So, yesterday we took a look at Cell Styles in Excel 2007. There’s a lot to choose from on the styles palette, but what if none of them suit your exact needs or just aren’t to your liking.
And… for those of you using older versions of Excel don’t go away. There’s something here for you too! There’s no palette of predefined cell formats in these older versions but you… Continue reading
Today I’d like to take a moment to address a reader’s question.
In particular he’s recently upgraded to Excel 2007 and has noticed this on the Home tab of the Ribbon:
So the question is, what are they?
It’s a good question to ask so let’s take a moment to answer it.
First, if you click the down arrow next to the ones you see you’ll find that an… Continue reading
Often in Excel we’re looking to create headers and footers with data information in them. Things like page numbers, file names, dates, times, etc…
Anyway, while we’re creating our headers and footers there’s always some place where we can choose to insert this stuff, but wouldn’t it be faster if we just knew a couple of characters to do the same job?
Yeah – I thought so too.
With that… Continue reading
As I’m sure most of you know, when working in MS Excel, Ctrl + Home will take you to the upper left corner of your worksheet (cell A1).
Do you know where Ctrl + End will land you?
Let’s all hope it’s not in the bottom most corner of a worksheet! Have you ever scrolled out right or down to find out just how big Excel makes its worksheets?
Well… Continue reading
Did you know that there’s a faster way to enter cell references in Excel formulae? I’m talking about a way that doesn’t involve typing cell addresses. Did you know?!
Interested? (Yeah, I thought you might be!)
Here’s the scoop.
Next time you’re entering a formula and you get to a cell reference (like A5, for example), instead of typing A5, use your mouse and click on A5.
Some of you… Continue reading
Ever find yourself either retyping or copying and pasting information from an Excel worksheet into a text box or an AutoShape?
Maybe you need that data stated in a bold way, so it’s been put into a text box or an AutoShape to grab everyone’s attention.
Good idea.
Of course, I’ve got to ask. What happens when the data changes?
Do you then go back into the AutoShape or text… Continue reading
Do you find that referring to cell ranges in Excel formulas is a difficult task? Confused by the use of the colons, commas and spaces?
These characters are definitely a part of formula writing and if they aren’t used correctly, you’ll probably run into some problems.
So, here’s the information that can make formula writing with ranges a much more manageable task.
I’m sure that many of my Excel users know how valuable it can be at times to see formulas in your worksheet instead of their calculated values.
I mean, sometimes you just need to verify that everything is calculated the way you need it and often the easiest way to accomplish the task is to double-check the formula.
So… it stands to reason that Excel would include a way to… Continue reading
Frequently I get this question from readers who are pretty new to MS Excel, so I thought I would explain it to you all now.
Q: I hear the terms “workbook” and “worksheet” used frequently when people discuss MS Excel. What exactly is a workbook? A worksheet? Is there a difference?
A: Well, to begin with, there is definitely a difference.
- A workbook is the MS Excel file in… Continue reading
Working with Office 2007?
Everyone you share files with need them saved for an older version?
Maybe you have 07 at work and some other version at home…
Whatever the situation how many times do you find yourself saving a new file in an Office 2007 program as an Office 2007 file when it should have been in the 97-2003 file format?
Now what?
Oh yeah, go back and save… Continue reading
If you use comments in MS Excel then you might find yourself wishing that there was a way to color code them.
Maybe some comments are notes you’ve made to yourself about double checking a formula, maybe others pertain to something entirely different.
Whatever your needs it might interest you to know that you can change the color of your comments with just a couple a clicks.
Once you’ve located… Continue reading
Yeah, I know. Excel is primarily for numeric data , but let’s face it, we tend to use a lot of words in our Excel worksheets. Given all those words, it’s only reasonable to find that typos and misspelled words are occurring in Excel too.
So, it makes sense to me to understand (not just assume) what cells the spell check feature is actually checking. Did you know that what… Continue reading
Are you an Excel user who often works with huge ranges of data?
It’s sort of annoying when you’re trying to move from one end of the range to the other, isn’t it?
You can scroll for what feels like an eternity (and then probably pass the end of the data up anyway) or hit the Page Up / Down key about a million times. But no matter what, it’s… Continue reading
Have you ever found yourself frustrated with the AutoCorrect feature found in the MS Office suite programs?
Yeah, I’m sure you have.
Most of the time, they’re helpful little changes in spelling or things like capitalization and we’re thankful to have the program looking out for us.
