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

Names, LET, and LAMBDA

If you’ve ever thought, “Oh, I wish Excel had a way to automate calculating x,” your day has arrived. There will be some nuances and increasing complexity along the way, which is why I’ve chosen a straightforward path for us to follow. We’ll start with simple multiplication to calculate the volume of a box, and then riff on that calculation several ways as we make our way to the LET and LAMBDA functions. I’ll introduce the concept of Names, which are sometimes referred to as range Names. Names can streamline formula writing and make it easier to determine what a formula references and is calculating. The LET and LAMBDA functions share some characteristics with Names. For the benefit of anyone using an older version of Excel, I'll also briefly discuss creating custom worksheet functions with Visual Basic for Applications programming code.

In this chapter, I will cover the following topics:

  • PRODUCT, IF...