Archive for the ‘MS Excel’ Category

An Update On Updating

In the last issue of the MS Office Tips newsletter (Thursday, October 27, 2005), we discussed formulas and using them in MS Word. At the time, my common sense meter must have been a quart or two low, because I simply wasn’t coming up with any of the good ways to get your formulas to recalculate and reflect any changes you’ve made to values.… Continue reading

Insert Many Where There Was None

Do you do a lot of copy-paste or cut-paste moves in MS Excel? Tired of shifting cells around to make space for the stuff you need inserted into the middle of your current data set?

How would you like a way to get Excel to do the data shift for you? Excel can shift data at the same time it does the paste. Here’s… Continue reading

Copy Only Column Width?

How much time have you wasted changing and re-changing column widths trying to match one column with another in MS Excel? You could use the Format menu, Column sub-menu, Width choice and enter the width you need. Of course, then you’d have to know exactly what width you need and keep it all straight… not worth the time.

Do you have to go back to highlighting… Continue reading

Here’s another quick key combination to use in MS Excel.

This one allows you to highlight an entire row or column with just two keys and no mouse!

• Ctrl + Spacebar will highlight the column of the cell currently selected.

• Shift + Spacebar will highlight the row of the cell currently selected.

You can then combine this information with the Shift + Arrow keys to… Continue reading

Ever need to calculate the number of workdays left until a deadline?

Did you pull out your ever-present calendar and begin counting?

Oops, lost count! Start over.

Or not.

What about letting MS Excel do the counting for you?

If you

Now Where Did That Zero Go?

Here’s a good tip sent in by a reader regarding numbers with leading zeros.

If you’ve ever entered a number with a zero in the first place(s) you probably became very frustrated when you realized that Excel takes those zeros off the number.

For example, if you type in 01234 then, left to its own devices, Excel will put 1234 into the cell.

That’s… Continue reading

Playing The Name Game

I’m glad to see that you’ve decided to come along for this little adventure.

I think the best place to start will be with a better understanding of what it means to name ranges of cells in Excel.

Basically, naming a range (or a single cell for that matter) is to give Excel a meaningful word (or words) that you will refer to the selected set… Continue reading

Use A Title In Formulas

Did you know that when you have a title at the top of a column of data that you can use that title in formulas—instead of the cell reference.

For example:

Let’s suppose that you have two columns labeled “Original Price” and “Discount”. Now let’s say you want to create a third column that calculates the sale price of the… Continue reading

Be The Master Of Your Excel Lists

Now that you know what an Excel list is, let’s take a look at how to create a list that’s all your own—in other words, a custom list.

You have several options for the creation of a list. One has you type the list into the Custom Lists tab in the Options window and the other allows you to highlight the cells that… Continue reading

Lists In MS Excel

Excel has lists?

Yes, it does. (And fortunately they’re not “to do” lists!)

Have you ever noticed that when you type “Monday” in a cell and then use the fill handle (the little box in the lower right corner of the cell highlight) to drag down you get the rest of the days of the week?

Usually the fill handle will copy data if there’s only… Continue reading

Turn Many Into One

“E pluribus unum” was the original motto of the United States—since it is National Flag Week, I thought I might mention that in light of today’s tip.

Here’s the scenario: you’re working on a table of data in MS Excel and you’re trying to put a title over the entire table.

What do you do?

I’ve watched a lot of people cope with this situation, and… Continue reading

What Was That Function Again?

Ever find yourself working in MS Excel and realize that the function you’re looking for is right on the tip of your tongue – or fingers in this case?

So… here you go again, you’ve got to open the Paste Function window. You’re probably taking your hands off the keyboard and back to the dreaded mouse to get to the Insert menu, Function choice. Or… Continue reading

Do you find yourself constantly entering the current date and / or time in MS Excel?

Wish you had a quick key combination to get the job done for you?

Yes?

Good-because that’s what you’re going to get.

Next time you’re

Quick Slide Margins – Part 2 – MS Excel

As a follow-up to the last issue, I thought it might be relevant to discuss quick margin adjustments in MS Excel.

