Tools and Features of Excel's

Application Window

When you load Excel, you may see a "Tip of the Day" screen appear. (On new installations this will appear, but the display is often turned off.) Click on the "OK" button to close the tip screen and go on to the Excel screen. You should see the application window at the top of the screen and a document window below. You can maximize both of these windows, if you want.

The application window area contains five rows or lines of command menus which can be used to act upon the information found in the document window. These command menus display command words and graphic icons. These menus include the title bar (at the very top) followed by the menu bar, the Standard toolbar, the Formatting toolbar, the Formula bar, and the Status bar. The function of each of these is as follows:
Title Bar

Displays the name of the application "Microsoft Excel." The control menu box is on the far left and the minimize/maximize or restore buttons on the far right. These are standard Windows features, and you can consult the Windows manual for additional information.

Menu Bar

Displays the main level commands. These commands can be executed with a click of the left mouse button; then additional command options are presented in pull-down menus. The commands FILE, EDIT, VIEW, WINDOW and HELP are common menu options found in other Windows applications.

Exercise 1 - (To be completed in the Excel program.)
Start the Excel program. Move your mouse pointer to the FILE option on the menu bar and click to see its pull-down options. Do not click any pull-down options yet. You can escape or cancel from a pull-down list by either pressing the [ESC] key on the keyboard or clicking outside of the display list. Do one of these to remove the FILE pull-down list.
Toolbars

There are two toolbars which normally display--the Standard toolbar and the Formatting toolbar. The toolbars have graphic icon buttons which can be mouse clicked to perform an action or bring up another set of menus. The actions performed by the toolbar buttons are also found in the menu bar/pull-down menus. Buttons are popular with Excel users because they give a quick way to perform an action but it is not NECESSARY to use them. Because the buttons duplicate menu items, there are often several ways to "perform an action." If you put your mouse pointer on top of a button, its ToolTip (name) will pop up.

If two toolbars are not displaying, click on VIEW on the menu bar, then Toolbars. A list of the toolbars appears. Click on the box in front of the toolbar name to display it.

These are the toolbar buttons we will use in Lesson 1:
New Workbook (results in a blank document)
Open (workbook/file)
Save (workbook/file)
Print
AutoSum (to add up numbers in a row or column)
Undo (un-does the last editing action)

Exercise 2
Switch to the Excel program. Put your mouse pointer over each button on both of the toolbars and view its ToolTip. You will see some buttons similar to other windows applications, especially if you are using other Microsoft programs like Word. We will use more of these buttons in other lessons.

Formula Bar

This is the last line before the document window. It displays information entered or about to be entered in a cell and gives the address location of that cell. Cell editing can also be done on this formula bar. The active cell position is indicated on the far left end of the Formula bar ... more about this later.

Status Bar

Displays information about the current state of the program. This feature is located at the very bottom of the document window. The user is provided information about what Excel is doing. Examples are Ready when Excel will accept new entries or Edit if you are editing a cell.

Learning Excel - Index