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| When Excel starts, a blank workbook opens. A workbook is an Excel file, just as a document is a Word file. A workbook is a container for at least one worksheet, which looks like an accountant's spreadsheet divided into a grid of columns and rows. Each little rectangle in the worksheet grid is a cell, which holds its own parcel of data that you enter. |
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| The title bar (at the very top of the Excel window) shows the program name (Microsoft Excel) and the filename of the active workbook, which is the workbook displayed on the screen. A new workbook will be named Book1 until you save it with a permanent filename. |
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| Below the title bar is the menu bar. Click a menu name to drop the menu list, then click the name of the command you want. If you change your mind about clicking a command, click anywhere in the Excel window to close the menu. |
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| The Standard toolbar (the upper toolbar) and the Formatting toolbar (the lower toolbar) contain buttons for quicker access to many of the commands on the menu bar. If you're not sure about what a button's icon represents, hover your mouse pointer over the button for a moment until a ScreenTip appears with the button's name. |
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| This figure shows the entire Excel screen and the names of its important parts. |
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| If seeing the button name doesn't help, choose Help, What's This?, and click the toolbar button. A bigger ScreenTip appears with an explanation of the button's function. |
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| At the bottom of the window, sheet tabs tell you the name of the worksheet in which you are working (a workbook contains several worksheets unless you delete them). To select another worksheet, click its sheet tab. |
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| The Formula bar, above the worksheet grid, has two main sections. On the left is the Name box, where you will see the active cell's address; on the right is the formula area, where the content of the active cell is displayed. |
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| To rename a worksheet for easier identification, double-click the sheet tab, type a new name, and press Enter. |
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| The active cell, also called the selected cell, is the cell in which data is entered when you type. This cell has a dark border, and its location, or cell address, is the intersection of its column letter and row number. On the worksheet, the mouse pointer appears as a white plus symbol. |
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| When you move the mouse pointer over a border of the selected cell, the pointer becomes an arrow symbol. |
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