Microsoft Excel Tutorial for Beginners: Lesson 1

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Customization of ribbon​

The above image shows the default ribbon in Excel 2013. Let’s start with customization the ribbon, suppose you do not wish to see some of the tabs on the ribbon, or you would like to add some tabs that are missing such as the developer tab. You can use the options window to achieve this.

• Click on the ribbon start button
• Select options from the drop down menu. You should be able to see an Excel Options dialog window
• Select the customize ribbon option from the left-hand side panel as shown below

 

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• On your right-hand side, remove the check marks from the tabs that you do not wish to see on the ribbon. For this example, we have removed Page Layout, Review, and View tab.
• Click on the “OK” button when you are done.

 

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Your ribbon will look as follows

 

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Adding custom tabs to the ribbon​

You can also add your own tab, give it a custom name and assign commands to it. Let’s add a tab to the ribbon with the text Guru99

1. Right click on the ribbon and select Customize the Ribbon. The dialogue window shown above will appear
2. Click on new tab button as illustrated in the animated image below
3. Select the newly created tab
4. Click on Rename button
5. Give it a name of Guru99
6. Select the New Group (Custom) under Guru99 tab as shown in the image below
7. Click on Rename button and give it a name of My Commands
8. Let’s now add commands to my ribbon bar
9. The commands are listed on the middle panel
10. Select All chart types command and click on Add button
11. Click on OK

 

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Your ribbon will look as follows

 

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Setting the colour theme​

To set the color-theme for your Excel sheet you have to go to Excel ribbon, and click on à File àOption command. It will open a window where you have to follow the following steps.

1. The general tab on the left-hand panel will be selected by default.
2. Look for colour scheme under General options for working with Excel
3. Click on the colour scheme drop-down list and select the desired colour
4. Click on OK button

 

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Settings for formulas​

This option allows you to define how Excel behaves when you are working with formulas. You can use it to set options i.e. autocomplete when entering formulas, change the cell referencing style and use numbers for both columns and rows and other options.

If you want to activate an option, click on its check box. If you want to deactivate an option, remove the mark from the checkbox. You can this option from the Options dialogue window under formulas tab from the left-hand side panel

 

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Proofing settings​

This option manipulates the entered text entered into excel. It allows setting options such as the dictionary language that should be used when checking for wrong spellings, suggestions from the dictionary, etc. You can this option from the options dialogue window under the proofing tab from the left-hand side panel

 

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Save settings​

This option allows you to define the default file format when saving files, enable auto recovery in case your computer goes off before you could save your work, etc. You can use this option from the Options dialogue window under save tab from the left-hand side panel

 

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Important Excel shortcuts​

Ctrl + P	used to open the print dialogue window
Ctrl + N	creates a new workbook
Ctrl + S	saves the current workbook
Ctrl + C	copy contents of current select
Ctrl + V	paste data from the clipboard
SHIFT + F3	displays the function insert dialog window
SHIFT + F11	Creates a new worksheet
F2	Check formula and cell range covered