This is my first look at Excel for iPad. While a few features are lacking and others that are difficult to find (turning on word wrap in a cell, for example) this is a fully functional version of the popular Microsoft spreadsheet. I’ve given an overview of payment options and Office 365 in a previous post. Here I’ll walk through creating a typical worksheet on the iPad.
Meet Excel for the iPad
Once you have connected Excel to your Office 365 account, tap the screen icon to launch it. This should look familiar:
Opening Screen
But you can do something interesting once you’ve tapped a cell. Drag the handle to the right or down and you’ll see these choices. Yes, this is where you find “word wrap” as well as cut, copy, paste, clear, and fill.
Cell Options
See that little arrow in the upper left corner? Click the icon just to the right that and you’ll see your options for saving :
File Saving Options
The alignment options are superior to those in versions of Excel up to 2011 (for the Mac). All six options are presented in a single pull-down menu.
Alignment Options
If you tap a row number or column letter, you are given a number of options (consistent with the iPad standard). The options are cut, copy, paste, insert above, delete, clear, hide, and auto fit.
Row and Column Options
Creating a Present Value Spreadsheet
Let’s walk through the process of creating a present value spreadsheet. This will be the present value of a bond. The bond will have a yield to maturity (“Rate”) of 10%, 15 years to maturity, an annual coupon payment of $350 and a $10,000 maturation value. I use the first one or two rows to identify variables with the data in the row(s) immediately below. So tap row 1, then tap the boldfaced button and the center horizontal button. Fill in the cells like this:
Set Up Column Headers
Type the data in row 2:
Present Value Data
Tap cell E2, then type =pv into the formula bar. Excel will recognize that PV is a built-in function and show you this:
Recognizing the PV Function
If you tap the little information icon to the right of the letters PV, Excel will show you the function’s parameters:
PV Function Parameters
This is the first flaw in iPad Excel. You can’t keep the function parameters visible while you’re selecting the data. (Contrast the screen above with the one below from Excel 2011 for the Mac.) My advice: press Home-Power to take a screen capture, then switch back and forth between the camera roll and Excel. (Side note: what’s a camera “roll” anyway?)
Desktop PV Function
But Excel for the iPad makes your equation pretty. As you tap each cell, the color changes to match the color in the function.
Completed Function
Tap Return and the results will look familiar:
Present Value
Conclusion
Excel for the iPad is a winner. In the coming months I’ll give a more complete review of Excel. I’ll also review Word and PowerPoint. Highly recommended (at this point, subject to change after further evaluation).