As with Word, you can set margins in the Page Setup (under the File menu) on the Margins tab.

Works well—but, as you may already know, in Excel you have to go to the Print Preview to take a look… Continue reading

Playing The “Shifty Cell” Game

Have you ever found yourself happily working in a large MS Excel worksheet only to discover that you need some cells in the middle of the thing?

You’d add rows or columns, but that will mess with everything else in the worksheet. (You know—data way off yonder in the far reaches of the worksheet will suddenly be displaced causing mass chaos in the middle of… Continue reading

The Wonders Of F2 In MS Excel

When you’re working in Excel and you need to edit something that is already in a cell what do you do?

Do you click on the cell, then click into the formula bar to edit the contents?

Sounds like a lot of clicking?

Yeah, it did to me too.

For people who don’t really care for their mouse, it can turn into a… Continue reading

For My Eyes Only

Have you ever been in a situation where you’re working on sensitive material in MS Excel and someone walks up behind you?

What do you do?

Do you quickly minimize the entire program?

Yeah, I’ve done that too. But what if you need Excel to work on something else with the person who came in?

You could go through the hassle of closing and saving the… Continue reading

Where Is This Located On The Worksheet? I Can’t Tell From The Printout!

Ever wish you had your gridlines, column letters and row numbers on the printout of an MS Excel worksheet?

On some of the larger worksheets, or worksheets where there aren’t a lot of labels on the data, this could be the little “miracle” you’ve been looking for.

(OK – maybe the word “miracle” is a… Continue reading

Now Why Are These Columns Numbered?

Here’s a little tidbit that comes from a reader question.

The reader was having difficulty with the Excel labeling of the columns. Instead of letters for column headers, she had numbers!

(Did you notice the cell name given in the corner? Obviously not what most of us are used to.)

It was driving her crazy since it didn’t match the other systems she… Continue reading

Cell Hide And Seek In MS Excel

Have you ever found yourself trying to hide the contents of a single cell in MS Excel?

What did you do?

Most of us know how to hide a complete column / row – did you put the information in its own column then hide the entire column?

Or did you find yourself putting the information in the “far reaches” of the spread… Continue reading

MS Excel Keyboard Shortcuts

Here’s a few quick MS Excel keyboard shortcuts.

• The Home button will take you to the first column of the current row.
• The End button then followed by an arrow key will take you to the first / last cell in the current column / row. (Up and down arrows make column movements. The right and left arrows make row movements.)
• Ctrl

MS Excel Text Into Columns

Have you ever found yourself wondering what in the world possessed the person who created your MS Excel file to put both first and last name in the same cell?

Now how are you supposed to sort that list alphabetically by last name when first name is listed first?

The answer is that you can’t—you have to separate the first and last names—somehow…

But… Continue reading

Counting Rows In MS Excel

MS Excel will count your highlighted columns or rows for you.

Have you ever found yourself trying to count the number of highlighted columns or rows (maybe to set formatting, borders, etc.)?

It’s annoying – isn’t it?

I’ve actually caught myself with my finger right on the monitor trying to get an accurate count. (Bad idea since it disturbs the dust… Continue reading

Show Me The… Formulas?

I don’t know about you but when I’m trying to proofread a document I usually need to go through a hard copy. For some reason seeing things in printed form will usually help with that whole process.

So, what do you do when you’re trying to proof an MS Excel worksheet?

You can print it out, but let’s face it. What you get in the printout… Continue reading

Double-Click = Best Fit

As many MS Excel users are aware you can highlight a column and through the Format menu, Column sub-menu you can choose the AutoFit Selection choice. What this does is make the column just wide enough to fit the longest piece of data in the selection.

It’s a great thing—no guessing necessary to make the data fit.

However, we all like a faster way and for… Continue reading

Give Me The Value And Just The Value

Have you ever found yourself working in MS Excel and wishing you could paste the value of a formula instead of the formula?

Or maybe you found yourself scrolling back and forth in a worksheet or flipping between different worksheets trying to type the value in by hand – desperately hoping you get it accurate.

You know what I’m referring to, the… Continue reading