Explore Basic Parts of Microsoft Excel Window
In this lesson, I will explore the basic parts of Microsoft Excel Window. Below is a screenshot of the startup window of the Microsoft Excel application. In this window, you can see a simple layout and icons of different commands of the Microsoft Excel 2019 window.
Basic Parts of Microsoft Excel Window:
- Quick Access Toolbar
- File Tab
- Title Bar
- Control Buttons
- Menu Bar
- Ribbon/Toolbar
- Dialog Box Launcher
- Name Box
- Formula Bar
- Scroll Bars
- Spreadsheet Area
- Leaf Bar
- Column Bar
- Row Bar
- Cells
- Status Bar
- View Buttons
- Zoom Control
Quick Access Toolbar:
You will see this toolbar on the left-upper corner of the screen. Its purpose is to display the most frequently used commands of Excel. You can customize this toolbar based on your choice of commands.
File Tab:
In Excel 2007, it was an “Office” button. This menu does the file-related operations, i.e. create new excel documents, open an existing file, save, save as, print file, etc.
Title Bar:
The header or title bar of the spreadsheet is located at the top of the window. It presents the name of the active document.
Control buttons:
They are those symbols in the upper-right of the window that allows you to modify the labels, minimize, maximize, share and close the sheet.
Menu bar:
Under the diskette or save icon or the Excel icon (this will depend on the version of the program); labels or bars that allow modifying the sheet are displayed. These are the menu bar, and consist of a File, Insert, Page Layout, Formulas, Data, Review, View, Help, and a Search Bar with a light bulb icon. These menus have subcategories that simplify the distribution of information and analysis of calculations.
Ribbon/Toolbar:
There are a series of elements that are part of each menu bar. On the selection of any menu, a series of command options/icons will display on a ribbon. For example, if you press the “Home” tab, you will see cut, copy, paste, bold, italic, underline, etc commands. Similarly, if you click on the “Insert” tab, you will see tables, illustrations, additional, recommended graphics, graphics, and maps, among others. On the other hand, if we press the option “Formulas”. Insert functions, auto sum, recently used, finances, logic, text, date and time, etc.
Toolbar/Ribbon is a group of organized commands in three sections.
- Tabs: They are the top section of the Ribbon and contain groups of related commands. Home, Insert, Page Layout, Formula, Data, etc, are examples of ribbon tabs.
- Groups: They organize related commands; the name of each group appears below the Ribbon. For example, a group of commands related to fonts or a group of commands related to alignment, etc.
- Commands: They appear within each group as mentioned above.
Dialog Box Launcher:
This is a very small down arrow located in the lower-right corner of a command group on the Ribbon. By clicking this arrow explore more options about the concerned group.
Name box:
Show the location of the active cell, row, or column. You can make more than one selection.
Formula bar:
It is a bar that allows you to observe, insert or edit the information/formula entered in the active cell.
Scrollbars:
Those are the tools that allow you to mobilize both the vertical and horizontal view of the document. They can be activated by clicking on the internal bar of your platform, or on the arrows, you have on the sides. In addition to that, you can use the mouse wheel to automatically scroll up or down; or use the directional keys.
Spreadsheet Area:
It is the working area where you enter your data. It constitutes the entire spreadsheet with its rows, cells, columns, and built-in information. By means of shortcuts, we can carry out the activities of the toolbar or formulas of arithmetic operations (add, subtract, multiply, etc.). The blinking vertical bar called “cursor” is the insertion point. It indicates the insertion location of the typing.
Leaf Bar:
At the bottom, a text that says sheet 1 is displayed. This sheet bar explains the spreadsheet that is currently being worked on. Through this, we can alternate several sheets at our convenience or add a new one.
Columns Bar:
Columns are a series of boxes vertically organized in the entire sheet. It columns bar is located below the formula bar. The columns are listed with letters of the alphabet. Start with the letter A to Z, and then after Z, it will continue as AA, AB, and so on. The maximum limit of columns is 16,384.
Rows Bar:
It is that left part of the sheet where a sequence of numbers is expressed. Start with number one (1) and as we move the cursor down, more rows will be added. The maximum number of rows goes to 1,048,576.
Cells:
Cells are those parallelepipeds that divide the spreadsheet into several segments that allow rows to be separated from columns. The first cell of a spreadsheet is represented by the initial letter of the alphabet and the number one (A1).
Status Bar:
This bar is located at the bottom of the window and shows very important information. It also shows when something is wrong, or the document is ready to be delivered or printed.
This displays the quick calculations of the selected digits, like sum, average, count, maximum, minimum, etc.
You can configure the status bar by right-clicking on the status bar. You can insert or remove any command from the provided list.
View Buttons:
It is a group of three buttons arranged at the left of the Zoom control, close to the right-bottom of the screen. Through this, you can see three different types of excel sheet views.
- Normal view: This displays the Excel page in normal view.
- Page Layout view: This displays the exact view of Excel’s page as it will be printed.
- Page Break view: This shows the page break preview before printing.
Zoom Control:
Zoom control is located in the lower-right area of the Excel window. It allows you to ZOOM-IN or ZOOM-OUT a particular area of the spreadsheet. It is represented by magnifying icons with the symbols of maximizing (+) or minimizing (-). In the most modern versions, it consists of a segment with the icons of more, and less and an element that separates both options; which allows you to manipulate them by clicking on any of these.
On the other hand, it also explains how many times the document has been moved away or approached in percentages (%). The version of Microsoft Excel 2019, it allows you to zoom out by 10% and zoom up to 400%.
