Tips for Using Computers
These tips are intended to help Barnstable students use computers more efficiently and
effectively while working on school projects. The specific illustrations are drawn from
Google Apps.
Using the Keyboard ................................................................................................................ - 2 Using the Mouse ..................................................................................................................... - 4 Google Drive® Tips ............................................................................................................... - 5 Editing Selected Text .............................................................................................................. - 6 Formatting Documents ........................................................................................................... - 8 Using Pictures in Documents................................................................................................ - 10 Getting Pictures from the Web ......................................................................................... - 10 Using Clip Art................................................................................................................... - 11 Inserting Pictures into a Document................................................................................... - 11 Searching the Web ................................................................................................................ - 12 Copyrights and Fair Use ....................................................................................................... - 13 Copyright Law .................................................................................................................. - 13 Fair Use ............................................................................................................................. - 13 Public Domain .................................................................................................................. - 13 Give Credit........................................................................................................................ - 13 Creating Presentations .......................................................................................................... - 14 Starting a Presentation ...................................................................................................... - 14 Create the Body of each slide ........................................................................................... - 15 Changing the Order of Slides ........................................................................................... - 15 Viewing the Slide Show ................................................................................................... - 16 Animation (optional) ........................................................................................................ - 16 Spreadsheet Basics................................................................................................................ - 17 Locations (Rows, Columns and Cells) ............................................................................. - 17 Selecting Cells to Copy or Format.................................................................................... - 18 Formatting......................................................................................................................... - 18 Spreadsheet Calculations and Charts .................................................................................... - 19 Calculated Values ............................................................................................................. - 19 Errors ................................................................................................................................ - 19 Functions........................................................................................................................... - 20 Charts ................................................................................................................................ - 21 Modifying Images with Paint .................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
-1-
Using the Keyboard
A computer keyboard is similar to an electric typewriter keyboard. It is used to
issue commands to the computer, type letters and numbers, and move a cursor around
the page. Note: If you hold a key is down the computer will repeatedly type that
character.

Enter keys: When typing, starts a new paragraph. Otherwise, acts the same as a
mouse button click.

Tab Indents to the right. (Shift-Tab moves the indent back to the left.

Backspace – deletes the previous character.

Caps Lock toggle key – when on (indicated by a light) it reverses the shift key for
letters so straight typing will be in upper case letters.

Numeric key pad (or Calculator keys): When the NumLock key is on (indicated by
a light), this section acts like the keys on a simple calculator (/ for division and * for
multiplication). Note: When the NumLock key is off, the number keys become
Cursor and Page Control keys.

Escape key: Escape will usually stop a running program. The main use is to free up
the computer when it seems to be “frozen”.

Cursor & Page Control keys:
o Direction Arrow keys: Move the cursor without changing anything on the
screen
o Insert toggle key – switches what happens when you start typing while in the
middle of existing text to either insert the new characters in front of the
following text or Overwrite (OVR) replacing the following letters.
o Delete -- deletes the next character/letter in the text. (If you hold down the Ctrl
key while you press the Delete key, then the rest of the line is deleted.)
o Home – moves the cursor to the start of a typed line or to the top of an
internet page
o End – moves the cursor to the end of a typed line or to the bottom of an
internet page
o Page Up – jumps to the previous page
o Page Down – jumps to the next page
o Tab on a form – moves the cursor to the next text area of button.
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.

Ctrl (Control) – used in combination with another key as to perform actions.
Examples:
o Ctrl+S = Save
o Ctrl+P = Print
o Ctrl+C = Copy
o Ctrl+V = Paste
o Ctrl+X = Cut
o Ctrl+Z = Undo the last action
o Ctrl+F = Find
o Ctrl+A = Select All
CAUTION: Other Ctrl combinations may do something you don’t want.

Alt (Alternate) -- also used in combination with another key as to perform actions.

PrtScrn (Print Screen) – captures a picture of the entire screen. The picture is held in
the (invisible) clipboard and can be pasted (Ctrl+V) into a document. Alt+PrtScrn
captures a picture of just the active window.

Scroll Lock – toggle key with limited impact – Press it if you can’t scroll.

Pause/Break – interrupts the operation of scripts in Basic programs and Internet pages.
May be useful if a specific application seems to be frozen.

