The workbook is your collection of data, tabulations and graphs for a specific project. The workbook can consist of a number of worksheets where you key in your data. You may wish to group data logically onto separate worksheets.

For instance, if you are creating a departmental budget for the current year, your workbook might be called budgetcur.xls. (Excel automatically adds the .xls extension for all Excel files). You can then name each worksheet in the workbook a different name which represents a unit within the department. More about naming and saving your workbook later.

Parts of the Workbook

It is important to get familiar with your Excel layout so that you can make the most of your workbooks.

active sheet	The active sheet will be displayed in white, and the title tab at the bottom of the sheet will be in bold type.
active cell	The active cell is the place in your worksheet where you enter information; it is highlighted with a black border, and its address is shown in the name box at the far left side of your toolbar.
column heading	Columns are labeled with letters
row heading	Rows are labeled with numbers, starting with 1
formula bar	Located below the icon buttons at the top of the window, the formula bar is a field that allows you to enter or edit data in a cell. The formula bar will display the formula for a selected cell instead of the results of that cell. Notice that the formula bar has an equals sign (=) to the left of the data entry cell.
tool bar	The tool bar displays buttons that you can click on to do frequent tasks such as formatting, summation, chart design and editing.

Naming and Saving Your Workbook

It's always good policy to save your workbook soon after you open it and begin entering data. A flicker of the lights can spell disaster if you haven't saved your work.

You'll want to name your workbook something that is relevant to your assignment so that you can quickly recall and locate the title. Incorporating dates by using numbers in the file name can also be useful when trying to decide just which file you wish to work with. For example:

File Content	Workbook Name (filename)
Budget for 1998	budget98.xls
Budget for 1999	budget99.xls
Fall Semester 1999 Grades	grdfal99.xls

The following exercise will assist you in naming your workbook:

Exercise: Naming and Saving Your Workbook Click on the diskette icon button or locate Save As on the File pull-down menu. Using the Save In drop-down menu, select the drive where you want to save your work. Click on the folder that you want to save the workbook in.** Name the workbook file in the File Name field. Click on the Save button.

**If you need help with understanding file folders and organization, visit the Introduction to Windows 95 on-line tutorial.

By default, Excel will automatically save the workbook as an Excel file, with a file extension of .xls. If for some reason you need to change the file type, click on the Save as type drop-down menu found in the Save As dialogue box and select the appropriate file type.

Naming Your Worksheet

Now that you have named your workbook, you may want to name the sheets in your workbook so that it is easier to locate specific sheets. Naming your sheets is quick and easy and provides you with a tab-like effect for identifying your sheets. The following exercise will show you how to name your sheet:

Exercise: Naming Your Worksheet Double-click on the sheet number tab at the bottom of the worksheet. When the text is selected, type over the text so that you replace the sheet number with a title of your choice. Press Enter on the keyboard or click once on your left mouse button.