101 Best Microsoft Excel Tips & Tricks Ebook v1.3 - LM
101 Best Microsoft Excel Tips & Tricks Ebook v1.3 - LM
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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
101 EXCEL BOOK SERIES ................................................................................. 2
MYEXCELONLINE ACADEMY COURSE ........................................................ 3
EXCEL EXPERT CONSULTATIONS................................................................. 4
COPYRIGHT .......................................................................................................... 5
SPECIAL SALES..................................................................................................... 5
CONNECT WITH US ............................................................................................ 5
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................... 6
TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................... 7
HOW TO USE THIS E-BOOK.......................................................................... 12
EXCEL TIPS ......................................................................................................... 13
Why Excel? ..............................................................................................................14
Excel 2019 VS Office 365 ........................................................................................39
What Excel Version Do I Have?.................................................................................44
10 Excel Double Click Mouse Tricks ........................................................................49
3 Excel Keyboard Tips for Power Users ....................................................................59
333 Shortcuts for Windows and Mac .......................................................................65
AutoRecover in Excel...............................................................................................81
Convert Excel to PDF & PDF to Excel ........................................................................84
Distribute and Align Shapes in Excel .....................................................................106
Excel Sheet Navigator............................................................................................109
Fill From 1 to 10,000 ............................................................................................111
Fill Handle Tips .....................................................................................................113
Insert a Watermark ................................................................................................119
Macros: How to Use Macros ..................................................................................124
Macros: Enabling VBA in Excel ...............................................................................132
Macros: Insert Button to Run a Macro ....................................................................134
Quick Access Toolbar ............................................................................................138
Status Bar Metrics .................................................................................................141
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Synchronous Scrolling ...........................................................................................143
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FORMULA TIPS ............................................................................................... 276
Add Leading Zeros in Excel ...................................................................................277
Check Your Math with F9 ......................................................................................285
Evaluate Formulas Step By Step in Excel ................................................................289
Fill Down Formulas ...............................................................................................293
Find the Best Formula ...........................................................................................295
Remove Formulas in Excel .....................................................................................298
Remove Leading and Trailing Spaces .....................................................................300
Separate Formula into Rows ..................................................................................303
Show & Hide Formulas in Excel .............................................................................305
Vlookup in an Excel Table .....................................................................................307
XLOOKUP Function in Excel ...................................................................................310
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Pivot Tables: Connect Slicers to Multiple Pivot Tables ............................................397
Pivot Tables: Data Model and Relationships ...........................................................405
Pivot Tables: Distinct Count ..................................................................................411
Pivot Tables: Filter by Dates ..................................................................................415
Pivot Tables: Filter Top 5 Customers .....................................................................418
Pivot Tables: Icon Sets...........................................................................................421
Pivot Tables: Show Report Filter Pages ..................................................................428
Pivot Tables: Sorting a Pivot Table .........................................................................431
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Group Worksheets in Excel ....................................................................................540
How To Create A Custom List In Excel ...................................................................543
Hyperlinks: Buttons ...............................................................................................549
Hyperlinks: Fix Links to a Named Range ................................................................559
In-Cell Bar Charts with the REPT Function ..............................................................563
Power Query: Consolidate Multiple Sheets .............................................................565
Power Query: Consolidate Multiple Workbooks ......................................................571
Power Query: Unpivot Data....................................................................................583
Quick Reports With Excel Custom Views ................................................................586
Smart Lookup in Excel...........................................................................................590
Sparklines: Column ...............................................................................................592
Sparklines: Lines ...................................................................................................594
Sparklines: Win or Loss .........................................................................................596
Use Autocorrect to Input Complex Text ................................................................599
Use Goal Seek To Find Formula Result ...................................................................603
Use Goal Seek To Meet Your Profit Goal ................................................................606
Use Windings Symbols in Excel .............................................................................609
View Multiple Worksheets in Excel .........................................................................614
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Go back to Getting Started Go to Table of Contents
To get the most value out of this book, please download the
workbooks below and practice the 101 Excel Tips in this eBook.
Then follow our step by step guide.
Make mistakes! That is fine. You may not get it the first time around
(we certainly didn’t) but when you do, you will be a step closer to
Excel stardom!
Here is the download link that has all the workbooks covered in
this eBook. We are using Microsoft Office 365 for the majority of
this eBook as this has all the latest features.
The Table of Contents (pages 7-11) is interactive & will take you to
an Excel Tip within this eBook with a mouse click! You can also click
on the Header of each page to go back to the Table of Contents or
the start of each Excel Tip Section.Read on and enjoy what the
world of Excel has to offer.
12
Go back to Excel Tips Go to Table of Contents
EXCEL TIPS
Why Excel? ................................................................................. 14
Excel 2019 VS Office 365 ........................................................... 39
What Excel Version Do I Have? .................................................... 44
10 Excel Double Click Mouse Tricks ........................................... 49
3 Excel Keyboard Tips for Power Users ....................................... 59
333 Shortcuts for Windows and Mac ........................................... 65
AutoRecover in Excel .................................................................. 81
Convert Excel to PDF & PDF to Excel ........................................... 84
Distribute and Align Shapes in Excel......................................... 106
Excel Sheet Navigator ............................................................... 109
Fill From 1 to 10,000 ............................................................... 111
Fill Handle Tips ........................................................................ 113
Insert a Watermark ................................................................... 119
Macros: How to Use Macros ...................................................... 124
Macros: Enabling VBA in Excel .................................................. 132
Macros: Insert Button to Run a Macro ....................................... 134
Quick Access Toolbar ............................................................... 138
Status Bar Metrics..................................................................... 141
Synchronous Scrolling .............................................................. 143
13 EXCEL TIPS
Go back to Excel Tips Go to Table of Contents
Why Excel?
Microsoft Excel is a very powerful software application which was
developed by Microsoft in 1985 and is used by over 800 million
users worldwide and more than 95% of users don’t know its full
capabilities and true power.
STEP 1: Click on the Window icon on the left side of the Taskbar and
then scroll below to find “Excel”.
Now that you are clear about these two terms, let's move
forward and understand the layout of an Excel Spreadsheet. It
is a crucial step if you want to know how to use Excel
efficiently.
Excel Ribbon
The Excel Ribbon is located at the top of the Excel Spreadsheet and
just below the title bar or name of the worksheet. It comprises
various tabs including Home, Insert, Page Layout, Formulas, Data,
etc. Each tab contains a specific set of commands.
• Home Tab can be used to copy, cut, or paste cells, format data
with Fonts, Alignment, Number, Styles, Conditional Formatting,
Excel Tables, Cells, Sort & Filter, Find & Select and Analyze
Data with Ideas.
• View Tab can be used to change the view of the Excel Sheets
and make it easy to view the data. You can also Zoom In, Out
and Freeze Panes.
You should be familiar with these tabs so you can understand how
to use Excel efficiently. You can even customize these Tabs using
the following steps:
STEP 2: An Excel Options dialog box will open, click on the New
Tab.
STEP 3: Select that newly created tab and click on Rename and give
it a name e.g. Custom and then press OK
STEP 4: Now you can add the command(s) that you want to this
newly created Tab by simply clicking on a command from the
Popular Commands drop down and click on Add >> and then press
OK
This will create a New Tab called "Custom" with a popular command
"Center".
Under each Tab, there are various buttons grouped together. For
Example - Under the Home Tab, all font-related buttons are bundled
together under the Group name “Font”.
There is also a search bar available next to the tabs which was
introduced in Excel 2019 and Office 365. You can type the feature
that you are after and Excel will find it for you.
You can also collapse the ribbon to provide extra space in the
worksheet by pressing the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + F1 or by right-
clicking anywhere on the ribbon and then clicking “Collapse the
Ribbon”.
This will collapse and hide the Ribbon! Press Ctrl + F1 to show the
ribbon again.
Formula Bar
Excel's Formula bar is the area just below the Excel Ribbon. It
contains two parts - on the left is the name box (it stores the cell
address) and on the right is the contents of the currently selected
cell. It is used to type values, text or an Excel formula or function.
You can also expand the formula bar if you have a large formula and
its contents are not entirely visible. Click on the small arrow at the
end of the formula bar and it will be expanded.
To add more Excel sheets, click on the “+” sign next to a Sheet
which will add a new blank Excel Sheet.
You can also rename each Excel sheet by Right Clicking on a Sheet
Name > Click on Rename > Type the Name > Press Enter.
At the bottom right of the Excel spreadsheet, you can quickly zoom
the document by using the minus and plus symbols. To zoom to a
specific percentage, in the ribbon menu go to the View tab > Click
Zoom > Click on the specific percentage or type in your custom
% > Click OK.
There are different Excel workbook views available at the left of the
zoom control: Normal View, Page Break View, and Page Layout
View. You can select the view as per your choice.
You can also select a range of cells by left clicking on the mouse
and scrolling down/up/left/right.
STEP 1: Click the cell you want to enter data into. For Example, lets
enter some sales data, so click on A1
STEP 2: Type what you want to add, say, Date. You will see that the
same data will be visible on the Formula Bar as well.
STEP 3: Press Enter. This will store the written data on the selected
cell and move the selection to the next available cell, which is A2 in
this example
To make any changes in the cell, simply click on it and make the
changes.
You can copy (Ctrl + C), Cut (Ctrl + X) any data from one Excel
worksheet and paste it (Ctrl + V) to the same or another Excel
worksheet.
Follow the steps below on how to use Excel to add two numbers:
STEP 1: Start with the = sign to tell Excel that you are ready to enter
a calculation.
You will see the result 9 is displayed in the cell A1 and the formula
is still displayed in the formula bar.
In the example below, you have Column A that contains the number
of products sold and Column B that contains the price per product
and you need to calculate the total amount in Column C.
STEP 3: Select cell A2 with your mouse cursor or by using the left
arrow key to go left 2 cells.
STEP 5: Select cell B2 with your mouse or using the left keyboard
arrow
If you are trying to save a file for the first time, then follow these
steps:
STEP 1: Press Ctrl + Shift +S or Click on the “Save As” button under
the File tab.
STEP 3: In the File name box, enter a name for your new Excel
workbook.
Excel is a completely unexplored & exciting world for you right now
and you are going to learn so much along your journey.
My advice is to take baby steps, learn how to use one Excel feature,
apply it to your data, make mistakes and keep on practicing!
Follow through with the Excel Tips in this book and your Excel
confidence will skyrocket!
First things first, what is the main difference between the two?
Cost Comparison
Let us have a look first from a cost standpoint, here's a table that
compares the subscription based Office 365 versus the perpetual
Office 2019:
Office 365 Home allows you to have 6 users maximum just for
$99.99 a year
Which means if you have at least 2 users, then Office 365 Home
becomes a better deal instantly as compared to Office 365
Personal.
For Office 2019, we are making the assumption that the software
has 3 years of ownership, before you upgrade your software to the
newer version. This allows us to compute to a cost of $50.00 a year.
