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

Technical requirements

You will have the best experience in Power Query if you’re using Microsoft 365 or Excel 2021, but most of what I will share can be conducted in Excel 2010 and later. At the time of writing, Power Query is in beta testing for Microsoft 365 users of Excel for macOS. Anyone using Excel 2010 or Excel 2013 will need to download and install the free Power Query add-in. You can access Power Query in Excel 2016 by way of Data | New Query instead of Data | Get Data, which you must do in Excel 2019 and later. Microsoft 365 or Excel 2021 is required to extract data from PDF files. The workbooks, PDF file, and text files that I used in this chapter can be downloaded from GitHub at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Exploring-Microsoft-Excels-Hidden-Treasures/tree/main/Chapter12.