Spreadsheet Models for Managers
Windows and Macintosh Compared
Microsoft Excel is available for both Windows (Excel 2003 and Excel 2007) and Macintosh (Excel 2004 and Excel
2008). The four versions are very similar, but they aren't identical. This page should help you get used to the Mac
version if you're familiar with Windows, or vice versa.
n the Mac, many menu commands have keyboard equivalents using the Command key. For example,
Command+W is equivalent to the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+W menu command File>Close
(Excel 2003 and 2004), or Microsoft Office>Close (Excel 2007). A good guess (but not always correct) is
that any keystroke Command+<Key> on the Mac is equivalent to Ctrl+<Key> on Windows. The
Option key on the Mac is generally equivalent to the Alt key in Windows. Esc in Windows is
equivalent to Command+Period on the Mac, and Backspace in Windows is Delete on the Mac.
These are guidelines only, and there are some exceptions.
Entering data can be a little more convenient if you know some of the keyboard shortcuts available in Excel. You can
see them all in online help — search for keyboard shortcuts. Until you get familiar with what's there, it might be helpful
to print them all. The procedure for doing that varies with the version of Excel that you have, but in Excel 2003, you click
Show All, and then print. We've already done that for you. Download the complete list of keyboard shortcuts
for Excel 2003 (XP), or
for Excel 2007 (Vista), or
for Excel 2004 (MacOS).
Note:Excel 2008 for Macintosh doesn't support VBA macros. Microosoft has announced that no further versions of
Excel will support VBA macros on the Macintosh. For this reason, we can't use Excel 2008 or later on the Macintosh in
this course, and we'll ignore those versions when we talk about differences between versions of Excel.
Shortcut menus
Excel has a number of "shortcut menus" that give you access to a short list of commands in special situations. For
example, there is a menu of commands for dealing with worksheets, including commands for inserting a new sheet, deleting the
selected sheets, and so on. Generally speaking, to pop up a shortcut menu in Windows Excel, you click the Right
mouse button, and on the Mac, press Ctrl while you click the mouse button.
Shortcut menus are available on the Cell, Control, Toolbar Area (Excel 2003-4), Ribbon Area (Excel 2007), Row Headings, Column
Headings, Workbook Title Bar, Sheet Tabs, Select All Button, Sheet Tab Scroll Buttons, Worksheet Cells, Drawing Objects,
chart components, selection borders, and many more. Here's a game you can play with your teammates: find the complete list
of shortcut menus. And if you happen to find one we haven't listed above, do tell us.
Formula bar
When you're editing a cell's formula, a number of commands are available from the keyboard. Differences
between the Mac and Windows are a little more noticeable here. Fortunately, most of the commands that are inconsistent are
also fairly arcane. For example, to enter the current time, you use Command+Semicolon on the Mac and
Ctrl+Shift+Colon in Windows.
But three commands we will use are worth describing. First, the command to enter an
array formula is
Command+Enter or Command+Return or Ctrl+Shift+Enter or Ctrl+Shift+Return on the
Mac, and Ctrl+Shift+Enter in Windows. Second, the command for cycling among mixed, relative and absolute references is Command+T on the Mac and
F4 in Windows. Third, when a range of cells is selected, and you enter a formula into one of the cells, you can
automatically fill that formula across the range by completing it with Option+Enter instead of Enter
or Return (Macintosh), or Ctrl+Enter instead of Enter (Windows).
Other actions
If you use manual recalculation, you'll want to recalculate from time to time. On the Mac, F9
or Command+= recalculates, but in Windows, only F9 recalculates. On the Mac, Command+Y
repeats the last action and Command+Z undoes it. In Windows, F4 repeats the last action and
Ctrl+Z undoes it. To edit the active cell, use Ctrl+U on the Mac and F2 in Windows. To
select a discontiguous range of cells (a range of cells consisting of two or more contiguous ranges), select the first area
by dragging through it, and then use Ctrl+Drag (Windows) or Command+Drag (Mac) for each succeeding
area.
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