3 What’s New in Excel 2007
3.1 Overview of Excel 2007
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 is a spreadsheet program that enables you to enter, manipulate,
calculate, and chart data. An Excel file is referred to as a workbook, which is a collection of
worksheets. Each worksheet is comprised of rows and columns of data on which you can
perform calculations. It's these calculations that make Excel such a powerful tool. You can
use Excel for a wide variety of purposes, from calculating payments for a loan, to creating a
personal budget, to tracking employee sales and calculating bonuses for your business.
Like Word 2007, the Excel 2007 interface has been redesigned to help you work more
productively. The Excel Ribbon consists of seven tabs – Home, Insert, Page Layout,
Formulas, Data, Review, and View.
The Home Tab
The Home tab displays by default and includes all the basic tools for entering, editing, and
formatting data. Figure 1 The Home Tab
The Clipboard group is almost identical to the same group in Word 2007. It contains the
commands for copying, cutting, and pasting. The Paste button includes all the paste options
for Excel (pasting formulas, values only, etc.). The Font group includes all the commands for
formatting text data and adding borders and shading to cells. The Alignment group contains
the commands for changing the alignment of cells, including the Merge & Center button.
The Number group provides quick access to all the number formatting options. The Styles
group includes new commands for formatting the cells in your workbook, including tools
for visualizing data through conditional formatting and new cell styles. The Cells group is
where you will find the commands to insert and delete cells, rows, and columns. The Editing
group contains the AutoSum, Fill, and Clear buttons as well as the sorting and filtering
commands.
The Insert Tab
From the Insert tab you can insert complex, desktop publishing elements to your
workbooks.
What’s New in Excel 2007
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Figure 2 The Insert Tab
Some of these elements in the Illustrations , Links, and Text groups are very similar to what
you will find in the Word 2007 Ribbon. The WordArt options in the Text group are the same
as WordArt used in PowerPoint 2007. The Tables group includes new Excel 2007 features
for defining and managing tables in your workbook and creating PivotTables. The Charts
group provides access to the new chart features.
The Page Layout Tab
The Page Layout tab gives you access to commands for formatting your overall workbook. Figure 3 The Page Layout Tab
Like other Office 2007 applications, Excel includes a Themes group. In Excel, the workbook
theme controls fonts, colors, and cell styles. From the Page Setup and Scale to Fit groups you
can control printing options such as margins, orientation, size, print area, page breaks, and
scaling. The Sheet Options group provides quick access for hiding gridlines and sheet headings.
The Arrange group allows you to modify the layout of graphic elements such as charts and
pictures.
The Formulas Tab
The Formulas tab makes working with formulas easier than in previous versions of Excel.
From the Formulas tab, you can quickly access the Function Library group or any of Excel’s
auditing tools in the Formula Auditing group. Commands for working with named ranges are
included in the Formulas tab, in the Defined Names group. The Calculation group allows you to
turn automatic calculation updating on and off, and manually update calculations if
necessary. Figure 4 The Formulas Tab
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What’s New in Office 2007 The Data Tab
The Data tab provides all the tools for data analysis. Figure 5 The Data Tab
The Get External Data and Connections groups allow you to import and manage data from
other sources. The Sort & Filter group includes some of the same sorting and filtering
commands available from the Home tab. The Data Tools group provides access to data
analysis tools such as Goal Seek and Scenario Manager (under the What-If Analysis button).
Commands for grouping and ungrouping data and inserting subtotals are found in the
Outline group. Data analysis tools for charts are available from the Chart Tools Layout tab (one
of the contextual tabs available when you create a chart).
