Microsoft Excel is a calculation program. It allows you to perform calculations for many different purposes.
What can you do with it?
Excel is one of the programs in Microsoft’s Office suite. The program is used by both companies and individuals.
You can do everything with it, such as keeping records and meter readings, but also more creative goals such as weight loss or running schedules. You can combine text and numbers, for example in the form of tables. You can determine yourself which calculations should be performed with the numbers. For example, you can calculate the average of your expenses in your administration, or add and subtract what you spent on what. You can also let Excel create beautiful charts and diagrams.
Excel is mainly intended for calculation. But because you can organize data very clearly in Excel, it also lends itself, for example, to an overview of contacts with address data.
Worksheet with cells
Excel works on the basis of cells, which are in a large worksheet. Each cell has a name, which consists of a letter and a number. The rows all have a different number, and the columns all have a letter. Cell A1 is the first cell at the top left, next to it you will find B1 and so on. A standard worksheet contains thousands of columns and rows, so you have plenty of room to include your data. Each “sheet” of cells is called a “sheet,” and all the sheets together are called a workbook. You can give the sheets different names to distinguish them from one another. You can also add sheets if you don’t have enough.
Numbers and words
In each cell you can type data, words or numbers. You can use the numbers in calculations. Excel does the calculations on the basis of formulas. They are very easy to use, and you can specify which numbers are used in the calculation. To spice things up a bit, you can merge cells, color them and add borders so that, for example, a table looks more like a separate whole, rather than a series of numbers and words.
What do you need?
If you want to use Excel, you need this program. It is part of the Office suite from Microsoft. The latest version is Office 2019. It also contains other programs, such as Word for word processing and PowerPoint for creating slide presentations. The package is available for purchase through computer stores and shops on the Internet. The Office package is not cheap, the suggested retail price from Microsoft (its maker) is 149 euros. For those who do not need all those other programs, Excel 2019 can also be purchased separately.
Can’t it be cheaper?
If you think the purchase of Excel is too big an investment, it can of course be cheaper to free. In that case, you do not opt ​​for Excel, but for an alternative program. Many people opt for a package such as Open Office. That is a free package with programs that are similar to those of Microsoft Office. The functionalities are about the same, only the program looks different. You can download that package via http://www.openoffice.org/nl/
In addition, also Excel online a good alternative to Office Excel. You do need a Microsoft account to use Excel online. You can read how to create this in the article ‘Create a Microsoft account’.
In this article, we are only going to talk about Excel. Many new computers come with a free trial.
What do you have to pay attention to?
Excel is a program that is widely used in the business world to keep records. For individuals it is initially a ‘scary’ program because they do not know it or do not think they can use it. In practice it is great. However, it is not a self-explanatory program. That is why we refer you to the article ‘Excel: the basics’. Once you have taken the first steps, you will quickly discover that there is a lot to be gained from Excel. For example, keep track of the meter readings to automatically calculate your consumption.