Week 9: Clear

Excel


Excel is an extensive program that allows users to effectively organize, manipulate, interpret and display different types of data. Excel 2007 has the capacity to hold 1 million rows and 16,000 columns of information that can be individually or collectively calculated, put into tables, organized as charts or visuals and so much more. This program is widely used in the business world and is a very useful tool to learn in order to become a hirable prospect upon college graduation. A basic foundation of the program is required for many internships and careers in todays world, here is an overview of some key features.


Functions like conditional formatting, relative and absolute referencing, and sorting and filtering are some of the most used functions of the program, thus, they are some of the most important tools to know.


Conditional Formatting: "Conditional formatting allows you to select one or more cells, and create rules for when and how those cells are formatted. You can control the cell font, fill colour and border setting, based on the selected cell's contents, or based on the contents of another cell. If the rules (conditions) that you specified are met, then the formatting is applied."

Relative Reference: "Each cell on an Excel Worksheet has it’s own unique address, e. g. A1 is the relative address of the first cell on all Worksheets, while IV65536 is the relative address of the last cell on all Worksheets. The reason why they are called relative is because they are relative to the cell they are used in."

Absolute Reference: "A reference to a cell that does not change no matter where it is copied," as denoted with a "$" sign in the formula bar.

Sorting: Used to make information easier to read, "it's easy to sort your data by using the Sort buttons on the toolbar. But, be careful, or one column may be sorted, while others are not."

Filtering:"Sets the rules for the data that should remain visible after the filter is applied. You can use one criterion, or several."

Click here for some "Quick Tips" when using Excel spreadsheets

Visit the Microsoft Web site to learn more about Excel 2007, watch tutorials, seek help and purchase the program for yourself.