Spreadsheet programs, such as Microsoft® Excel, are powerful and versatile tools indispensible for many professionals in a wide variety of fields. Unfortunately, many people who could benefit from Excel – the most widely used spreadsheet software around – don’t use it because they are unfamiliar with the terminology. If you’re one of the many who aren’t too sure about the terminology, our beginners’ glossary will give you the basic understanding you need to get started.


Workbook,or book for short, is the term for an Excel file. This is what loads when you open your Excel program. Many people use the term spreadsheet to refer to a workbook. However, a spreadsheet is actually the generic name for the computer program.


Worksheet, or sheet, is one page in your workbook. By default, you get three worksheets per workbook file. You can add additional sheets to a workbook by going to the “Insert” menu tab and selecting “Worksheet”. To switch between worksheets, click on the desired sheet tab at the bottom of the screen. To give your sheets names, right click on the appropriate tab and select “Rename”.


Rows run horizontally across your worksheet and are numbered. In Excel 2007, you can have more than a million rows – so you can see how powerful this program is!


Columns run vertically down your worksheet and are paired with a letter: A to Z, followed by AA through AZ, then BA to BZ and so on.


Cells are the rectangular boxes in your worksheet that are formed when a row and column meet. The cell is therefore referred by the column and row it falls under. Each piece of information (name, date, number, etc.) goes into an individual cell.


The active cell is the current cell in which you can enter data. It is easily identified by the black border around it. To enter data in a cell, click on the desired cell to make it the active cell.


Formulas are mathematical equations that automate your calculations. In Excel, they begin with = and are followed by numbers or cell references and commands such as +, - and *. For example, if you want to put in cell B1 the value of 60 times the number in A1, then you would enter in active cell B1 the formula =60*A1.


The formula bar is the blank line at the top of the worksheet preceded by “ƒx”. This is where you can enter, edit or view data in the active cell. When you create a formula, the answer will be displayed in the active cell while the original formula is displayed in the formula bar.


Now that you know how to open a workbook, name your worksheets, enter data in the cells and create basic formulas, you are on your way to becoming an Excel expert!

 
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