New to Excel? Here's Super Easy Tricks to Get You Started

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Are you new to Microsoft Excel and need to work on a spreadsheet? Excel is so overrun with useful and complicated features that it might seem impossible for a beginner to learn. But don't worry—once you learn a few basic tricks, you'll be entering, manipulating, calculating, and graphing data in no time! This wikiHow tutorial will introduce you to the most important features and functions you'll need to know when starting out with Excel, from entering and sorting basic data to writing your first formulas.

• Use Quick Analysis in Excel to perform quick calculations and create helpful graphs without any prior Excel knowledge.
• Adding your data to a table makes it easy to sort and filter data by your preferred criteria.
• Even if you're not a math person, you can use basic Excel math functions to add, subtract, find averages and more in seconds.

Understanding Workbooks and Worksheets

• To start from scratch, click Blank workbook. Otherwise, you can open an existing workbook or create a new one from one of Excel's helpful templates, such as those designed for budgeting.

• Columns are vertical and labeled with letters, which appear above each column.
• Rows are horizontal and are labeled by numbers, which you'll see running along the left side of the worksheet.
• Every cell has an address which contains its column letter and row number. For example, the top-left cell in your worksheet's address is A1 because it's in column A, row 1.
• A workbook can have multiple worksheets, all containing different sets of data. Each worksheet in your workbook has a name—you can rename a worksheet by right-clicking its tab and selecting Rename.
• To add another worksheet, just click the + next to the worksheet tab(s).

• Click the File menu and select Save As.
• Choose a location to save the file, such as on your computer or in OneDrive.
• Type a name for your workbook. All workbooks will automatically inherit the .XLSX file extension.
• Click Save.

Entering and Formatting Data

• When you type something into a cell, the input text is called a value. Entering data into Excel is as simple as typing values into each cell.
• When entering data, the first row of your worksheet (e.g., A1, B1, C1) is typically used as headers for each column. This is helpful when creating graphs or tables which require labels.
  • For example, if you're adding a list of dates in column A, you might click cell A1 and type Date into the cell as the column header.

  

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  • When you start practicing more advanced Excel features like creating formulas, this bar will come in handy.
  • You can also copy and paste text from other applications into your worksheet, tables from PDFs and the web.

  

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  Press ↵ Enter or ⏎ Return . This enters the data into the cell and moves to the next cell in the column.

  

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  • In a blank column, type 1 into the first cell, 2 into the second cell, and then 3 into the third cell.
  • Hover your mouse cursor over the bottom-right corner of the last cell in your series—it will turn to a crosshair.
  • Click and drag the crosshair down the column, then release the mouse button once you've gone down as far as you like. By default, this will fill the remaining cells with the value of the selected cell—at this point, you'll probably have something like 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
  • Click the small icon at the bottom-right corner of the filled data to open AutoFill options, and select Fill Series to automatically detect the series or pattern. Now you'll have a list of consecutive numbers. Try this cool feature out with different patterns!
  • Once you get the hang of AutoFill, you'll have to try flash fill, which you can use to join two columns of data into a single merged column.

  

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  • To expand the contents of column B, hover the cursor over the dividing line between the B and C at the top of the worksheet—once your cursor is right on the line, it will turn to two arrows pointing in either direction. [2] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source
  • Click and drag the separator until the column is wide enough to accommodate your data, or just double-click the separator to instantly snap the column to the size of the widest value.

  

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  Wrap text in a cell. If your longer values are now awkwardly long, you can enable text wrapping in one or more cells. Just click a cell (or drag the mouse to select multiple cells), click the Home tab, and then click Wrap Text on the toolbar.

  

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  • To delete the contents of a cell, click the cell once and press delete on your keyboard.

  

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  • Select a cell, column, row, or multiple cells at once.
  • On the Home tab, click Cell Styles if you'd like to quickly apply quick color styles.
  • If you'd rather use more custom options, right-click the selected cell(s) and select Format Cells. Then, use the colors on the Fill tab to customize the cell's background, or the colors on the Font tab for value colors.

  

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  • Select the cell you want to format. If you're working with an entire column or row, you can just click the column letter or row number to select the whole thing.
  • On the Home tab, click the drop-down menu at the top-center—it'll say General by default, unless you selected cells that Excel recognizes as a different type of number like Currency or Time.
  • Choose one of the formatting options in the list, such as Short Date or Percentage, or click More Number Formats at the bottom to expand all options (we recommend this!).
  • If you selected More Number Formats, the Format Cells dialog will expand to the Number tab, where you'll see several categories for number types.
  • Select a category, such as Currency if working with money, or Date if working with dates. Then, choose your preferences, such as a currency symbol and/or decimal places.
  • Click OK to apply your formatting.
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  Creating, Sorting, and Filtering Tables

  

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  • Tables traditionally apply different or alternating colors to every other row for easy viewing. Many table options also add borders between cells and/or columns and rows.

  

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  Click Format as Table . You'll see this at the top-center part of the Home tab. [5] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source

  

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  • Once you get the hang of tables, you can return here to customize your table further by selecting New Table Style.

  

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  Make sure "My table has headers" is selected and click OK . This tells Excel to turn your column headers into drop-down menus that you can easily sort and filter. Once you click OK, you'll see that your data now has a color scheme and drop-down menus.

  

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  Click the drop-down menu at the top of a column. Now you'll see options for sorting that column, as well as several options for filtering all of your data based on its values.

  

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  • If you chose a numerical column, select Number Filters, then choose an option like Greater Than… or Does Not Equal to be extra specific about which values to hide.
  • For text columns, you can choose Text Filters, where you can specify things like Begins with or Contains.
  • You can also filter by cell color.

