Book Image

Exploring Microsoft Excel’s Hidden Treasures

By : David Ringstrom
Book Image

Exploring Microsoft Excel’s Hidden Treasures

By: David Ringstrom

Overview of this book

David Ringstrom coined the phrase “Either you work Excel, or it works you!” after observing how many users carry out tasks inefficiently. In this book, you’ll learn how to get more done with less effort. This book will enable you to create resilient spreadsheets that are easy for others to use as well, while incorporating spreadsheet disaster preparedness techniques. The time-saving techniques covered in the book include creating custom shortcuts and icons to streamline repetitive tasks, as well as automating them with features such as Tables and Custom Views. You’ll see how Conditional Formatting enables you to apply colors, Cell icons, and other formatting on-demand as your data changes. You’ll be empowered to protect the integrity of spreadsheets and increase usability by implementing internal controls, and understand how to solve problems with What-If Analysis features. In addition, you’ll master new features and functions such as XLOOKUP, Dynamic Array functions, LET and LAMBDA, and Power Query, while learning how to leverage shortcuts and nuances in Excel. By the end of this book, you’ll have a broader awareness of how to avoid pitfalls in Excel. You’ll be empowered to work more effectively in Excel, having gained a deeper understanding of the frustrating oddities that can arise daily in Excel.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
1
Part 1: Improving Accessibility
6
Part 2:Spreadsheet Interactivity and Automation
12
Part 3: Data Analysis

Lookup and Dynamic Array Functions

In this chapter, we’ll discuss two types of worksheet functions that will literally transform your workbooks. Lookup functions have long allowed us to create formulas that can retrieve data from elsewhere in a spreadsheet without requiring us to connect directly to the individual cells. Dynamic array functions are a quantum leap forward, enabling us to create single formulas that can return results to multiple cells. The new SORT, FILTER, and UNIQUE functions enable us to automate tasks that, previously, always had to be carried out by hand. The new XLOOKUP function is both a lookup function and a dynamic array function that is a modern replacement for both VLOOKUP and MATCH/INDEX. As you’ll discover, dynamic array functions can vastly improve spreadsheet integrity by creating self-resizing schedules, such as a dynamic amortization schedule. Amortization schedules are used to document the interest, principal, and running balance over...