The Review Tab
The Review tab includes all the commands for reviewing your workbook. The groups on
this tab are similar to those in Word 2007. The Proofing group includes the Spelling command
and access to the Research task pane tools. The Comments groups allows you to add and
manage comments. Excel 2007 does not include a separate Protect group. Instead, the Protect
Sheet and Protect Workbook commands are included in the Changes group along with
workbook sharing commands. The Track Changes feature is only available once you enable
workbook sharing. Figure 6 The Review Tab The View Tab
The View tab allows you to view your workbook in a number of different ways. Figure 7 The View Tab
What’s New in Excel 2007
3
When you are working in Excel, you are usually in Normal view. Excel 2007 introduces the
Page Layout View in the Workbook Views group to help you prepare your workbook for
printing. From the Show/Hide group, you can show and hide workbook elements such as
gridlines and the formula bar. The Zoom group includes tools to view your workbook at
different zoom levels. Through the Window group, you can manipulate the appearance of
your workbooks – creating split views or freezing rows or columns. If you have multiple
workbooks open, you can arrange them in a single window. You can use the synchronous
scrolling feature to simultaneously scroll two workbooks to view differences between the
two. If you have multiple workbooks open, you can use the Switch Windows command to
quickly display any open workbook. If you have a complex task that you want to automate
with one command, you can create and run a macro from the Macros group.
In this chapter, you will learn about the top 10 things you need to know about Microsoft
Excel 2007, including:
·
Increased capacity
·
Improved charts
·
Table creation and formatting
·
Easier-to-use PivotTables
·
Visualizing data with conditional formatting
·
Sorting and filtering
·
Page Layout view
·
Better named range management
·
AutoComplete for formulas
·
Improved formula auditing
3.2 Increased Capacity
Excel 2007 can hold more than 1,000,000 rows and 16,000 columns of data, and while the
previous version of Excel was limited to one gigabyte of memory, Excel can now utilize as
much of your computer’s memory as Windows will allow. The average Excel user probably
won’t notice this increase, but for serious number-crunching power-users, the expanded
capacity is significant.
3.3 Improved Charts
Excel 2007 makes it easy to create professional, exciting charts. The underlying charting
engine is the same for Word 2007, Excel 2007, and PowerPoint 2007, so no matter which
application you are working in, you have access to the same high-quality charting tools.
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What’s New in Office 2007
To create a chart:
1. Select the data you want to use in your chart.
2. Click the Insert tab.
3. In the Charts group, click the button for the type of chart you want.
4. Click the style you want from the Chart Gallery. Figure 8 The Charts Group from the Insert Tab Tips and Tricks
To see all the available chart types at once, click the
the Insert Chart dialog.
button in the Charts group to launch
When you insert a chart, Excel displays three contextual tabs providing easy access to all the
chart design, layout, and formatting tools. The Design tab allows you to quickly change the
chart type or style. A glance at these contextual tabs will show you the dramatic changes in
chart presentation and formatting. Figure 9 A Chart with Contextual Tabs
What’s New in Excel 2007
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To change the chart style:
1. Click the Design tab under Chart Tools.
2. In the Chart Styles group, click the style you want to use. Notice that chart colors
coordinate with the workbook theme.
3. To see more chart styles, click the More button. Figure 11 The Chart Tools Design Tab
The Design tab also includes a Chart Layout Gallery from
which you can select a premade “Quick Layout”. To apply
a Quick Layout Style to your chart, click the Quick Layout
button and select one of the layout styles.
The Layout tab allows you to change the individual
elements of the chart layout, such as the appearance of the
legend or chart title. Once you have applied one of the
Quick Layout Styles to your chart, use the tools in the
Layout tab to modify elements further. Figure 10 Chart Layout Styles
Figure 12 Chart Tools Layout Tab
The Format tab allows you to change the individual formatting elements of the chart, such
fill and outline. 6
What’s New in Office 2007
Figure 13 Chart Tools Format Tab 3.4 Table Creation and Formatting
When you define data as a table (previously known as a list), Excel provides a robust tool set
for formatting and analyzing the data. In the table, the header row automatically includes
filtering and sorting. When you add new data to the right of the table, Excel automatically
includes the column in the table.
To define data as a table:
1. Select the data for your table.
2. Click the Insert tab.
3. Click the Table button.
4. Excel will automatically populate the Insert Table dialog with the selected data range.
5. Be sure to check the My table has headers check box if appropriate.
6. Click OK to create the table. Figure 14 Using Column Names in a Formula
What’s New in Excel 2007
7 One of the most useful features of tables is the ability to reference table column names in
formulas. When you enter a formula in a table, you can reference column names by
enclosing the column header text in brackets: [column name here]. For example, to
calculate the value of the Total Spent column divided by the Visits column, you would
enter the formula =[Total Spent]/[Visits].
