Preventing The “Saved Over” Blues
Do you have an Excel file that you constantly change data in and then have to remember to save it under a new name?
Have you ever caught yourself yelling at the computer “STOP!” as you realize that you just saved over the old data—and darn—you needed to keep that too!
While you’re still muttering at the computer, do you then go back and try… Continue reading
What’s up with all those tabs?
Did you ever notice that there are several tabs in the New window when you go to open a template you’ve created?
What’s up with all those tabs?
Well, to tell the truth, the tabs are useful little creatures.
Next time you go to open a template slow down and browse through them.
You’ll find that on the tabs are other… Continue reading
Single Worksheet Templates
We’ve discussed templates in MS Excel that were entire workbooks, but… have you ever wanted just a single sheet for a template?
You know, instead of opening a workbook template, just insert a sheet into another workbook?
Sounds like a good idea to me! After all, I’m willing to bet that someone out there uses a template to copy and paste a single sheet into workbooks already… Continue reading
Quick & Spiffy Tables in MS Excel
Way back in January (January 28, 2003 to be exact) we discussed using the AutoFormat feature of MS Word to give your tables a quick and easy visual “edge”.
(To take a look at the January 28 issue, visit our archives at http://www.worldstart.com/archives)
For those readers who usually use MS Excel for table work… Continue reading
MS Excel Default Font Fun
Do you constantly find yourself changing the font size or type in Excel worksheets?
Is it getting annoying to repeat yourself time after time after time?
I bet a few of you even tried looking in the Format menu for something equivalent to the Font choice found in MS Word.
Didn’t find it, did you?
Nope—that’s because it’s not there.
You can find font choices… Continue reading
MS Excel AutoFilters Part 1—The Basics
Here’s the scenario: you’re working with a spreadsheet and you’re patiently trying to find certain values—maybe you’re looking for the top 3 sales amounts from the list, or all customers who live in a certain city, or all sales made by a certain sales rep.
Whatever it is you’re looking for, you need to know it now—not an hour from now after you’ve sorted… Continue reading
I Thought Filters Were For Things Like Fish Tanks and Coffee Makers?
Have you ever found yourself lost while working with a huge list or set of data in MS Excel?
Did you find that you were continually scrolling through data looking for a particular value?
I bet more than once you caught yourself wishing for a way to just see what you want and get rid of the rest.… Continue reading
MS Excel AutoFilter Part 2—Top 10 and Custom Filters
Let’s get right to it.
To begin I think we should discuss Top 10.
This is pretty much what the name implies—it’s a listing of the top values or percentage of the list.
Let’s investigate further.
After you’ve opened a file and turned on the AutoFilter (Data menu, Filters submenu, AutoFilter choice) pull down one of the AutoFilter lists for a… Continue reading
Changing The View – Not The Selection
I’m sure just about everyone has used the arrow keys in MS Excel to move through their worksheet.
But… sometimes you want to quickly zip out to another part of the worksheet to see something without moving the cell selection and losing your current place. What do you do?
I’m betting that many of you take your hands off the keyboard, use the… Continue reading
Repeating Data Super Shortcut
When working in MS Excel do you ever find yourself repeatedly entering the same formula or data?
What do you do?
Do you type it again and again and again into each cell?
Maybe you save some time by entering it once then copy / pasting it everywhere else?
Not a bad way but what if you had a faster way?
Let’s say… a way that… Continue reading
The Leading Zero
Constantly frustrated with MS Excel because it keeps removing that leading zero from your inventory number? (Or any leading zero on any piece of data?)
Yeah, me too.
The problem is that Excel automatically sees the data as a number and leading zeros have no value in numbers, so it gets rid of them.
Convenient when you’re actually dealing with numbers, but a pain when it’s a… Continue reading
MS Excel Custom Views
Do you work in huge MS Excel files and constantly find yourself scrolling this way and that trying to get to the right place?
And then again to another location?
And so on…
If you have enough of these locations you need to go to then it quickly becomes impossible to remember cell locations. That means the Go To feature is out!
In addition to all… Continue reading
Clearly We’ve Got Some Options
So… you’re working in MS Excel with some data and you’ve got some changes to make.
If you need to delete data you would simply highlight the cells and hit the Delete key.
But, let’s suppose that you don’t want the data deleted but instead want the formatting removed. What do you do then?
You could spend time reformatting the cells or undoing whatever formatting… Continue reading
Dates Done Your Way
OK, so you’re frustrated with the standard Excel date formats and you’re looking for a way to meet your needs.
Well, be frustrated no more!
Today we’ve got just the information you need to make Excel to do things your way.
