Manipulating Your Spreadsheet s Appearance

Transcription

1 Page1 Manipulating Your Spreadsheet s Appearance Freeze Columns or Rows Sometimes in Excel you have a long document with many rows of data that you want to scroll through, but as you scroll down, you lose the titles of the columns. You can use the freeze functionality to exclude the top rows when you scroll. This may, for example, allow you to keep column or row labels and/or the document title visible as you move about. The example on the right shows the first four rows including the document title and the column headers and the first three columns frozen. Everything to the left of and above cell D5 is frozen. To lock rows, select the entire row below the row or rows that you want to keep visible when you scroll. Then click the View Tab and select Freeze Panes. Select the first option, Freeze Panes to freeze rows. To lock columns, select the column to the right of the column or columns that you want to keep visible when you scroll. Then click the View Tab and select Freeze Panes. Select the first option, Freeze Panes to freeze columns. To lock both rows and columns, click the cell below and to the right of the rows and columns that you want to keep visible when you scroll. Then click the View Tab and select Freeze Panes. Select the first option, Freeze Panes to freeze both rows and columns. The option also exists to freeze just the top row or freeze the first column. To remove frozen panes, click the View Tab, select Freeze Panes and select Unfreeze Panes. You can freeze rows at the top and columns on the left side of the worksheet only. You cannot freeze rows and columns in the middle of the worksheet. The Freeze Panes command is not available when you are in cell editing mode or when a worksheet is protected. To cancel cell editing mode, press Enter or Esc. Hiding/Unhiding Columns and Rows A very handy feature of Excel is its ability to hide rows and columns from a user without it affecting calculations in any way. This can be handy if you wish to hide calculations or certain information from a user. Or, there may be information in your worksheet which you no longer need to see. At other times, you might be printing your worksheet and want to print only columns A C and columns G-K, skipping columns D-F. Rather than rearrange your worksheet for either of these examples, you can simply hide the information. You can also hide information in specific cells. Select the rows or columns that you want to hide.

2 Page2 Right click in the selected area and a context menu will appear. Select Hide. Notice that a vertical line appears and the column headings skip from C to G. To Unhide, select the columns adjacent to either side of the columns that you want to unhide and right click in the selected area. The context menu will appear. Select Unhide. Rows can also be hidden and unhidden in the same manner, by selecting rows instead of columns. Sorting Spreadsheet Data Sorting data lets you put the data into alphabetical or numerical order. It helps you to quickly visualize and understand your data better and organize it to find the data that you need. Ways to sort data: By text (A to Z or Z to A) Numbers (smallest to largest or largest to smallest) Dates and times (newest to oldest or oldest to newest) Most sorts are column sorts but you can also sort by rows. When you sort, those criteria are saved with the workbook so that you can reapply the sort each time that you open the workbook. To sort: Select a cell within a column Click on the Data Tab Click Sort to display the Sort dialog box. In the Sort by field, use the drop down arrow to select the column you want to sort by. In this sample, we will select Dept. Leave Values in the Sort On field and leave the Order from A to Z To select a secondary sort, click Add Level and choose a secondary level (Last Name) to sort on. Finally, to add a third level (First Name), repeat the above step. Click OK when completed. Your spreadsheet will be sorted by Department, and within each department, employees will be listed by last name, then first name in ascending order. Excel 2007 and 2010 have a simple alphabetic sort available from the Home tab. This sort will bring the data that goes with each item in either the row or the column that you are sorting by, with. Filtering Data Filtering data displays only the rows in a spreadsheet which satisfy

3 Page3 certain criteria that you specify and hides rows that you do not want to display. After you have applied a filter, you can copy, format, edit, and print the subset of filtered data. Applying a filter Click anywhere in the spreadsheet where there is data. Click the Data Tab. Click Filter. A drop-down arrow will appear to the right of each of the column labels in the list. Click the down arrow next to the word DEPT in column F. A drop down menu appears. Choose a Filter Selection such as Sales. The worksheet will now only show those employees in the Sales Dept. Clearing a filter If a spreadsheet has a filter applied, the column that is being filtered will have a funnel symbol displayed next to it. Notice the funnel to the right of the word Dept. Click on this funnel and choose Select All from the drop down menu. Removing a filter To remove a filter, click on Filter in the Data Tab to turn it off and display the entire spreadsheet without the drop down arrows in each column heading. Headers and Footers Headers and Footers contain information that is repeated at the top or bottom of every page of your printed worksheet. Headers and footers are not displayed on the worksheet in Normal view they are only displayed in Page Layout view and on the printed pages. Creating a Header Click on the Insert Tab. In the Text group, select Header & Footer. Excel displays the worksheet in Page Layout view. Click in the right, center, or left section of the Header, depending upon where you want to Header to appear.

