The Excel Window

When Dr. Helen Marsh asks to see English's annual total, James Okonkwo clicks F2 and reads the formula bar — the cell shows 50500 but the bar shows =SUM(B2:E2).

You cannot format currency or write SUM if you do not know where those commands live. The Ribbon groups every action by task. Data lives in the worksheet grid; commands live on the Ribbon.

Click a tab to see its commands. The Home tab is open by default.

On NorthgateBudget.xlsx, most early lessons stay on Home:

• Clipboard — Cut, Copy, Paste after copying a =SUM(B2:E2) formula
• Font — Bold on row 1 headers (Department, Q1 (£)…)
• Number — Currency (£) on B2:E6 after you type amounts
• Editing — Σ AutoSum for annual totals; Sort & Filter on Expenses later

The Formulas tab duplicates AutoSum — either path works.

The active cell has a thick green (or blue) border. Only one cell is active at a time.

Click any cell to make it active. Use arrow keys to move. Enter moves down; Tab moves right.

The column letter and row number of the active cell are highlighted. The name box shows its address — B3 means column B, row 3. Type B2 in the name box and press Enter to jump to English's Q1 cell.

Select B2:E2 (English's four quarters). The status bar may show Average and Sum without a formula — useful for a quick check. Only a cell formula like =SUM(B2:E2) is saved in the file.

A long formula such as =IF(F2>50000,"Review","OK") is hard to edit inside a narrow cell. You might mistype a quote and see #NAME?. Click the cell and edit in the formula bar — you see the full formula with room to fix quotes.