And if you see the inclusions, there are more Office Applications
included in the Office 365 package. (e.g., Outlook, Publisher,
Access, OneDrive, Skype).
Value Comparison
From a feature’s perspective are they exactly the same?
Office 365 has one major advantage over Office 2019: Office 365
constantly gets updated with new features every couple of
months!
Office 2019 and Office 365 right now are almost at par in terms of
features at the time of this writing. However, give it some time, and
Office 365 will be ahead in terms of the features race.
Another good thing, is the changes are gradual in Office 365 and
you get them right away. Compared to the perpetual Office 2019,
the changes are more drastic when you upgrade from one perpetual
Office version to another (e.g. Office 2016 to Office 2019).
Here is an example list of the updates that are new in both Excel
2019 and Office 365:
• 3D Models
The list will grow longer for Office 365 each year but in Office 2019,
there will not be any new updates.
And remember, this does not only apply to Excel, but also to all
your Office applications as well! (e.g. Word, PowerPoint)
I hope this has been helpful for you in terms of comparing Office
365 and Office 2019. If you can get Office 365, I highly suggest
to go for it!
Not to worry, as I will show you a few cool ways where you can
determine the Excel Version right away!
Office 365
You can see search icon (magnifying glass) at the top.
You can see that the Ribbon tabs are all in Capital Letters!
Microsoft Excel 2010: File > Help > About Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel 2003: In the menu go to the Help tab and then
click on About Microsoft Excel (If you do not see this option in the
menu you are probably using Excel 2007 or higher!).
Here are Top 10 Excel Double Click Mouse Tricks for Excel Power
Users like you!
You will have a fun time increasing your productivity with these
tricks!
Exercise Workbook:
Double click on the active tab in your Excel Ribbon to hide it.
Then you can double click again to show the Excel Ribbon.
You can now apply it again and again without pressing the Format
Painter button!
You can apply the same formula to the rest of the column with just a
double-click.
Double-click the lower right corner of the cell to copy the formula
to the rest of the column.
Double-click on your shape and you can edit the text of the shape
quickly.
Turns out, there is a trick to quickly move across your data through
double clicks!
For example, if we double click on the bottom edge of the cell, that
means we will go downwards to the end of the data.
Pick a cell that you wanted to drill down on. In our example, Q1
Sum of FINANCIAL YEAR
Excel will open a new worksheet with the data relating to that
cell.
(This data is for show only and any changes made here will not be
reflected in the Pivot Table. You can press CTRL + Z to delete this
new Sheet).
Here are Top 3 Excel Keyboard Tips for Excel Power Users like
you!
You will have a fun time increasing your productivity with these
tricks!
Exercise Workbook:
CTRL + 1
STEP 2: Select the Format that best applies to what you need. Go to
Special > Phone Number > English (United States)
Click OK.
Data Entry in Excel is a tedious process if Excel does not play its
part. The great thing with Excel is it is very customizable. One of the
However, in our scenario, I'm trying to list down the exam scores
for each student, so it would make sense every time I press the
ENTER key, we would move from left to right:
STEP 1: Go to File.
STEP 2: Go to Options.
This will change our ENTER direction from Up to Down, into Left to
Right.
STEP 4: Try it out! Enter a couple of scores and press ENTER. It will
now move to the right, now data entry just got a lot more fun!
Power BI Shortcuts
Other Shortcuts
AutoRecover in Excel
AutoRecover in Excel is a lifesaver feature! Imagine if you have an
unsaved workbook, then you closed it by accident after working on
it for hours. As long as you have it opened for at least 10 minutes,
Excel is smart enough to keep a copy of this for you!
STEP 2: Go to Save. This is where our crucial settings lie. You will
see the following:
So you know AutoRecover has your back if you have your unsaved
workbook opened for at least 10 minutes.
STEP 3: Close the window. Go to File > Open > Recover Unsaved
Workbooks.
You now have your unsaved workbooks! Now you have to open
them one by one, until you find the workbook you are looking for.
STEP 4: Once you found the right one and opened it, click Save As
to save a copy.
Excel and PDF are the two most popular file types and you might
need to convert from one format to another time to time.
PDF files are a widely used format for electronic documents. They
are used when you need to save a file without modification so that it
can be easily shared and printed. By default, an Excel Workbook is
saved as a .xlsx file type.
But how do you save it as a PDF format? Read on to see how it’s
done both ways!
Exercise Workbook:
There are 5 different methods in which you can convert from Excel
to PDF:
STEP 4: In the Save As dialog box, select the location where you
want to save the PDF file.
STEP 6: Click in the Options button to customize the PDF file you
want to create.
This will help you to publish only what you have selected on the
sheet. To publish the entire sheet, click on Active Sheet(s), and
to publish the workbook click on the Entire Workbook.
STEP 3: This will add Publish as PDF under Customize Quick Access
Toolbar. Now, Click OK.
STEP 5: Simply click on the icon, select the file location you want to
save it at and click on Publish.
Follow the steps below to add email PDF inside the QAT:
And now you have your pdf inside a new email message.
'We open a save prompt for the username to select the location
and filename
file = Application.GetSaveAsFilename(InitialFileName:=strFile,
FileFilter:="PDF Files (*.pdf), *.pdf", Title:="Select location
for the PDF file")
Follow the steps below to use this code to Export selection to PDF:
STEP 2: Right Click on the sheet name and then select Insert >
Module.
STEP 4: Press Ctrl + S to save the file and then click No.
STEP 8: In the dialog box, type the required range A1: F8.
This is how you can convert the range A1: F8 in excel to PDF.
Follow the steps to import data from PDF to Excel (Excel 365 only):
STEP 1: Go to Data Tab > Get Data > From File > From PDF.
STEP 2: In the Import Data dialog box, select the location of the
PDF file, and click on Import.
STEP 3: Select the table from the left panel and click on Load.
You want to organize the shapes but it seems a pain to move them
one by one!
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Hold the CTRL key and select all of the shapes you want to
move:
You can Align the shapes to the direction that you want (Left,
Center, Right, Top, Middle, Bottom)
This will ensure the distance between the shapes are equally
distributed.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 2: Select the sheet that you want to navigate to. Click OK
That could involve a lot of steps. However, Excel has a hidden tip
that can do this for you quickly!
STEP 3: Select Columns and set the Stop Value to 10000. This will
populate your column from 1 to 10,000.
When you fill any values, an Auto Fill Options box pops up which
you can click and select the different options available.
If you are filling dates, then you have the option to auto fill by
Weekdays, Months and Years. How cool is that!
To do this you need to enter the number 1 in a cell, hold down the
CTRL key and then fill down that cell which will increment the
numbers.
Exercise Workbook:
Click on the Auto Fill Options to try out different options. Select
Fill Weekdays and see how the weekdays get populated.
Now select Fill Months and see every month getting populated.
Now select Fill Years and see every year getting populated.
STEP 3: Drag down on the lower right corner on the third column
to populate the quarters.
STEP 5: Hold the CTRL key and drag down on the lower right
corner on the last column to populate the number incrementally.
Insert a Watermark
Ever wanted to insert watermark in Excel? You could show this to
mark that your workbook is in draft mode with the word DRAFT
behind it, or add your logo in the background so as to make your
workbook stand out in a professional way.
But Excel does not have this functionality ready for you, so what
now?
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 2: You will see that the header has been added. Go to Header
& Footer Tools > Design > Picture
STEP 4: Select the image that you want to use as a watermark. Click
Insert
Go to Picture > Color and select Washout. You can make additional
changes. Click OK
If this is your first time using a Macro, read the introductory section
here so that you will be more comfortable with the various Macro
lingo.
Variables:
Loops:
Code Comments:
This line is ignored in the code and is used to “document” the code
so that it is easier for you/others to understand what the code does.
Before using any of the Macros in your Excel files, a best practice is
to back up the Excel file first. This is to provide a safety net if data
gets modified in a different way than you expect. You can safely test
the Macro this way with your current data and load the previous file
if unintended changes take place.
Here is a list of common keywords you will see in Macros. You can
always refer back to this list as you go through the examples in the
book:
Keyword Definition
as Used when defining the data type of a variable
dim Used for declaring variables
Combined with the For keyword (e.g. “for each…”) to access the individual components in
each a collection
else Combined with the then keyword for alternate scenarios
end Used to end a procedure
exit Used to leave a procedure prior to the end statement
for Used to iterate one or more actions a specific number of times
function Defines a block of code that can return a value
if Used for specifying conditions
integer Used to define a number between -32,768 and 32,767
is Compares two object references
long Used to define a number between -2,147,483,648 and 2,147,486,647
next Used with the For keyword to create set of repetitive instructions
on error Used to capture and handle errors properly
resume Used with the On Error keyword to handle errors properly
string Used to define text variables
sub Defines a block of code that does not return a value
then Combined with the If keyword for alternate scenarios
to Used with the For keyword when repeating
with Used to perform multiple operations on a single object
Running a Macro
• This Workbook; or
• All Open Workbooks
Click Run.
Under the Choose commands from drop down, make sure to select
Macros.
Click on the Macro icon that is now located on the top or bottom of
your Ribbon and it will now run this Macro!
After that you should be able to see the Developer tab enabled:
.XLSX vs .XLSM
To ensure all Macros in this book will run without any issues, go to
File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Macro
Settings
The Macro will autofit all of the columns to fit to its contents.
You can use this technique to create buttons to run any Macro.
Final Result:
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 2: Place the shape anywhere on the sheet that you want.
Double click on the shape to type the text: Autofit All Columns.
You can change the font, font size, and center the text as well.
Let us try it out now! Click on your shape/button and see the magic
happen! All of your columns are now autofitted!
Did you know that you can customize this to your needs? I will show
you how to do this below!
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: You can move the QAT below or above the ribbon by
right clicking on the QAT and making the selection Show Quick
Access Toolbar Below the Ribbon.
STEP 2: You can also add your favorite commands to the QAT by
right clicking on your favorite command in the ribbon and selecting
Add to Quick Access Toolbar.
For our example, let us right click on Bold and select Add to Quick
Access Toolbar.
In our example, you can use ALT + 4 to activate the Bold command.
To activate this, you will need to Right Click on the Status Bar at the
bottom of your workbook and choose the metrics that you want to
show. Once selected, these options remain saved for all future
workbooks.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 2: Tick the values that you want to be displayed in your Status
Bar
Now when you select and highlight numerical values, these auto-
computed metrics will now show up in your status bar!
Synchronous Scrolling
When you have two workbooks or worksheets that you want to view
side by side to do a quick check, Excel has you covered!
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 3: In any one of the windows, go to View > Window > View
Side by Side
Now try scrolling up and down, you will see that the scrolling is
synchronous for both windows!
