SpreadSheet Vocab

Workbook

A Microsoft Office Excel workbook is a file that contains one or more worksheets that you can use to organize various kinds of related information. To create a new workbook, you can open a blank workbook. You can also base a new workbook on an existing workbook, the default workbook template, or any other template.

Cell Reference

A cell reference refers to a cell or a range of cells on a worksheet and can be used in a formula so that Microsoft Office Excel can find the values or data that you want that formula to calculate. In one or several formulas, you can use a cell reference to refer to: Data from one cell on the worksheet.

Column

A column is a vertical series of cells in a chart, table, or spreadsheet. Below is an example of a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with column headers (column letter) A, B, C, D, E, and F. As you can see from the picture below, column H is the highlighted column in red and the selected cell D8 is in column D.

Range

A range is a group of selected cells which can be next to one another (adjacent) or non-adjacent. Ranges are identified by cell references e.g. A1:B6 or a name e.g. sales_table.

Row

A row is the range of cells that go across (horizontal) the spreadsheet/worksheet. Rows are identified by numbers e.g. row 1, row 5. Examples of use. A row might contain the headings of a table e.g. product ID, product name, price, number sold.

Alignment

Alignment means where the text is places within the cell. Cell text can be aligned left, right, or in the center. Excel also has a feature where you can merge and center text across several cells.

Worksheet

An Excel worksheet is a single spreadsheet that contains cells organized by rows and columns. A worksheet begins with row number one and column A. Each cell can contain a number, text or formula. A cell can also reference another cell in the same worksheet, the same workbook or a different workbook.

Active cell

An active cell refers to a cell in Excel spreadsheet that is currently selected by clicking mouse pointer or keyboard keys. Remember only one cell can be active cell at a time. An active cell is bounded by a heavy border around it.

Chart

An embedded chart is a chart object that can be inserted into a worksheet. A chart sheet is a chart that is a sheet of its own. To insert an embedded chart use the Insert option within Excel or the spreadsheet program you are using.

Autosum

AutoSum is a function in Microsoft Excel and other spreadsheet programs that automatically enters the appropriate formula or function into your spreadsheet.

Function

Formulas in Excel are useful to perform various mathematical, statistical, and logical operations. You can type in a formula (though you have to be sure it's exactly right) or you can use Excel's preset formulas called functions.

Cell

The data is usually text, a numeric value, or a formula. The entire spreadsheet is composed of rows and columns of cells. A spreadsheet cell is analogous to a field in database management systems. Individual cells are usually identified by a column letter and a row number.

Format

This post is part of a series called Spreadsheets for Finance. Getting Started With Numbers on OS X. When you want to format cells in Microsoft Excel, you can do it manually, by selecting fonts, font color and size, background colors and borders, or you can do the formatting quickly and automatically using styles.

Formula

Using formulas in spreadsheets can allow you to quickly make calculations and get totals of multiple cells, rows, or columns in a spreadsheet. In the picture below is an example of a Microsoft Excel formula =SUM(A$1:A$3), which adds the total of cells A1,A2, and A3. In this formula, SUM is the function of the formula.