Function keys: The keys F1 through F12 activate functions within an application
program. What they do depends on the application.
o F1 usually shows Help information
o Optional – not on all key boards:
 Windows logo (square flag with cross) – opens the Start menu
 Menu picture – acts like a Right Click on the mouse, opening a menu.
 Speaker mute and volume – buttons that look like speakers. The one
with an X through it is a Mute button (toggle switch)
-3-
Using the Mouse
The Mouse is a powerful device used to select locations on the desktop cause a wide
variety of actions. Because the programmers who write each application determine
what actions the mouse will cause, fidgeting with the mouse can cause undesired
actions that can mess up your work and the desktop. Do not touch the mouse unless
you are looking at the monitor and intend to use it for a specific purpose.
Moving the mouse causes a cursor (or pointer) to move on the monitor. The shape of
the cursor may change as it is positioned over different objects on your screen. The
other common shapes are:
 Thick arrow – points to the current location that will be selected when you
click.
 Hour Glass – the computer is busy, be patient (Don’t keep clicking.)
 Vertical line – the area will allow Typing after you click here
 Thin arrows with two points – the object can be resized by dragging
 Crossed arrows (4 points) – the object is ready to be moved by dragging.
Mouse buttons allow you to select and activate objects on the desktop.
Each time you click one of these buttons the computer responds based on the location
of the cursor. A click consists of a quick downward press and release. The buttons are
sensitive switches that require only slight finger pressure.
 Left Click or simply Click: Clicking the Left button selects the object.
o It may highlight the object, marking as the ready for the next action or or
o cause it to perform some function, like showing a drop-down menu.



