1.2- Entering and editing text and values.

Hello Excel-lent,

Hope your week is turning out well. We started out last week on the basics with "Entering and Editing Data" and thank you for your calls and requests to subscribe by email. We have added the subscribe button for your convenience and you can now get the posts directly in your mail boxes once you key in your valid email address and click on the submit button. You will receive an activation notice that will welcome you to a new world of Excel-lent skills that will propel you at your workplace and transform you to an MVP- Most Valuable Player but one thing is, you only get better when you teach others! So let's share what we know, ask questions and make comments.....

The "Subscribe by email button" is located on the right hand side of the blog 

Now, back to work!

To enter text and values in an excel sheet, you need to first open up an excel sheet as shown below.

The screen shown here will appear.

The Title Bar

This lesson will familiarize you with the Microsoft Excel screen. You will start with the Title bar, which is located at the very top of the screen. On the Title bar, Microsoft Excel displays the name of the workbook you are currently using. At the top of your screen, you should see "Microsoft Excel - Book1" or a similar name. The position of "Book 1" depends on the version of Excel you are using.

The Menu Bar

The Menu bar is directly below the Title bar. The menu begins with the word File and continues with Edit, View, Insert, Format, Tools, Data, Window, and Help. You use a menu to give instructions to the software. Point with your mouse to a menu option and click the left mouse button. A drop-down menu opens. You can now use the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard to move left and right across the Menu bar. You can use the up and down arrow keys to move up and down the drop-down menu. To choose an option, highlight the item on the drop-down menu and press Enter. An ellipse after a menu item signifies additional options; if you choose that option, a dialog box opens.

Do the following exercise, which demonstrates using the Microsoft Excel menu bar.

1. Point to the word File, which is located on the Menu bar.
2. Click your left mouse button.
3. Press the right arrow key until Help is highlighted.
4. Press the left arrow key until Format is highlighted.
5. Press the down arrow key until Style is highlighted. Press the up arrow key until Cells is highlighted.
6. Press Enter to choose the Cells menu option.
7. Point to Cancel and click the left mouse button to close the dialog box.

When using Microsoft Excel, you can set an option to tell Microsoft Excel to always show full menus or to show only the most frequently and recently used options. All the lessons in this tutorial assume you have your menus set to Always Show Full Menus. To set your menu to display full menus:

1. Point to the word Tools, which is located on the menu bar.
2. Click your left mouse button.
3. Press the down arrow until customize is highlighted.
4. Press Enter.
5. Choose the Options Tab by clicking on it.
6. If Always Show Full Menus does not have a check mark in it, click in the Always Show Full Menus box.
7. Click Close to close the dialog box.

Toolbars

The Standard Toolbar

The Formatting Toolbar

Toolbars provide shortcuts to menu commands. Toolbars are generally located just below the Menu bar. Before proceeding with this lesson, make sure the toolbars you will use -- Standard and Formatting -- are available. Follow the steps outlined here:

1. Point to View, which is located on the Menu bar.
2. Click the left mouse button.
3. Press the down arrow key until Toolbars is highlighted.
4. Press the right arrow key.
5. Both Standard and Formatting should have a check mark next to them. If both have a check mark next to them, press Esc two times to close the menu. If either does not have a check mark, press the down arrow key until Customize is highlighted.
6. Press Enter. The Customize dialog box opens.
7. Choose the Toolbars tab.
8. Point to the box or boxes next to the unchecked word or words, Standard and/or Formatting, and click the left mouse button. A check mark should appear. Note: You turn the check mark on and off by clicking the left mouse button.
9. Point to Close and click the left mouse button to close the dialog box.

Worksheets

Microsoft Excel consists of worksheets. Each worksheet contains columns and rows. The columns are lettered A to IV; the rows are numbered 1 to 65536. The combination of a column coordinate and a row coordinate make up a cell address. For example, the cell located in the upper left corner of the worksheet is cell A1, meaning column A, row 1. Cell E10 is located under column E on row 10. You enter your data into the cells on the worksheet.

