Excel Interface 1

Lesson 1: Excel Interface & File Tab Guide

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In Lesson 1, we will walk through how to start Microsoft Excel and become familiar with the basic Excel interface. We will discuss the title bar, window control buttons, and the file tab, as well as talk about how the Ribbon may look different depending on your screen size. I will also show you where to find the controls for minimizing, maximizing, and closing the Excel window, and point out changes in the interface for those who have used previous versions.

Navigation

Prev: Introduction
Next: Lesson 02

Keywords

TechHelp Excel, Excel interface, Excel ribbon, Excel window controls, start Excel, Excel title bar, Excel file tab, Backstage View, minimize maximize close buttons, Excel workspace, Excel menu, resizing Excel, Excel 2010, Windows Start menu

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Transcript

In lesson 1, we're going to begin by learning about the Excel interface. We'll learn how to start Microsoft Excel, we'll learn about the title bar, the window controls, and the file tab.

Let's begin by starting Microsoft Excel. I'm using Windows Vista, but the procedure is the same regardless of what version of Windows you're running.

I'll click on my Start button. You might see Microsoft Excel right here on the Start menu if you've used it recently. If not, come down and click on All Programs. Then find your Microsoft Office folder. I'll scroll down. There's Microsoft Office, open that up.

Now I have both Microsoft Office 2007 and 2010 on this computer because I still teach classes in both. But I want to find Microsoft Excel 2010. I will scroll up the list here until I find Microsoft Excel 2010 and then click on that to launch it. After a few seconds, Microsoft Excel starts up.

If you need more help navigating the Windows Start menu, I cover that in my Windows Basics class.

At first glance, Excel looks kind of scary. There's a lot of stuff on the screen. There are a ton of buttons and menu options and other settings that you can change. Do not be intimidated. We're going to cover the stuff that you need to know to use Excel in today's class. Once you get the hang of it, it really is quite easy to use.

Before we start actually using Excel, let's take a few minutes to go over the parts of the Excel interface so you know what you're looking at on the screen.

The menus that you see on your screen might be slightly different than what you see on my screen. That's primarily because this big menuing system that you see right here called the Ribbon is dynamic and it will change based on the size of your screen.

I've made my copy of Excel small to fit inside my video recording window. As you'll see, some of my menu groups like Styles and Cells here are compressed down. If I grab the edge of the window here, for example, and resize it to make it smaller, you can see that the Ribbon changes accordingly.

Likewise, if I make the window larger, you can see the buttons in the Ribbon expand so you can see more information on the screen at once. That's because the Ribbon is dynamic and it will change based on the size of your Excel window.

Do not worry about what all these different buttons do right now. I just want to make you aware that what you see in the video might not look exactly like your copy of Excel. That's fine. You should be able to find everything just fine.

Now let's talk about the different parts of the Excel interface. Across the very top of the window you'll see the title bar. Mine says Book1 - Microsoft Excel. It's called the title bar because that's the title of the current program, Microsoft Excel. Book1 is the name of the current workbook that we're using. Later on, when we learn how to save our workbook files, the name of your workbook will go across the top here.

In the upper right corner of the window, you'll see the window control buttons: minimize, maximize, and close. In Excel, unlike Microsoft Word, you'll see two sets of minimize, maximize, and close buttons. The top set of buttons are for Excel as a program. The bottom set of buttons are for the workbook inside of Excel. We'll talk more about this when we learn how to work with different workbooks. For now, we're pretty much going to stick with the top set.

The close button will close Excel down. The maximize button will make Excel fill the entire screen. The minimize button will move Excel down to your taskbar to get it out of the way for other programs. I cover using the maximize, minimize, and close buttons in my Windows Basics course.

The minimize button, for example, will send Excel down to your taskbar. Now you can see Excel is right down here on the taskbar. To restore it to a normal size window, click on it again. That will open it back up. If you want Excel to fill the entire screen, click on the maximize button. Now Excel fills my entire screen. You can't see the whole thing because it's larger than the video window. Notice how the Ribbon is now fully expanded.

To restore Excel back down to a normal size window, notice how the maximize button has changed to the restore down button. Click on that. That restores Excel to a normal sized window.

In the upper left corner, we have the new file tab. The file tab is where you're going to go to save your workbook, load up different workbooks, print your workbook, and access different Excel options. We'll see how some of these things work a little later on.