Right Click: Clicking the Right button will nearly always display a menu listing
options that are allowed at that location.
Double Click: Clicking the Left Button rapidly twice) nearly always activates the
object, causing an application to start or some take some other action.
Dragging consists of pressing down on the left button and moving the mouse while
holding the left button down.
o Dragging the cursor over an area of text (or a drawing area) will highlight that
section, selecting it for the next action (such as cut and paste).
o If a window has scroll bars, placing the cursor on the scroll bar then dragging
it will scroll the window to show the rest of the document.
o For other objects, dragging may either do nothing or move the object on the
screen
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Google Drive® Tips
Starting Off:
1. Use Chrome or Internet Explorer as your browser. (Firefox or Safari will not
allow you to connect directly to printers -- printing from those browsers will
download your document as a .pdf file.)
2. On the Barnstable United Elementary Web site, click on Technology in the
Departments drop-down menu. Then Click on the Google Drive icon to launch
the login screen.
Creating a Document, Presentation, or Spreadsheet:
Keep your files organized from the beginning.
 Have a folder each major subject. Click on "Create" (or “New”) then click on
folder. A dialog box will let you give it a name.
For each new file (Document, Presentation, or Spreadsheet).
1. Click on the appropriate folder name (on the left side of the screen), The
selected folder will have a different color than the other choices.
2. Click on "Create" (or “New”), the click on the desired type of file. This will open
an empty "Untitled document."
3. Before you start typing or entering data, give the document an appropriate name.
Either click on the "Untitled document" or select "Rename" from the "File" menu
to open a dialog box that allows you to type in the desired name.
While you are typing:
 Your changes are automatically saved every 2 minutes.
(With other Word processing and Office programs, you should specifically Save
the file every 10-15 minutes and when you are finished.)
Ready to Print?
1. Click on the print icon or select "Print" from the "File" menu.
2. Preview the print: Scroll through the pages on the right side of the print window
to make sure the document looks good and does not end with blank pages.
3. Make sure that the destination shown on the left side is the correct printer. If
not, click on the "Change..." button to select the printer you want.
4. Do not check any of the options boxes or print extra copies without the teacher’s
permission.
5. Click the "Print" button once and wait. (It often takes the printer time to warm up
before it actually starts printing.)
Want to copy a file from your computer to the Google Drive?
 Position the mouse cursor on the file's name, press the button down and hold it
down while you move the cursor into the Google Drive window, then release
(drag-and-drop). A copy of the file will be imported into the Google Drive.
Sign Off before you quit:
 Click on your name (in the upper-right corner of the window). This will open a
small box with 2 buttons. Click on “Sign Out” to disconnect from the Google
Server.
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Editing Selected Text
When you mess up: Don’t Panic , just Undo
or Edit : Undo.
What will be Changed:
 If there is a blinking, vertical cursor ( | ) in the text, what you type will go there.
 If some of the text is highlighted (shaded background), it is selected to be
changed as a group.
 Do Not be fooled by where the mouse’s cursor is pointing.
Selecting Text:
 The Arrow Keys (not Backspace) to move the cursor without changing things.
 If you hold the shift key down while pressing arrow keys, the text you move over
will be selected.
 Clicking the mouse button will position the cursor.
 If you hold the mouse button down while moving the mouse, you will select the
text to be changed.
 If you want to change your entire document, choose Edit ; Select All.
 To Unselect some text, press an arrow key or click somewhere in the text.
Small Changes:
 If some text (even 1 letter) is selected, what you type next will replace it and
backspace will erase it.
 When the cursor ( | ) is between letters, what you type will be inserted there.
Cut or Copy and Paste:
You can Move, Copy or Erase a block of selected text quickly:
 Edit : Cut or Ctrl-X will erase the selected text (but keep an invisible copy).
 Edit : Copy or Ctrl-C will make an invisible copy of the selected text.
 Edit : Paste or Ctrl-V (“V” looks like a pointer) will paste (insert) the invisible
text that you Cut or Copied wherever the cursor is located.
 To Move a paragraph:
1. Select the text.
2. Cut the text (Holding down the Control key then pressing “X”).
3. Position the cursor where you want the text to be.
4. Paste the text (Holding down the Control key then pressing “V”).
 To make multiple copies of some text:
1. Select the text.
2. Copy the text (Holding down the Control key then pressing “C”).
3. Position the cursor where you want the text to be copied.
4. Paste the text (Holding down the Control key then pressing “V”).
5. Repeat steps 3 & 4 as often as you want.
-6-
Spelling Errors:
 The software has a built-in dictionary. When you type a something that is not
a word in its dictionary, it is flagged by a squiggly red line. Many names and
foreign words will be flagged even if they are spelled correctly.
 If you aren't sure how to correct a misspelled word, try Tool : Spelling. That
will open a little box that shows one or more words in the dictionary that are
similar to what you typed. You can select the correct spelling then click on
Change to correct the spelling.
 If your typing error creates something that the software thinks is a word, it will
not flag it. The computer's spell-check is a useful tool, but you still need to
proof read your document to make sure that it really says what you mean.
Replace a Repeated Word:
If you misspell the same word several times, or you just want to improve your writing by
using a better word (like changing "pretty" to "beautiful", use Edit : Find and Replace.
That will open a small window with a few choices:
 Type the word, or group of letters, that you want to change in the Find box. The
software will highlight the first place that it finds those letters.
 Type the word, or group of letters, that you want to use instead in the Replace
box.
 Each time you click on Replace, the cursor will replace the highlighted letters with