The Formula Bar

Formula Bar

If the Formula bar is turned on, the cell address displays in the Name box on the left side of the Formula bar. Cell entries display on the right side of the Formula bar. Before proceeding, make sure the Formula bar is turned on.

1. Point to View, which is located on the Menu bar.
2. Click the left mouse button. A drop-down menu opens. On the drop-down menu, if Formula Bar has a check mark next to it, the Formula bar is turned on. Press the Esc key to close the drop-down menu.
3. If Formula Bar does not have a check mark next to it, press the down arrow key until Formula Bar is highlighted; then press Enter. The Formula bar should now appear below the toolbars.
4. Note that the current cell address displays on the left side of the Formula bar.

The Status Bar

 

Status Bar

If the Status bar is turned on, it appears at the very bottom of the screen. Before proceeding, make sure the Status bar is turned on.

1. Point to View, which is located on the Menu bar.
2. Click the left mouse button. A drop-down menu opens.
3. On the drop-down menu, if Status Bar has a check mark next to it, it is turned on. Press the Esc key to close the drop-down menu.
4. If Status Bar does not have a check mark next to it, press the down arrow key until Status Bar is highlighted; then press Enter. The Status bar should now appear at the bottom of the screen.

Notice the word "Ready" on the Status bar at the lower left side of the screen. The word "Ready" tells you that Excel is in the Ready mode and awaiting your next command. Other indicators appear on the Status bar in the lower right corner of the screen. Here are some examples:

The Num Lock key is a toggle key. Pressing it turns the numeric keypad on and off. You can use the numeric keypad to enter numbers as if you were using a calculator. The letters "NUM" on the Status bar in the lower right corner of the screen indicate that the numeric keypad is on.

• Press the Num Lock key several times and note how the indicator located on the Status bar changes.

The Caps Lock key is also a toggle key. Pressing it turns the caps function on and off. When the caps function is on, your entry appears in capital letters.

• Press the Cap Lock key several times and note how the indicator located on the Status bar changes.

Other functions that appear on the Status bar are Scroll Lock and End. Scroll Lock and End are also toggle keys. Pressing the key toggles the function between on and off. Scroll Lock causes the movement keys to move the window without moving the cell pointer. End lets you jump around the screen. We will discuss both of these later in more detail.

Make sure the Scroll Lock and End indicators are off and complete the following exercises.

The Down Arrow Key

You can use the down arrow key to move downward one cell at a time.

1. Press the down arrow key several times.
2. Note that the cursor moves downward one cell at a time.

The Up Arrow Key

You can use the Up Arrow key to move upward one cell at a time.

1. Press the up arrow key several times.
2. Note that the cursor moves upward one cell at a time.

The Tab Key

You can use the Tab key to move across the page to the right, one cell at a time.

1. Move to cell A1.
2. Press the Tab key several times.
3. Note that the cursor moves to the right one cell at a time.

The Shift+Tab Keys

You can hold down the Shift key and then press the Tab key to move to the left, one cell at a time.

1. Hold down the Shift-key and then press Tab.
2. Note that the cursor moves to the left one cell at a time.

The Right and Left Arrow Keys

You can use the right and left arrow keys to move right or left one cell at a time.

1. Press the right arrow key several times.
2. Note that the cursor moves to the right.
3. Press the left arrow key several times.
4. Note that the cursor moves to the left.

Page Up and Page Down

The Page Up and Page Down keys move the cursor up and down one page at a time.

1. Press the Page Down key.
2. Note that the cursor moves down one page.
3. Press the Page Up key.
4. Note that the cursor moves up one page.

The End Key

The End key, used in conjunction with the arrow keys, causes the cursor to move to the far end of the spreadsheet in the direction of the arrow.

