Microsoft originally marketed a spreadsheet program called Multiplan in 1982. Multiplan became very popular on CP/M systems, but on MS-DOS systems it lost popularity to Lotus 1-2-3. Microsoft released the first version of Excel for the Mac in 1985, and the first Windows version (numbered 2.05 to line up with the Mac and bundled with a run-time Windows environment) in November 1987. Lotus was slow to bring 1-2-3 to Windows and by 1988 Excel had started to outsell 1-2-3 and helped Microsoft achieve the position of leading PC software developer. This accomplishment, dethroning the king of the software world, solidified Microsoft as a valid competitor and showed its future of developing GUI software. Microsoft pushed its advantage with regular new releases, every two years or so.
Early in 1993 Excel became the target of a trademark lawsuit by another company already selling a software package named "Excel" in the finance industry. As the result of the dispute Microsoft had to refer to the program as "Microsoft Excel" in all of its formal press releases and legal documents. However, over time this practice has been ignored, and Microsoft cleared up the issue permanently when they purchased the trademark of the other program.[citation needed] Microsoft also encouraged the use of the letters XL as shorthand for the program; while this is no longer common, the program's icon on Windows still consists of a stylized combination of the two letters, and the file extension of the default Excel format is .xls.
Excel offers many user interface tweaks over the earliest electronic spreadsheets; however, the essence remains the same as in the original spreadsheet software, VisiCalc: the program displays cells organized in rows and columns, and each cell may contain data or a formula, with relative or absolute references to other cells.
Excel became the first spreadsheet to allow the user to define the appearance of spreadsheets (fonts, character attributes and cell appearance). It also introduced intelligent cell recomputation, where only cells dependent on the cell being modified are updated (previous spreadsheet programs recomputed everything all the time or waited for a specific user command). Excel has extensive graphing capabilities, and enables users to perform mail merge.
Since 1993 Excel has included Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), a programming language based on Visual Basic which adds the ability to automate tasks in Excel and to provide user-defined functions (UDF) for use in worksheets. VBA is a powerful addition to the application which, in later versions, includes a fully featured integrated development environment (IDE). Macro recording can produce VBA code replicating user actions, thus allowing simple automation of regular tasks. VBA allows the creation of forms and in-worksheet controls to communicate with the user. The language supports use (but not creation) of ActiveX (COM) DLL's; later versions add support for class modules allowing the use of basic object-oriented programming techniques.
The automation functionality provided by VBA made Excel a target for macroviruses. This caused serious problems until antivirus products began to detect these viruses. Microsoft belatedly took steps to prevent the misuse by adding the ability to disable macros completely, to enable macros when opening a workbook or to trust all macros signed using a trusted certificate.
Excel 5.0
Versions 5.0 to 9.0 of Excel contain various Easter eggs, although since version 10 Microsoft has taken measures to eliminate such undocumented features from their products.
Excel 2000
For many users, one of the most obvious changes introduced with Excel 2000 (and the rest of the Office 2000 suite) involved a clipboard that could hold multiple objects at once. In another noticeable change the Office Assistant, whose frequent unsolicited appearance in Excel 97 had annoyed many users, became less intrusive.
Excel 2007
A tabulation of "what's new" in Excel 2007 is found in Dodge and Stinson. The most obvious change is a completely revamped menu system, which means a user must abandon most habits acquired from previous versions. On-line help frequently cannot locate a feature you use, so a handbook with a good index can be invaluable. Some practical advantages of the new system, which actually make the update worthwhile, are greatly improved management of named variables through the Name Manager, and much improved flexibility in formatting graphs, which now allow (x, y) coordinate labeling and lines of arbitrary weight. The number of rows is now 1,048,576 and columns is 16,384. Several improvements to pivot tables were introduced. New file extensions are used, including .xlsm for a workbook with macros and .xlsx for a workbook without macros.
Versions
Excel 2007 (Version 12, released 2007)
Excel 2003 (Version 11, released 2003) This added additional XML support, but relatively little was added to the program. There were no changes on the VBA side of things.
Excel 2002 (Version 10, released 2001)
There were no substantial changes in the VBA side of the house. On the user interface side, Smart Tags and the Formula Evaluation tool are probably the most prominent. The overall appear of Excel was modified to provide a softer color pallet. The ability to recover corrupt files was substantially improved.
Excel 2000 (Version 9, released 1999)
An updated version of the VBA language (VBA6) was introduced, incorporating modeless Userforms, and some nice new language functions, such as Join and Split. Excel 2000 was the first version to support the COM Add-In model, which allows you to write add-ins that can work in any Office application (e.g., Word, PowerPoint, etc).
