MS Excel

Microsoft Excel is the second most important application in the MS Office suite. It saves files with the .xlsx extension and is mainly used for calculations, data analysis, and numerical operations. Excel allows users to organize data in spreadsheets, perform mathematical formulas, create charts, and manage large amounts of data efficiently.

Basic Concepts of Excel: –

Title bar: Shows the name of the application (Microsoft Excel) and the current workbook file at the very top of the window. Also has buttons to minimize, maximize/restore, and close the window.
Menu bar (Ribbon tabs): Row of main tabs like Home, Insert, Page Layout, Formulas, Data, Review, View at the top. Each tab opens groups of commands (icons) used for formatting, inserting charts, formulas, etc.
Tools (icons/buttons): The small buttons inside each tab group (e.g., Bold, Italic, Borders, Sort, Filter, Sum). Used to quickly perform actions without going through menus.
Formula bar: The long box just above the sheet, showing what is inside the active cell (value or formula). Used to type, edit, and view formulas and data.
Worksheets: Excel automatically opens a workbook with 2-3 sheets (tabs at the bottom). Users can rename, duplicate, add, or delete sheets as needed for organizing data.
Cells: A cell forms at the intersection of a column (letter like A, B, C) and a row (number like 1, 2, 3), identified by its address such as A1 (column A + row 1). This unique address locates any cell on the worksheet.

Feature	Rows (numeric bar)	Columns (alphabetic bar)
Labels	1,2,3.. are the rows.	A,B,C,.. are the columns.
Total	There are total 1048576 rows.	There are total 16384 columns.
Adjustment	You can inc/dec any row height also.	You can inc/dec any column width also.
Navigation	You can see first /last row by Ctrl + ↓ ↑	You can see first/last row by Ctrl + ↓ ↑

Wrap Text helps text to adjust in a cell in professional and organized way. Resize rows and columns to fit text around the image/object.

Merge & Center combines adjacent cells into one larger cell and centers the content, mainly used for creating titles or headers spanning multiple columns.

Conditional Formatting automatically applies colors, icons, or data bars to cells based on rules like values, dates, or duplicates, helping visualize trends and outliers quickly.

Pivot Table & Chart summarizes large datasets by grouping, counting, summing or averaging data dynamically; charts visualize these summaries for reports and dashboards.

Slicer: Used to filter data visually. It makes it faster & easier to filter tables, pivot tables, pivot charts, and cube functions.

Timeline: Used to filter data interactively. It makes it faster & easier to select time periods in order to filter Pivot tables/ Pivot charts

FORMULA BAR:

Key Rule: Always start formulas with “=” (e.g., =A1+B1) to perform calculations.
LOOKUP– Searches for a value in a row or column and returns a matching value from the same position in another row/column.
VLOOKUP (Vertical)- Searches for a value in the first column of a table, then returns a value from the same row in a specified column.
HLOOKUP (Horizontal)- Searches for a value in the top row of a table, then returns a value from the same column in a specified row.
Name Manager – It shows a list of all named cells and ranges (e.g. Sales) in the workbook and lets you add, edit, or delete them.
Define Name – It is used to give a meaningful name to a cell or range (e.g., Sales instead of A1:A10). It makes formulas easier to read and remember, e.g. =SUM(Sales).
Create from Selection – Automatically creates names for ranges based on headings (top row, left column, etc.).
Trace Dependents – It draws arrows from cells that feed into the active cell’s formula (where the value is coming from).
Trace Precedents – It draws arrows to cells whose formulas depend on the active cell (where the value is used)
Remove Arrows – Clears all trace arrows added by Trace Precedents/Dependents.
Show Formulas – It switches the sheet view between formula results and the actual formulas in cells. It is useful when checking or teaching formulas.
Evaluate Formula – Evaluate Formula shows how Excel calculates a formula step by step. You click Evaluate repeatedly to see each part of the formula resolved, which helps in debugging.
Watch Window – Allows you monitor values of selected cells even when those cells are on another sheet or far away. It is useful for large workbooks to see key cells change without scrolling.

Get & Transform Data (on Data tab) opens Power Query to imports, cleans, and reshapes data from files/web/sources before loading into Excel Sheets. Get Data launches the source selector with these main options:

From Table/Range converts existing Excel data range into a Power Query table for cleaning steps, keeping original data untouched while creating editable preview.
From Text/CSV imports .txt, .csv files, automatically detecting delimiters and data types, then opens editor to split columns, trim spaces, change formats.
From Web pastes URL or scrapes tables from websites, extracting structured data from HTML tables or API responses into query editor for filtering.
Recent Sources shows last 12 imported files/connections for quick re-access without reconfiguring paths or credentials.
Existing Connections lists all previously created Power Query operations and external links within current/opened workbooks, allowing reuse without recreation.

Queries & Connections Pane- manages data refresh from external sources and reusable transformations created in Power Query. On clicking on this option a side panel will open showing two tabs:

Queries tab- displays all Power Query operations with preview thumbnails, load status, last refresh time, and transformation step counts. Right-click offers Edit (reopen editor), Refresh (update data), Delete, Duplicate, Load To (choose sheet/pivot/model), Properties (background refresh settings), and Advanced Editor (view/edit M code).
Connections tab- manages direct database/file links (ODBC, SQL Server, Access, folders) showing credentials status, connection strings, and refresh options. Edit Connection refreshes authentication, breaks links to external files, or changes source paths.
Workbook Links- section warns about external dependencies (other Excel files, databases) with Update/Update Values/Break Link buttons to control automatic refreshing when source files change location or ownership.

Sort & Filter rearranges data alphabetically/numerically or hides rows matching criteria using dropdown arrows.

Text to Columns splits one column of text into multiple columns by delimiter (comma, space) or fixed width.

Flash Fill auto-detects patterns in your typing to fill columns intelligently (e.g., extracting first names).

Data Validation: – It allows you to control what type of data is valid to be enter into that particular cell. You can restrict data entry to specific types like whole number, dates, text length, etc. It helps to present errors by giving alert or warning signals.

Consolidate: – It is the process of combing data from multiple sources/worksheets into a single report. Useful when you have data spread across different sheets.

Data Model links multiple tables for complex analysis without merging sheets, enabling relationships and advanced pivot calculations.

What-If Analysis: – Allows you to adjust outcomes by inputting values in the data. Helps to understand efforts of charges in your data.

Scenario Manager: To compare different sets of input values and see how they affect the result.
Goal Seek: To find out the input value needed to achieve a specific goal or target in a formula.
Data Table: To see how changing one or two variables in your formulas will affect the result.

Forecast Sheet generates predictive charts/tables from time series data using trend analysis.

Outline: – allows you to organize and summarize large sets of data by creating a hierarchical structure.

Groupmeans creating collapsible sections from selected rows/columns so you can hide/show details with +/- buttons.
Ungroupmeans removing those collapsible sections to flatten the data back to normal view.
Subtotal is the most powerful feature which automatically insert summary rows for groups of related data. Useful for quickly subtotal, counts, averages, etc.

Freeze Panes locks header rows/columns visible while scrolling through large sheets.

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