FORMATTING AND
LAYOUT
6 Simple Ways to Merge Cells in Excel ...................................... 148
Add Custom Symbols With Numbers......................................... 162
Clear a #REF! Error in Excel....................................................... 175
Conditional Formatting: Adding to Pivot Tables ........................ 184
Conditional Formatting: Cell’s Value ......................................... 188
Conditional Formatting: Data Bars, Color Scales & Icon Sets...... 193
Conditional Formatting: Drop Down List ................................... 197
Conditional Formatting: Pivot Table With Data Bars .................. 202
Custom Date Formats in Excel .................................................. 206
Custom Number Formats in Excel............................................. 209
Find Blank Cells In Excel With A Color ....................................... 212
Fill Justify Tool ......................................................................... 216
Format Cells: Special Numbers ................................................. 218
Format Painter Multiple Cells .................................................... 221
Freeze Panes in Excel ............................................................... 224
Highlight All Excel Formula Cells .............................................. 228
Lock Cells in Excel.................................................................... 231
Lock & Protect Formula Cells .................................................... 236
Make Negative Red Numbers In Excel ....................................... 239
Number Format - Thousands & Millions .................................... 241
Replace a Format with Another Format ..................................... 255
Exercise Workbook:
In the example below, you can see that the text "SALES REPORT" is
located in a single cell in A1. Let us fix that!
STEP 2: Go to Home > 'Alignment' group > Merge & Center button
Notice that the reference for the 6 merged cells cell points at A1.
You can create headers/titles for your report that will make it much
easier to understand.
Once you have learned how to merge cells in Excel, you should also
know how to unmerge them:
STEP 2: Click the Merge & Center button or select the Unmerge
Cells option from the drop down menu.
If any data was lost when the original cells were merged, they will
not be restored (unless your press CTRL + Z to undo the last action).
• Excel 'Sort' command will not work on ranges that contain the
merged cells.
The selected cells are now merged. You can see that even though
the data is merged across cell A1: F1, you can still select and refer
to each cell individually!
If you don’t want to lose the text from the merged cells in Excel, use
the CONCATENATE Function (pre Excel 2019), the CONCAT
Function (Excel 2019 & Office 365) or the ampersand & operator.
The CONCATENATE function combines cells in Excel quickly.
There may be times when you are dumped with data in Excel and it
is not formatted quite the way you want. Say, you have the First
Name and Last Name in different columns and you want to merge
them in a single column containing First and Last Name.
Now, if you use Merge & Center or Merge Across Selection, it will
delete the text in the second column and only display the First
Name as a merged cell. But this is not what you were looking for.
Right?
In the SALES REPORT below, you have the First Name in Column A
and Last Name in Column B. For reporting and further analysis, you
need them to be combined into one column, so it's best to use the
Concatenate function or the "&" Operator for this.
Before I get into how to merge cells in Excel, let’s talk about exactly
what happens when you try to use Merge & Center here. If you
select cells A3 and B3 and then press the “Merge & Center” button,
you will see that you end up with an Excel merged cell with only the
upper-left cell’s value (First Name).
To merge cells in Excel without losing any data, you should use the
Concatenate Function in Excel. Follow the steps to know how to
combine cells in Excel:
STEP 3: Copy cell C3 and paste it in remaining cells or drag the fill
handle to copy the formula to the other cells below.
This will merge cells in Excel without losing the data! Below we
show you how to make this merged cell look better by adding a
space between the First & Last Names as well as a line break.
You can replace the space with a dot, comma, or any other
character. Simply replace the space in this function with a character
and make sure to enclose the character or text in double quotation
marks.
With the Concatenate function you also have the option to amend
the combination later, whereas you don’t have any such option if
you use Merge & Center.
You can also use the ampersand sign, &, to combine cells in
Excel. The & operator works just like the CONCATENATE function
where you can combine text, numbers, individual cells, etc. Both
CONCATENATE and & produce the same results.
The following examples show the same SALES REPORT but this time
I will use the & operator to merge cells in Excel.
You can see that the result is the same and you can use either the
ampersand sign & or the CONCATENATE function, it just depends
on what you are more comfortable with.
You can also add line breaks while merging cells by using the
CHAR(10) function in Excel.
Also, make sure you select the “Wrap Text” option under the Home
Tab, otherwise the result will be displayed in the same line only.
You can see that the FULL NAME is displayed on the first line and
the second line contains SALES, which is another cool way you can
create Excel merged cells.
Flash Fill is a special tool that analyses the pattern from the existing
cells and then automatically extracts the data to the pattern that you
set. We can combine the FIRST NAME and LAST NAME from the
previous example using Flash Fill.
STEP 2: Highlight that value you just typed and press the keyboard
shortcut Ctrl + E or go to the ribbon menu and select: Data > Flash
Fill
STEP 3: Excel will sense the pattern you provided in C3, and will fill
in the empty cells below, merging the FIRST NAME with the LAST
NAME.
If the Flash Fill does not seem to be working for your data, make
sure it is turned on.
To turn Flash Fill on, go to Tools > Options > Advanced > Editing
Options > check the "Automatically Flash Fill" box.
Exercise Workbook:
A number format code is created using symbols that tells Excel how
you want to display the cell's value. When adding a custom format in
Excel, there are four formatting sections that you have to follow:
Working with an example will make this concept clearer. So, let's get
started.
Example #1:
Example #2:
The symbols added would be based on the value stored in the cell.
In the table below, we have the status for different projects listed
below with 0 indicating Completed and -1 indicating Pending.
Now you want to create custom symbols in Excel wherein you want
to add these custom symbols:
STEP 3: Select the Custom category and under Type enter this:
This will change the format to ✓ Completed when cell value is 0 and
✕ Pending when cell value is -1.
You can also add colors to make the formatting more distinct. Under
Type enter this:
Which will add a green color to the completed project and a red
color to pending projects.
Example #3:
STEP 2: Select the Custom category and under Type enter this:
"#,##0;[Red]-#,##0
The first section of this code #,##0 is for a positive number, and
second code [Red]-#,##0 is for a negative number.
To show the positive number in green color and add a % sign, follow
Step 3.
STEP 3: Under the Type: area you will need to enter the text [green]
at the start of the positive value string and enter the % sign at the
end of the positive and negative value strings
STEP 4: Now select a blank cell and go to Insert > Symbol > Font:
Arial > Subset: Geometric Shapes and then Insert the Up-Pointing
Triangle and then Insert the Down-Pointing Triangle and press
Cancel to exit.
STEP 5: You will need to copy the triangles, select the variance
numbers, press CTRL + 1 and paste the triangles before each
positive and negative value string, then press OK
So, #REF error in Excel occurs when the reference used is invalid. It
can happen due to one of the following reasons:
This means that Excel returns a #REF error when the formula refers
to a cell that isn’t valid.
Let's look at a few examples to see when this error occurs and how
to fix it!
Exercise Workbook:
In the table below, you will spot multiple #REF! errors within
formulas used in several cells.
To get rid of this error message we have to select the cell(s) with
this error, by using the Find & Replace dialog box and do the
following:
Press OK and it will clear the #REF error in Excel within the formula.
STEP 1: To check the cell containing the cell, simply click on the cell
and press F2.
Here, since you have used an explicit cell reference and it was
deleted, Excel is returning a #REF error.
STEP 3: Press Ctrl + H to open the Find & Replace dialog box.
STEP 4: Under Find What, input #REF! and leave Replace as blank.
This is done to replace all the #REF! errors with a blank.
Let's look at another example when this error occurs due to copy-
pasting the formula from other cells.
Example #2:
In the table below, we have sales data for different customers for 4
quarters and a sum formula used to calculate the total sales. The
formula used to calculate the total sales value is:
If you try and delete Column E (Quarter 4), the sum formula will
change to =SUM(B4, C4, D4,#REF!) and return an error - #REF.
STEP 2: Now delete the Column E to get the total sales for only 3
quarters.
If you change the formula from =SUM(B4, C4, D4, E4) to =SUM(B4:
E4), you will no longer be vulnerable to #REF in Excel. This formula
recalculates the total sales value by removing the deleted cell.
Let's take a look at another example when the error occurred due to
VLOOKUP containing invalid cell reference.
Example #3:
In the table below we have quarterly and total sales for different
customers and using the VLOOKUP formula, we have tried to find
out the total sales for the customer name mentioned.
The formula used to find the total sales for customers mentioned in
cell H4 is
=VLOOKUP(H4,$A$4:$F$11,7,0)
If you look into the formula used in detail, you will see that the
value used to indicate the column index number is incorrect.
Exercise Workbook:
Format only cells with: Cell Value > Grater than > 100000
Click OK twice
When your criteria references a cell, then you can make this
conditional format interactive. So as you manually change the
referenced cell’s value, the conditional format gets updated and you
can see the live results, as shown below.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 3: Set Apply Rule to the third option: All cells showing "Sum of
SALES" values for "MONTH" and "YEAR"
STEP 5: Edit the Rule Description. Go to Cell Value > Greater Than
> Select the cell F8
STEP 6: Select the cell format. Click Format and select the Fill tab
and choose a color (light red). Click OK.
Try it out now! The highlight now happens dynamically when you
update the value.
Icon Sets: Shows icons in a cell. The icons depend on the cell’s
value - Good for Project Management reports.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Select the range that you want to apply the conditional
formatting on.
STEP 3: Select a Data Bar, Color Scale, or Icon Set and see what
happens…
STEP 4: After your selection, you can edit the Conditional Format
selected by going to Home > Conditional Formatting > Manage
Rules > Edit Rule
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Select the range that you want to apply the conditional
formatting to.
Go to Format > Fill then select a color of your choosing. Click OK.
Go to Format > Fill then select a green color of your choosing. Click
OK.
The length of the data bar represents the value in the cell. A longer
bar represents a higher value.
If you select the More Rules option then you can select more colors
as well as many different values types to format.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Select any value inside the Pivot Table. Go to Home >
Conditional Formatting > Data Bars > Gradient Fill
Now you have data bars showing up for the entire pivot table.
You get a better visual representation as the Grand Totals are now
excluded.
Say you had a date of 18/02/1979, you can use the Format Cells
dialog box to show only the number 18, the day that corresponds to
that date (Sunday), the month as a number in abbreviated form and
the year in two or four digits.
You can also mix and match to create a custom date formats or
even enter a custom text that would show something like:
Today is Sunday
You can download the following workbook which shows you the
different formats that you can use and see the tutorial below of how
this can be easily achieved.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: To see how the formatting works, pick any one on the table.
Then press CTRL + 1 to open the Format Cells Dialog.
STEP 2: Over here you can see the Custom Date Format used, in our
example, it's mmmm-yyyy and there is a sample of February-1979
at the top to show you how it looks like.
You can specify different format codes for each section as long as
they are separated by a semicolon.
The following table displays the different custom codes that you can
enter in the Format Cells dialog box and how the values will
appear. You can download the Excel workbook below and press
CTRL+1 in each cell to see the custom format entered.
