Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Excel - Backstage view

The Backstage view has been introduced in Excel 2010 and acts as the central place for managing your sheets. The backstage view helps in creating new sheet, saving and opening sheets, printing and sharing sheets, and so on.
Getting to the Backstage View is easy: Just click the File tab, located in the upper-left corner of the Excel Ribbon. If you already do not have any opened sheet then you will see a window listing down all the recently opened sheets as follows:
Excel Backstage View If you already have an opened sheet then it will display a window showing detail about the opened sheet as shown below. Backstage view shows three columns when you select most of the available options in the first column.
Excel Backstage View 2 First column of the backstage view will have following options:
OptionDescription
SaveIf an existing sheet is opened, it would be saved as is, otherwise it will display a dialogue box asking for sheet name.
Save AsA dialogue box will be displayed asking for sheet name and sheet type, by default it will save in sheet 2010 format with extension .xlsx
OpenThis option will be used to open an existing excel sheet.
CloseThis option will be used to close an opened .
InfoThis option will display information about the opened sheet.
RecentThis option will list down all the recently opened sheets
NewThis option will be used to open a new sheet.
PrintThis option will be used to print an opened sheet.
Save & SendThis option will save an opened sheet and will display options to send the sheet using email etc.
HelpYou can use this option to get required help about excel 2010.
OptionsUse this option to set various option related to excel 2010.
ExitUse this option to close the sheet and exit.

Sheet Information

When you click Info option available in the first column, it displays the following information in the second column of the backstage view:
  • Compatibility Mode: If the sheet is not a native excel 2007/2010 sheet, a Convert button appears here, enabling you to easily update its format. Otherwise, this category does not appear.
  • Permissions: You can use this option to protect your excel sheet. You can set a password so that nobody can open your sheet, or you can lock the sheet so that nobody can edit your sheet.
  • Prepare for Sharing: This section highlights important information you should know about your sheet before you send it to others, such as a record of the edits you made as you developed the sheet.
  • Versions: If the sheet has been saved several times, you may be able to access previous versions of it from this section.

Sheet Properties

When you click Info option available in the first column, it displays various properties in the third column of the backstage view. These properties include sheet size, title, tags, categories etc.
You can also edit various properties. Just try to click on the property value and if property is editable then it will display a text box where you can add your text like title, tags, comments, Author.

Exit Backstage View

It is simple to exit from Backstage View. Either click on File tab or press Esc button on the keyboard to go back in excel working mode.

Excel - Entering the values

Let us see how easy is to enter text in a excel sheet. Hope you are aware that when you start a sheet, it displays a new sheet by default as shown below:
Enter Text Sheet area is the area where where you type your text. The flashing vertical bar is called the insertion point and it represents the location where text will appear when you type. When you click on a box then box becomes highlighted.When you double click the box flashing vertical bar will come and you can start entering data then.
So just keep your mouse cursor at the text insertion point and start typing whatever text you would like to type. I typed only two word "Hello Excel" as shown below. The text appears to the left of the insertion point as you type:
Hello Excel There are following three important points which would help you while typing:
  • Press Tab to go to next column.
  • Press Enter to go to next row.
  • Press Alt + Enter to enter a new line in the same column.

Excel - Move Around

Excel provides a number of ways to move around a sheet using the mouse and the keyboard.
First let us create some sample text before we proceed. Open a new excel sheet and type any data. We've shown a sample data in the screenshot.
OrderDateRegionRepItemUnitsUnit CostTotal
1/6/2010EastJonesPencil951.99189.05
1/23/2010CentralKivellBinder5019.99999.5
2/9/2010CentralJardinePencil364.99179.64
2/26/2010CentralGillPen2719.99539.73
3/15/2010WestSorvinoPencil562.99167.44
4/1/2010EastJonesBinder604.99299.4
4/18/2010CentralAndrewsPencil751.99149.25
5/5/2010CentralJardinePencil904.99449.1
5/22/2010WestThompsonPencil321.9963.68
6/8/2010EastJonesBinder608.99539.4
6/25/2010CentralMorganPencil904.99449.1
7/12/2010EastHowardBinder291.9957.71
7/29/2010EastParentBinder8119.991,619.19
8/15/2010EastJonesPencil354.99174.65
Excel Sample Text

Moving with Mouse

You can easily move the insertion point by clicking in your text anywhere on the screen. Sometime if sheet is big then you can not see a place where you want to move. In such situation you would have to use the scroll bars, as shown in the following screen shot:
Excel Scroll Bars You can scroll your sheet by rolling your mouse wheel, which is equivalent to clicking the up-arrow or down-arrow buttons in the scroll bar.

Moving with Scroll Bars

As shown in the above screen capture, there are two scroll bars: one for moving vertically within the sheet, and one for moving horizontally. Using the vertical scroll bar, you may:
  • Move upward by one line by clicking the upward-pointing scroll arrow.
  • Move downward by one line by clicking the downward-pointing scroll arrow.
  • Move one next page, using next page button (footnote).
  • Move one previous page, using previous page button (footnote).
  • Use Browse Object button to move through the sheet, going from one chosen object to the next.

