Excel Study Sheet

Mrs. Kahlweiss 2008

This is a study guide to help you prepare for the Excel written test.

Please study hard so you will do well.  It is not an easy test.

Vocabulary to know:

Workbooks: Excel files are called workbooks. By default, each workbook starts with three worksheets.

Worksheets: A spreadsheet contained in a workbook is called a worksheet.  Worksheets are made up of columns and rows.  Rows are labeled with numbers and columns are labeled with letters.

Sheet Tab: Is found at the bottom of the worksheet and shows which sheet you are working in. 

Cell: The intersection of a row and column is called a cell.  Cells have addresses, which are determined by the row and column that meet to form the cell.  The upper-left cell in a worksheet is called A1. A cell in Excel can hold a number, some text, a formula, or nothing at all.

Merging cells: To combine two or more cells together to create a larger cell.

Select: To click on the cell.

Selecting cells: You select a cell in order to enter data in it.  You also select a cell or cells in order to apply formatting to them.

Active cell: An active cell is one that has been selected so you can enter data into it.

Select All: To select the entire worksheet, click the “select all” button in the

upper-left corner of the worksheet (gray button to the left of column A, above row 1)

Range: To select a group of cells, click and drag through them. This group of selected cells is called a range.

Selecting a Column or a Row: To select the entire column, click on the column letter. To select the entire row, click on the row number.

Fill Handle: The little black square in the lower-right corner of an active cell.

If you want to copy a cell or a range to an adjacent cell or range, drag the fill handle of a selected cell or range.  (I have called this your best friend!)

Page Setup is where you can find the page orientation of Portrait or Landscape.

The sheet tab is where you click on the gridlines checkbox for the worksheet to have gridlines or remove the checkmark to suppress gridlines printing.

Header/ Footer panel can be found in the view menu.  Go to custom header to type your personal header.  The header does not show in the regular worksheet view. To see your header and the worksheet together, go to print preview.

Print Preview: Always  preview your work before printing.  Print Preview shows you what will be printed.  If your work doesn’t look right in this view, then go back to the normal view and make corrections, then go back to print preview and check your work again before printing.  If you are expecting one page to print, be sure it says “Page 1 of 1” at the bottom of the Print Preview screen.

Undoing Changes or Mistakes: You can undo up to 16 changes and mistakes, one at a time.  Press Ctrl+Z or click the Undo button to undo actions sequentially.

Aligning Cell Contents: You can align cell contents if you don’t like the default settings.

1.   Select the cell or range of cells to align.

2.   Choose Cells from the Format menu.  The Format Cells dialog box appears.

3.   Click the Alignment tab and choose the desired horizontal or vertical alignment option from the pull-down menus.  You can also change text orientation and the way text fits into a cell (by wrapping, shrinking to fit, or merging).

4.   Click OK.

Apply Background color or Highlight a cell: Select the cell or range and then choose a color from the Fill Color bucket pull-down menu on the formatting toolbar.

Change Font color: Select the cell or range and then choose a color from the Font Color pull-down menu, the underlined blue A on the right of the formatting toolbar.

Column Headers: A header within the worksheet at the top of the columns.  It is a good idea to make the headers in bold.

Changing Column Width and Row Height: You can change column width or row height to meet your data needs.

1.   Select a column or row

2.   Go to the Format menu and choose column if you are changing a column or row if you are changing a row.

3.   The dialog box will appear, enter the value and click OK.

Inserting Rows and columns: You can insert a row or column anywhere in your worksheet by choosing either Rows or Columns from the Insert menu. A row is inserted above a selected cell, and a column is inserted to the left of a selected cell.

Entering a Formula

You can enter a formula into a cell.  Select the cell that you want the answers to be in and you must begin with an equal sign (=).