To enter a formula referencing column names:
1. Click the first cell in the table column where you want to use a formula.
2. Begin typing the formula. When you are at the point in the formula where you want
to reference a column name, type a [ character. Excel automatically presents a list of
available column names.
3. Double-click the column you want to add to the formula.
4. When you are finished entering the formula, press Enter. Excel automatically copies
the formula to the remaining cells in the table column.
Tips and Tricks
You cannot create a table in a shared workbook. If your workbook contains a table, you will
need to convert the table to a named range before sharing the workbook.
When you are working with a table, use the Table Tools Design tab to format your table.
This contextual tab is available when you select any cell in your table. Use the check boxes in
the Table Style Options group to add header and total rows and add banding to rows or
columns.
If you want to add more formatting to your table, use one of the premade table styles:
1. Click anywhere in your table.
2. Click the Table Tools Design tab.
3. Click the Quick Styles button in the Table Styles group to display all the table styles
available. (Depending on the width of your window, you may see some of the quick
styles displayed as part of the Ribbon.)
4. Click the style you want from the gallery. Figure 15 Table Tools Design Tab
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What’s New in Office 2007
Figure 16 Table Styles Gallery Figure 17 Table Styles on the Ribbon 3.5 Easier to Use PivotTables
PivotTables are powerful data analysis tools, but in previous versions of Excel, they may
have seemed complicated and difficult to create. Once you have defined a table in Excel
2007, it is easy to create a PivotTable report.
1. Click anywhere in the table.
2. In the Tools group on the Table Tools Design tab, click the Summarize with
PivotTable button.
3. In the Create PivotTable dialog, the table you selected is already listed in the
Table/Range: box.
What’s New in Excel 2007
9 4. The New Worksheet radio button is selected by default, to place the pivot table in a
new worksheet. If you want to place the pivot table on another sheet, you can click
the Existing Worksheet button, and then select the sheet from the Location: drop-down
list.
5. Click OK.
The PivotTable Field List pane appears automatically. From this list, it is easy to add fields to
the PivotTable report.
1. Click the check box(es) for the field(s) you want to summarize in the report.
2. If you want to include a filter, click the field and drag it to the Report Filter box. Figure 18 A PivotTable
When you are working with a pivot table, there are two contextual tabs available. The
Options tab provides tools for working with the data in the pivot table. The Design tab
gives you quick access to design tools, including a gallery of pivot table styles (similar to the
style gallery available for tables). Figure 19 PivotTable Tools Design Tab
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What’s New in Office 2007
Try It
You can also create a PivotTable report from the Insert tab. Click the PivotTable button in
the Tables group, then enter the appropriate information in the Create PivotTable dialog.
3.6 Visualizing Data with Conditional Formatting
Excel 2007’s new conditional formatting options are powerful tools for representing data
visually. Figure 20 Applying Conditional Formatting to a Table
To apply conditional formatting to your data:
1. Select the data you want to apply conditional formatting to.
2. In the Styles group on the Home tab, click the Conditional Formatting button.
3. From the menu, select the formatting type you want.
·
Highlight Cells Rules – Define formatting for cells that meet specific
numerical or text criteria (e.g., greater than a specific value or containing a
specific text string).
·
Top/Bottom Rules – Highlight cells that are in the top or bottom 10 values,
within the top or bottom 10% of values, or above or below the average value.
·
Data Bars – Display a color gradient representing the cell value in comparison
to other values (cells with higher values show more of the color gradient).
What’s New in Excel 2007
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·
Color Schemes – Color the cells according to one of the color scales (e.g., red
to green (bad/low to good/high) or blue to red (cold/low to hot/high).
·
Icon Sets – Display a graphic in the cell representing the cell value in relation to
other values.
