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10/18/2017 20 Excel Tips for Becoming a Spreadsheet Pro - Advanced Excel Tips & Tricks

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There are very, very few people on planet Earth who
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using the program a little easier, and will make you look
like your o ces guru of high-tech spreadsheetery. So
bone up on any or all of these tricks to excel at Excel. Recent Posts

1. Excel VBA Convert


1) Ctrl+Shift to Select
Numbers to Words in
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There are much faster ways to select a dataset than Hindi Language
using the mouse and dragging the cursor. Click in the
2. How to VLOOKUP to
rst cell you want to select and hold down Ctrl+Shift,
get Cell Color and
then hit either the down arrow to get all the data in the Font Color along with
column below, up arrow to get all the data above, or left Lookup Value
or right arrow to get everything in the row (to the left or
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right, of course). Combine the directions, and you can
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get a whole column then everything in the rows left or
in Excel?
right. Itll only select cells with data (even invisible data).
If you use Ctrl+Shift+End, the cursor will jump to the 4. How to Show Full
lowest right-hand cell with data, selecting everything in Path in Excel Title
between. So if the cursor is in the upper left cell (A1), Bar?
thats everything. Even faster: Ctrl+Shift+* (the asterisk) 5. How to Get Live Data
will select the whole data set no matter what cell is From A Web Page
selected. Direct Into Excel
2) AutoFill 6. How To Find Merged
This is a no brainer, but so easily overlooked. You start Cells In Excel
typing a series of repetitive things like dates (1/1/14,
1/2/14, 1/3/14, etc.) and you know youre in for a long Categories
day. Instead, begin the series and move the cursor on
Advanced Excel Tips
the screen to the lower right part of the last cellthe ll
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handle. When it turns into a plus sign (+), click and drag
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down to select all the cells you need to ll. Theyll
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magically ll in the pattern you started. Guess whatit
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can also go up a column, or left or right on a row as
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well.
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Even betteryou can Auto Fill without much of a
pattern. Again, pick a cell or cells, move to the ll
handle, click, and drag. Youll get a menu of options. The
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more data you input at rst, the better the Fill Series
option will do creating your AutoFill options.

3) Flash Fill
New in the latest version of Excel is one of its best
features. Flash Fill will smartly ll a column based on
the pattern of data it sees in the rst column (it helps if
the top row is a unique header row). For example, if the
rst column is all phone numbers that are formatted
like 2125034111 and you want them to all look like
(212)-503-4111, start typing. By the second cell, Excel
should recognize the pattern and display what it thinks
you want. Just hit enter to use them. This works with
numbers, names, dates, etc. If the second cell doesnt
give you an accurate range, type some morethe
pattern might be hard to recognize. Then go to the Data
tab and click the Flash Fill button.

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4) Text to Columns
You can use Flash Fill to try this, but Text to Columns is
pretty brain dead simply and doesnt need much pattern
recognition. Say youve got a column full of names, rst
next to last, but you want two columns that break them
out. Select the data, then on the Data tab click Text to
Columns, then choose to separate them either
delimiters (based on spaces or commasgreat for CSV
data values) or by a xed width. The rest is like magic,
with extra options for certain numbers. Fixed width is
utilized when all the data is crammed into the rst
column, but separated by a xed number of spaces or
period

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5) Paste Special to Transpose


Youve got a bunch of rows. You want them to be
columns. Or vice versa. You would go nuts moving
things cell-by-cell. Its a pretty good chance you already
know that you can copy that data, select Paste Special,
check the Transpose box, and paste with a different
orientation. If you didnt, you do now.

6) Multiple Cells, Same Data

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For some reason, you may have to write the same thing
over and over again in cells in a worksheet. Thats
excruciating. Just click the entire set of cells, either by
dragging your cursor, or by holding the Ctrl key as you
click each one. Type it on the last cell, then hit
Ctrl+Enterand what you typed goes into each cell
selected.

7) Paste Special with Formulas


Lets say youve got a huge amount of numbers in
decimal format you want to show as percentages. The
problem is, that numeral 1 shouldnt be 100%, but thats
what Excel gives you if you just click the Percent Style
button (or hit Ctrl-Shift-%). You want that 1 to be 1%. So
you have to divide it by 100. Thats where Paste Special
comes in. First, type 100 in a cell and copy it. Then,
select all the numbers you want reformatted, select
Paste Special, click the Divide radio button, and boom
goes the dynamite: youve got numbers to convert to
percentages. This also works to instantly add, subtract,
or multiply numbers, obviously.

