Beginning Microsoft Excel Abbott Katz

Transcription

1 Beginning Microsoft Excel 2010 Abbott Katz i

2 Beginning Microsoft Excel 2010 Copyright 2010 by Abbott Katz All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher. ISBN-13 (pbk): ISBN-13 (electronic): Printed and bound in the United States of America Trademarked names, logos, and images may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, logo, or image we use the names, logos, and images only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. President and Publisher: Paul Manning Lead Editor: Ben Renow-Clarke Technical Reviewer: Simon Murphy Editorial Board: Clay Andres, Steve Anglin, Mark Beckner, Ewan Buckingham, Gary Cornell, Jonathan Gennick, Jonathan Hassell, Michelle Lowman, Matthew Moodie, Duncan Parkes, Jeffrey Pepper, Frank Pohlmann, Douglas Pundick, Ben Renow-Clarke, Dominic Shakeshaft, Matt Wade, Tom Welsh Coordinating Editor: Kelly Moritz Copy Editor: Janet Gokay Compositor: MacPS, LLC Indexer: BIM Indexing & Proofreading Services Artist: April Milne Cover Designer: Anna Ishchenko Distributed to the book trade worldwide by Springer Science+Business Media, LLC., 233 Spring Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY Phone SPRINGER, fax (201) , ordersny@springer-sbm.com, or visit For information on translations, please rights@apress.com, or visit Apress and friends of ED books may be purchased in bulk for academic, corporate, or promotional use. ebook versions and licenses are also available for most titles. For more information, reference our Special Bulk Sales ebook Licensing web page at The information in this book is distributed on an as is basis, without warranty. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this work, neither the author(s) nor Apress shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this work. Downloadable workbooks for this book are available to readers at You will need to answer questions pertaining to this book in order to successfully download the workbooks. ii

3 Contents at a Glance Contents at a Glance...iv Contents...v About the Author...xi About the Technical Reviewer...xii Acknowledgments...xiii Introduction... xiv Chapter 1: Introduction to Excel...1 Chapter 2: Getting Started and Getting Around the Worksheet...17 Chapter 3: From Data Entry to Data Creation: Formula Basics and Beyond...51 Chapter 4: Keeping Up Appearances Formatting the Worksheet...87 Chapter 5: The Stuff Of Legend Charting in Excel Chapter 6: Setting the Table: Database Features of Excel Chapter 7: Working With Multiple Sheets Chapter 8: PivotTables and Pivot Charts Chapter 9: Getting It On Paper Printing in Excel Chapter 10: Taking it to the Cloud: Sharing and Collaborating on the Internet Appendix A: Working With Range Names Appendix B: Keyboard Shortcuts Appendix C: Error Messages Index iv

4 Contents Contents at a Glance...iv Contents...v About the Author...xi About the Technical Reviewer...xii Acknowledgments...xiii Introduction... xiv Chapter 1: Introduction to Excel...1 Making the Acquaintance... 1 Unlocking Your Inner Worksheet... 1 The Pep Talk... 4 Interacting with the Interface... 5 Tab Talk... 7 Something New, Something Old... 9 Keeping Tabs on a New One Cool QAT...12 Understood in Context Alt-ered Consciousness Chapter 2: Getting Started and Getting Around the Worksheet...17 More Addresses Than the Phone Book Cells, and How to Get There Getting Around Key Points v

5 Ranges: A Select Tool Data Entry: Getting Started Entering Text: Trespassing Allowed...30 Numbers are (a little) Different Relocating the Data: Copying and Moving Having Your Fill There ll Be Some Changes Made Editing Cells Chapter 3: From Data Entry to Data Creation: Formula Basics and Beyond...51 Cell references explained...52 Ordering Up Your Results Not Just Your Average Function...62 Making Range Values COUNT...63 MAX and MIN Recording Highs and Lows...64 Absolute References: Absolutely Important...72 More of the Same You Could Look It Up...79 If: Worth Knowing No Ifs, Ands, or Buts...83 In Conclusion...85 Chapter 4: Keeping Up Appearances Formatting the Worksheet...87 You ve Got Designs on Your Worksheet The Font Button Group: A Closer Look...89 Borderline Command Getting Oriented Excel Has Got Your Number(s) Dates The Long and the Short of It Time Is On Your Side Yes It Is A New Kind of Copy and Paste Style Setter vi

