Excel 2016 For Dummies

Chapter 2

Creating a Spreadsheet from Scratch

IN THIS CHAPTER

Starting a new workbook

Entering the three different types of data in a worksheet

Creating simple formulas by hand

Fixing your data-entry boo-boos

Using the AutoCorrect feature

Using the AutoFill and Flash Fill features to complete a series of entries

Entering and editing formulas containing built-in functions

Totaling columns and rows of numbers with the AutoSum button

Saving your precious work and recovering workbooks after a computer crash

After you know how to launch Excel 2016, it’s time to find out how not to get yourself into trouble when actually using it! In this chapter, you find out how to put all kinds of information into all those little, blank worksheet cells I describe in Chapter 1. Here you find out about the Excel AutoCorrect and AutoComplete features and how they can help cut down on errors and speed up your work. You also get some basic pointers on other smart ways to minimize the drudgery of data entry, such as filling out a series of entries with the AutoFill and Flash Fill features as well as entering the same thing in a bunch of cells all at the same time.

After discovering how to fill a worksheet with all this raw data, you find out what has to be the most important lesson of all — how to save all that information on disk so that you don’t ever have to enter the stuff again!

So What Ya Gonna Put in That New Workbook of Yours?

When you launch Excel 2016, an Excel 2016 start screen similar ...