Workbooks and Worksheets  

Activity 1: Workbooks and Worksheets 

1. Open Excel to a blank Workbook by clicking on Start, pointing to Programs, and clicking on Microsoft Excel in the Programs menu.

2. Excel opens to a new Workbook (See the blue title bar and notice that Excel temporarily names the Workbook Book 1). The Workbook contains three Worksheets (see the tabs at the bottom). Theses are named Sheet 1, Sheet 2, and Sheet 3.

3. To add a new Worksheet to a Workbook, click on Insert on the menu bar and choose Worksheet. A new Sheet (Sheet 4) is created in the book. To delete a Worksheet, right click on the tab and choose Delete from the Popup menu. You will receive a warning that the sheet will be permanently deleted. 

Workbooks   In Microsoft Excel, a workbook is the file in which you work and store your data. Because each workbook can contain many sheets, you can organize various kinds of related information in a single file.

Worksheets   Use worksheets to list and analyze data. You can enter and edit data on several worksheets simultaneously and perform calculations based on data from multiple worksheets. When you create a chart, you can place the chart on the worksheet with its related data or on a separate chart sheet.

Menus  

Activity 2: Menus 

1. Examine the File Menu in Excel. When you click on a menu, you get an abbreviated list of commands available. To expand the menu to show all commands, click on the double arrows at the bottom of the list. Identify each menu command.

2. Familiarize yourself with the remaining menus in Excel.

Excel automatically personalizes menus and toolbars for you based on how often you use commands. When you first start Excel, the most common commands appear. Then, as you work in Excel, menus and toolbars are personalized — Excel shows only the commands and buttons you use most often on the menus and toolbars.

Click on the double arrows at the bottom of the menu to expand it. Notice that some commands have keyboard shortcuts, i.e. Save is Ctrl + S and Print is Ctrl + P.  You also see icons beside some commands. These commands have shortcut buttons on the toolbars.

Toolbars 

Activity 3: Toolbars 

1. Examine the Standard toolbar: When you point to a button, you get a yellow tab displaying the name of the button.

2. Examine the Formatting toolbar. Practice moving the toolbars around by clicking the toolbar handle and dragging.

3.Examine the Drawing toolbar.

4. Other Toolbars are available from the View menu. Click on Toolbars and click the toolbar you wish to see.

5. To Show or hide a toolbar:

• Right-click any toolbar, and then click the toolbar you want to show or hide on the shortcut menu.
• To quickly hide a floating toolbar, click the Close button on the toolbar.

You have now completed this module. Take a few minutes to review and practice what you have learned.