Microsoft Excel,Features,Sorting,Filtering,Conditional Formatting,Pivot table,Pivot Charts,Formula and Functions,Graphs

Microsoft Excel:

Microsoft Excel is a spread sheet software. It is an application software developed by Microsoft. The first version of Excel for Widows was launched in November 1987. Microsoft Corporation of USA developed this software for the spreadsheet purpose for micro computers. The files of Microsoft Office Excel 2007 are saved with .xlsx extension. MS-Excel is one of the most advanced spreadsheet packages. This is used for multiple purposes for creating calendars, bills, tables, salary sheet, balance sheet, result sheet, mark sheet, routine, etc.

Features:  Some of the remarkable features of Microsoft Office Excel 2007 are as listed below:

• Faster operation
• Easier to use
• Users friendly package
• Larger worksheet (working area)
• Based on Windows
• Related with other packages
• Charts and graphs available
• Use of different formulas
• Sorting and filtering of data

MS-Excel Basics:

1 Ribbon: Excel selects the ribbon’s Home tab when you open it. Learn how to minimize and customize the ribbon. 2 Workbook: A workbook is another word for your Excel file. Excel automatically creates a blank workbook when you open it. 3 Worksheets: A worksheet is a collection of cells where you keep and manipulate the data. By default, each Excel workbook contains three worksheets. 4 Format Cells: When we format cells in Excel, we change the appearance of a number without changing the number itself. 5 Find & Select: Learn how to use Excel’s Find, Replace and Go To Special feature. 6 Templates: Instead of creating an Excel workbook from scratch, you can create a workbook based on a template. There are many free templates available, waiting to be used. 7 Data Validation: Use data validation in Excel to make sure that users enter certain values into a cell. 8 Keyboard Shortcuts: Keyboard shortcuts allow you to do things with your keyboard instead of your mouse to increase your speed. 9 Print: This chapter teaches you how to print a worksheet and how to change some important print settings in Excel. 10 Share: Learn how to share Excel data with Word documents and other files. 11 Protect: Encrypt an Excel file with a password so that it requires a password to open it.

Sorting:

Sorting data in Excel basically means that you can arrange the data according to some specific criteria like for example, the numbers in ascending or descending order or ascending order according to the dates. One Column To sort on one column, execute the following steps.

1. Click any cell in the column you want to sort.

2. To sort in ascending order, on the Data tab, click AZ.

Result: Note: to sort in descending order, click ZA. Multiple Columns To sort on multiple columns, execute the following steps.

1. On the Data tab, click Sort.

The Sort dialog box appears.

2. Select Last Name from the ‘Sort by’ drop-down list.

3.Click on Add Level. 4.Select Sales from the ‘Then by’ drop-down list. 5.Click OK. Result. Records are sorted by Last Name first and Sales second.

Filtering:

Filter your Excel data if you only want to display records that meet certain criteria.

1. Click any single cell inside a data set.
2. On the Data tab, click Filter.

Arrows in the column headers appear.

3. Click the arrow next to Country.
4. Click on Select All to clear all the check boxes, and click the check box next to USA.

3. Click OK.

Result. Excel only displays the sales in the USA.

6. Click the arrow next to Quarter.
7. Click on Select All to clear all the check boxes, and click the check box next to Qtr 4.

8.Click OK. Result. Excel only displays the sales in the USA in Qtr 4.

9. To remove the filter, on the Data tab, click Clear. To remove the filter and the arrows, click Filter.

Conditional Formatting:

Conditional formatting in Excel enables you to highlight cells with a certain color, depending on the cell’s value. Highlight Cells Rules To highlight cells that are greater than a value, execute the following steps.

1. Select the range A1:A10.

2. On the Home tab, click Conditional Formatting, Highlight Cells Rules, Greater Than…

3.Enter the value 80 and select a formatting style. 4. Click OK. Result. Excel highlights the cells that are greater than 80.

5. Change the value of cell A1 to 81.

Result. Excel changes the format of cell A1 automatically. Note: you can also highlight cells that are less than a value, between a low and high value, etc.   Clear Rules To clear a conditional formatting rule, execute the following steps.

1. Select the range A1:A10.

2.On the Home tab, click Conditional Formatting, Clear Rules, Clear Rules from Selected Cells. Top/Bottom Rules To highlight cells that are above the average of the cells, execute the following steps.

1. Select the range A1:A10.

2.On the Home tab, click Conditional Formatting, Top/Bottom Rules, Above Average… 3.Select a formatting style. 4.Click OK. Result. Excel calculates the average (42.5) and formats the cells that are above this average. Note: you can also highlight the top 10 items, the top 10 %, etc. The sky is the limit!

Cell refrences:

A cell reference refers to a cell or a range of cells on a worksheet and can be used in a formula so that Microsoft Office Excel can find the values or data that you want that formula to calculate.

