1. Microsoft Excel 2007 © Wiley Publishing. 2007. All Rights Reserved. The L Line The Express Line to Learning L Line

2. Exploring Excel 1 Finding out what you can do with Excel Using the Ribbon interface Getting familiar with the different tabs Understanding Excel document types and the new file format Getting help with Excel Stations Along the Way

3. Why Use Excel? Simplifies number crunching Makes formulas easy to create and understand Enables you to organize and chart data quickly and efficiently Offers powerful storage capabilities

4. Understanding the Ribbon Interface Entirely new interface in Office 2007 More efficient method of organizing commands Commands located on multiple tabs Extra contextual tabs display when working with certain items Click tab to access desired command

5. Using the Ribbon Office Button provides access to file-related commands Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) includes common commands and is customizable Tabs contain commands organized by type of task Home tab includes the most commonly used commands

6. Other Interface Elements Ribbon buttons carry out a task or display items in a list or gallery Task panes display additional command options in a sidebar Dialog boxes display selection options in a window Task panes and dialog boxes can be moved, resized, and closed

7. File Formats New file formats are based on XML XLSX – Excel 2007 workbook files XLSM – Excel 2007 workbook files that contain macros XLS – Older binary workbook files (Excel 2003 and earlier versions) XLSB – Very large binary files (rarely used)

8. File Formats (cont.) XLTX – Excel 2007 template files XLTM – Excel 2007 template files that contain macros CSV, TXT – Nonformatted text files PDF – Files compatible with Adobe Acrobat (add-in required)

9. Excel 2007 Help Click the question mark button or press F1 to display a Help window Follow blue links or use the Search box to access the desired Help topic Excel displays online Help information when connected to the Internet Help information remains onscreen until you close the window

10. Discussion Questions What are some advantages to using Excel to manage your data? How do you access the commands for opening and saving files? What is the Ribbon? How many tabs are always on the Ribbon? What is a contextual tab?

11. Discussion Questions (cont.) What is the difference between a task pane and a dialog box? Are Excel files stored as binary code or as XML? What is the difference between the file extensions.xlsx and.xlsm? How do you access the Excel Help system?