Reviewed 6/2016

INSTITUTE OF COMPUTING STUDIES

IILOCOS SUR POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
 SPREADSHEETS
A spreadsheet is simply an electronic worksheet or a table (like an accounting sheet) that lets you enter and
work with figures and columns of information. Some word processing programs have mini-spreadsheet
capabilities built into them in the form of TABLES, in which case you can use the word processor and insert a
table of information that can process formulas and other mathematical operations. In Microsoft Word, you can
use a table feature also, and there are ways to embed the table as a spreadsheet. For now, however, we're
going to work with the spreadsheet as a separate item using the program called, Microsoft Excel 2013, typically
part of the Microsoft Office package.
You will notice that the spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel opens automatically with gridlines, and you can choose
whether or not to view or print the gridlines. You will also notice that you are actually opening a new workbook
that contains three electronic worksheets (the actual spreadsheets) labeled as such at the bottom of the
screen. You can add new worksheets, rename them, and/or you can delete sheets as well, at any time.
To begin with, you will need to understand how to read the spreadsheet or worksheet. First of all, the cursor
itself is different than it was in the word processor. In the word processor, you noticed the cursor as a vertical
line or insertion point. On the spreadsheet, you will notice that the cursor or insertion point (the vertical line of
which we spoke) is in the top portion of your screen known as the "formula bar." This area allows you to view
the full contents of a cell and also allows you to correct mistakes or make changes to a cell entry. Your gray
arrow keys or TAB button then allow you to move the rectangular cell marker (cursor bar) from one cell to another
within the spreadsheet. Wherever this cursor bar is, that is where typewritten material will be sent. To move
about on the spreadsheet, you will use the TAB button or the gray arrow keys while adjusting to viewing the
cell contents in the editing area. You can also hit ENTER and then TAB or the gray arrow keys. Also, try shift
and the TAB key to move backwards, one cell at a time.

Some Definitions:
Cell -- Where column and row intersect. Notice that the top of your spreadsheet has black letters identifying
each column, beginning with A. The rows are numbered on the left hand side of the screen, beginning with 1.
You will read your screen as you would a graph in order to tell the computer various things later on. Every cell
has an address consisting of the column letter and then the row number.
For practice and to familiarize yourself with how to move in the spreadsheet, let's try a simple exercise. Move
your cursor bar from the home position of A1 to cell location D6. Now return home to cell A1 by pressing ctrl
home. Then move the cursor bar to cell location F15. Return home a different way, this time by tapping the up
arrow key, then the left arrow key to return to cell A1. Now you know how to move about in the spreadsheet!!
Again, try the TAB button as well, and SHIFT TAB to see what happens.
Formula -- Formulas tell the computer to perform some type of special computation or logical operation on a
series of, usually numerical entries, but formulas can be performed on words or strings as well. Several pre-
written formulas can be used and are programmed into the spreadsheet – these are called functions. We will
use some of these in upcoming exercises.
=SUM adds a series of numbers =MAX finds the highest number in a series
=MIN finds the lowest number in a series =AVERAGE computes the average number of a series
There are other formulas/functions; these are only a few. You can also create your own formulas, which we will
try later. Usually, formulas should be followed by parentheses that contain cell locations for the computer to
scan through and compute within. An example of a correctly-entered formula/function would look like this:

=SUM(A3:A15) (meaning, compute the SUM of numbers

in cells A3 THROUGH A15)
or like this: =AVERAGE(B2:D2) (meaning, compute the AVERAGE of
numbers in cells B2 THROUGH D2)
or even this: =B4*B5 (meaning, multiply the contents of cell B4 with the contents of cell B5)
A couple of things to notice: The colon serves as a hyphen, and means THROUGH. The asterisk or * means
multiply.
Here are these and the other main math operators:
+ addition
- subtraction
* multiply
/ divide
: through
Once you hit enter or tab, or once you move the rectangular cursor bar, the computer actually does the
computations for you and prints the result in the cell location where you typed the formula. However, if you move
the cursor bar back to that cell and look at the top of your spreadsheet in the editing field, you should see the
actual formula appearing above in the formula bar, with the result displayed down in the cell where the cursor is
resting – this helps to check to see if the formula or function was entered correctly. The formula and/or function
will appear in the editing field and the result will appear in the cell.

If you’re NOT in Microsoft Excel, then...enter Microsoft Excel to work on the following pages.

Try the following:

1. Type the following numbers into the first five cells of your spreadsheet.

2
 2. Click your cursor in cell A6
3. Click the AUTOSUM button in the HOME tab of the Ribbon at the top of the screen.

4. You should see a formula with moving lines around the entire number area – this is Excel’s
way of “asking” you if you want it to perform this function. To tell Excel “Yes, go ahead and add
this column of numbers,” press the ENTER key on the keyboard. To tell Excel “No,” press the
ESC [escape] key on the keyboard.
5. In the cell underneath, cell A7, type the following, and press the ENTER key when finished:

=a6-a4

6. Notice how we preceded the formula with an equals sign.

7. Move your cursor back to cell A7. Look in the formula bar at the top of the screen. You should
see your formula appearing there, with upper case letters where you had typed lower case.
This is fine. Excel will take care of those details for you. You can always see the formula that
produced the result you see in the cell by doing this simple task.

WHERE YOUR CURSOR IS determines the actions and what you will see,
as well as what tasks you can do.

8. Move your cursor to cell A8 and try a multiplication formula like the following:

=a5*a2

9. Now try a division problem by putting in this formula into cell A9.

=a6/a1

Hopefully this exercise gives you the idea of how the spreadsheet works especially with math
functions and formulas.

Note: Parentheses are not needed in the instances shown in steps 5, 8, & 9, but if
they are used, the formula will still work. Think: Why is this so?

3
 An Introduction to MS Excel 2013 (similar to MS Excel 2010)
1. Ribbon Interface
2. Saving your work
3. Opening your work
4. File Tab and other Tabs on the Ribbon
5. Quick Access Toolbar
6. & 7. Experiment with some already-created Excel programs
Bottom Line: Many things are still the same – just re-arranged. If you haven’t already, learn UNDO!
1. Ribbon Interface and tabs
a. The new user interface used by many of the new MS Office 2013 products (such as Word, Excel,
PowerPoint, and Access) is called the “Ribbon,” an interface introduced with the MS Office 2007
products and carried through to MS Office 2010 and now 2013. There are less menus and word choices
– you’ll notice things are much more visual, and “like” tools will be grouped together. Here is a diagram
of the typical beginning screen in Excel. The former Office button has been replaced with a FILE tab.
Title Bar
Quick Access Toolbar
Tabs
FILE tab) Ribbon
(top of screen – the User Interface)

Formula Bar
Although this is a
screen capture of
Groups or Regions on MS Excel 2010, it
Tabs in the Ribbon is very similar to
MS Excel 2013.
The Add-Ins tab,
however, is only
present in MS
Excel 2010.

Views Buttons

Status Bar Zoom Slider

b. The beginning screen in Microsoft Excel 2010 is very similar to that of Microsoft Excel 2007 including the
big change in the Graphical User Interface or GUI. Menus and toolbars from 2003 are now arranged on
a Ribbon with Tabs of similarly-grouped regions or groups of buttons. Contextual tabs (sometimes
called tools) appear only under certain circumstances, such as when a picture is selected or clicked on.
c. The tabs are: File, Home, Insert, Page Layout, Formulas, Data, Review, View, and Add-ins
d. Many users of both Excel 2007 and 2010 have found that the ribbon layout is very intuitive and makes
work faster since similar regions of logically-grouped buttons of use are bundled together. AND another
nice feature is to learn how to HOVER with the mouse. That is, once you highlight some text in your
document (or have your cursor in a paragraph), you simply slide the mouse to one of the areas on the
ribbon (or “hover” over the area, say, of styles or font choices) and notice how you get a Live Instant
Preview of what the text would look like, but the change won’t actually occur until you click the mouse.