CODE OUTPUT ORIGINAL HOW IT APPEARS
VALUE
General General format display 123456 123456
# Displays significant digits 123.456 123
#.00% Displays percentage 0.6489 64.89%
$-+/(): Displays this character 1234567890 -$1234567890
“text” Displays the text in 1234567890 1234567890
between the quotations units
[Color n] Displays the color in the 1234567890 1234567890
Excel color palette (from 0
to 56)
[condition Custom condition e.g. [If it 0.01 1.00%
value] meets this condition] True
Format; False Format
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 2: Press Ctrl+1 to open the Format Cells dialog. Or you can
right click on the cell and select Format Cells.
Change the cells to the following values and see the colors take
effect:
• 100
• -200
• 0
• Excel ROCKS!
One of the most common things you may encounter are blank cells
in your Excel data which can hinder your analysis, especially if you
are using a Pivot Table to analyze the data.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Make sure your entire table is selected. We will select all the
blank cells or press the keyboard shortcut CTRL + *
Find Blank Cells In Excel With A Color 212 FORMAT & LAYOUT
Go back to Formatting and Layout Go to Table of Contents
Find Blank Cells In Excel With A Color 213 FORMAT & LAYOUT
Go back to Formatting and Layout Go to Table of Contents
STEP 3: The blank cells are now selected. Go to Home > Font > Fill
> Red color
Find Blank Cells In Excel With A Color 214 FORMAT & LAYOUT
Go back to Formatting and Layout Go to Table of Contents
Our filtering has worked to show the blank cells which you can now
manually fill in.
Find Blank Cells In Excel With A Color 215 FORMAT & LAYOUT
Go back to Formatting and Layout Go to Table of Contents
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Adjust your column width so all the text could fit in one cell
With just that, everything is now combined into one single cell!
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: To format the Zip Code, select the cell containing the value
and press CTRL + 1
STEP 2: To format the Phone Number, select the cell containing the
value and press CTRL + 1
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Pick a cell that contains the formatting you want to copy
STEP 2: These are the cells that we want to apply the same
formatting. Click on all of them
STEP 3: The same formatting is applied with just a click. Now try
applying it to the entire YEAR Column by highlighting the entire
column
There is a way in Excel that will allow us to freeze panes so that the
column headings are visible whilst we are scrolling down our data.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 3: The next question is, what if it's not the first row that you
want to freeze? Say you want Rows 1 to 5 to be frozen?
STEP 4: You can also freeze the first column! Go to View > Freeze
Panes > Freeze First Column
STEP 5: You can also freeze your view from a specific cell! For
example, let us try freezing from cell D4:
Select that cell. Go to View > Freeze Panes > Freeze Panes
This will freeze panes based on that specific cell. Try scrolling in
multiple directions. Cells A1 to C3 are now frozen!
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Select all the cells in your Excel worksheet by clicking on the
top left-hand corner of your worksheet.
STEP 4: This will highlight all the formulas in your Excel worksheet
and you can use the Fill Color to color in the formula cells.
And now all your cells containing formulas are now highlighted!
Let us say, we have this single cell that we want to lock in our Excel
worksheet:
• All of the cells are locked by default, however locked cells have
no effect until you have protected the worksheet
• After that, we will protect the worksheet and our target cell
will now be locked!
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Select all of the cells by clicking the upper left corner:
STEP 4: Right click on our target cell and select Format Cells:
STEP 5: Ensure Locked is ticked this time. This will lock our target
cell. Click OK.
STEP 6: Now it is time to protect our Excel sheet and see the locking
in action!
STEP 9: If you try editing your target cell now, Excel will not allow
you to...And you are able to edit the other cells just fine!
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 2: Select the Constants box and press OK (this highlights all
the non-formula cells)
STEP 4: Select the Protection tab and Un-check the Locked box
STEP 5: In the menu ribbon go to Review > Protect Sheet > then
enter your custom password (optional)
This will lock all the cells that are not constant, so this will be all of
the formula cells!
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Select the column that you want to apply the negative
number formatting. Press CTRL + 1 to open the Format Dialog.
Click OK.
Exercise Workbook:
Custom Formatting
Before we move forward, it is important to know that certain
characters in custom formatting have specific meaning:
• , Thousand separator
You can create Excel custom number formats for Millions and
Thousands using either the placeholder zero or pound sign. Let's
look at both of them one-by-one.
#,##0,, "mills"
In the example below, we have sales data with the sales amount
mentioned in columns D & E.
STEP 3: In the Format Cells dialog box, Under Number Tab select
Custom.
STEP 5: This is how the Column D after number formatting will look
STEP 6: Follow the same steps for Column E as well and type #,##0,,
"mills" under the custom section.
The only difference between the two custom formats (Thousands &
Millions) is that you have to put 1 comma for Thousands and 2
commas for Millions.
0.0,, "M"
5 as 5.00
8.5 as 8.50
10.99 as 10.99
Also, you can round off the number using a decimal point symbol.
STEP 3: In the Format Cells dialog box, Under Number Tab select
Custom.
0.0, "K"
0.0,, "M"
One thing to note is that this will just format the way the number
looks like on the Worksheet. The number stored in the cell remains
the same!
ROUND Function
You can use the ROUND function to change the formatting and also
change the number as well.
=D7/1000000.
=ROUND(D7/1000000,1).
=ROUND(D7/1000000,1)&" M".
STEP 6: Copy the Column and the Press Alt + E + S to open the
Paste Special Box and select Values. Then click OK.
This will hard code the values and get rid of the formula!
Then you decide that the bold text does not suit your expected
design and prefer red colored text instead.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 4: Select the second Format. We will set the format that we
want to be the final formatting.
One way is to use the Power Query method, which is great if you
have lots of data that gets added each day, week or month and
simply want to Refresh your Query to get the output needed each
time.
If you want to quickly split a cell's full name into separate columns
on an ad-hoc basis, then the Text to Columns is the way to go.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Highlight your column's data that has the full names
This will split the column into two columns, separating the first from
the second name. You can go ahead and change the column
headings to get the following result:
John ([email protected])
...then you can use the Text to Columns feature in Excel to take out
the email addresses and put them in a separate column.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Let us add a new column for us to place the Email addresses
in.
We want to split the Name & Email value by the open parenthesis (
To do this select Other and enter the open parenthesis in the box:
Click OK.
STEP 5: Now we have the Email column populated. The last step is
to remove the ) at the end. Select the values of the Email column.
Place ) in the Find what and click Replace All. This will replace
the ) with a blank value, resulting in it getting completely removed.
I will show you a cool trick where you can turn the TEXT Date to an
Excel Date that Excel can read and work with.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Let's confirm that the Dates are in TEXT format by including
the ISTEXT function.
STEP 2: Now that we know that our Dates are in TEXT format, we
can highlight the whole Dates column
This will turn the TEXT Date into an Excel Date! How quick was that?
When you try and sum the values you get a count rather than a sum.
That is because Excel reads the data as text rather than a value.
Exercise Workbook:
Turn Text To Values With Paste Special 270 FORMAT & LAYOUT
Go back to Formatting and Layout Go to Table of Contents
You can also use the ISTEXT function to confirm a cell’s format:
Now you can easily convert the text into values by using the Paste
Special > Values > Multiply combination. Here is how...
Turn Text To Values With Paste Special 271 FORMAT & LAYOUT
Go back to Formatting and Layout Go to Table of Contents
STEP 3: Select the data range, Right Click and select Paste Special
Turn Text To Values With Paste Special 272 FORMAT & LAYOUT
Go back to Formatting and Layout Go to Table of Contents
Turn Text To Values With Paste Special 273 FORMAT & LAYOUT
Go back to Formatting and Layout Go to Table of Contents
But once we are done with presenting our Excel worksheet to our
boss, we can unhide these Excel columns very easily!
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Select the columns that is both on the left and right of the
hidden columns.
For our example, since our hidden columns are B and C, then we
need to highlight columns A (left of B) and D (right of C).
FORMULA TIPS
Add Leading Zeros in Excel ...................................................... 277
Check Your Math with F9.......................................................... 285
Evaluate Formulas Step By Step in Excel .................................... 289
Fill Down Formulas ................................................................... 293
Find the Best Formula............................................................... 295
Remove Formulas in Excel ........................................................ 298
Remove Leading and Trailing Spaces ........................................ 300
Separate Formula into Rows ..................................................... 303
Show & Hide Formulas in Excel ................................................. 305
Vlookup in an Excel Table ........................................................ 307
XLOOKUP Function in Excel ...................................................... 310
This tutorial will help you do exactly that! Do you have a lot of
numbers with an uneven number of digits in your Excel list?
There are various ways to add a leading zero in Excel. Let's look at
those options one by one.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Select the cell in which you want to add prefix "0".
Now when you add the zeros in front of the number, the zeros will
remain intact.
=TEXT(
value
What is the value that you want to add a leading zero in Excel
on?
=TEXT(B9,
format_text
=TEXT(B9, "000000")
Apply the same formula to the rest of the cells by dragging the
lower right corner downwards. Your leading zeros are now ready!
You should keep in mind that all of these methods add a leading
zero in Excel by actually converting the cell format to text.
These methods will add the zeros in front of the numbers but the
resulting value will be a text string, not a number.
You will not be able to use them to do any calculations or use them
in numeric formulas.
STEP 1: Select the column in which you want to add leading zeros
STEP 3: Select Custom and fill the type with 000000. Click OK.
Leading zeros will be added to all the numbers. If you select a cell
containing these numbers and look at the formula bar, you will see
that the underlying value in the formula bar remains unchanged.
Now all 6 digits are displayed and the leading zeros will be added to
numbers containing less than 6 digits. Also, the value will still be a
number and will not be converted to a text string.
Our formula calculates the Average of Sales, let us check out if the
calculation came out as intended!
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 3: Press F9. This will show the result of the SUM formula.
You can see that the total is 514,364. Now press CTRL+Z to revert
to the original Formula
STEP 5: Press F9. This will show the result of the COUNT formula.
You can see that the count is 8. Now press CTRL+Z to revert to the
original Formula
Excel provides the way to evaluate your formula, and break it down
step by step so that you can understand it!
Let us take the formulas I've created below in the IS THE VALUE IN
BETWEEN column. We will see how this formula is resolved in a
series of steps:
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: You can see our formula uses both the If formula and the
Median formula.
STEP 2: Our formula is now shown on screen, and the part that is
underlined is the one to be evaluated first. Click Evaluate.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 2: Double click on the lower right corner of the cell to apply
the same formula to the rest of the column
The best part is with this trick, there is no need for you to memorize
Excel formulas.
Let us say we have this horizontal table that we want to search for
values:
Here is our main target: How do we lookup and return the price of
a television?
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 3: Now this is the fun part, Excel explains each argument to us
on how to properly utilize the formula. There is also a description
on each argument as you click through each one.
You now have your correct formula with the right result!
Exercise Workbook:
Now you will see that the values are only retained and the formulas
are now gone!