Types of cell refrences:

Excel uses two types of cell references to create formulas. Each has its own purpose. Read on to determine which type of cell reference to use for your formula.

1. Relative cell refrences
2. Absolute cell refrences

Relative Cell References: This is the most widely used type of cell reference in formulas. Relative cell references are basic cell references that adjust and change when copied or when using AutoFill. Example: =SUM(B5:B8), as shown below, changes to =SUM(C5:C8) when copied across to the next cell. Absolute Cell References: Situations arise in which the cell reference must remain the same when copied or when using AutoFill. Dollar signs are used to hold a column and/or row reference constant. Example:

In the example below, when calculating commissions for sales staff, you would not want cell B10 to change when copying the formula down. You want both the column and the row to remain the same to refer to that exact cell. By using $B$10 in the formula, neither changes when copied.

A more complicated example:

Let’s pretend that you need to calculate the prices of items in stock with two different price discounts. Take a look at the worksheet below.

Examine the formula in cell E4. By making the first cell reference $C4, you keep the column from changing when copied across, but allow the row to change when copying down to accommodate the prices of the different items going down. By making the last cell reference A$12, you keep the row number from changing when copied down, but allow the column to change and reflect discount B when copied across. Confused? Check out the graphics below and the cell results.

Copied Across

Copied Down

Now, you might be thinking, why not just use 10% and 15% in the actual formulas? Wouldn’t that be easier? Yes, if you are sure the discount percentages will never change – which is highly unlikely. It’s more likely that eventually those percentages will need to be adjusted. By referencing the cells containing 10% and 15% and not the actual numbers, when the percentage changes all you need to do is change the percentage one time in cell A12 and/or B12 instead of rebuilding all of your formulas. Excel would automatically update the discount prices to reflect your discount percentage change.

Summary of absolute cell reference uses:

• $A1 Allows the row reference to change, but not the column reference.
• A$1 Allows the column reference to change, but not the row reference.
• $A$1 Allows neither the column nor the row reference to changes.

There is a shortcut for placing absolute cell references in your formulas!

When you are typing your formula, after you type a cell reference – press the F4 key. Excel automatically makes the cell reference absolute! By continuing to press F4, Excel will cycle through all of the absolute reference possibilities. For example, in the first absolute cell reference formula in this tutorial, =B4*$B$10, I could have typed, =B4*B10, then pressed the F4 key to change B10 to $B$10. Continuing to press F4 would have resulted in B$10, then $B10, and finally B10. Pressing F4 changes only the cell reference directly to the left of your insertion point.

Formulas and Functions:

A formula is an expression which calculates the value of a cell. Functions are predefined formulas and are already available in Excel.

For example, cell A3 below contains a formula which adds the value of cell A2 to the value of cell A1.

Charts Used in Excel

1)Column Chart: Column charts are used to compare values across categories by using vertical bars. 

To create a column chart, execute the following steps.

1. Select the range A1:A7, hold down CTRL, and select the range C1:D7.
2. On the Insert tab, in the Charts group, choose Column, and select Clustered Column.

Result:

Note: only if you have numeric labels, empty cell A1 before you create the column chart. By doing this, Excel does not recognize the numbers in column A as a data series and automatically places these numbers on the horizontal (category) axis. After creating the chart, you can enter the text Year into cell A1 if you like.

2)Line Chart:

Line charts are used to display trends over time. Use a line chart if you have text labels, dates or a few numeric labels on the horizontal axis. Use a scatter chart (XY chart) to show scientific XY data.

To create a line chart, execute the following steps.

1. Select the range A1:D7.
2. On the Insert tab, in the Charts group, choose Line, and select Line with Markers.

Result:

Note: only if you have numeric labels, empty cell A1 before you create the line chart. By doing this, Excel does not recognize the numbers in column A as a data series and automatically places these numbers on the horizontal (category) axis. After creating the chart, you can enter the text Year into cell A1 if you like.

3)Pie Chart:

Pie charts are used to display the contribution of each value (slice) to a total (pie). Pie charts always use one data series.

To create a pie chart of the 2009 data series, execute the following steps.

1. Select the range A1:D2.
2. On the Insert tab, in the Charts group, choose Pie, and select Pie.

 

Result:

3. Click on the pie to select the whole pie. Click on a slice to drag it away from the center.

Result:

Note: only if you have numeric labels, empty cell A1 before you create the pie chart. By doing this, Excel does not recognize the numbers in column A as a data series and automatically creates the correct chart. After creating the chart, you can enter the text Year into cell A1 if you like.

4)Bar Chart: A bar chart is the horizontal version of a column chart. Use a bar chart if you have large text labels.

To create a bar chart, execute the following steps.

