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

Automating Tasks with the Table Feature

I consider the Table feature to be a superpower in Excel that unlocks tremendous automation capabilities with just a keyboard shortcut or a couple of mouse clicks. For instance, formulas and features that reference data in Tables, versus normal ranges of cells, automatically “see” any new data that you add to the Table. This eliminates having to rewrite formulas to expand the cell range and circle back to features such as PivotTables to expand the source data. Slicers eliminate the need to navigate drop-down menus when filtering, while enabling the Total Row option only tallies visible rows instead of the entire list. Tables allow Charts and Sparklines to be self-updating—the list truly goes on and on. In this chapter, I will cover the following main topics:

  • Excel’s unwritten rule
  • What is a Table?
  • Table enhancements
  • Table automation opportunities
  • Navigation and selection nuances
  • Troubleshooting...