To remove conditional formatting:
1. Select the cells you want to remove the formatting from.
2. In the Styles group on the Home tab, click the Conditional Formatting button.
3. Point to Clear Rules, and click the option you want from the menu:
·
Clear Rules from Selected Cells
·
Clear Rules from Entire Sheet
·
Clear Rules from This Table
·
Clear Rules from This PivotTable (available if the selected cell is part of a pivot
table)
Through the Conditional Formatting Rules Manager, you can view all of your
conditional formatting rules at one time and add, modify, or delete rules. Open the
Conditional Formatting Rules Manager from the Manage Rules... option at the bottom of
the Conditional Formatting menu. Figure 21 Conditional Formatting Rules Manager
If one of the pre-built conditional formatting options does not suit your needs, you can
specify your own format through the New Formatting Rule dialog. This dialog is accessible
from the New Rule... option in the Conditional Formatting menu or from the More
Rules... option at the bottom of each of the formatting submenus.
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What’s New in Office 2007
1. Click the type of rule you want to create from the Select a Rule Type: box.
2. Each rule type has its own set of rule description values. Enter the criteria for the
rule type you selected.
3. Each rule type has its own formatting options. Select the format you want to use for
the cells that meet the criteria you entered.
4. Click OK.
Tips and Tricks
Conditional formatting is one of the coolest new features in Excel 2007. However, you
should resist the temptation to overuse it. Conditional formatting should be used to
highlight important data or data trends, not colorize the entire worksheet.
3.7 Sorting and Filtering
Excel has always included sorting and
filtering tools. With Excel 2007, the
sorting and filtering options have been
expanded to work with Excel’s data
visualization tools. If you have any of
Excel’s conditional formatting or cell
styles applied to data in a table, you
can sort and filter by color.
To sort data by color.
1. Click the arrow at the top of
the column you want to sort.
2. Point to Sort by Color to
expand the menu.
3. Click the color or icon you
want to appear at the top of
the column.
Figure 22 Sorting by Color
If you want to organize the column so that a certain cell color or cell icon appears at the top
and another appears at the bottom, click the Custom Sort... option at the bottom of the
Sort by Color menu. In the Sort dialog, you can add sorting levels. For Cell Color or Cell
Icon, the Order options are On Top or On Bottom. What’s New in Excel 2007
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Figure 23 Sorting by Two Colors with the Custom Sort Option
You can also filter a table by cell color or cell icon:
1. Click the arrow at the top of the column that contains data matching the criteria you
want to filter for.
2. Point to Filter by Color to expand the menu.
3. Click the color or icon you want to filter by.
To clear the filter:
1. Click the arrow at the top of the column that you filtered by. In an Excel 2007 table,
when filtering is enabled, the column header includes a filter icon.
2. Click the Clear Filter option from the menu.
Try It
You can also clear the filter from the Sorting & Filtering group on the Home tab.
1. Click the Sort & Filter button.
2. Click the Clear Filter button.
3.8 Page Layout View
Excel 2007 includes a new view to help you prepare your worksheets for printing. From
Page Layout view, you can view and add headers and footers and easily see where page
breaks occur.
To switch to Page Layout view:
1. Click the View tab.
2. In the Workbook Views group, click the Page Layout button.
14
What’s New in Office 2007 You can also use the view icons at the bottom right of the Excel window to switch views. Figure 24 Page Layout View Tips and Tricks
Page Layout view is not compatible with freezing panes. If you switch to Page Layout view,
any frozen panes will be unfrozen. Figure 25 Header & Footer Tools Design Tab
In Page Layout view, you can add headers and footers without going through the Page Setup
dialog.
To add a header to your worksheet:
1. Switch to Page Layout view.
2. At the top of your worksheet, click the text Click to add header.
3. The Header & Footer Tools Design tab appears.
4. Click the Header button to add one of the default headers. If you do not want to
use one of the predefined headers, you can:
What’s New in Excel 2007
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a. Click the area where you want the header information to appear. Excel
headers and footers have three areas – left, center, and right.
b. Click the element(s) you want to add from the Header & Footer Elements
group.
Tips and Tricks
The Options group may appear collapsed as a single Options button if your window is not
wide enough to display all the header and footer options.