Excel 97 (Version 8, released 1997)
This version included the most substantial changes to Excel since the changes between versions 4 and 5. Major changes included a full VBA editor, with separate code modules, user forms, and class modules. One of the most useful enhancements for VBA programmers was the introduction of Event Procedures. The entire structure of CommandBars (menus and toolbars) was completely changed and enhanced.
On the user interface side of Excel, Conditional Formatting and Data Validation were added. Excel97 is the earliest version that any Excel user should be using.
Excel 95 (Version 7, released 1995)
Written for and released concurrently with Windows95, this was the first version of Excel to use full 32-bit code. While this represented an improvement in the internal workings of Excel, it doesn't change the user's experience. Microsoft plans to discontinue support for Office 95 programs on 1-December-2001.
Excel 6 (Version 6)
There was no version 6 of Excel. The version numbers jumped directly from 5 to 7 in order to bring all Office applications into a consistent version numbering system.
Excel 5 (Version 5, released 1993)
This was the first version of Excel to support Visual Basic For Applications (VBA), and the first to support multiple worksheets within a single workbook. Indeed, Excel was the first application to support VBA -- it was added to other applications in later versions.
Operation
Deleting a Column or a Row
Click on the column or row header to highlight the entire column or row to be deleted. Right-click on any cell in the highlighted column or row. Click onDeletefrom the menu.
Inserting a Column
Click on the column headerdirectly to the rightof where you want to insert a new column. Right-click on any cell in the highlighted column. Click onInsertfrom the menu.
Inserting a Row
Click on the row headerdirectly belowwhere you want to insert a new row. Right-click on any cell in the highlighted row. Click onInsertfrom the menu.
Sorting
Click on the grey rectangle between the "A" column header and the "1" row header in the upper left corner of the worksheet to select the entire worksheet. Click onDataon the menu bar, and thenSort...UnderSort by, select the column to sort by and select eitherAscendingorDescendingorder.
Displaying Formulas in the Worksheet
Hold down the CTRL key, and press the left single quote key (this key also has the "tilde" (~) symbol). Repeat this operation to return to numerical display.Note: spreadsheet data can be printed in either the formula display or the numerical display.
Entering Formulas
Click on the cell in which you want to enter a formula, and type the formula.Note: all formulas must begin with an equal sign (=).Additional information about functions can be obtained by clicking on the equal sign (=) next to the formula bar.
Adjusting Column Width
Click on the column header to highlight the entire column. Right-click on any cell in the highlighted column. Click onColumn Width...from the menu and enter a value for the column width.Note: the column width of several columns can be adjusted simultaneously by selecting multiple columns.
Adjusting Row Height
Click on the row header to highlight the entire row. Right-click on any cell in the highlighted row. Click onRow Height...from the menu and enter a value for the row height.Note: the row height of several rows can be adjusted simultaneously by selecting multiple rows.
Adjusting the Format of Numerical Data
Click and drag over the cells containing the numerical data. Right-click on any cell in the highlighted area. Click onFormat Cells...Click on theNumbertab, and select theCategory:for the type of data in the cells.Note: to adjust the number of decimal places in numerical data, select Numberand enter the number of Decimal places: to use.
Justification of Cell Contents
Click on the cell. Click on the justification button (i.e., either left justify, center, or right justify) on the Formatting Toolbar.Note: these three buttons are found to the right of the bold, italics and underline buttons.
Justification of an Entire Column or Row
Click on the column or row header to highlight the entire column or row. Click on the justification button (i.e., either left justify, center, or right justify) on the Formatting Toolbar.Note: these three buttons are found to the right of the bold, italics and underline buttons.
Copying Cells, Columns or Rows
Select the cell(s), column(s) or row(s) by highlighting them. Right-click on any cell in the highlighted area. Click onCopy. The selected cells will be copied (transparently) to the Windows clipboard.Note: the Windows clipboard holds only the last copied data.
Pasting Cells, Columns or Rows
Select the cell(s), column(s) or row(s) into which you want to paste previously copied data (i.e., from the Windows clipboard).Note: the selected area must be the same size as the data you will be pasting.Right-click on any cell in the highlighted area. Click onPaste.
Arithmetic Precedence
Microsoft Excelfollows the rules of arithmetic precedence when evaluating formulas.
