Viewing a Spreadsheet

Opening an Existing Spreadsheet

1. Click Open on the Standard toolbar or choose File > Open.
2. Locate the spreadsheet you want to open and select it.
3. Click Open.

Starting a New Spreadsheet

When you open Excel, you automatically have a new spreadsheet. To open a new spreadsheet from within Excel. click Open on the Standard toolbar.

Entering Data

To enter data, click a cell, type the data, and press Enter/Return. Notice the data appears in the Formula bar. By default, text is left-aligned in a cell.and numbers are right-aligned.

When you press Enter/Return, Excel moves the active cell down one, so that you can easily enter more data in the cell below. For this reason, it's easiest to enter data in columns. However, to move the active cell to the right (if you want to enter data in a row), press Tab instead of Enter/Return.

Don't worry if a cell is to narrow for some of your text. See the next section on Viewing a Spreadsheet for more details.

AutoComplete is a feature that allows you to enter the same data without retyping it. When you begin typing data you have previously entered in the spreadsheet, it will automatically appear in the cell. Press Enter/Return to insert the data.

Viewing a Spreadsheet

• Use the scroll bars and directional arrow keys to move vertically or horizontally inside a worksheet.
• PgUp and PgDn keys allow you to move up or down one screen.
• Home key moved you to the leftmost cell in a row.
• Ctrl+Home moves to the upper-left corner of a worksheet. Use the Zoom feature on the Standard toolbar to change the display zoom when you need to see more or less of the spreadsheet on your screen.
• If you enter a number and it appears in the cell as all pound signs (#######) it means the cell isn’t large enough for the data. Double-click the right border of the column heading to resize it. Use the same technique to widen a column for text.

Saving a Workbook

Always save your work often, about every 5 minutes or even more often. Start by saving a new worksheet immediately after you create it.

The first time you save a workbook:

1. On the menu choose File > Save or click Save on the Standard toolbar.
2. At the top of the dialog box, choose the location you want for the workbook.
3. In the File Name/Save As text box, type the name for your workbook.
4. Click Save.

After you have saved a workbook once, you only need to click Save on the Standard toolbar to save your changes as you work. The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl + S (PC) or Command () + S (Mac).