Working With Microsoft Office Excel 2003, Things You Need to Know

There are some basic things that you need to know to be able to work efficiently with Microsoft Office Excel.

Though we are working with Excel 2003, some features will still apply to Microsoft Excel versions 2007, 2010, 2013, and even 2016. Most will also work on open source Excel programs.

How to Re-name a Worksheet in Excel

You can rename a worksheet to make it have a more customized name instead of the normal sheet 1, 2. For instance, Jan Sales, to indicate January sales. The process is:-

• Double click on the worksheet tab you want to rename and then type the new name or,
• Right-click on the sheet tab then select rename and type the new name.

• Click on edit
• Click on the move command or copy worksheet
• Indicate the new position and whether you want to make a copy or move the whole worksheet
• Click OK

You can insert a new worksheet by following this procedure:-

• Click on insert then worksheet or,
• Right-click on one of the sheet tabs and select insert > worksheet.

NB: This change is not reversible

a) Click on edit then delete sheet or

b) Right-click on the sheet you want to delete and select delete

• Select the data to be copied
• Click on edit then copy or use short cut keys (Ctrl + C)
• Click on the destination where you want your work to start (the first cell)
• Click on edit
• Click on paste or short cut (Ctrl + V)

1. Select the data to be moved
2. Click on edit then cut (Ctrl + X)
3. Click on the destination
4. Click on edit then paste (Ctrl + V) or
5. Highlight the data, move the pointer to the bold outline of the selected text, once the pointer turns to a move point, click, hold on and drag to the required destination.

Data Entry in Excel

There are three main types of data that you can enter into a worksheet.

• Labels – the text you type on a worksheet.
• Values – these are values or figures that you enter on your worksheet.
• Formula – these are the formulas that are used to come up with solutions to computations for instance =sum(B1:B8).

Pictures

• Click on insert
• Point to picture
• Select the source
• Select the picture
• Click on insert or OK

Comments

• Click on the cell you want your comment to appear
• Click on insert
• Point to comments and click
• Type in the comments

NB: Comments are details that are hidden within the cell and only appear when that cell is selected or pointed. To view your comment, you can point to the triangle at the top right-hand corner of the cell.

a) To insert a column

Click on insert then column

b) To insert a row

Click on insert then rows

c) To insert a cell

Click on insert then cells and then indicate the direction of the cells and click OK.

Deleting selected Cells

a) Click on edit then delete

b) Indicate the direction of cells then click OK

a) Click on edit then delete

b) Indicate whether to delete the whole row or whole column

c) Click OK

Adding and removing toolbars in Excel

• Click on view, point to toolbars
• Click on the toolbar that you would like to add or remove

• Click on view
• Point to status/formula bar and click

Hiding Rows

To hide a row

1. Click on the format

2. Point to row

3. Click hide

This will hide the selected row

How to Unhide a Column or Row

Use the go-to command in the edit menu so that the cell selector is located in one of the cell in the row or column then click on format, point to the row or column then click on unhide.

• Highlight the row or rows
• Click format
• Point to row
• Click on row height
• Adjust the height by keying in the points for adjusting the row height
• Click OK

You can adjust a row height by pointing in between the row header and clicking and holding down the mouse pointer and dragging.

You can adjust row height by clicking on the format option then point to row then click on autofit selection.

Follow this procedure:

• Click on format
• Select sheet and click on hide

How to Unhide a Worksheet in Microsoft Excel

• Click on the format option, point to sheet
• Click on unhide, then select the sheet to unhide
• Click OK