How to Store and Retrieve Data in Microsoft Excel for the iPad
- 2/6/2015
Excel provides a practical yet powerful data management framework. You can store massive quantities of data within this deceptively simple structure, analyze that data, and present the resulting information in a variety of structures. The key ingredient in all of these tasks is the original data. The final presentation or analysis is only as good as the data it’s based on. This “garbage in, garbage out” rule is true for many business tools, programs, and processes; Excel is no exception.
A worksheet can contain a vast amount of static and calculated data. You can structure worksheet content so that data is presented correctly on the screen and when printed, and you can format data so that it is easier for readers to locate and understand specific categories of information.
This chapter guides you through procedures related to creating workbooks and worksheets, managing worksheets and worksheet elements, populating worksheets with text or numeric data, modifying worksheet structure, and formatting data for presentation. It also includes procedures for efficiently displaying, filtering, and sorting data to provide specific information and perspectives.
Create workbooks
As with other Office files, you can create a blank Excel workbook or a workbook that contains content from a template. Excel templates focus more on purpose than on appearance; they provide structure and functionality for specific types of information.
The templates that are available from within Excel for iPad range from a simple to-do list to a complex financial report and include expense reports, sales reports, household budgets, marketing budgets, time sheets, invoices, loan calculators, and ledgers. Most of the templates include basic calculations; some include advanced calculations and visual representations of data. Even if these don’t meet your specific needs, they can serve as a good example of ways to collect, track, process, or present data.
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Only the templates that are installed with Excel for iPad are available from the New page. Other workbook templates are available for Excel Online, and hundreds are available from within the desktop versions of Excel. If you create a workbook based on one of these templates and save the workbook to a shared storage location, you can then open and edit the workbook on your iPad.
You can access templates for Excel Online from your iPad by using Safari or another web browser to visit store.office.live.com/templates/templates-for-Excel.
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To create a blank Excel workbook
- In the Backstage view, on the File bar, tap New.
- On the New page, tap New Blank Workbook.
To create a workbook from a built-in template
- In the Backstage view, on the File bar, tap New.
- Locate and then tap the thumbnail of the workbook template you want to use.
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The processes of creating workbooks from Excel and Excel Online templates for use in Excel for iPad are the same as those of creating documents from Word and Word Online templates for use in Word for iPad. For step-by-step instructions, see “Create documents from templates” in Chapter 4, “Create professional documents.” For general information about creating files in Excel for iPad and other Office apps, see “Create, open, and save files” in Chapter 3, “Create and manage files.”