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Part I: Getting Started with Excel
The chapters in this part are intended to provide essential background information for working with Excel. Here, you'll see how to make use of the basic features that are required for every Excel user. If you've used Excel (or even a different spreadsheet program) in the past, much of this information may seem like review. Even so, it's possible that you'll find quite a few tricks and techniques.
IN THIS PART
Chapter 1
Introducing Excel
Chapter 2
Entering and Editing Worksheet Data
Chapter 3
Essential Worksheet Operations
Chapter 4
Working with Cells and Ranges
Chapter 5
Introducing Tables
Chapter 6
Worksheet Formatting
Chapter 7
Understanding Excel Files
Chapter 8
Using and Creating Templates
Chapter 9
Printing Your Work
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Chapter 1: Introducing Excel
IN THIS CHAPTER
Understanding what Excel is used for
What's new for Excel 2010
Learning the parts of Excel's window
Introducing the Ribbon user interface, shortcut menus, and dialog boxes
Navigating Excel worksheets
Introducing Excel with a quick hands-on session
This chapter serves as an introductory overview of Excel 2010. If you're already familiar with a previous version of Excel, reading this chapter is still a good idea. You'll find that Excel 2010 is very similar to Excel 2007. However, both Excel 2007 and Excel 2010 are different from every previous version — very different.
What Is Excel Good For?
Excel, as you probably know, is the world's most widely used spreadsheet program, and is part of the Microsoft Office suite. Other spreadsheet programs are available, but Excel is by far the most popular and has become the world standard.
Much of the appeal of Excel is due to the fact that it's so versatile. Excel's forte, of course, is performing numerical calculations, but Excel is also very useful for non-numeric applications. Here are just a few of the uses for Excel:
• Number crunching: Create budgets, analyze survey results, and perform just about any type of financial analysis you can think of.
• Creating charts: Create a wide variety of highly customizable charts.
• Organizing lists: Use the row-and-column layout to store lists efficiently.
• Accessing other data: Import data from a wide variety of sources.
• Creating graphical dashboards: Summarize a large amount of business information in a concise format.
• Creating graphics and diagrams: Use Shapes and the new SmartArt to create professional-looking diagrams.
• Automating complex tasks: Perform a tedious task with a single mouse click with Excel's macro capabilities.
What's New in Excel 2010?
When a new version of Microsoft Office is released, sometimes Excel gets lots of new features. And sometimes it gets very few new features. In the case of Office 2010, Excel got very few new features. Here's a quick summary of what's new in Excel 2010, relative to Excel 2007:
• 64-bit version: If your hardware (and Windows version) supports it, you can install the 64-bit version, which lets you create larger workbooks. Most people do not require the 64-bit version, and using it might cause some add-ins to not function.
• Sparkline charts: Create small in-cell charts to summarize a range of data graphically. See Chapter 21.
• Slicers: A new way to filter and display data in pivot tables, by clicking buttons. See Chapter 35.
• New pivot table formatting options: You have more control over the appearance of pivot table reports. See Chapter 35.
• Office button changes: The big round Office button in Excel 2007 has been replaced by a File button/tab, displayed to the left of the tabs. Clicking it displays a screen that lets you perform various operations on your workbook. This view essentially replaces the traditional File and Print menus — plus quite a bit more.
• Conditional formatting enhancements: Data bar conditional formatting can display in a solid color, and the bars provide a more accurate display. See Chapter 20.
• Function enhancements: Some Excel worksheet financial and statistical functions have been improved in terms of numerical accuracy.
• Image editing enhancements: You have much more control over graphic images inserted into a workbook, including the ability to remove nonessential parts from the background of an image.
• Screen capture tool: You can easily capture a window from a different program and then insert the image on a worksheet.
• Paste preview: When you copy a range, the Paste command displays various options with a live preview so you can see how the paste operation will look.
• Ribbon customization: You can customize the Ribbon by adding new tabs and groups.
• Equation editor: Create and display (noncalculating) mathematical equat...