First you need is to select the cells that should be in the date format.
Now go to the Format menu, Cells choice. (Ctrl +… Continue reading
Dates In Excel
I’m sure by now you’ve realized that when you type a date into MS Excel the program seems to magically know what it is and treats it as such.
Cool—less work for us.
But have you ever wished the date was in a different format?
I mean, maybe you want just the month and day—10/15 for example. Or maybe you’re looking to have something like 15-Oct-03.
Well… Continue reading
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
Ok, so we know that Excel can graph (also known as charting) our data for us and I’m assuming you’re interested in the “how to”. So, let’s dive right in:
The first thing you need to do is to select the data range you want to chart. You need to highlight all data and along with the column and row labels.
With the… Continue reading
Lost In Worksheets
Have you ever found yourself feeling lost while trying to move a worksheet inside a huge workbook?
I mean, you’ve got 20 or 30 worksheets and you’re trying to click on the sheet tab and drag it to its new home. So now you’re patiently waiting for the tabs to scroll by while you continue to hold that mouse button.
Oops—you just flew by the location you… Continue reading
Moving Right Next Door
As I’m sure we all know, you can re-arrange worksheets in an MS Excel file with a simple click-hold-and-drag of the sheet tab.
But, did you know that you can also move worksheets from one workbook to another using the same method?
No?
Well, good news—you can, and it’s really as easy as it sounds.
First, open both workbooks. (The one with the worksheet and… Continue reading
MS Excel Charts Done Your Way
OK, so you’ve made an absolutely beautiful Excel chart but you’re seeing a few things that you’d like to change.
Maybe you’d prefer a different font for the text.
Maybe you need a smaller font on some of the labeling so Excel will display all the category names.
Maybe you have money amounts graphed and all the “.00″ on the end are just too… Continue reading
Fix It With A Click, Click
Last week (back on Tuesday, November 4) we discussed charting—often called graphing—data in MS Excel.
We covered the basics of using the Chart Wizard and by the end we were in a position to quickly create some pretty slick looking stuff from our raw data.
Sounded great!
Everyone’s happy.
Or not…
What if you had gone completely through the charting process, had a beautiful… Continue reading
Zig or Zag—Which Way?
So, you’ve got this huge worksheet in MS Excel you’re trying to print and it seems that the pages are coming out completely scrambled.
Now what’s wrong with this stubborn machine that’s causing this to happen?
Honestly—nothing.
It’s all in the Page Setup choices you make.
What was that I heard you say?
You didn’t make any choices in Page Setup that would cause this chaos?… Continue reading
Vanishing Gridlines
Here’s a good tip that comes from a reader’s question regarding those pesky vanishing gridlines.
We all know that in MS Excel you can go into the Page Setup window (File menu, Page Setup choice) on the Sheet tab and check the box to have Excel print the gridlines with your data.
But what’s going on when those gridlines just aren’t showing up?
Another computer glitch?
Probably not.… Continue reading
Relocate In Seconds
Last month (November 4 and November 13, 2003 to be exact) we discussed charts—also known as graphs—in MS Excel. During the creation of the chart we had to pick a location, in other words, where did you want Excel to put the graph?
You had two choices: you could embed it as an object in a worksheet or you could… Continue reading
What’s Up With The ##### In My Worksheet?
Have you ever found yourself happily working in MS Excel only to be befuddled by the sudden appearance of #### in a cell where there should be a number?
Or maybe something along the lines of 2E+15 appeared?
Now what is that?
Good question, and believe it or not, there’s a good answer. (You may not like the answer—but it’s a valid… Continue reading
Using Excel’s Report Manager
So, you’ve decided that the Report Manager might be just the thing you need and, fortunately, that’s what I’m here to discuss today—so let’s get right to it.
The first thing you need to do is to see if the report manager add-in was installed.
Go to the View menu and check out the bottom of the menu.
Do you see the Report Manager listed?
Yes—then… Continue reading
Manage Your Reports
Do you have a single MS Excel file from which you print many different reports? Are they the same set of reports each time? (You know—these pages for person A, then other pages for person B—each time?)
What do you do?
Do you find yourself constantly resetting the print range so that each person gets exactly what they need—no more, no less?
Or, do you print the… Continue reading
Quick Worksheet Relocations
What do you do when you need to move an Excel worksheet into its own workbook?
I’d bet that for many people it’s a matter of copying the worksheet, pasting it into a new workbook and then going back to delete the sheet.
Not necessarily a bad way, but probably not very efficient either.
Want a drop and drag way to move that worksheet into its own… Continue reading
