BeginningExcelTechWorkshop
Fall2016
CustomizingtheRibbon
Excelcomeswithmanybuiltinfunctionsandtabs.Ifyouwanttocustomizewhatappears
onyourribbon,youcandosobygoingtoFile-->Options-->CustomizeRibbon.
Fromthisscreen,youcanchecktheboxesofthepresetribbontabsyouwouldliketosee,
removetheonesyoudonotwanttosee,andrearrangethetabstobetterfityourneeds.
Additionally,youcancreateyourowncustomizedtabbyselectingNewTab.
Additionally,ifyoueverneedtoinstallanExcelexpansionoranadditionalToolpak,you
willdosobygoingtoAdd-InsintheOptionspopoutwindow.Thereyouwillfindall
availableadd-insonyourcomputer.
Toaddinotherpacks,selectthetypeofadd-inyouwanttoincludefromthedrop-downlist
andpressGo.Thiswillcreateanew,smallerpop-outwindow.Selecttheadditivesyou
wanttoincludeandclickOK.
Absolute/RelativeCellReferencing
IfyouareusingExcelcellreferenceswithinyourformulas,itisimportanttounderstand
howthesecanchangewhentheyarecopiedormovedintodifferentcellsofaworksheet.
TherearetwotypesofcellreferencesinExcel,whichbehavedifferentlywhen
dragged/movedintodifferentspreadsheetcells.
Relative References:
Relativereferencesareadjustedwhencopiedtoothercells.Forexample,ifwehavea
referencetocellE1incellA1:
• WhencopiedintothecolumnsBandC,thereferencetocellE1adjuststoreference
cellsincolumnsFandG.
• Whencopiedfromrow1intotherow2andthe3,thereferencetocellE1adjuststo
referencecellsinrows2and3.
Absolute References:
Absolutereferencesremainconstantwhencopiedtootherscells.Weusethe$symbol
beforeacolumnand/orrowreference,tomakeacellreferenceabsolute.
• Whenwereference$E$1incellA1,ifwecopyittocellsA1-C3,thereference
remainsconstant.
Itispossibletomixabsoluteandrelativereferencestogetherdependingonthedirection
youaremovingyourequationandifthereferenceisshifting.
LinkingbetweenWorksheets
Excelallowsforcellreferencestobeanywherewithinaworkbook,evenondifferent
sheets.Whentypinganequation,youcaneitheruseyourcursortoselectacelltoreference
ormanuallytypethecellscoordinates.
Forreferencesonthesamesheet,theformatis:
• ColumnLetterRowNumber
i.e.,A1
Forreferencesondifferentsheets,theformatis:
• SheetName!ColumnLetterRowNumber
i.e.,Sheet1!A1
BasicFormulasandFunctions
Argumentsmustbeenclosedinparentheses.Individualvaluesorcellreferencesinsidethe
parenthesesareseparatedbyeithercolonsorcommas.
Colonscreateareferencetoarangeofcells.
• Forexample,=AVERAGE(E19:E23)wouldcalculatetheaverageofthecellrangeE19
throughE23.
Commasseparateindividualvalues,cellreferences,andcellrangesinparentheses.Ifthere
ismorethanoneargument,youmustseparateeachargumentbyacomma.
• Forexample,=COUNT(C6:C14,C19:C23,C28)willcountallthecellsinthethree
argumentsthatareincludedinparentheses.
Important Functions:
SUM:TheSUMfunctiontakesalistorrangeofinputsandreturnsthesum
=SUM(value1,value2)
AVERAGE:TheAVERAGEfunctiontakesalistorrangeofinputsandreturnstheaverage
=AVERAGE(value1,value2)
COUNT:TheCOUNTfunctiontakesalistorrangeofinputsandreturnsthenumberofcells
withnumericalvalues.
=COUNT(value1,value2)
COUNTA:TheCOUNTAfunctiontakesalistorrangeofinputsandreturnsthenumberof
cellswithavalueofanytype.
=COUNTA(value1,value2)
IF:TheIFfunctiontakesthreeinputs,acondition,anif-trueexpression,andanif-false
expression.TheIFfunctionwillevaluatethecondition,andiftrue,returntheif-true
expression,andiffalse,willreturntheif-falseexpression.
=IF(condition,if-truestatement,if-falsestatement)
CONCATENATE:TheCONCATENATEfunctiontakesalistofstrings/textandcombines
themintoonelongerstring/text.
