Creating and using tables in Microsoft Excel

Your teacher, or maybe even your boss, asked you to prepare a report for him with some information. Naturally, you are thinking about preparing a data table. Not so long ago, in Microsoft Excel, this was called working with lists, and since version 2007, lists have been called tables.

So what’s the simplest way to create a table? Perhaps some of you are not very familiar with Excel, but I think that creating a table will not be difficult at all. And when you get to know tables better, you will understand that managing data in such a table is much more convenient.

Let’s start Excel. You need to decide in advance how many rows and columns you need. Select the desired area with the mouse.

Then on the tab Insertion (insert) click Table (Table) or keyboard shortcut Ctrl + T on keyboard. A dialog box will appear Create Tables (Creating a table), it will automatically contain the range you selected. Click OK.

If you have already entered data into Excel and want to make a table out of it, you can select that data and follow the same instructions.

If you think that these columns will need headers, then you need to uncheck the option My table has headers (Table with headers) at the bottom of the dialog box Create Tables (Creating a table).

Congratulations… You have created your own spreadsheet!

I have prepared a sales table for the outlet and now I need to present it to the club. We need to make sure she looks presentable and professional. As you work on your spreadsheet, you may have noticed that the Menu Ribbon has a new section of tabs. Table Tools (Working with tables). This section only appears when the active cell belongs to the table area. Let’s open a tab Design (Designer), with its help you can change the appearance of the table.

You can choose any color scheme you like. For a presentation, I would use something that really makes the numbers from the rows and columns stand out. Click the arrow button to open the entire style set. Since I like green, that’s what I chose. If necessary, you can customize the table format by clicking New Table Style (Create Table Style) at the bottom of the dropdown menu.

Not sure which option to choose? Preview styles by hovering over them. When you find the one you like, just click on it.

You can experiment with the settings if you want rows and columns to look completely different. On the tab Design (Constructor) section Table Style Options (Table Style Options) there are options in which you can check and uncheck the boxes – this greatly changes the appearance of the table. For example, you can select a column TOTALby checking the box next to the option Last Column (Last column). The number of combinations is really limitless.

Design your table – choose an image for it

Autofilter – sorting and filtering

Now the table looks much better! So, now we already have a pretty table. What else can we do with it? Did you notice the drop-down menu arrows in each of the table’s column headings? This indicates that an autofilter has been applied to the table, which gives us several useful features. Click on any of these arrows to open a menu with sorting and filtering tools.

I want to know where the most hot dogs were sold and where the least. To do this, click on the option Sort Largest to Smallest (Sort in descending order). Now we see what’s on the outlet (Game) 2 the most hot dogs were sold, and the information list has changed so that the data is now in descending order of hot dog sales.

Let’s imagine a situation where you get distracted and forget why the data in the table is arranged the way it is (sorted by a certain column). In this case, the drop-down menu button has an arrow that indicates that the data is sorted in ascending, descending order, or that a filter is enabled.

Adding new columns

So, you have a table, it’s nicely formatted, and suddenly you realize that you forgot to include two more columns in it!!! Not a problem… there is a special command for this too. On the tab Table Tools / Design (Working with tables / Constructor) there is a command Resize Table (table size). When you press this button, the previously set table area will be selected, now you need to stretch the selection to a new area, i.e. add more columns. Then press OK.

Voila! Two new columns have been added. I moved the TOTAL column to the edge of the table and updated the formulas to include the new data columns.

The new table looks like this! Columns added Burgers и Chips.

Create a chart

Now I am sure that my teacher (or boss) will be very pleased if I show them this table. But is there anything else that can be done? If you want to make a really strong impression on a teacher or boss, I would suggest presenting the data graphically, which will make the report more persuasive and attractive, and in some cases even help to determine the limit values.

You can create a chart that will display what needs to be shown. If you want to show only the sales of a specific position or all of them taken together, select this data for plotting. I want to plot only the results, because this data is important to me.

Open the tab Insertion (Insert). Before pressing any command, let’s select the data on which we want to build a graph. Later, when the chart is already built, you can change them at any time. I want to see the graph in the form of columns, so I choose the type Column (Histogram).

The information immediately turns into a chart, and all that remains is to customize its appearance. Personally, I advise you to stick to a table-like design. To do this, open the tab Design (Designer) and find a style with a suitable color scheme. You can also change the name of the chart by double-clicking on it in the chart.

Now we have our own table with a chart for a visual representation of the data!

Printing the created table

Let’s print our work so that it is always at hand.

We will make two different printouts. First, we will only print the table. To do this, first make sure that one of the table cells is selected, then on the tab Fillet (File) click Print (Print) or keyboard shortcut Ctrl + P.

ATTENTION! Instead of just clicking OK, select in the print range settings – Table (Table).

If you are not sure how all this will look like, click the button Preview (Preview). You will see exactly what will be printed. Now press OK – honor and praise if you print this in color!

Now we will only print the chart. To do this, click on the diagram and on the tab Fillet (File) click Print (Print) or keys Ctrl + P. This time you will need the print option Selected Chart (Chart highlighted) – This option should already be selected. If required, open a preview, and then click OKto send the chart to print.

That’s it guys! Tables are not that complicated and can be very helpful when you need to work with different types of data. If you want to work with tables but don’t feel comfortable with them yet, I suggest you experiment a little. Don’t be afraid to push commands or try something new… that’s how we learn. In addition, you always have a button to undo the last action (or a combination Ctrl + Z).

In this article, we discussed the basics of creating tables in Excel and even tried some of the possibilities. In the second part of this article, we’ll dive a little deeper into the benefits of tables and show you how to use all of these tools to make your life easier. You will learn some interesting tricks that will allow you to be head and shoulders above the rest.

Enjoy it!