1. Press the End key.
2. Note that "END" appears on the Status bar in the lower right corner of the screen.
3. Press the right arrow key.
4. Note that the cursor moves to the farthest right area of the screen.
5. Press the END key again.
6. Press the down arrow key. Note that the cursor moves to the bottom of the screen.
7. Press the End key again.
8. Press the left arrow key. Note that the cursor moves to the farthest left area of the screen.
9. Press the End key again.
10. Press the up arrow key. Note that the cursor moves to the top of the screen.

Note: If you have entered data into the worksheet, the End key moves you to the end of the data area.

The Home Key

The Home key, used in conjunction with the End key, moves you to cell A1 -- or to the beginning of the data area if you have entered data.

1. Move the cursor to column J.
2. Stay in column J and move the cursor to row 20.
3. Press the End key.
4. Press Home.
5. You should now be in cell A1.

Moving Quickly Around the Worksheet

The following are shortcuts for moving quickly from one cell to a cell in a different part of the worksheet.

Go to -- F5

The F5 function key is the "Go To" key. If you press the F5 key while in the Ready mode, you are prompted for the cell to which you wish to go. Enter the cell address, and the cursor jumps to that cell.

1. Press F5. The Go To dialog box opens.
2. Type J3.
3. Press Enter. The cursor should move to cell J3.

Go to -- Ctrl-G

You can also use Ctrl-G to go to a specific cell.

1. Hold down the Ctrl key while you press "g" (Ctrl-g). The Go To dialog box opens.
2. Type C4.
3. Press Enter. You should now be in cell C4.

Name Box

You can also use the Name box to go to a specific cell.

1. Type D11 in the Name box
2. Press Enter. You should now be in cell D10.

Scroll Lock

Scroll Lock moves the window, but not the cell pointer.

1. Press the Page Down key.
2. Press Scroll Lock. Note "SCRL" appears on the Status bar in the lower right corner of the screen.
3. Press the up arrow key several times. Note that the cursor stays in the same position and the window moves upward.
4. Press the down arrow key several times. Note that the cursor stays in the same position and the window moves downward.
5. Press Scroll Lock to turn the Scroll Lock function off.
6. Hold down the Ctrl key and press Home to move to cell A1.

Selecting Cells

If you wish to perform a function on a group of cells, you must first select those cells by highlighting them. To highlight cells A1 to E1:

1. Place the cursor in cell A1.
2. Press the F8 key. This anchors the cursor.
3. Note that "EXT" appears on the Status bar in the lower right corner of the screen. You are in the Extend mode.
4. Click in cell E7. Cells A1 to E7 should now be highlighted.
5. Press Esc and click anywhere on the worksheet to clear the highlighting.

Alternative Method: Selecting Cells by Dragging

You can also highlight an area by holding down the left mouse button and dragging the mouse over the area. In addition, you can select noncontiguous areas of the worksheet by doing the following:

1. Place the cursor in cell A1.
2. Hold down the Ctrl key. Do not release it until you are told. Holding down the Ctrl key enables you to select noncontiguous areas of the worksheet.
3. Press the left mouse button.
4. While holding down the left mouse button, use the mouse to move from cell A1 to E7.
5. Continue to hold down the Ctrl key, but release the left mouse button.
6. Using the mouse, place the cursor in cell G8.
7. Press the left mouse button.
8. While holding down the left mouse button, move to cell I17. Release the left mouse button.
9. Release the Ctrl key. Cells A1 to E7 and cells G8 to I17 are highlighted.
10. Press Esc and click anywhere on the worksheet to remove the highlighting.

Entering Data

In this lesson, you are going to learn how to enter data into your worksheet. First, you place the cursor in the cell in which you would like to enter data. Then you type the data and press Enter.

1. Place the cursor in cell A1.
2. Type John Adeola.
3. The Backspace key erases one character at a time. Erase "Adeola" by pressing the backspace key until Adeola is erased.
4. Press Enter. The name "John" should appear in cell A1.

Editing a Cell

After you enter data into a cell, you can edit it by pressing F2 while you are in the cell you wish to edit.

1. Move the cursor to cell A1.
2. Press F2.
3. Change "John" to "Jones."
4. Use the backspace key to delete the "n" and the "h."
5. Type nes.
6. Press Enter.