4
 e. By the way, you will still see the same 3 buttons in the top right-most portion of the screen: Minimize,
Restore (Resize), and Close.
f. Features? In addition to the Ribbon interface, you will notice the Zoom Slider. Try it out – it’s at the
bottom of your screen instead of appearing as a drop-down menu at the top.
g. Features? Live Preview is new as well as mini-toolbars (kind of ghostly) that appear for convenience
when you highlight text, for example, instead of having to slide the mouse all the way up to a ribbon
area for a command (just keep the mouse in position for a few seconds for the toolbar to appear). This
last item of note is the equivalent of the right-mouse click menu, which you can still do if you wish.

2. Saving Your Work: Saving your work is a little different, but not much.
a. Use the File Tab detailed below in #4.
i. Saving within MS Excel 2013 for use within MS Excel 2013, 2010 or 2007 adds a new file
extension: .xlsx -- four letters instead of three, with an x at the end of the extension. This file
will not open automatically in earlier versions of Excel (such as 2003); however, you can
download an optional converter for an older version of Excel if need be.
b. Saving within MS Excel 2013 for use within Excel 2013, 2010, or 2007 is fine. No changes needed.
c. Saving within MS Excel 2013 for use within EARLIER versions of Excel is an option – save as an Excel ’97-
2003 document – this way you can open the document in ANY Excel version including 2013.

3. Opening Your Work: What’s New? Opening your work is a little different, but not much.
a. Use the File Tab detailed below in #4.
b. Opening files in MS Excel 2013 that were created in earlier versions of Excel – No problems noted.
Excel 2010 will open older files without any major problems.
c. Opening files in MS Excel 2013 that were created in MS Excel 2013 – No problems noted.
d. Be conscious of how you save a document – You can choose to save a document for an older version of
Excel by choosing the appropriate option from the SAVE AS option from the File Tab, which we will look
at shortly.

4. File Tab
a. Notice all the options in the
menu that are file related.
5. Quick Access Toolbar
a. This can be programmed to
hold whatever buttons you
prefer. It’s really your own
customized Toolbar. By
default, Excel 2013
automatically has three
This is called the “back stage” view.
buttons ready for your use.
They are:

Save
(not Save As)
Quick Access Toolbar (below)

Add commands from here

Undo Redo 5
 b. To add buttons of your own liking or choosing, click the drop-down arrow to the right of the toolbar.
You can then select any shortcut you prefer. Here is a diagram of your options. Notice the checkmarks
by the default toolbar buttons.

Now try this!

6. Experiment with already-created Excel documents
a. Click the File Tab.
b. Click Open.
c. Scroll on the left until you see “Lab Files L” and click once.
d. Double-click the Classnotes folder
e. Double-click (or click once on, then click the OPEN button) CLASSLIST.XLS Notice the file extension.
Was this file created in an earlier version of Excel? How can you tell?
f. Try adding names and grades from the handout in class – fill in columns A-D only.
g. Click your mouse on the last figure in column E. Look in the formula bar to see if there is a formula.
h. You may notice that the MAX, MIN, and AVG columns are computed automatically. If not, try the next
set of steps; otherwise, skip ahead to step l.
i. Use the autofill handle (small black box in the lower right corner of the cell) and drag downward by
keeping the left mouse button pressed. Did the formula fill in properly for the new student(s) you
added? Hopefully yes.
j. Do the same with the Max and Average columns.
k. Try highlighting the entire spreadsheet.
l. In the Font group, still on the Home Tab of the Ribbon, click the drop-down menu for font color, and
simply hover your mouse over the choices. Notice the Automatic Live Preview we spoke about earlier.
m. Try hovering your mouse over similar areas such as Conditional Formatting in the Styles group or region
of the same Home Tab.
n. What are the margins of this spreadsheet? To find out, click the Page Layout Tab in the ribbon, then
click Margins. The first set of measurements that appear at the top of the menu are the margins that
were set previously by the person who set this up in MS Excel 2003.
o. Is there a Header on this spreadsheet? Click the Insert Tab and click Header and Footer in the Text
group. Experiment with some of the choices. Hit the Escape button on the keyboard to return to the
editing screen, or click below your spreadsheet. Click the Normal view button (bottom of the screen) to
view your screen without the header (or footer).
6
 p. Click File. Slide the mouse to Save AS and click on Thaw Space (on the left side of the screen). On the
next dialog box that appears, notice the new file extension that has been added to the file name.
Choose from the “Save as File Type” dropdown menu, the choice of Excel Workbook .xlsx . Click save.
q. Close out of Excel. Re-open the 2013 version you just saved. Close it, and re-open the 2003 version
(remember it is in Classnotes in Lab Files L). Did both open successfully? Were you able to see both files
in the folder? Notice the breadcrumb trail right here.

A glimpse of the first four tabs in the Ribbon. Although these were taken from Excel 2010,
they very closely resemble the tabs in Excel 2013:

Home Tab:
Here is a snapshot of the groups on the Home Tab. Usually you will return to the Home Tab for things such as font
changes or for text adjustments and alignments.
Home Tab on Ribbon
(top of screen – the User
Interface)

Insert Tab:
Here is a snapshot of the groups on the Insert Tab.

Insert Tab on Ribbon

(top of screen – the User Interface)

7
Page Layout Tab
Here is a snapshot of the groups on the Page Layout Tab.

Page Layout Tab on

Ribbon (top of screen – the User
Interface)

Formulas Tab
Here’s a snapshot of the Formulas Tab. Notice that the groups on this tab do not have the small dialog box launcher.

Formulas Tab on Ribbon

(top of screen – the User Interface)

Now try THIS:

7. More Exercises: Finishing and Charting a spreadsheet.

a. Open the spreadsheet called, Zale’s Simplified.xls from the Classnotes folder.
b. Enter the following formulas in these cells (include equals sign – upper or lower case is acceptable.)
In E2 type =d2*b2 In F2 type =C2-D2 In G2 type =f2*b2

c. Next, carry the formula down by using the autofill handle (small black box) in the corner of the selected
cell. In this case, click once on cell E2 to start.
d. Place your mouse on the autofill handle noticing the mouse now becomes a small black cross.
e. Drag the autofill handle down to row 5 and release. Notice how the formulas fill in, just as they did in
prior versions of Excel.
f. Do the same for cells F2 and G2.
g. Click the Autosum button: ∑ in the Editing Group and hit the Enter key on the keyboard. (If you see a
series of #### symbols, it simply means your column needs to be wider to accommodate the number.
Double-click on the line between the letters E and F in the column area of the screen. That should
widen the column enough.) Repeat for cell G6.
h. To create a quick chart, highlight the data (including column titles) in cells A1 through A5 then hold the
CTRL key down and highlight the data in cells C1 through D5.

8
i. Click the Insert Tab on the Ribbon. In the Charts Region click Bar. Select the first bar chart.
j. Notice the new “Chart Tools” contextual tab in the title bar just above the ribbon. Click the Switch
Row/Column Choice in the Data Group. There are three sub-toolbars you can click on that are related to
charts: Design, Layout, and Format. These toolbars only appear when you have a chart in the works on
your screen, and it is selected. Experiment with the toolbar options to dress the chart up even further.
k. Look at a preview of your work by clicking on File, Print. Return to the editing screen by clicking any
ribbon tab such as Home.