4 Page4 If you want to insert a predefined Header, click on the Header icon on the Header & Footer Design tab and select the element you want. OR -- To create a custom Header, just type the text you want to have in the Header. When you have finished typing the Header, click a cell in the spreadsheet to return to editing the spreadsheet. Creating a Footer Click on the Insert Tab. In the Text group, select Header & Footer. Excel displays the worksheet in Page Layout view. You will be in the Header area. To switch to the Footer area, click Go to Footer in the navigation group of the Design ribbon. Click in the right, center, or left section of the Footer, depending upon where you want to Footer to appear. Predefined text is available for the Footer by clicking the Footer icon and selecting what you want. You can also insert a Page Number, Number of pages, Current Date, Current Time, File Path, File Name, Sheet Name or Picture by selecting the corresponding Header or Footer Element in either the Header or the Footer. You can also type your own text to create a custom Footer. Click a cell in the spreadsheet to return to editing the spreadsheet. Editing a Header or Footer You need to be in Page Layout view to see the Header or Footer, so click on the View Tab and select Page Layout. You will see the Header text at the top of the window. Simply click on the text and edit as needed. To edit a Footer, scroll to the bottom of the window and click on the Footer to make the necessary changes. You can also add a Header or Footer by using this method. Adding Comments to a Spreadsheet A comment is a text box that contains information about a worksheet cell. You can only have one comment per cell. You can use comments as reminders to yourself or to provide feedback to other users. When you create a comment in a cell, a comment indicator appears automatically in that cell. It is a small red

5 Page5 triangle in the upper right-hand corner of the cell. Comment indicators help you easily identify where comments are located in a worksheet. A comment is identified by your user name. Therefore, if the workbook is shared, you can easily tell who created what comment. Creating a comment Select the cell where you want to add the comment. Click the Review tab, then click Insert Comment. A yellow comment box is displayed. Type the comment text. When you re done, click off the comment box in any cell to deselect the box. Viewing a comment Move the cursor to the cell where the comment indicator is contained. A text box containing the comment will appear. To view all comments, click Show All Comments on the Review tab. To make comments not show, click Show All Comments a second time. Editing a comment Right click on the cell that contains the comment and select Edit comment or choose Edit Comment from the Review tab. Type your changes, and then click in any other cell to deselect it. Deleting a comment Right click on the cell that contains the comment and select Delete Comment or choose Delete comment from the Review tab. Comments need to be deleted individually. Managing Worksheets Workbooks have three worksheets by default, but you can add additional sheets or remove sheets as needed. The name of the sheet appears on the sheet tab at the bottom of the screen. They are called Sheet1, Sheet2, Sheet3, but you can rename them to help organize your data. You can also move the location of worksheets so they appear in a different order. Adding a Worksheet

6 Page6 Click on the Home tab. Click the drop down arrow next to Insert. Select Insert Sheet. You will now have a new Sheet. Copying a Worksheet Right click on the sheet tab (Payroll) that you want to copy. The menu at the right will appear: Select Move or Copy. A dialog box will appear. Put a check box in Create a copy and select move to end. Click OK and you will see a spreadsheet named Payroll (2) as the last sheet of your workbook. This sheet is identical to Payroll. Renaming a Worksheet Right click on the Payroll (2) sheet tab and select Rename from the menu. Type Payroll Week 2 and press Enter. Right click on the Payroll sheet tab and select Rename from the menu. Type Payroll Week 1 and press Enter. Your sheet tabs will look like this: Moving a Worksheet To move a worksheet, click on the sheet tab and drag it to the right or left until it is in a new location. Deleting a Worksheet To delete a sheet, right click on the sheet tab and select Delete OR Click on the Home Tab Click on the drop down arrow next to Delete Select Delete Sheet.