Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e- Grauer and Barber 1 Committed to Shaping the Next Generation of IT Experts. Chapter 2 – Gaining Proficiency: The Web and Business Applications Robert Grauer and Maryann Barber Exploring Microsoft Excel 2003

Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e- Grauer and Barber 2 Cell Referencing Absolute reference: remains constant throughout a copy operation  Specified with a dollar sign before the column and row, i.e. $B$4 Relative reference: adjusts during a copy operation  Specified without dollar signs, i.e. B4

Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e- Grauer and Barber 3 Absolute and Relative Cell References Use relative cell references for each employees gross pay Use absolute cell references for withholding rate and FICA rate

Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e- Grauer and Barber 4 Isolate Assumptions Base your formulas on cell references, not values The cells containing the values (assumptions) should be clearly labeled and set apart Change the assumptions in the worksheet and see the effects instantly  Also minimizes the chance for error: you change the assumptions in one place

Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e- Grauer and Barber 5 Example of Isolated Assumptions Assumptions are isolated and clearly labeled

Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e- Grauer and Barber 6 Using Excel Effectively Enter cell addresses in formulas and functions by pointing  Use the mouse to select the cell(s)  More accurate than typing cell references Use the fill handle to copy  Select the cell(s) and drag to copy to a destination range Insert comments

Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e- Grauer and Barber 7 Pointing Use the mouse to select the cells to be included in the formula Notice the color coding between the borders around the selected cells and the formula in the formula bar

Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e- Grauer and Barber 8 Using the Fill Handle Select cells E2:H2. Dragging the fill handle will copy all four cells to lower rows. Border around selected area. Release the mouse and formulas are copied

Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e- Grauer and Barber 9 Inserting Comments Comments provide explanation for values and/or descriptions of formulas

Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e- Grauer and Barber 10 Excel and the Internet Insert a hyperlink into a worksheet Save a workbook as a Web page Download information from the Web through a Web query

Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e- Grauer and Barber 11 Round-Trip HTML Round trip HTML: allows you to edit a web page in the application that created it  An Excel document can be saved as a Web page, then edited in Excel.

Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e- Grauer and Barber 12 Round-Trip HTML Edit with Microsoft Excel button lets you start Excel and edit the worksheet

Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e- Grauer and Barber 13 Selecting a Non-Contiguous Range Drag through cells to select destination range Hold the Ctrl key, then select additional cells

Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e- Grauer and Barber 14 Conditional Formatting Use this dialog to set criteria, in this case <0 Select cells to apply conditional formatting Click Format button to open Format Cells dialog Format  Conditional Formatting

Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e- Grauer and Barber 15 Web Queries Allows Excel to retrieve information from the Web  Requires an active Internet connection  Data  Import External Data Created with the Import External Data command Can be updated anytime with the Refresh command

Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e- Grauer and Barber 16 Creating a Web Query Enter cells containing the criteria for your web query, in this case, A5:A10

Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e- Grauer and Barber 17 Refreshing the Query Context-sensitive menu appears when you right- click in the query area Refresh External Data command retrieves the latest data from the Web External Data toolbar

Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e- Grauer and Barber 18 Date Arithmetic Excel stores all dates as integers  Serial numbers, beginning with January 1, 1900  The difference between dates is determined by subtracting one number from another Today() function always returns the current date