Excel Intro:
Open Excel

Title: Jan's Illustrated Computer Literacy 101
Did you want Working with Numbers: 2007,2010,2013,2016  or españolIcon: Change web



You have several choices of how to open Excel and then the spreadsheet that you need. You will not use all of these in these lessons. But you may need to use one of these alternate methods sometime.

Choices to open Excel:

  • Start menu icons for Excel 97 and Excel 2000Work through the Start menu to find the shortcut.
    Start menu icon for Excel 2003
  • Shortcuts for Office documentsUse the Office icons on the Start menu.
  • Excel in ExplorerFind the file Excel.exe in Explorer and double-click on it.
  • Run Dialog- excelOn the Start menu, open the Run box, type in excel, and click on OK.
  • Office Shortcut bar Use the Office Shortcuts Bar to open a new Office document.
 


Where you are:
JegsWorks > Lessons > Numbers

Before you start...

Project 1: Excel Intro
    Interface To subtopics
       Toolbars
       Task Pane Icon: Excel 2002Icon: Excel 2003
       Smart Tags Icon: Excel 2002Icon: Excel 2003
       footprintOpen Excel
    Select & NavigateTo subtopics
    Common TasksTo subtopics
    Summary
    Quiz
    ExercisesTo subtopics

Project 2: Excel BasicsTo subtopics

Project 3: Format & ArrangeTo subtopics

Project 4: Groups & FormulasTo subtopics

Project 5: DesignTo subtopics


Search
Glossary
Appendix



Choices to open an existing spreadsheet:

  • Menu: Use the Excel menu  File  |  Open  to bring up the Open dialog.
  • Menu - recent files: At the bottom of the File menu, click on a recently opened spreadsheet.
  • Toolbar button: Use the Excel toolbar button Button- Open to open the Open dialog.
  • Icon: Excel 2002Task pane: In the New Workbook task pane, select a recently opened workbook or click on More workbooks... to see the Open dialog.
  • Icon: Excel 2003 Task pane: In the Getting Started task pane, select a recently opened workbook or click on More... to see the Open dialog.
  • Explorer: Use Explorer to find the spreadsheet file and then double-click it. Excel will open and then open the spreadsheet.

You won't go through all of these choices here, just enough to get you going.

Icon Step-by-Step 

Step-by-Step: Open Excel & Spreadsheet

 Icon Step-by-Step

What you will learn:

to open Excel when Office is installed
to open Excel when it is installed alone
to open a spreadsheet from a disk
to open a spreadsheet from the Internet

Start with: Monitor with Desktop (Windows Desktop with no applications open.) 

If MS Office is installed:

  1. New Office document command on Start menuOpen the Start menu and click on  New Office Document .

    Icon: WinXP Start | All Programs | New Office Document

    A dialog box will appear with tabs for different types of documents, depending on what Office applications you have installed.

  2. Dialog - New Office Document with Blank Workbook selectedSelect the General tab and Blank Workbook

    Your dialog probably has different tabs than the illustration shows.

    Notice the different icons for the different kinds of Office documents. The icons are somewhat different in different versions of Office. 
     

  3. Click on the OK button. Excel opens with a fresh blank worksheet.

If MS Office is not installed

You must find the Start menu icon for Excel.

    Start menu with Excel installed alone
  1. Click on   Start  |  Programs  |  Microsoft Excel .

    Icon: WinXP Start | All Programs |  Microsoft Excel 

    Excel will open with a blank workbook.


Open Spreadsheet: from disk

Start with: resource files installed, Excel with blank document (Excel open)

  1. Click Open button the Open button on Excel's Standard toolbar. The Open dialog appears. 
     
  2. In the Open dialog, type the path
     C:\My Documents\complit101\numbers\budget.xls  
      Dialog text box for budget.xls
  3. In the text box Files of type:, choose All Microsoft Excel Files,  and click on Open. The spreadsheet opens. Excel remembers which sheet was showing and what row and column were at the top the last time you opened this workbook.
     
  4. budget.xls in Excel 2000If necessary, click on the tab Budget at the bottom of the window to make it the active sheet.
     
  5. Keyboard If the row 1 is not showing, hold the CTRL key down and press the HOME key (CTRL + HOME). The sheet will scroll up to show cell A1 at the top. Your first keyboard shortcut for Excel!
     
  6. From the menu select  File  |  Save As . The Save As dialog opens.
     
  7. Icon: Class diskIn the Save As dialog, save the spreadsheet to your Class disk with its same name,  budget.xls .
    Icon: ull Floppy DiskHow to handle a full disk
     
  8. Close the spreadsheet by clicking Close Button the Close button at the upper right of the workbook window.  (Be careful to click the right one or you will close Excel instead of just the spreadsheet.)

Open Spreadsheet: from Web

If for some reason you do not have the resource files on your computer, you can open the spreadsheet from the web site. It is a bit confusing, however. Internet Explorer will load Excel spreadsheets in the browser window. With a little work you can do your work anyway. Things just look a bit strange.

TipYou cannot open two spreadsheets with the same name at the same time, even when they are in different locations. If you have budget.xls open from the steps above, you must close it before continuing.

Start with: Icon: Internet Explorer Internet Explorer open (You probably have it open to read these directions!)

  1. Open a new browser window by using the key combo CTRL + N.
     
  2. In the new window, type in the address text box: http://www.jegsworks.com/Lessons/resources/numbers resources/budget.xls
     
  3. Click Go button the Go button or press ENTER. Internet Explorer downloads the spreadsheet into the browser window. If a dialog appears, choose Open.

    The Formula bar is added to the set of toolbars, but you are missing the Standard and Formatting bars. A new button Tools shows to the right of History, however.

  4. IE5 showing budget.xls

  5. Click Tools button the Tools button. Excel's other toolbars show now. If your window is small, you may not have much room left for the spreadsheet!

    budget.xls in Excel 2000
     

  6. Experiment by hiding and revealing the various bars: 
    Right click on a toolbar. A list of possible toolbars displays. Click on a name that has a checkmark beside it to hide that toolbar. Click on a name that does not have a checkmark to display that toolbar. Which toolbars do you think you will need to work with this spreadsheet?

    Note: The Status Bar is configured for Internet Explorer, not for Excel. There does not seem to be a way to change this. Therefore, the AutoCalculate area is not available.
     
  7.  If you did not save the spreadsheet in the directions above, from the menu select  File  |  Save As . The Save As dialog opens.
     
  8. Class diskIn the Save As dialog, save the spreadsheet to your Class disk with its same name,  budget.xls .
    Icon: Full Floppy DiskHow to handle a full disk

    WarningWhile you can open a spreadsheet from the Internet, you cannot save it back to the Internet location. That choice does not even show on the File menu! You must save to a location on your computer, to a removable disk, or to an Internet location that you have permission to access.
     

  9. Close the Internet Explorer window that shows the spreadsheet.