9
 LESSON 1 – CLASS LIST SPREADSHEET
Type in the CLASS LIST spreadsheet on the next page, but refer to this page for specific instructions.
Be in or select Microsoft Excel from the Windows screen and create a NEW BLANK WORKBOOK.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Enter the heading, CLASS LIST, as a HEADER by doing the following:
Click the INSERT tab on the ribbon, then HEADER. You will see a box at the top of the screen.
Type CLASS LIST, then click in the cells below the title to view the screen. Change the font
and size as well by highlighting CLASS LIST, clicking the HOME tab, and changing font size
and selecting bold. Click the VIEW tab and click NORMAL when done. You should see your screen
without the header, and a vertical dotted line. Beyond the dotted line, material would print to a second page.

2. Widen column A by doing the following:

Using the mouse, point at the line between columns A & B, in the top gray row
of the screen. Your mouse should turn into a line with an arrow through it, allowing you to drag
the lines left or right depending on if you need to widen or shrink a column. “Guestimate” the
size. (If you double-click the line, it will automatically adjust to the widest entry typed into the
column thus far.) Click the HOME tab when you are done.
3. Type the title of each column in caps. Hit the tab key after each title to advance to the next column.
Make sure you are putting a separate title in each column by typing a title, hitting the TAB key,
then typing the next title, hitting TAB again, etc. Widen the columns AFTER you type them in.
4. Boldface, underline, and center each of the column titles you entered by :
Moving the cursor bar home to the first title (NAMES). Look for the white cross to appear.
Highlighting across the row with the mouse (remember the first cell will always be white
when highlighting in a spreadsheet while the rest will be dark and you will be using the
white cross).
Click the B, U, and center align buttons in the HOME tab of the Ribbon. Widen your columns.

5. Enter the names. First move to cell A2, type a name, then use the down arrow key or the enter key to
move to the next location for the next name. Continue working down in that name column.
6. Type the grades for columns B, C, and D ONLY, in the same manner as in step 5. You will notice that
once you leave a cell, the entered number goes flush right. This is normal, and helps the computer
keep the figures properly aligned for future computations. Use the number pad to enter the grades as it
will save you time and you will be able to work faster.
7. Enter the following formulas in JANE SMITH'S row only, making sure each formula goes under the
proper column title. The computer will then figure the results once you leave each cell.
=MAX(B2:D2) =MIN(B2:D2) =AVERAGE(B2:D2)
8. Now fill in everyone else's results by
Returning to Jane Smith's maximum grade in cell E2 by clicking in cell E2.
Autofilling the column starting with E2. To do this, click and hold the mouse button down on
the AUTOFILL handle (black cross appears over a tiny black box in the corner of the cell) and
slide the mouse all the way to the end of the column in line with where the names end. Repeat
for the minimum and average columns, and after doing the average column, keep the highlight
on, and click the DECREASE DECIMAL button. Your decimals should get “under control!”
9. Alphabetize the names by doing this:
Return to cell A2 (JANE SMITH) by clicking once in the cell (white cross) or use CTRL HOME.
Highlight (use white cross, not black) all columns AND rows for the students and their grades,
excluding the headings in the top row. (expand the selection appears if you haven’t selected all – choose it if
necessary so you won’t lose data that accompanies each name!)
Click the DATA tab, and in the Sort and Filters group on the ribbon, click the small A-Z button.
10. Set the Margins by clicking the PAGE LAYOUT tab, then Margins, Custom Margins. Make the left
and right margins ¼" and the top & bottom ¾” then click the SHEET tab, and click “print gridlines.”
11. Highlight entire spreadsheet, click PAGE LAYOUT tab, click PRINT AREA, SET PRINT AREA. Click
File and Save your work to THAWSPACE on the hard drive, and print.
10
CLASSLIST

11
 LESSON 2 -- SPREADSHEETS

Type in the POPULAR GOVERNMENT BROCHURES spreadsheet on the next page, but refer to this page for
specific instructions. Begin typing after making sure you are in the MICROSOFT EXCEL 2013 program.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Enter the heading, POPULAR GOVERNMENT BROCHURES, as a HEADER by doing the following:
Click the INSERT tab on the ribbon, then HEADERS and FOOTERS, in the text group, then
type the title in the box provided. Make the title Bold, and a larger font (see the Home tab).
Click the VIEW tab on the ribbon, then NORMAL from the workbook views group.
2. Widen all four columns
Move the cursor bar to the appropriate column and make sure the highlight is turned off.
Stretch each column by sliding the mouse to the line between each column letter, hold the left
mouse button down, and slide the mouse to move the line to whatever width you want.
Change the other column widths the same way or “guestimate” with the mouse (prior lesson).
3. Type the column titles of each column in caps. Hit the tab key after each column title to advance.
4. Boldface, underline, and center each of the column titles you entered by:
Moving the cursor bar home to the first title (TITLES).
Highlighting (white cross) across the row. (remember the first cell will be white, the rest dark)
Click the B, U, and center align buttons in the HOME tab on the ribbon for Bold, Underline, Center
5. Program each column as follows: Highlight column B from cell B2 to B10. On the HOME tab in the
ribbon, click the small dialog box launcher in the number group on the HOME tab in the ribbon, and
choose currency in the number group, then choose 2 for number of decimals. ((Repeat for column
D.)) Highlight column C and then click the small dialog box launcher in the numbers group on the
HOME tab in the ribbon, and choose Number for the category of choice, then type 0 in the "Number of
Decimals" field. Check the box that says to use a 1,000 separator (to insert commas between every 3
digits). Click OK.

6. Enter the brochure titles. First move to cell A2, type a title, then use the down arrow key or the enter
key to move to the next location for the next title. Continue working down in that column.
7. Enter the figures in columns B and C only. Work down in the columns, like you did with the titles. Do
not type dollar signs or commas; only type decimal points with figures where needed.
8. Type the formula: =(B2*C2) in cell D2, under the PROFIT column. Hit enter.
9. Fill in the remaining profits by returning to cell D2 and:
Autofill the column starting with this cell (D2). (use the black cross when you point at the autofill
handle – the black box in the righthand corner of cell D2)
10. Alphabetize the titles by doing this:
Return to cell A2 (INFANT CARE)
Highlight this column (white cross) and the data in all the other columns, but exclude the
column titles that were typed on row 1.
Click the DATA tab, and in the Sort & Filter group, click the small A-Z button.
11. Preview your spreadsheet by clicking File, then PRINT. Look for four columns on one page. If four
columns do not appear, then re-adjust the margins (step 12). Click the Home tab to return to editing.
12. Set the Margins by clicking the PAGE LAYOUT tab, then MARGINS. Under CUSTOM MARGINS at
the very bottom of the drop-down menu, make the left and right margins ½" by typing .5. Preview
again to make sure four columns appear on one page.

13. Highlight entire spreadsheet and click the PAGE LAYOUT tab. Click PRINT AREA, Click SET
PRINT AREA. Save & Print your spreadsheet into Thaw Space using File.
12
POPULAR GOVERNMENT BROCHURES

13
Lesson 3 -- Spreadsheet & Charting Exercise
Spreadsheets in MS Excel 2013
Create the spreadsheet (spreadsheet A) that you see on page 16 and later, the chart you see on page 18 by following the
steps below.

1. Open MS Excel.
2. Click the PAGE LAYOUT tab on the ribbon, and then select MARGINS, CUSTOM MARGINS. Put half-inch (.5) margin
settings for top, bottom, left, and right as seen in the dialog box below. Click the box to Center on Page Horizontally.
Click OK.

