Excel 2007 Overview Guide - Part 4 - Formula Bar, Home Menu, Quick Access Toolbar and the Status Bar

Welcome back to Part Four of my Excel 2007 Overview Guide.
Let us first look at the Formula Bar in Excel 2007.
The Cell Address field displays the cell address relating to the current selected cell.
By typing a cell address into this box and pressing Enter, Excel 2007 will move you to the relevant cell.
The Cell Address Box will also describe the name of a selected object, such as a shape,
as well as displaying the name of a cell/range that has a Defined Name.
Clicking the 'Fx' button will launch the Function Menu, as well as displaying the 'Cross' and 'Tick'.
The Tick, which is Green when active, acts in the same way as pressing the 'Enter' key when you have entered your completed formula.
The Cross, which is Red when active, will cancel the formula you are currently working on.
The Function Menu allows you to select functions by category from the drop down menu or search by entering a brief description.
Highlight a function in the bottom box to display a brief description of each function.
The Formula Bar is where you can enter formulas, as well as amend formulas, text and data.
When you click on a cell in your Worksheet that is displaying the answer to a formula,
you can see the relevant formula displayed in the Formula Bar.
You can resize the Formula Bar by holding down the left mouse button and dragging down on the bottom of the Formula Bar.
This can be useful when dealing with long formulas or larger amounts of text.
The small button allows you to quickly expand/collapse the Formula Bar.
The Home Menu, which is reached by clicking on the Office Button, is where files
are created, opened, saved and printed, along with other options.
Recent Excel files are displayed under the 'Recent Documents' on the right hand side of the menu.
The options that are most commonly used are New, Open, Save, Save As and Print.
New will take you to the New Workbook Menu. This enables you to launch a new, blank Workbook.
Ensure that 'Blank Workbook' is highlighted, and then click the 'Create' button.
As you become more advanced with Excel 2007 you may wish to save Templates that can be used at a later date.
This screen would be where you would go to launch a new Workbook using your saved Templates.
You can also search for additional Templates that are preloaded by Microsoft by browsing through the
options on the left hand side of the Menu, as well as viewing additional Templates available from Microsoft online.
Open will display the Open Dialog Box that enables you to launch an existing, saved Workbook.
The default option will be to only display folders and files saved in the Excel 2007 formats (files usually ending .xlsx)
or Excel 1997 to 2003 formats (files ending .xls).
If you have previously saved your Excel file when you click on 'Save' the file will be
automatically saved and no dialog boxes or menus will be displayed.
If you are saving your Excel file for the first time the 'Save As' Menu opens. This looks nearly identical to the 'Open' Dialog Box.
If you are unclear about what format you should save your Excel file using the 'Save As' option in the Home Menu.
Save As enables you to save a new, differently named, version of an existing file.
You can also save an existing file in a different format,
for example saving the file as an 'Excel 97-2003 Workbook' to share with those who may edit the file in an earlier Excel edition.
The vast majority of the time you will only be saving files using two of the following options.
These would be the Excel 2007 native format (.xlsx) or Excel 97-2003 compatible format (.xls).
Excel Workbook is the native Excel 2007 format with full compatibility.
Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook is the Excel 2007 format used when Macros are active in the Workbook.
For most beginner to intermediate users this option would not be used.
Excel Binary Workbook is the Excel 2007 format used for saving very large or complex Excel files.
Excel 97-2003 Workbook ensures that file is compatible with previous versions of Excel.
You may receive a warning stating what formatting, etc. will be lost if saving in this format.
OpenDocument Spreadsheet is the file format used in other software packages, such as OpenOffice, Zoho, etc.
PDF or XPS saves a copy of the file in PDF or XPS format. XPS is Microsoft's alternative to PDF.
Other Formats will allow you to select additional formats from the 'Save As' Dialog Box.
Let us now look at some print options with Excel 2007.
While you can use 'Print' or 'Quick Print' to print a copy of your file, I would recommend viewing the file in 'Print Preview' first.
This will ensure that the end result does not have information cut off in odd places.
Print enables you to amend a range of printing options, such as, number of copies, print quality, range, etc.
Selecting Print will bring up the Print Menu; this enables you to select a printer; what pages are to be printed;
what sections of the Worksheet or Workbook are to be printed.
You are also able to state how many copies of the file are to be printed, and whether these will be collated.
Clicking the 'Properties' button will usually allow you to set options such as print quality, etc.
Options available will be determined by your printer.
Quick Print will use the existing default print settings.
And, Print Preview allows you to view a preview of your document prior to printing.
The Quick Access Toolbar allows you to access your most used commands from anywhere within Excel 2007.
The default options are 'Save', 'Undo' and 'Redo'.
Save - Will save the current Workbook. If saving for the first time the 'Save As' Dialog box will be displayed.
Undo - Will undo the last action. Clicking the small triangle will display a list of up to 100 of your last actions.
Selecting from the list will roll back your Workbook to that moment in time.
Redo - Will redo the last action. Clicking the small triangle will display a list of up to 100 of your last actions that you can 'Redo'.
Can also be used to 'Redo' something you have undone.
The Quick Access Toolbar can be easily customized with your favorite commands, such as adding 'Spell Check'.
Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar is quick and easy.
The most popular commands are contained in the initial Customize Quick Access Toolbar Menu.
Click the command to add, click again to remove it.
You can also move the Quick Access Toolbar to be shown below the Ribbon, as well as minimize the Ribbon.
To add additional commands to the Quick Access Toolbar select 'More Commands...' from the Customize Menu.
Select the commands you wish to add from the left hand list, and then click 'Add'. Once finished click 'OK'.
To change the order in which the commands are displayed on the Quick Access Toolbar,
highlight the relevant command and use the up and down arrows on the right hand side to adjust the position.
To remove a command, select it in the right hand list and click 'Remove'.
You can also add commands quickly to the Quick Access Toolbar by right clicking on the
relevant command and select 'Add to Quick Access Toolbar'.
Finally, let us look briefly at the Status Bar at the bottom of the screen.
Activity Status provides information on current activity within the Worksheet.
This area will also provide information on whether certain functions are on or off, such as Caps and Number Lock.
This information can be customized in the 'Customize Status Bar Menu'.
The Status Bar can also display basic function calculation on the current selection in the Worksheet.
This can be useful when you just need to work out a quick sum without the need to add formulas within the Worksheet.
This information can also be customized in the 'Customize Status Bar Menu'.
The Customize Status Bar Menu can be accessed by right clicking anywhere on the Status Bar.
The Menu allows you to specify what information should be displayed on the Status Bar.
You can also use this Menu to remove features from the Status Bar, such as the 'Zoom Slider'.
A tick next to the Menu option activates the command, removing the tick makes the command inactive.
The Worksheet Views Section allows you to quickly swap between 'Normal', 'Page Layout' and Page Break' views of your Worksheet.
These commands are the same three that are contained in the 'Workbook Views' section of the 'View' Tab.
You can use the Zoom slider to magnify or minimize your current view of the Worksheet.
That completes my Excel 2007 Overview Guide.
We have learnt how to navigate around the Excel 2007 screen.
We have learnt where to find commands and functions in Excel 2007.
We have learnt how to customize Excel 2007.
We have learnt how to Create, Open, Save and Print Excel 2007 files.
Confidence comes with practice, and remember there is no 'right' way to do most things in Excel 2007.
It is about finding the way to do things that works for you and provides you with the results you want.
Join me at spreadsheetrepublic.com for more Excel 2007 written guides and videos.
Where you can find a range of my Level 1 Guides to broaden your skills and build your confidence in Excel 2007.
Goodbye for now and I hope to see you soon.