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

The PMT function

The =-PMT(C3/12,C4*12,C5) formula in cell C6 of the PMT-CUMIPMT functions worksheet, as shown in Figure 6.1, returns $578.57 as the monthly payment for a $25,000 loan paid off over 4 years at 5.25% interest:

Figure 6.1 – The PMT, CUMIPMT, and CUMPRINC functions

Before I get to the PMT function, let me share a trick I used to display the word years in cell C4. Visually, you see 4 years in the cell, but if you look in the formula bar, only the number 4 appears. This is because I used a custom number format to add the word years. This is a way of displaying text and numbers in the same cell while maintaining the cell as a numeric input. To do so, perform the following steps:

  1. Select the cell(s) you wish to format, in this case, cell C4.
  2. Choose Format | Format Cells or press Ctrl + 1 ( + 1 in Excel for macOS).
  3. Choose Custom on the Number tab.
  4. Enter 0" years" in the Type field. In this case, 0 represents our numeric...