what is in the Replace box, and then highlight the next place that it finds a match
for the letters in the Find box. (If it finds a match that you do not want to change,
click on Next to skip to the next match.)
 Clicking on Replace all will change every thing in the document that matches the
letters in the Find box without showing you what it changed. CAUTION: Replace
all can mess you up -- It may eliminate capitalization at the start of a sentence or
change a long word that contains the letters in the Find box. (Replacing "and"
with "or" with change "Thousand" into "Thousor".
How Long is the Document?
Choose Tools : Word count. This will display a report of the number of words and
the number of typed characters are in the entire document.
-7-
Formatting Documents
The purpose of formatting is to make your document easy to read and attractive. Be
consistent; too many formatting changes within a document will make it look cluttered
and confusing.
The most widely used formatting options are shown on the tool bar above the text:
Font: Most publishers prefer articles to be submitted in Times New Roman. Arial is
generally favored for presentations and web pages. If you want all the letters to be the
same width (so they will line up vertically), use Courier or Lucida Console. There
are times when you will want to use a fancier font for artistic effects, but don't change
fonts without a reason.
Size: Standard reports use font sizes of 10 to 12, but speeches often use 14 (to be
easier to read at a distance). The larger sizes should only be used for headings and
posters.
Emphasis: You can make select words stand out by either making them Bold or Italic.
Book titles should always be emphasized one of these days. Since the
Web uses Underlines for links, it is generally best to save underlining for
links.
Styles: Styles are helpful in long documents.
They provide a consistent format for Titles and different levels of
headings.
Also, When you create a table of contents, the software will
create an entry for each "Heading" line.
Alignment:
Left (normal) starts each line at the left margin (unless indented).
Center centers each line between the margins. Good for titles, headers and poetry.
Right positions each line against the right margin. Most commonly used for the
return address on letters.
Spacing: adjusts the amount of space between each line of text.
Normally final reports are single spaced (1), but drafts are often doubled spaced
(2) to allow room for editors to suggest improvements.
-8-
Bullets: add emphasis to a list of options of steps.
Numbered bullets should be used when the items in the list have a definite
order; otherwise, use the plain bullets.
Indentation:
When you include a long quote, or other text that is distinct from the main flow
of your writing, it is commonly indented an extra 5 spaces. These two icons change the
starting position of every line in a paragraph. The Tab key normally only adds spaces at
the spot where it is typed.
Page setup (on the File menu):
These options determine how the space on the page is allocated:
 Orientation
o Portrait (normal) positions the text so the page is longer than it is wide.
o Landscape makes the page wider than it is long. This is mainly used for
printing tables with a number of columns or for illustrations.
 Leave page color blank/white (both to save ink and keep it easy to read).
 Margins - the default is 1" all the way around.
o If you are not using headers or footers, you may shrink the top and bottom
margins to 0.5". (1" on the sides leaves room for hole punches to keep the
page in a notebook.)
o Posters can have very narrow margins, but if the side margins are less
than 0.2", many printers will miss some of text at the edges.
Header, Footer and Page Numbers (on the Insert menu):
On a multiple page document, you may want a page number, your name and the date to
appear on every page. This can be done by inserting a Header (which will be printed
between the top of the page and the top margin) and/or a footer (which prints at the
bottom of the page).
 In Google Docs, inserting Page Numbers is a separate menu option. (Do it first.)
 Insert : Header and Insert : Footer allow you to add or modify the text for the
header and footer.
(For Microsoft Word, Header and Footer are on the View menu, which adds a toolbar to
the bottom of the window with icons to add pages numbers and the date.)
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Using Pictures in Documents
Getting Pictures from the Web
When you want to use pictures from the Web for a school report or other project, you
need to find the actual picture, save it in a file you control, keep track of where it came
from (so you give the proper credit to the creator), and not violate the copyright laws.
Set up your file:
Open your Google Drive, Create a new document and name it something like
“Pictures for <Topic>. Then hit Enter a bunch of times to create empty lines for your
pictures.
Find the actual picture:
1. Use a search engine (Bing or Google) and include the word image in the
search. If you think you may want to alter the image, share it, or post it
anywhere, include the phrase “Public Domain Image” in the search.
2. What the search engine displays is a compressed version of a picture that is
on another site. When you see a picture you want, press the Right mouse
button to see the options for that picture. Choose Open the Link in another
tab then View Page.
3. Now you are at the true source of the picture. Copy the URL from the top of
the window (Select it with the mouse, then press Ctrl-C), then Paste it into
your document (move the cursor to your document and press Ctrl-V). You will
need this information along with the date for your citation.
4. Position the mouse’s cursor over the picture you want to copy, press the Right
button then choose Copy from the menu. Finally, move the cursor to your
document (in a blank line just below its URL ) and press Ctrl-V to Paste it.
Your document should look something like:
12/25/2014
http://pixbim.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/free-computer-images.jpg
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Using Clip Art
Microsoft Word® includes a library of small images as Clip Art. The license allows you to use
clip art images in documents and distribute them freely. When you choose Insert : Clip Art, a
window will open giving you the opportunity to enter a topic or keyword to Search for. Then
when you press the “Go” button, it will display a series of images that you can select.
CAUTION: Because these images are small, they may become blurry if you enlarge them by
stretching.
Inserting Pictures into a Document


