Getting Started in Excel

- by Tiffany Barnes
June 22, 2000

Excel is a program designed to help you manage data and make cool charts and graphs on a computer. With it, you can organize all kinds of data, create mathematical formulas, and sort, sum, and average your data! We will be using Excel to collect and analyze data for our investigations this summer. So let's get started and have fun!

Open Excel

We are using computers with the Windows operating system installed. On any Windows computer, you open programs using the Start menu, and select the program you would like to use:

Move your mouse to the lower left-hand corner of the screen, and click on the button labelled Start.
Move your mouse to highlight Programs. A new menu will appear.
Look for Microsoft Excel on the menu. If you don't find it, select Microsoft Office.
Click on Microsoft Excel. When Excel begins, it will open a new "sheet" which looks like a large table.

Save your workbook

Excel calls its files workbooks. It's important to save your work as you go along so you don't lose anything!

From the File menu, click Save.

Select the disk drive (usually A:) to save your file on disk.

In the Save As box, type a file name for the workbook.

Click Save

Adding data

Now you're ready to start making your first table! The table on the screen is divided into what Excel calls cells.

Click on a cell to type in your data. As you type, the characters will appear both in the cell you clicked on, and in the formula bar, which is a long white box near the top of the screen, with an equals sign in front of it.

Press ENTER or RETURN when you are done, and the cursor will move to the next cell down in the column.

Adding labels

It's a good idea to label your data in each row and column. To do that, simply type in text labels in the cells above and to the left of your data. If you haven't left room, here's how to insert a column:

Excel will insert a new column to the immediate left of the highlighted cell. Make sure you click on a cell in the first column of your data, so the column labels will be to their immediate left.
Click on Insert on the top menu, and select Columns. A new column will appear.

New rows are added in a similar way:

Excel will add a new row just above the current highlighted cell. Make sure you click on a cell in the top row of your data.
Click on Insert on the top menu, and select Rows. A new row will appear.

Creating formulas

Sometimes you'd like Excel to do some calculating for you! Here's how to add a formula, which is like an equation for a cell's contents:

Click on the cell where you'd like to place your formula.

Type = in the current cell. This tells Excel that you wish to give it a calculation to do. Type in your formula. If you would like to reference data in another cell, you can just click on the cell you wish to refer to, and Excel will insert the Column title followed by the Row number for the cell you clicked on.

To copy your formula from one cell to another, select the cell that contains the formula you wish to copy.
Point to the border of the cell. The cursor will change from a large white plus sign to a black arrow.

To move the whole cell, click on the border, and hold the mouse button down while you drag the cell to a new location.

To copy the cell, hold down the OPTION key, click on the border, and hold the mouse button down as you drag.

You can also copy formulas into adjacent cells by using the fill handle. Select the cell that contains the formula. The fill handle is the little square that appears at the lower right corner of the cell. Click on the fill handle, and drag it until you've selected all the cells you want to fill.

Making a chart

Select the cells you wish to graph.

From the Insert menu, click on Chart.... A window will appear on the screen. This window is called a wizard, and is there to help you create your chart.

Step 1: Selecting a chart type.

Click on the different types of charts to see samples of each.

Click on the format you wish to use. Remember that it's important to select a chart that's appropriate for your data!

Click Next > to go to Step 2.

Step 2: Data Range and Series

Here, you will select the data to plot.

To change your selection, delete the Data Range, and click on the selection button to the right of the entry box.

Select the cells to plot, and press ENTER.

You can change your chart to plot either rows or columns of data together by clicking on the Series in: buttons for Rows and Columns. These groups of data are called "series".

If you wish to change the labels for the legend and the x-axis values:

Click on the Series tab.

The top part of this window lists each "series" of data you are plotting, as you selected in the Data Range tab.

You can change the data in the series, or its label, here.

The bottom part of this window lets you choose the values labelled on the X axis.

Click Next > to go to Step 2.

Step 3: Chart Options

Here, you can select many options for your graph, including a chart title, labels for each axis, and other features. Click on the tabs to see what you can do! Click Next > when you are done.

Step 4: Chart Location

Choose to insert your chart on your current worksheet, or on a new sheet. Click Finish when you are done. Congratulations!

Resizing your chart

Your chart will appear, with small black squares at each corner and on the sides. You can resize your graph or chart by clicking on these squares and dragging the mouse until your chart is the size you desire.

Exporting your chart

Say you want to use your chart in your PowerPoint presentation. To do that, all you have to do is select your chart by clicking on it, click on Copy from the Edit menu, and then in your PowerPoint presentation, click Paste from the Edit menu.

Have fun!!!

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