# Excel for the Web: Your First Budget Spreadsheet

> A beginner Excel for the web walkthrough on real screens: turn a budget into a table, let one formula fill the Difference column, total it with the Total…

Source: https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/excel-web-budget · Updated 2026-10-23 · Free from Stepthrough (https://learn.ynteractive.com)

## Practice it step by step

[Start the free practice](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/excel-web-budget)

[Take the free module: why it matters, practice and a quick check →](https://learn.ynteractive.com/courses/excel-for-the-web-jump-start/1)

You do every step yourself in a practice copy of Excel. It checks your work as you go, and “Do it for me” finishes any step you get stuck on. Free, about 15 minutes, and nothing touches your real accounts. [Open full screen](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/excel-web-budget)

Free · Live now · [Microsoft 365](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/course/microsoft-365) · [Excel](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/tool/excel) · ~15 min · 26 steps · Beginner

Updated October 23, 2026. Built against the tool’s current screens and checked step by step. [How we check this lesson](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/about#how-we-check)

A beginner Excel for the web walkthrough on real screens: turn a budget into a table, let one formula fill the Difference column, total it with the Total Row, turn overspending red and share one link.

## At a glance

| Question | Answer |
| --- | --- |
| What you build | A beginner Excel for the web walkthrough on real screens: turn a budget into a table, let one formula fill the Difference column, total it with the Total Row, turn overspending red and share one link. |
| Tools | Excel |
| Time | About 15 minutes, 26 steps in 6 parts |
| Level | Beginner, no coding needed |
| Cost | Free |
| Ways to learn it | [Practice it step by step](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/excel-web-budget) |

### The 6 parts, in short

1. A new workbook with the budget: Create a blank workbook, Rename the file, Name it Bakery budget, October, Enter the budget.
2. Turn it into a table: Format As Table, Pick a style, Confirm the range.
3. A Difference column that fills itself: Add a Difference column, Type the formula, Press Enter.
4. Totals with the Total Row: Open Table Design, Tick Total Row, Select the Budget total, Open the total menu, and 1 more step.
5. Turn overspending red: Conditional Formatting, Highlight Cells Rules, Greater Than, Greater than 0, and 1 more step.
6. Format as money and share: Open the number format, Currency, Open Share, Share, and 2 more steps.

## What you'll build

Tom (made up) owns a small bakery. Each month his bookkeeper asks where he went over budget, and he adds [receipts](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-receipt-extractor-n8n-google-sheets) on a calculator. In this lesson you build his budget-vs-actual sheet in [Excel](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/tool/excel) for the web: five lines, an Excel table, a Difference column that fills itself, totals from the Total Row, a red flag on anything over budget, and a share link. Every screen is a real Excel for the web screen.

You made a table, let one formula fill the Difference column, added Sum totals ($16,450 budget, $16,602 actual, $152 over), turned Ingredients and Utilities red with a Greater-than-0 rule, formatted it as currency and opened Share. Now build it in your own Microsoft account: the lesson page has the checklist.

- Tools: Excel
- Time: about 15 minutes, 26 steps in 6 chapters
- Level: beginner, no coding needed
- Price: free

## Practice first, then build it for real

Practice copy built from real Excel for the web screens (Microsoft 365, captured 22 October 2026). Nothing here touches your Microsoft account. The bakery and its numbers are made up. To build it for real you need your own Excel account, and some services charge once you use them for real work, so check each tool's current pricing.

## Try it yourself, free

Reading the steps is a start. Doing them is how it sticks. The interactive module walks you through every click in a practice copy of Excel, checks each step, and never touches your real accounts.

[Start “Excel for the Web: Your First Budget Spreadsheet”](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/excel-web-budget)

## Step by step: Excel for the Web: Your First Budget Spreadsheet

All 26 steps of the interactive module, in order. In the module you watch each one, then do it yourself in a practice copy that checks your work.

### 1. A new workbook with the budget

1. **Create a blank workbook.** Open Excel for the web (from microsoft365.com, or the app launcher in any Microsoft 365 app). Click **Create blank workbook**.
   This is the Excel start page.
2. **Rename the file.** New files are called "Book". Click the **file name** at the top. Excel for the web saves as you go, so there is no Save button to forget.
3. **Name it Bakery budget, October.** Type **Bakery budget, October** and press Enter.
4. **Enter the budget.** Click **A1** and type (or paste) the headers **Category**, **Budget** and **Actual**, then the five rows. Type numbers without commas or a $ sign; you format them at the end.
   Category, Budget and Actual, then five rows. Numbers only.

