Part 1~Spreadsheet Basics
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Part 1~Spreadsheet Basics
1 ~ Introducing spreadsheets
Spreadsheets were developed to store, analyse and manipulate data. They are now
commonly used for working with sets of data containing both text and numbers.
Every spreadsheet consists of a large grid of cells to store data which can then be
manipulated using formulae
Each cell has an address which consists of the column letter and row number
Many spreadsheet documents contain several individual sheets that can
reference values in other sheets in the file
Spreadsheets can also produce graphs and other data visualisations
1.1 - Choosing the correct tool
The University provides support for two spreadsheet tools:
Microsoft Excel, part of Microsoft Office.
Google Sheets, one of Google’s cloud applications.
The two applications share many common features, and similar functionality, however
Google sheets are particularly useful when working collaboratively.
When necessary, data can easily be moved between them.
This guide coves both tools, highlighting the differences and similarities so that users are
able to pick the best tool for the task at hand.
1.2 - Creating and Saving
New Excel spreadsheets are created from the File tab of the application, and
must be saved using File > Save As…, at which point the location of the file is
also chosen. You must also remember to save changes to the spreadsheet.
When creating a new Google spreadsheet, it is recommended that in Drive
you first locate the folder in which it is to reside before choosing New >
Google Sheets. Google sheets are saved repeatedly and automatically
without any action by the user.