Here's how to use Excel version 4 for the IBM PC and Mac. Other versions are similar.
Copy Excel to the hard disk
Excel comes on floppy disks. To use Excel, you must copy it from those floppy disks to your hard disk. Here's how.
IBM Turn on the computer without any floppy in drive A.
Start Windows (by typing ``win'' after the C prompt). You'll see the Program Manager Window.
Choose Run from the File menu. The computer will say ``Command Line''.
Excel comes on five 5¬-inch high-density floppy disks. Put Excel Disk 1 in drive A. Type ``a:setup'' (and press ENTER).
If your Excel floppy disks were never used before, the computer will ask you to type your name. Type your name, press the TAB key, type the name of your company (if any), and twice press ENTER.
Press ENTER five more times.
The computer will say, ``Please insert the following disk . . . Disk 2''. Put Excel Disk 2 in drive A and press ENTER. When the computer tells you, do the same for Excel Disks 3, 4, and 5.
The computer will say, ``Microsoft Excel Setup is Complete!'' Press ENTER.
Close the Microsoft Excel 4.0 window (by double-clicking its control box). Close the Program Manager window.
The computer will say ``Exit Windows''. Press ENTER.
Then turn off the computer, so you can start fresh.
Mac If your hard drive is external (instead of being inside the Mac), turn on the drive and wait 15 seconds (until you don't hear any more clicking).
Turn on the Mac without any floppy in the drive. You'll see the hard disk's icon.
Excel comes on seven floppy disks. Put Excel Disk 1 in the floppy drive. Double-click the Microsoft Excel Setup icon.
If your Excel floppy disks were never used before, the computer will ask you to type your name. Type your name, press the TAB key, type the name of your company (if any), and press RETURN.
Then press RETURN twice. The computer will say, ``Select Disk and Folder''. Click the New Folder button. Type ``Microsoft Excel'', and press RETURN. Click the Setup button.
When the computer tells you, insert Excel Disks 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.
The computer will say, ``Microsoft Excel Setup complete.'' Press RETURN.
Then shut down the computer by doing this procedure: choose Shut Down from the Special menu, turn off the computer, and turn off any external hard drive. Launch Excel
Here's how to start using Excel.
IBM Turn on the computer without any floppy in drive A. Start Windows (by typing ``win'' after the C prompt). The computer will say ``Program Manager''.
Double-click the Microsoft Excel 4.0 icon. You'll see another Microsoft Excel icon; double-click it.
(If your copy of Excel was never used before, the computer will say ``Introducing Microsoft Excel''. To reply, click the button marked ``Exit to Microsoft Excel''.)
Mac If your hard drive is external (instead of being inside the Mac), turn on the drive and wait 15 seconds (until you don't hear any more clicking).
Turn on the Mac without any floppy in the drive. Double-click the hard disk's icon. Double-click the Microsoft Excel folder's icon. Double-click the Microsoft Excel program's icon.
The grid's columns are labeled A, B, C, D, E, etc. How many columns do you see? That depends on what kind of screen you bought. . . .
A cheap Mac screen (9" mono or 12" color) shows columns A through F.
A cheap IBM screen (640-by-480 VGA) shows columns A through I.
A fancier Mac or IBM screen shows more columns.
The grid's rows are labeled 1, 2, 3, etc.
A cheap Mac screen (9" mono or 12" color) shows rows 1 through 16.
A cheap IBM screen (640-by-480 VGA) shows rows 1 through 18.
A fancier Mac or IBM screen shows more rows.
The grid is called a spreadsheet or worksheet.
Notice that the computer puts a box in column A, row 1. If you tap the right-arrow key, that box moves to the right, so it's in column B. If you tap the down-arrow key, the box moves down, to row 2. By tapping the four arrow keys, you can move the box in all four directions, to practically anywhere on the grid. Try it!
Each possible position of the box is called a cell.
The box's original position (in column A, row 1) is called cell A1. If you move the box there and then tap the right-arrow key, the box moves to column B, row 1; that position is called cell B1.
Just move the box from cell to cell, and put into each cell whatever words or numbers you wish! For example, suppose you run a small business whose income is $7000 and expenses are $5000. Those are the figures for January; the figures for February aren't in yet. Let's put the January figures into a spreadsheet, like this:
To begin, move the box to cell A2. Type the word Income. As you type that word, you see it appearing in cell A2. (It also appears temporarily in an input area at the top of the screen.)
Press the down-arrow key, which moves the box down to cell A3. Type the word Expenses.
Press the down-arrow key (to move to cell A4). Type the word Profit.
Move the box to cell B1 (by pressing the up-arrow three times and then the right-arrow once). Type the word January.
Press down-arrow. Type 7000.
Press down-arrow. Type 5000.
Press down-arrow again.
BACKSPACE key If you make a mistake while typing the words and numbers, press the BACKSPACE key to erase the last character you typed. (If your Mac doesn't have a key marked ``BACKSPACE'', press the key marked ``DELETE'' instead.)
The left-arrow key will not help you erase the last character you typed. Instead, the left-arrow key moves the box to a different cell.
Mac's alternate keys The Mac permits these shortcuts: instead of pressing the down-arrow key (which is hard to reach), you can press the RETURN key; instead of pressing the right-arrow key, you can press the TAB key.
Type a formula
Although the computer's screen shows the words you typed (Income, Expenses, and Profit), the computer doesn't understand what those words mean. It doesn't know that ``Profit'' means ``Income minus Expenses''. The computer doesn't know that the number in cell B4 (which represents the profit) ought to be the number in cell B2 (the amount of income) minus the number in cell B3 (the dollars spent).
You must teach the computer the meaning of Profit, by teaching it that the number in cell B4 ought to be the number in cell B2 minus the number in cell B3. To do that, move the box to cell B4, then type this formula:
