Excel Beginners

Navigating Excel: Step 1 To Mastering Spreadsheets

Navigating the main stage

The Layout Of Excel

The numbers written on the image of the Excel window below will be used to reference what portion of the window is being described in this section. Past this point of the guide, these sections will be identified by their names, not by their section numbers.

Section 1. Quick Access Toolbar

• This bar contains the tools that are consistently at your disposal while using Excel. By default, this section includes the Save tool, the Undo Action tool, the Redo Action tool.

Section 2. Title bar

• The name of the Excel document you are currently working in will be displayed here.

Section 3. Search bar

• You can use this to search through Excel’s functions, tools, Installed Add-Ins, as well as the contents of the workbook. If Excel cannot find enough relevant content for your search, it will suggest help articles on similar or associated topics, as well as offer you the option to search the web.

Section 4. Ribbon

• Here is where you will find all the tabs which house many of the most common tools available in Excel. The File tab is the only one with special behaviours, as it will open the default options window instead of displaying a set of tools.

Section 5. Name box

• This shows the reference of the first cell you have selected, or if you are in the middle of selecting a range you will see the size of the range you are selecting.

Section 6. Formula bar

• It displays the current cell contents void of all text formatting. If the cell contains a formula, the entire formula will be displayed, not its result.

Section 7. Column headings

• Tracks the names of the Excel columns which are on screen. These are useful references to have when typing out a formula. They are typically letters.

Section 8. Row headings

• Tracks the names of the Excel rows which are on screen. These are useful references to have when typing out a formula. They are typically numbers.

Section 9. Vertical scroll bar

• Expands to navigate up and down the Excel worksheet. The scroll bar will adapt to the content of the worksheet and will grow/shrink to fit the content in the document.

Section 10. Horizontal scroll bar

• Expands to navigate left and right in the Excel worksheet. The scroll bar will adapt to the content of the worksheet and will grow/shrink to fit the content in the document.

Section 11. Sheet tabs

• Here is where you can see all visible worksheets which exist within the workbook. They are named by default and can be changed to suit your needs.

Section 12. Status bar

• Displays small informative details about your Excel sheet, such as if it is compatible with anterior versions of the software.

Section 13. View shortcuts

• Gives quick access to the normal, page layout, and page break preview view options for the Excel document.

Section 14. Zoom control

• Allows users to quickly increase or decrease the level of magnification of your workbook. It does not modify the font or cell sizes in the document, only how large they appear on screen.

Section 15. Worksheet

• Here is where you will be working on all that you do within Excel, it is the primary zone of any workbook.

Section 16. Active cell

• The location where you enter data if you type on your keyboard or use the insert a function tool.