Exercise Workbook:
Let’s use the TRIM formula to remove leading & trailing spaces:
This looks like a pain! How do we clean these? I explain how you can
do this below:
Now all of your leading and trailing spaces are cleaned up!
• A rating of 1 is Bad
• A rating of 2 is Average
• A rating of 3 is Great
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Start editing your formula by double clicking on the cell that
has the formula.
We will use the ALT + ENTER keyboard shortcut to add new lines
to our formula, then you can add spaces as well to have indentation
inside your Excel formula.
Same formula, but you can quickly see with this new formatting on
which rating would end up to which description.
Exercise Workbook:
The ` key is usually located on the upper left part of your keyboard.
This will show all your Excel formulas in your worksheet!
STEP 2: If you prefer to set this via Excel Options, another way is to
go to File > Options
The formulas are all shown now too! You can uncheck it to hide the
formulas again.
Searches for a value in the first column of a table array and returns a
value in the same row from another column (to the right) in the
table array.
Formula breakdown:
What it means:
Exercise Workbook:
Excel Tables are just amazing and should be used all the time,
whether you have 2 rows or 200,000 rows of data!
What that means is that as the Excel Table expands with more data
added to it, your Vlookup formula's 2nd argument (table_array)
does not need to be updated as it refers to the Excel Table as a
whole by referring to its name like Table1, Table2, Table3 etc.
STEP 1: We need to convert the data into an Excel Table. Press Ctrl +
T then press OK.
STEP 2: Now let us create the formula to get the price of the Laptop.
Let us use the VLOOKUP formula:
This will get the lookup value (Laptop in Cell G15), then search in
the first column of Table1.
Afterwards it will get the value in Column #2 which is the price. The
FALSE means is we want to get the exact match.
STEP 3: Drag down the formula to copy it across the table. Notice
that the second row is looking for the price of Mouse. This does not
exist in our data table yet.
STEP 4: Now add and type in a new row in our table for the price of
the mouse.
The beauty with this is our VLOOKUP formula still works fine. Since
we are using the Table1, there is no need to update the range of
values that our VLOOKUP will use. It is now automatically included
and the price of the mouse is retrieved right away.
Even though the above Excel functions can get the job done, they
come with their own limitations. The solution to this is to use the
brand new Excel function introduced in Microsoft Office 365 -
XLOOKUP!
If you are using any of the older versions of Excel (2010, 2013,
2016, 2019) you won't be able to use this function.
Exercise Workbook:
XLOOKUP - An Introduction
What does it do?
• Use wildcards,
Formula breakdown:
where:
• [match_mode]
o 3 - Wildcards
• [search_mode]
You want to extract the price of the products from the stock list
table using XLOOKUP.
=XLOOKUP(
=XLOOKUP(H10,
=XLOOKUP(H10,$E$9:$E$12
Ensure that you press F4 so that you can lock the table range
=XLOOKUP(H10,$E$9:$E$12,$C$9:$C$12)
As you will see, Excel has pulled the price of the SKU LP1411
from the stock list and provided the result ($185) in the cell.
Apply the same formula to the rest of the cells by dragging the
lower right corner downwards.
What if you are trying to search for a product name that is not
available in the stock list table?
Instead of showing this error, you can add a custom text (say, No
Product Found) to display!
Approximate Match
In this example, Excel will look for the income entered in cell F14
and find the matching tax rate from column C.
If the income is greater than or equal to $0, the tax rate will be
13%. Similarly, if the income is greater than or equal to $8,456, the
tax rate will be 18%, and so on.
So, let's use this function to determine the tax rate for the
income amount mentioned in cell F14.
=XLOOKUP(E5
=XLOOKUP(E5,B5:B10
=XLOOKUP(E5,B5:B10,C5:C10
o 2 - Exact or next larger (if no result found, then the next larger
value will be displayed)
o 3 - Wildcards
=XLOOKUP(E5,B5:B10,C5:C10,,1)
=XLOOKUP(E5,B5:B10,C5:C10,,1)
In the example below, you will see that the data is not arranged in
ascending order.
You can use the same formula in randomly arranged data and
Excel will provide you with the same (correct) result.
Horizontal Lookup
The syntax for performing a horizontal lookup using XLOOKUP is
the same as for vertical lookup.
You just need to provide Excel with the lookup and return an
array, the table's orientation is irrelevant to the XLOOKUP function.
STEP 1: Enter the lookup value - the product name mentioned in cell
H6.
=XLOOKUP(H6
STEP 2: Enter the lookup array - the array containing the product
name.
=XLOOKUP(H6,$C$5:$F$5
STEP 3: Enter the return array - the array containing prices of the
product.
=XLOOKUP(H6,$C$5:$F$5,$C$6:$F$6)
=XLOOKUP(G5
=XLOOKUP(G5,$B$4:$B$7
STEP 3: Select the entire range containing columns for SKU, price,
and cost.
=XLOOKUP(G5,$B$4:$B$7,$C$4:$E$7)
Excel will extract or "spill" all the values with the help of the
XLOOKUP formula!
Using Wildcards
Xlookup in Excel allows you to search for a partial match using
wildcards characters like: * ? ~
This can be done using Excel VLOOKUP as well. But the problem
arises when you are actually trying to search the wildcard character
itself in the data.
o Tilde (~) can be used when you want the asterisk or question
mark to not be a wildcard. Simply place a tilde just before * or
?.
Joa* will search for the first match starting with Joa and any number
of characters after that (Joan) and return the corresponding email
address ([email protected]).
=XLOOKUP(E5,$B$4:$B$10,$C$4:$C$10,,2)
Jo?n will search for the first match starting with Jo followed by one
character and then n (John) and return the corresponding email
address ([email protected]).
=XLOOKUP(E6,$B$4:$B$10,$C$4:$C$10,,2)
In this example, you have sales data with the Sales date, Product
name and Price mentioned. You have to find out the latest price at
which a particular product was sold.
STEP 1: Enter the lookup value - the product name mentioned in cell
F5.
=XLOOKUP(F5
STEP 2: Enter the lookup array - the array containing the product
name.
=XLOOKUP(F5,C4:C30
STEP 3: Enter the return array - the array containing prices of the
product.
=XLOOKUP(F5,C4:C30,D4:D30
=XLOOKUP(F5,C4:C30,D4:D30,,,-1)
Excel will start the search from the bottom and the first match will
be produced as a result!
As you add extra rows to your Excel Table, the formula fills in to
the extra rows added, so you do not need to copy and paste.
Exercise Workbook:
This is our starting data and has been converted into an Excel Table.
Our goal is to compute the percentage of costs in our sales
amount then put it in the blank column.
=IFERROR([@COSTS]/[@SALES], "")
STEP 2: Pick on any random row and notice that the formula has
been applied to that as well. This is the power of using Excel Tables
and your formula has been applied to the entire column! No more
copy pasting!
Exercise Workbook:
Notice that the Category column has the values Meat, Beverage
and Breakfast. You will see why in our example below.
Excel Tables: Dependent Dropdown Lists 334 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
Go back to Table and Pivot Table Tips Go to Table of Contents
Highlight the Category values, and type in the Name Box the name
Category
Excel Tables: Dependent Dropdown Lists 335 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
Go back to Table and Pivot Table Tips Go to Table of Contents
After you created all these Named Ranges, click on the Name Box
dropdown and see our newly created Named Ranges:
STEP 4: Let us start creating the dropdown lists, select the cell you
want to place the first dropdown list.
Excel Tables: Dependent Dropdown Lists 336 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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The reason we are doing this is to use the Category Named Range
we defined in Step 2.
Excel Tables: Dependent Dropdown Lists 337 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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STEP 6: The moment you have been waiting for, it's time to use
our INDIRECT function!
Select the cell where you want to place the dependent drop-
down list.
This will return the Named Range values from the drop-down list
selected in cell H10.
Excel Tables: Dependent Dropdown Lists 338 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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Click OK. You will get this error initially, just click Yes to continue:
Excel Tables: Dependent Dropdown Lists 339 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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You can create a drop down list to eliminate manual entry and re-
entry of data, as well as reduce data entry mistakes if you rely on
other users entering data.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Click on the cell that you want to enter your list in
STEP 2: Go to the ribbon and choose Data > Data Validation > List
STEP 3: Click in the Source box and select the range that includes
your list of text/values and press OK
That way you don't have to do repetitive tasks like entering the
same customer over and over again or copying and pasting time and
time again.
Exercise Workbook:
Excel Tables: Drop Down Menu 342 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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STEP 2: Highlight the area that you want to place your drop down
list on
Select List and for the Source, select the list of values for your drop
down list. Click OK.
Excel Tables: Drop Down Menu 343 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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STEP 4: You can test it out now on your table! You can also update
the values in your source list and it gets reflected in your drop down
list!
Excel Tables: Drop Down Menu 344 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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This is great when you want to have users select from a predefined
text or value list rather than having them manually enter data, which
can lead to mistakes.
Exercise Workbook:
Excel Tables: Dynamic Data List 345 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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Excel Tables: Dynamic Data List 346 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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STEP 4: Click on the other Excel Table column that you want to
enter the dynamic list into and go to the ribbon and choose Data >
Data Validation > List
STEP 5: In the Source box enter the name you created in Step 3
and press OK or click in Source box, press F3 and select the
named range from there
Excel Tables: Dynamic Data List 347 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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STEP 6: If you want to add extra data into your Excel Table list,
hover with your mouse in the bottom right-hand corner and when
you see a double arrow, drag down.
Excel Tables: Dynamic Data List 348 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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Well, as you add new data into your Excel Table, your drop down list
automatically gets updated.
That is a cool feature and it means that you do not need to update
your data validation source reference each time you update your
data with a new entry, saving you heaps of time in the long run.
Exercise Workbook:
Excel Tables: Dynamic Data Validation List349 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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STEP 2: Select your Table’s column by hovering over the Excel Table
and left clicking when the arrow pointer shows
Excel Tables: Dynamic Data Validation List350 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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STEP 4: Click in a cell and go to the ribbon and choose Data >
Data Validation > List
STEP 5: In the Source box enter the name you created in Step 3 and
press OK
Excel Tables: Dynamic Data Validation List351 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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STEP 6: If you want to add extra data into your Excel Table, hover
with your mouse in the bottom right-hand corner and when you see
a double arrow, drag down.
Excel Tables: Dynamic Data Validation List352 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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You have extra Table styles in the Page Layout tab in your Ribbon
menu. Click on that and select the Colors drop down and you can
choose from an array of combinations.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Select anywhere in the table. Go to Table Tools > Design >
Table Styles
There are a lot of styles to choose from! Pick any that you prefer.
STEP 2: Now here is the magic trick, if you need more colors, there's
more!
Go to Page Layout > Colors and there are even more combinations!
After picking one, here is the final result for the Excel Table Style!
