About spreadsheet tools, commands, and options

The toolbar at the top of the spreadsheet provides a set of commands for working with spreadsheet data. You can use the toolbar while designing the spreadsheet, and browser users can also use the toolbar to work with the spreadsheet. To see the command name of each button, rest the pointer on the button.

The Commands and Options dialog box includes commands to find data in the spreadsheet, such as Find Next, and properties you can set, such as the background color of cells and the widths of columns. The dialog box also includes some commands that aren't present on the toolbar or shortcut menus. To display the dialog box, click Commands and Options on the toolbar.

The commands and properties in the Commands and Options dialog box are distributed among several tabs such as Formula, where you can see the formula in a selected cell or define names that can be used in formulas, and Format, where you can set number formats, change the color of text, select border styles, and more.

Some properties and commands are available when you are designing the spreadsheet and when it's displayed in the browser. Others are available only when you are working in a design program.

If you don't want users to have access to the Commands and Options dialog box in the browser, you can protect the spreadsheet so that this dialog box is not available.

If you don't want users to have access to the toolbar in the browser, you can hide the toolbar. To ensure that users cannot redisplay the toolbar, you must also make the Commands and Options dialog box unavailable because the dialog box includes a command to redisplay the toolbar.