Alternate Method: Editing a Cell by Using the Formula Bar

You can also edit the cell by using the Formula bar. You can change "Jones" to "Joker" as follows:

1. Move the cursor to cell A1.
2. Click in the formula area of the Formula bar.

3. Use the backspace key to erase the "s," "e," and "n."
4. Type ker.
5. Press Enter.

Alternate Method: Editing a Cell by Double-Clicking in the Cell

You can change "Joker" to "Johnson" as follows:

1. Move the cursor to cell A1.
2. Double-click in cell A1.
3. Press the End key. Your cursor is now at the end of your text.
4. Use the backspace to erase "r," "e," and "k."
5. Type hnson.
6. Press Enter.

Changing a Cell Entry

Typing in a cell while you are in the Ready mode replaces the old cell entry with the new information you type.

1. Move the cursor to cell A1.
2. Type Cathy.
3. Press Enter. The name "Cathy" should replace "Johnson."

Wrapping Text

When you enter text that is too long to fit in a cell into a cell, it overlaps the next cell. If you do not want it to overlap the next cell you can wrap the text.

1. Move to cell A2.
2. Type Text too long to fit.
3. Press Enter.
4. Return to cell A2.
5. Choose Format > Cells  from the menu.
6. Choose the Alignment tab.
7. Click Wrap Text.
8. Click OK. The text wraps.

Deleting a Cell Entry

To delete an entry in a cell or a group of cells, you place the cursor in the cell or highlight the group of cells and press Delete.

1. Place the cursor in cell A2.
2. Press the Delete key.

Entering Numbers as Labels or Values

In Microsoft Excel, you can enter numbers as labels or as values. Labels are alphabetic, alphanumeric, or numeric text on which you do not perform mathematical calculations. Values are numeric text on which you perform mathematical calculations. If you have a numeric entry, such as an employee number, on which you do not perform mathematical calculations, enter it as a label by typing a single quotation mark first.

Enter a number:

1. Move the cursor to cell B1.
2. Type 200.
3. Press Enter.

The number 200 appears in cell B1 as a numeric value. You can perform mathematical calculations using this cell entry. Note that by default the number is right-aligned.

Enter a value:

1. Move the cursor to cell C1.
2. Type '200.
3. Press Enter.

The number 200 appears in cell C1 as a label. Note that by default the cell entry is left-aligned and a green triangle appears in the upper left corner of the cell.

Smart Tags

When you make an entry that Microsoft Excel believes you may want to change, a smart tag appears. Smart tags give you the opportunity to make changes easily. Cells with smart tag in them appear with a green triangle in the upper left corner. When you place your cursor in the cell, the Trace Error icon appears. Click on the Trace Error icon and options appear. When you made your entry in cell C1 in the previous section, a smart tag should have appeared.

1. Move to cell C1.
2. Click on the Trace Error icon. An options list appears. You can convert the label to a number, obtain help, ignore the error etc.

Saving a File

This is the end of Lesson1.2. To save your file:

1. Choose File > Save  from the menu.
2. Go to the directory in which you want to save your file.
3. Type lesson1.2 in the File Name field.
4. Click on Save. Alternatively, you can press the shortcut key combination of "ctrl" + S.

Closing Microsoft Excel

Close Microsoft Excel.

1. Choose File > Close  from the menu.

Thank you for your time and do have an excel-lent week ahead.

Oladapo Sorinola

07062932708, 07014282477

1.1- Entering and editing data

Hello Excel-lent,

Let me first welcome you to this online Excel tutorial. My name is Oladapo Sorinola and I will be taking you through some of the sessions along side with some notable Excel gurus in the industry today; local and international. In today's session, we will be looking at "Entering and editing data", the most "basic' skill in excel. 

Now a days, any job requires basic Excel skills. These basic Excel skills are – familiarity with Excel ribbons & UI, ability to enter and format data, calculate totals & summaries thru formulas, highlight data that meets certain conditions, creating simple reports & charts, understanding the importance of keyboard shortcuts & productivity tricks. Based on my experience of training more than 5,000 students in various online & physical training programs, the following 6 areas form the core of basic Excel skills.