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8) Use Graphics in Charts


You can put a graphic in any element of an Excel chart.
Any element. Each bar, piece of pie, etc., can support its
own image. For example, above, theres a South Dakota
state ag on the pie chart (placed by selecting the slice,
using the Series Options y-out menu, and selecting
Picture or texture ll), plus an embedded PCMag logo
(placed with the Insert tabs Pictures button). You can
even go with no ll at all, which caused that missing
slice. Clip art can also be cut and pasted to an element
dollar bills to show dollars spent, water drips for
plumbing costs, that kind of thing. Well be honest,
mixing and matching too many graphical elements
makes it impossible to read, but the options you have
are well worth tinkering with. Just let the resident
graphic designer check them out before you use them.

9) Save Charts as Templates


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Excel has more types of charts than Jimmy Carters got


teeth and peanuts, but its almost impossible to nd a
default chart that is perfect for your presentation.
Thankfully, Excels ability to customize all those graphs
is exemplary. But when you have to recreate one? Thats
a pain. It doesnt have to be, if you save your original
chart as a template.

Once your chart is perfected, right click it. Select Save


as Template. Youll save a le with a CRTX extension in
your default Microsoft Excel Templates folder. Once you
do that, applying the template is cake. Select the data
you want to chart, go to the Insert tab, click
Recommended Charts, and then the All Charts tab, and
the Templates folder. In the My Templates box, pick the
one to apply, then click OK. Some elements, like the
actual text in the legends and titles, wont translate
unless theyre part of the data selected. You will get all
the font and color selections, embedded graphics, even
the series options (like a drop shadow or glow around a
chart element).

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10) Work with Cells Across Sheets


This one, called 3D Sum, works when you have multiple
sheets in a workbook that all have the same basic
layout, say quarterly or yearly statements. For example,
in cell B3, you always have the dollar amount for the
same corresponding week over time.

On a new worksheet in the workbook, go to a cell and


type a formula like =sum(Y1:Y10!B3). That indicates a
SUM formula (adding things up) for all the sheets that
are titled Y1 to Y10 (so 10 years worth), and looking at
cell B3 in each. The result will be the sum of all 10
years. Its a good way to make a master spreadsheet
that refers back to ever-changing data.

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11) Hide in Plain Sight


Its easy to hide a row or columnjust select the whole
thing by clicking the letter or number header, right click,
and select Hide. (You can unhide by selecting the
columns to either side all at once, right clicking, and
selecting Unhide). But what if you have just a little
section of inconveniently placed data you want to hide,
but you still want to be able to work with? Easy.
Highlight the cells, right click, and choose Format Cells.
On the Number tab at the top, go to Category and select
Custom. Type three semicolons (;;;) in the Type: eld.
Click OK. Now the numbers arent visible, but you can
still use them in formulas

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12) Hide A Whole Sheet


Your typical Excel workbookthe le youre working in
can get loaded with plenty of worksheets (each sheet
indicated by a tab at the bottom, which you can name).
Hide a sheet if you want, rather than delete it, making its
data still available not only for reference, but also by
formulas on other sheets in the workbook. Just right
click the bottom sheet tab and select Hide. When you
need to nd it again, you have to go the View tab at top,
click Unhide, and pick the sheet name from the list that
pops up.

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What happens when you click that Hide button on the


View tab? It hides the entire workbook youre using. It
looks like you closed the le, but Excel keeps running.
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When you close the program, itll ask if you want to save
changes to the hidden workbook. When you go to open
the le, Excel gives you a blank workbookuntil you
click Unhide again.

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13) Use Personal Workbook for


Macros
When you do unhide an entire workbook, youll probably
see a workbook listed you didnt know you hid: the
Personal.XLSB le. This is actually the personal
workbook Excel created for you; its opened as a hidden
workbook every time Excel starts. The reason to use it?
Macros. When you create a macro, it doesnt work
across every single spreadsheet you create by default
(like it does in Word)a macro is tied to the workbook it
was created in. However, if you store the macro in
Personal.XLSB, itll be available all the time. The trick is,
when you record the macro, in the Store macro in eld,

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select Personal Macro Workbook. (You can record a


macro by turning on the Developers tabgo to File tab,
select Options, click Customize Ribbon, then in the Main
Tabs box, check Developers, click OK.)

14) Pivot! Pivot!


