Anyone using a computer in their daily work, one way or another, came across an Excel office application included in the standard Microsoft Office package. It is available in any version of the package. And quite often, starting to get acquainted with the program, many users ask themselves how to learn how to work in Excel on their own?
What is an excel program?
First, let's determine what Excel is and what this application is for. Most likely, many have heard that the program is a spreadsheet editor, but the principles of its operation are fundamentally different from the same tables created in Word.
If in Word the table is more likely an element in which text or graphic information is displayed , then the sheet with the Excel table is, in fact, a unified mathematical machine that is capable of performing a wide variety of calculations based on specified data types and formulas, according to which or other mathematical or algebraic operation.
How to learn to work in Excel on your own and can it be done?
As the heroine of the film “Office Romance” said, you can teach a hare to smoke. In principle, nothing is impossible. Let’s try to understand the elementary principles of the application’s functioning and focus on understanding its basic features.
Of course, the reviews of people who are versed in the specifics of the application suggest that, for example, you can download some tutorial for working in Excel, however, as practice and especially comments by novice users show, such materials are often presented in too abstruse form, and It’s quite difficult to understand.
It seems that the best learning option will be to study the main features of the program, and then their application, so to speak, "by the method of scientific poking." It goes without saying, first you need to consider the main functional elements of Microsoft Excel (the lessons on the program show exactly this) in order to compose for yourself a complete picture of the principles of work.
Key elements to consider
The very first thing that the user pays attention to when starting the application is a sheet in the form of a table, in which the cells are numbered in different ways, depending on the version of the application itself. In earlier versions, columns were denoted by letters, and rows by numbers and numbers. In other releases, all markings are presented exclusively in digital form.
What is it for? Yes, only in order to always be able to determine the cell number for specifying a certain calculation operation by the type of coordinates in a two-dimensional system for a point. Later it will be clear how to work with them.
Another important component is the line of formulas - a special field with the “f x ” icon on the left. This is where all operations are set. Moreover, the mathematical actions themselves are denoted in exactly the same way as is accepted in the international classification (equal sign "=", multiplication "*" division "/", etc.). Trigonometric quantities also correspond to international designations (sin, cos, tg, etc.). But this is the simplest. More complicated operations will have to be mastered precisely with the help of a reference system or specific examples, since some formulas may look quite specific (exponential, logarithmic, tensor, matrix, etc.).
Above, as in other office programs, there is the main panel and the main sections of the menu with the main operation items and quick access buttons for a particular function.
Data types and simple operations with them
Consideration of how to work in an Excel program is impossible without a key understanding of the types of data entered in the table cells. Just note that after prescribing some information, you can press the enter button, Esc key, or simply move the rectangle from the desired cell to another - the data will be saved. Editing a cell is called by double-clicking or pressing the F2 key, and upon completion of data entry, saving occurs only when the Enter key is pressed.
Now a few words about what you can enter in each cell. The format menu is called by right-clicking on the active cell. On the left there is a special column indicating the type of data (general, numeric, text, percentage, date, etc.). If a common format is selected, the program, roughly speaking, determines for itself what exactly the entered value looks like (for example, if you enter 01/01/16, the date will be recognized on January 1, 2016).
When entering a number, you can also use the number of decimal places (by default, one character is displayed, although when you enter two, the program simply rounds the visible value, although the true one does not change).
When using, say, a text data type, no matter what the user enters, it will be displayed exactly as what is typed on the keyboard, without changes.
Here's what’s interesting: if you hover over the selected cell, a cross will appear in the lower right corner, pulling it with the left mouse button pressed, you can copy the data to the following cells in order. But the data will change. If we take the same example with a date, the next value will be January 2, etc. Such copying is useful when defining the same formula for different cells (sometimes even with cross-calculations).
If we talk about formulas, for the simplest operations, you can use the double approach. For example, for the sum of cells A1 and B1, which must be calculated in cell C1, you need to place the rectangle in the field C1 and set the calculation according to the formula "= A1 + B1". You can do otherwise by setting the equality "= SUM (A1: B1)" (this method is more used for large gaps between cells, although you can use the automatic summation function, as well as the English version of the SUM sum command).
Excel program: how to work with Excel worksheets
When working with sheets, you can perform many actions: add sheets, change their name, delete unnecessary, etc. But the most important thing is that any cells located on different sheets can be interconnected by certain formulas (especially when large amounts of information of various types are entered).
How to learn how to work in Excel yourself in terms of using cross-references and calculations? It is not so simple. As the reviews of users who once mastered this spreadsheet editor show, it will be quite difficult to do this without outside help. It is necessary to read at least the help system of the program itself. The simplest way is to enter cells in the same formula by highlighting them (you can do this on one sheet and on different ones. Again, if you enter the sum of several fields, you can write “= SUM”, and then just highlight Ctrl while holding down necessary cells, but this is the most primitive example.
Additional features
But in the program you can not only create tables with various types of data. Based on them, in a couple of seconds you can build all kinds of graphs and diagrams by setting for automatic construction either a selected range of cells, or specify it in manual mode when entering the corresponding menu.
In addition, the program has the ability to use special add-ons, executable scripts based on Visual Basic. You can insert any objects in the form of graphics, video, audio or something else. In general, there are enough opportunities. And here only a small fraction of everything that this unique program is capable of is affected.
What can I say, with the right approach, it can calculate matrices, solve all kinds of equations of any complexity, find extrema of functions, create databases and connect them with other applications like Microsoft Access and much more - you just won’t list them all.
Total
Now, probably, it’s already clear that the question of how to learn how to work in Excel on your own is not so simple to consider. Of course, if you master the basic principles of working in the editor, asking the simplest operations will not be difficult. User reviews indicate that you can learn this for a maximum of a week. But if you need to use more complex calculations, and even more so, work with database binding, no matter how anyone wants it, you just can not do without special literature or courses. Moreover, it is very likely that you will have to pull up even your knowledge of algebra and geometry from the school course. Without this, the full use of a spreadsheet editor can not even dream of.