Thanks http://www.cics.dept.shef.ac.uk/userguides/excel2007.pdf for the info on MS Excel! ^_^

The Spreadsheet Tools

Typing and formatting data is all well and good but the purpose of a spreadsheet is to process your data. In this section we will introduce you to some powerful features found in Excel. 

Simple Formulas 

One way to process a set of numbers in your worksheet is to use a formula. Simply click on the cell in which you want the result to be displayed, then type in your formula. It should begin with the equals sign (=) and may contain cell references, numerical constants, or pre-defined Excel functions. 

For example, to add the contents of cells A2, A3, A4 and A5 and put the result in A6 you would type the following formula into cell A6 

=A2+A3+A4+A5 

Whilst you are typing it in the cell displays the actual formula, but as soon as you press the Enter key the contents of the cell change to show the result of the operation. 

When building formulas you use the following symbols 

=A1+A2 add contents of cell A1 to contents of cell A2 

=A1-A2 subtract contents of cell A2 from contents of cell A1 

=A1*A2 multiply contents of cell A1 with contents of cell A2 

=A1/A2 divide contents of cell A1 by contents of cell A2 

All formulas and functions in a worksheet process the contents of specified cells. If you decide to change the contents of a significant cell, then all formulas that refer to 

that cell respond immediately and automatically update their displayed result. This makes the spreadsheet an incredibly powerful tool, indispensable for answering ‘What would happen if...’ type questions. 

Summing Numbers 

To add a large range of numbers you can use the Excel SUM function as follows: 

=SUM(A2:A5) 

However, rather than typing this in, you can go to the Formulas tab, then in the Function Library group, click the AutoSum button. Excel will place a dotted line round the numbers that it thinks you want to add. If Excel’s guess is correct you can then simply click the AutoSum button again, or press the Enter key to confirm the range and accept the formula. If Excel guesses wrongly, however, you can simply select the correct range with the mouse and press the Enter key. When you are confident with AutoSum you can speed up the process by double-clicking the button. 

In addition, every time you select an area of numbers, Excel will display the sum in the status bar at the bottom of the Excel screen. 

Formulas/Formulas

=150*.05   --Multiplies 150 by 0.05. This formula   uses only values and isn’t all that useful   because it always returns the same result.   You may as well just enter the value 7.5 into   the cell.

=A1+A2    Adds the values in cells A1 and A2.

=Income–Expenses

          Subtracts the value in the cell named Expenses   from          the value in the cell named Income.

=SUM(A1:A12)

           Adds the values in the range A1:A12.

=A1=C12   Compares cell A1 with cell C12. If they are identical,        the formula returns TRUE; otherwise it returns FALSE.

Operators Used in Formulas

Operator Precedence in Excel Formulas

Data-Fill 

Entering data into a worksheet can be a laborious process. Excel can help you with this by making intelligent guesses as to what you intend to type in. So if you type the word ‘Monday’ in cell B2, for example, Excel can automatically insert Tuesday to 

Friday into cells B3-B6. The process by which Excel does this is called data-fill. 

To use data-fill you first need to select a few cells at the beginning of a sequence. On the corner of the border of the selected cells you will notice a little box. This is called a data-fill handle. If you position the cursor above this it turns from white to black. 

To extend the selected sequence you should click and hold down on the data-fill handle, then drag the border over the adjacent cells. When you release the mouse button, all the selected cells will be filled in according to the sequence. 

A more powerful incarnation of this feature is the automatic generation of formulae. If you have, for example, five columns of numbers and you want to sum each column, you can simply AutoSum the first column, then use data-fill to drag the formula across the other four columns. If column one has the sum of cells A1 to A6, then column two would automatically perform the sum of B1 to B6 etc. 

Using Excel Excellently

Selecting Cells 
If you click on a cell with the mouse you will see its name appear on the left hand side of the formula bar. As you click on different cells the name in the formula bar will change accordingly. Alternatively, you can select different cells in the worksheet using the arrow keys or the Enter and Backspace keys. 

You can select a range of cells by clicking on a single cell at one corner of the range then, with the mouse button held down, drag the selection so that it extends over the other cells. To select an entire row of cells you can click on the row number, and you can select columns by clicking on the appropriate letter.Finally, you can select the entire worksheet by clicking on the grey box against the letter A and number 1. 

Changing to a New Worksheet 
If you want to include some related data, but don’t want to overload your current worksheet you can begin a new sheet. To do this click on any of the tags below the cells to display the corresponding sheet. 