( )
operations enclosed in parentheses are evaluated first; nested parentheses are evaluated from the inside out
^
exponentiation
* and /
multiplication and division, evaluated from left to right
+ and -
addition and subtraction, evaluated from left to right
Microsoft originally marketed a spreadsheet program called Multiplan in 1982. Multiplan became very popular on CP/M systems, but on MS-DOS systems it lost popularity to Lotus 1-2-3. Microsoft released the first version of Excel for the Mac in 1985, and the first Windows version (numbered 2.05 to line up with the Mac and bundled with a run-time Windows environment) in November 1987. Lotus was slow to bring 1-2-3 to Windows and by 1988 Excel had started to outsell 1-2-3 and helped Microsoft achieve the position of leading PC software developer. This accomplishment, dethroning the king of the software world, solidified Microsoft as a valid competitor and showed its future of developing GUI software. Microsoft pushed its advantage with regular new releases, every two years or so.
Early in 1993 Excel became the target of a trademark lawsuit by another company already selling a software package named "Excel" in the finance industry. As the result of the dispute Microsoft had to refer to the program as "Microsoft Excel" in all of its formal press releases and legal documents. However, over time this practice has been ignored, and Microsoft cleared up the issue permanently when they purchased the trademark of the other program.[citation needed] Microsoft also encouraged the use of the letters XL as shorthand for the program; while this is no longer common, the program's icon on Windows still consists of a stylized combination of the two letters, and the file extension of the default Excel format is .xls.
Excel offers many user interface tweaks over the earliest electronic spreadsheets; however, the essence remains the same as in the original spreadsheet software, VisiCalc: the program displays cells organized in rows and columns, and each cell may contain data or a formula, with relative or absolute references to other cells.
Excel became the first spreadsheet to allow the user to define the appearance of spreadsheets (fonts, character attributes and cell appearance). It also introduced intelligent cell recomputation, where only cells dependent on the cell being modified are updated (previous spreadsheet programs recomputed everything all the time or waited for a specific user command). Excel has extensive graphing capabilities, and enables users to perform mail merge.
Since 1993 Excel has included Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), a programming language based on Visual Basic which adds the ability to automate tasks in Excel and to provide user-defined functions (UDF) for use in worksheets. VBA is a powerful addition to the application which, in later versions, includes a fully featured integrated development environment (IDE). Macro recording can produce VBA code replicating user actions, thus allowing simple automation of regular tasks. VBA allows the creation of forms and in-worksheet controls to communicate with the user. The language supports use (but not creation) of ActiveX (COM) DLL's; later versions add support for class modules allowing the use of basic object-oriented programming techniques.
The automation functionality provided by VBA made Excel a target for macroviruses. This caused serious problems until antivirus products began to detect these viruses. Microsoft belatedly took steps to prevent the misuse by adding the ability to disable macros completely, to enable macros when opening a workbook or to trust all macros signed using a trusted certificate.
Excel 5.0
Versions 5.0 to 9.0 of Excel contain various Easter eggs, although since version 10 Microsoft has taken measures to eliminate such undocumented features from their products.
Excel 2000
For many users, one of the most obvious changes introduced with Excel 2000 (and the rest of the Office 2000 suite) involved a clipboard that could hold multiple objects at once. In another noticeable change the Office Assistant, whose frequent unsolicited appearance in Excel 97 had annoyed many users, became less intrusive.
Excel 2007
A tabulation of "what's new" in Excel 2007 is found in Dodge and Stinson. The most obvious change is a completely revamped menu system, which means a user must abandon most habits acquired from previous versions. On-line help frequently cannot locate a feature you use, so a handbook with a good index can be invaluable. Some practical advantages of the new system, which actually make the update worthwhile, are greatly improved management of named variables through the Name Manager, and much improved flexibility in formatting graphs, which now allow (x, y) coordinate labeling and lines of arbitrary weight. The number of rows is now 1,048,576 and columns is 16,384. Several improvements to pivot tables were introduced. New file extensions are used, including .xlsm for a workbook with macros and .xlsx for a workbook without macros.
Versions
Excel 2007 (Version 12, released 2007)
Excel 2003 (Version 11, released 2003) This added additional XML support, but relatively little was added to the program. There were no changes on the VBA side of things.
Excel 2002 (Version 10, released 2001)
There were no substantial changes in the VBA side of the house. On the user interface side, Smart Tags and the Formula Evaluation tool are probably the most prominent. The overall appear of Excel was modified to provide a softer color pallet. The ability to recover corrupt files was substantially improved.
Excel 2000 (Version 9, released 1999)
An updated version of the VBA language (VBA6) was introduced, incorporating modeless Userforms, and some nice new language functions, such as Join and Split. Excel 2000 was the first version to support the COM Add-In model, which allows you to write add-ins that can work in any Office application (e.g., Word, PowerPoint, etc).
