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Excel Basics · Interactive lesson 1 of 12

Excel Fundamentals

Everything else in this course sits on top of a handful of basic moves: knowing what you're looking at, selecting the right cells, and getting data in and out safely. Start here if a blank grid is unfamiliar territory.

BeginnerInteractive

Screens shown: Excel for Microsoft 365 for Windows. Practice works in any browser.

Written tutorialExcel Basics: Workbooks, Cells and Ranges

Skill check

Before reading on, try these. If you can do all five without help, skip straight to the guided practice below.

  • Point to the difference between a workbook and a worksheet.
  • Click a single cell, then select a range of six cells at once.
  • Type a value into a cell and edit it without retyping the whole thing.
  • Undo a change, then redo it.
  • Explain what Save As does differently from Save.

Comfortable with all five? Jump to M2 — Formatting. Otherwise, keep going.

Teach

What you're learning

1 Workbook
The whole file. It can hold several sheets at once, shown as tabs along the bottom.
2 Worksheet
One grid inside a workbook — rows, columns, cells. A workbook usually starts with one sheet, but you can add more.
3 Rows & columns
Rows run left to right and are numbered down the side; columns run top to bottom and are lettered across the top.
4 Cells & ranges
A cell is one box, e.g. B3. A range is a rectangular group of cells, written A1:C3.
5 Selecting cells
Click for one cell, drag (or Shift+click) for a range, click a header to grab a whole row or column.
6 Entering & editing data
Click a cell and type to enter something new. Double-click — or select it and press F2 — to edit what's already there instead of overwriting it.
Delete vs. Backspace
Delete clears the selected cell(s) entirely. Backspace only works on one cell at a time and drops you straight into edit mode on whatever's left. (Not shown in the diagram below — it's an action, not a fixed screen part.)
7 Undo / Redo
Ctrl+Z undoes the last action; Ctrl+Y (or Ctrl+Shift+Z) redoes it. Excel remembers many steps back, not just one.
8 Save vs. Save As
Save (Ctrl+S) overwrites the same file. Save As makes a new file — the original is left untouched, which is the safer choice before a risky edit.
9 Multiple worksheets
The tabs along the bottom of a workbook. Double-click a tab to rename it — every formula that referenced it updates automatically.
Tip: a cell's address is just its column letter and row number squeezed together, like B3 — column B, row 3, no space between them.

Where to find it in Excel

Workbook window›Sheet tabs›Formula bar

Swipe sideways to see the whole window.

  1. 1Workbook: the whole file. Its name is shown at the top of the window.
  2. 2Worksheet: the grid of rows, columns and cells.
  3. 3Column letters run across the top; row numbers run down the left side.
  4. 4A range: a block of cells, here C5:E7.
  5. 5The selected cell has a green border. The Name Box shows its address, B3.
  6. 6Formula bar: shows and edits what is in the selected cell. F2 edits in the cell itself.
  7. 7Undo (Ctrl+Z) and Redo (Ctrl+Y).
  8. 8Save (Ctrl+S). Save As is under File › Save As (F12).
  9. 9Sheet tabs: double-click a tab to rename it; + adds a sheet.

Rendered view of Excel for Microsoft 365 (Windows). Ribbon layout can differ slightly on Mac, Excel for the web or a narrow window.

Guided practice

Below is a tiny employee table. Click a name to change it, add a new employee, delete the row you just added, then rename the sheet tab underneath — the exact sequence from the practice exercise.

🧑‍💼 Employee Table — click a name to edit it
Click any name in column A — it turns into a text box you can type into. Press Enter to save it.
Sheet1
← click the tab to rename this worksheet
Tip: selecting a cell and pressing Delete only clears its value — the formatting you applied stays put. To wipe both, use Home → Clear → Clear All.

Real-world exercise

Build your own roster

Open a blank sheet (or imagine one) and create a small employee table with columns for Name, Department, and Start Date. Then, using only what you practiced above:

  1. Change one employee's name.
  2. Add another employee as a new row.
  3. Delete a row you no longer need.
  4. Rename the worksheet tab to something more useful than "Sheet1."

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