If the picture is in another document, select it by clicking on it, then Copy (CtrlC), move the mouse to where you want the picture to go, click once then Paste
(Ctrl-V).
If the picture is a file (.jpg, gif or .png) on your computer, then position the cursor
where you want the picture to appear and choose Insert : Image. This will open a
window giving you 2 options:
1. Browse on “My Computer” to locate the file, then position the mouse
cursor on the file name. Holding the mouse button down, Drag the file into
the new window and release the mouse button.
2. Click on the “Choose an image to upload” button and Browse to locate the
file. Select the file by clicking on it, then press the “Open” button.
When a picture file is first inserted into a document, it usually won’t be either the size
you want or in the exact position you want.
Changing the size of a Picture:
 When you select an image, an outline will appear with 8 tiny squares. Position
the cursor on one of the corners. The cursor will change into :
.
 Holding the Left button down, move the mouse to stretch or shrink the image.
 CAUTION: If you select one of the middle squares, stretching the image will
distort it.
Positioning in Text:
When you select an image in a document, 3 options are shown at the bottom:
In line | Wrap text | Break text
 In line treats the image as though it is a typed character in the middle of a
sentence. This is good for small images (like the arrow on this page).
 Wrap text lets you position the image on either side of the page. Some of your
text will then appear in a space on the other side of the picture.
 Break text puts the image on a line by itself, allowing you to position it without
affecting your text.
(In Microsoft Word, similar options are on the Format menu as “Wrap Text”.)
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Searching the Web
What to Ask for:
 Be specific: If you ask for "cloud", you will get a mix of over 100,000,000
computer and weather sites. It is much better to ask for something like "thunder
cloud size" (which returned 34 sites).
 Put quotes around all the topic words. Then only sites that include all of those
words will be listed.
 To find sites written in easy to understand language add the words for kids to
the end of your request.
 If you are interested in a place, add the abbreviation for the State (or the
country name) to your request. (When I searched for "Long Pond", the first page
returned articles about 5 different States. When I searched for "Paris", I saw
articles about France and Paris Hilton, but scrolling through 10 pages of results
did not show any of the thousands of articles about Paris Texas.)
 If you are looking for pictures, use the keyword image.
Scan the results before you start clicking on any item.
All search engines (Bing, Google and others) work by using indexes of Keywords to
identify sites. There is no guarantee that all of the sites the list will actually provide
useful information about what you searched for.
 Some of the sites only contain links and brief extracts from other sites. Skip over
these: Bing, Ask.com, Answers.yahoo
 Many sites are trying to sell you something. These include: Amazon, Target,
Sears, JCPenny, Walmart. If the name sounds like a store, skip it (unless you
are shopping).
 If you want good information, skip sites that focus of gossipy opinions: Anything
with the word blog or Twitter.
 If the URL includes a name that sounds like a joke, it is probably full of faked
pictures and fictional stories. Examples include: FreakingNews, growabrain and
sodahead.
Wikipedia will show up in most of your searches. Most of their articles are accurate, but
you can't tell who wrote them. Citing Wikipedia as the source of the information in one
of your reports is like saying, "I overheard somebody talking while I was eating at the
pizza place and he sounded like he knew what he was talking about." If you find
something interesting in Wikipedia, you should do a specific search to confirm it from an
identifiable authority.
- 12 -
Copyrights and Fair Use
Copyright Law
Copyright laws are designed to encourage creativity by making sure that the
creator is the person who profits from his/her works. They make it illegal for you to sell
or distribute (publish, post or give away) anything that is copyrighted without permission
from the copyright owner.
Copyright protections apply to writings, photos, videos, movies, music and art
(including web pages and downloads). Since 1986, newly created works are
automatically copyrighted - no registration or notice is required.
You may use and make backup copies of items you have purchased for your own
personal use, but it is illegal to give copies to anyone else or to post a copy on the Internet.
Violations of copyrights can be very costly. Music companies have received court
ordered settlements over well over $10,000 from the families of children who have illegally
shared copies of their songs.
Fair Use
Even without permission, you may use small parts of copyrighted works if your
use meets all of the following rules:
 You are using it in a project for
o Education (teaching & learning) .
o Reporting News or Reviewing the copyrighted work.
o Comedy or Parody.
 You use only small portions (or short extracts, less than 5 images from a site).
 You don’t sell your project or made widely available to others (no posting).
 You identify and give credit to the author/owner of each work you use.
While you are not allowed to post copies of a Web page or article, you may post a link to the
original site.
Public Domain
Some items are in the Public Domain, which means anyone can make copies
and use them without permission.
A work is in the Public Domain only if:
 The Author/creator has been dead for over 70 years
or
 The Author/creator has specifically placed the product into public domain.
o Most government reports & web sites (including pictures from the
Smithsonian Museums) are in the public domain because your family’s
taxes helped pay for their creation.
o You may want to include the words "Public Domain" in some of your Web
searches (especially for images).
Give Credit
Using someone else's word without identifying the source is plagiarism. Schools
and business treat plagiarism as a serious offense. Always identify the source of any
materials you use in your reports (even if it is not copyrighted).
The Minimal MLA citation for a website is the date you visited it and its URL, for example:
Web. 1 Oct. 2014. <www.cnn.com>.
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Creating Presentations
Presentations (also known as Power point slide shows) are different than
documents mainly because they are intended to accompany a live speaker. Their text
is written to highlight important points. Instead of complete paragraphs, a presentation
will generally use bulleted key phrases and rely on the speaker to fill in the details.
They also make heavier use of charts and illustrations than a typical report.
Each presentation consists of a number of slides. The first slide is a Title page
which will include the author’s name as a subtitle. Each of the following slides contains
information about a single specific topic and has the name of that topic as a title at the
top of the slide.
Starting a Presentation
1. On your Google Drive, Select the desired folder, then click on Create and
choose Presentation.
2. Choose a Theme by clicking on one of the options shown in the window.
Generally you will want a theme with a
light colored background and dark text.
Don’t worry about the specific colors,
you will be able to change that later.
3. Name your Presentation – You don’t want it to be saved as “Untitled
presentation”.
4. Complete the Title Slide -- The initial text boxes will say “Click Here to…” That
message will not be displayed if you run the slide show – It just identifies where you
should type the Title. For school reports, the subtitle is where you will type the
name of the author(s) and the date of creation.
5. Add slides for each topic
The left side of the window shows a smaller preview of all the slides in the
presentation. The quickest way to add new slides is to position the mouse cursor
over the last slide in the preview section press the Right button on the mouse then
click on New Slide. Enter the Topic of each slide as its title. Then final slide will
normally be Credits -- where you list the sources you used in making your report.
6. Choose a Background Color – Click on Background… on the toolbar
Choose a color by clicking on the arrow next to the color
square, then click on “Apply to all”.
Think twice before using an image for the background or
making the each slide a different color. You don’t want
the background to distract people from paying attention to
your ideas.
- 14 -
The window will look something like:
Now you are ready for the creative part -- Remember to complete the contents before
getting fancy with the formatting. (The formatting options are the same as for
Documents.)
Create the Body of each slide
If most of the space is going to be text, just click where the slide says "Click to
add text" and start typing. Consider using bullets lists instead of complete sentences.
More complicated slides will be a combination of pictures and text. Start by
typing a single space in place of "Click to add text" Then
1. Insert your pictures by clicking on the Image icon:
and import the picture you
want to use. You can resize the picture by clicking on one of the corners and
stretching it. When you position the cursor over the middle to drag it wherever you
want it to be.
2. Add captions and other text by clicking on the Text box icon
The cursor will
become a square cross.
 Move the cursor to where you want the text to start.
 When you click, the outline of a rectangle will appear, you may have to
stretch it to have room to hold your text.
 Type the text and adjust the font size
3. You can add arrows or ellipses on top of part of a picture to highlight a particular
feature. Click on the shapes icon
or the lines icon
. Use the Fill color icon
to change the color of the main part of a shape or to make it transparent and
the Line color icon
to change the color of its outline.
Changing the Order of Slides
You can change the order of the slides by selecting one on the preview panel
and dragging up or down to a new position.
- 15 -
Viewing the Slide Show
Click on View : Present to start the presentation. The first slide will fill the
screen. Each time you click the mouse, the show will advance to the next slide.
A tool bar is displayed on the lower-left portion of the
screen that includes icons to back up a slide and to Exit the show.
Print Settings
If your slides have a solid background, you will
generally want to "Hide background" when you print
(especially on a black-and-white printer) to both save
ink and make the content easier to read.
Unless you are going to put the printed output on a
bulletin board, you probably want to choose one of the
"Handout" options to print 2 or 3 slides on each page.