3. Still in the PAGE LAYOUT tab, click the ORIENTATION button and choose "Landscape." This is so that the
spreadsheet will be printed horizontally on the page, to fit all the columns, instead of in the usual portrait fashion.
4. Click the INSERT tab on the ribbon, and choose HEADER AND FOOTER. Click inside the centered box on the
spreadsheet and type “Zale’s Amounts Thus Far as of” followed by today’s date. Next, highlight or select your
text. Choose a font and size that works well from the HOME tab, and also choose bold if you’d like. Clicking
someplace BELOW the header on your screen allows you to continue working in the spreadsheet while viewing the
header at the same time. If you wish to close out of the header view and have it NOT visible while you work, click
below the header, then click the VIEW tab, then NORMAL. The header will still remain in your spreadsheet, but you
won’t see it while you work if you choose this avenue.
5. Click the PAGE LAYOUT tab, and in the SHEET OPTIONS group, click the checkbox to PRINT GRIDLINES.
6. Click inside cell A1, and type the column headings you see listed on the spreadsheet. Make sure each heading goes
into its own column, which means you will need to hit TAB after typing the first title for column A, then proceed with
the next title, hit TAB, and so forth.
7. Center and boldface these titles across the first row by highlighting or selecting (use white cross) the titles with the
mouse, then click the B, U, and center align buttons in the HOME tab on the ribbon.
8. You may need to adjust the column widths. The easiest way is to use the mouse to double-click the line between
the column letters in the gray area above the white spreadsheet cells or drag the lines with the mouse provided
your cursor is in the gray area where the column letters are located. The column width will “snap” to the longest
entry currently in the column. Your mouse will take on a new shape – a line with an arrow. This is the column or
row adjusting tool.
9. Next, highlight or select (use white cross) the entire first row, and click the HOME tab on the ribbon. In the STYLES
group, select CELL STYLES and choose a color for the cells you have highlighted.
10. Highlight or select (use white cross) cells B2 through B5. On the HOME tab and in the NUMBER Group, click the
small dialog box launcher and choose CURRENCY in the dialog box that appears, putting 2 for decimals. Click OK. Do
the same for cells E2 through E6, and G2 through G6. This will “program” the cells to convert numbers into
currency, saving you time so you don’t need to actually type a dollar sign.
14
11. Enter the data in columns A, B, C, D, and F only, and do not type any dollar signs. They will appear automatically.
12. If you mistakenly entered ALL the data in the entire spreadsheet, erase what you have entered in columns E and G
(highlight and hit DELETE the numbers).

13. Enter the following formulas in these cells (include equals sign -- upper or lower case is acceptable):

In E2 type: =d2*b2 In F2 type: =c2-d2 In G2 type: =f2*b2

14. Next you will carry the formula down by using the fill-down handle in the corner of the selected cell, in this case, cell
E2. (see below). Click first in cell E2, where the finished result should appear from your formula. Look for the small
black box in the right-hand side of the cursor, and place your mouse on it noticing the mouse now becomes a small
black cross (not visible in the diagram below). Next, drag the fill-down handle from cell E2 to cell E5 and release the
mouse button. Notice that all the cells should be filled with appropriate data. The formula for each cell will appear
in the formula bar once you click on any particular cell.

15. Do the same for cells F2 to F5, and from G2 to G5 and fill the cells.
16. Place your cursor in cell E6 and click the AUTOSUM button:  then enter. Repeat for cell G6.
17. Highlight or select (use white cross) the text in cells D8 and F8, then boldface, italicize, and align them flush right.
18. Highlight or select (use white cross) the figures in cells B2 to B5 and experiment with the buttons that are for
INCREASING INDENTS or DECREASING INDENTS in the Alignment Group on the HOME tab of the ribbon. Now do
the same in columns E and G. What happens with the dollar signs in those cases? (Note: If you try to get the dollar
signs to appear TOO close to the figures, you will see a series of ### symbols, giving the impression that your
numeric entries are gone; however, they are not. If this happens, click the other indents button (decrease)—figures
should re-appear.)
19. Go to File and click PRINT and look at the preview -- check that all the columns (through G) appear on one page, and
also look for your header. You may have to tweak your spreadsheet to make it fit. First, click the Page Setup words
while you're in PREVIEW. Note: you can also switch back and forth from LANDSCAPE to PORTRAIT at any time, not
just before creating the spreadsheet -- visit the PAGE tab and check that LANDSCAPE has been selected already (see
instruction 2 above). Margins can also be changed here if you want to. Center the page horizontally by clicking the
MARGINS tab and looking for the checkbox for that feature. Click the Home tab to return to editing.
20. Highlight or select (use white cross) all of your data in the spreadsheet, and click FILE, PRINT AREA, SET PRINT AREA.
This marks off the area you want to print so that several blank pages will not unnecessarily print.
21. Click FILE, SAVE AS, and name and SAVE your work to THAW SPACE as an .xlsx document, then click FILE, and
PRINT your spreadsheet.

Now try for different styles and effects on your spreadsheet. (You do not have to create separate spreadsheets; simply
“play” with the one on your screen. Since it’s already saved, anything you do to it will not affect it unless you SAVE
again.) Highlight or select (using the white cross) the ENTIRE spreadsheet. (Use shift + any arrow key method if the
mouse is too fast -- ask instructor for help) then slide the mouse to the STYLES group on the HOME tab, and experiment
by going to various choices and seeing the “instant preview” of color options that will appear.

15
Lesson 4 -- Spreadsheet Charting Exercise
Charts in MS Excel 2013

Microsoft Excel is a powerful spreadsheet program. Not only can it help organize data, it can perform almost any
mathematical formula you need, be it simple or complex. You can also chart the information you place in a spreadsheet.
This is just the tip of the iceberg as to what Excel can do. Learn more below.

First, important to note is that whenever you open MS Excel, the program gives you one blank worksheet as part of the
opening screen. (in earlier versions of Excel, the default was three blank worksheets) This sheet is part of one workbook.
You can always add sheets to, or delete sheets from the workbook. Secondly, when highlighting or selecting things on
your spreadsheet, use the white cross, and remember that the first area you highlight will always be white as a
reference to where you started, and the remainder of the data will be highlighted in blue, gray, or purple. That is
normal.

For now, look at the bottom of your spreadsheet (or, technically, your workbook) that you saved. Let’s learn how to add
and delete sheets.

Make sure to have your spreadsheet open on the screen.

1. To add a sheet to your already-opened workbook, click the button next to sheet 1 to INSERT a WORKSHEET.
Notice you should now have two worksheets. You can use the mouse to move or drag the sheets into the right
order. Try it now. (press & hold the left mouse button – drag the sheet)
2. To delete a sheet -- right-click on the tab labeled “Sheet 2” and left-click or choose DELETE from the menu that
appears.You can always right-click and choose RENAME as well, and give the tab a more meaningful name.

CHARTING: Let’s imagine we want to create a chart to compare Zale’s Quantity Received with the actual number of
items sold (Quantity Sold). We’ll use the Chart Wizard to make it easier.

1. Highlight or select (using the white cross) the data in columns A1 through A5, then hold CTRL and highlight or
select the numbers in cells C1 through D5. Click the INSERT tab and in the CHARTS group, click BAR, then
Clustered Bar. Note we are including the column titles to help in our chart creation.
2. Notice the Contextual Tab that appears for CHART TOOLS. (see below) and click the various sub-tabs such as
DESIGN, LAYOUT, or FORMAT for various “tweaks” you can do to the chart. Or click the button to the right of

2a. If necessary,
change all the
instances of the
word “Inventory”
to “Quantity” and
all the instances of
the word “Profit”
to “Amount.” Hint:
use the FIND and
REPLACE tool
under the HOME
tab on the ribbon.

16
 the chart that appears in Excel 2013 to find most of these tools duplicated and available in a menu, and in a
much quicker way.
 Chart Title: In the CHART TOOLS contextual tab on the ribbon, click the sub-tab called LAYOUT and click the
Titles button in the LABELS group. Click then type inside the title box and label the chart as follows:
Comparing Quantity Received (blue) with Quantity Sold (red)

Still in the CHART TOOLS tab, and in LAYOUT, do the following:

 Click the Legend button in the LABELS group, and click SHOW THE LEGEND at RIGHT.
 Click the Data Labels button in the LABELS group, and click CENTER. Notice where the numbers go.
 Experiment with different looks – click the FORMAT tab and try different choices there.
The chart should now behave much like a piece of clipart. You can resize it, move it, and even double-click on parts for
changes.