For example, if you had a list of customers, the Search box allows
you to find specific customers by typing in a few letters only, allows
you to add a selection to your filtered list and even use wildcard
symbols - like the asterisk * to drill down to specific customers.
Exercise Workbook:
Excel Tables: Filter & Search 356 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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STEP 2: Now click on the CUSTOMER column header and type "the"
in the search box
Once you tick Add current selection to filter, this will include the
Customers with the word "the" in the text
Excel Tables: Filter & Search 357 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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The asterisk * is a wildcard character, this means this will search for
all text starting with w only
Once you tick Add current selection to filter, this will include the
Customers with the letter w in the beginning
Excel Tables: Filter & Search 358 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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BONUS TIP: Here is an additional tip, you can also use the question
mark ? as a wildcard character, it represents one single character.
For example m?n could match both man and men.
Give it a try!
Excel Tables: Filter & Search 359 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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Exercise Workbook:
Excel Tables: Filter Unique Records 360 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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• List range - select the REGION column and include the column
header
Click OK
Excel Tables: Filter Unique Records 361 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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Excel Tables: Filter Unique Records 362 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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One that I use all the time is the Go To Special > Blanks. This
allows you to delete multiple blank rows/columns within seconds. I
show you how below.
Exercise Workbook:
For example, when you had a list of data with hundreds of rows and
you had to scroll all the way down to the bottom of your list, the
Headers row was not visible and you had to guess what some
columns related to.
When you have your data in an Excel Table and you have many
rows of data and need to scroll down to the bottom of your Excel
Table, the Header names stay visible in the Excel Columns.
Exercise Workbook:
Excel Tables: Headers Show in Columns 367 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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STEP 1: This is our Excel Table. Have a look of the Table Header
values then scroll all the way down.
STEP 2: Our column values still magically display on top for your
easy reference! This is the power of Excel Tables!
Excel Tables: Headers Show in Columns 368 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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• Structured referencing;
• When you scroll down from the Table, its Headers replace the
Column Letters in the worksheet;
Exercise Workbook:
The duplicate values could be all over your Excel Table and
sometimes it takes valuable time trying to locate those duplicates
and then deleting them.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Click inside your Excel Table and select Table Tools >
Design > Remove Duplicates
STEP 2: This will bring up the Remove Duplicates dialog box. Select
only the Columns box that contains the duplicates that you want
to remove and press OK
Once the cells have been identified, you can color them in and then
filter to see each transaction.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 5: Now let's filter and leave these rows! Go to Home > Sort &
Filter > Filter
STEP 6: Go to Paid Column Filter > Filter by Color > Red Color
You can see the power of Slicers and the different ways you can
format them in these posts.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 3: Tick the Table Headers that you want to include in your
Slicer and press OK
STEP 4: You can update the look and feel by going to Slicer Tools >
Options > Slicer Styles
Click on the Slicer buttons and see how your Excel Table gets
filtered without needing to select the filter drop down.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 2: You can also create your own style! Go to Table Tools >
Design > Table Styles > New Table Style
STEP 3: You can give the new table style a name. Click Format
This feature is located under the Excel Data tools menu: Data >
Subtotal. To insert this feature, you need to follow these quick
steps:
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 4: Use function: Select which function you want to use for
your calculation. You can select from Sum, Count, Average,
Maximum, Minimum, Product, Count Numbers, StdDev,
StdDevp, Var, Varp
STEP 5: Add subtotal to: Select the column that you want to
Subtotal
STEP 6: Press OK and this will add extra lines to your data with the
chosen Subtotal
Formula breakdown:
=SUBTOTAL(function_num, ref1)
What it means:
Exercise Workbook:
This is a great trick and one that can be used when creating an Excel
Dashboard that summarizes key data metrics on one page.
STEP 2: In the ribbon select Developer > Insert > Form Controls >
Combo Box
STEP 3: With your mouse select the region where you want to
insert the Combo Box
STEP 4: Right Click on the Combo Box and select Format Control...
STEP 5: For the Input Range, you need to select the range with the
Subtotal summary names from STEP 1
STEP 6: For the Cell Link, you need to select a cell where you
want to show the output and press OK
STEP 7: Enter the Subtotal function and for the first argument
function_num we will reference the Cell Link from STEP 6
So you can see as you choose a summary name from the drop down
list, it gives us a value for the Cell Link which equals to the
function_num for that summary name!
Let us give it a try! Select MAX and you will get the maximum value:
Now let us try COUNT and you get the number of records:
This will add a Totals Row at the bottom of your Table and by
clicking in any of the boxes, a list of formulas will appear! You can
use the default formulas like Average, Count, Count Numbers,
Max, Min, Sum plus you can click on More Functions which will
let you choose any of Excel’s many formulas.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Select any cell in your table. Go to Table Tools > Design >
Table Style Options > Total Row
Excel Tables: Total Row Calculations 394 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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STEP 2: A new row has been added at the bottom of the data. Select
Count for the REGION column
Excel Tables: Total Row Calculations 395 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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Now you have your updated values! They get updated automatically
as you add new rows and change values!
Excel Tables: Total Row Calculations 396 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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What about if you had multiple Pivot Tables from the same data set
and wanted to control them using one Slicer, so when you press a
button all the Pivot Tables change?
Exercise Workbook:
ROWS: Region
ROWS: Customer
Now as you select each Slicer's items, both Pivot Tables will change!
The tricky part here is the First Name is in the Students Table (on
the right), while the number of classes are in the Classes Table (on
the left).
Exercise Workbook:
Pivot Tables: Data Model and Relationships405 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
Go back to Table and Pivot Table Tips Go to Table of Contents
STEP 1: Select the Classes Table. Go to Insert > Pivot Table > New
Worksheet
Make sure to tick Add this data to the Data Model. Click OK.
Pivot Tables: Data Model and Relationships406 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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STEP 2: Select the Students Table. Go to Insert > Pivot Table >
New Worksheet
Make sure to tick Add this data to the Data Model. Click OK.
STEP 3: Click All in PivotTable Fields and you should see both
Tables there.
Pivot Tables: Data Model and Relationships407 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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Click New.
Pivot Tables: Data Model and Relationships408 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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Table - Classes
Pivot Tables: Data Model and Relationships409 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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Click Close.
With just that, you can see that Excel was able to show the results in
a merged fashion without the need to use the VLOOKUP formula!
Pivot Tables: Data Model and Relationships410 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Click in your data source and go to Insert > Pivot Table
STEP 2: The important step here is to check the Add this data to
the Data Model box and press OK
STEP 3: This will create a Pivot Table. Now drop the Customers
field in the Row and Values areas which will give you the "total
transactions" for each customer.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 3: Let us try another one. Go to Row Labels and select Date
Filters > Next Quarter
(This tip only works if your Pivot Table’s dates and the today’s date
are within the same year)
Exercise Workbook:
Pivot Tables: Filter Top 5 Customers 418 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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Pivot Tables: Filter Top 5 Customers 419 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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Pivot Tables: Filter Top 5 Customers 420 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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The icon will depend on the cell’s value so you can highlight key
variances or trends. There are a few sets that you can include, like:
SHAPES (Milestones)
INDICATORS (Positive/Negative)
RATINGS (Scores)
I show you how easy it is to insert an Icon Set within a Pivot Table
that will show a "directional icon" depending on the change of the
monthly sales values.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Place the SALES Field in the Values area, the MONTH Field
in the Rows area and the YEAR Field in the Columns area.
STEP 2: Place the SALES Field in the Values area a second time.
Click on the Sum of SALES2 field and select Value Field Settings
STEP 4: Make sure to select the third option. This excludes the
Subtotals and Grand Totals.
Set the settings to the ones shown below. This will set the column to
show the arrow icons only - A green arrow for positive, an orange
for zero and a red arrow for negative.
Bonus Tip: Click on the cell with the title Sum of SALES2 and
manually change the name to Variance.
Say that you have created an awesome Pivot Table which shows total
sales and number of transactions per region.
You can drop in your Customer field in the Report Filter and
replicate the Pivot Table for each of your customers in a separate
Sheet.
Exercise Workbook:
Pivot Tables: Show Report Filter Pages 428 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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Pivot Tables: Show Report Filter Pages 429 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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STEP 2: Go to Options > Options Drop Down > Show Report Filter
Pages
Pivot Tables: Show Report Filter Pages 430 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: You can sort by clicking a cell & dragging each row item
up or down
Pivot Tables: Sorting a Pivot Table 431 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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123 Warehousing gets pushed down, and Widget Corp moves to the
top row.
Pivot Tables: Sorting a Pivot Table 432 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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Pivot Tables: Sorting a Pivot Table 433 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
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Try it also on the Grand Total column. Right click and select Sort >
Sort Smallest to Largest
Pivot Tables: Sorting a Pivot Table 434 TABLE & PIVOT TABLE
Go to Table of Contents
It can help you avoid the mistakes and make the data entry
process faster. It also helps you focus on one record at a time!
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 4: Under the New Tab, select New Group, and click Add.
Notice that there is also a Rename button, you can use it to rename
the New Tab and New Group into something more descriptive, like
Form:
STEP 5: Select your Table, and on your new Form tab, select Form.
Click New to save it. Repeat this process for all the records you
want to add.
Press Close to get out of this screen and see the data in your Excel
Table.
You can now use this new form to continually input data into your
Excel Table!
To add to the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT), follow the steps below:
STEP 3: In the Excel Options dialog box, select All Commands from
Choose commands from list.
STEP 4: Select Form from the list and then click on Add>>.
If you try to access the form when you haven't selected a cell
within the data table, you will receive an error message like the
one shown below:
You can also use the scroll bar to go through the records one after
the other.
This will save time when you have a data with multiple columns and
records.
Once you find the desired record, simply make the necessary
changes and hit Enter in Excel.
Search Criteria
Using Wildcards
If you wish to search all entries containing the word "east" in the
Region Column, you can do that by using the wildcard asterisk *.
STEP 2: In the Region field, type *east (to search all regions
containing the word east)
STEP 3: Click Find Next to find the entries containing the word
east.
The Data Entry Form will find the three entries for you in this
scenario!
STEP 3: Click Find Next to find all entries with a salary greater
than or equal to $75,000.
Restore a Record
Suppose you have accidentally deleted the first name of a record.
And you don't remember what was written in that field! Don't
panic.
You can use the Restore button in the Excel Data Entry Form and
retrieve the data lost accidentally.
One thing you need to keep in mind is that the Restore button is
only useful if you haven't pressed Enter.
The moment you press the Enter button, the Restore button will
become inactive and you won't be able to revert back to the original
data.
Say, you add a list rule to the Region Column using Data Validation.
STEP 2: Go to Data Tab > Data Tools (Group) > Data Validation.
Data Validation has now been inserted in the Region Column where
you are only allowed to enter values present in the list (Northeast,
Northwest, Southeast, Southwest).
Once you click OK, you will see an error message as below:
Delete a Record
STEP 1: Use the Scroll Bar to navigate to find the entry you want to
delete.
