Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program that allows you to store, organize, and analyze numerical data. The program operates on data entered in cells of a table. Each cell may contain either numeric or text data, or the results of formulas that automatically calculate and display a value based on the contents of other cells.
Microsoft Excel is perhaps the most widely used application by the business community. It is a spreadsheet application, which means that it can work with data in tabular form. Each table is made up of cells which are organized into rows and columns.
Benefits Of Using Microsoft Excel
Below are some of the benefits of using Ms. Excel;
Time-saving
You can use Microsoft Excel to keep track of your time. For example, if you charge clients by the hour, you can easily put in their name or company name and then the time that you spent working for them.
Sort your table by any column
Create a new table that contains only selected rows from an existing table. For example, all orders are sent to a particular customer.
Display totals for numeric columns
Create formulas that automatically perform calculations on several other cells in the table (for example, add up all hours worked by each employee).
Data sorting
Data in tables can be sorted and filtered according to the criteria you specify. This makes it very easy to manipulate large amounts of data by selecting only the information you need for your purposes. For example, you can sort all data based on a particular column, such as sorting all sales orders by amount.
Create charts
Graphs and charts can be created from tabular data in Excel. This makes it easy to visualize your data and show trends or patterns in it that may not otherwise be apparent.
Create lists
Excel also allows you to use lists of data in some operations, such as creating drop-down menus for users to select options when entering data into a table.
Features Of Using Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is a very powerful and complex application. The following are some of the features that make it so powerful.
Data entry
Excel makes it easy to enter data into cells. You can enter data by typing or you can use the fill handle to copy (or fill) data from one cell to another. The fill handle is a feature that copies data in an upward or downward pattern. Once you have entered your data, you can edit any data that has been entered incorrectly.
You can also use the AutoFill feature to automatically fill a column or row with a series of numbers, letters, days, months, or years.
Text formatting
Every cell has the ability to display text in various sizes, styles, and colors. You can also change the alignment of text within cells and combine text from different cells into one cell. This means you could put something like “John Doe” in one cell and then format each name separately from within the same cell.
Numeric formatting
Each cell has the ability to format its contents as currency, date/time values, fractions, percentages, decimals, etc.
Charts
Microsoft Excel also has many features that will allow you to create charts and graphs from data that is in your spreadsheet.
Columns
Spreadsheets are comprised of columns (labeled A through IV) and rows (numbered 1 to 65,536). Each column cell is identified by its letter, followed by its row number. For example, ‘A1’ refers to cell A1, which is the top-leftmost cell in a spreadsheet. Cells can be populated with data, formulas or functions.
Formulas
Formulas use mathematical expressions to perform calculations on data contained in other cells within a spreadsheet. For example, you can enter the formula ‘= B5 / A6’ into one cell and the result will be calculated automatically when you enter values into cells B5 and A6. Formulas always begin with an equal sign (=).
Functions
Functions work like formulas but they have predefined commands; they are usually entered by clicking on them in a menu. For example, instead of entering the formula ‘= B5 / A6’ you can enter ‘= SUM (B5:A6)’ to sum all values between cells B5 and A6.
Excel has many different functions built-in which you can use within formulas and functions or directly to perform actions such as financial calculations.
Also Read; Major Benefits of Using Google Sheets
Conclusion
Microsoft Excel is a tool that every business operator can use and it can boost your productivity. It is beneficial to know how to use this tool in your daily tasks as it can help you organize your files, data, calculations and other tasks in the office.