But, what about the times when AutoCorrect is making changes that we really don’t want or need?
Sometimes it’s enough to make a… Continue reading
Have you ever drawn a shape in an MS Office program only to find that you’ve changed you mind and want something different?
What did you do?
Most people I know would choose to start over… makes you want to just keep the original one, even if it’s not your first choice anymore, doesn’t it?
Well, today I’d like us to take a look how to change the shape without… Continue reading
Remember all the hassle it was to make a file Read-only in MS Office Word, Excel and PowerPoint versions prior to 2007?
You had to save and close the file, locate it through Windows, right-click on it and then you could finally select the Read-only checkbox.
Whew! That’s a lot of steps and a bit of a pain.
Well, if you’re using a 2007 version then today you’re in luck.… Continue reading
Ever find yourself faced with multiple sets of data in MS Excel?
Did you decide that you wanted them charted together and yet with different types of data representation?
For example, maybe you’d like to see one set of data in a line graph and the other with bars?
If this is your preference then you might be happily surprised to find that you can accomplish this goal – to… Continue reading
Paste It Here and Here and Here?
When you’re working in MS Excel, do you sometimes find yourself needing to paste the same information into many non-adjacent cells?
Now, I’m sure many of you know you can highlight multiple cells, enter something into one of them and then use Ctrl + Enter to put the same information simultaneously into all of the highlighted cells. Right?
That’s a great trick, but… Continue reading
Quick Data on the Selected Data Range
Do you ever find that you need a quick piece of information? You know, a sum, average or a minimum or maximum value on a range of MS Excel data.
What did you do?
Did you write a formula in a cell?
Well, if you want to keep the information in the worksheet, that’s an excellent plan. But what if all you need… Continue reading
Excel Cells to Word with Usable Results
Have you ever tried to copy and paste cells from MS Excel to MS Word?
What happened?
I bet you went to Excel, highlighted the cells, copied the cells, went to Word, pasted the cells and poof, there they were!
Sounds great, doesn’t it?
Yes, and it can be, but if you’re using Word and Excel 97, there are some slight problems.
You… Continue reading
And the Total Is…
Have a table in MS Excel 2007? Do you need to calculate information, such as an average or sum for each column in the table?
If so, what did you do?
Did you set up the row by hand and then create the needed formula? Then did you have to fill the formula in across your whole row?
What if you could get Excel to add… Continue reading
Sizing It Up
Okay, so I have just one more tidbit to add to our ever growing knowledge about MS Excel 2007′s tables. (I really, really like them, can’t you tell?!)
Today, let’s talk about changing the size of an established table, without using the AutoExpansion feature.
Besides, what if you want your table to be smaller?
Expansion really wouldn’t work in those cases.
So, to resize your Excel 2007… Continue reading
Include This Too? Maybe Not!
So, have you taken some time to work with the tables found in MS Excel 2007 after last week’s tips?
If so, I’m sure you’ve noticed how they seem to have a whole set of behaviors you may not have expected.
After all, we see the table as a set of formatted cells, not as an object that will behave differently than the regular cells… Continue reading
Table Formatting Without the Table Behavior
I bet a few of you who have been working with the MS Excel 2007 tables the last couple of days have found yourselves wishing you could easily get the right formatting, without all the table behaviors that come with it.
If you’ve been searching for a way to get the formatting without actually creating the table, here’s exactly what you need!
To begin… Continue reading
Oh, You Didn’t Want the Table Column Full of Formulas?
If you worked through yesterday’s tip about MS Excel 2007 tables, you know that entering a formula into a single cell will cause Excel to fill the table’s entire column with the formula.
It’s handy if that’s what you intended, but what if it’s not what you want?
Is there a way to undo Excel’s automatic column fill?
You bet!… Continue reading
One Formula for the Whole Table Column
Do you use MS Excel 2007′s table formatting options?
You know, the great looking and convenient formats found on the Format as Table button under the Home tab on the ribbon.
Well, here’s a real time saver I just happened to stumble across as I was exploring Office 2007!
When I have a range
The Larger View
Do you often work with MS Excel 2007?
Ever wish for a quick way to enlarge an area of your worksheet so that you can see the details a little closer?
While I know you’ve all found that Ctrl + scrolling the mouse wheel will do the trick quickly, you probably also found that you can easily go right by the zoom you needed.
I’m also sure… Continue reading