For those of you who might have used Excel 2007, you might remember the big round Office button. Microsoft replaced that in 2010 with the File tab. When you click on the File tab, it opens up this thing called the Microsoft Backstage View. You can access certain features like saving your file, opening a file, accessing recently used workbooks, and so on.

Intro

Quiz

Q1. What is the first step to starting Microsoft Excel if it is not visible in your Start menu?
A. Go to All Programs, find Microsoft Office, and then select Microsoft Excel
B. Right-click on your desktop and select New Excel File
C. Open Internet Explorer and search for Excel
D. Click on the Control Panel and search for Excel

Q2. What is the purpose of the title bar in Excel?
A. To display different formatting options
B. To show the Ribbon menu
C. To display the title of the current workbook and program name
D. To open new files

Q3. Which set of window control buttons should you use to minimize, maximize, or close the entire Excel program?
A. The middle set
B. The bottom set
C. The set in the upper right corner of the overall Excel window
D. The set in the lower left corner

Q4. What happens when you click the minimize button in Excel?
A. Excel opens a new blank workbook
B. Excel closes immediately
C. Excel is sent down to the taskbar
D. Excel maximizes to full screen

Q5. What is the Ribbon in Excel?
A. The area where you enter data into cells
B. The menuing system that holds buttons and tools, which adapts to window size
C. The name of Excel's help system
D. The area at the bottom showing your taskbar

Q6. What do you access by clicking the File tab in Excel?
A. The formulas bar
B. The Backstage View with options for saving, opening, printing, and settings
C. Formatting options for the selected cell
D. Sorting and filtering tools

Q7. What replaced the big round Office button in older Excel versions?
A. The Ribbon
B. The Quick Access Toolbar
C. The File tab
D. The Title bar

Q8. If you resize the Excel window and make it smaller, what happens to the Ribbon?
A. The Ribbon disappears completely
B. The Ribbon adjusts and some groups may be compressed
C. The Ribbon gets larger and takes more space
D. The Ribbon changes to a vertical position

Q9. In Excel, what is the name given to the current file you are working in before it is saved?
A. Document1
B. Spreadsheet1
C. Book1
D. File1

Answers: 1-A; 2-C; 3-C; 4-C; 5-B; 6-B; 7-C; 8-B; 9-C

DISCLAIMER: Quiz questions are AI generated. If you find any that are wrong, don't make sense, or aren't related to the video topic at hand, then please post a comment and let me know. Thanks.

Summary

Today's video from Excel Learning Zone is the first lesson where we'll start by getting familiar with the Excel interface. We'll discuss how to start up Microsoft Excel, take a look at the various parts of the interface such as the title bar and window controls, and introduce the file tab.

To open Microsoft Excel, head to the Start menu on your Windows computer. If you've used Excel recently, it may appear directly on your Start menu. If not, you can find it by navigating to the All Programs section, then locating the Microsoft Office folder and selecting the correct version of Excel you want to use. In my example, I have both Excel 2007 and 2010 installed, but today I'll work with Excel 2010. Opening the application may take a few seconds, but once it loads, you're ready to start exploring.

If you're not comfortable navigating through the Windows Start menu, I cover the basics of working with Windows in a separate Windows Basics class, so you can always refer to that for additional help.

At first glance, the Excel window might seem overwhelming. There are numerous buttons, menu options, and settings available. However, don't let this intimidate you. In this lesson, we'll focus only on the essential parts you need to use Excel confidently. Once you start working with it, you'll see it's much more approachable than it may appear.

Before we dive into actually using Excel, it's helpful to become familiar with the key components of the interface. The menus, buttons, and layout you see on your screen could differ slightly from mine. This is mainly due to the Ribbon interface, which is dynamic and will adjust based on your monitor's size and how large your Excel window is. For example, if you resize the Excel window to make it smaller, certain groups of options, such as Styles or Cells, may compress to fit the available space. Making the window larger will allow those groups to expand again, displaying more options at once. So, do not worry if your Ribbon looks a bit different from what you see here; you'll still be able to find all the necessary tools.

Now, let's break down the main parts of the Excel interface. At the very top of the window is the title bar. Here, you'll see the name of your open workbook (such as Book1) followed by Microsoft Excel. The title bar simply tells you what file and program you're currently working with. If you save your workbook with a different name in the future, that name will also appear here.

