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Using Contextual Tools in Excel 2007

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Updated:  
2016-03-26 23:12:38
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Microsoft Office Excel 2007 displays contextual tools with tabs and commands that help you work with a particular object that you select in the worksheet — such as a graphic image you’ve added or a chart or PivotTable you’ve created. These contextual tools appear only when you need them.

The name of the contextual tools for the selected object appears immediately above the tab or tabs associated with the tools. For example, if you click an embedded chart to select it, Excel displays the contextual tool called Chart Tools at the end of the Ribbon.

The Chart Tools contextual tool has its own three tabs:

  • Design tab (selected by default) includes commands arranged into the Type, Data, Chart Layouts, Chart Styles, and Location groups.

  • Layout tab contains tools in groups named Current Selection, Insert, Labels, Axes, Background, Analysis, and Properties.

  • Format tab includes commands in the Current Selection, Shape Styles, WordArt Styles, Arrange, and Size groups.

    Excel 2007 adds contextual tools to the Ribbon when you select certain worksheet objects, such as c
    Excel 2007 adds contextual tools to the Ribbon when you select certain worksheet objects, such as charts.

The moment you deselect the object (usually by clicking somewhere on the sheet outside of its boundaries), the contextual tool for that object and all of its tabs immediately disappears from the Ribbon, leaving only the standard tabs — Home, Insert, Page Layout, Formulas, Data, Review, and View — displayed.

About This Article

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About the book author:

Greg Harvey is a language scholar who has traced the roots of Tolkien’s work in European folklore and pre-Christian religious beliefs. He has studied 12 languages, including Elvish, Latin, and Anglo-Saxon.