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Handy hints for using Excel Selecting more than one cell To select a block of cells you can drag across it with the mouse. However, with a large block of cells, it easier to click on the one corner of the block, then scroll to the opposite corner, and hold down Shift while you click on it. To select multiple blocks of cells, select the first block, then hold down Ctrl while you select the next block, and so on. You can now apply formats and other features to all the cells at once. Entering the same information into several cells at once First select all the cells as above. Type the required entry into the space at the top of the Excel window (the formula bar). Hold down the Ctrl key while you press the Enter key. Your typing will be entered into all the highlighted cells at once. Changing column widths so all the information is visible Drag the dividing line between the column heading (A, B, C, etc.) for the chosen column and the one to the right of it. To do this for several columns at once, first highlight all the columns by dragging over the column headings. Note You cannot change the column widths while the worksheet is protected. Different spreadsheet windows An Excel spreadsheet (or 'Workbook' as Microsoft call it) can contain several different 'sheets'. Some of these will be 'worksheets' (what most people think of as 'spreadsheets'), while others maybe graphs (which Microsoft call 'charts'). You can have several 'window' into a given spreadsheet open at once, and each of these can contain either a worksheet or a graph. Each window can be moved and sized separately, enabling you to display data and graphs at the same time. At the bottom of each window you will normally see a series of tabs. The one highlighted indicates the sheet which iscurrently visible in the window. To change to a different sheet, click the relevant tab. Closing all spreadsheet windows If you have a spreadsheet with several windows open, clicking the red 'X' in the top left hand corner of a window, only closes that window. To close the spreadsheet and all windows, go to the File menu and choose Close. Making worksheet and graphs visible at the same time Click the Restore Window button in the top right hand corner of the screen: Then move (by dragging the title bars) and resize (by dragging the edges) until all the windows are arranged as you want them. Look at the tabs at the bottom to determine what is visible in each window (worksheets or graphs). If you need more windows open to see all the graphs that you want to see at once, go to the Windows menu and choose New Window. Hint Don't forget that some windows may be hidden between others (go to the Windows menu and look at the bottom of the list to check which windows are open). Using the zoom feature to see more on screen You can change the zoom factor using this control
in the Excel toolbar: How to generate frequency charts (histograms) The Excel function COUNTIF does this for you. These two pictures show the formulae and the result for a situation in which a number of different species of trees are listed in cells B6 to B30. Once tabulated, the frequencies can be plotted on a bar chart.
How to copy pictures of cells and graphs into Word If you hold down the Shift key the Copy in the Edit menu changes to Copy picture. You can use this to copy a whole graph or a selection of cells so that they can be pasted into Word, or another application. Interactive labels for plots on graphs It is often useful to be able to label individual data plots with the corresponding values of parameters, so that you can make comparisons between them. To do this create a cell which contains the relevant information. For example, if you wanted to label several plots corresponding to diffent growth rates, and the cell containing the growth rate is named growth, then put this formula into an appropriate cell: ="growth rate = "&growth&" % per year" If the growth rate is 6, this formula will then show growth rate = 6 % per year. Note the use of the ampersand to join (or 'concatenate') text and numerical values. Note also the use of spaces within the quote marks.
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