=CONCATENATE(String1,String2)
FormattingasaTable
Formattingdataasatablecanmakeiteasiertosortandfilterdata.Filteringtemporarily
hidesdatafromview–itdoesnotdeletedata.Thiscanbehelpfulwhendealingwithlarge
quantitiesofinformation.
Toformatyourdataasatable:
• Highlightthedatayouwishto
include.
• ClicktheInserttabontheribbon
andselectTable.
• Select“MyTablehasHeaders”if
appropriate.
• ClickOK.
Youcannoweasilyfilterandsortdata
withoutworryingaboutlosingor
changinganydata.
Toconvertyourtablebacktorangea
datarange:
• Clickonanycellinyourtableto
accesstheTableToolstab.
• FromtheTableToolstabselect
ConverttoRange.
FilteringandSortingDatainaTable
Filteringandsortingthedatainyourtableisagreatwaytoorganizethedataorlookat
onlyasubsectionofthedatawithoutlosinganyinformation.Clickonthesmallarrownext
tothecolumntitleinyourtabletofilter/sortdata.
Filteringyourdata:
• Clickonthesmallarrowinthecolumn
title.
• Onlyselectdesireddatatobedisplayed.
Sortingyourdata:
• Clickthesmallarrowinthecolumntitle.
• Selectappropriatesortoption(i.e.,
largesttosmallest)
FreezingRowsandColumns
Youcanfreezerowstokeepinformationvisibleatalltimes.Thisisparticularlyuseful
whenyouhavealargesetofdataandyouwanttherowandcolumnheaderstostayatthe
topofyourdatawhilescrolling.
• Beingbyselectingtherowbelowthe
rowyouwanttofreezeorthecolumn
totherightofthecolumnsyouwantto
freeze.
• FromtheViewtab,selectFreeze
Panes.
o Selecttheappropriateaction.
• Toun-freeze,gobacktotheViewtab,
clickFreezePanesandselect
UnfreezePanes.
ConditionalFormatting
Conditionalformattingisusedtoenhancereportsanddashboardsbydynamicallychanging
theformattingofavalue,cell,orrangeorcellsbasedondefinedconditions.Thisaddsa
levelofvisualizationthatenablessplit-seconddeterminations.
TouseConditionalFormatting:
• Highlightthedatayouwishtoformat.
• FromtheHometab,selectConditionalFormatting.
o Conditionalformattingonlyworkswithnumericaldata,suchastestscores.
Donotformataverages,percentages,andtext.
• YoucanuseConditionalFormattingtoapplyDataBars,ColorScales,andIconSets:
o DATABARS:Createsaminichartwithselectedcells.
o COLORSCALES:Fillscellswithcolorvaryinginscalebasedonthevaluein
eachcellrelativetootherformattedcells.
o ICONSETS:Symbolsthatareinsertedineachcellyouareformattingbased
onthevalueineachcellrelativetootherformattedcells.
o HIGHLIGHTCELLSRULES:Highlightscellsthatmeetaspecifiedcondition
(greaterthan,lessthan,equalto).
o TOP/BOTTOMRULES:Highlightscellsthatareinthespecifiedrange(top
10%,bottom10%).
PrintingyourWorksheet
FormattingyourworksheetforprintingcanbedonefromPageLayoutwhileworkingon
thedocument,aswellasbyselectingthePrintoptionontheFiletab.
• FormattingfromthePageLayouttab:
o SetMarginsandOrientationtofindthebestfitfordata.
§ Decreasingmarginsallowsformoredataononepage.
§ UsingLandscapeorientationoftenallowsformoredataononepage.
o PrintTitles–selecteithertherowsorcolumnsyouwanttohaverepeated
oneverypageoftheprintout,andpressOK.
• FormattingfromtheFiletab:
o SelectPrintfromthemenuontheleft.
§ ShowPrintPreview–showsapreviewofwhatwillbeprinted.
§ PrintActiveSheets–printpartorallofyourworksheet.
§ ChangePortraitOrientationto‘landscape’tohelpmaximizespace.
§ Margins–adjustthemtofitmoreofyourworksheetonyourpage.
§ Scaling–adjusttofitmorecontentonpage.
§ PageSetup–accessmoreoptionsincluding:addingaHeader/Footer,
printinggridlines,printingtitles,andchangingthepageorder.