The workbook window

When a workbook is open, the window is laid out like this, from top to bottom:

1. The title bar — the workbook’s name and the commands for the whole file.
2. The ribbon — tabs of commands, grouped by task.
3. The formula bar — the name box, the function button and the contents of the current cell.
4. The find bar, when it is open.
5. The grid — the cells of the current sheet, with pictures, shapes, charts, slicers and timelines floating over them.
6. The sheet tabs.
7. The status bar.

A side panel can open on the right of the grid: the function browser, the Watch window, the Queries panel or the Comments panel. Only one is open at a time.

Title bar

From left to right:

On macOS the window’s own close, minimise and zoom buttons sit at the far left of this bar.

The More menu

Ribbon

The ribbon has these tabs: Home, Insert, Page Layout, Formulas, Data, Review and View. Two more tabs appear only when they apply:

• Table, between Data and Review, while the current cell is inside a table.
• Chart, while a chart is selected.

Each tab is divided into labelled groups. Many controls are icons; hover over one to see its name and, where there is one, its keyboard shortcut. Controls with a small arrow open a menu of choices.

To fold the ribbon away and leave only the tab names, click the tab that is already open, or click the chevron at the right end of the tab row (Collapse the ribbon). Click any tab, or the chevron again (Show the ribbon), to bring it back.

The Undo and Redo buttons are at the right end of the tab row, next to the chevron, so they are available whichever tab is open. Their tooltips name the action they will undo or redo — for example Undo Bold — or say Nothing to undo.

A control that is switched on — bold text, a visible pane, a protected sheet — is highlighted. A control that can’t be used right now is greyed out, and its tooltip usually says why.

Home tab

See Entering and editing data, Formatting cells and Rows, columns and sheets.

Insert tab

Page Layout tab

See Printing and exporting, Themes and backgrounds and Pictures, shapes and text boxes.

Formulas tab

See Writing formulas and Auditing formulas.

Data tab

See Sorting and filtering, Data tools, Importing data with queries, What-if analysis and Outlines and grouping.

Table tab

Appears while the current cell is inside a table.

See Tables, slicers and timelines.

Chart tab

Appears while a chart is selected.

See Charts and sparklines.

Review tab

See Notes and comments, Protecting sheets and workbooks and Checking a workbook before you share it.

View tab

See Views, zoom and split panes.

Formula bar

The formula bar runs across the top of the grid.

• Name box — on the left. It shows the address of the selection, such as B4 or A1:C9. Type an address and press Enter to jump there. A whole column (B:D) or row (2:5) works too. Anything that isn’t an address shows ”…” is not a cell reference. in the status bar.
• Insert a function — the button with a formula icon next to the name box. It opens and closes the function browser panel.
• Contents box — the rest of the bar. It shows what the current cell holds: the formula (starting with =) for a formula cell, or the value as typed — a date shows as its underlying number. When the cell is empty, the box reads Enter a value, or = to start a formula. Click in the box to edit the cell there, and press Enter to confirm the entry and move to the cell below. Formulas are shown in a monospaced font.

Grid

The grid shows the current sheet. Column letters run across the top and row numbers down the left. The top-left corner, where the headings meet, selects all the data on the sheet.

What you may see on the grid:

Scroll with the mouse wheel or trackpad. Hold Shift while turning a mouse wheel to scroll sideways.

Sheet tabs

The sheet tabs run along the bottom of the window.

• The + button at the left (Add a sheet) adds a new sheet.
• Click a tab to show that sheet. The current sheet’s tab is highlighted.
• A coloured dot on a tab is the sheet’s tab colour.
• A lock on a tab marks a sheet that is hidden in the file.
• Right-click a tab for Rename…, Delete, Move left and Move right.

See Rows, columns and sheets.

Status bar

The status bar is the strip along the bottom of the window.

Read the status bar after any command that seems to do nothing: most commands that can’t run say why there.

Side panels

Close a panel with the × button at its top right, or by clicking the button that opened it again.