Excel Tutorials
The ribbon holds every command you'll ever click in Excel, organized into tabs and groups. This lesson uses the Event Planner workbook from Excel Foundations, free to download below.
Follow along in the same file used in the video. No email required.
The ribbon is the toolbar strip across the top of Excel, organized into tabs like Home, Insert, Page Layout, Formulas, Data and Review. Each tab groups related commands together, so instead of digging through menus you click the tab for what you're trying to do and the buttons you need are right there.
You don't need to memorize where everything lives. Once you know which tab a task generally falls under (formatting is on Home, charts are on Insert, formulas have their own tab), finding the right button becomes second nature.
Step-by-step, matching the video above.
Across the top you'll see tabs like Home, Insert, Page Layout, Formulas, Data, Review and View. Click any tab to switch the commands shown below it.
Each tab is split into labeled groups, like Font, Alignment and Number on the Home tab. Related commands are clustered together so you can scan for what you need.
Some groups have a tiny arrow in the bottom corner. Click it to open a full dialog box with more options than the ribbon buttons show.
Press Alt and small letters appear over every tab and command. Press the letter shown to jump straight to that command without touching your mouse.
Right-click any ribbon command and choose Add to Quick Access Toolbar to pin your most-used commands to the small toolbar above the ribbon, so they're always one click away.
Click the small arrow in the top-right corner of the ribbon, or press Ctrl+F1, to hide it temporarily and show more of your spreadsheet.
A quick reference for which tab holds what, so you're not hunting for it later.
Fonts, colors, alignment, number formatting, and basic cell editing tools, the tab you'll use most.
Charts, tables, PivotTables, images, shapes and hyperlinks all live here.
Margins, orientation, print area and themes, everything related to how a sheet looks when printed or exported.
The full function library, Name Manager, and tools for tracing and auditing formulas when something's not calculating right.
Sort, Filter, data validation, and tools for pulling in external data. This is where Filter actually lives.
Spell check, comments, and Track Changes for reviewing a shared workbook.
Zoom, gridlines, and Freeze Panes all live on this tab.
The Tell Me / Search box (the light bulb or magnifying glass at the top) can jump you straight to a command by typing what you're trying to do, faster than clicking through tabs.
New users often stay on Home and miss powerful tools like Filter, PivotTables and formula auditing that live on separate tabs.
If your ribbon disappears, click any tab name once, or press Ctrl+F1, to restore it.
Click a chart, table or image and a new "contextual" tab appears with tools just for that object. If you don't see a tool you expect, make sure the right thing is actually selected first.
Every ribbon click has a purpose. Updoot skips straight to it.
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The ribbon is the tabbed toolbar across the top of Excel that holds every command, organized into tabs like Home, Insert and Data, with related commands grouped together underneath each tab.
Click any tab name once, or press Ctrl+F1, to restore a collapsed ribbon.
Yes. Right-click the ribbon and choose Customize the Ribbon to add, remove or reorder tabs and groups, or right-click any command to pin it to the Quick Access Toolbar.
Press Alt to reveal keyboard shortcuts for every tab and command, or use the Tell Me search box to type what you're trying to do.
No. Google Sheets uses a simpler menu bar instead of a ribbon, though many of the same commands exist under different menus like Format, Insert and Data.
Selecting an object like a chart, table or image brings up a contextual tab with commands just for that object. It disappears again once you click away.
The Data tab, in the Sort & Filter group.
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