1. Select the range A1:B6.
2. On the Insert tab, in the Charts group, choose Bar, and select Clustered Bar.

Result:

Pivot Tables:

Pivot tables are one of Excel‘s most powerful features. A pivot table allows you to extract the significance from a large, detailed data set.

Our data set consists of 214 rows and 6 fields. Order ID, Product, Category, Amount, Date and Country.

Insert a Pivot Table

To insert a pivot table, execute the following steps.

1. Click any single cell inside the data set.
2. On the Insert tab, click PivotTable.

The following dialog box appears. Excel automatically selects the data for you. The default location for a new pivot table is New Worksheet.

3. Click OK.

Drag fields

The PivotTable field list appears. To get the total amount exported of each product, drag the following fields to the different areas.

1. Product Field to the Row Labels area.
2. Amount Field to the Values area.
3. Country Field to the Report Filter area.

Below you can find the pivot table. Bananas are our main export product. That’s how easy pivot tables can be!

 

Sort

To get Banana at the top of the list, sort the pivot table.

1. Click any cell inside the Total column.
2. The PivotTable Tools contextual tab activates. On the Options tab, click the Sort Largest to Smallest button (ZA).

Result.

Filter

Because we added the Country field to the Report Filter area, we can filter this pivot table by Country. For example, which products do we export the most to France?

1. Click the filter drop-down and select France.

Result. Apples are our main export product to France.

Note: you can use the standard filter (triangle next to Product) to only show the totals of specific products.

Change Summary Calculation

By default, Excel summarizes your data by either summing or counting the items. To change the type of calculation that you want to use, execute the following steps.

1. Click any cell inside the Total column.

  2.click and click on Value Field Settings…

3.Choose the type of calculation you want to use. For example, click Count.

 

4.Click OK.

Result. 16 out of the 28 orders to France were ‘Apple’ orders.

Two-dimensional Pivot Table

If you drag a field to the Row Labels area and Column Labels area, you can create a two-dimensional pivot table. For example, to get the total amount exported to each country, of each product, drag the following fields to the different areas.

1. Country Field to the Row Labels area.
2. Product Field to the Column Labels area.
3. Amount Field to the Values area.
4. Category Field to the Report Filter area.

Below you can find the two-dimensional pivot table.

To easily compare these numbers, create a pivot chart and apply a filter. Maybe this is one step too far for you at this stage, but it shows you one of the many other powerful pivot table features Excel has to offer.

Pivot Chart:

A pivot chart is the visual representation of a pivot table in Excel. Pivot charts and pivot tables are connected with each other.

Below you can find a two-dimensional pivot table. Go back to Pivot Tables to learn how to create this pivot table.

Insert Pivot Chart:

To insert a pivot chart, simply insert a chart.

1. Click any cell inside the pivot table.
2. On the Insert tab, click Column and select one of the subtypes. For example, Clustered Column.

Below you can find the pivot chart. This pivot chart will amaze and impress your boss.

Note: any changes you make to the pivot chart are immediately reflected in the pivot table and vice versa.

 

Filter Pivot Chart

To filter this pivot chart, execute the following steps.

1a. Use the standard filters (triangles next to Product and Country). For example, use the Country filter to only show the total amount of each product exported to the United States.

1b. Because we added the Category field to the Report Filter area, we can filter this pivot chart (and pivot table) by Category. For example, use the Category filter to only show the vegetables exported to each country.

Change Pivot Chart Type

You can change to a different type of pivot chart at any time.

1. Select the chart.
2. The PivotChart tools contextual tab activates. On the Design tab, click Change Chart Type.

3.Choose Pie.

4.Click OK.

Note: pie charts always use one data series (in this case, Apple). To get a pivot chart of a country, swap the data over the axis. Select the chart. The PivotChart tools contextual tab activates. On the Design tab, click Switch Row/Column.

 

Steps for Basic Excel Functions

1. Font Formatting

• Select the cell or cells whose font colour needs to be changed

• Click the Home tab in the menu bar.
• Under the Font section,
• Choose the desired font style from the Font drop-down box.
• Select the desired font size from Font Size drop-down box.
• Click the Bold button to make the text bold or normal.
• Click the Italic button to make the text italic or normal.
• Click the Underline button to put or remove underline in the text.
• Click the Font Colour button abd select the desired colour to change the colour of the text.

 

1. Setting Data Category in a Cell

• Right click the desired cell.
• Select Format Cells. A Format Cells dialogue box appears.
• Click the Number tab and select the category of the data required to be kept in the cell.
• Click the OK

 

3. Setting Font Alignment

• Select the text which requires alignment to be set.
• Click the Home
• In Paragraph section,
• Click to align text to the left of the cell, click to align text to the centre of the cell, or click to align text to the right of the cell.
• Click to align the text to the top of the cell, click to align the text to the middle of the cell, or click to align the text to the bottom of the cell.
• Click and select desired option to rotate text to different angles.

