QuickBooks 2021 All-in-One For Dummies

Appendix A

A Crash Course in Excel

In this appendix, I review the basic Microsoft Excel skills that you may need to get the most benefit from some chapters in this book. If you plan to download and work with the sample workbooks from my website, https://stephenlnelson.com, you need some of the skills that this primer covers.

If you’ve used Excel much — even for just a few weeks — you probably possess all these skills. Nevertheless, if you’re even a teensy bit concerned about whether you have the right skills, take the time to read this appendix.

Note: I used Excel 2016 and Windows 10 when writing this appendix. If you’re using an earlier or later version of Excel, you may notice some slight differences between the images that appear here and what you see on your monitor. If you need detailed guidance, pick up Excel For Dummies, by Greg Harvey (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.).

Starting Excel

You can start Excel in two ways, neither of which requires a PhD in physics. You can click the Start button and then click the Excel tile that appears on the Start menu’s list of programs, or you can open an Excel workbook.

If you’re going to use the Excel tile, you simply find the Excel tile (you may need to scroll around the Start menu’s list of tiles) and then click it.

To start Excel by opening an Excel workbook, you choose the workbook from a menu or in a folder window. You commonly see documents, including Excel workbooks, listed on menus — both Windows menus and Program menus. If Windows ...