 GETTING STARTED

Excel is a massive application with 1000s of features and 100s of ribbon (menu) commands. It is very easy to get lost once you open Excel. So one of the basic survival skills is to understand how to navigate Excel and access the features you are looking for.

When you open Excel, this is how it looks.

There are 5 important areas in the screen.

1. Quick Access Toolbar: This is a place where all the important tools can be placed. 

When you start Excel for the very first time, it has only 3 icons (Save, Undo, Redo). But you can add any feature of Excel to to Quick Access Toolbar so that you can easily access it from anywhere (hence the name).

2. Ribbon: Ribbon is like an expanded menu. It depicts all the features of Excel in easy to understand form. Since Excel has 1000s of features, they are grouped in to several ribbons. The most important ribbons are – Home, Insert, Formulas, Page Layout & Data.

3. Formula Bar: This is where any calculations or formulas you write will appear. You will understand the relevance of it once you start building formulas.

4. Spreadsheet Grid: This is where all your numbers, data, charts & drawings will go. Each Excel file can contain several sheets. But the spreadsheet grid shows few rows & columns of active spreadsheet. To see more rows or columns you can use the scroll bars to the left or at bottom. If you want to access other sheets, just click on the sheet name (or use the shortcut CTRL+Page Up or CTRL+Page Down).

5. Status bar: This tells us what is going on with Excel at any time. You can tell if Excel is busy calculating a formula, creating a pivot report or recording a macro by just looking at the status bar. The status bar also shows quick summaries of selected cells (count, sum, average, minimum or maximum values). You can change this by right clicking on it and choosing which summaries to show.

Handling Data would be one of the main reasons why you are using Excel. Excel is quite intuitive and simple to use when it comes to typing data or handling it. Because of its grid nature, it can store & manage thousands of data points with ease.Built in features like copy, paste, find, highlight, go to, styles etc. make the process of maintaining data very easy for you.

GETTING STARTED WITH EXCEL – 10 MINUTE VIDEO TUTORIAL

Click here to watch the 10 minutes tutorial

Please watch it and let's get started.

You're awesome.

Oladapo Sorinola

The Excel Environment

Hello Excel-lent,

What is Excel?  

You use Word to create letters, flyers, books and mail merges. You use PowerPoint to create visual, audio and text presentations. You use Google to research a topic and find other information about things you need to know. You use Excel to make Calculations, Analyze Data and Create Charts. Although databases (such as Access) are the proper place to store data and create routine calculating queries, many people around the planet earth use Excel to complete these tasks. Excel’s row and column format and ready ability to store data and make calculations make it easy to use when compared to a database program. However, Excel’s essential beauty is that you can make calculations and analyze/manipulate data quickly and easily “on the fly!” This easy to use, planet-earth “default” program must be learned if you want to succeed in today’s working world. 

History of Excel

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet application developed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and iOS. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications. It has been a very widely applied spreadsheet for these platforms, especially since version 5 in 1993, and it has replaced Lotus 1-2-3 as the industry standard for spreadsheets. Excel forms part of Microsoft Office.

Basic operation

Microsoft Excel has the basic features of all spreadsheets, using a grid of cells arranged in numbered rows and letter-named columns to organize data manipulations like arithmetic operations. It has a battery of supplied functions to answer statistical, engineering and financial needs. In addition, it can display data as line graphs, histograms and charts, and with a very limited three-dimensional graphical display. It allows sectioning of data to view its dependencies on various factors for different perspectives (using pivot tables and the scenario manager). It has a programming aspect, Visual Basic for Applications, allowing the user to employ a wide variety of numerical methods, for example, for solving differential equations of mathematical physics, and then reporting the results back to the spreadsheet. It also has a variety of interactive features allowing user interfaces that can completely hide the spreadsheet from the user, so the spreadsheet presents itself as a so-called application, or decision support system (DSS), via a custom-designed user interface, for example, a stock analyzer, or in general, as a design tool that asks the user questions and provides answers and reports. In a more elaborate realization, an Excel application can automatically poll external databases and measuring instruments using an update schedule, analyze the results, make a Word report or PowerPoint slide show, and e-mail these presentations on a regular basis to a list of participants.

