Your first spreadsheet: cells, rows, and formulas
If a coworker hands you a spreadsheet, you do not have to understand every button before you begin. First, find the cell they named. A cell is one box in the grid. Columns have letters across the top, and rows have numbers down the side. The letter comes first: B3 is where column B meets row 3.
Find the right place to type
Imagine a short sales list. The amount in A1 is 100; A2 is 150; A3 is 200. Your supervisor wants the total next to the first amount. Click B1, the empty cell beside A1. A border or highlight shows which cell is selected. Check that highlight before you type; clicking a cell is different from changing it.
| Row | Column A: sale | Column B: result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100 | Put the total here |
| 2 | 150 | |
| 3 | 200 |
Save an entry with Enter
After selecting a cell, type a value and press Enter. Enter finishes the edit so the sheet can use the new value. If you type a formula but do not finish editing, a training step may still be waiting. In the practice round, you can use Enter, Tab, or click another cell to save your work.
Your first formula
A formula begins with =. In B1, type =SUM(A1:A3) and press Enter. SUM means add. The colon in A1:A3 means “from A1 through A3.” The result is 450 because 100 + 150 + 200 = 450. The formula belongs in B1 because B1 is where you want the answer to appear; the source numbers stay in column A.
=SUM(A1:A3) show? Add the three values to check yourself. It should show 35.Three checks before asking for help
- Check the selected cell. If the result belongs in B1, do not put the formula in A1 and erase the starting data.
- Check the equals sign. Without it, the sheet may treat
SUM(A1:A3)as ordinary text. - Check the range.
A1:A2leaves out row 3.A1:A3includes all three amounts.
In a real workplace, this same pattern adds sales, expenses, hours, or quantities. You do not need to memorize every formula at once. Read the task, locate the source cells, choose the result cell, then write the formula.
A second example: weekly hours
The same steps work for any list of numbers. A part-time worker records hours in column B: Monday 7.5 in B2, Tuesday 8 in B3, and Wednesday 6.5 in B4. To total the week, click B5, type =SUM(B2:B4), and press Enter. B5 shows 22. If Tuesday is corrected to 8.5, B5 changes to 22.5 by itself. That is the main advantage of a formula over a number typed by hand.
Words you will hear
- Cell: one box in the grid, named by column letter and row number, such as B3.
- Range: a block of cells written with a colon.
A1:A3means A1, A2, and A3. - Formula: anything typed into a cell that starts with
=and calculates a result. - Function: a named calculation inside a formula, such as SUM or AVERAGE.
- Formula bar: the long box above the grid. It shows what is really in the selected cell. The cell shows 450, but the formula bar shows
=SUM(A1:A3). - Header row: the top row of a table, holding labels such as “Name” or “Sales” rather than data.
- Sheet and workbook: a sheet is one grid, shown as a tab at the bottom. A workbook, or file, can hold several sheets.
Questions first-time users ask
Should I learn Excel or Google Sheets?
Either one. The grid, cell names, and everyday formulas in this guide work the same way in both. Google Sheets is free in a web browser with a Google account. Excel is common in offices and also has a free web version with a Microsoft account. Learn the ideas once and you can switch between them easily.
I made a mistake. How do I undo it?
Press Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on a Mac). You can press it several times to step further back. If you are still typing in a cell, press Esc to cancel the edit before it is saved.
How do I change a cell without retyping everything?
Double-click the cell, or select it and click in the formula bar. The cursor goes into the existing content so you can fix one character. In Excel, pressing F2 does the same.
Do I need to save?
Google Sheets saves automatically as you type. Desktop Excel saves automatically only when the file is stored in OneDrive or SharePoint with AutoSave turned on. Otherwise, press Ctrl+S often. The FreeJobTools trainer keeps your lesson progress in your browser on this device.
How do I copy a formula to the rows below?
Select the cell with the formula and drag the small square at its bottom-right corner (the fill handle) down. The spreadsheet adjusts the row numbers for each row, so =B2*C2 becomes =B3*C3 on the next row.
Try the guided “Quarterly Sales Total” lesson or continue to formulas used at work.
Related guides: totaling a column of sales · finding an average · all guides