6 Formatting With Conditions Just a Bit More P. S IN CONCLUSION Chapter 5: The Stuff Of Legend Charting in Excel Starting Charting Making a Chart of Our Own Changing The Chart It s Your Call The Design Tab A Closer Look Change Chart Type Save As Template Switch Row/Column Select Data Chart Layouts Chart Styles Move Chart Changing the Chart Default and the 2-Second Chart The Layout Tab Working with Chart Labels Axes to Grind The Format Tab Getting Your Objects in Shape Sparklines: Mini-Charts with Big Impact You Win Some, You Lose Some In Conclusion Chapter 6: Setting the Table: Database Features of Excel Sorting Sort Of Easy Using Header Rows Sorting by More than One Field The AutoFilter: Picking and Choosing Your Data vii

7 Playing or Plying the Numbers The Advanced Filter Setting Your Data Aside Table Talk Creating a Table Using Table Styles Adding a Total Row Examining the other Table Style Options At the Risk of Repeating Yourself: The Remove Duplicates Option Data Validation: Improving Your Entrée to Data Entry Using Data Validation Adding Data Entry Rules Adding an Input Message Using the Error Alert Option Adding a Validation Rule to Existing Data In Conclusion Chapter 7: Working With Multiple Sheets Adding To Sheets Inserting Rows, Columns and Cells Inserting a Column Inserting a Row Deleting Rows and Columns Inserting and Deleting Cells Hiding Rows and Columns and Getting them Back Multiple Worksheet Basics Inserting a New Worksheet Busting a (Sheet) Move Hiding Worksheets Grouping Worksheets Far-Flung Formulas: Working with Multi-Sheet Cell References Doing a Multi-sheet Calculation Extending Your Reach: Referring to Cells in Different Workbooks viii

8 The Watch Window Spying On Your Own Data Protect Your Cells From Unwanted Intruders Even Yourself Protecting a Sheet Protecting a Whole Workbook Consolidating Your Data Getting It All Together In Conclusion Chapter 8: PivotTables and Pivot Charts Starting Out with PivotTables What s in a Name? Constructing a PivotTable: Let s Go Inserting the Table Setting Up the PivotTable Updating the Pivot Report Filters Again-PivotTable Style Your Very Own Top 10 List The Report Filter Getting on Top of the PivotTable The Slicer Filter Deluxe Grouping the Data Formatting the Pivot Report Values and All Pivot Charts In Conclusion Chapter 9: Getting It On Paper Printing in Excel Hard Copy? Pretty Easy The Print Area Option Margin-al Utility Printing As You See Fit Headers and Footers Getting to the Bottom (and the Top) of Your Printout Title Search ix

9 There s More Than One Way to View A Worksheet Gimme a (Page) Break Another View Customize Your View, Too In Conclusion Chapter 10: Taking it to the Cloud: Sharing and Collaborating on the Internet 337 Getting There Permission Granted: Sharing Your Workbooks Hey You! Get Onto My Cloud! In Conclusion Appendix A: Working With Range Names What s in a Name? Plenty, if it s a Range Naming Many Ranges at the Same Time The Name Manager Tracking Your Ranges In Conclusion Appendix B:Keyboard Shortcuts Control Key Combinations Function Keys Other shortcut keys Appendix C:Error Messages Nobody s Perfect Index x

10 About the Author Abbott Katz A native New Yorker, Abbott Katz currently lives in London and has introduced Excel to numerous corporate and university classes on both sides of the Atlantic. He has written for a wide range of publications, including New York Newsday, the (UK) Times Higher Educational, and insidehighered.com, and holds a doctorate in sociology from SUNY Stony Brook in New York. Prior to moving to London in 2005 he served as the Deputy Chair of the Sociology Department at Touro College, while at the same time teaching the introductory computer course at Queens College. His interests include jazz and baseball, but like all Americans, he remains utterly clueless about cricket. xi

