So you're looking to excel with Excel 2000, but when it comes to spreadsheets you're afraid you're all thumbs. Well, don't hang yourself by them (those thumbs) just because the newest version of the software seems overwhelming. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Microsoft Excel 2000 eases you into the world of worksheets.

Sherry Kinkoph has authored over 25 computer books for Macmillan Publishing over the past five years, including books for both adults and children. Her recent publications include How to Use Microsoft Office 97, Easy Office 97 Small Business Edition, and Sams Teach Yourself Quicken 99 in 10 Minutes. Sherry started exploring computers back in college, and claims that many a term paper was whipped out using a trusty 128K Macintosh. Today, Sherry's still churning out words, but now they're in the form of books, and instead of using a Mac, she's moved on to a trusty PC. A native of the Midwest, Sherry currently resides in Fishers, IN and continues in her quest to help users of all levels master the ever-changing computer technologies. You can e-mail Sherry at skinkoph@inetdirect.net.

Introduction. The New and Improved Excel 2000. Why Do You Need This Book? How Do You Use This Book? I. BASIC TRAINING. 1. Excel in a Nutshell. Spreadsheets: A Brief Retrospective. Starting and Exiting Excel. Working with Program Window Elements. What's New in Excel 2000? 2. File Fundamentals. Opening and Closing Files. Saving Files. Working with Multiple Files. Deleting Files. Finding Files. 3. Data Entry in a Dash. Dealing with Data. Editing Data. Speeding Up Data Entry. 4. The Wonderful World of Worksheets. Understanding Worksheet Structure. Navigating Worksheets. Naming Sheets. Adding and Deleting Sheets. Moving and Copying Sheets. Protecting Worksheets. 5. Help Me, Please! Using the Office Assistant. Using the What's This? Feature. Using Lotus 1-2-3 Help. Finding Excel Help on the Web. 6. Fine-Tuning Excel. Customizing Excel Toolbars. Customizing Excel Menus. Customizing How Excel Works. II. PUTTING EXCEL TO WORK. 7. Working the Wide-Open Ranges. What's a Range? Selecting Ranges. Branding Your Ranges. Working with Multilevel Ranges. 8. Concocting Formulas. What's a Formula? Get Your Operators in Order. Entering Formulas. Absolute Versus Relative Cell Addresses. Using Range Names in Formulas. Referencing Cells from Other Worksheets. 9. Functions: Fast Formulas for Fast Results. What's a Function? The Awesome AutoSum Function. Functions in Action. Entering Functions into Formulas. Useful Functions You Won't Want to Live Without. 10. Fixing Formula Problems. What's Wrong? Try an Audit. Common Error Messages and How to Get Rid of Them. III. WORKSHEET GROOMING. 11. Formatting for Fun or Profit. Performing a Data Makeover. How to Make Your Numbers Attractive. Do You Need an Alignment? AutoFormat: Easy Formatting for the Formatting Impaired. 12. Rearranging Your Worksheet Data. Changing the Worksheet Structure. Rearranging Data on the Worksheet. Seek and Ye Shall Find, and Then Ye Can Replace. 13. Getting Graphic. The World of Spreadsheet Art. Draw Your Own Art. Turning Words into Art. 14. Adding Borders and Backgrounds. Bordering on Borders. Here's a Little Background Information. 15. Printing and Previewing. Preview It All. Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Printing, and More. Setting Up with Page Setup. How About a Header or a Footer? Pondering Page Breaks. IV. CHARTING NEW TERRITORY. 16. Charts That Say It All. A Cornucopia of Charts. Jumping In with the Chart Wizard. The Lowdown on Chart Parts. 17. Formatting Charts. Using the Chart Toolbar. Changing the Chart Type. Formatting with the Format Dialog Box. Adding New Chart Elements. 18. Map It Out. All About Map Charts. Creating a Map Chart. Create a Pin Map. V. BUILDING AND ANALYZING DATABASES. 19. Build Your Own Excel Databases. The Dirt on Databases. Let's Build One Already! 20. Manipulating Your Data. I've Got a Database--Now What? A Sorting We Will Go. Pass Me That Filter. 21. All About PivotTables. What's a PivotTable? Creating Your Own PivotTable. Analyzing with Your PivotTable. 22. Seeking with Goal Seek. What's Goal Seek? Going One-on-One with Goal Seek. The Scenario Scene. VI. Nothing but Net. 23. Integrating Excel with Other Applications. Exploring the New and Exciting Clipboard Toolbar. To Link or to Embed? That Is the Question. Excel's Import/Export Business. Sharing via Email. 24. Creating Excel Web Pages. Excel and the Internet. Wandering the Web. Searching the Web from Excel. Downloading Files. Running a Web Query. 25. Using Excel on the Web. Creating a Web Page in Excel. Inserting Links. Windows 98 in a Flash. A Mouse in the Hand. When You Need a Menu. Windows Don't Have To Be a Pane! Let's Rap About Dialog! What the Scroll Is That? ? Speak Like a Geek. Index.