• Hit the Esc button on your keyboard to close the Excel Form.
This concludes the top 11 things you should know about Excel
Data Entry Forms. It will not only make the process faster but also
a lot easier and fun!
Few things to keep in mind when using the Excel Data Entry Form
are:
• Before you hit Enter, you can restore any changes made to the
data.
You can literally place it on your Excel window, and it is very easy
and handy to open it whenever needed:
Adding Excel Calculator to the Quick Access Toolbar would save you
a lot of time and could prove to be extremely helpful.
Add the Calculator to the Excel Toolbar 462 WORKING WITH DATA
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By default, the only options available in QAT are Save, Undo, and
Redo. But it can be customized individually by Excel users. So, if you
are one who frequently uses Calculator App with Excel. Adding a
calculator to your QAT would be the perfect step!
STEP 1: Go to the top-left corner of the Excel Ribbon and click the
down arrow on the Excel Toolbar.
Add the Calculator to the Excel Toolbar 463 WORKING WITH DATA
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STEP 2: From the drop down menu, select More Commands from
the list.
Add the Calculator to the Excel Toolbar 464 WORKING WITH DATA
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Add the Calculator to the Excel Toolbar 465 WORKING WITH DATA
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Add the Calculator to the Excel Toolbar 466 WORKING WITH DATA
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STEP 1: Go to the top-left corner of the Excel Ribbon and click the
down arrow on the Excel Toolbar.
STEP 2: From the drop down menu, select More Commands from
the list.
Add the Calculator to the Excel Toolbar 467 WORKING WITH DATA
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Add the Calculator to the Excel Toolbar 468 WORKING WITH DATA
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Add the Calculator to the Excel Toolbar 469 WORKING WITH DATA
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Now, let's give it a try and learn how to use a Calculator in Excel.
Say, you have to input the difference between two dates - 12th April
2020 and 2nd June 2020 without using any Excel formulas.
Add the Calculator to the Excel Toolbar 470 WORKING WITH DATA
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STEP 2: Click on the menu button at the top left and then select
Date Calculation.
STEP 3: Insert the two dates - 12th April 2020 and 2nd June 2020
Add the Calculator to the Excel Toolbar 471 WORKING WITH DATA
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Add the Calculator to the Excel Toolbar 472 WORKING WITH DATA
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Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Highlight your data including the "Totals" row and column;
Afterwards both your Total row and column are now populated!
STEP 1: For Windows 10, go to your Search Bar and type Date &
Time Settings.
STEP 2: Scroll to the very bottom, and select Change date and time
formats.
STEP 3: You can see the current Short date setting is Day-Month-
Year.
Bonus Tip: If you are still unable to make this work, you will need to
change your computer’s Region settings:
Settings > Region > Additional date, time & regional settings (top
right) > Change date, time or number formats > Format: English
(United States) > Apply
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 3: Select Millions for the Display units and tick Show display
units label on chart
Exercise Workbook:
#1 - COPYING A CHART
Click on the chart with your left mouse key and at the same time
hold down the CTRL key to copy it and move the chart to wherever
you want.
When you are done, let go of the mouse key to paste it.
When you are done, let go of the mouse key to paste it.
When you are done, let go of the mouse key to place it.
You can use the logarithmic scale (log scale) in the Format Axis
dialogue box to scale your chart by a base of 10.
Exercise Workbook:
So whenever you have new data and want to create a chart with your
(company’s) standard formatting, all you need is a couple of clicks
and you will have it seconds!
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: First you need to customize a chart to your liking and then
Save it by right clicking on your chart and clicking Save As
Template
STEP 3: The next time you create a chart all you have to do is click
on your data, select Insert > Recommended Charts > All Charts
and choose your custom template from the selection.
You would use this feature when you have a single text column on
the left with duplicate values and sales on a separate column.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 3: For the Reference, make sure to select the entire table.
Then ensure Use Labels in has both Top Row and Left Column
selected.
Press OK.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 2: Select New Group and we'll create a new group inside our
Home Tab
STEP 3: Click Rename and select any symbol you like and then
name your group: Text to Speech
Click OK.
Scroll down to select the commands that start with Speak and
click Add to add them one by one
Click OK
Now you can have fun with the text to speech commands! Try
highlighting the text that you want to listen to, then select Speak
Cells!
You may have cells with missing data and cases where you want to
copy the cell directly above to fill in your empty cell in Excel.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 2: In the ribbon menu select Home > Find & Select > Go to
Special or just press the keyboard shortcut CTRL+G
Click Special
STEP 4: Then you need to press the = sign and reference the cell
directly above
Some of these ranges I have to reuse time and time again to create
different calculations!
By using a Named Range, you can make your formulas much easier
to understand and maintain.
Let us work with the following table below. We want to populate the
Euro Amounts and the Sum of the USD columns:
Exercise Workbook:
Highlight the USD Amounts and type in the Name Box a name:
Amounts
Press Enter.
Drag your formula below to the rest of the column to get the
amounts calculated:
STEP 3: To calculate the sum of the Sum of USD column, type in:
=SUM(Amounts).
STEP 4: If you want to check all the Named Ranges you created, go
to Formulas > Defined Names > Name Manager
You can edit your Named Ranges in here or delete them as well.
You can then go over to another column within your data and select
another item, apply the same steps above and further filter your
data.
This is a quick and easy way to drill down into your data.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: For this trick to work you need to put the AutoFilter button
in the Quick Access Toolbar by going to File > More > Options >
Quick Access Toolbar
STEP 3: You can then click anywhere in your data, click the
AutoFilter button in your Quick Access Toolbar and see the magic!
Let us say we want to filter the data by Region - North. Click on any
NORTH value.
One of them is the Paste Special > Values > Multiply combination.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 3: Select the data range you want to multiply, Right Click
and select Paste Special
One of them is the Paste Special > Values > Add combination.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 3: Select the data range you want to add to, Right Click and
select Paste Special
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Let us try replacing the years 2015 with the year 2021.
Select all of the Order Dates
STEP 3: We want to replace 2015 with 2021. Type that in, then click
Replace All
STEP 4: You can also use it to remove values. Let us say we want to
remove the NORTH Region
Select the values of the REGION Column. Go to Home > Find &
Select > Replace
Type in the values to find the NORTH text and replace it with a
blank. Click Replace All
Here is our sample list of words, you can see it has a lot of
duplicates:
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 3: You can select the formatting that you want. For our
example, we selected Green Fill with Dark Green Text. Click OK.
You will now see the magic happen; all of the duplicate values are
now highlighted in your Excel worksheet!
For example, say we have a column which contains Dates and you
want to check that there are no cells which contain Text.
Exercise Workbook:
This is our source table, we want to get the order dates that are in
the text format.
STEP 3: We want to select the text values in the Order Date column.
Now Excel has highlighted the text values for you and you can make
the necessary changes!
Exercise Workbook:
If the Flash Fill does not work automatically, you need to activate in
from Excel's backend by going to:
To demonstrate the power of Excel's Flash Fill, we will start off with
this table of data we need to populate:
STEP 2: In the second entry, once you type the first letter I
for Ian, Excel will auto-suggest to Flash Fill the rest of the First
Names.
Just in case Flash Fill does not start automatically when you are
expecting for it to match your pattern, you can start it manually by
clicking Data > Flash Fill. Another alternative is to press Ctrl+E.
STEP 5: In the second entry, once you type the first letter W
of Wright, Excel will auto-suggest to Flash Fill the rest of the
Last Names.
STEP 6: If the flash fill looks good, press Enter. Your data is now
complete without the use of a single formula!
Flash Fill allows you to combine, extract, move & transform data
that belongs in one column, into a new column.
Exercise Workbook:
To demonstrate the power of Excel's Flash Fill, we will start off with
this table of data we need to apply our formatting on:
Excel is smart enough to infer that you are trying to apply this
formatting.
STEP 3: What is very impressive is Excel was able to apply the same
formatting to the rest of the table without the use of a single
formula!
Flash Fill allows you to combine, extract, move & transform data
that belongs in one column, into a new column.
One of the cool uses of Flash Fill is to convert your values into
Excel dates automatically.
Exercise Workbook:
To demonstrate the power of Excel's Flash Fill, we will start off with
this table of data where we need to convert to dates:
Notice that Excel did not auto-suggest to Flash Fill. There are times
that this happens.
Since Flash Fill did not start automatically when you are expecting
for it to match your pattern, you can start it manually by
highlighting the entire column you want it to fill.
Then click Data > Flash Fill or another alternative is to press Ctrl+E
keyboard shortcut!
STEP 3: You now have your data auto-populated using Flash Fill.
What is very impressive is Excel was able to apply the same date
format pattern to the rest of the table without the use of a single
formula!
Exercise Workbook:
To demonstrate the power of Excel's Flash Fill, we will start off with
the following table of data:
Excel is smart enough to infer that you are trying to extract the
numbers in the text.
Example: First names starting with lower case, last names all in
upper case, middle initials in either cases...This drives me nuts!
Exercise Workbook:
To demonstrate the power of Excel's Flash Fill, we will start off with
this table of data where we need to fix the inconsistent formatting:
Notice that Excel did not auto-suggest to Flash Fill. There are times
that this happens.
Since Flash Fill did not start automatically when you are expecting
for it to match your pattern, you can start it manually by
highlighting the entire column you want it to fill.
STEP 3: You now have your data auto populated using Flash Fill.
The same spelling mistake is also done for the other 2 worksheets
(2017 & 2018):
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Hold the CTRL button and select the worksheets with the
left mouse button that need editing.
For our example, we need to select the 2016, 2017, and 2018
worksheets while holding the CTRL button (this will turn each
selected sheet to a white color).
STEP 2: Edit the cell in any one of the worksheets. Let us change
the Dvv to Dec and press ENTER.
This will change all of the worksheet values to reflect the same
change.
A Custom List in Excel is very handy to fill a range of cells with your
own personal list. It could be a list of your team members at work,
countries, regions, phone numbers or customers.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 2: From that first cell, click the lower right corner and drag
it to the next 5 cells to the right
Let us go straight into the Options in Excel to view how it’s being
done, and how you can create your own Custom List:
STEP 7: Scroll all the way down and under the General section, click
Edit Custom Lists
Here you can see the built-in default Excel lists of the calendar
months, and the days.
If you click on a Custom List, you will see under List entries that it
is greyed out and you cannot make any changes. This indicates that
it is a default Excel Custom List.
STEP 8: You can create & add your own Custom List under the List
entries section. Click on NEW LIST under the Custom Lists area and
then manually enter your list, entering one entry per line:
STEP 10: Now let's go back into our Excel workbook to see our new
Custom List in action. Type alpha on a cell
STEP 11: From that cell, click the lower right corner and drag it to
the next 5 cells to the right
STEP 12: Release and you will see it get auto-populated to zeta,
which is based on our Custom List created in Step 8
Hyperlinks: Buttons
Excel’s hyperlink capability is amazing but many people don't use it
as they don't know its full capabilities.
