Adapt exercise steps

This book contains many images of the Excel user interface elements (such as the ribbon and the app window) that you’ll work with while performing tasks in Excel on a Windows computer. Unless we’re demonstrating an alternative view of content, the screenshots shown in this book were captured on a horizontally oriented display at a screen resolution of 1920 × 1080 and a magnification of 100 percent. If your settings are different, the ribbon on your screen might not look the same as the one shown in this book. As a result, exercise instructions that involve the ribbon might require a little adaptation.

Simple procedural instructions use this format:

1. On the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, click the Chart button.

If the command is in a list, our instructions use this format:

1. On the Home tab, in the Editing group, click the Find arrow and then, in the Find list, click Go To.

If differences between your display settings and ours cause a button to appear differently on your screen than it does in this book, you can easily adapt the steps to locate the command. First click the specified tab, and then locate the specified group. If a group has been collapsed into a group list or under a group button, click the list or button to display the group’s commands. If you can’t immediately identify the button you want, point to likely candidates to display their names in ScreenTips.

Multistep procedural instructions use this format:

1. To select the paragraph that you want to format in columns, triple-click the paragraph.

2. On the Layout tab, in the Page Setup group, click the Columns button to display a menu of column layout options.

3. On the Columns menu, click Three.

On subsequent instances of instructions that require you to follow the same process, the instructions might be simplified in this format because the working location has already been established:

1. Select the paragraph that you want to format in columns.

2. On the Columns menu, click Three.

The instructions in this book assume that you’re interacting with on-screen elements on your computer by clicking (with a mouse, touchpad, or other hardware device). If you’re using a different method—for example, if your computer has a touchscreen interface and you’re tapping the screen (with your finger or a stylus)—substitute the applicable tapping action when you interact with a user interface element.

Instructions in this book refer to Excel user interface elements that you click or tap on the screen as buttons, and to physical buttons that you press on a keyboard as keys, to conform to the standard terminology used in documentation for these products.

When the instructions tell you to enter information, you can do so by typing on a connected external keyboard, tapping an on-screen keyboard, or even speaking aloud, depending on your computer setup and your personal preferences.