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Excel is an electronic spreadsheet program that is used for storing, organizing, and manipulating data.

The information we’ve prepared refers to Microsoft Excel in general and is not limited to any specific version of the program.

What Excel Is Used For

Electronic spreadsheet programs were originally based on paper spreadsheets used for accounting. As such, the basic layout of computerized spreadsheets is the same as the paper ones. Related data is stored in tables — which are a collection of small rectangular boxes or cells organized into rows and columns.

All versions of Excel and other spreadsheet programs can store several spreadsheet pages in a single computer file. The saved computer file is often referred to as a workbook and each page in the workbook is a separate worksheet.

Spreadsheet Cells and Cell References

When you look at the Excel screen — or any other spreadsheet screen — you see a rectangular table or grid of rows and columns.

In newer versions of Excel, each worksheet contains roughly a million rows and more than 16,000 columns, which necessitates an addressing scheme in order to keep track of where data is located.

The horizontal rows are identified by numbers (1, 2, 3) and the vertical columns by letters of the alphabet (A, B, C). For columns beyond 26, columns are identified by two or more letters such as AA, AB, AC or AAA, AAB, etc.

The intersection point between a column and a row is the small rectangular box known as a cell. The cell is the basic unit for storing data in the worksheet, and because each worksheet contains millions of these cells, each one is identified by its cell reference.

A cell reference is a combination of the column letter and the row number such as A3, B6, and AA345. In these cell references, the column letter is always listed first.

Data Types, Formulas, and Functions

The types of data that a cell can hold include:

  • Numbers
  • Text
  • Dates and times
  • Boolean values
  • Formulas

Formulas are used for calculations — usually incorporating data contained in other cells. These cells, however, may be located on different worksheets or in different workbooks.

Creating a formula starts by entering the equal sign in the cell where you want the answer displayed. Formulas can also include cell references to the location of data and one or more spreadsheet functions.

Functions in Excel and other electronic spreadsheets are built-in formulas that are designed to simplify carrying out a wide range of calculations – from common operations such as entering the date or time to more complex ones such as finding specific information located in large tables of data.

Excel and Financial Data

Spreadsheets are often used to store financial data. Formulas and functions that are used on this type of data include:

  • Performing basic mathematical operations such as summing columns or rows of numbers
  • Finding values such as profit or loss
  • Calculating repayment plans for loans or mortgages
  • Finding the average, maximum, minimum and other statistical values in a specified range of data
  • Carrying out What-If analysis on data, where variables are modified one at a time to see how the change affects other data, such as expenses and profits

Excel’s Other Uses

Other common operations that Excel can be used for include:

  • Graphing or charting data to assist users in identifying data trends
  • Formatting data to make important data easy to find and understand
  • Printing data and charts for use in reports
  • Sorting and filtering data to find specific information
  • Linking worksheet data and charts for use in other programs such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Word
  • Importing data from database programs for analysis

Spreadsheets were the original «killer apps» for personal computers because of their ability to compile and make sense of information. Early spreadsheet programs such as VisiCalc and Lotus 1-2-3 were largely responsible for the growth in popularity of computers like the Apple II and the IBM PC as a business tool.

Excel Alternatives

Other current spreadsheet programs that are available for use include:

  • Google Sheets: A free, web-based spreadsheet program
  • Excel Online: A free, scaled-down, web-based version of Excel
  • Open Office Calc: A free, downloadable spreadsheet program.

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Found 506 Articles for MS Excel

Pradeep Kumar

Updated on 10-Sep-2022 08:20:54

The data storage, organisation, and manipulation capabilities of Microsoft Excel are the primary motivations for the software’s creation and development. Excel Worksheet plays an important part by providing many features to alleviate the laborious process of managing data. Read through this tutorial to find out how you can add new worksheets in Excel with customized names. Follow the steps given below. Step 1 When you first launch Microsoft Excel, you are presented with a menu that gives you the choice between a number of different worksheets, as is seen below. Step 2 You have the option of picking one … Read More

Pradeep Kumar

Updated on 10-Sep-2022 08:21:22

New Worksheets are continually being added to your Workbook. It might seem incredibly tedious to have to do everything by hand at times (specifically if you have multiple sheets to add). Automating these monotonous tasks is a quick and easy way to solve the problem. Using VBA to Add New Worksheet with Current Date I have programmed the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) code to add a new Worksheet at the very end of the Worksheets and give it the label «current Date.» Step 1 Start by saving the file and then go to the Developer menu and pick Visual … Read More