I will show you in the example below how you can create a hyperlink
in a shape and then click on the shape to go to a specific section
within your workbook without the need to scroll.
Exercise Workbook:
Sales
Costs
Profit
STEP 3: While holding CTRL + SHIFT, drag your first button using
left-click to instantly duplicate it. Do it twice.
STEP 4: Go to Format > Shape Style and pick the formatting you
want. Do it for all buttons to differentiate them from one another.
Make sure to change the text of the other buttons to COSTS and
PROFIT.
STEP 5: We will now create the cell that our button will navigate to.
Select the blank cells beside the SALES table. Then select Home >
Merge & Center
STEP 6: Copy the cell reference. For SALES this is cell A2.
STEP 9: Do the same for COSTS. Select the blank cells beside the
COSTS table. Then select Home > Merge & Center. Copy the cell
reference. For COSTS this is cell A26.
STEP 10: Right click on the COSTS Button and select Link. Make
sure Place in This Document is selected then place the cell
reference A26. Press OK.
STEP 11: Select the blank cells beside the PROFIT table. Then select
Home > Merge & Center. Copy the cell reference. For PROFIT this is
cell A48.
STEP 12: Right click on the PROFIT Button and select Link.
Make sure Place in This Document is selected then place the cell
reference A48. Press OK.
STEP 13: Let's freeze in place the top row that contains our
buttons.
Now try clicking on the buttons and you will be impressed with the
instant navigation!
I will show you a trick where you can fix the referenced cell/range
using a Named Range, so that it does not move as the worksheet
changes.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Highlight the range or select the cell that you want the
Hyperlink to refer to:
STEP 3: Insert a Shape and right click on the Shape and choose
Hyperlink:
This will open up the Insert Hyperlink dialog box. Select the
Defined Name that you set up in Step 2 and press OK.
The REPT function uses the vertical bar character | as the first
argument: text and references the value cell for the second
argument: number_times
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Exercise Workbook:
=REPT
=REPT("|")
In-Cell Bar Charts with the REPT Function 563 WORKING WITH DATA
Go back to Working with Data Go to Table of Contents
=REPT("|", B6)
STEP 4: Highlight the formula column and insert the Stencil font
from the Home menu and choose a font color
STEP 5: If your value cells are high, the bar will go out of your
screen. To fix this, you need to enter a divisor in the second
argument of your formula which will reduce the length
=REPT("|", B6/5)
In-Cell Bar Charts with the REPT Function 564 WORKING WITH DATA
Go back to Working with Data Go to Table of Contents
If you have multiple Excel worksheets that are in the same format
and their underlying differences are their values and dates (e.g.
January Sales List, February Sales List, March Sales-List, etc), then we
can easily use Power Query to consolidate multiple worksheets..
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 3: This will open up the Query Editor and all you have to do
here is press Close & Load.
STEP 6: Add the tables to append from the Available Tables (from
the left) to the Tables to Append (to the right) by selecting and
pressing the Add button.
You can also organize the order that you want your consolidated
table to appear by moving the Tables up or down
STEP 7:This will open up the Query Editor once again. Choose
Close & Load.
This is how you can combine tables and use Power Query
consolidate multiple worksheets feature.
There are a couple of ways you can do this, using VBA or complex
formulas but the learning curve is steep and out of reach for most
Excel users.
Luckily with Power Query (Get & Transform), this consolidation task
can be done in a couple of minutes! That's right, only a couple of
minutes.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 3: From the Folder dialogue box, click the Browse button
This will bring up the Browse for Folder dialogue box and you
need to select the folder you created in Step 1 and press OK.
This is how you can use Power Query load multiple files
from folder feature.
From in here you need to select the first 2 columns (hold down the
CTRL key to select) and Right Click on the column heading and
choose Remove Other Columns
STEP 6: This will bring up the Add Custom Column dialogue box.
In here you need to name the new column e.g. Import, and within
the Custom Column Formula you need to enter the following
formula:
= Excel.Workbook([Content])
This will import the workbooks from within the Folder that you
selected in Step 3
Click on the Expand Filter and select the Data box only and press
OK. This will import the workbook from the folder
STEP 8: Click on the Expand Filter from the Import Data column
and select OK. This imports all the columns’ data from within the
workbook
STEP 11: Select the Date column and go to Transform > Data
Type > Date
STEP 12: Select the Sales column and go to Transform > Data
Type > Currency
This will put the data into a new worksheet within your workbook
STEP 15: You can now Insert a Pivot Table to do your analysis by
going to Insert > Pivot Table > New/Existing Worksheet
Put the Months in the ROWS and the Sales $ in the VALUES area:
Take Note: The Excel Workbooks have to have the same format
and number of columns as in the workbook we imported in Step
1
STEP 17: In your Excel workbook, click on the imported data and
this will open up the Workbook Queries pane (If this does not
open, go to Power Query > Show Pane)
Click the Refresh button (or you can go to Table Tools > Query
> Refresh)
STEP 18: This will import the February 2016.xlsx and March
2016.xlsx data into the Excel workbook and append it to January's
data
STEP 19: Now you can Refresh the Pivot Table and the new
imported data will be reflected
Next month all you have to do is drop in the new month's workbook
into the 2016 Sales Folder and Refresh the Query & the Pivot Table
to see the results!
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Highlight your data and go to Power Query > From Table >
OK
STEP 2: This opens the Power Query editor and from here you need
to select the columns that you want to unpivot
STEP 5: This will load and open the unpivoted data into a new
worksheet with your Excel workbook. Now you can go crazy with
your super analytical work, using Pivot Tables or other tools.
Thankfully Excel has Custom Views that lets you revert and save
your layout changes in a single click!
Exercise Workbook:
Once you have the layout that you use most of the time, go to View
> Custom Views:
Quick Reports With Excel Custom Views 586 WORKING WITH DATA
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STEP 3: In preparation for the second Custom View, select the first
4 columns, right click and select Hide.
Quick Reports With Excel Custom Views 587 WORKING WITH DATA
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Quick Reports With Excel Custom Views 588 WORKING WITH DATA
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Quick Reports With Excel Custom Views 589 WORKING WITH DATA
Go back to Working with Data Go to Table of Contents
The process was, copy the text, paste on my browser, and click
search.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Pick first the name or cell containing the text you want to
search:
STEP 3: You can now see my picture and details inside Excel which
is using Bing's web search inside the Smart Lookup pane!
Thanks Smart Lookup!
Sparklines: Column
Sparklines were introduced in Excel 2010 and they show a graphical
representation of your data in one cell. A Column Sparkline is best
used when you have lots of data points.
You can style them in different colors and add a marker for the High
and Low points of your data. As your data changes so do the
Sparklines.
Exercise Workbook:
Click OK.
Sparklines: Lines
Sparklines are a handy way to show a graphical representation of
your data in one cell.
You can style them in different colors and add a marker for the High
and Low points of your data. As your data changes so do the
Sparklines, which gives them that much more power.
Exercise Workbook:
Click OK.
That way you or the reader can easily spot the trends and patterns.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 3: Select the range that you want to insert the Win/Loss
Sparklines (this is usually the next column after your data ends) and
press OK
STEP 4: You can change the Style of the Sparkline by clicking in the
Sparkline (which activates the Sparkline Tools Tab in the ribbon)
and then choosing the Style drop down box
If you have a list of complex text that you type often (I could think
of long medical terms), then you can use autocorrect to change a
shortcut version to the text that you want!
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 3: Type in the Replace and With fields the values that you
want AutoCorrect to change
Your PMT formula gives you an amount of $1,450 but you can only
afford to repay $1,000. You can use Goal Seek to find out what
Principal you can borrow based on your $1,000 budget.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Enter your 3 input variables that you will need to use for
your PMT formula - Interest Rate of 3.50%, Term of 240 months &
Principal of $250,000
Use Goal Seek To Find Formula Result 603 WORKING WITH DATA
Go back to Working with Data Go to Table of Contents
STEP 3: Select the cell C8 and go to Data > What If Analysis > Goal
Seek
STEP 4: SET CELL: Enter the reference for the cell that contains the
formula that you want to resolve. In our example, this reference is
cell C8
STEP 5: TO VALUE: Type the formula result that you want. In our
example, we want the payment to be -$1,000 (Note that this number
is negative because it represents a payment)
Use Goal Seek To Find Formula Result 604 WORKING WITH DATA
Go back to Working with Data Go to Table of Contents
STEP 6: BY CHANGING CELL: Enter the reference for the cell that
contains the input value that you want to adjust e.g. One of our 3
variables (Interest Rate, Principal & Term). In our example, this
reference is cell C7 for the Principal
Use Goal Seek To Find Formula Result 605 WORKING WITH DATA
Go back to Working with Data Go to Table of Contents
You can use Excel’s Goal Seek feature (under What If Analysis) to
find out what Sales you need to achieve in Q4 in order to meet your
Net Profit goal of $200,000.
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Select the cell that you want to achieve your goal of
$200,000 which is the Total Net Profit in cell F7, which is a Sum
formula (Important: This cell must be a formula for the Goal Seek
to work)
Use Goal Seek To Meet Your Profit Goal 606 WORKING WITH DATA
Go back to Working with Data Go to Table of Contents
STEP 3: SET CELL: This is the cell that contains the goal we want to
achieve - F7
STEP 4: TO VALUE: Type the goal value that you want to achieve. In
our example, it will be 200,000
Use Goal Seek To Meet Your Profit Goal 607 WORKING WITH DATA
Go back to Working with Data Go to Table of Contents
STEP 5: BY CHANGING CELL: Enter the reference for the cell that
contains the input value that you want to adjust. In our example it
is the Q4 Sales forecast in cell E5
Use Goal Seek To Meet Your Profit Goal 608 WORKING WITH DATA
Go back to Working with Data Go to Table of Contents
Whenever I tried typing using the Wingdings font, I was not sure
which symbol I would get!
I will show you how easy it is to pick a cool Wingdings Symbol and
use it in your Excel worksheet!
Exercise Workbook:
STEP 1: Select the cells that you want to place the symbols in:
STEP 2: Now that our cells are able to accept Wingdings symbols, go
to Windows Start (Windows 10) > Search Bar > Character Map
STEP 3: You will now see all the characters! Ensure the
Font is Wingdings.
Do the rest for the other cells, and you have used Wingdings
Symbols!
Did you know that you can view multiple worksheets in Excel? Let
me show you how!
Exercise Workbook:
You will notice that there is a new window that is opened. You can
notice that there is a number at the end of the filename indicating
the window number - .xlss:2
STEP 2: Now let's arrange the windows to view all of them side by
side!
Now you can view multiple worksheets from the same Excel file!
You can also go directly to other Excel services & products here:
To Your Success!
MyExcelOnline.com
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