Learn to navigate the Excel Workspace.
Tour of the Excel Workspace
- Working clockwise and starting from the top, the first thing we see is the Quick Access Toolbar, which is part of all of the Microsoft Office applications - so it may not be the first time you've seen it.
- Its name tells you its reason for being - to give you Quick Access to tools that are used frequently.
- It contains Save, Undo, and Redo buttons, and if you're connected to any kind of a network or Microsoft OneDrive, you'll have an AutoSave option, too.
- To add commands to the Quick Access Toolbar, click the triangle at the right end and make a choice from the list.
- Moving across, we have the Title bar, which tells you the name of the open workbook.
- Then we have the Search box, which searches the open workbook for anything you type into the box.
- Next, we have the user’s initials, showing they’re signed in to an Office subscription,
- and then you have the standard Minimize, Maximize, and Close buttons for the application window.
- Below the title bar we have the ribbons, which each display a different set of tools. You can right-click any ribbon and choose to Collapse the Ribbon, which then means they take up less vertical space. Right-click and reselect that command to bring the full-sized ribbons back.
- Below the ribbons we have the active worksheet, and working from the left, this includes the Name box, which tells you which cell you're currently in (when I click in a cell, see the value change in this box), then the data entry controls to confirm or reject what you’ve just typed into a cell, and then we have the Function button, which invokes a dialog box you can use to build preset formulas.
- The next thing you see is what's known as the Formula Bar, but it's really more of a content bar. Whichever cell you're in, it provides a place to enter and edit the contents of that cell.
- Down the left side of the worksheet we have the Row numbers, used for selecting rows within the worksheet.
- Next, across the top of the worksheet, below the formula bar, we have the Column letters, which provide half of the cell address (so if you're in cell E5, you're in a cell in Column E, and that cell is also in Row 5.
- TIP! To select all the cells in the worksheet, click the button at the intersection of the row numbers and the column letters. You can also press Ctrl + A, as in "All."
- The grid you see below the column letters and across from the row numbers, is the worksheet itself. It contains over a billion cells.
- Finally, below the worksheet cells, across the bottom of the worksheet, we have the Sheet tabs, the horizontal scrollbar, and the beneath that, we have the status bar - which tells you if you’re in Ready, Enter, or Edit mode – depending upon whether or not you’ve clicked in a cell, are adding, or changing the active cell’s contents.
- In the lower right of the workspace, we have a slider for adjusting your zoom, and view buttons for changing how the workbook appears, the default being Normal
- And that's the Excel workspace. You'll find out more about how all of these workspace elements work in other videos.