Microsoft Excel 2007: Ribbons And Tabs
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Written by: Andrew Whiteman
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Word Count: 552 |
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2010 |
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The Excel Ribbon is the most important aspect of the Excel interface and contains the great majority of the program's commands. The Ribbon is arranged into a series of Tabs, each of which contains a series of related commands. Tabs are accessed simply by simply clicking on the name of each Tab. Within each Tab, commands are organised in groups: the name of each group is displayed at the bottom of the group.
The Home Tab features the most frequently used commands. Here you'll find those commands that are used frequently; commands related to the clipboard such as Cut Copy and Paste; commands for changing the format of the data within your cells; changing the font; setting the alignment and the appearance of numbers; commands for modifying cells such as adding rows and columns; and finally commands for sorting and editing information.
As the name suggests, the Insert Tab is used to add or insert elements into your worksheets. Some of these elements are built into Excel such as charts; other elements are inserted from outside the program such as pictures, for example, inserting your company logo.
The Page Layout Tab contains commands to control the appearance of your worksheets as a whole. Here, you'll find settings like the margins, orientation, the size of paper and the area of the worksheet to be printed. You will normally visit the page layout Tab before printing your worksheets.
The Formulas Tab contains controls for dealing with the most powerful aspect of Excel: formulas and functions. Here you can insert functions, search for errors in formulas and control the way in which Excel works with formulas and carries out calculations.
In the Data Tab you will find commands for importing information into Excel from sources such as databases; sorting information and also filtering (in other words returning data which matches certain criteria).
Here you'll also find advanced tools for validating data, consolidation, performing "What if?" analysis. Also, in the outline section, you will find commands for assigning different levels to different parts of the worksheet. Excel's outlining commands make large worksheet easier to navigate and to manage.
The general theme of the Review Tab is protection and checking. It is here that you will find the spell-checker as well as facilities for users to add their comments to a worksheet. There are also commands for protecting workbooks and worksheets.
The View Tab contains commands relating to the way in which your worksheets and workbooks are viewed. Here you'll find commands for zooming in and out on your work and for viewing multiple workbooks and worksheets simultaneously.
The Developer Tab relates to automation. It is here that you'll find commands for creating macros. Macros enable you to write Visual Basic code which can automate just about every aspect of Microsoft Excel.
About the Author
The author is a trainer and developer with TrainingCompany.Com, a UK IT training company offering Microsoft Excel training courses in London and throughout the UK.
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