Use of a user-defined function sq(x) in Microsoft Excel. The named variables x & y are identified in theName Manager. The function sq is introduced using the Visual Basic editor supplied with Excel.

Subroutine in Excel calculates the square of named column variable x read from the spreadsheet, and writes it into the named column variable y.

Graph made using Microsoft Excel

Microsoft allows for a number of optional command-line switches to control the manner in which Excel starts.

Macro programming

VBA programming

The Windows version of Excel supports programming through Microsoft's Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), which is a dialect of Visual Basic. Programming with VBA allows spreadsheet manipulation that is awkward or impossible with standard spreadsheet techniques. Programmers may write code directly using the Visual Basic Editor (VBE), which includes a window for writing code, debugging code, and code module organization environment. The user can implement numerical methods as well as automating tasks such as formatting or data organization in VBA and guide the calculation using any desired intermediate results reported back to the spreadsheet.

VBA was removed from Mac Excel 2008, as the developers did not believe that a timely release would allow porting the VBA engine natively to Mac OS X. VBA was restored in the next version, Mac Excel 2011.

A common and easy way to generate VBA code is by using the Macro Recorder.The Macro Recorder records actions of the user and generates VBA code in the form of a macro. These actions can then be repeated automatically by running the macro. The macros can also be linked to different trigger types like keyboard shortcuts, a command button or a graphic. The actions in the macro can be executed from these trigger types or from the generic toolbar options. The VBA code of the macro can also be edited in the VBE. Certain features such as loop functions and screen prompts by their own properties, and some graphical display items, cannot be recorded, but must be entered into the VBA module directly by the programmer. Advanced users can employ user prompts to create an interactive program, or react to events such as sheets being loaded or changed.

Users should be aware that using Macro Recorded code may not be compatible from one version of Excel to another. Some code that is used in Excel 2010 can not be used in Excel 2003. Making a Macro that changes the cell colors and making changes to other aspects of cells may not be backward compatible.

VBA code interacts with the spreadsheet through the Excel Object Model, a vocabulary identifying spreadsheet objects, and a set of supplied functions or methods that enable reading and writing to the spreadsheet and interaction with its users (for example, through custom toolbars or command bars and message boxes). User-created VBA execute these actions and operate like macros generated using the macro recorder, but are more flexible and efficient.

History

From its first version Excel supported end user programming of macros (automation of repetitive tasks) and user defined functions (extension of Excel's built-in function library). In early versions of Excel these programs were written in a macro language whose statements had formula syntax and resided in the cells of special purpose macro sheets (stored with file extension .XLM in Windows.) XLM was the default macro language for Excel through Excel 4.0. Beginning with version 5.0 Excel recorded macros in VBA by default but with version 5.0 XLM recording was still allowed as an option. After version 5.0 that option was discontinued. All versions of Excel, including Excel 2010 are capable of running an XLM macro, though Microsoft discourages their use.

Charts 

Excel supports charts, graphs, or histograms generated from specified groups of cells. The generated graphic component can either be embedded within the current sheet, or added as a separate object.

These displays are dynamically updated if the content of cells change. For example, suppose that the important design requirements are displayed visually; then, in response to a user's change in trial values for parameters, the curves describing the design change shape, and their points of intersection shift, assisting the selection of the best design.

Number of rows and columns

Versions of Excel up to 7.0 had a limitation in the size of their data sets of 16384 rows. Versions 8.0 through 11.0 could handle  65536 rows and 256 columns . Version 12.0 can handle 1,048,576 rows, and 16,384 columns.

Excel Version History

The table below lists the various versions of Excel for Windows that you may encounter.

