File Menu Commands: Common Excel 2010 Hot Keys
To activate the Excel 2010 hot keys, you press the Alt key before typing the mnemonic letters for a particular task. The mnemonic letter is F (for File) for the commands on the File menu in the new Backstage View. All you have to remember, then, is the second letter in the sequence; unfortunately, not all of the second letters are intuitive, as you can see in the following table.
| Hot Key | Excel Ribbon Command | Function |
| Alt+FS |
File Menu→Save |
Saves changes to a workbook. When you first select this command for a new workbook, Excel displays the Save As dialog box |
| Alt+FA |
File Menu→Save As |
Display the Save As dialog box in the regular worksheet view where you can modify the filename, location where the file is saved, and format that the file is saved in |
| Alt+FO |
File Menu→Open |
Displays the Open dialog box in the regular worksheet view where you can select a new Excel workbook to open for editing or printing |
| Alt+FC |
File Menu→Close |
Closes the current workbook without exiting Excel |
| Alt+FI |
File Menu→Info |
Displays the Information panel in the Backstage View where you can see a preview of the current worksheet along with statistics about the workbook as well as protect the workbook, check the file for compatibility issues, and manage different versions created by the AutoRecover feature |
| Alt+FR |
File Menu→Recent |
Displays a list of the last 20 workbook files most recently opened for editing in Excel |
| Alt+FN |
File Menu→New |
Displays the Available Templates panel in the Backstage View box where you can open a blank workbook or one from a template |
| Alt+FP |
File Menu→Print |
Displays the Print panel in the Backstage View where you can change the print settings before sending the current worksheet, workbook, or cell selection to the printer |
| Alt+FD |
File Menu→Save & Send |
Displays the Save & Send panel in the Backstage View where you can send the current workbook as an e-mail attachment, save it in a new file format, or save it online to your company’s SharePoint site or your own Windows Live SkyDrive |
| Alt+FH |
File Menu→Help |
Displays the Support panel in the Backstage View where you get help using Excel, check for updates to the program, and get statistics about the version of Excel 2010 you’re running |
| Alt+FT |
File Menu→Options |
Displays the Excel Options dialog box in the regular worksheet view where you can change default program settings, modify the buttons on the Quick Access toolbar, and customize the Excel Ribbon |
| Alt+FX |
File Menu→Exit Excel |
Quits the Excel program and closes all open workbooks after prompting you to save them |

Excel Glossary
active cell
The worksheet cell that contains the cell cursor. Each worksheet can have only one active cell.

Excel Glossary
AutoComplete
A feature that looks at the entries that you make in a worksheet column and automatically duplicates them in subsequent rows whenever you start a new entry that begins with the same letter or letters as an existing entry in that column.

Excel Glossary
AutoCorrect
A feature that alerts Excel 2007 to common typing errors and your own typing errors (that you specify) and tells the program how it should automatically fix them for you.

Excel Glossary
AutoFill
An Excel 2007 feature that quickly creates a series of entries based on the data you enter in one or two cells. AutoFill works with days of the week, months of the year, yearly quarters; consecutive series of numbers; and formulas. You also can add your own custom AutoFill series.

Excel Glossary
AutoFilter
A feature in Excel 2010 that enables you to temporarily hide everything in a table except the records you specifically want to view, based on criteria you specify.

Excel Glossary
Backstage view
A new feature in Excel 2010 — accessible from the green File tab — that enables you to manage files and to view the properties and stats about the workbook file you're editing.

Excel Glossary
cell
The intersection of a column and row in the worksheet.

Excel Glossary
cell address
The cell identifier, determined by its column letter(s) followed by the row number, as in cell A1, the very first cell of each worksheet at the intersection of column A and row 1.

Excel Glossary
cell cursor
The black border that surrounds the active cell in a worksheet.

Excel Glossary
clip art
Readymade drawings, illustrations, and photos offered by Microsoft for use in Microsoft Office applications.

Excel Glossary
Compatibility Checker
A utility in Excel 2007 and 2010 that you use to find potential compatibility issues if you plan to save an Excel workbook file in the older Excel 97–2003 file format.

