JODILYN M.

SALCEDO-OLANDEZ, CPA
 INTRODUCTION
I. What is a Spreadsheet?
II. Excel Versions
III. Interface/Worksheet Features
IV. Definition of Terms
V. Arranging Documents
VI. Name Box and Formula Bar
VII. Additional Terms Used
VIII. The Ribbon and the Tabs
IX. Quick Access Toolbar
X. Creating, Saving and Opening Files
XI. Navigating the Worksheet
XII. Selecting Items
XIII. Modifying Cells
XIV. Common Errors
XV. Formulas & Functions
Name Release Comments
Version 1 1985 The first version of Excel was released
exclusively for Mac. This remains unknown to
many Excel enthusiasts and may seem a bit
strange. Microsoft had actually developed an
earlier spreadsheet program called Multiplan
back in 1982, which was not successful. Until 2016,
versions of Excel for different operating systems
went under different names.

Excel 2 1987 The first Microsoft Excel version for Windows was
labeled “2” to correspond to the Mac version. It
included a run-time version of Windows and was
actually a port of the Mac “Excel 2”.

Excel 3 1990 The next version added toolbars, drawing

capabilities, outlining, add-in support, 3D charts,
and many more new features.
Name Release Comments
Excel 4 1992 Excel version 4 marked the first “popular” version.
It included lots of usability features, such as
AutoFill, which was first introduced in this version.
Excel 5 1993 Excel version 5 marked a major upgrade. It
included workbooks with multi-worksheets and
support for VBA and Macros. These new features
meant that Excel became more vulnerable to the
macro virus attacks, which is something that would
remain an issue all the way until the 2007 version.
Excel 95 1995 Known as Excel 95, it marked the first major 32-bit
version of Excel. Excel 5 also had a 32-bit version,
however due to distribution flaws it was not widely
used. Feature-wise, Excel 95 is very similar to
Excel 5. You may also be wondering why there is
no Excel 6. Starting from Excel 7, all Microsoft
Office applications implemented the same version
number, and thus the version numbering was
changed.
Name Release Comments
Excel 97 1997 This version featured a new interface for VBA
developers, UserForms, data validation, and lots
more. Remember Clippy, the annoying Office
Assistant? He was part of this version as well.
Excel 2000 1999 New features include using HTML as a native file
format, a “self-repair” capability, an enhanced
clipboard, pivot charts, and modeless user forms.

Excel 2002 2001 This is the first Excel to be part of Office XP. The
long list of added features didn’t add a lot of value
to the average user. One of the most significant
features was the new function that allows you to
recover your work should Excel crash. This version
also features a handy little thing called product
activation technology (also known as copy
protection), which means that only one computer
can use one copy of the software. You should
consider the ramifications of this before deciding
whether to upgrade.
Name Release Comments
Microsoft 2003 New features included in this version were improved
Office Excel support for XML, a new “list range” feature, Smart Tag
2003 enhancements, and corrected statistical functions. Most
users will not find the data-related upgrade worthwhile.

Microsoft 2007 This Windows version marked some major changes to

Office Excel Excel. These were the introduction of the Ribbon
2007 interface, along with changing the file format from .xls
to the now familiar .xlsx and .xlsm. This change
brought better security to Excel (remember the macro
virus problems in earlier versions?) and allowed for
more row data storage (over 1 million). Charting
features were also greatly improved. A sad part of the
update was the removal of Clippy from Microsoft Excel,
to the joy of some and woe of others.
Microsoft 2010 New features in this Excel version included sparkline
Office Excel graphics, pivot table slicers, an updated Solver, and a
2010 64-bit version. You may wonder why Microsoft decided
to skip version 13 and go directly with 14 – this is
because 13 is considered an unlucky number.
Name Release Comments
Microsoft 2013 This version marked the arrival of over 50 new
Excel 2013 functions, as well as the newly introduced single-
document interface, recommended charts and pivot
tables, and new charting enhancements.

Microsoft 2016 Here are some of the newly added features in this
Excel 2016 version – histograms (to visualize frequency in data),
Pareto charts (showing data trends), and PowerPivot,
which allows for the import of higher levels of data and
comes with its own language.

Microsoft 2019 This is the latest version of Microsoft Excel as of this

Excel 2019 time. It, of course, has all the features earlier versions
of Excel do, and more. One of the more prominent new
incorporations are the new charts, which give a new
twist to data presentation. Map charts and funnel charts
are just some of the new data presentation charts which
make your data look nice and neat. You also have the
opportunity to include 3D visuals in your workbooks.
There's not much difference between them right now in terms of functionality; it's
just a different licensing arrangement. Excel 2019 is the perpetual, bought-
outright, stand-alone version of Excel and Excel 365 is the subscription-based
version of the software.