11 About the Technical Reviewer Simon Murphy is a freelance software developer specialising in integrating Excel with other enterprise resources. He has been doing spreadsheets forever, having started in the 80s, and mainly works in the financial analysis and reporting arena. He also runs a successful business selling Excel add-ins via the internet. Simon spoke at the inaugural Excel User Conference in Dallas Fort Worth in 2005, and regularly speaks and contributes to the European Spreadsheet Risk Interest Group (eusprig.org), the worldwide authority on the risks inherent in commercial spreadsheet use. XLAnalyst, the spreadsheet risk assessment tool that Simon developed is one of the most popular spreadsheet audit tools in the market. Simon is also a member of the Microsoft Office Developer Advisory Council, and helped steer the developer features of Excel He has an MSc in Software development and his main consulting interest is around performant User Defined Functions. xii

12 Acknowledgments It s a truism, but it s true nonetheless: Writing a book nowadays calls upon a team effort. Blog away in solitary bliss, but writing and assembling - a hard-copy book is something different. The name you see attached to the book s title identifies but one of its contributors, and it s only proper that I acknowledge those unfailingly congenial, if anonymous, teammates whose work would otherwise go unsung. First, all due thanks to Apress Lead Editor Ben Renow-Clarke, who was there at the book s inception, and has lent a continually helpful hand to the project. Coordinating Editor Kelly Moritz has offered her non-stop assistance, across six time zones no less, and Copy Editor Janet Gokay has delivered spot-on grammatical and stylistic counsel. Technical Reviewer Simon Murphy asked the right questions, and often supplied some of the answers, too. Closer to home much closer my devoted wife Marsha granted me the time and space to pursue this literary chore, even if it meant neglecting my other chores even more than usual. (I did manage to mow the lawn today, though.) And speaking of spaces, a writer s desk these days is wherever his laptop alights, and so a number of venues should be cited and thanked as well, including the Bewick Centre in Gateshead (thanks to Sholmi Issacson), assorted tables on the East Coast and Grand Central train lines, a clutch of Starbuckses (check that plural, Janet) and the British Library. On the other hand, of course, blame for any and all of the book s shortcomings reverts to the guy with his name attached to the title. xiii

13 INTRODUCTION Introduction Welcome to Beginning Microsoft Excel No; you re not a dummy, but you may be new to this vast, empty, rectangular world of columns and rows that Excel spreadsheets comprise, and you may be just a little bit intimidated, too. You may have a couple of questions as result: What do I do, where, and how? Those are big questions, and the answers to them don t come in the 25-words-or-less variety; but Beginning Microsoft Excel 2010 tries to make the answers easier to understand by erring on the side of explanation over the click-here, click-there, bullet-pointed mode of book instruction. Knowing what s going on in your workbook, and why, makes the prospect of constructing this, and your next, workbook that much less daunting. Beginning Microsoft Excel 2010 isn t to be read as a spreadsheet bible, the kind of work that catalogues each and every command the application has to offer. That kind of book surely has its place, of course, but if you re starting out with Excel and I m speaking as an Excel instructor you need to know the important basics, and then some those capabilities which can get you up and running and doing real work, and pretty soon. As a result, and given the proverbial limitations of space, a good many decisions had to be made along the way about what to omit, as well as what to include. Excel is, after all, a vast application, and something tells me you re not prepared to pay for a few thousand pages worth of detail about the whole shebang. If you re not entirely new to Excel, but are leapfrogging instead to the 2010 version from Excel 2003 or some prior release, you too may be in need of a bit of orientation especially to the Excel ribbonbased motif of commands, part of what s called the Microsoft Office Fluent Interface, discussed in detail in Chapter 1. It s a different look to and means for accessing the Excel commands you already know, and that variation on a tried-and-true theme is off-putting to some. Hang in there, and it ll begin to make sense. Also new to Excel (and Office) 2010 is what s called the Backstage View, an area that gathers in one place some important commands you may need to carry out sooner or later for example, saving, document retrieval and sharing, and printing options. xiv