3. Highlight or select (white cross) ALL of the spreadsheet data including the chart. Click the PAGE LAYOUT tab on
the ribbon, then PRINT AREA, SET PRINT AREA. Then click File, then PRINT. Notice that all of the spreadsheet
should be shown. Close out of the print and preview screen by clicking the HOME tab. Click once on JUST the
chart. Now click again on the File tab and select PRINT, and look again at the automatic preview. What
happens? You should see only the chart, enlarged to fit nicely on a piece of 8½” x 11” paper – just perfect for a
science fair project request! So WHERE your mouse is clicked affects what is actually printed in your
spreadsheet.

Summary: You can print the spreadsheet AND the chart on the same page, OR you can print them separately.

17
 Zale’s Amounts Thus Far as of 9/18/2015
Item Unit Price Quantity Received Quantity Sold Amount thus Far Amount Left Over Amount not-yet-seen
Rings $ 20.00 200 130 $ 2,600.00 70 $ 1,400.00
Necklaces $ 50.00 150 100 $ 5,000.00 50 $ 2,500.00
Watches $ 25.00 300 200 $ 5,000.00 100 $ 2,500.00
Earrings $ 15.00 600 450 $ 6,750.00 150 $ 2,250.00
Total Amount: $ 19,350.00 Total Amount not-yet-seen: $ 8,650.00

Comparing Quantity Received (blue)

with Quantity Sold (red)

Earrings 450
600

Watches 200
300
Series2
Necklaces 100 Series1
150

Rings 130
200

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

18
Lesson 4 – Using Mail Merge for Labels

Creating mailing labels by merging from an already-created list of multiple names & addresses.

In the Library's version of Microsoft Office, we will use MS EXCEL, a spreadsheet program that you allow you
to put names and addresses into ordered columns and rows, in a sense serving as a database for our
information. In using EXCEL, you will get a good idea of how a database would work and how to set up the
basics. Learning what "FIELDS" actually are and how they are used can be gleaned by using the MAIL MERGE
feature here, which essentially is a mini-database. Basically, you use 2 programs for the entire Mail Merge
job: MS Excel 2013 and MS Word 2013. First, we will use MS Excel, and then MS Word.

Incidentally, a FIELD NAME is a general way of calling upon a list of specific names. For example, John, Mary,
and Sue could be called "FIRST NAMES" as a field name. Smyth, Harrison, and Jones could be called "LAST
NAMES." The idea is to enter specific names into a mini-database that we create using general names or FIELD
NAMES and then merging these specific names via the FIELD NAMES into the form letter. You may have already
done steps 1-3, and if you have, simply skip to step 4.
-----------
1. Go into Microsoft Excel.
2. Enter the following “titles” or “FIELD NAMES,” one per column, as you see them here. Use your mouse to
widen the columns as needed. Ask the instructor for assistance if necessary.
3. Enter all the rest of the data for the remaining five rows.
4. SAVE, in Thaw Space, your file, naming it “Friends List 1” with your initials at the end. EXIT MS Excel.
Title Salutation First Name Last Name Address Address 2 City State Zip
Mr. & Mrs. Chuck & Ann Charles Finster 87 Park Place Johnstown NY 12354
Mr. Al Allan Candle 1345 Wicker Drive Portland ME 23456
Mr. & Mrs. John & Petra John Smythe 34 Carriage Way RR#2 Tulip Heights MO 34921
Ms. Penny Penelope Phineas 29 Winston Heights Windsor CT 84921
Miss Jen Jennifer Ripley 92 Arlington Road NY NY 51928

5. Go into Microsoft Word.

6. Click the Mailings Tab.
7. In the Start Mail Merge Group of the Mailings Tab, click Start Mail Merge, then click Step by Step Mail
Merge Wizard. A task pane appears to the right.
8. Step 1 of the Wizard -- Click Labels for your first choice, click NEXT at the bottom of the pane.
9. Step 2 of the Wizard – Click Change Document Layout, then Label Options. Select Avery US Letter for
Label Vendors, and the number 8160 for the Product Number as shown below. Click OK.

10. Still on Step 2 of the Wizard – Click Next Select Recipients at the bottom of the pane.
21
11. Click or be in the Home tab of the ribbon, and from the Paragraph group, click the drop-down menu for
the “Borders” button. Note: when you point at or hover your mouse over this button, it may say “bottom
border.” Next, click “View Gridlines” and you should see the label borders appear. Note: If this button is
already active and is gold in color, there is no need to click it.
12. Click the Mailings tab once again.
13. Step 3 of the Wizard – Click Use an existing list, then click Browse for the list. Locate it in Thaw Space –
the name was Friends List 1. This screen should then appear.

14. Still on Step 3 of the Wizard -- You will then see this screen appear – just click OK as you did on the prior
screen.

15. Step 3 of the Wizard -- Click Next: Arrange Your Labels at the bottom of the Task Pane.
16. Step 4 -- Click Address Block under “Arrange Your Labels,” for the easiest way to insert addresses, then
click OK. Next, click the “Update all labels” button still on Step 4 of the Wizard.
17. Still Step 4 -- Click Next – Preview Your Labels.
18. You can return to the Page Layout Tab at this point and work with spacing under the paragraph region if
you are unhappy with line spacing. (0 point for each of the two options works fine – spacing before and
spacing after a paragraph can be removed or adjusted)
19. Step 5 of the Wizard – Click “Complete the Merge.” In Thaw Space, Save your list of labels as “labels” with
your initials after the file name.
22
Can you reproduce this spreadsheet and chart? Hint: Data entry for the first 7 columns, then in column 8,
enter one formula and use relative referencing to fill it down. Make sure to use a different formula for the
class average, however.

23
 Try this scientific chart…

1. Enter the data, including column headings, WITHOUT any line spaces as shown above, and make sure to put the
TIME in the first column. Hint: for TIME, enter 0 then 30, hit enter, highlight both numbers and use AUTOFILL.
2. Highlight or select both columns of data including the column titles.
3. Click the INSERT tab, and in the CHARTS group, click SCATTER, and of the five types of scatter charts shown, find
and click on SCATTER WITH SMOOTH LINES.
4. Notice the new contextual tabs appearing at the top of the screen under the tab labeled “Chart Tools,” located
above the ribbon once your chart is selected or highlighted.
5. Look for the shortcut buttons along the right-hand side of the chart. Click the Plus Sign. A
list of options should appear, looking like this. Make sure the following boxes are selected
or checked, that are shown here.
6. Double-click the X-Axis (horizontal or time display axis) and notice a task pane appears to
the right.
7. Change Maximum to 270 (the highest time amount from our data) and make sure the
minimum is 0.
8. Change major unit to 30, since the time increments in seconds jump by 30 consistently
through our data.
9. Click inside the title fields and type the appropriate titles as seen above.

23a
 MS Excel Formulas
Order of Operations
MS Excel follows a rule when solving formulas called the “Order of Operations.” If more than one operator is
used in a formula, Excel will follow a particular order to get the result.

The order of operations is…

 Parentheses
 Exponents
 Multiplication & Division
 Addition & Subtraction

Remember: Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally

If you see a complicated formula that looks like this:

4+8/2*7-2^3+(3+4)
Excel will look at this first, for parentheses, and if present, will do what is in parentheses first.

So what would be done FIRST in the above example?

FIRST (3+4) because this operation is in parentheses. So far, we have…

4+8/2*7-2^3+7

SECOND will be the exponents (2^3).