Users with perpetual licences understandably become impatient because they

don’t have access to new features they have seen or heard about, or because
they cannot view or use or view the new features those with later versions have
included in a model. When the upgrade finally does happen, the updates so
eagerly anticipated by some, can cause confusion and frustration for others,
either because they dislike the sudden new look or can’t find what they are
looking for.

With subscription-based Office 365, updates are regularly released and any
changes are gradual, which makes it easier for users to become accustomed to
the differences. Organisations on the subscription model can choose their
“update channel” which will determine how often updates are made, either
monthly or semi-annually. In theory, all versions should be the same, but these
differences in the frequency of updates means that not all users receive the
updates at the same time.
2003 2007/2010
2016 2019
Version Rows Columns Cells She
ets
Excel 2019 1,048,576 16,384 XFD 17,179,869,184 *

Excel 2016 1,048,576 16,384 XFD 17,179,869,184 *

Excel 2013 1,048,576 16,384 XFD 17,179,869,184 *

Excel 2007 1,048,576 16,384 XFD 17,179,869,184 *

Excel 2003 and 65,536 256 16,777,216 *

earlier
Google Sheets 256 400,000 200

OpenOffice Calc 3 1,048,576 16,384 17,179,869,184 256

OpenOffice Calc 2 65,536 256 16,777,216 256

Version Rows Columns Cells Sheets

Gnumeric 65,536 256 16,777,216 *

KSpread 32,767 32,767 1,073,676,289 *

Lotus 1-2-3 65,536 256 16,777,216 256

LibreOffice Calc 1,048,576 1,024 1,073,741,824 10,000

* Dependent on Memory

Excel specifications and limits

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/excel-specifications-and-limits-
1672b34d-7043-467e-8e27-269d656771c3#ID0EDBD=Office_2007
INTERFACE / WORKSHEET FEATURES
Workbook / File Name

Quick Access
Toolbar Column / Column
Headings
Active Cell Ribbon Tabs
Formula Bar

Name Box

Row /
Row Headings

Scrollbars
Status Bar

Zoom
Views Controls
Worksheet / Tab Name

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Spreadsheet Document that is entirely made up of rows and columns. Used to
list and analyze data.

People tend to use the word spreadsheet in two ways: 

> the entire Excel workbook file
> an individual worksheet in a workbook
Workbook The basic document for Excel. The default workbook name
is Book1.xlsx where the extension xlsx comes from Excel
spreadsheet. The final x was added to be different from the
older Excel format that uses just xls for the extension. An Excel
2007 or 2010 window can contain several open workbooks at the
same time.
Worksheet A single sheet of data. One or more worksheets make a
workbook.

The default workbook contains three worksheets, named

Sheet1, Sheet2, Sheet3. A worksheet, also called just a sheet or
spreadsheet, can have up to 1,048,576 rows by 16,384
columns with up to 32,767  characters in a single cell.
Column Named with letters in the following pattern: A, B, C,…Z, AA, AB,
AC,…AZ, BA, BB, BC,…BZ, CA,…IA, IB,…IV... XFD, which is the
last column possible
Row Named with numbers from 1 to 1,048,576.
Cell Intersection of a row and a column on a worksheet.
Active Cell Has a dark border around it and the row and column headers
are colored.

This is the cell that receives your keystrokes and commands.

You make a cell the active cell when you select it, by clicking it
or by moving into it with keys. The TAB or the arrow keys are
handy for moving from cell to cell.
Gridlines The gray lines that form the cells. By default they don't print.  If
you want to print the gridlines, there is a check box in the Page
Setup dialog.
Active The worksheet that receives your keystrokes and commands. It
Worksheet is the white sheet tab with its name in bold. 

If you group two or more worksheets together, you can have

more than one active sheet.
Ribbon A feature that started with Excel 2007. Refers to the area with
icons below the title bar.
Workspace The area below the ribbon that holds your documents
 Cancel
The Name Box shows the
Enter
cell reference for the
Insert Formula current cell or for the
upper left cell of the
current selection or the
Formula Bar name of the selected cell or
Active Cell
range of cells.

