. Then on the Home tab, in the Cells group, click the arrow on Insert. 2. On the menu that appears, click Insert Sheet Columns. A new blank column is inserted, and you enter the new data in the column. 3. If you need to adjust the column width to fit the data, in the Cells group, click the arrow on Format. In the list that appears, click AutoFit Column Width.

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Format and edit data

You format and edit data by using commands in groups on the Home tab.

For example, the column titles will stand out better if they are in bold type. To make it so, select the row with the titles and then on the Home tab, in the Font group, click Bold.

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Format and edit data

While the titles are still selected, you decide to change their color and their size, to make them stand out even more.

In the Font group, click the arrow on Font Color. Youll see many more colors to choose from than before. You can also see how the title will look in different colors by pointing at any color and waiting a moment.

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Format and edit data

You can use the Font group to take care of other formatting and editing options, too. To increase the font size, click Increase Font Size .

While the titles are still selected, you decide to center them in the cells. In the Alignment group, click Center . Finally, you find that you need to enter one more order for Louisiana Fiery Hot Pepper Sauce. Select that product name, and in the Clipboard group, click Copy . Then click in the bottom row, and in the Clipboard group again, click Paste .

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Enter a formula
Before handing off your report, you want to add up the numbers in the Quantity column. Its easy: Use the Sum button .

Place the cursor in the last cell in the Quantity column, and then click the Sum button on the Home tab. (Its in the Editing group.) Press ENTER to see the formula result.

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Add headers and footers

As a finishing touch, you decide to add headers and footers to the worksheet. This will help make clear to everyone what the data is about.

Heres what to do: 1. Switch to Page Layout view. You can click the View tab, and then click Page Layout View in the Workbook Views group. Or click the middle button on the View toolbar at the bottom of the window.
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Add headers and footers

As a finishing touch, you decide to add headers and footers to the worksheet. This will help make clear to everyone what the data is about.

Heres what to do: 2. Click in the area at the top of the page that says Click to add header. 3. As soon as you do, the Header & Footer Tools and the Design tab appear at the top of the Ribbon.

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Print
Its time to print the report. In Page Layout view, you can make adjustments and see the changes on the screen before you print.
Heres how to use Page Layout view: 1. Click the Page Layout tab. 2. In the Page Setup group, click Orientation and then select Portrait or Landscape. In Page Layout view, youll see the orientation change, and how your data will look each way.
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Print
Its time to print the report. In Page Layout view, you can make adjustments and see the changes on the screen before you print.
Heres how to use Page Layout view: 3. Still in the Page Setup group, click Size to choose paper size. Youll see the results of your choices as you make them. (What you see is what you print.)

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The New Workbook window

The New Workbook window offers the perfect place to start in Excel.

When you click the Microsoft Office Button and then click New, the New Workbook window opens. At the top of the window, you can select either a new blank workbook or a template.

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Suggestions for practice

1. Insert a column. 2. Use AutoSum. 3. Add a header and a footer. 4. Add a few finishing touches. 5. Explore print options.

Online practice (requires Excel 2007)

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Lesson 3
A new file format

A new file format

Excel has a new file format. But you can still open and edit older workbooks and share files with people who dont have Excel 2007.
The new file format brings increased security for your files, reduced risk of file corruption, reduced file size, and new features.

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Working with files from earlier versions

In Excel 2007, you can open files created in Excel 95 through Excel 2003.

But what if youre the first person in your office to have Excel 2007? What if you need to need to share files with departments that dont have Excel 2007 yet? Dont panic. You can all share workbooks with each other.

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Working with files from earlier versions

Heres how:
Old files stay old unless you choose otherwise. Excel will save an older file in its original format unless you specify otherwise. For example, if it started in Excel 2003, Excel 2007 saves it in 2003 format by default. Newer features warn you if you save a file as older. When you save a file in a previous versions format, and the 2007 features you used are not compatible with the previous version, a Compatibility Checker tells you so.

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Working with files from earlier versions

Heres how:
You can always copy newer files in newer format first. Just tell Excel you want an Excel Workbook (*.xlsx). That copy of the file will contain all the Excel 2007 features. You can share documents between versions by using a converter. Colleagues with Excel 2000 through 2003 can open 2007 files by downloading and using a converter.

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Benefits of the new format

The new file format means improvements to Excel.

Here are its chief benefits: New features Safer files Less risk of file corruption

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Benefits of the new format

The new file format means improvements to Excel.

Here are its chief benefits: Reduced file size More useful data

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New file formats, new options when you save

When you save a file in Excel 2007, you can choose from several file types.

Excel Workbook (*.xlsx). Use when there are no macros or VBA code. Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook (*.xlsm). Use when there are macros or VBA code. Excel Template (*.xltx). Use when you need a template.

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New file formats, new options when you save

When you save a file in Excel 2007, you can choose from several file types.

Excel Macro-Enabled Template (*.xltm). Use when you need a template and the workbook contains macros or VBA. Excel Binary Workbook (*.xlsb). Use with an especially large workbook.

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New file formats, new options when you save

When you save a file in Excel 2007, you can choose from several file types.

Excel 97-Excel 2003 Workbook (*.xls). Use when you need to share with someone working in a previous version of Excel. Microsoft Excel 5.0/95 Workbook (*.xls). Use when you need to share with someone using Microsoft Excel 5.0.

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Quick Reference Card

For a summary of the tasks covered in this course, view the Quick Reference Card.

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