Excel 2013 Absolute Beginner's Guide

Description

Make the most of Excel 2013–without becoming a technical expert! This book is the fastest way to master Excel…use it to build powerful, trustworthy, easy-to-understand workbooks…discover hidden patterns and make better decisions…visualize data so everyone understands it…share and present workbooks on the web, tablets, anywhere! Even if you’ve never used Excel before, you’ll learn how to do what you want, one incredibly clear and easy step at a time. Excel has never, ever been this simple!

Who knew how simple Excel 2013 could be?

This is the easiest, most practical beginner’s guide to using Microsoft’s incredibly powerful new Excel 2013 spreadsheet program…simple, reliable instructions for doing everything you really want to do! Here’s a small sample of what you’ll learn:

• Quickly create, edit, and format workbooks
• Enter formulas and use functions effectively
• Enter data more rapidly, easily, consistently, and accurately
• Master powerful ways to sort, filter, consolidate, or group data
• Visualize information through great charts, PivotTables, and Sparklines
• Illustrate workbooks with images, shapes, and SmartArt
• Explore and analyze data more easily with Excel 2013’s amazing new Power View
• Share, print, present, and secure your workbooks
• Store your workbooks online with SkyDrive
• Work with macros
• Build immense power into worksheet cells with UDFs

Downloads

Downloads

Download free online sample files here

Sample Content

Sample Pages

Download the sample pages (includes Chapter 3 and Index)

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION    1

Who Should Read This Book    3

How This Book Is Organized    3

Downloading the Example Files    3

Conventions Used In This Book    4

Special Elements    4

1  Understanding the Microsoft Excel Interface    5

Taking a Closer Look at the Excel Window    6

Customizing the Excel Window    12

Moving Around and Making Selections on a Sheet    19

Installing Optional Components    21

2  Working with Workbooks, Sheets, Rows, Columns, and Cells    27

Managing Workbooks    28

Using Templates to Quickly Create New Workbooks    33

Working with Sheets and Tabs    36

Working with Rows and Columns    40

Working with Cells    43

3  Getting Data onto a Sheet    47

Types of Data You Enter into Excel    48

Entering Different Types of Data into a Cell    48

Controlling the Next Cell Selection    50

Using Copy, Cut, Paste, Paste Special to Enter Data    52

Using Text to Columns to Separate Data in a Single Column    54

Inserting Symbols and Equations into a Cell    58

Using Web Queries to Get Data onto a Sheet    59

Using Series to Quickly Fill a Range    60

Editing Data    62

Working with Tables    64

Fixing Numbers Stored as Text    67

Spellchecking Your Sheet    69

Finding Data on Your Sheet    69

Using Data Validation to Limit Data Entry in a Cell    71

4  Formatting Sheets and Cells    75

Adjusting Row Heights and Column Widths    76

Changing the Font Settings of a Cell    77

Aligning Text in a Cell    79

Reflowing Text in a Paragraph    83

Applying Number Formats with Format Cells    85

Creating a Custom Format    88

When Cell Formatting Doesn’t Seem to Be Working Right    95

The Number Group on the Ribbon    95

Adding a Border Around a Range    96

Coloring the Inside of a Cell    98

Creating Hyperlinks    99

Quick Formatting with the Format Painter    101

Dynamic Cell Formatting with Conditional Formatting    101

Using Cell Styles to Quickly Apply Formatting    109

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