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

Excel’s unwritten rule

Over the years, I’ve observed an unwritten rule that I find many users unwittingly break: the first row of any list should be a single row of unique titles—or Headers in Excel vernacular. This applies to every list that you create in Excel, no matter if you’re using the Table feature or not. Headers are so crucial that the Table feature adds placeholder Headers when needed. Both Tables and PivotTables require that each Header be unique and will append numbers to duplicate Headers to enforce compliance.

Tip

An addendum to the preceding rule is that lists should not have any blank rows or columns. Most Excel features act on the Current Region, which is the contiguous block of non-blank cells surrounding the active cell. Blank rows and columns truncate the Current Region, and they require you to manually select the entire list before sorting or filtering instead of being able to choose a cell within the list and then sort or filter...