How to Explore Microsoft Excel 2003

Microsoft Excel 2003 presented their most powerful spreadsheet tools to date. Excel 2003 provided more options than prior versions, such as formatting, a wider variety of supported Visual Basic functions and templates. Bugs from previous versions were also addressed, such as glitches in the automatic save function. Exploring Excel 2003 is the best way to see how much the spreadsheet application has to offer.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Open Microsoft Excel 2003. Create a new spreadsheet in order to view all possible toolbars and menu options. Go to "File" and select "New." Select "Blank Workbook." A blank spreadsheet with three tabs will appear.

2. Explore tab creation and properties. Each tab is a separate spreadsheet. Right-click any tab to view options such as changing the tab name or color, moving a sheet and creating or deleting a sheet.

3. Click each menu along the top of the screen to view options.
   File -- Allows you to create, save, open and print spreadsheets.
   Edit -- Allows editing such as copy and paste, search for text and even replacing text with other text.
   View -- Allows you to control how you view your spreadsheet on your screen and which toolbars are visible in your toolbar section.
   Insert -- Allows you to insert objects, images, charts, rows, columns and links in your spreadsheet.
   Format -- Allows you to add formatting to cells, text or the entire sheet. Formatting includes text size and color, highlighting of cells, text format such as date or number and templates.
   Tools -- Allows you to spell check, control security and create macros.
   Data -- Allows you to filter and sort data, create pivot charts and group objects.
   Window -- Allows you to split screens to view both your spreadsheet and another application.
   Help -- Allows you to browse numerous help topics straight from Microsoft Excel's website within Excel.

4. Explore toolbars. Go to "View" and select "Toolbars" to add toolbars. Hover your mouse button over any button on a toolbar to view the name of the button. The standard and formatting toolbars are visible by default and contain most of the functions found in the "File," "Edit," "Insert" and "Format" menus.

5. Add functions and formulas by first typing the equals sign in a cell. If you need help with a function, press the "fx" button beside the formula bar. Select a function for assistance and more details.

Tips & Warnings

• While exploring text buttons and menu options, create made-up data in cells for testing. This prevents any chance of data loss and expands your Excel 2003 skills.
• More information on using Excel 2003 can be found on the Excel 2003 official site listed in the References section.
• Never test on important data. If you're uncertain of a button or menu item, either browse the "Help" section or test on a copy of your spreadsheet.

References

• Microsoft Excel 2003