Animation (optional)
Do NOT try to use animation until your presentation is complete and edited.
To add animation to a slide, choose Insert : Animation. The options will be displayed on
the right side of the window:
The main use for animation to show only part of a
slide at the beginning and then to expose additional
text or images by clicking the mouse as you talk
about that slide.
Select the object (either an entire text box or image)
that you want to appear or disappear by clicking on
it, then click on "+Add animation", then choose the
action from the list for that object.
CAUTION: Too much animation will distract from
your presentation and slow it down, especially if you
use more than one type of action on a slide.
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Spreadsheet Basics
Locations (Rows, Columns and Cells)
The primary unit of a spreadsheet is a rectangular cell. Each cell holds a single value. To enter
a value in a cell, select it with the mouse or arrow keys then type the value you want. The name
of the selected cell appears above the left side of the spreadsheet and the value appears in the
white textbox labeled "fx".
Note: The value that appears in the cell may be formatted so that it appears different than what
you typed. The white text box shows the actual content of the cell. If you want to edit the
value, it is best to click on the text box to make your changes.
Each cell is part of a vertical column that is
identified by a letter (or two letters if there are more
than 26 columns) at the top of the spreadsheet. Each
cell is also part of an horizontal row that is identified
by a number at the left side of the spreadsheet. The
name of a cell is its column followed by its row
(without any space between them. In the picture
below, the value 123,456.79 is in the cell named B2.
Labels and String Values
A string is the computer term for any sequence of typed characters, such as words,
punctuation and spaces. In spreadsheets, string are used as labels and as descriptors.
If you enter a string that is too long to fit in a cell, it may appear to run into the next cell or
it may appear to be truncated (not showing the last part of the value). This can be
corrected either by changing the width of the column or by changing the
Format/Alignment to check "wrap text".
Numbers
Spreadsheets store numbers as Floating point values; that means that it is treated as a
number with a limited number of non-zero digits, including decimals. If you enter more
digits than Excel can handle, it will automatically round the number.
Dates & Times
Spreadsheets count time as a decimal number with day 1.00 representing 12/31/1899.
The fractional part of the number tracks the time of day, so noon of 12/25/2014 would be
stored as 41,998.50. This allows the spreadsheet to easily calculate the amount of time
between any pair of Date and Time values.
Headers
Most spreadsheets include a top row that has the title for the contents of each row.
With a large spreadsheet, scrolling through the information could make these titles disappear.
You can keep them visible (and printed at the top of each page) by choosing to Freeze rows
from the View menu.
Freeze columns will keep the first column(s) from scrolling. This is useful when your
spreadsheet has a lot of information about each case (person, planet, etc,)
Sorting
You can sort the order of the entries in a spreadsheet based on any of the columns. (For
example Last Name, First Name, or Score.)
1. Select the column you want to sort on.
2. Choose Sort sheet by ... (Either ascending or descending order) from the Data menu.
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Selecting Cells to Copy or Format
There are several ways to select cells for copying, pasting, formatting or other operations:
 Click on the letter that identifies a column to select that whole column.
 Click on the number that identifies a row to select that whole row.
 Click on the blank rectangle at the top-left to select the entire spreadsheet.
 Position the cursor over one cell and hold the left-mouse button down while you move
the mouse to form a rectangle of the desired group of cells.
Formatting
Most of the formatting options used in Documents can also be applied to selected cells through
either the toolbar and the Format menu. In addition, the paint can icon on the tool bar allows
you to pick a Fill Color to highlight particularly important cells.
The format options control the way
the numbers (including dates and
times) appear in the cells.
The choices include how many
decimal places are shown and
whether commas are used in big
numbers. Other options include
currency (dollars and cents),
percentage, scientific notation (using
"E" to stand for 10 to an exponent)
and "Special" (for phone numbers or
Social Security Numbers).
If you choose Wrap text from the
format menu or click on the
icon,
the selected cells will automatically
grow taller if you enter a value that is
too long to fit in it.
Cell Size


