Excel's menu
is referred to as the ribbon.
It consists of different sections which are called Tabs.
Currently I'm in the Home tab which is the most common tab.
If I click on insert, the menu options change by giving me different choices.
These are basically different buttons grouped together in categories.
Some of these, you're never gonna need. Some you're going to use a lot, and some from time to time.
If you move your mouse over an icon, you're going to get more information on the feature.
Sometimes you're going to get a shortcut
You can use to get to that feature. On some of the sections on the menu, you're going to see a tilted
arrow on the side here.
Not all of them have it.
Some of them do.
If you click on it, it's going to bring up another dialog box that's going to offer you more options
than the ones you have here.
You also have the option to collapse the ribbon so you have more space to work with.
So just click on that arrow here.
The ribbon gets collapsed and every time you click on a tab, it's going to show you the icons there.
Once you click away, it's going to disappear. To bring back the ribbon.
Just click on any of these tabs and click on this pin icon on the side.
The search box here can come in really handy if you're looking for features but you're not sure where
they are.
So for example, if I want to do a spell check I can just start typing here.
I see spelling here.
I can even see the shortcut key. If I click on it,
It's actually gonna run that feature. Spell check is complete.
I'm good to go.
No spelling mistakes.
The File tab is different to the rest.
It takes us to another interface of Excel which is commonly referred to as the backstage view.
Here you see information about your document.
So if you've saved a few versions of it you can see the version history right here.
If someone asks you what version of Excel do you have, you can see it under account information right
here.
If you want to check out the printing layout or some printing options you can do that here.
Now to get back to your workbook.
You can either click on this arrow or use the escape key.
What I suggest you do is take a few moments and take a look at the ribbon and the different options
and features we have.
You don't have to understand what they are.
We're going to be covering all of the essential ones in the course but it's just good that you get a
feeling of what is where. To get you started,
I'm gonna share my most common features that I use when I use Excel.
A lot of the features on the Home tab come in really handy.
So for example font, alignment, number, etc. Just keep in mind that this is the most expensive real estate
on the ribbon so only features that are useful to a wide variety of users
Actually make it here. In the view tab,
You can remove grid lines or show grid lines.
So this is one of the most common features I use.
From the insert tab, I use charts tables and pivot tables.
Now you might not have the developer tab, this is something I've activated to be able to work with
form controls and Visual Basic.
It's something that you might need when you become advanced in Excel.
So take a few moments before you move on and check out the options available in the ribbon.
In the next lecture
let's take a look at how we can customize the Excel interface so it's easier to find the stuff we work
with the most.