Jan's Working with Numbers

Step-by-Step: Open Excel & Spreadsheet

Start with: (Windows Desktop) 

WinXP, Vista, Win7, Win10: Start Menu

1. Click on Start  >  All Programs  or All apps >  Microsoft Office  > Excel
   
     Excel 2007, 2010: A new blank document appears in Excel by default.
   Excel 2013, 2016: Opens to a dialog offering you various templates and recently opened files. If you have saved custom templates, you will see FEATURED and PERSONAL pages. Click the blank workbook template or press the ESC key.
   

Win8, Win8.1: Start Screen

1. If necessary, switch to the Start screen by pressing the Windows key on your keyboard.
2. Click the tile for Excel.
     Excel 2007, 2010: A new blank document appears in PowerPoint by default.
   
   Excel 2013, 2016: Opens to a dialog offering you various templates and recently opened files. If you have saved custom templates, you will see FEATURED and PERSONAL pages. Click the blank workbook template or press the ESC key.
   
   Excel opens with a blank workbook.
   

   Problem: No icon for Excel on Start screen
   Are you sure that Excel is installed on the computer? A normal installation of Office will put shortcut tiles on the Start screen. But these can be deleted or moved around.
   Solution: If you know Excel is there somewhere, start typing excel.
   The Search results pane opens. Click on the Excel item.

   If you do not see Excel in the search results, make sure that Excel has been installed. It should definitely show up quickly.
   

Open Spreadsheet: from disk

You are going to open a document from the resource files and save it with a new name to a new location. If you do not have a local copy of the resource files yet, first read the directions in the following article, resource files, and then download the whole set of files.

Start with: resource files installed, (Excel open)

1. Click the Office button or File tab  and then on Open.
   The Open dialog appears. 
   

2. In the Open dialog, navigate to wherever you saved the resource files.
   

   It is important to use a path to a file on your computer and not to an Internet location for this step.
   

3. Click on budget-2010.xlsx  to select it.
4. 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.

   Problem: No workbooks are listed
   Check that you are looking at the contents of the correct folder.
   Solution: Make sure that the File type box is showing All Excel Files. 

   Problem: Error message
   You typed in the path but the file was not found. You may have typed incorrectly or files were not put in the folder you typed.
   Solution: Find where the resource were put and either type that path in the text box or else navigate in the Open dialog to the correct location. If the resource files have not been saved to your computer yet, download and unzip them to a location you can find again(!), http://www.jegsworks.com/Lessons/resources/resources-numbers.zip
   

5. If necessary, click on the tab Budget at the bottom of the window to make it the active sheet.

   
   

6. 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!
   
7. Click the Office button or File tab and then Save As.
   The Save As dialog opens.
   
8. In the Save As dialog, navigate to where you will be saving your documents for these lessons.
   
9. If necessary, create a folder named excel project1 and open it.

10. Change the file name to:
     budget-2010-Lastname-Firstname.xlsx 

    (Use your own first name and last name, of course.)

    

11. Click on Save.
    

12. Close the spreadsheet without closing Excel.

    Excel 2007, 2010: Click the Close button at the upper right of the workbook window.  (Be careful to click the correct one or you will close Excel instead of just the spreadsheet.)

    Excel 2013, 2016: Click on the File tab and then click on Close in the left pane.
    

Open Spreadsheet: from Web

If you do not have the resource files on your computer, you can download the spreadsheet from the web site, save it, and open the file.

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

Start with: Browser open
(You probably have one open to read these directions!)

You are going to download a single file and save it with a new name to a new location. Then you will open it, make a couple of small changes, and save it again. Different browsers handle this process a bit differently.

1. Open a new browser window by using the key combo CTRL + N.
   
2. Copy the following URL and paste it into the address box of the new window:
    http://www.jegsworks.com/Lessons/resources/numbers%20resources/budget-2010.xlsx
    (The %20 is the code for a space. Some web servers do not allow spaces in file names.)
   

3. Press ENTER.
   The browser tries to load the file and discovers that it is not a web page.

   What happens next depends on which browser you are using. The browser may offer you some choices first or it may save the file directly to the Downloads folder. You may see buttons on the Status bar of the browser that let you easily open the file after it downloads.

4. Save the file to the folder, excel project1 on your Class drive with the name budget-2010-web-Lastname-Firstname.xlsx. Create the folder if it does not exist.

   If Excel identifies the file as coming from the Internet, you will have to Enable Editing to save it with a new name from inside Excel.

   If you need directions on how to download and open, click the browser name below.

   Chrome   Firefox    IE11   Edge

   Chrome: The Save As dialog opens. Navigate to your Class disk and open the folder you created above, excel project1. Edit the file name to budget-2010-web-Lastname-Firstname.xlsx. Click the Save button.

   

   Chrome's Status bar appears to show the progress of the Save action. This file is so small that it should download too fast for the progress animation to play. Once the file is saved, click on the arrow beside the file name in the Status bar. Click Open in the list of options. The file opens in Excel.

   Firefox: The Opening dialog appears. Both choices, Open with... and Save File, will wind up with a file open in Excel in Protected View.

   Click on 'Open with Microsfot Excel'. Then click on OK.
   You do not have the option to pick a location or change the name.

   The file downloads to the default location, which should be the folder Downloads. The file is small so the process should finish before the progress animation for the download can do much more than flash into view and then disappear. Then the file opens in Excel in Protected View.

   Click on the button Enable Editing in the yellow bar at the top.
   The file is now Read-Only. You can edit it but you must save the changed file with a new name.

   

   Click on the File tab and then click on Save As. Navigate to the folder excel project1 on your Class disk and save the file with the name budget-2010-web-Lastname-Firstname.xlsx.
   

   IE11: A dialog opens that offers three options - Open, Save, Save As.
   Click on Save.
   The file downloads to the default folder, Downloads.

   Once it finishes, a bar appears at the bottom of the window. Click on Open. The file opens in Excel in Protected View.

   

   Edge: The file automatically downloads to the default folder, Downloads. The Status bar shows three choices: Open, Open folder, and View documents.

   

   Click on Open. The file opens in Excel in Protected View.

   

   Click on Enable Editing. Click on the File tab and then on Save As. Navigate to the excel project1 folder on your Class disk and save the file with the name budget-2010-web-Lastname-Firstname.xlsx.

5. Close the spreadsheet without closing Excel.

   Excel 2007, 2010: Click the Close button at the upper right of the workbook window.  (Be careful to click the correct one or you will close Excel instead of just the spreadsheet.)

   Excel 2013, 2016: Click on the File tab and then click on Close in the left pane.

Open from Recent Files

There are several ways to open a recently viewed file again. Now that you have two recently viewed Excel files, you can check out some of these methods.

Method 1: Win7, Win8, Win8.1, Win10: Taskbar icon: Right click the Taskbar icon for Excel.
A popup appears with pinned files (if you have any yet), recent files, and three commands: Close window, pin or unpin from taskbar, and the name of the program to open a new window. You should see your two saved files in the Recent section.

1. Using the method of your choice, open budget-2010-Lastname-Firstname.xlsx from your Class disk.
2. If necessary, click on the tab Budget at the bottom of the window to make it the active sheet. Excel remembers which sheet was showing and what row and column were at the top the last time you opened this workbook.

   
   

3. 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.  

4. In the Quick Access Toolbar at the top left of the window, click the Save button. 
   This button saves the document as it is - with the same name and with the cursor in the current location.
    [budget-2010-Lastname-Firstname.xlsx]
   

5. Close the spreadsheet by clicking the Close button at the upper right of the workbook window.  (Be careful to click the correct one or you will close Excel instead of just the spreadsheet.)