1. Navigating Excel
Welcome to our Excel basics tutorial. Today, we'll dive into how to navigate and use key features of Excel, making it simple for beginners. We're using Microsoft 365 for Business Apps version 2404 for this demo. But if you're using a different version, don't worry. The core functions are quite similar across versions.
Let's get started by ensuring you have the materials needed for this course. First, ensure you have Excel installed on your computer and that you've downloaded the course materials. To find these, head over to our course page, scroll to the Course Resources box, and click on Exercises and Datasets. Here, you'll find everything you need.
Download these files to a folder you can easily access. Now, let's open Excel. We're greeted by a blank workbook. Think of it as a blank canvas for our data. But before we start painting, let's learn how to open a pre-existing file. Go to the File menu at the top left corner, select Open, then Browse.
Navigate to where you saved the course files, enter the Workbooks folder, and then the Demo folder. Here, you'll find the Navigating Excel Starter file. Double-click to open it. We'll use the Kings County House Prices dataset for September 2014 in our exercises. Excel's interface includes two key components: the Ribbon and the Worksheet.
The Ribbon, located at the top, houses commands under tabs like Home, Insert, and Data. It's your tool belt for Excel. The Worksheet, filled with rows and columns, is where our data lives. Cells are where rows and columns meet. Click on cell B3. It's now outlined in green, showing it's selected. To select a range, click and drag from one cell to another, like C3 to C12.
To select an entire column, click the column letter at the top. Simple, right? When you select cells, the status bar at the bottom gives you a quick summary, like the average value or sum. It's a handy tool for a quick data check. Remember, practice makes perfect. Pause the video here and try selecting different cells and ranges.
Let's add a new column. In cell I1, type rooms for our new header. In I2, let's calculate the total number of rooms by adding bedrooms and bathrooms. Type "equal sign" "d2" plus "e2".
This formula adds the values in cells D2 and E2. Remember, Excel's formulas always start with an equal sign. To apply this formula to the entire column, hover over the bottom right corner of cell I2 until you see a bold plus sign.
You can drag down to fill as many rows as you like or double-click to autofill automatically. Go ahead, give it a try. If you need more space, adding a new worksheet is easy. Just click the plus icon next to the Active Worksheet tab at the bottom. Now, you have a fresh worksheet to work on. Great job today.
You've learned how to navigate Excel, open files, work with cells, and perform basic arithmetic. Explore other tabs and features on your own, and see what you can discover. See you in the next video.
2. Let's practice!