1.2: Vocabulary and Screen Components

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Student Learning Outcome: The student will understand the components of a spreadsheet. (Students: You may want to print this page for reference. This information is also in the EXTRA HELP folder with the same name.

Document window This feature takes up most of screen. It displays the title bar, the document commands and tabs as well as sets of columns and rows with gridlines. (These additional features are described below.)
Title Bar Located at the very top of the window, this feature shows the name of the document and type. When you save a document, the name of that document will display in this area.
Quick Access Toolbar : Puts commonly used commands such as Save, Undo on a permanently visible tollbar. It is located in the top left corner of the window.
Ribbon. This is the area below the Title Bar and the Quick Access Toolbar that contains tabs, groups and some galleries.
Tabs . Tab names appear above the top of the Ribbon. Each tab name introduces a new Ribbon. The tabs are single words that are all uppercase. When the tab is active, a thin line appears on the top and down both sides of the tab name.
Groups . As each tab is selected, related commands appear in the ribbon and are arranged in groups. Each group has a name which is show within the vertical line marks. For example. If you press the HOME TAB, the ribbon displays the following groups: Clipboard, Font, Alignment, Number, Styles, Cells and Editing. Each of these groups are broken down into elements that are related to those titles. For example, in the Clipboard group are icons with names such as paste, cut, copy, and format painter. The groups and icons will be explain when your lessons begin.
Dialog Box Launcher. Located in each group, to the left of the name of the group is a tiny square box with an arrow head pointing to the right corner of that tiny square. This is the dialog box launcher. When you click on that square, a pull down menu appears. This menu is ALL the possible commands for this group. The most frequent used commands are on the ribbon itself; however, when you use the dialog box launcher you will see additional related commands.

Quick Access Toolbar: Contains icons for Save (CTRL+S); Undo (CTRL +Z); Redo (CTRL+Y); Customize Quick Access (to add more commands).

Tabs: Home, Insert, Page Layout, Formulas, Data,, View, Review and Format. The HOME tab is selected.

Title Bar: Shows name of document and type.

Dialog Box Launcher: Tiny square box with an arrow head point to bottom right corner.

Groups: (With HOME tab selected): Clipboard, Font, Alignment, Number, [Styles, Cells & Editing Groups (not shown in this diagram)

Ribbon: Located below Title Bar

Groups: Related commands for each tab contained between vertical lines. Show are HOME tab groups called Clipboard, Font, Alignment, and Number groups.

Dialog Box Launchers: Tiny square box with an arrow head point to bottom right corner. (Shown for Font, Alignment and Number groups.

Mouse Pointer As the mouse is moved around the Spreadsheet Window, the mouse takes on different pointer shapes and directions.
Zoom Slider In the lower right hand corner on the blue bar, there is a horizontal line with a minus on the left side and a plus on the right side. To the right of this horizontal line is a percentage notation. In the center of the horizontal line is a small rectangular box. When you put your mouse pointer on this rectangular box and move it to the right, the print on your screen enlarges (and the percentage will increase). Moving the rectangular box to the left, reduces the size of the screen (and the percentage will lower). This operation is called ZoomingIn or ZoomingOut. This feature allows you to better view a portion of your worksheet making the font easier to see without changing the actual font size (Zooming Out). Additionally, to see the entire screen if the more columns have information in them than what appears in the given window, you can reduce the size of the screen (Zooming In).
Worksheet Window. This contains a grid of columns and rows. The worksheet window of a spreadsheet can contain a total of 1,049,576 rows and 16,348 rows (See information about columns and rows below).
Columns. Below the ribbon are columns which are labeled A, B, C, etc. and then start again with AA, BB, CC, etc. and continue on. A column letter is one indicator where you are on the spreadsheet.
Rows. Along the left side each row is labeled with a number. This number is the second indicator of where you are on the spread sheet. .
Cell This is the intersection of a row and column. For example A1 would be the intersection of column A and row 1. Cells can contain text, numbers, formulas, or a combination of all three.
Cell Pointer . A dark rectangle that outlines the cell you are working in. Also called the Active Cell.
Cell address . The location of the intersecting rows and columns.
Name Box . This feature is located under the ribbon on the far left side of the screen and above the column label indicates the position of the mouse pointer. It will record the cell address in this box.
Formula Bar . Moving to the right of the Name Box, there is a bar with an “X:, a checkmark, and the letters “fx” (more on this bar later. However, the next clear bar is called the formula bar. Formulas put into the work sheet will appear here if the cell that contains the formula is active.
Sheet tabs . These are found at the bottom of the worksheet grid. (It is a tab that says “Sheet 1.”) More sheets can be added as needed. You can switch from one sheet to another in a workbook. By default, a workbook file contains one worksheet, but you can have as many as 255 sheets in a workbook.
Scroll Bars . These allow you to move around in a worksheet that is too large to fit on the screen. The horizontal scroll bar is located above the zoom slider. The vertical scroll bar is to the extreme right of the worksheet grid.
Status Bar . This bar is located to the right and on the same bar as the zoom slider.
Mode Indicator . This feature is located in the lower-left corner of the status bar and provides additional information about certain tasks. When a worksheet is first opened, the mode indicator indicates “READY.”
Range . If you click and hold the mouse button and drag it down, then release the mouse button, you have selected a range. For example, if you click in cell B1 and continue to hold down the mouse button to B14, you have selected a range. When a range is selected, the status bar displays “average”, “count” (or number of items selected), and” sum” of the selected cells as a quick reference. (If there are no values in the cells, “average”, “count”, and “sum” do not appear?)
Backstage view . By clicking the FILE tab, you will open a page that displays the Backstage view. The Backstage view offers many commonly performed tasks such as opening and saving a file, printing and previewing a document, defining document properties, sharing information, and exiting a program. You can return to your active document by pressing the Back Arrow button.

INDEX of Window Components (Listed by Page number first, followed by item number)

Backstage View, 3-23

Cell, 2-13

Cell Address, 2-15

Cell Pointer, 2-14

Columns, 2-11

Dialog Box Launcher, 1-7

Document Window, 1-1

Formula Bar, 2-17

Groups, 1-6

Mode Indicator, 2-21

Mouse Pointer, 2-8

Name Box, 2-16

Quick Access Toolbar, 1-3

Range, 2-22

Ribbon, 1-4

Rows, 2-12

Scroll Bars, 2-19

Sheet Tabs, 2-18

Status Bar, 2-20

Tabs, 1-5

Title Bar, 1-2

Worksheet Window, 2-10

Zoom Slider, 2-9

Spreadsheet Components. Authored by: Fran Wells. License: CC BY: Attribution