What a spreadsheet is for in everyday Canadian life

A spreadsheet is a tool for lists and numbers. You may already keep those lists on paper, in a notebook, or in a phone note. A hall volunteer might write hours people worked each day. A farm household might jot down feed, fuel, and grocery amounts in Canadian dollars. Those lists work — until you need a total, a sorted list, or a clear copy to share.

Excel is Microsoft's spreadsheet program. Microsoft's basic-tasks page says it works well for simple calculations and for tracking almost any kind of information. The key is a grid of cells. Each cell can hold a number, text, or a formula. You group cells in rows and columns so you can add the numbers up, sort or filter the list, put it in a table, or show it in a chart.

You do not need a huge file or a finance job. A one-week hours list with seven rows is a real spreadsheet. A five-line household list in CAD is a real spreadsheet too. The grid keeps each piece of information in its own box, so totals and labels stay lined up when you add a row.

The Government of Canada's Skills for Success describe Digital as the ability to use digital tools to find, manage, apply, create, and share information. One official example is creating spreadsheets, and the same page names Excel as a common digital tool. Skills for Success also name Numeracy, which includes checking whether a result makes sense. This course practises both.

If an hours total says you worked 400 hours in one week, the sheet did the math you typed — it did not notice that the number is unlikely. Later lessons will show you how to check a total. For now, the purpose is a clear list, in one place, that you can total and share without rewriting it by hand.

Microsoft calls an Excel file a workbook. A workbook holds one or more sheets (people also say spreadsheets or worksheets). You can add more sheets to the same workbook, or start a new workbook to keep one set of information separate. A good habit is one workbook for one purpose — for example a hall hours file, not a mix of hours, recipes, and a neighbour's phone numbers.

Each sheet is a grid. Columns have letters (A, B, C). Rows have numbers (1, 2, 3). A cell is one box where a column and a row meet. Microsoft's basic-tasks page uses this example: cell A1 is in the first row of column A. Cell B9 is column B, row 9. That address is how you and Excel name a place on the sheet.

A cell can hold:

• Text, such as Mon, Community hall setup, or Milk 2 litre.
• A number, such as 6 hours or 5.49 dollars.
• A formula, an instruction that starts with = and asks Excel to calculate something. You will write formulas later.

The sheet tabs sit along the bottom of the window. Your practice workbook has three tabs: Hours, Household, and Practice. The active cell — the one you are working in — has a thicker border. When you type, the text also appears in the formula bar near the top. That bar is useful later, when a cell shows a total and you want to read the formula behind it.

You do not have to fill the whole sheet. Empty cells are fine. What matters is that each column has one kind of information (a day, an amount, a note) and each row is one item or one day. That layout lets Excel add, sort, and chart your list later.

This is a basics course. You will open a workbook, move around the grid, type text, numbers, and dates, and format a list so other people can read it. You will write simple formulas that start with =, use AutoSum and AVERAGE, fill or copy a formula, and lock a cell reference when it should stay put. You will sort and filter a list, make a simple table, make a basic chart, and save, print, or export a PDF without sharing private information.

This course will not teach PivotTables, Power Query, macros, or advanced analysis. Those skills are useful later. We stay with the skills most learners need first.

This course is also not tax help, payroll help, or bookkeeping training. When a later lesson uses a sample extra-rate column (for example a GST-style extra on a household amount), the rate is a practice number only. It is not the rate you must use, and it is not advice for your tax return or your pay. Sample hours and pay-stub-style figures are examples too.

You do not need to buy a new computer. A home, work, library, or council machine with Excel is enough. Excel for the web can be a backup, but some tools (such as Quick Analysis on Windows desktop) may look different or may not appear. If a button is missing, use the matching ribbon command this course also names.

There is no video. Each click-path has written steps and an interactive walk-through. Lesson quizzes are practice; the graded finish is the final exam after Lesson 10.

Open the practice workbook Excel-Basics-Practice-Sample-Only.xlsx if you have it, or look at the sheet layouts printed at the start of this course.

1. Find the three sheet tabs: Hours, Household, and Practice.
2. On Hours, read down column A (the days) and column B (the hours). Notice that Thursday and Sunday are 0, not blank. A zero is information: that day was off. A blank cell can mean “we have not entered anything yet.”
3. On Household, find the milk row and notice the word *litre* and the amount 5.49.
4. On Practice, read the note in A1. This blank grid is yours for later try-it tasks.

If you cannot download the file yet, write the Hours list on paper in three columns. You will type it into Excel in Lesson 3.

What lists do people in this group already keep on paper? Which ones would be easier to total or share if they lived in a spreadsheet?