Name Box / Cell Reference

The buttons to the right of the Name Box apply to the Formula Bar.
• CANCEL: Clears any changes.
• ENTER:  Accepts changes and exits Edit mode. More typing will replace
cell contents.
• INSERT FORMULA: Opens a dialog where you can choose one of Excel's
pre-defined formulas. That dialog then opens the Function Arguments
dialog, which has text boxes for you to fill in.
Headings The buttons at the top of columns (letters) and at the left end of
rows (numbers). For a selected column or row the heading is
colored.
Name Box At the top left above the sheet cells and headings. Used to
display cell references and to assign and display names for a
cell or a range of cells. 
Range A rectangular set of cells, referred to by using the upper left
and lower right cell references with a colon between them, like
A2:C5 for the range illustrated at the right. The absolute
reference for the range would be $A$2:$C$5.
Formula Bar Shows the contents of a selected cell, whether it is plain text,
numbers, or a formula.
Formula Looks rather like part of an algebra equation, like =SUM(A4:D7)
or =AVERAGE(C3, F5, H10). Most formulas use cell references
to get the values to calculate with. 
 THE RIBBON AND THE TABS

HOME TAB – This is where you see the basic formatting features. The default tab
contains these groups of buttons: Clipboard, Font, Alignment, Number, Styles,
Cells and Editing.

INSERT TAB – This tab contains items that you can insert into the file: text boxes,
pictures, charts, links, etc. These groups are part of the Insert Tab: Tables,
Illustrations, Charts, Sparklines, Filter, Links, Text, Symbols.

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PAGE LAYOUT TAB – This tab contains buttons that are mostly for arranging print
properties. These groups are part of this tab: Themes, Page Setup, Scale to Fit,
Sheet Options, Arrange.

FORMULAS TAB – This tab allows you to browse through all major
formulas/functions available, to define and manage names and to troubleshoot
formula errors and links. These groups comprise this tab: Function Library,
Defined Names, Formula Auditing and Calculation.

DATA TAB – This allows you to work with databases and to organize large
amounts of raw data. These groups are part of this tab: Get External Data,
Connections, Sort & Filter, Data Tools, Outline.

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REVIEW TAB – This tab deals with content review and data protection. It includes
the following groups: Proofing, Language, Comments, Changes.

VIEW TAB – This tab is similar to the Page Layout tab because it also deals with
page display. This, however, is more focused on how the worksheet window looks
(the interface). This tab should be used more when dealing with several
worksheets at the same time. This tab contains the following groups: Workbook
Views, Show, Zoom, Window, Macros

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 CREATING, SAVING AND OPENING FILES
TO CREATE A FILE:
• Go to FILE tab > NEW > BLANK WORKBOOK > CREATE

NOTE: You can use existing templates instead of a blank workbook. Existing
templates for budgets, calendars, cards, etc. are available in Excel from
Office.com.
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TO OPEN A FILE:
• Go to FILE tab > OPEN > Select file > Click OPEN or Press ENTER
Shortcut Key: Alt + F + O

TO SAVE A FILE, you can do either of these:

• Go to QUICK ACCESS TOOLBAR > Click the diskette icon > Type
the file name > Click SAVE or press ENTER.

• Go to FILE tab > Select either SAVE or SAVE AS > Type file name > Click
SAVE or press ENTER.

NOTE:
• Use SAVE if you want to use the existing file name
or update/overwrite the current file.
• Use SAVE AS if you want to save the file as another version of the
original.
Shortcut Key: Ctrl + S

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 NAVIGATING THE WORKSHEET

Ctrl + Home Moves to the first cell on the sheet (A1).

Ctrl + End Moves to the last cell on a worksheet, to the lowest used
row of the rightmost used column. If the cursor is in the
formula bar, CTRL+END moves the cursor to the end of
the text.
Ctrl + Left Arrow Moves to the first cell (column A) of the active row.
Ctrl + Right Arrow Moves to the last cell (column XFD) of the active row.
Ctrl + Up Arrow Moves to the top cell (row 1) of the active column.
Ctrl + Down Arrow Moves to the bottom cell (row 1,048,576) of the active
column.
Ctrl + A Selects the entire worksheet. If the worksheet contains
data, CTRL+A selects the current region. Pressing
CTRL+A a second time selects the entire worksheet.

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Left Arrow Moves one cell to the left.
Right Arrow Moves one cell to the right.
Up Arrow Moves one cell up.
Down Arrow Moves one cell down.
Page Up Moves one screen up in a worksheet.
Page Down Moves one screen down in a worksheet.

