2017 WASBO Accounting Conference
Microsoft Excel - Quick Tips That Can Save a Bundle of Time
March 16, 2017
Edit Directly in Cells
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Allows user to “double-click” to edit cells. If turned off, Excel navigates to the source of the cell
reference.
Choose File  Options Advanced  Check or Uncheck Allow Editing in Cells
Fast Navigation with Control button
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When you press Control and any arrow key, you can jump to last populated cell in that direction.
If you hold Shift while pressing Control and any arrow, Excel will select all the cells between
where you are and where you jump with the Control Key.
Control + End will take you to the last row and column of your data.
Control + A will select all data in the contiguous range.
To select a noncontiguous range of cells, hold Control while selecting the individual cells.
Control + Page Down or Page Up will switch tabs.
Control + Tab will switch between files.
Fill Handle
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Allows user to extend a series of numbers, dates, or text to desired number of cells.
Drag fill handle while left-clicking to fill in several types of data
Drag fill handle while right-clicking offers other options
Bonus Tip: Double click to fill in data automatically
Bonus Tip II: Use Custom Lists to create a list based on your data
o To create or edit a Custom List, choose File  Options AdvancedGeneral Edit
Custom Lists
Use AutoCorrect to speed up data entry
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AutoCorrect will automatically fix typos and misspelled words, but can also be used to speed up
inputting data
Choose File  Options Proofing AutoCorrect Options
Function Keys
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F2: Edit the cell
F4: Repeats last Command, or changes Cell Reference Style if editing cell
F7: Spell Check
Quick Access Toolbar
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Commands on Quick Access Toolbar are independent of the tab on the ribbon that is currently
displayed.
Convenient place for common commands, such as New, Print, Save As, Filter, or Publish to PDF.
To add buttons, simply right-click a button from any toolbar and choose “Add to Quick Access
Toolbar”.
Adjust page breaks
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You can scale the page breaks automatically to fit in the number of pages you would like.
Adjust the setting in Page Layout Width or Height to the desired number of pages.
You can tell Excel where you would like to see page breaks.
Choose View  Page Break Preview Drag page breaks to desired location.
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Filtering Tips
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Add a filter
o On the Home Ribbon, choose EditingSort & FilterFilter.
Quick way to find data:
o Use the Search box in the Filter menu
Use Autosum to find totals of filtered data
Delete data of your choosing
Filtered data can be copied to new sheet
Fill/Justify
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Allows users to reformat text in Excel so that it fits into a pre-selected space.
To use this command, highlight your data and the range you would like your data spread out
across. Then choose Home  EditingFill Justify.
Change Case of Text
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Use UPPER to convert data to all capital letters.
Use LOWER to convert data to lower case.
To capitalize the first letter of each word, use PROPER.
Add a Footer
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Footers allow a user to have Excel automatically populate file path, file name, page number,
date, etc. to be on the bottom of each page.
To add a Footer (or Header), choose View  Page Layout
Click on the Footer and choose an item from the Design ribbon.
Add a File Path with a Formula
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To enter a file path anywhere in a spreadsheet, use the following formula:
o =CELL(“filename”)
 Type the word “filename” – do not type the name of the file into the formula.
Join Text
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Methods to join text from two cells include:
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CONCATENATE (CONCAT in Excel 2016)
Use of Ampersand
TEXTJOIN (Only in Excel 2016)
Custom Formats
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If a built-in format does not meet your needs, you can customize a built in number format to
create your own.
o To change the format (the way the number looks) and add leading zeros to a number,
customize format with “0000” or how many digits you want.
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To add a zero to the actual number in Excel enter an apostrophe followed by your
number.
To add a custom format to a formula, use something similar to this:
o =“Our Revenues are increasing by “&TEXT(cell reference,”$#,###”)
Freeze Panes
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Excel keeps specific rows or columns visible when you scroll through a worksheet.
To Freeze Panes, select in the spreadsheet where you want the panes to be frozen. Then
choose View  Freeze Panes Freeze Panes
Watch Window
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When cells are not visible on a worksheet you can watch those cells and formulas in the Watch
Window toolbar.
To watch cells, select cell you want to view. Then choose Formulas  Formula Auditing
Watch Window
Click Add Watch. Choose Add (or change data range if necessary)
You can move the watch window to any location that is out of the way.
Format Painter
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Applies format of selected cells to any cell of your choosing
Double clicking Format Painter allows user to continuously apply formats to as many cells as
they choose.
Find Linked Cells (External References) in your Spreadsheet
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Use the Find command
o Enter a “[“ in the “Find What” area of the Find & Replace Dialog Box.
o Choose Home Editing Find & Select FindOptions WithinWorkbook
Automatically change Font Size
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Excel can automatically adjust the size of the font to ensure the data fits within a cell.
This can be used in a situation where you cannot expand the column length.
Choose Home  AlignmentAlignment SettingsFormat Cells AlignmentShrink to Fit
Paste Special
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Typically used to Paste Values or Formulas.
Some little used options in Paste Special
o Column Widths
o Calculations
o Formats for cells
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Formats for charts
Transpose data
Skip blanks
Find & Select
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Allows advanced search options to Find/Replace or jump to a certain spot in your spreadsheet.
Can find Formulas or Constants
Using Go To Special can find:
o Blanks (Use Control + Enter to Autofill all the blanks with data located above it)
o Differences between Rows or Columns
Find Duplicate Entries
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Can be done with Conditional Formatting
o Select the range you wish to test, choose Home  Conditional FormattingHighlight
Cells Rules Duplicate Values
o Can isolate duplicates only using Excel’s filtering option.
REPLACE Function
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Used to replace part of a text string with different text string.
Can be used to convert a “salary” account to a “benefit” account.
The syntax is as follows: =REPLACE(old_text, start_num, num_chars, new_text)
To change cell A7 from 10 E 100 161 110000 000 to 10 E 100 222 110000 000, use this formula:
=REPLACE(A7,10,3,222)
Create a list of unique items
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Remove Duplicates
o Select the range where you would like to remove duplicates.
o Choose DataRemove Duplicates
Pivot Table
o Highlight the data you would like in the Pivot Table
o Choose Insert  Pivot TableOK
o Drag the field to the “Rows” section of the PivotTable Fields toolbar
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