Version	Released	Comments
1	1985	Version 1, for the Macintosh was released.
2	1987	The first Windows version was labeled "2" to correspond to the Mac version. This included a run-time version of Windows.
3	1990	Included toolbars, drawing capabilities, outlining, add-in support, 3D charts, and many more new features.
4	1992	The first "popular" version. Included lots of usability features.
5	1993	A major upgrade. Included multi-sheet workbooks and support for VBA.
7*	1995	Known as Excel 95. The first major 32-bit version of Excel**. Feature-wise, it's very similar to Excel 5.
8	1997	Known as Excel 97. A new interface for VBA developers, UserForms, data validation, and lots more.
9	1999	Known as Excel 2000. Can use HTML as a native file format, "self-repair" capability, enhanced clipboard, pivot charts, modeless user forms.
10	2001	Known as Excel 2002, this is part of Office XP. It has a long list of new features, but most of them will probably be of little value to the majority of users. Perhaps the most significant feature is the ability to recover your work when Excel crashes. This version features product activation technology (i.e., copy protection). Please consider the ramifications of this before deciding whether to upgrade.  Read John Walkenbach's Excel 2002 Review at PC World.
11	2003	It's called Microsoft Office Excel 2003. The new features in this version are: (a) improved support for XML, (b) a new "list range" feature, (c) Smart Tag enhancements, and (d) corrected statistical functions. Most users will not find the upgrade worthwhile.
12	2007	Finally, some major changes in Excel. For some, the changes may actually be too major.
14 ***	2010	New features include sparkline graphics, pivot table slicers, an updated Solver, and a 64-bit version..
15	2013	New features include a single-document interface, charting enhancements, and recommended charts and pivot tables.

* There is no Excel 6. Beginning with Excel 7, the version numbering was changed so all of the Microsoft Office applications would have the same version number.

** There was also 32-bit version of Excel 5, but it was not widely distributed.

*** There is no Version 13 of Microsoft Office

New Excel 2007 formats

Format	Extension	Description
Excel Workbook	.xlsx	The default Excel 2007 and later workbook format. In reality a ZIP compressed archive with a directory structure of XML text documents. Functions as the primary replacement for the former binary .xls format, although it does not support Excel macros for security reasons.
Excel Macro-enabled Workbook	.xlsm	As Excel Workbook, but with macro support.
Excel Binary Workbook	.xlsb	As Excel Macro-enabled Workbook, but storing information in binary form rather than XML documents for opening and saving documents more quickly and efficiently. Intended especially for very large documents with tens of thousands of rows, and/or several hundreds of columns.
Excel Macro-enabled Template	.xltm	A template document that forms a basis for actual workbooks, with macro support. The replacement for the old .xlt format.
Excel Add-in	.xlam	Excel add-in to add extra functionality and tools. Inherent macro support because of the file purpose.

Old file extensions

Format	Extension	Description
Spreadsheet	.xls	Main spreadsheet format which holds data in worksheets, charts, and macros
Add-in (VBA)	.xla	Adds custom functionality; written in VBA
Toolbar	.xlb	The file extension where Microsoft Excel custom toolbar settings are stored.
Chart	.xlc	A chart created with data from a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that only saves the chart. To save the chart and spreadsheet save as .XLS. XLC is not supported in Excel 2007 or in any newer versions of Excel.
Dialog	.xld	Used in older versions of Excel.
Archive	.xlk	A backup of an Excel Spreadsheet
Add-in (DLL)	.xll	Adds custom functionality; written in C++/C, Visual Basic, Fortran, etc. and compiled in to a special dynamic-link library
Macro	.xlm	A macro is created by the user or pre-installed with Excel.
Template	.xlt	A pre-formatted spreadsheet created by the user or by Microsoft Excel.
Module	.xlv	A module is written in VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) for Microsoft Excel
Library	.DLL	Code written in VBA may access functions in a DLL, typically this is used to access the Windows API
Workspace	.xlw	Arrangement of the windows of multiple Workbooks

Using other Windows applications

Windows applications such as Microsoft Access and Microsoft Word, as well as Excel can communicate with each other and use each other's capabilities. The most common areDynamic Data Exchange: although strongly deprecated by Microsoft, this is a common method to send data between applications running on Windows, with official MS publications referring to it as "the protocol from hell". As the name suggests, it allows applications to supply data to others for calculation and display. It is very common in financial markets, being used to connect to important financial data services such as Bloomberg and Reuters.

