Workbooks, worksheets, rows, columns and cells

Hello students, welcome to Kwickprep. Your teacher says, type the marks in cell C five. Where exactly is that? Today we learn the building blocks of a spreadsheet: workbooks, worksheets, rows, columns and cells.

Let us go from the biggest to the smallest. A workbook is the whole file, like a notebook, for example Results dot xlsx. A worksheet is one page inside it, such as the sheet for class eleven A. A row is a line of boxes going across. A column is a line of boxes going down. A cell is one single box where a row and a column meet.

First, the workbook. A workbook is the complete file that you open and save. In Excel, it is saved with the dot xlsx extension. It holds one or more worksheets, like pages in a notebook. In recent versions of Excel, a new workbook starts with just one sheet, named Sheet one.

Next, the worksheet. A worksheet is one grid of rows and columns inside the workbook. The sheet tabs at the bottom let you switch from one sheet to another. The plus button next to the tabs inserts a new sheet. Double click a tab to rename it, for example to Term One.

Right click on a sheet tab to see more actions. Insert adds a new sheet, also done by the plus button. Rename changes the name, also done by double clicking. Delete removes the sheet, and this cannot be undone, so be careful. Move changes the order when you drag the tab. Tab colour helps you spot sheets quickly.

Now, rows and columns. A row runs across, from left to right, and a column runs down, from top to bottom. Rows are named with numbers, and columns are named with letters. In Excel, the last row is row one million forty eight thousand five hundred seventy six, and the last column is XFD. So a sheet has that many rows, and sixteen thousand three hundred eighty four columns.

What comes after column Z? The first twenty six columns are A to Z. After Z, Excel uses two letters, AA, AB, and so on up to AZ. Then it continues with BA, BB, and so on. With three letters, it goes all the way to the last column, XFD.

Now, the cell. A cell is the box where one row and one column meet. Every cell has an address, also called a cell reference, written as the column letter first and then the row number. So C five means column C, row five, which answers our opening question. The cell you are working in is called the active cell, and it has a dark border around it.

Pause and predict. You click the cell in column D and row twelve. What does the Name Box show? It shows D twelve, letter first. Twelve D is not a valid address, because the column letter always comes first.

A group of cells next to each other is called a range. It is written as the first cell, a colon, and the last cell. A one colon A five means five cells down column A. A one colon C one means three cells across row one. B two colon C four is a block of two columns and three rows, which is six cells.

Here are quick ways to move around a sheet. Arrow keys move one cell at a time, for example from B two to B three. Ctrl+Home jumps to cell A one at the top left. Ctrl with an arrow key jumps to the edge of your data. You can also type an address in the Name Box, like C five, and press Enter to jump there.

Finally, selecting. Click a column letter at the top to select the whole column. Click a row number on the left to select the whole row. Drag the mouse across cells to select a range. Ctrl+A selects the whole worksheet at once.

Let us revise. A workbook is the whole file, and a worksheet is one page inside it. Rows are named by numbers, and columns are named by letters. A cell address is the column letter and then the row number. A range is written as the first cell, a colon, and the last cell. The active cell is the one with the dark border.