Constructing an Excel Spreadsheet

 - In this section, we'll construct a spreadsheet and learn about: Auto fill, inserting rows and columns, adding up numbers in columns, formulas, and the formula bar. The spreadsheet we will construct will look like this when it is finished:

the Spreadsheet you construct

As you can see, not much formatting has been done. We'll concentrate on getting the sums right in this section. But you can format your spreadsheet, if you like.

So, let's get started on the "Chocolate Addiction" spreadsheet.

• Click on cell A1 with your left mouse button
• Enter the text "My Chocolate Addiction" (without the quotes)
• Press the Return key on your keyboard
• Your spreadsheet will look like the one below

If you now click in cell A1, you'll see the darker border surrounding that cell. Click inside B1 and the darker border surrounds that cell. Likewise, with cell C1. In other words, they are all individual cells behind our heading. We'll turn those three cells into one cell.

• Highlight the cells A1, B1 and C1
• Your spreadsheet will look like the one below

• From the menu bar, Click on Format
• From the drop down menu, click on "Cells"
• The familiar Format Cells dialogue box pops up
• Click on the Alignment tab strip
• Look for the box at the bottom that says "Merge cells"
• Put at tick in this box by clicking it with the left mouse button
• Your dialogue box should look like the one below

In the dialogue box above, there is a tick inside the box "Merge cells". Click the OK button when you're done. But you can centre your text while the Alignment tab strip is displayed.

Your spreadsheet will now look like the one below:

Now, when you click on cell B1 or cell A1, the Name box will read A1. All three cells have now been merged. The text "My Chocolate Addiction" is entirely in cell A1.

In the next part, you'll learn all about Autofill.