OLE Object Linking and Embedding: allows a Windows application to control another to enable it to format or calculate data. This may take on the form of "embedding" where an application uses another to handle a task that it is more suited to, for example a PowerPoint presentation may be embedded in an Excel spreadsheet or vice versa.

Using external data

Excel users can access external data sources via Microsoft Office features such as (for example) .odc connections built with the Office Data Connection file format. Excel files themselves may be updated using a Microsoft supplied ODBC driver.

Excel can accept data in real time through several programming interfaces, which allow it to communicate with many data sources such as Bloomberg and Reuters (through addins such as Power Plus Pro).

• DDE : "Dynamic Data Exchange" uses the message passing mechanism in Windows to allow data to flow between Excel and other applications. Although it is easy for users to create such links, programming such links reliably is so difficult that Microsoft, the creators of the system, officially refer to it as "the protocol from hell". In spite of its many issues DDE remains the most common way for data to reach traders in financial markets.
• Network DDE Extended the protocol to allow spreadsheets on different computers to exchange data. Starting with Windows Vista, Microsoft no longer supports the facility.
• Real Time Data : RTD although in many ways technically superior to DDE, has been slow to gain acceptance, since it requires non-trivial programming skills, and when first released was neither adequately documented nor supported by the major data vendors.

Alternatively, Microsoft Query provides ODBC-based browsing within Microsoft Excel. Culled from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 

"There is no application today that does not interface with Excel, at some point to import and the other for export" 

With this introduction of Excel, I invite you in to explore the unlimited capabilities of this wonderful application. Join in tomorrow for an excel-lent start as it's going to be an excel-lent week!

Be Excel-lent!

Oladapo Sorinola 

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How much Excel do you know?

Hello Excellent,

I am sure your week has been awesome. On my side, it has been a multiple Ctrl+S+H, where "S"= "Smile" and "H"="Happy". 

As you look forward to another weekend starting in few hours, let me quickly intimate you of our discussion lines starting from next week and we shall abide by this plan so we can all easily learn together from basic to the advance space without leaving any row or column untouched. 

How much Excel do you know? Are you a beginner, learner, basic, intermediate or advance user? Are you an Excel MVP or GM?  Join our discussion starting from next week Monday till the last row and column are filled up. Within this space, we shall be gist-ing on;  

1. The Excel Environment

• Entering and editing data
• Entering and editing text and values
• Entering text and values
• Editing cell contents
• Using AutoFill to fill a series
• Entering and editing formulas
• Creating a basic formula
• Entering cell references
• Editing a formula
• Working with the order of operations- "BODMAS"

2. Using Functions

Starting with

3. Advanced Formatting

• Using special number formats
• Using functions to format text
• Working with styles
• Working with themes
• Other advanced formatting

4. Outlining and Subtotals

• Outlining and consolidating data
• Creating subtotals

5. Cell and range names

• Creating and using names
• Managing names

6. Tables

• Sorting and filtering data
• Advanced filtering
• Working with tables
• Using Lookup functions

7. Pivot Tables and Pivot Charts

• Working with Pivot Tables
• Rearranging Pivot Tables
• Formatting Pivot Tables
• Using Pivot Charts

8. Advanced Charting/ Dashboards

• Chart formatting options
• Combination charts
• Graphical elements
• Building intuitive dashboards

9. Documenting and Auditing

• Auditing features
• Comments in cells and workbooks
• Protection
• Workgroup collaboration

See you then....

Oladapo Sorinola 

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07014282477, 07062932708