Microsoft Excel 5.0 Macintosh
Introduction
We have structured the following information about Excel according to
your level of background knowledge.
If you have never
used Excel before
Use your mouse to move to the 
logo in the upper left corner of your screen. Hold the mouse button, move
the mouse down to Microsoft Excel, and release the button. It takes
a few seconds for Excel to open. Go to 
on the menu bar and scroll down to Quick Preview. There are three
interactive lessons. You should start with the first one. 'Getting started'
takes about 7 minutes to complete and will introduce you to basic spreadsheet
tasks you need to use to create your own workbooks:
- Selecting cells
- Entering data
- Choosing commands
- Moving and copying cells
- Using toolbar buttons
- Copying a formula to a range of adjacent cells
If you like to
learn more about Excel
You can learn how to perform a wide variety of standard tasks by going
through the Examples and Demos tutorial. Go to
on the menu bar and scroll down to Examples and Demos. The following
topics are touched upon:
- Working in workbooks
- Selecting cells, choosing commands
- Using toolbars
- Entering data
- Creating formulas and links
- Editing a worksheet
- Formatting a worksheet
- Creating graphic objects
- Printing
- Creating a chart
- Formatting a chart
- Using Charts to analyze data
- Organizing data in a list
- Using pivot tables performing what-if analysis
- Annotating
- Sharing and importing data
- Using visual basic
After learning the basics of Excel you should be able to help yourself
by using additional on-line help features, as described below.
Getting information,
while you work
When you have questions about Microsoft Excel, you can find most of
the answers within Excel itself. For an overview, go to
on the menu bar and scroll down to Quick Preview. Click 'Getting
information while you work'. This lesson takes about 4 minutes to complete.
The most common ways to obtain information while you are working are the
following:
- Excel has many buttons. In order to learn about what they do, let your
mouse rest over the button and a bried explanantion will appear in a yellow
box next to the button and in the status bar at the bottom of the
page.
- More detailed information may be obtained by clicking the
button on the toolbar and then clicking any button or menu item you like
to know more about.
- In case you want to perform a specific task, push the help key
on your keyboard and click the Search button in the window that
pops up, or double click the
button on the toolbar. Type in a keyword and follow instructions (If you
do not know how to do this go through the 'Getting information while
you work' tutorial.
If you have
used older versions of Excel or other spreadsheet before
Microsoft Excel version 5.0 is packed with new features that will make
your work easier and faster to do. Go to
on the menu bar and scroll down to Quick Preview. Click 'What's
New'. This lesson points out new features in Excel 5.0 related to the
following topics:
- Workbooks, worksheets, chart sheets; Tab Dialog Boxes; Moving and copying;
Entering Data and Formulas; Function Wizard; Charting; List management;
Pivot tables; Importing text files ;Visual Basic
You may want to go through the Examples and Demos tutorial as
discussed above. If you have used LOTUS 1-2-3 before, you may find the
option Help for Lotus 1-2-3 users under the
menu useful.
Specific tips and advice
Over the years we noticed that there are several typical mistakes that
students make when using Excel. Some of those are not obvious and the solution
of the problem may be difficult to find in the on-line help files. We are
listing those below.
- When making XY plots, do use the XY (Scatter) chart type, not
the Line chart type, even, when you want to connect the data points
by a line. A Line chart uses the row number on the X-axes instead
of the data in the column that you have highlighted. Even in the scatter
plot, you are able to connect data points.
- Place busy charts on an extra worksheet.
- You can perform quite sophisticated data analysis within Excel. In
the Tools menu you find the option Data Analysis... which
allows you to calculate correlations, perform t-tests, plot histograms,
etc. If this option does not appear, you need to go to the Tools
menu, option Add-Ins and check the Analysis ToolPak and hit
ok. This will then install the tools package.
- Data files that you download from the web are often not in Excel format,
but are consiting of comma separated values (.csv) or tab separated values
(.tsv). When you open those files, Excel will help you to convert the files.
However, in case you have manipulated the file, for example by making graphs
or adding formulas, make sure that you save the file as Workbook and
not in the original format, because you will loose everything in that file
that goes beyond the simple numbers.
- If a formula yield several numbers as result they are called Array
formulas (apple shift enter). The easiest way to use them is probably
through the function wizard. You'll need to highlight the cells in which
the formula output should appear. To activate the formula you need to type
Apple key-Shift-Enter, all at the same time.
- It is possible to have two Y axes with differnt scales, but only one
X-axes.
- If you want to add data to a chart that is already created, highlight
the column of data to be added and copy the column into the chart.
Tasks you should
be able to perform
For this class you should be able to do the performing the following
essential tasks. If you don't, go to the appropriate tutorial section,
or type in the key words in the help menu. You should know how to:
- open and save files,
- enter data,
- select cells,
- enter formulas; note how Excel references cells,
- move, cut, copy, and paste contents of cells,
- copy a formula to a range of adjacent cells,
- choose commands,
- use toolbar buttons,
- create and edit different types of charts,
- add trendlines to data on charts.