1. International Computer Driving Licence Syllabus version 5.0
Module 4 – Spreadsheets
Chapter 19 – First steps

2. Loading Microsoft® Excel®
Either double-click the Excel® icon (if it is on your desktop)
Or click Start, All Programs, then click Microsoft Office Excel (Note: depending on how your computer is set up, you might need to click Start, All Programs, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Office Excel 2007.)

3. The opening screen Quick Access Toolbar Formula bar Title bar
Office button
The ribbon
Ribbon tabs
Name of active cell
Active cell
Row
Column
Worksheet tabs
Status bar

4. What the screen parts mean
Title bar
Shows the name of your document
Office button
Click this to see a menu of options, such as printing, saving and closing
Ribbon
The Ribbon is where you can find all the functions you will need to create and edit your document, grouped by related commands
Ribbon tab
A ribbon is displayed by selecting its Ribbon tab
Status bar
Shows details about your document, such as the page you are on, the language setting etc.
Quick Access Toolbar
A group of useful buttons, such as Save and Undo
Task pane
Sometimes a context-sensitive task pane is displayed at the side of the screen – this lets you choose further options related to the task in hand

5. Some spreadsheet terms
Worksheet
A worksheet contains 16,384 columns and 1,048,576 rows – you can see only a few of these on the screen
Cell
The worksheet is divided into cells in which you can type a number, a label or a formula
Active cells
When you click or type in a cell it is highlighted by a black border to show it is active
Rows and columns
The column and row headers are identified by letters and numbers, respectively – these are used to reference cells
Workbook
A workbook contains several worksheets – these are shown by the worksheet tabs

6. Moving around the worksheet
You can move around the worksheet to make a cell active by:
moving the cross-shaped cursor using the mouse and clicking the left mouse button in the cell you want
using one of the arrow keys on the keyboard to go up, down, left or right
using the Page Up or Page Down keys on the keyboard
pressing the Tab key on the keyboard
Tips
Press Tab to select the next cell to the right of the current active cell
Press Shift+Tab to select the next cells to the left of the current active cell
Press Ctrl+Home to makes cell A1 active

7. Using Zoom
Click the Zoom button in the Zoom group on the View ribbon to display the Zoom dialogue box
Set the magnification to display your document at

8. Minimising and restoring the ribbon
Right-click anywhere in the line containing the ribbon tabs, on the Office button, on the Quick Access Toolbar, or on a ribbon group name
Click Minimize the Ribbon on the shortcut menu that is displayed
To restore the ribbon, right-click in one of the same places as before to un-tick Minimize the Ribbon on the shortcut menu

9. Defaults and preferences
Click the Office button, and then click Excel Options on the window that appears
Click the option you require in the panel on the left-hand side of the Excel Options dialogue box

10. Getting help
Click the Help icon that is located near the top right of the Excel screen (or simply press the F1 function key on the keyboard) to open the Excel Help window
Type some appropriate words as a search criterion in the search text box
Click the Search button to display a list of items related to the search topic

11. Entering and deleting data
Click the cell where you want the data to appear
Type the data
Press Backspace or Delete to delete the contents of an active cell
Good practice
Ensure that only a single element of data is in a cell
Do not leave any blank rows or columns when you enter a data list
Lay out calculations in a similar way as you would on paper
Ensure that cells bordering a list are left blank so that it is clear what the list comprises

12. Inserting and deleting rows and columns
To delete
Right-click a row or column header
Click Delete on the shortcut menu which appears
To insert
Select Insert on the shortcut menu which appears

13. Saving your work
Click the Office button, and then click Save on the menu that appears
On the Save As dialogue box, type a name for your file in the File name: text box
In the Save in: list box, select a folder to save your file in
Click the Save button

14. Closing Excel To close a spreadsheet Click the Office button
Click Close on the menu that appears
To close Excel
Click Exit Excel on the window that appears