Getting Started in Excel or Spreadsheets: Its Interface

07/14/26 •0•0

Let's switch applications now and see how Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets works

Written byLeon

Translated byEditorial

Revised byEditorial

Access your Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel app and open a new file. Notice that it divides its tabs in a way similar to Microsoft Word or Google Docs. Right away we see the tabs: "file", "edit", "view", "format" and "tools"; the purpose of each one was explained in the article about Word. But now we see something new: the "Data" tab.

Unlike the Microsoft Word app, Excel has a very different purpose. Its goal is not to worry about the layout of a document, nor to make it look pretty. Excel's goal is to store and process data.

The table

Software designed to organize data already starts differently from its siblings. Data is best stored in "spreadsheets" or "tables". Notice what can be seen right on the home screen of a spreadsheet:

First, notice that the file is divided into squares. The squares are classified according to their column and row. At the top we see letters: "A", "B", "C"... this is how we classify Excel columns. The first column is column A; while the second column is B. On the left we see numbers: "1", "2", "3"... this is how we classify Excel rows. The first row is row 1; while the second row is 2. In the figure above, I clicked the quadrant located in the first column and first row, that is, located at A1; that is why we see "A1" marked above everything.

Excel is therefore a giant table made up of these squares, each point marked as if we were playing Battleship. Each of these squares is called a "cell". We can write inside each cell and Excel will store that information.

Tabs

Below we already see other information:

"List", "Pivot Table 1", "Sheet3" and "Example" are called tabs. When you click a tab, you will go to a new table. The advantage of tabs is that you can have 1 organized table in each one, making the information you are storing much clearer, instead of putting everything in just 1 place scattered across different cells.

By right-clicking a tab, you will open that tab's settings. There you can rename it, delete it, or more. The "+" button on the left is the button for adding new tabs to the document.

Functions

When you click a tab as in the figure below, you will see a blank space next to "Fx":

Click that space. You will be able to start writing inside the cell. You can write just one piece of data, or you can go further and write a function. To indicate that you are writing a function and not just text, you must start by writing the equals sign in the cell: "=". For example: "=2+2" will generate the function that adds 2 to 2, thus returning 4 in the cell.

Selection, reference, and autofill

In Excel, we can reference other cells. Knowing that there is data you will use elsewhere, instead of writing it again, you can simply indicate the data by selecting it.

Below we see an example: instead of writing "=1+3", I decided to write "=A1+B2". This will make the cell add what is in cell A1 to what is in cell B2. Thus, it will also return 4. If cell A1 changes, the final result will also change since they are now linked.

Sometimes you do not want to select only 1 cell. In these cases, you can drag the selection wherever you want. Another option is also to click the column or row names; when you click them, it will select the entire column or entire row. To select an entire spreadsheet, you can click the square between the A of the first column and the 1 of the first row.

Excel also allows autofill. That is, you click a set of cells in sequence such as: "1", "2" and "3" or "Monday", "Tuesday" and "Wednesday"; and the app's own intelligence will verify that your data has an order. When you "drag" these cells to fill the following cells, Excel will complete them for you, continuing with: "4", "5" and "6" or "Thursday", "Friday" and "Saturday".

Themes, colors, and styles

Excel has a range of style options to make your spreadsheets prettier. You can change the font color, the cell color, and even change the currency type to match your country.

Merge cells

When selecting more than 1 cell, you will see a button appear as below:

When you click this button, you will merge the cells, that is, make them into just 1. We usually do this to make spreadsheets prettier and more pleasant to view. I do not recommend merging cells; the goal of Excel is to be practical. When you merge, you unformat the spreadsheet, since it will no longer be true that it has the same number of rows and columns; this may cause the file to become corrupted in other programs when exported.

Exercises

1. Explore Excel, make a spreadsheet with your monthly expenses, coloring the most concerning expenses red. Make it as beautiful as possible. Then add up all your expenses.