Try It
You can also insert headers and footers from the Insert tab:
1. Click the Insert tab.
2. Click the Header & Footer button in the Text group.
3.9 Better Named Range Management
Named ranges are one of the most important features in Excel. Rather than using a range of
cells in your formulas, you can give the range a name. That name will always refer to the cells,
even if their position in the worksheet changes. Excel 2007 makes managing your named
ranges easier with the Name Manager.
To open the Name Manager:
1. Click the Formulas tab.
2. Click the Name Manager button. Figure 26 Name Manager
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What’s New in Office 2007
In the Name Manager, you see an icon next to each name, indicating the type of name it is (a
defined name that you created or a table name that Excel created automatically ), the name, the
current value(s), the cell(s) the name refers to, the scope (workbook or worksheet), and any
comments that you have added. You can filter the list of names by scope or type. You can
also filter to show named ranges with or without errors. Finding the named ranges with
errors is a great tool for troubleshooting your workbook.
Through the Name Manager, you can add, edit, and delete named ranges. You can also add
comments to your named ranges:
1. In the Range Manager, click the name you want to add a comment to.
2. Click the Edit... button.
3. Type your text in the Comment: box.
4. Click OK.
Tips and Tricks
Tables are automatically named Table1, Table2, etc. You can give your table a more
meaningful name:
1. Click anywhere in the table to activate the Table Tools Design tab.
2. Click the Table Tools Design tab.
3. In the Properties group, type the name for your table in the Table Name: box.
4. Press Enter.
3.10 AutoComplete for Formulas
Excel 2007 has added a feature to help you avoid typographical errors in your formulas.
When you are typing a formula, Excel will try to anticipate which function, named range, or
table to want. As you type, Excel offers a list of items that match the character(s) you’ve
typed. As you type more characters, the list of potential matches gets shorter.
To use AutoComplete for formulas:
1. Type an = sign to begin the formula. As you type alphabetical characters, Excel will
offer name suggestions.
2. Click each suggestion to see a full description of the function.
3. When you find the name you want, double-click it.
4. Excel inserts the name.
What’s New in Excel 2007
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Figure 27 Using Formula AutoComplete Try It
Excel will also offer AutoComplete options when you type a display trigger. Display triggers
are characters specifically used in formulas, such as brackets (used when referencing table
columns) or commas (used to separate function arguments).
3.11 Improved Formula Auditing
Excel 2007’s Ribbon interface makes formula
auditing tools more accessible than in previous
versions of Excel. Whereas these powerful tools
used to be hidden in menus and submenus, they are
now available directly from the Formulas tab.
Figure 28 The Formula Auditing Group
Many Excel users are not familiar with the Watch
Window feature, because it was buried under the
old Tools menu. Now this button is prominently displayed on the Formulas tab of the
Ribbon. You can add cells to the Watch Window and watch the effects on the cells as you
make changes to your workbook.
1. Click the cell(s) you want to watch.
2. Click the Watch Window button.
3. Click the Add Watch... button.
4. Confirm that the cell(s) you want are listed in the Add Watch dialog, then click Add.
5. The Watch Window stays open on top of your workbook. Notice that how values
change as you make changes to your workbook. 18
What’s New in Office 2007 Figure 29 The Watch Window
To check your worksheet for errors:
1. Click the Formulas Tab.
2. In the Formula Auditing group, click the Error Checking button.
3. If Excel finds errors in your workbook, you will have the opportunity to review each
error and fix or ignore it.
To troubleshoot the formula in a specific cell:
1. Click the cell that contains the formula you want to troubleshoot.
2. Click the Formulas Tab.
3. In the Formula Auditing group, click the Evaluate Formula button.
4. In the Evaluate Formula dialog, click the Evaluate button to begin walking through
the formula step-by-step.
5. Keep clicking the Evaluate button to see the values for each reference in your
formula.
·
If the formula includes references to other formulas, click the Step In button to
evaluate the nested formula.
·
Click the Step Out button to return to the parent formula.
6. When you are finished, click the Close button.
What’s New in Excel 2007
19 Figure 30 The Evaluate Formula Dialog with Multiple Nested Formulas Tips and Tricks
Did you know there is an easy way to show all the formulas in your worksheet at once? Just
click the Show Formulas button in the Formula Auditing group.
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What’s New in Office 2007