Excel 2007
The Missing Manual
Matthew MacDonald
Pogue Press/O’Reilly
The book entitled “The Missing Manual for Excel 2007” is the manual that should have been in the box with the application.
Part One, Chapter 1 which is Worksheet Basics, starts off by showing you how to create Basic Worksheets, starting a New Workbook, adding Column Titles, and adding data. It goes on to show you how to navigate in Excel 2007, including the tabs of the ribbon, the formula bar, status bar and Excel options.
The biggest difference in Microsofts’s latest issue of Excel is that there is no “drop down” menu. It has been replaced by “ribbons” that indicate immediately where you want to go to do whatever it is that you want to make or change. The greatest obstacle is unlearning all the strokes that you had to do prior to this version. The learning curve of the ribbons takes time, but the bottom line is that once learned, it becomes a treasure because of the amount of time that it saves when adding to, or taking away from, or changing and/or amending your worksheet. Every one of the previous Excel keyboard features continues to work in the same manner. There is relearning for these actions.
Part One of Microsoft’s Excel 2007 goes on to show you how to save files, opening files, and opening multiple spreadsheets at one time.
In Chapter 2, there are explanations of how to add different types of data and quick ways to add data, auto correct, autofill, autofit and undo and redo. Chapter 3 is devoted to moving data around the worksheet. For instance, selecting cells, making continuous range selections, and making non-contiguous selections. This chapter goes on to show everything from a simple cut and past or copy and
paste to an easier and faster way to do this task. It goes on to develop skills in inserting columns or rows or inserting copied or cut cells and/or deleting columns and rows.
Chapter 4 goes into much more depth about managing worksheets and workbooks. Mr. MacDonald explains how to add or remove or hide worksheets in addition to naming and rearranging worksheets or grouping them, or moving worksheets from one workbook to another. He shows how to search for basic information, as well as advanced searches.
Chapter 5 shows how to format cell values, and formatting cell appearance. Excel 2007 goes on to explain alignment and orientation in addition to fonts and color and borders and fills. Chapters 6 and 7 describe in detail the smart formatting tricks that are packed into Excel2007. Again, for instance, styles and themes, custom styles, modifying styles, transferring styles between workbooks, basics of conditional formatting, highlighting specific values, etc. An absolute plethora of information that you would want to make your worksheet or workbook easier to handle the data that you want or need to enter. There is also another chapter regarding viewing and printing worksheets.
Part Two of Excel 2007 goes into more depth of Excel’s advanced features, I will list them chapter by chapter with a small resume of each one. Chapter 8 is entitled Building Basic Formulas, and goes on to explain how to create a basic formula, formula shortcuts and copying formulas. Chapter 9 is entitled Math and Statistical Functions. In this area Mr. MacDonald explains rounding numbers, groups of numbers, general math functions, trigonometry and advanced math, and advanced statistics. Really heavy weight information. Chapters 10 and 11 are devoted to Financial functions like future values, present values, depreciation, and other financial functions. Excel Chapter 11 to on to explain how to manipulate dates, times and text. Chapters 12 and 13 are packed full information on Reference and Information Functions including advanced lookups for matching or indexing, and information functions, like checking the value inside a cell or finding a value’s data type or error type. Excel2007 goes on to describe Advanced Formula Writing and troubleshooting, i.e. conditions in formulas, descriptive names for cell references, variable data tables, etc.
Part Three, Chapters 14, 15 and 16, are essentially devoted to Tables, the basics of tables and how to create tables. It goes into sorting and filtering tables, and dealing with duplicate rows and performing table calculations. It goes on to Grouping and Outlining Data and Templates.
Part 4, Chapter 17 is entitled Charts and Graphics (Basic) and Chapter 18 has information on
Formatting and Perfecting Charts. Chapter 19 goes into the more advanced information on Inserting graphics in a worksheet using Excel’s clip Art Library.
Part 5, Chapter 20, goes into scenarios and goal seeking, with complex equations and Chapter 21 talks of Pivot tables and revisits tables in general.
Parts 6 and Part 7 have chapters on Sharing Data with the Rest of the World, Worksheet Collaboration, Querying Databases and SML Files, Exchanging Data with Other Programs connecting worksheets to the Web, automating tasks with macros, programming spreadsheets with VBA (Visual Basic for Applications).
As you can see, this is a heavy weight instruction manual that should have been in the packaging with the application. Excel 2007, The Missing Manual has missed nothing. It has all the information, and then some………for anything that one would want to do, or could do with Excel.
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