SHORTCUT KEYS are a combination of function keys, letters and arrows.

Some are purely for navigation while others result in executing commands
(such as the ones for ribbon shortcuts and shortcut keys assigned for macros).

Other than using shortcut keys, the simplest way to explore the worksheet is
through the mouse and the scrollbars.

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 SELECTING ITEMS
SELECTION ACTION
A single cell Click the cell, or press the arrow keys to move to the cell.
A range of cells Click the first cell in the range, and then drag to the last cell, or
hold down SHIFT while you press the arrow keys to extend the
selection.
A large range of Click the first cell in the range, and then hold down SHIFT while you
cells click the last cell in the range. You can scroll to make the last cell
visible.
All cells on a Click the Select All button or press CTRL+A.
worksheet

Nonadjacent cells Select the first cell or range of cells, and then hold down CTRL
or cell ranges while you select the other cells or ranges.
 
Note: You cannot cancel the selection of a cell or range of cells in a
nonadjacent selection without cancelling the entire selection.

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An entire row or Click the row or column heading.
column
(Illustration: 1 = row; 2 = column)

Adjacent rows or Drag across the row or column headings. Or select the first row or
columns column; then hold down SHIFT while you select the last row or
column.
Nonadjacent rows Click the column or row heading of the first row or column in your
or columns selection; then hold down CTRL while you click the column or row
headings of other rows or columns that you want to add to the
selection.
Cells to the last Select the first cell, and then press CTRL+SHIFT+END to extend
used cell on the the selection of cells to the last used cell on the worksheet (lower-
worksheet (lower- right corner).
right corner)
More or fewer cells Hold down SHIFT while you click the last cell that you want to
than the active include in the new selection. The rectangular range between the
selection active cell (active cell: The selected cell in which data is entered
when you begin typing. Only one cell is active at a time. The active
cell is bounded by a heavy border.) and the cell that you click
becomes the new selection.

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 MODIFYING CELLS

DATA INPUT – Involves inputting text, numbers or formula into a cell.

This can be done by typing:

• Into the formula bar
• Into the active cell.

The name box lets you know the cell address or reference. A cell address
contains a letter (stands for the column ref) and a number (stands for the row
ref).

Name Box / Cell Ref

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AUTOFILL - A method of copying repetitive data (whether text, number or
formula) into several rows and columns.

1. Select the cell you want to replicate.

2. Place the cursor on the bottom right corner of the active cell. You will see a
black square. It will turn into a cross once you let the cursor hover over it.
3. You can either drag from the black square until you are able to copy the data
into the cells you want to fill OR you can just double click the black square so
that the blank cells will automatically be filled.

NOTES:
• The “double-clicking method” works only with vertical filling. For
horizontal filling, you need to use the “drag method”.
• The “double-clicking method” will only fill cells where the left column is filled
with data. It will stop “filling” as soon as the cell on the left column is blank.

Drag from the

bottom right corner

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CUT / COPY / PASTE – These commands/actions are used for moving and
replicating text or objects.

ACTION SHORTCUT KEY

Cut Ctrl + X
Copy Ctrl + C
Paste Ctrl + V

To move a text or object:

1. Highlight the text or select the object.
2. Press Ctrl + X or click the cut icon (Home tab > Clipboard group).
3. Click the cell or object where you want to move the text / object.
4. Press Ctrl + V or click the paste icon at the Clipboard group.

To replicate text or objects once or multiple times:

1. Highlight the text or select the object.
2. Press Ctrl + C or click the copy icon (Home tab > Clipboard group).
3. Click the cell or object where you want to move the text / object.
4. Press Ctrl + V or click the paste icon at the Clipboard group.

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PASTE
OPTIONS
 COMMON ERRORS – SW2
ERROR DESCRIPTION
Typing error
#NAME? Typing a range name that does not exist
Leaving off the quotation marks around a text string in a formula
Tried to divide by zero. Either the cell's value was zero, it was blank, or it
#DIV/0! contained text instead of a number.
Numbers that are formatted as text can cause this, too.

Tried to do something to data of the wrong type, like trying to add values
#VALUE!
when at least one is text instead of a number.

#REF! Formula refers to a cell that you deleted or pasted over.

Problem with a number in the formula.

#NUM!  An argument is invalid.
A calculated value is too large or too small to display.

The formula includes multiple ranges with a space in between instead of a

#NULL!  comma, but the ranges do not overlap. When the ranges do overlap, the
formula uses only the values from the intersection of the ranges.