  

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  • To unfilter your data, click the funnel icon, click Clear filter from (column name), and then click OK.
  • You can also filter columns that aren't in tables. Just select a column and click Filter on the Data tab to add a drop-down to that column.

  

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  • If you're working with numbers, click Smallest to Largest to sort in ascending order, or Largest to Smallest for descending order. [6] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source
  • If you're working with text values, Sort A to Z will sort in ascending order, while Sort Z to A will sort in reverse.
  • When it comes to sorting dates and times, Sort Oldest to Newest will sort with the earliest date at the top and the oldest date at the bottom, and Newest to Oldest displays the dates in descending order.
  • When you sort a column, all other columns in the table adjust based on the sort.
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  Doing Quick Analysis

  

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  Select the data in your worksheet. Excel's Quick Analysis feature is the easiest way to perform basic calculations (including totals, averages, and counts) and create meaningful tables or graphs without the need for advanced Excel knowledge. [7] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source Use your mouse to select your data (including your column headers) to get started.

  

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  Click the Quick Analysis icon. This is the small icon that pops up at the bottom-right corner of your selection. It looks like a window with some colored lines.

  

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  • For math calculations, click the Totals tab, where you can select Sum, Average, Count, %Total, or Running Total. You'll be able to choose whether to display the results at the bottom of each column or to the right.
  • To create a chart, click the Charts tab, then select a chart to visualize your data. Before you settle on a chart, just hover the cursor over each option to see a preview.
  • To add quick chart data to individual cells, click the Sparklines tab and choose a format. Again, you can hover the cursor over each option to see a preview.
  • To instantly apply conditional formatting (which is usually a little more complex in Excel) based on your data, use the Formatting tab. Here you can choose an option like Color or Data Bars, which apply colors to your data based on trends.
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  Performing Basic Calculations

  

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  • Click the cell below the numbers you want to add (if a column) or to the right (if a row). [8] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source
  • On the Home tab, click AutoSum toward the upper-right corner of the app. A formula beginning with =SUM(cell+cell) will appear in the field, and a dotted line will surround the numbers you're adding.
  • Press Enter or Return. You should now see the total of the numbers in the selected field. This is here because you created your first formula—which you didn't have to write by hand!
  • If you change any numbers in your data after using AutoSum, the AutoSum value will update automatically.

  

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  • Add: — Type =SUM(cell+cell) (e.g., =SUM(A3+B3) ) to add two cells' values together, or type =SUM(cell,cell,cell) (e.g., =SUM(A2,B2,C2) ) to add a series of cell values together.
    • If you want to add all of the numbers in a whole column (or in a section of a column), type =SUM(cell:cell) (e.g., =SUM(A1:A12) ) into the cell you want to use to display the result.
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    Creating Advanced Formulas

    

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    Select a cell for an advanced formula. What if you need to do something more complicated than just adding numbers? Even if you don't know how to write formulas by hand, you can still create useful formulas that work with your data in various ways. Start by clicking the cell in which you want to display your formula.

    

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    \n"> Click the Formulas tab. It's a tab at the top of the Excel window.

    

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    Explore the Function Library. Several function categories appear in the toolbar, such as Financial, Text, and Math & Trig. Click the options to check out the types of functions available, though they might not make a whole lot of sense just yet.

    

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    Click Insert Function . This option is in the far-left side of the Formulas toolbar. This opens the Insert Function window, which gives you a more detailed breakdown of each function.

    

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    • For example, to select the formula for finding the tangent of an angle, you would scroll down and click the TAN option.

    

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    \n"> Select a function and click OK . This creates a formula based on the selected function.

    

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    • For example, if you select the TAN function, you'll type in the number for which you want to find the tangent, or select the cell that contains that number.
    • Depending on your selected function, you may need to click through a couple of on-screen prompts.

    

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    Press ↵ Enter or ⏎ Return to run the formula. Doing so applies your function and displays it in your selected cell.

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    Building Charts & Graphs

    

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    • Typically speaking, the left column is used for the horizontal axis and the column immediately to the right of it represents the vertical axis.

    

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    Select the data in your table. Click and drag your mouse from the top-left cell of the data down to the bottom-right cell of the data.

    

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    \n"> Click the Insert tab. It's a tab at the top of the Excel window.

    

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    Click Recommended Charts . You'll find this option in the "Charts" section of the Insert toolbar. A window with different chart templates will appear.

    

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    Select a chart template. Click the chart template you want to use based on the type of data you're working with. If you don't see a chart type you like, click the All Charts tab to explore by category, such as Pie, Bar, and X Y Scatter.

    

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    \n"> Click OK . It's at the bottom of the window. This creates your chart.

    

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    Use the Chart Design tab to customize your chart. Any time you click your chart, the Chart Design tab will appear at the top of Excel. You can adjust the chart style here, change colors, and add additional elements.

    

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    Double-click a chart element to manage it in the Format panel. When you double-click something on your chart, such as a value, line, or bar, you'll see options you can edit in the panel on the right side of excel. Here you can change the axis labels, alignment, and legend data.

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    Community Q&A

    How do you add a check mark or an X mark to a cell? Community Answer

    You can go into Insert, then Symbol, and choose the symbol you want. After that, you can just copy and paste the symbol from one cell to another.

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    Can I add work sheets on Excel? Community Answer

    Yes. At the bottom left of the Excel you will see the list of sheets. To the left of those sheets you will find a "+" sign. Click on it.

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    If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow

    How do I move cell contents to another cell? Community Answer Highlight the cell, right-click, and click Copy. Click destination cell, right-click and Paste.

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