You can change the width of a column by positioning the cursor between the letters at
the top of the sheet and then holding down the left-mouse button while you move the
mouse sideways.
You can change the height of a row by positioning the cursor between the numbers on
the left side of the sheet and then holding down the left-mouse button while you move
the mouse vertically.
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Spreadsheet Calculations and Charts
The "magic" that makes spreadsheet so useful is the way that they automatically perform
calculations using the values in different cells. A cell can contain a formula that involves doing
arithmetic on the values contained in named cells and other numbers.
Calculated Values
If the first character entered into a cell is an equal sign (=), then Excel will treat the rest of the
entry as a formula to be calculated. Note: If you thought you typed in a formula, but the cell
shows what you typed in without doing any calculation, there is probably a space character in
front of the equal sign.
Arithmetic calculations use the same symbols as most calculators and follows the “PEMDAS”
order of operations:
( ) Parentheses
^ Exponent
* Multiply
/ Divide
+ Add
- Subtract
In this example the values in cell A1 and B1 are multiplied together to get 50 before that product
is added to the number 2. Once the formula is in place, if you change the value in cell A1, the
value in C1 would be automatically recalculated to use your new entry.
Note: The cell shows the results of the calculation. The actual formula appears in the "fx" text
box at the top.
When you copy a formula to a different location, the cell names will be modified based on how
far away the new location is. For example, if you copied cell C1 and pasted it into cell C5 then
the formula in C5 would become: "= 2 + A5*B5".
This comes in handy. For example, if we had a spreadsheet where every row was about a
different triangle, we might use column A to record the length and column B to record the height.
Column C could contain the calculated area. For the first row, the formula in C1 would be
"=A1*B1 / 2". After typing that once, we could copy it, select the whole column C1 and paste the
formula in.
(There is a way to keep the name of a cell from being changed when a formula is copied to
another location. Including a dollar sign ($) before the column name and row number will
indicate that it refers only to that absolute location. If we entered the formula "=$A$1*B1 / 2" into
cell C1 then copied it into C4, the formula in cell C4 would be "=$A$1*B4 / 2")
Errors
If the value inside a cell cannot be correctly calculated or is too long to fit in the cell, the display
will show it as a string starting with a pound sign (#). The most common errors are:
 ###### Too long: Fix by stretching the column width or changing the format.
 #VALUE! Value is Not a Number, usually that means the calculation involves a cell that
has something other than a number in it.
 #DIV/0! Tried to Divide by zero.
 #NAME? The formula is typed wrong, usually the name of a cell or function is
misspelled.
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Functions
Spreadsheet programs includes a number of functions to help with calculations. “SUM” is the
name of the function that calculates the total for a whole series of numbers. For example, if the
Population of the South American countries were in rows 3 through 13 of column H, then the
total would be calculated as =SUM(I3:I13). The parentheses are needed to contain the values
that the function uses for its calculations. The colon tells the spreadsheet to include every value
between the first one and the last one.
The most commonly used numeric functions are shown on the
menu. Clicking on "More functions" will display a long list of
functions that manipulate string values and Time/Date vaules
as well as functions for more complicated calculations.
The following example shows some of the commonly used functions: Functions.xls
Notice that the function PI() doesn't have anything inside the parenthesis; it doesn't use any of
the
other cells but is a convenient function to use as part of of calculations about circles. There are
some other functions that don't have anything inside their parentheses. Today() shows the
current date and Now() shows the current time. Note: These time calculations are not updated
unless another change forces the cell's value to be recalculated.
There are two different functions for counting the number of cells in a group. =COUNTA
(B7:B19) counts all the cells starting with B7 through B19 that have anything (even a space
character) in them. =COUNT(B7:B19) only counts the cells that contain a number (or a
calculation that results in a number).
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Charts
You can create Pie Charts, Bar Graphs and a variety of other types of charts that
illustrate some of the data in your spreadsheet.
1. Select the cells with data you'd like to include in the chart.
 The first column will be the labels. The other column(s) will provide the numbers.