 

1. Merging Cells

• Select the cells which need to be merged.
• Click Home 
• In Paragraph section, click drop-down button of and select the required merge style.

 

1. Inserting Cells, Row, or Column

• Select a cell.
• Click the right mouse button.
• Select Insert.
• Insert dialogue box appears. Select the required option:
• Select Shift cells right to shift the selected cell to the right and insert cell to the left of it.
• Select Shift cells down to shift the cell down and insert cell above it.
• Select Entire row to insert a row above the required cell.
• Select Entire column to insert a column to the left of the selected cell.
• Click OK

 

1. Adding Border

• Select cell/cells which require border.
• Click Home
• In Font section, click drop-down button of and select the required border format.

 

1. Filling Cell with Colour

• Select the cell/cells which needed to be filled.
• Click Home
• In Font section, click drop-down button of and select the desired colour.

 

1. Modifying Column Width

• Position the cursor over the column line in the column head such that a double arrow appears.
• Click the left mouse button and hold. Drag the mouse to left or right to adjust the column width.

1. Modifying Row Height

• Position the cursor over the row line such that a double arrow will appear.
• Click the left mouse button and hold. Drag the mouse up or down to adjust the row height.

 

1. Inserting Picture

• Click on Insert
• In Illustrations section, click on Picture The Insert Picture dialogue box appears.
• Go to the appropriate directory and click on the desired picture.
• Click on Insert

 

1. Inserting Clip Art

• Click on the Insert
• In Illustration section, click Clip Art A Clip Art panel appears on the right of the MS-Word window.
• Type the name of the desired clip art, specify search criteria and click on the Go
• Click on the desired clip art.

 

1. Inserting Shapes

• Click on the Insert
• In Illustration section, click on Shapes A list of various shapes appears.
• Click on the desired type of shape.
• Draw the shape on the desired place in the MS-Word by clicking and holding left mouse button, dragging mouse in the manner to form the shape and releasing the left mouse button when desired shape is formed.

 

1. Inserting Smart Art

• Click on the Insert
• Under the Illustration section, click on the SmartArt Then Choose a SmartArt Graphic dialogue box appears showing various forms of smart arts.
• Click on the desired smart art form.
• Click on OK

 

1. Inserting Hyperlink

• Type and select the word or phrase desired to create hyperlink for.
• Click on the Insert
• Click on Hyperlink button under Links The Insert Hyperlink dialogue box appears.
• Select the appropriate options and criteria.
• Select appropriate directory or file or type the address of the desired web page in the Address
• Click OK

1. Inserting Chart

• Select the data in Excel for which chart is to be created.
• Click Insert
• In the Charts section, click on the required chart type and further select the format.

1. Inserting Text Box

• Click on Insert
• In Text section, click on Text Box
• Select the desired type of text box by clicking on it. A text box appears.
• Type the desired text.

1. Inserting Header

• Click on Insert
• In the Text section, click on Header
• Select the desired format.
• Type the desired text to be placed as header.

1. Inserting Footer

• Click on Insert
• In the Text section, click on Footer
• Select the desired format.
• Type the desired text to be placed as footer.

1. Inserting WordArt

• Click on Insert
• In the Text section, click on WordArt
• Select the desired word art format from among the appeared ones. The Edit WordArt Text dialogue box appears.
• Type the desired text, adjust appropriate font, font style and font size.
• Click on OK

1. Inserting Symbol

• Click Insert
• In the Text section, click Symbol A dialogue box appears.
• Select required font and subset.
• Click on required symbol.
• Click Insert

1. Setting Margins

• Click Page Layout
• In Page Setup section, click Margins
• Select required margin format. OR Click on Custom Margins, adjust margins manually, and click OK

1. Setting Page Orientation

• Click Page Layout
• In Page Setup section, click Orientation
• Select required orientation type.

1. Setting Page Size

• Click Page Layout
• In Page Setup section, click Size
• Select required page size.

1. Inserting Image as Background

• Click Page Layout 
• In Page Setup section, click Background 
• A dialogue box appears. Go to the location of the image and select it.
• Click Insert

1. Sorting Data

• Select the cells whose data you want to sort.
• Click Data
• Click Sort

A Sort dialogue box appears.

• Select what you want to sort and in what order.
• Click OK 

1. Filtering Data

• Click the Data
• In Sort and Filter section, click Filter  Drop-down arrows appear besides each column heading.
• Click the drop-down arrow next to the column heading you want to filter.
• Uncheck the items you want to hide.
• Click OK

1. Inserting Formulae/Functions

• Click on the cell to which you want to add function.
• Click Formulas
• In Functions Library section, click the required formula type group.
• Click the required formula.
• Provide appropriate parameters according to the need of the formula.

 

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