Formula Omits This one may not actually be an error! It depends on what your formula is
Adjacent Cells supposed to do. The warning helps when your dragging missed a cell or two.
 FORMULAS & FUNCTIONS
“Formulas are equations that can perform calculations, return information,
manipulate the contents of other cells, test conditions, and more. A formula always
starts with an equal sign (=).” (MS Excel def.)

You can enter formulas either through the formula bar or directly into the cell.
Parenthesis () organize the levels of “nesting” within a formula. “Nesting” occurs
when there are several levels of formulas in one compound formula. You can
have up to 64 IF functions nested within one formula.

A formula may contain a combination of these elements:

1. CONSTANTS – This refers to numbers or characters included in the formula.

Example: 1, 50, 1000, “apple”, “Year”

NOTES:
• When encoding a formula, numbers from 1,000 and above should not
include the comma ( , ) to prevent formula error.
• Unless typing a defined name, text should be enclosed in quotation marks
(“ “) for it to be recognized as text. If not, the formula will result in #NAME?
(error).
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2. OPERATORS – This refers to the mathematical symbols involved in the
formula. In the absence of any parenthesis, Excel will generally recognize
the MDAS rule in calculations.

Example: + - / * ^

3. FUNCTION – “a preset formula in Excel. It begins with the equal sign (=)
followed by the function's name and its arguments. The function name tells Excel
what calculation to perform. The arguments are contained inside round brackets.”
(About.com def.).

Example: =SUM(), =TEXT()

4. CELL REFERENCES – As the name implies, this involves referring to

another cell to “call” for the contents of that cell. To indicate a cell reference,
you need to use the cell address (letter + number).

Example: A1, Z$32, $B$2

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There are two kinds of cell references:
a. Relative - This is the most widely used type of cell reference in
formulas.  Relative cell references are basic cell references that
adjust and change when copied or when using AutoFill.

b. Absolute – This is used when you don’t want to change the cell
reference. To keep the column or row reference unchanged, you
need to use “$”.

CELL
EFFECT
REFERENCE
$A1 Keeps the column reference unchanged but not the
row reference.
A$1 Keeps the row reference unchanged but not the
column reference.
$A$1 Keeps both the column and row references
unchanged.

NOTE: Shortcut for inserting the dollar ($) sign: press F4.
CREATING FORMULAS

1. Using operators and constants.

To do this, simply type “=“ (equal sign without the quotation marks) in the
cell where you want to put the formula. Then type a combination of constants
and operators as you see fit. Press Enter.

Example: =(114+56)*3

2. Using cell references

This is similar to creating formulas using operators and constants except this
uses cell references/addresses most of the time instead of constants. This
allows greater flexibility in terms of updating data.

To add a cell reference, you can either type the cell address after “=“ or you
can use your mouse after typing “=“. Using your mouse will allow a dotted
border to appear around the cell you are linking to. The border color will be
the same as the color of the cell address in the formula.

Example: =IF(B10>10,$C7,”missing”)

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3. Using functions.
There are two ways to do this:
• Type directly into the cell.
• Use the “Insert Function”.

The “Insert Function” dialog box can be accessed by:

• Clicking the icon before the formula bar
• Going to FORMULAS Tab > Function Library > Insert Function.

Once the “Insert Function”

button is clicked, a dialog box
will appear.
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To use the Insert Function dialog box:
1. If you’re unsure about the function, use the search box

or select a category.

2. Once the category is determined, all the formulas belonging to that

category will appear as a list of choices. Select one. Click OK.

3. Whichever you select will prompt the set of arguments required to create
the function. The arguments are different for every function. Some have
more arguments than others.

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 Example: AND function will show these arguments:

4. To complete the required arguments, either type the required cell

reference or use the browse button (using the mouse) to point the cursor
to the cell you want to refer. Click OK.

The final formula should look similar to this:

=AND(K19,K23)

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 COMMONLY USED FUNCTIONS

• SUM =SUM(number1,number2,…)

• AVERAGE =AVERAGE(number1,number2,…)

• ROUND =ROUND(number,num_digits)

• MIN =MIN(number1,number2,…)

• MAX =MAX(number1,number2,…)

• SUMIF =SUMIF(range, criteria,[sum_range])

• COUNT =COUNT(value1, [value2], ...)

• IF IF(logical_test,
value_if_true],[value_if_false])

• VLOOKUP =VLOOKUP(lookup_value, table_array,

col_index_num, [range_lookup])

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