Pradeep Kumar

Updated on 10-Sep-2022 08:21:59

New Worksheets are continually being added to your Workbook. It might seem incredibly tedious to have to do everything by hand at times (specifically if you have multiple sheets to add). Automating these monotonous tasks is a quick and easy way to solve the problem. Using VBA to Add New Worksheet with Specific Name I have programmed the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) code to add a new Worksheet at the very end of the Worksheets and give it the label «specific name» Step 1 Save the file and then go to the Developer menu and pick Visual … Read More

Pradeep Kumar

Updated on 10-Sep-2022 08:22:23

Have you ever thought that we can send an email from an Excel formula with a single mouse click? When you click on a mailto hyperlink in Excel, an email message will be generated automatically with the fields that you choose spelled out. This happens automatically. However, when you send an email from Excel using the mailto hyperlink function, there is just one line in the actual email body. In this tutorial, we will demonstrate how to insert a new line into the body of an email when using a mailto hyperlink in Excel. The goal is to include a … Read More

Pradeep Kumar

Updated on 10-Sep-2022 08:22:54

When building a pivot table, we must manually drag each field into the Row Labels or Values. The remaining fields ought to be added to the Value box if we have a lengthy list of fields, though we may easily add a few row labels if we do. Adding multiple fields into pivot table will be useful when we want look after the pivot table with multiple dimensions and facts. Step 1 At first, we must create a sample data for creating pivot table as shown in the below screenshot. Step 2 Now, select the data range from A1:J19. … Read More

Pradeep Kumar

Updated on 10-Sep-2022 08:23:32

It may be difficult to determine the direction in which the data is trending when looking at a chart that has just been made in Excel. These visualisations can have thousands upon thousands of individual data points. In some cases, we can determine the direction in which the data is moving over time; however, in other cases, we must use various tools within Excel to figure out what is going on. The use of trend lines and moving average lines will help you achieve this goal The use of trend lines is becoming increasingly commonplace when trying to determine the … Read More

Pradeep Kumar

Updated on 10-Sep-2022 08:23:54

ScreenTips are little windows that appear when the pointer is over a shape and displays descriptive text. ScreenTips can be used to display additional information for a shape. Add Mouse Over Tip to a Certain Shape with Adding Hyperlink With ScreenTip, you can add a link to a certain shape in a worksheet. Let’s understand step by step with an example. Step 1 First, click insert > illustration, then select shape option. Step 2 Select the shape that you want to add a ScreenTip to. Step 3 Once you select the shape, it will … Read More

Pradeep Kumar

Updated on 10-Sep-2022 08:24:25

In most cases, the horizontal gridlines that should be included in a column chart, bar chart, or line chart will be inserted automatically. However, there are situations when you would wish to reduce the spacing between the gridlines, as illustrated in the picture below; how can you do this? Excel makes it possible to include additional minor gridlines in a column, bar, or line chart. Step 1 You are going to learn how to add minor gridlines to a line graph by looking at this little example. In order to get it done, Step 2 Choose the data from … Read More

Pradeep Kumar

Updated on 10-Sep-2022 08:24:50

You have a list of numbers with varying character lengths, and it seems cluttered and disorganised. You may add a leading zero to any fixed numbers that have the same length as the screenshot shown below to make the display more organised and clearer. Using TEXT Function You will be able to add a custom formatting to any numerical data that is already present in your spreadsheet by using the TEXT function. = TEXT ( Value, Format) This is the value that you wish to convert to text and add formatting to once it has … Read More

Pradeep Kumar

Updated on 10-Sep-2022 08:25:15

You can use the features available in Excel to include leader lines in the Chart Series Labels of Column Charts, Line Charts, Bar Charts, Area Charts, XY Scatter Charts, and Pie Charts, which are among the most often used chart types. In fact, you do not have to do anything out of the ordinary in order to get the leader lines; they will appear on your chart automatically when you add Data Labels to it. You may locate a leader line by just dragging and dropping a label onto your chart. Once you do this, you will see that the … Read More

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Microsoft Excel

Need help using Microsoft Excel? wikiHow’s Microsoft Excel category has you covered. Learn everything you need to know about how to make and manipulate spreadsheets and graphs. Our step-by-step articles can walk you through topics like unprotecting an Excel sheet, copying formulas in Excel, creating a line graph in Excel, and more.

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Sum Multiple Rows and Columns in Excel

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Lock Cells in Excel

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Check Your Excel Version

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Search for Words in Excel

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Make a Family Tree on Excel

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Print Frozen Panes on Every Page in Excel

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Calculate Slope and Intercepts of a Line

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