Moving with Keyboard

The following keyboard commands, used for moving around your sheet, also move the insertion point:
KeystrokeWhere the Insertion Point Moves
Forward ArrowForward one box
Backword ArrowBack one box
Upward ArrowUp one box
Downard ArrowDown one box
PageUpTo the previous screen
PageDownTo the next screen
HomeTo the beginning of the current screen
EndTo the end of the current screen
You can move box by box or sheet by sheet.Now click in any box containing data in the sheet. You would have to hold down the Ctrl key while pressing an arrow key, which moves the insertion point as described here:
Key CombinationWhere the Insertion Point Moves
Ctrl + Forward ArrowTo the last box containing data of the current row
Ctrl + Backword ArrowTo the first box containing data of the current row
Ctrl + Upward ArrowTo the first box containing data of the current column
Ctrl + Downard ArrowTo the last box containing data of the current column
Ctrl + PageUpTo the sheet in the left of the current sheet.
Ctrl + PageDownTo the sheet in the right of the current sheet.
Ctrl + HomeTo the beginning of the sheet
Ctrl + EndTo the end of the sheet

Moving with Go To Command

Press F5 key to use Go To command, which will display a dialogue box where you will have various options to reach to a particular box.
Normally we use row and column number ,for example K5 and finally press Go To button.
Excel Go To Command

Excel - Saving the Sheet

Saving New Sheet

Once you are done with typing in your new excel sheet, it is time to save your sheet/workbook to avoid losing work you have done on an Excel sheet. Following are the steps to save an edited excel sheet:
Step (1) : Click the File tab and select Save As option.
Save As Option Step (2) : Select a folder where you would like to save the sheet, Enter file name which you want to give to your sheet and Select a Save as type, by default it is .xlsx format.
Save Option Step (3) : Finally, click on Save button and your sheet will be saved with the entered name in the selected folder.

Saving New Changes

There may be a situation when you open an existing sheet and edit it partially or completely, or even you would like to save the changes in between editing of the sheet. If you want to save this sheet with the same name then you can use either of the following simple options:
  • Just press Ctrl + S keys to save the changes.
  • Optionally you can click on the floppy icon available at the top left corner and just above the File tab. This option will also save the changes.
  • You can also use third method to save the changes, which is Save option available just above the Save As option as shown in the above screen capture.
If your sheet is new and it was never saved so far, then with either of the three options, word would display you a dialogue box to let you select a folder, and enter sheet name as explained in case of saving new sheet.

Excel - Create Worksheet

Creating New Worksheet

Three new, blank sheets always open when you start Microsoft Excel. But suppose that you want start another new worksheet while you are working on another worksheet, or you closed already opened worksheet and want to start a new worksheet. Here are the steps to create a new worksheet:
Step (1) : Right Click the Sheet Name and select Insert option.
New Sheet Step (2) : Now you'll see the Insert dialog with select Worksheet option as selected from the general tab. Click Ok button
Insert Dialog Now you should have your blank sheet as shown below ready to start typing your text.
Blank Sheet You can use a short cut to create a blank sheet anytime. Try using Shift+F11 keys and you will see a new blank sheet similar to above sheet is opened.

Excel - Copy Work Sheet

Copy Worksheet

First let us create some sample text before we proceed. Open a new excel sheet and type any data. We've shown a sample data in the screenshot.
OrderDateRegionRepItemUnitsUnit CostTotal
1/6/2010EastJonesPencil951.99189.05
1/23/2010CentralKivellBinder5019.99999.5
2/9/2010CentralJardinePencil364.99179.64
2/26/2010CentralGillPen2719.99539.73
3/15/2010WestSorvinoPencil562.99167.44
4/1/2010EastJonesBinder604.99299.4
4/18/2010CentralAndrewsPencil751.99149.25
5/5/2010CentralJardinePencil904.99449.1
5/22/2010WestThompsonPencil321.9963.68
6/8/2010EastJonesBinder608.99539.4
6/25/2010CentralMorganPencil904.99449.1
7/12/2010EastHowardBinder291.9957.71
7/29/2010EastParentBinder8119.991,619.19
8/15/2010EastJonesPencil354.99174.65
Excel Sample Text Here are the steps to copy an entire worksheet
Step (1) : Right Click the Sheet Name and select Move or Copy option.
Copy Sheet Step (2) : Now you'll see the Move or Copy dialog with select Worksheet option as selected from the general tab. Click Ok button
Move Dialog Select Create a Copy Checkbox to create a copy of current sheet and Before sheet option as (move to end) so that new sheet gets created at end.
Press Ok Button
Now you should have your copied sheet as shown below.
Copied Sheet You can rename the sheet by double clicking on it.On double click, name become editable. Enter any name say Sheet5 and press Tab or Enter Key.

Excel - Hiding a worksheet

Hiding Worksheet

Here is the step to hide a worksheet
Step (1) Right Click the Sheet Name and select Hide option. Sheet will get hidden.
Hide Sheet

Unhiding Worksheet

Here are the steps to unhide a worksheet
Step (1) Right Click on any Sheet Name and select Unhide... option.
Unhide Sheet Step (2) Select Sheet Name to unhide in Unhide dialog to unhide the sheet.
Press Ok Button
Now you will have your hidden sheet back.