You might be surprised at how powerful Excel can be
If you’re like most computer users, you make use of Excel on a regular basis, whether you’re computing your household expenses and income or identifying what each one of your company’s sales associates sold for the month. But, if you are like the majority of Excel users, the possibilities are also good that you’re not making use of this program to its full capability. Excel is a truly powerful program. You only need to discover how to make use of its full power. Here, then, are three tricks to help you get more out of Excel.
Adding non-contiguous values
You probably already use AutoSum to add rows of numbers together. It is possible to use AutoSum to highlight columns of numbers that are located adjacent to each other and calculate those totals. But were you aware that it is possible to also utilize this feature to calculate values in rows which are not contiguous? To put it differently, you can utilize AutoSum to incorporate numbers that are in columns not located close to each other. The TechRebpublic blog recently explained how this is accomplished. For instance, if you wanted to add the sales numbers of two of your firm’s top sales team — whose sales numbers aren’t listed alongside each other in the Excel spreadsheet. You just choose one employee’s column of numbers and then hold down your computer’s “Control” key to pick a second column of numbers, wherever they may be located. You can then use AutoSum to figure out the sales numbers of these two sales guys.
Preventing bad data entry
Do your employees often enter bad data in the company spreadsheets? Your workers could be entering text in a spreadsheet designed just to accommodate numbers. This is sometimes a frustrating situation when it is time for you to evaluate your spreadsheet. The good thing, though, as PC Magazine wrote in a recent story, is the fact that Excel features a solution that will protect against individuals from typing incorrect information in a company spreadsheet. This phenomenal feature? It’s name is Data Validation. Select the “Table Tools” tab on Excel. Next, click “Data Validation.” Excel then will allow you to enter precisely what form of data your employees ought to be entering into the spreadsheet. As an illustration, you are able to tell Excel just to allow numbers and not text within a spreadsheet’s fields. Excel will prevent employees from entering the incorrect kind of data.
Don’t let unsaved files ruin your day
You’re in the middle of developing a long Excel file when your computer suddenly shuts down. That’s a great deal of effort now wasted, right? Actually, no. Excel now comes with a function that allows you to easily recover these “lost” documents. Here’s the secret: First, select the “File” tab within your Excel program. Next, select the “Recover Unsaved Documents” option. You can now just click on the document once it appears on your screen. Also, here’s another amazing fact: This will work even for those Excel files which you never even gave a name before you lost them.
