Section C.3. View Menu

C.3. View Menu

The View menu lets you control which parts of Excel you can see, including toolbars and the formula and status bar. You can also use this menu to examine page breaks and set a worksheet's zoom percentage.

C.3.1. Normal

Use this command to return to the normal Excel view settings after you select View Page Break Preview. (If you aren't in page break preview mode, Normal has no effect).

C.3.2. Page Break Preview

When you turn on this menu option, Excel shows a bird's-eye view of your worksheet that clearly indicates how the data will be separated into pages when you print it out. You can change where the page breaks fall by dragging the line that's shown between pages, and Excel will shrink your data so that it fits within the new boundaries. For more information, see Section 6.2.4 (Chapter 6). After using Page Break Preview, the View Normal command gets you back to a normal view of your worksheet.

C.3.3. Task Pane

This command shows the Task Pane on the right side of the Excel window. The Task Pane offers a collection of different features, organized into topic-specific tasks. You can choose a task by clicking the drop-down arrow in the Task Pane title, and choosing a task from the list. See Section 1.3.2 (Chapter 1) for a quick overview of the basic set of tasks .

C.3.4. Toolbars

Every toolbar in this submenu that has a checkmark is currently displayed in your Excel window. You can display additional toolbars by turning on their checkmarks, or you can remove currently displayed toolbars by unchecking them.

C.3.5. Formula Bar

The formula bar shows the underlying content of the current cell . It rarely makes sense to remove the formula bar because it's useful when editing cells .

C.3.6. Status Bar

The status bar is the gray bar at the very bottom of the Excel window. It doesn't do a whole lot, but it does provide a nifty AutoSum feature (see Sidebar 3.1 in Chapter 3). The status bar also shows a few other indications about which keys are currently pressed (Section 1.3.5 in Chapter 1 has more details).

C.3.7. Header and Footer

This command shows the Page Setup dialog box, with the Header/Footer tab selected. Use this tab to specify headers or footers for your printout (like page numbers or a generic title). The header and footer appear in the Print Preview window, but they never show up in the ordinary Excel windowwhich makes it more than a little strange that this command is in the View menu. In fact, the Header and Footer command really doesn't belong here at allit's just designed to match the menu structure in Microsoft Word.

C.3.8. Comments

Choose View Comments to show all the comments in your workbook. (Choose it again to hide all the comments). Every time you use View Comments to show the comments, the Reviewing toolbar also appears. For more information about reviewing and comments, see Chapter 21.

C.3.9. Custom Views

The Custom Views dialog box (Views Custom Views) lists all the custom views that have been created for the current workbook. (Custom views combine a slew of view- related settings, including the current zoom percentage, hidden columns and rows, and print settings.) You can apply an existing view by selecting it in the list and clicking Show, or you can create a new view for the current settings by clicking Add and giving it a name . To learn more about custom views and how to create them, see Chapter 6.

C.3.10. Full Screen

This command switches Excel into full screen mode, which maximizes the Excel window and strips away toolbars and other extraneous screen elements, making more room for cells (although it does keep the menu bar at the top of the screen). Return to normal view by choosing View Full Screen again.

C.3.11. Zoom

The Zoom dialog box (View Zoom) lets you choose the zoom percentage. The greater the zoom percentage, the larger everything looks in your Excel window (and the less information you can see at once). Rather than using View Zoom, most people find it's easier to use the drop-down box with the zoom percentage that appears in the Standard toolbar.