Excel Glossary
current cell
The worksheet cell that contains the cell cursor. Each worksheet can have only one current cell.

Excel Glossary
data table
A range of cells in a worksheet in which you enter a series of possible values that Excel plugs into a formula so you can perform what-if analysis on the data.

Excel Glossary
dialog box
A rectangular window with settings and commands that appears when you click a dialog box launcher or certain other commands on the Ribbon.

Excel Glossary
dialog box launcher
A small icon in the lower-right corner of a group of command buttons on the Ribbon that you click to access a dialog box with additional related settings and commands.

Excel Glossary
function
A part of a formula that takes a number of specific arguments and then returns a single value based on those arguments.

Excel Glossary
gallery
A drop-down list of thumbnail selections that appears when you click certain command buttons on the Ribbon.

Excel Glossary
group
A section of a tab on the Excel 2007 Ribbon that organizes related command buttons into subtasks normally performed as part of the tab's larger core task. The name of a group appears at the bottom of the group, such as the Font group on the Home tab.

Excel Glossary
hyperlink
Specially formatted text that anyone can click to jump to Web sites, move to other cells or workbooks, or create an e-mail message.

Excel Glossary
keyboard shortcuts
A combination of keys that you can press to execute certain commands, as opposed to finding and clicking the commands' buttons on the Ribbon or elsewhere.

Excel Glossary
Live Preview
A feature in Excel 2007 that enables you to point to thumbnails on a drop-down gallery to see how a new font, font size, table style, or cell style would look on your selected data before you actually apply it.

Excel Glossary
macro
A series of commands or actions in Excel that are recorded and saved together in a file. You can run the macro whenever you need to perform the task.

Excel Glossary
Name box
The left-most section of the Formula bar that displays the address or name of the current cell.

Excel Glossary
pivot table
A special type of table unique to Excel 2007 that enables you to summarize large amounts of data and pivot or rearrange the table's data to display different summaries of the information it contains.

Excel Glossary
Ribbon
A new feature of the Excel 2007 interface that replaces the menus and toolbars of previous versions; appears at the top of the Excel window, just below the title bar.

Excel Glossary
ScreenTip
A small window that displays descriptive text when you point to but don't click a command on the Ribbon or other objects in a worksheet.

Excel Glossary
sheet tabs
Small tabs near the bottom of a worksheet that you click to move between the worksheets in a workbook. You can assign descriptive names to sheet tabs.

Excel Glossary
slicers
New graphic objects in Excel 2010 that enable you to quickly filter the contents of a PivotTable on more than one field.

Excel Glossary
SmartArt
A type of graphic object in Excel 2007 that gives you the ability to quickly and easily construct graphical lists and diagrams in the worksheet.

Excel Glossary
sparklines
Tiny graphs (miniature charts) that fit within a single cell in the worksheet, used to show basic trends in data.

Excel Glossary
Status bar
A horizontal bar that appears at the bottom of the Excel 2007 window and keeps you informed of Excel's current mode. In addition, you can use the Status bar to select a new worksheet view and to zoom in and out on the worksheet.

Excel Glossary
tabs
The various "pages" of Excel 2007's Ribbon interface that you click to display command buttons relating to the tab's name, such as Page Layout and Formulas.

Excel Glossary
template
A pre-designed worksheet that can be used as a basis for creating new worksheets.

Excel Glossary
WordArt
Stylized text objects that you use to add pizzazz and emphasis to headings and other text in Excel 2007 worksheets.

Excel Glossary
workbook
The basic file type that you create when you use Excel 2007. A new workbook consists of three worksheets by default.

Excel Glossary
worksheet
The main document that you work in when you enter data into cells within Excel 2007. A worksheet is stored in a workbook file.

Excel Glossary
worksheet area
The portion of an Excel 2007 worksheet in which you enter cell data and add objects such as charts and graphics.

Excel Glossary
XPS XML Paper Specification
A file format developed by Microsoft that enables people to open and print documents in XPS Reader without access to the original programs with which the documents were created (such as Excel).

Excel Glossary
Zoom slider
An object on the Status bar in Excel 2007 that enables you to increase the magnification in a worksheet or shrink it down to get an overall picture of the worksheet data.