4+8/2*7-8+7

THIRD what is done is any Division or Multiplication found from left to right. So… 8/2 is done followed by its result of
4*7. Resulting in this…

4+28-8+7

FOURTH would be any Addition or Subtraction found from left to right. So…4+28 is performed giving us 32, then from
32, subtract 8, giving us 24, and then adding 7 to 24 giving us 31.

32-8+7
24+7
31 should be the final answer that Excel would give you. Try entering the formula above in an Excel worksheet,
remembering to put an = sign in front. What did you get as a result?

Try this GCF Learn Free lesson (about 3-4 minutes) to re-enforce this important concept:
http://www.gcflearnfree.org/excel2013/14

24a
Formatting cells

Another necessary aspect of MS Excel is knowing you can format cells. This allows you to do a number of
things including:

 Displaying numbers in currency format

 Displaying a date in a particular way or format
 Forcing the computer to display zeroes in a zip code, for example, by choosing the “zip code” format.

The best way to format a cell or group of cells is to:

1. Highlight or select the cell or cells you wish to

format.
2. Click the HOME tab on the ribbon.
3. In the NUMBER group, click the small DIALOG
BOX LAUNCHER.
4. Look through the formatting options and make your
selection from the dialog box that appears such as this
example here. In this example, notice how
SPECIAL was chosen from the NUMBER tab on
the dialog box, then ZIP CODE was selected. This
option allows for zip codes with a 0 as a first digit, so
the 0 will actually appear when typing the zip code.

You can also program the spreadsheet to accept numbers in a particular format. For example, if you had part
numbers to enter, and they were to be in a format such as this:
34-7859-09
You would follow the steps above, but in step 4, choose CUSTOM and type in the following code:
##-####-##
This way, typing in a number such as 87965832 would yield the result: 87-9658-32 automatically, saving the
person entering the numbers the work of including the dashes. Provided they typed in the correct number of
digits, the computer would be programmed to fill the highlighted cells with the format you commanded.

You can also control the number of decimals you wish to display in your number. This again, is done through
FORMATTING CELLS such as described above.

A Tip: MS Excel can be used as a database program as well as a workbook/spreadsheet/worksheet program;

however, if you plan to have 500 or more entries or individual names or records, it is best to consider using MS
Access instead as your database.

25
Data Manipulation and Filtering in MS Excel:
When using MS Excel as a database that needs sorting, select ALL your entries or else only a certain area
might be sorted. You have up to 3 criteria to sort.
Filtering:
1. Open your CLASSLIST of names and grades. Click your cursor in the empty cell between the title
AVERAGE and the first average grade in that column.
2. Click the DATA tab on the ribbon.
3. Click FILTER.
4. Click the drop-down menu that appears in the AVERAGE column. Make a choice (such as smallest to
largest) then see what happens.

FILTER looks DOWN a column and can hide everything but what you see in the drop-down menu. De-select
when you are done by clicking the FILTER button once again. FILTER is a nice, quick way to briefly analyze
data. FILTER is a safer tool than many other tools.
Some tips:
 When creating a chart, it is best to highlight data consecutively and also, do not highlight empty rows or
columns.
 You can put images in for patterns in a chart. Be creative.
 If you use PASTE SPECIAL instead of PASTE only, you can LINK objects such as charts, and
automatically update them. Just plain old PASTE, when used from the INSERT tab, only returns a static
image.
 Match your presentation style to your message and audience as well. For example, bar graphs are NOT
good for motivating salespeople. Pie graphs are better because salespeople like to view themselves as
part of a team.

Exercise to Try:
Discovering more about Absolute Referencing
1, In MS Excel 2013, open the file, located in the lab files network location, called “SALES”
2. Look at the figures in the spreadsheet. Land your cursor on cells D3, D4, and D5. Examine the formula for
each cell. Are there any formulas that are in error? ___________________________ Why? _____________
3. What happens if you autofill the formula in column E down the column? __________________________
_________________________________________________________.
4. How can you correct the autofill problem? Answer: Use the ABSOLUTE REFERENCE technique of
assigning dollar signs to each address component. For example, in the original formula in cell E3, use the
formula =$B$18*D3 THEN use the autofill feature. By assigning dollar signs ahead of the column
letter (B) and the row number (18) portions of the cell address that contain a constant, in this case the tax
percentage figure, the figure will remain constant throughout the autofill procedure.
5. Lastly, fix the dollar signs so they are closer to the figures in all of the columns. Hint: Highlight the figures then
click the HOME tab on the ribbon and examine CURRENCY in the small dialog box associated with the NUMBER group.

26
Lesson 5 – Computing Sums and Averages in a Sample Salesperson Spreadsheet
This spreadsheet exercise came from a website (no longer available) and although it was originally designed for an
older version of Excel, the concepts still apply in version 2007, 2010, and 2013. One thing to note is that blank rows
are now discouraged in spreadsheet design. For this lesson, go ahead and leave the blank rows where you see them,
but remember NOT to use blank rows, as a general rule of thumb, in the future.

1. Open MS Excel 2013.

2. Open a file called “Salespersons Commissions without formulas.xls” which is located in the Classnotes
folder on your desktop.
3. Using the white cross that appears with your mouse, highlight the area on the spreadsheet from B3
through E10, which will include all the monthly figures shown, as well as some blank space (one
column) to the right of the figures, and 2 rows below them.
4. Click the Autosum button ∑ from the HOME tab on the ribbon. You should see totals now appearing in
column E, and in Row 10. Refer to the printed spreadsheet you see on page 33 to compare results.
5. Use a formula to figure out the average sales total from January through June, and compose it in cell
B12. After hitting Enter, click back on the figure and use the AUTOFILL handle to drag to the right,
filling in all cells from B12 through E12.
6. In row 13, figure standard deviation by using the formula: =STDEV and use the range for the first
region’s six-month sales results.

Lesson 6 – Using Logical Functions (IF statements) nested in our formulas. Ready to stretch
your thinking? First, steps 1 & 2 outline a general theory of what we will do.

1. As the furman exercise states on page 29, we want to create a formula that “makes a decision” about
which commission rate to use based on the value of the total sales. Here is what we are thinking:

 IF the total sales made for the six-month period for any given region is >100,000 then that
region gets the larger commission of 6% as a reward. ELSE go on…
 IF the total sales made for the six-month period for any given region is >80,000 then that region
gets the 5% commission as a reward. ELSE go on…
 IF the total sales made for the six-month period for any given region is <80,000 then that region
gets the lowest commission rate of 3.50%

2. We also need to think about the Adjusted Sales area in Cell A15. What we want to do, is through a
formula, tell the computer to analyze the totals in row 10, and if a total meets one of the requirements
listed above, then take the total and from it, subtract the commission amount leaving the company’s
actual adjusted sales figure. Note that this will NOT return what the salespersons get in commission.
This spreadsheet simply figures out what the COMPANY is getting based on subtracting the
commissions.
3. Click inside of cell B15. Click CAPS LOCK to make things easier (however you can type the formula in
either upper or lower case letters). Get ready to type a fairly long formula. This formula will be able to
be used in cells C15, D15, and E15 once we type in into B15. There are 3 IF segments to the formula.
The comma immediately after the first argument equates to the word “THEN DO THIS…” The second
comma appearing after the mathematical operation equates to “ELSE DO THIS.”
4. Type:
=IF(B10>100000,B10-$B$18*B10, IF(B10>80000,B10-$B$19*B10, IF(B10<80000,B10-$B$20*B10)))

Compare results with what you see on page 33.

27
Lesson 7 – Linking Spreadsheets
This exercise will show you how to link one spreadsheet’s data to another by way of using PASTE SPECIAL. You
will make 2 separate workbooks and work with both on the screen to link the data.

