Datasheet

Bragging about the Ribbon
The Ribbon (shown in Figure 1-3) radically changes the way you work in
Excel 2007. Instead of having to memorize (or guess) on which pull-down
menu or toolbar Microsoft put the particular command you want to use, their
designers and engineers came up with the Ribbon that always shows you all
the most commonly used options needed to perform a particular Excel task.
The Ribbon is made up of the following components:
 Tabs for each of Excel’s main tasks that bring together and display all
the commands commonly needed to perform that core task
 Groups that organize related command buttons into subtasks normally
performed as part of the tab’s larger core task
 Command buttons within each group that you select to perform a par-
ticular action or to open a gallery from which you can click a particular
thumbnail — note that many command buttons on certain tabs of the
Excel Ribbon are organized into mini-toolbars with related settings
 Dialog Box launcher in the lower-right corner of certain groups that
opens a dialog box containing a bunch of additional options you can
select
To get more of the Worksheet area displayed in the program window, you
can minimize the Ribbon so that only its tabs are displayed — simply click
Minimize the Ribbon on the menu opened by clicking the Custom Quick
Access Toolbar button, double-click any one of the Ribbon’s tabs or press
Ctrl+F1. To redisplay the entire Ribbon, and keep all the command buttons
on its tab displayed in the program window, click Minimize the Ribbon
item on the Custom Quick Access Toolbar’s drop-down menu, double-click
one of the tabs or press Ctrl+F1 a second time.
Tabs
Dialog box launcher
Groups
Command buttons
Figure 1-3:
Excel’s
Ribbon
consists
of a series
of tabs
containing
command
buttons
arranged
into different
groups.
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Part I: Getting In on the Ground Floor
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