Microsoft Excel course

Excel Lesson 1

Excel Basics: Workbooks, Worksheets, and Cells

First-time setup and success checks

Lesson goal in plain language: Open Excel, understand the worksheet grid, enter a simple workplace contact list, and save a workbook.

Prepare before step 1

  1. Open the correct application, website, or device screen and wait for its name to be announced.
  2. Open Excel manual and review the matching procedure if any command or term is unfamiliar.
  3. Use only fictional, public, disposable, or instructor-provided practice information. Make a copy before changing an important file.
  4. Read all numbered instructions once before performing them so you know the intended final result.

Commands used or referenced

Tab, Home, Insert+Up, Ctrl+S., Insert+Spacebar,, Alt+Q

For a plus-sign command, hold the modifier key, press and release the final key, then release the modifier. For a sequence, press and release each key in order. Stop after every command and listen for the result.

Work and verify

  1. Perform one numbered instruction and stop. Identify the active window, focused control, selected item, cell, slide, message, field, or device area before continuing.
  2. Compare the result with the lesson goal. A sound alone is not enough; verify the name, state, value, location, permission, or content.
  3. If the result is wrong, press Escape once to leave an unexpected menu, identify focus again, and use Undo only when the change is safely reversible.
  4. Save or synchronize at natural stopping points. Use the required filename Excel-Lesson-1.xlsx.
  5. Complete the “Before submitting” checklist from top to bottom. Correct missing items before marking the lesson complete.
  6. Close and reopen the practice item, or return to it from the product’s main screen, to prove you can locate and verify the result independently.

Success standard: Explain what each major command did, show the finished result, and recover from one harmless focus or navigation error without another person naming the next key.

Goal

Open Excel, understand the worksheet grid, enter a simple workplace contact list, and save a workbook.

Skills practiced

Step-by-step instructions

  1. Open Microsoft Excel and create a Blank workbook.
  2. JAWS announces the active cell address and its contents. The first cell is A1.
  3. Type Name in A1, press Tab, type Department in B1, press Tab, and type Extension in C1.
  4. Press Home to return to column A in the current row.
  5. In row 2, enter Jordan Lee, Training, and 4101. Use Tab after each entry.
  6. In row 3, enter Morgan Reed, Technology, and 4102.
  7. In row 4, enter Casey Hall, Employment, and 4103.
  8. Use the Arrow keys to review each cell. Press Insert+Up Arrow to hear the current line or cell information when useful.
  9. Press Ctrl+S. Choose a folder you can locate later.
  10. Save the workbook as Excel-Lesson-1.xlsx.

JAWS help: Press Insert+Spacebar, then J, to search JAWS commands when you forget a keystroke. Ribbon KeyTips can differ slightly by Microsoft 365 update, so Alt+Q search is included where useful.

Your assignment

Create a three-column employee contact list with the headers Name, Department, and Extension. Include at least five fictional employees.

Save the finished assignment as Excel-Lesson-1.xlsx.

Before submitting