Page 102 - Excel 2013 All-in-One For Dummies

84 Designer Spreadsheets
Finalizing your workbook design
After you’ve more or less planned out where everything goes in your new spreadsheet, you’re ready to start establishing the new tables and lists. Here are a few general pointers on how to set up a new data table that includes simple totaling calculations:
✦ Enter the title of the data table in the first cell, which forms the left and top edges of the table.
✦ Enter the row of column headings in the row below this cell, starting in the same column as the cell with the title of the table.
✦ Enter the row headings down the first column of the table, starting in the first row that will contain data. (Doing this leaves a blank cell where the column of row headings intersects the row of column headings.)
✦ Construct the first formula that sums columns of (still empty) cell entries in the last row of the table, and then copy that formula across all the rest of the table columns.
✦ Construct the first formula that sums the rows of (still empty) cell entries in the last column of the table, and then copy that formula down the rest of the table rows.
✦ Format the cells to hold the table values and then enter them in their cells, or enter the values to be calculated and then format their cells. (This is really your choice.)
When setting up a new data list in a new worksheet, enter the list name in the first cell of the table and then enter the row of column headings in the row below. Then, enter the first row of data beneath the appropriate column headings. (See Book VI, Chapter 1for details on designing a data list and inputting data into it.)
Opening new blank workbooks
Although you can open a new workbook from the Excel screen in the Backstage view when you first start the program that you can use in build- ing a new spreadsheet from scratch, you will encounter occasions when you need to open your own blank workbook from within the Worksheet area itself. For example, if you launch Excel by opening an existing workbook that needs editing and then move on to building a new spreadsheet, you’ll need to open a blank workbook (which you can do before or after closing the workbook with which you started Excel).
The easiest way to open a blank workbook is to press Ctrl+N. Excel responds by opening a new workbook, which is given a generic Book name with the next unused number (Book2, if you opened Excel with a blank Book1). You