### 2. Turn it into a table

5. **Format As Table.** Click any cell in the data, then on the **Home** tab click **Format As Table**.
   Then, on the Home tab, click Format As Table.
6. **Pick a style.** Pick any style. We chose a blue one under **Medium**.
   Pick a style. Any one works.
7. **Confirm the range.** Excel found the range **A1:C6**. Check **My table has headers** is ticked and click **OK**.
   Check that My table has headers is ticked.

### 3. A Difference column that fills itself

8. **Add a Difference column.** Now it is an Excel table, with a filter arrow on each header. Click **D1**, type **Difference** and press Enter. The table grows to include it.
   The table grows to include it.
9. **Type the formula.** In **D2** type **=C2-B2**: actual minus budget, so a positive number means overspent.
   In D2, type equals C2 minus B2. Actual minus budget.
10. **Press Enter.** Press **Enter**. Because you are inside a table, Excel copies the formula down the whole column for you: a calculated column.
    Excel fills the formula down the whole column.

### 4. Totals with the Total Row

11. **Open Table Design.** Excel filled 0, 360, −150, 62 and −120. With a cell in the table selected, click the **Table Design** tab (it only shows while you are in the table).
    It only shows while you are in the table.
12. **Tick Total Row.** Tick **Total Row**.
13. **Select the Budget total.** A **Total** row appears and already sums the last column: **152**. Budget and Actual are empty. Click cell **B7**.
    A Total row appears. It sums the last column.
14. **Open the total menu.** Click the small **arrow** next to the cell.
15. **Choose Sum.** Click **Sum**. Then do the same in **C7** for Actual.
    Then do the same for Actual.

### 5. Turn overspending red

16. **Conditional Formatting.** Budget totals **16450**, Actual **16602**: **152** over. Select the Difference cells **D2:D6**, then on the **Home** tab click **Conditional Formatting**.
    Budget sixteen four fifty. Actual sixteen six oh two.
17. **Highlight Cells Rules.** Click **Highlight Cell Rules**.
18. **Greater Than.** Click **Greater Than…**. In Excel for the web it opens a **Conditional Formatting** panel on the right, not a dialog.
    A panel opens on the right.
19. **Greater than 0.** It already applies to **D2:D6** and says **Cell value**, **Greater than**. Type **0** in the value box. The first format style (light red fill) is already picked.
    The light red style is already picked.
20. **Save the rule.** Click **Done**.

### 6. Format as money and share

21. **Open the number format.** Ingredients (**360**) and Utilities (**62**) turn red; Wages and Marketing came in under. Close the panel, select **B2:D7**, and click the arrow on the **number format** box (it says General).
    Ingredients and Utilities are red.
22. **Currency.** Click **Currency**.
23. **Open Share.** Totals now read **$16,450.00**, **$16,602.00** and **$152.00**. Click **Share** at the top right.
    Now it reads like money.
24. **Share.** Click **Share**. (Copy Link makes a link with the default access instead.)
25. **Choose edit or view.** Type your bookkeeper’s email in **Add a name, group, or email** (we did not send it here). Then click the **eye** button to choose what they can do.
    Add your bookkeeper’s email.
26. **Can edit.** **Can edit** lets them change numbers; **Can view** only reads. Pick **Can edit** for a bookkeeper, then **Send**.
    Pick Can edit for your bookkeeper. Then send.

## Screenshots

[Start this module free](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/excel-web-budget)

- Next in Microsoft 365: [Excel for the Web: Find Your Top Customers in a Sales Export](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/excel-web-top-customers)

## More in Microsoft 365

- [Word for the Web: Turn Meeting Notes into a Client Update](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/word-web-client-update): A beginner Word for the web walkthrough on real screens: turn rough meeting notes into a one-page client update with heading styles, bullets, a next-steps table and a…

[All 3 modules in Microsoft 365](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/course/microsoft-365)

## Free cheat sheet

Print it or save the PDF: the key steps and checks from this lesson on one page, free.

- [Excel for the Web Budget Cheat Sheet](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/cheat-sheets/excel-for-the-web-budget): A free one-page Excel for the web cheat sheet: Format as Table, a Difference column, Total Row, conditional formatting for overspending and sharing.

[All free printable cheat sheets](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/cheat-sheets)

## Terms in this lesson

Plain-English definitions, each with an example from a free lesson.

[Conditional formatting](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/conditional-formatting)

[The full AI glossary](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary)

## Browse related tutorials

[Microsoft 365 (3)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/course/microsoft-365) · [Excel tutorials (2)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/tool/excel)

Want AI working like this in your business? Robert Breen, the instructor behind this lesson, helps small and mid-sized teams put AI assistants, agents and automations to work. [AI consulting for small teams](https://ynteractive.com/)