Properties of MS Excel

MS Excel

MS Excel is one of the very powerful tools of MS Office. Excel focuses on handling of data and numbers. Excel is a Spreadsheet application and handles the data through worksheets, workbooks, cells, rows, graphics, charts and tables. With graphs and chart facilities, excel is also useful in analyzing the raw data. You may use formulas while entering data.

The Excel provides the following features:

• Data entry through pre designed entry formats (Templates)
• Helps in creating graphics for data analysis
• It can sort the data
• Subtotals and graphing is helpful in having bird’s eye view
• Link charts, tables with Word and Power point software of MS Office

    1. WORKING WITH WORKSHEETS

MS Excel supports various types of data types as follows:

• Number or Numeric
• Character or Alphabet
• Date
• Time
• Currency

a. Useful tips of Data Entry

•  Your data includes both numbers and text. Type ' (apostrophe) at the beginning of each number to change it to text.
• To insert the current date into the formula bar, press CTRL+;(semicolon). To insert the current time, press CTRL+SHIFT+;(semicolon).
• To copy the formula in the active cell to all cells in the selected range, press F2, and then press CTRL+ENTER.
• To increment a single number, hold down CTRL while you drag the fill handle at the corner of the selection.
• To copy without incrementing (for most selection), hold down CTRL while you drag the file handle at the corner of the selection
• To enter a tab, press CTRL+ALT+TAB. To enter a carriage return, press ALT+ENTER.
• You can also use the Fill Right button to fill cells to the right.
• You can also click the Fill Down button to fill cells to the down.
• AutoFill can increment both the quarter and the year at the same time.
• To create a custom AutoFill list, choose options from the Tools menu, and then elect the Custom list tabs.
• To increment months, weekdays, quarters, or other series, select the first item in the series, and then drag the fill handle at the corner of the selection.
• To enter a fraction, type 0, a space, and then the fraction.
• To enter a value in a currency format, type a dollar sign before the value.
•  To enter a value in a percent format, type a percent sign before the value.
• While you are editing a cell, you can insert a tab by pressing CTRL+ALT+TAB.

b. Entering Numbering in Cells

• Select the cell or cell range into which you want to enter a number or a group of numbers.
• Type the number.
• Press Enter.
• To enter additional numbers in a cell range, repeat steps 2 and 3 for each number.

c. Entering Text

Text is letters or any combinations of numbers and letters. When you enter text, the characters align to the left in the cell.

To enter any text, select a cell and type the text. A cell can hold up to 255 characters. You can format the characters within a cell individually.

To enter text in formulas, enclose the characters in double quotation marks. The labels displayed on the charts are treated as texts. Text boxes are graphic objects that contain text.

Entering a Date or Time

Select the text in which you want to enter a date or time.

Type the date or time. You can use either a slash or hyphen when you enter dates. Capitalization is ignored.

Press Enter.

d. Entering Numbers with Fixed Capital Decimal

• Press NUMLOCK. This allows you to use the numeric keypad for entering numbers.
• From the Tools menu, choose Options.
• Select the Edit tab.
• Select the Fixed Decimal check box, and then select the number of decimal places in the place box.
• Choose the OK button.

You can now enter numbers without typing the period for the decimal places.

e. Entering Formulas

• Select the cells in which you want to enter the formula.
• Type an equal sign (=) to activate the formula bar. If you begin a formula by passing a name or function, Excel automatically inserts the equal sign.
• Type the formula or use any of the following techniques to enter a formula into a formula bar.  

            o   Insert references into your formula by selecting cells on your                                          worksheets. When you select cells, Excel inserts relative                                                 references in you formula.

            o   From the Edit menu, choose Paste to paste characters that                                            you previously copied from another formula.

            o   Choose the function wizard button on the Standard toolbar or                                         on the formula bar to open the Function Wizard. Choose the                                           function you want to paste into the formula from the Function                                           Wizard dialog box.

• After you have completed the formula, press Enter.

f. Entering Series Using AutoFill

• Select the first cell in the range you want to fill, and then enter the starting value for the series.
• To increment the series by a specified amount, select the next cell in the range and enter the next item in the series. The difference between the two starting items determines the amount by which the series is incremented.
• Select the cell or cells that contain the starting value.
• Drag the file handle over the range you want to fill.

        o   To fill in increasing order, drag down or to the right.
        o   To fill in decreasing order, drag up to the left.

2.  CORRECTING OF DATA

You can edit your pre-entered numbers, texts and formulas by using editing features of Excel. There are two ways to edit the data, clicking the cell or character and use backspace key to erase the character. The second way is to use drag method. You may use Delete key also for clearing the entire contents of the cell. Standard toolbar for cut, copy and paste may also be used to edit the data.

a. To Edit Cell Contents

Double-click the cell containing the data you want to edit. To edit in the formula bar, click in the formula bar. If formula bar is not displayed, choose Formula Bar from the view menu.

Edit the cell contents.

To enter your changes into the cell, click the enter box or press ENTER. To cancel edits, click the cancel box or press ESC.

b. To Delete Characters

To Delete                                      Press      

The Character to Left                    BACKSPACE   

The Character to the Right            DELETE

Entire range of cells                      Select the cells, your mouse pointer will be                                                                        converted in white plus sign. Use Delete key.

To Replace                                    Click on the cells and type your new entry.

3. COPY AND MOVING WORKSHEET DATA

   Copying the data in the Excel can be accomplished by the following three ways: 1. Drag and Drop Method

          2. Edit and Copy Method

          3. Select Cut Copy and Paste from Standard Toolbar

1. Drag and Drop Method

• ·        Select the cell(s) to copy.
• ·        Move your mouse to the cell, it will be changed to an arrow pointer.
• ·        Hold the Ctrl key and left button of the mouse and drag the pointer to the location for the pasting of the contents.
• ·        Release the Mouse button.

2. Edit à Copy method

• ·        Select the cell(s).
• ·        Select copy from the Edit menu.
• ·        Select the new cell to paste the content.
• ·        Select the paste from Edit Menu
• ·        Click Paste.

Excel uses clipboard for this action.

3. Cut Copy and Paste from Standard Toolbar

Moving your data are very similar to those for copying your data, i.e. Drag and Drop method and edit menu.

Writer: Mr. Krishan Kumar Saini


Today we have learnt about some Properties of MS Excel. Hope this lesson is helpful for you.