← Excel from Scratch: Formulas, Functions, and Data Analysis
Lesson
The interface, worksheets, and the A1 cell address
Find your way around the Excel window and name the address of any cell by its column and row (A1) without mistakes.
Workbook, worksheet, row, column, and cell
Workbook, worksheet, row, column, and cell
An Excel file is called a workbook. A workbook is made up of worksheets — their named tabs appear at the bottom of the window. Each worksheet holds a grid of columns and rows.
Columns are labeled with letters: A, B, C … Z, AA, AB, and so on — running left to right. Rows are labeled with numbers: 1, 2, 3 … — running top to bottom. Where a column and a row intersect, there is a cell. A cell address is made of the column letter and the row number, for example A1 (column A, row 1) or C5 (column C, row 5). The letter always comes first.
The active cell is the one you've selected by clicking: it has a border around it, and its address appears in the Name Box in the top-left corner. The contents of the active cell are shown and edited in the formula bar — the long bar above the grid.
A range is a rectangular group of cells. It's written with a colon: A1:B4 means all the cells from A1 to B4 inclusive (8 cells: 2 columns × 4 rows). The Excel interface looks different in different versions, but the ideas of a workbook, worksheet, column, row, and cell stay the same.
Lesson notes
Workbook, worksheet, row, column, and cell
An Excel file is called a workbook. A workbook is made up of worksheets — their named tabs appear at the bottom of the window. Each worksheet holds a grid of columns and rows.
Columns are labeled with letters: A, B, C … Z, AA, AB, and so on — running left to right. Rows are labeled with numbers: 1, 2, 3 … — running top to bottom. Where a column and a row intersect, there is a cell. A cell address is made of the column letter and the row number, for example A1 (column A, row 1) or C5 (column C, row 5). The letter always comes first.
The active cell is the one you've selected by clicking: it has a border around it, and its address appears in the Name Box in the top-left corner. The contents of the active cell are shown and edited in the formula bar — the long bar above the grid.
A range is a rectangular group of cells. It's written with a colon: A1:B4 means all the cells from A1 to B4 inclusive (8 cells: 2 columns × 4 rows). The Excel interface looks different in different versions, but the ideas of a workbook, worksheet, column, row, and cell stay the same.