If the columns you want are not next to each other: select the first set of values you
want with the mouse, then hold down the Ctrl key and keep it down while you use
the mouse to select the other values you want to include in the chart.
2. Use the mouse to select the cells, then click on the
icon or choose
Insert->Chart.
3. Click on the Chart tab to select the type of chart you want. A preview will be displayed.
4. Click on the Custom tab to give your chart a title and to label the axes.
5. Click on the Insert button to place your chart into the spreadsheet. Use the mouse to drag
the chart into the location you prefer.
This example shows the preview of a pie chart before it was customized to provide a good title.
The finished chart can be moved anywhere on the spreadsheet. The Right-mouse menu allows
you to copy it so it can be pasted in another document.
Creating a good looking chart is largely a matter for experimentation. The one tricky part is
selecting the right cells to be used.
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Modifying Images with Paint
Paint allows us to modify pictures in ways that can improve their use in reports and
presentations.
Open with Paint:
1. Browse to a picture in a folder on
your computer.
2. Right-Click on the picture to view
the menu of options.
3. Choose Open with > Paint.
The paint application will open
showing the selected picture.
If the image is large, you may want to
choose View > Zoom to shrink it.
Crop an Image When I take a picture, often there edges of the image includes things I
don't really want in my picture. To Crop off the edges:
1. Click on the Select rectangle.
2. Position the cursor at one corner of the part of the picture
that you want to keep.
3. Hold the mouse button down while you move the mouse
diagonally until the cursor is at the opposite corner of the
part that you want to keep, then release the button.
4. Click on the Crop icon on the tool bar.
Highlighting with a Arrow or Ellipse
You may choose to highlight an object in a picture (like
the face of a person in a group) :
1.Click on a Shape on the toolbar.
2. Position the cursor where you want one corner of
the shape to be.
3. Hold the mouse button down while you move the
mouse diagonally until the shape is the size you want .
4. Click on the color that you want the outline to be.
5. Click on the Size icon to choose the thickness of the
outline.
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Adding another picture: You may add additional pictures to your image by clicking on
the little arrow under "Paste" then Paste from. This will open a file
dialog that lets you browse to the desired picture.
Use the mouse to drag and resize the pasted image. CAUTION:
Once to take another action on your image, you will not be able to
make additional changes to the pasted picture.
If you want to make a collage of several pictures, you can enlarge the paint canvas
by placing the mouse at the lower-right corner of your image and dragging it, to
make room for additional pictures.
Picking a color to fill in a blank spot
Click on the pipette (eye dropper) icon, then on a spot in your image. Color 1 will
change to match the color at that spot.
Click on the paint bucket icon, then on the part of your image that you want to
change to that color.
Add Labels You add a caption or labels on top of a picture by creating a Text box.
The icon looks like a capital A. When you on click it, The cursor changes and
lets you select a rectangle where you want the text to appear.; choose a font,
size and color; then type your label. CAUTION: Unlike the text boxes in
Presentations, once you hit enter, Paint will not let you go back and edit the text.
After you modify an image, Save as to a file with a different name (so the original
picture is still available). Most of the time, you will want to save images in as .jpg files
that can be resized.
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