Excel Basics for Beginners

Key Topics Covered:

Home Tab: Most commonly used; includes commands for changing font size/color, text alignment, merging/unmerging cells.
Insert Tab: Used for inserting charts, images, shapes, smart art, word art, formulas, and symbols.
Page Layout Tab: Adjust page setup, themes, margins, orientation for printing.
Formulas Tab: Access and insert formulas and functions.
Data Tab: (Not covered in detail in this tutorial)
Review Tab: Includes spell check and other review features.
View Tab: Adjust how worksheets are viewed, especially for printing.
Developer Tab: Advanced features not covered in this tutorial.
File Tab: For saving, printing, and accessing Excel options.

Column Letters: Extend up to XFD.
Row Numbers: Sequential down the worksheet.
Cell Reference: Combination of column letter and row number (e.g., B2).
Selecting Cells:
- Mouse: Click to select, drag to select a range.
- Keyboard: Use arrow keys to navigate, Ctrl for jumping to last content cell, Shift for selecting a range.
- Scroll Bars: For navigating large worksheets.

Direct Entry: Click a cell and type directly.
Formula Bar: Enter data in the formula bar, which reflects in the selected cell.

Patterns Recognition: Excel recognizes and continues patterns (e.g., months of the year).
Using Auto Fill: Drag the small box in the bottom right of a cell to autofill a series (e.g., January to December).

Efficiency in Repeated Data Entry: When entering repetitive data like employee names, Excel suggests and completes based on previous entries (e.g., typing "T" completes "Tim" if already existing).
Multiple Matches: Requires more input to disambiguate between multiple similar entries (e.g., "Je" for "Jeremy" when another name also starts with "J").