Excel 97 (Version 8, released 1997)
This version included the most substantial changes to Excel since the changes between versions 4 and 5. Major changes included a full VBA editor, with separate code modules, user forms, and class modules. One of the most useful enhancements for VBA programmers was the introduction of Event Procedures. The entire structure of CommandBars (menus and toolbars) was completely changed and enhanced.
On the user interface side of Excel, Conditional Formatting and Data Validation were added. Excel97 is the earliest version that any Excel user should be using.
Excel 95 (Version 7, released 1995)
Written for and released concurrently with Windows95, this was the first version of Excel to use full 32-bit code. While this represented an improvement in the internal workings of Excel, it doesn't change the user's experience. Microsoft plans to discontinue support for Office 95 programs on 1-December-2001.
Excel 6 (Version 6)
There was no version 6 of Excel. The version numbers jumped directly from 5 to 7 in order to bring all Office applications into a consistent version numbering system.
Excel 5 (Version 5, released 1993)
This was the first version of Excel to support Visual Basic For Applications (VBA), and the first to support multiple worksheets within a single workbook. Indeed, Excel was the first application to support VBA -- it was added to other applications in later versions.
Operation
Deleting a Column or a Row
Click on the column or row header to highlight the entire column or row to be deleted. Right-click on any cell in the highlighted column or row. Click onDeletefrom the menu.
Inserting a Column
Click on the column headerdirectly to the rightof where you want to insert a new column. Right-click on any cell in the highlighted column. Click onInsertfrom the menu.
Inserting a Row
Click on the row headerdirectly belowwhere you want to insert a new row. Right-click on any cell in the highlighted row. Click onInsertfrom the menu.
Sorting
Click on the grey rectangle between the "A" column header and the "1" row header in the upper left corner of the worksheet to select the entire worksheet. Click onDataon the menu bar, and thenSort...UnderSort by, select the column to sort by and select eitherAscendingorDescendingorder.
Displaying Formulas in the Worksheet
Hold down the CTRL key, and press the left single quote key (this key also has the "tilde" (~) symbol). Repeat this operation to return to numerical display.Note: spreadsheet data can be printed in either the formula display or the numerical display.
Entering Formulas
Click on the cell in which you want to enter a formula, and type the formula.Note: all formulas must begin with an equal sign (=).Additional information about functions can be obtained by clicking on the equal sign (=) next to the formula bar.
Adjusting Column Width
Click on the column header to highlight the entire column. Right-click on any cell in the highlighted column. Click onColumn Width...from the menu and enter a value for the column width.Note: the column width of several columns can be adjusted simultaneously by selecting multiple columns.
Adjusting Row Height
Click on the row header to highlight the entire row. Right-click on any cell in the highlighted row. Click onRow Height...from the menu and enter a value for the row height.Note: the row height of several rows can be adjusted simultaneously by selecting multiple rows.
Adjusting the Format of Numerical Data
Click and drag over the cells containing the numerical data. Right-click on any cell in the highlighted area. Click onFormat Cells...Click on theNumbertab, and select theCategory:for the type of data in the cells.Note: to adjust the number of decimal places in numerical data, select Numberand enter the number of Decimal places: to use.
Justification of Cell Contents
Click on the cell. Click on the justification button (i.e., either left justify, center, or right justify) on the Formatting Toolbar.Note: these three buttons are found to the right of the bold, italics and underline buttons.
Justification of an Entire Column or Row
Click on the column or row header to highlight the entire column or row. Click on the justification button (i.e., either left justify, center, or right justify) on the Formatting Toolbar.Note: these three buttons are found to the right of the bold, italics and underline buttons.
Copying Cells, Columns or Rows
Select the cell(s), column(s) or row(s) by highlighting them. Right-click on any cell in the highlighted area. Click onCopy. The selected cells will be copied (transparently) to the Windows clipboard.Note: the Windows clipboard holds only the last copied data.
Pasting Cells, Columns or Rows
Select the cell(s), column(s) or row(s) into which you want to paste previously copied data (i.e., from the Windows clipboard).Note: the selected area must be the same size as the data you will be pasting.Right-click on any cell in the highlighted area. Click onPaste.
Arithmetic Precedence
Microsoft Excelfollows the rules of arithmetic precedence when evaluating formulas.
( )
operations enclosed in parentheses are evaluated first; nested parentheses are evaluated from the inside out
^
exponentiation
* and /
multiplication and division, evaluated from left to right
+ and -
addition and subtraction, evaluated from left to right
Assignment on Computer Subject to be emailed to our teacher. ;)