1. Open MS Excel 2013.

2. Create a title within the spreadsheet by merging and centering four columns as shown on page 36. To
do this, highlight, with the white cross, cells A1 through D1. Then in the HOME tab area of the ribbon,
look for the ALIGNMENT group and locate the button that is labeled “MERGE AND CENTER.” Click it,
then type your title, “EMPLOYEE VACATION TIME FOR FIRST QUARTER,” in that area.
3. Title each of the other columns by leaving a blank row under your main title, then enter each title
hitting the TAB key on the keyboard as we’ve done before, to advance to the next column.
4. Type the data in columns A, B, and C only.
5. In column D, write a formula that will subtract the used vacation time from the beginning vacation
time, and use the AUTOFILL handle (since the formula is a relative reference) to fill in the rest of the
data.
6. SAVE your work to THAW SPACE naming it something like “Quarter 1 Vacation” followed by your
initials. Keep the file open.

Now that the first spreadsheet/workbook is finished, create a new, blank spreadsheet/workbook. We’re going
to copy much of the information from the first spreadsheet into the next blank one we are about to create.

1. Create a new, blank workbook.

2. SAVE this one right away as “Quarter 2 Vacation” with your initials in THAW SPACE.
3. Look for your original spreadsheet in the TASK BAR at the bottom of the screen, and click it to make it
the “active” or “current” spreadsheet.
4. Select your first 2 rows of data – this will be your title and headings for the columns. Click COPY.
5. Look for the second spreadsheet in the taskbar (Quarter 2…) and click IT to make IT the active
spreadsheet.
6. Click your cursor in cell A1. From the HOME tab, click the bottom half (arrow) of PASTE from the
CLIPBOARD group and choose the option saying “keep source column widths.”
7. Correct the main title to say QUARTER 2 by double-clicking on the title.
8. Save your work.
9. Return to “Quarter 1 Vacation” and hit the ESC key to remove the marching ants title selection.
10. Select the names in the first column, and highlight beyond Tom Thompson to include 5 blank rows.
11. Click COPY (hint: look in the Clipboard group on the HOME tab.)
12. Look for the Quarter 2 spreadsheet in the TASKBAR and click it to make it active.
13. Click your cursor in cell A5. Click the PASTE DROP-DOWN ARROW and click PASTE LINK.

Paste Link
button

35
Next, we will experiment to see if our PASTE SPECIAL, PASTE LINK choices “did” anything.

Let’s see if we can link WORD data…

1. Click on your QUARTER 1 spreadsheet to make it active.

2. Click in cell A8.
3. Type a name and hit TAB.
4. Click on your QUARTER 2 spreadsheet to make it active.
5. Did the new name appear in this separate spreadsheet? If yes, then you successfully completed the
PASTE, PASTE LINK steps! Congratulations!

Let’s try it again with NUMERIC data.

1. Click on your QUARTER 1 spreadsheet to make it active.

2. Highlight the numbers in the BALANCE VACATION column (column D) and go beyond the last entry,
including about 5 more rows as we did before in the name column. Do not include the title.
3. Click COPY.
4. Click on your QUARTER 2 spreadsheet to make it active.
5. Click inside the BEGINNING VACATION column (B) and click PASTE, PASTE LINK.
6. Type in a formula in cell D3 to compute the balance of vacation time in Quarter 2, just like you did
before.
7. Use the AUTOFILL handle to fill down the column to about cell D14.
8. Click inside cell C3 and type an imaginary used vacation time number. Do the same for the other
names, including the new name you added.
9. Is the formula working in column D? It should be automatically filling in as you go.
10. SAVE your work.
11. Click on your QUARTER 1 spreadsheet. Add some figures for the name you had typed in.
12. Click on your QUARTER 2 spreadsheet. Do you see the figures reflected for the new name?

A little more about Paste LINK…

The paste special feature in your spreadsheet allows you to paste links, as we’ve seen, between separate
workbooks but we can also link between sheets as well, using the same tool, within the same workbook if we
choose. Also, PASTE SPECIAL, an option that also appears in the dialog box, provides additional ways for
pasting, such as including just formulas or formats, or using the TRANSPOSE feature if we wish to take a
horizontal row of data and make it vertical, or vice-versa.

37
 PivotTable Exercise
What is a PivotTable? In Microsoft Excel, a tool called a PivotTable, supposedly unique to Microsoft, is
available to help display your data in an easy-to-understand, analytical way. PivotTable reports show
comparisons and trends. They help reveal patterns or relationships between various pieces of data. Plain data
can change from a very flat, ominous, and confusing format to one that is condensed, neatly summarized, and
very sensible – all viewable and understandable very quickly to the reader. By learning to master this tool, you
can showcase your data in “glance-able” style and with a more concise, understandable format.

Exercise 1: Open a salesperson spreadsheet with data and work with it using PivotTable tools.

1. Open DESKTOP from the Windows 8.1 start screen.

2. Open FILE EXPLORER, then LAB FILES.
3. Look for PivotTable Exercise.xmlx and open it.
4. Look at the data you see – notice column titles, which will become FIELDS later on in what is called a
PivotTable Field List, and notice there are NO blank rows. Also notice the different types of data –
currency – text – date – numeric. Dates are technically not numeric entries and are a format of their
own. Notice also, that there is only one sheet of data labeled “Sheet 1.” This spreadsheet/worksheet
has only 20 rows of data. Imagine a much larger spreadsheet of say, 500 names or more. The
PivotTable becomes even more invaluable in this case.

Exercise 2: Open the PivotTable “toolkit.”

1. Click on a cell inside the data, for example, cell B4.

2. Click the INSERT tab on the ribbon, and click PIVOTTABLE.
3. Notice a dialog box appears like this one. Notice SELECT A TABLE OR RANGE is chosen, and the entire
spreadsheet is selected – this is what we want at this point. NEW WORKSHEET is also selected, and
this is fine, too. Click OK and continue.

Note: Visit www.microsoft.com for several online lessons on PivotTables. This exercise was largely based on one
of the practice sessions in a Microsoft Excel 2007 PivotTable tutorial.

40
 4. A new sheet appears. Notice a new tab called PivotTable Tools appears with two contextual tabs
underneath – ANALYZE and DESIGN. These tools will only appear on the Ribbon IF you are clicked
inside the PivotTable Report tool.

5. Notice the PivotTable Field List in the circle on the right. It has all 5 column titles that appear in Sheet
1. The titles have now become Fields. You will soon be checking these boxes to build a PivotTable
Report in the box you see on the far left (where it says PivotTable 3).

Exercise 3: How much have the salespeople sold?

1. Let’s create a report showing how much the salespeople sold. In the PiviotTable Field List, click the
box next to Salesperson. You should notice that the PivotTable 3 Report box now looks like this
2. Click the box next to Order Amount in the PivotTable Field List. Did you see another column
appear in the report? Notice
the currency formatting is
no longer showing. You can
re-format if you wish, but
for now, we’ll leave it as it is.
3. Change the heading name of
this new column by clicking
on its title (it probably says
“Sum of Order Amount”)
and click the ANALYZE
contextual tab.

41
 4. Click the ACTIVE FIELD group on this ANALYZE tab on the ribbon, and look for the current heading
name (“Sum of Order Amount”). Click on it and rename it – something like Amount Total would be
OK. Make sure the name you chose is NOT the same name as what appears in the PivotTable Field
Name sidebar. This is an important rule in using PivotTables. Lastly, hit ENTER on the keyboard.

Exercise 4: Sorting the Report

1. How do the salespeople rank? Sort them by most sold to least sold.
2. Right-click on one of the amounts in the newly-named “Amount Sold” field (or other name if you
assigned it another name).
3. In the menu that appears, look for and point to SORT, then click LARGEST TO SMALLEST.
4. Peterman should come up on top with Perkins last.

