How to create a spreadsheet

In order to create a spreadsheet you must either have a spreadsheet program installed on your computer capable of creating a spreadsheet or use an online service capable of creating a spreadsheet.

Note: Although some computers may come with a trial version of Microsoft Excel that can be used for a limited time to create a spreadsheet most Windows computers do not include a spreadsheet program. The only exception was the Microsoft Surface with Windows RT that is no longer available. There are also many versions of Linux that also include LibreOffice.

The most common and widely used spreadsheet program is Microsoft Excel. However, because of all of the different needs of users today we've tried to include all options that are available for creating a spreadsheet.

 

Create a spreadsheet with Google Sheets

Google Sheets is one of our favorite solutions for most users, especially new computer users because it is free, easy to access, supports collaborative editing, can open other spreadsheet files, and can be accessed from any device. To use Google Sheets follow the below steps.

1. Visit http://sheets.google.com/
2. If prompted, log into your Google account.
3. Click the green plus to start a new blank spreadsheet or select from one of the pre-made templates.

Once in a new spreadsheet any information can be added and as you continue to work Google automatically saves all changes. To name the spreadhseet click on "Untitled spreadsheet" in the top-left corner and enter a new name. You can also click the share button in the top-right corner to share the spreadsheet to work collaborately.

 

Creating a spreadsheet with Microsoft Excel

To use Microsoft Excel to open a document follow the steps below.

Open Excel in Windows

1. Open Microsoft Excel, if you're not sure how to open or find Excel skip to the next section.
2. Once Excel is open any new information can be entered.
3. Once complete or while working on the spreadhseet you can Save or Save trhough the File tab.

How to find Microsoft Excel in Windows

1. In Windows Click Start
2. In the search type "excel" and if Excel is installed should show in the results. For example, you may see Microsoft Excel 2010, Microsoft Excel 2013, or Microsoft Excel 365.

How to install Microsoft Excel

If Excel is not installed it would need to be installed on the computer. Today, the latest version of Excel is included in Office 365 and requires a subsription. You can download Office 365 from http://www.office.com/ which includes Excel, Word, and other Office products.

Tip: If you've purchased Office or Excel in the past, older versions of Office can also be installed on newer computers, even those running Windows 8 or Windows 10. Of course this is assuming you have the installation discs and your new computer has a disc drive.

Creating a spreadsheet with LibreOffice and OpenOffice

OpenOffice and LibreOffice Calc are other great free products that allows anyone to create spreadsheets on their computer and can even support most of the features in Excel. Below are the steps on how to run OpenOffice in Windows.

Open LibreOffice and OpenOffice in Windows

1. In Windows Click Start
2. Type calc and if OpenOffice or LibreOffice is installed you should see either OpenOffice Calc or LibreOffice Calc as an available option.

How to install LibreOffice or OpenOffice

LibreOffice can be downloaded from https://www.libreoffice.org/ and OpenOffice can be downloaded from https://www.openoffice.org/

Once either of these programs have been installed on the computer you can follow the steps above to create a spreadsheet.