A whole book could be devoted to PivotTabelstheyre
summaries of your giant collection of data that makes
them much easier to parse based on your reference
points. For example, if youve got the entire set of
grades for all your students across all tests for the
whole year, a PivotTable could help you narrow things
down to one student for one month. It behooves anyone
with big data to play with them (just make a copy of the
original data to play with). To make one, check that all
the columns and rows are titled the way they should be,
and then select PivotTable on the Insert tab. Better yet,
try the Recommended PivotTables option to see if Excel
can pick the right kind for you. Or try the PivotChart,
which creates a PivotTable with an included graph to
make it easier to understand.
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15) Conditionally Format


Looking at a huge amount of data and wondering where
the highlights are? Who has the highest (or lowest)
score, what the top ve are, etc.? Excels Conditional
Formatting will do everything from put a border around
the highlights to color coding the entire table. Itll even
build a graph into each cell so you can visualize the top
and bottom of the range of numbers at a glance.
(Above, the highest numbers are in speedy green, the
lowest in halting red, with a spectrum in between.) Use
the Highlighted Cells Rules sub-menu to create more
rules to look for things, such text that contains a certain
string of words, recurring dates, duplicate values, etc.
Theres even a greater than/less than option so you can
compare number changes.

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16) Validate Data to Make Drop


Downs
Creating a spreadsheet for others to use? If you want to
create a drop-down menu of selections to use in
particular cells (so they cant screw it up!), thats easy.
Highlight the cell, go to the Data tab, and click Data
Validation. Under Allow: select List. Then in the
Source: eld, type a list, with commas between the
options. Or, you could click the button next to the
Source eld and go back into the same sheet to select a
data seriesthis is the best way to handle large lists.
You can hide that data later, itll still work. Data
Validation is also a good way to restrict data entered
for example, give a date range, and people cant enter
any dates before or after what you specify. You can
even create the error message theyll see.

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17) Screenshot Insertion


Excel makes it ultra-easy to take a screenshot of any
other open program on your desktop and insert it into a
worksheet. Just go to Insert tab, select Screenshot, and
youll get a dropdown showing a thumbnail of all the
open programs.

18) Insert Excel Data into Word


Twenty years ago, the thought of placing data from
Excel into Word or PowerPoint was mind-blowing in the

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world of O ce Suites. Today, its a no-brainer breeze.


Whether youre copying data cells or a full-blown
graphical chart, just copy and paste into the other
program. The thing to be aware of is, this is a link-and-
embed processif you change the data in the
spreadsheet, itll change in the Word doc or PowerPoint
PPT, too. If you dont want that, its best to paste it in as
graphic (use Words own Paste Special tool for that or,
when taking it from Excel, use the Copy Special option
to paste the graphic into any program at all).

19) Use $ to Prevent Shift


When you write a formula, you reference cells by their
position, such as A1. If you copy a formula and paste it
in the next cell down, Excel will shift that referenced cell,
so it would say A2 instead. To prevent shifting, use the
$. So in that case, saying $A1 would prevent a shift in
the column (A); A$1 prevents the shift in the row (1),
and $A$1 prevents the shift change in any direction
when copying a formula.
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This is handy when you have a single cell to use in a


whole bunch of formulas. Say you want to divide
everything by 100. You could do a formula like =
(A1/100), but that means you cant change the 100
easily across the board. Put the 100 in cell B1 and use =
(A1/B1)but then when you cut and paste it down, it
turns to =(A2/B2), then =(A3/B3), etc. The $ xes that: =
(A1/$B$1) can be cut and pasted down a row, but the
$B$1 reference never changes. Then you can change
the value of 100 in the cell as needed to see other
changes.

20) Great Excel Shortcut Keys


Excel, like any great software, has many excellent
keyboard shortcuts. Here are some of the best.

Ctrl+; Inserts todays date.


Ctrl+Shift+:Inserts the current time (the colon is what
is in a clock reading, like 12:00).
Ctrl+Shift+#Changes the format of a date.
Ctrl+5Apples a strikethrough to the text in a cell.

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Ctrl+0 Hides the current column.


Ctrl+9Hides the current row.
Ctrl+F6Switches between open workbooks (that is,
open Excel les in different windows).
Ctrl+`Thats the accent mark, up by the 1 key. This
combo toggles the view in the sheet to show all the
formulas. Ctrl+PageUp or PageDownQuick shift
between the sheets in the currently open workbook.
F2Start editing the current selected cell (much faster
than double-clicking).
Shift+F10Opens the right-click menu for the cell
youre in.

Courtesy: pcmag.com

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About The Author


Raghu R

Excel is my Passion and VBA Love of Life. I like to solve and automate
any possible opportunity in Excel including in combination with O ce
Applications (Access, Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Visio, etc) and other
Non-O ce Applications (SAP, IE, Batch, Con guration Management

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Tools, etc). Note: All the solutions given here are published after
thoroughly tested to my knowledge, however it is advised to keep a
copy before you try it.

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How to VLOOKUP to get Cell Color and Font Color along with Lookup Value

Charts / Data Entry / Data Table / Sheet Formatting / VBA Macros

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