To make individual sheets of data easily recognisable you can name each sheet that you use. To name the current sheet double click the sheet label (Sheet1, Sheet2 etc) to select it, then enter a new name for that worksheet and press Enter. If you need more than three worksheets, go to the Cells group on the Home tab and click the Insert button. From the menu select Insert Sheet. 

Entering Data 
To enter data into a cell first select the cell. As you start to type you will notice that buttons materialize in the formula bar and that the data appears simultaneously in the formula bar and in the selected cell. 

Having typed the data for that cell you can then press the Enter key or click on the tick button. The formula bar will then clear leaving only the cell reference displayed. 

If you need to edit the contents of a cell you can do this via the formula bar. First click on the cell in question so that its contents appear in the formula bar. Then click within the formula bar to produce a cursor with which to edit the cell contents. 

Formatting Text 

A worksheet containing raw data is not very clear, but you can improve its appearance by applying different formats to some key cells. The most popular formats are available through tools in the Font and Alignment groups on the Home tab. 

The button in the lower-right corner is very useful for headings. If you select a single cell, then extend the selection horizontally across adjacent cells you can then click on 

this button to center the single cell contents across the selected range. 

Finally, you can adjust the width of any column by positioning the cursor between two lettered column headings and dragging the column wider. To automatically adjust any column to accommodate its widest entry, simply double click the column label. Row heights can be adjusted in a similar way. 

Formatting Text Using Styles 

Excel 2007 offers a more powerful way to quickly format text, using the tools in the Styles group on the Home tab. Select one or more cells, then from the Styles group, click the Cell Styles button. 

Formatting Tables 

Alternatively, you can select all of your data, or a self-contained subset, and format the entire selection as a table. 

Select your data, then from the Styles group on the Home tab, click the Format as Table button. You will see a large choice of colored table formats, choose and format to apply to your selected data.

Formatting Numbers 

To clarify your worksheet further you can specify the format in which selected numbers are displayed. To do this, select the cells containing the numbers in question, then from the Number group on the Home tab, click the drop down list. 

Select any numbering style, or for more options, select the More Number Formats option. In the dialog box that appears, you will see a list of categories of numbers and for each category there will be a second list containing possible formats. You can then choose a format for your selected data. 

In addition, there are buttons in the Number group which will quickly format numbers as currency, percentages, or fixed numbers of decimals. 

Formatting Dates 

If you choose the date format for numbers, you have a great deal of control over how 

your dates appear in the worksheet. If you select Date from the dialog box above you 

will be offered a choice of formats, but you can create your own format by clicking 

the Custom option. You can then build a date format using the letters d, m and y for 

date month and year as follows 

dd     two digit day number     01, 02, … 31 

ddd    three letter day         Mon, Tue, … Sun 

dddd   full day name            Monday Tuesday, … Sunday 

mm     two digit month number   01, 02, …12 

mmm    three letter month name  Jan, Feb, … Dec 

mmmm   full month name          January, February, … December 

yy     two digit year           98, 99, 00, … 

yyyy   four digit year          1998, 1999, 2000, … 

So the date format dddd dd-mmm-yy would give dates in the form: 

Monday 06-Mar-00 

The User Interface

The user interface is very different to previous versions of Excel. Once you get used to it, it becomes very easy to use. Microsoft has created online training modules that tell you how to find familiar commands in the new interface. You can access these modules from www.shef.ac.uk/cics/office2007where you will also find a detailed CiCS guide to the new interface.

The Office Button 

In the top-left corner of the new interface you will find the Office button, which replaces the File menu from previous versions of Excel. Click this button to reveal options allowing you to Save and Print files. It contains a list of your most recently accessed spreadsheets, and it contains the Excel Options button, which take you to options previously found in the Tools menu under Preferences. 

The Quick Access Toolbar 

Situated to the right of the Office button, the Quick Access toolbar holds buttons that can be accessed from all views of Excel. Whatever you are currently doing, you will be able to access these commands. Initially, the toolbar contains a Save 
button and Undo and Redo buttons, but you can easily customize the Quick Access Toolbar to hold your favorite commands.

The Ribbon

The ribbon contains eight tabs, each relating to a specific task. Each tab contains several groups of tools; here the Clipboard, Font, Alignment and Number groups are visible. 
Each group contains related buttons, menus and lists. 

Some groups have an arrow in the bottom right corner, which gives a dialog box when clicked. 

Getting Started

Let us now begin with the very basics of Microsoft Excel.

To use Excel you first need to start up your computer and log on with your usual username and password. Click the Start button and select All Programs, then from the sub-menu, select Microsoft Office, then select Microsoft Office Excel 2007. When Excel loads you will see the following screen. 