Exercise 5: More advanced work – add another field to the PivotTable Report.

1. Now let’s add the field, ORDER DATE, to the PivotTable Report. Click the checkbox next to the field
named ORDER DATE. What happened?
2. Notice that the dates appear as subsets of each salesperson, on the left side of the report. The
salespeople now have a – (minus) sign next to their name.
3. Click the – sign, and notice that the data “collapses” and is temporarily hidden from view. Also, the –
sign changes back to a + (plus) sign.
4. Click the + sign once more, it “expands” and shows you the dates each salesperson made sales. Notice
the + sign is now a – sign once again.

Exercise 6: More advanced work 2 -- Grouping your data together

1. If a lot of data contains either dates or times, you can group it, for instance, into days, months,
quarters, or years. Click on a date, for example, the date that appears in cell A6.
2. On the ANALYZE tab, in the GROUP area, click GROUP FIELD. A dialog box appears that looks like this
3. Notice Months is highlighted.
4. Click Quarters. Click Months to remove the highlight or selection
around it if there is one. Only Quarters should have a blue highlight or
selection at this point. Then click OK. Look at your PivotTable Report.
What do you notice? The report shows the dates, grouped by quarters.
5. Expand and then collapse the amount of data under any given name.
(Remember to click the + and/or – sign next to the salesperson’s
name.) This shows once more how you can control the amount of data
visible in the PivotTable Report.

42
Exercise 7: More advanced work 3 –Putting a Report Filter into the PivotTable Report

1. In the PivotTable Field List, click the checkbox next to the field labeled Country.
2. Since the field is text, it is added to the left. Notice how it is a subset of the Order Date Field, which you
turned into Quarters. This makes it difficult to compare the data, especially if there were many more
lines of data to examine.
3. Right-click on any one country name. Point to MOVE, and look at the options.
4. Click MOVE COUNTRY TO BEGINNING and notice how the COUNTRY field moves two levels up.
5. Notice the now-familiar – sign before the country name. Click it. You should now see all the countries
(only two in this case) and the total sales to each one appearing above. Much easier to analyze and
compare.
6. Notice that the salesperson and order date fields are subsets below the country field, almost like in
outline form.
7. There is still a better way to display this information instead of in row format. Clear the checkbox next
to COUNTRY in the PivotTable Field List box (left-click). This will allow you to start over.
8. Right-click the COUNTRY field this time, and choose, by left-clicking on the menu that appears, ADD TO
REPORT FILTER.
9. Notice the bottom part of the PivotTable Field List dialog box has a record of the choices you have
made so far, in the areas divided by Report Filter, Row Labels, and Values. Right now, the Column
Labels area is not filled in.
10. Often, a report filter is used to focus on a particular aspect or subset of the data such as geographic
location, product line, or time span. Here, we are focusing on geographic location. Notice country is
now at the top of the report.
11. Click the drop-down menu arrow next to Country in the report, and notice you can select either China
or the USA, or ALL, which is the default. Experiment by clicking all the choices. You will notice that the
drop-down arrow changes visually into a filter tool as you click. This is normal.

Exercise 8: More advanced work 4 – Pivot the Report

1. Right-click a date in the date field, such as Qtr 1 in cell A5.

2. In the menu that appears, point to MOVE, and click on MOVE “ORDER DATE” TO COLUMNS.
3. Notice the grand totals at the bottom of each quarter’s column. Still another way to present data in an
organized, quick-to-read format.

Exercise 9: More advanced work 5 – Finishing touches – change the Amount Sold number format to
currency. (You may have already done this…)

1. Right-click on the title of the column that needs reformatting (such as Grand Total) and look for
Number Format. From the list, you can choose Currency with a $ as the symbol if you haven’t already
done so.
43
 Excel 2013 Tips
1. If you see # # # # in a cell, hover your mouse over it and you can see its contents. (Remember the
# # # #symbols typically tell you that the program “thinks” the cell is too small to hold the contents
– the solution to this is to widen the cell, and the contents should then be visible.)
2. When you want to enter a number as a text entry, prefix it with a single apostrophe (’). Make sure
this entry will not be used in a calculation.
3. To have the time displayed in an Excel cell, press CTRL + SHIFT + :
4. To see the date displayed in an Excel cell, press CTRL + ;
5. Hide a column by right-clicking its column letter, and then select HIDE.
6. Unhide a column by selecting both columns on either side of it, right-clicking, and choosing
UNHIDE.
7. Hide a sheet by making it the current sheet, right-click on the sheet tab, and look for and click on
HIDE in the menu that appears.
8. Enter a fraction by typing the fraction (with a leading 0 if it is between 1 and -1). For example, you
can enter 1 3/4 but you need to type 0 3/4 and -0 3/4 for the smaller figures.
9. Zoom in to just a part of your spreadsheet by selecting the part you wish to view, then choose
ZOOM TO SELECTION from the VIEW tab (Zoom Group).
10. Go to any cell by pressing F5 then type in the cell of reference, and click OK.
11. Name a range of cells by selecting them, they type a name in the Name box at the far left of the
formula bar, and press enter on the keyboard.
12. When you have named a range, you can select it by selecting its name from the Name box.
13. Print any chart on its own page – select the chart in question and choose FILE, PRINT.
14. Add a new sheet to a workbook by pressing SHIFT + F11.
15. Freeze a worksheet’s titles by placing your cell pointer below and to the left of the titles, and
choosing VIEW, FREEZE PANES. By the same token, you can UNFREEZE panes as well – same way
but under VIEW, you will see UNFREEZE if panes have been frozen.
16. If you think you may want to UNDO something, do not save your workbook as this may clear the
Undo list and disable this option.
17. Hide the zeroes in a worksheet by choosing the OFFICE button, then EXCEL OPTIONS, then
ADVANCED, and disable the Zero values box and click OK.
18. Apply a double underline to the data in a cell by clicking the dropdown arrow next to the Underline
(U) button in the Home tab of the ribbon, and selecting the double underline option.
19. Highlight all the blank cells in a worksheet – select the Home tab, choose FIND AND SELECT, GO
TO, SPECIAL, BLANKS, then click OK.
20. To make all columns a uniform width, click the SELECT ALL button in the top left corner of the
gridline area, then widen only one column. All columns will now take on the width you chose.
Deselect.

46
 Answers to some common MS Excel 2013 questions…
1. How can you disable automatic typing in MS Excel 2013?
a. This is called “autocomplete,” and to turn it off, do the following while in MS Excel
2013:
1. Click the FILE tab in the ribbon.
2. Click the OPTIONS.
3. Click ADVANCED on the left-hand side of the screen that appears
4. Look for a checkbox with the words, “Enable AutoComplete for cell
values,” and uncheck it by clicking in the box.
5. Click OK
b. From this point on, you should notice that Excel WILL NOT provide or present you
with pre-typed material.

2. How can I insert a chart, already created in MS Excel 2013, into MS

Word 2013?
a. First, open MS Excel 2013 and open the Excel Workbook with a chart already
created in it.
b. Click on the chart and COPY it.
c. Minimize Excel or close it.
d. Open MS Word 2013.
e. On the home tab of the ribbon, look for PASTE and click the triangle at the
bottom of the PASTE button for more options – hover over each button to find
and select PASTE LINK, and choose MICROSOFT EXCEL CHART OBJECT from the
dialog box, then click OK. (Consider the difference between link and embed, and
pasting a link vs plain paste.)
1. If you make changes in Excel that are reflected in the chart, the same
chart in Word, also, should receive those changes in “real time” if you
chose PASTE LINK.
f. Alternatively, you can create a new chart while in MS Word – just click the INSERT
tab on the ribbon, and look for CHART.

47