What is Microsoft Excel? Full Explain with Formulas - VS COMPUTER CLASSES (Part 1)

What is Excel?

Excel is pronounced "Eks - sel"

It is a spreadsheet program developed by Microsoft. Excel organizes data in columns and rows and allows you to do mathematical functions. It runs on Windows, macOS, Android and iOS.

The first version was released in 1985 and has gone through several changes over the years. However, the main functionality mostly remains the same.

Excel is typically used for:

Analysis

Data entry

Data management

Accounting

Budgeting

Data analysis

Visuals and graphs

Programming

Financial modeling

And much, much more!

Why Use Excel?

It is the most popular spreadsheet program in the world

It is easy to learn and to get started.

The skill ceiling is high, which means that you can do more advanced things as you become better

It can be used with both work and in everyday life, such as to create a family budget

It has a huge community support

It is continuously supported by Microsoft

Templates and frameworks can be reused by yourself and others, lowering creation costs.

Get Started

It is not necessary to have any prior experience with spreadsheet programs or programming.

The Excel view has columns and rows, similar to a squared math exercise book.

Do not worry if the functionality looks overwhelming at first. You will get comfortable as you learn more in the chapters to come.

For now focus on the rows, columns, and the cells.

Ok. Let's make a function!

First, double click the cell A1, the one that is marked with the green rectangle in the picture.

Second, type =1+1.

Third, hit the enter button:

Congratulations! You have typed your first function, 1+1=2.

Overview

This chapter is about giving you an overview of Excel. Excel's structure is made of two pieces, the Ribbon and the Sheet.

Have a look at the picture below. The Ribbon is marked with a red rectangle and the Sheet is marked with a yellow rectangle:

The Ribbon explained

The Ribbon provides shortcuts to Excel commands. A command is an action that allows you to make something happen. This can for example be to: insert a table, change the font size, or to change the color of a cell.

The Ribbon may look crowded and hard to understand at first. Don't be scared, It will become easier to navigate and use as you learn more. Most of the time we tend to use the same functionalities over again.

The Ribbon is made up by the App launcher, Tabs, Groups and Commands. In this section we will explain the different parts of the Ribbon.

The Sheet explained

The Sheet is a set of rows and columns. It forms the same pattern as we have in math exercise books, the rectangle boxes formed by the pattern are called cells.

Values can be typed to cells.

Values can be both numbers and letters:

Multiple Sheets

You start with one Sheet by default when you create a new workbook. You can have many sheets in a workbook. New sheets can be added and removed. Sheets can be named to making it easier to work with data sets.

Are you up for the challenge? Let's create two new sheets and give them useful names.

First, click the plus icon, shown in the picture below, create two new sheets:

You can use the hotkey Shift + F11 to create new sheets. Try it!

Chapter Summary

The workbook has two main components: the Ribbon and the Sheet.

The Ribbon is used to navigate and access commands.

The Sheet is made up of columns and rows, which make cells.

Each cell has its unique reference. You can add new sheets to your workbook and name them.

In the next chapters you will learn more about the sheet, formulas, ranges and functions.