The Workbook 

You will notice that the title bar is labelled Book1 - Microsoft Excel. Excel handles workbooks, which are collections of worksheets. You will also notice that below the displayed cells there are a series of tags labelled Sheet1, Sheet2, and Sheet3. By clicking on a tag with the mouse you will display the contents of that particular worksheet. 

You can use the workbook structure of Excel to store related tables together, but without cluttering a single sheet. 

Excellent Excel

We shall now begin with anoher office tool of microsoft which is, you've guessed it, Excel. We'll use the 2007 version. 

Files produced in Excel 2007 have the file extension ".xlsx", and the files themselves are very different from previous file formats. If you wish to use an old Excel spreadsheet in Excel 2007, Excel will switch to compatibility mode, to let you work 

on the old file with no problems. You can then save this file in Excel 97-2003 format, or you can save it in the new Excel 2007 format. 

If you give a copy of a new Excel file to a colleague who is using an older version, they will not be able to read it initially. However, their Excel will detect this new format, and will invite them to download and install a compatibility pack. Once they have done this they will be able to work on Excel 2007 files in their older version. 

First of all, let's get a quick overview of the Excel spreadsheet.

A spreadsheet is a numerical tool that is easy to use but deceptively powerful. It revolves around collections of worksheets, each of which consists of rows labelled 

numerically, and columns labelled alphabetically. At each intersection of a row and a column is a cell, referred to by its position, A3, B1 C265, etc. 

Into these cells you type data, and then operate on these numbers by adding functions. These might produce running totals of columns, multiply numbers in adjacent rows together, or do any kind of numerical operation. The clever part happens when you 

change the data, however, because spreadsheets work dynamically. This means that totals, or results of calculations, are updated automatically when any relevant number in the worksheet changes. 

An obvious example of the use of a spreadsheet is a bank statement. This contains a description of transactions in one column, credits in another column, and debits in the third column. At the top of the sheet is the previous balance and at the bottom is the new balance, which is worked out as new balance = previous balance -total debits + total credits Following on from this, business balance sheets are another popular example of spreadsheets at work. 

On a more imaginative level though, spreadsheets can be used to record scientific measurements and dynamically calculate the parameter of interest, and at Corporate Information and Computing Services a spreadsheet is used to record course bookings and attendance in order to forecast demand for the next session. 

PowerPoint Finale (Finally!)

Here are a final few reminders before we end our discussion on MS PowerPoint:

"Has the audience come away from this with information that was in-line with the original point of the presentation?"

“If you have a quote or a long statement that cannot be chopped up into bullet points, put it up either on the screen and allow people to read it, or read it out loud from your notes, but not both.”

“After all, your goal is to make sure they leave the room with the right information.”

Issues, Issues, Tissues?

The following are a few pedagogy (education) issues you may encounter during presentation:

•Giving out your PowerPoint's: yes or no?

•Not just a lecture tool

•Can be used to keep record of individual or group brainstorming

•Don’t over pace your presentations

Doooooooooo................NOT!

Naturally, if there are Do's, there are Dont's.

1. Don’t overuse special effects.

2. Don’t use more than eight words per line or eight lines per slide.

3. Don’t use too many words.

4. Avoid hard-to-read color combinations.

Dooooooooo................

If there are tips for presenting, there is always of course the do's and dont's.

1. Use legible type size.

2. be brief.

3. Use key words.

4. Enhance readability.

5. Make every word and image count.

6. Limit the number of slides.

Tips (Not The Finger Kind!)

So, now that you know how the basics of Microsoft PowerPoint, let's go on with presentation......

Our teacher taught us ten tips on using Microsoft PowerPoint so, here they are:

1. Use compelling material.

“PowerPoint doesn't give presentations —PowerPoint makes slides"

2. Keep it simple.

"Don't gum up the works with too many words and graphics", "Do you really need to have everything up on the screen?"

3. Minimize numbers in slides.

“If you want to emphasize a statistic in PowerPoint, consider using a graphic or image to convey the point.”

4. Don't parrot PowerPoint.

"Those people didn't come to see the back of your head."

5. Time your remarks.

"It's an issue of timing. Never talk on top of your slides."

6. Give it a rest.

7. Use vibrant colors.

8. Import other images and graphics.

“Don't limit your presentation to what PowerPoint offers. Use outside images and graphics for variety and visual appeal, including video.”

9. Distribute handouts at the end —not during the presentation.

“You cannot serve two masters at a time.”

10. Edit ruthlessly before presenting.

“Assume you're just one of the folks listening to your remarks as you review them.”