In the upper right corner, you'll find the window control buttons: minimize, maximize, and close. Unlike in Microsoft Word, Excel presents two sets of these controls. The upper set controls the Excel application as a whole, while the lower set operates on the individual workbook within Excel. For our purposes today, we'll focus on the top set of controls. The close button will exit Excel completely. The maximize button will adjust Excel to fill your entire screen, and the minimize button will temporarily hide Excel, sending it down to your taskbar. I explain these controls in more detail in my Windows Basics course. To bring Excel back after minimizing, simply select it from your taskbar. Maximizing will expand Excel to full screen, and you may notice the Ribbon becomes fully visible. If you want to return to a smaller window, use the restore down button (which replaces the maximize button when Excel is maximized).

On the upper left side of the window, you'll notice the file tab. The file tab is your gateway to saving and opening workbooks, printing, and accessing various Excel options. If you've used Excel 2007 before, you may remember the old round Office button in this position. For Excel 2010, Microsoft replaced it with this new file tab. Selecting it will open what is called the Backstage View, where you can manage files, access recent workbooks, and more.

We'll explore many of these tabs and features in detail in future lessons, but for now, this overview should help you get comfortable with locating and identifying the key elements of the Excel interface.

You can find a complete video tutorial with step-by-step instructions on everything discussed here on my website at the link below. Live long and prosper, my friends.

Topic List

Starting Microsoft Excel from the Windows Start menu
Overview of the Excel interface
Understanding the Ribbon menu system
Resizing the Excel window and its effect on the Ribbon
Identifying the title bar and current workbook name
Using window control buttons: minimize, maximize, restore, and close
Difference between program and workbook window controls
Using the File tab to access Backstage View
Saving, opening, and managing workbooks via the File tab

Article

To get started with Microsoft Excel, you first need to open the program. On most Windows computers, you will find it by clicking the Start button in the lower left corner of your screen. If you have used Excel recently, it might appear right at the top of your Start menu. Otherwise, click on All Programs, then scroll through the list to find the Microsoft Office folder. Open that folder, and then look for Microsoft Excel. Click on it to launch the program. After a few seconds, Excel will start and open a new workbook for you to use.

When you first open Excel, the amount of buttons and options can feel a bit overwhelming. There are lots of different features on the screen, but you do not need to know what everything does right away. As you get used to the program, you will find that it becomes much easier to use.

One of the main parts of the Excel window is called the Ribbon. This is the large area near the top of the screen that contains the different menus, buttons, and tools you will use to work in Excel. The appearance of the Ribbon can change a little depending on how large or small you make your Excel window. As you resize the window, the buttons on the Ribbon might shrink or grow to fit the space available. This is totally normal, and all the buttons are still there - they are just shown in a way that fits the size of your window.

Across the very top of the window, you will see the title bar. This is a horizontal bar that shows the name of the current workbook you have open, followed by Microsoft Excel. When you first open Excel, it might simply say something like Book1. After you save your work with a specific file name, that name will appear here instead.

In the upper right corner of the window are the window control buttons you may be familiar with from other Windows programs. You will see three buttons: minimize, maximize (or restore down), and close. The minimize button shrinks Excel and sends it down to your taskbar, which lets you get it out of the way while you use other programs. To bring it back up, just click on the Excel icon on your taskbar. The maximize button will make Excel take up your whole screen, giving you more room to work. When Excel is maximized, the button changes to the restore down button, which you can click to shrink Excel back to a more moderate window size. The close button will completely exit Excel.

You might notice that sometimes there are two rows of these window control buttons. The top row controls the whole Excel program window. The lower row, if visible, controls only the workbook you are working on inside Excel. Most of the time, you will only need to use the main (top) set of buttons.

In the upper left corner of Excel, you will see the File tab. This is a very important part of the interface. Clicking the File tab takes you to a special area known as Backstage View. Backstage View lets you do things like save your work, open other Excel files, print your workbook, and adjust Excel's options or settings. If you need to save your workbook, load a different file, or print something, you will usually start by clicking the File tab.

If you have used earlier versions of Excel, you might remember a big round Office button in the corner of the window. In current versions, this has been replaced with the File tab, which works in a similar way but is labeled more clearly.

Once you get comfortable with opening Excel and finding your way around the main parts of the interface, you will be ready to start learning how to use its main features, like entering data, creating calculations, and formatting your spreadsheets. For now, spend a little time familiarizing yourself with the Ribbon, the title bar, the window controls, and the File tab. This will help you feel more confident as you begin working with data in Excel.

Primary Topics

starting Excel, Excel interface, title bar, window controls, file tab, Ribbon behavior

Secondary Topics

Backstage View, workbook naming, resize window behavior