General Microsoft Excel Tips

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Look Ma, No Mouse!
To quickly select a contiguous range, click on the first cell in the range and press
SHIFT+CTRL+END. Or, for rows use SHIFT+CTRL+left/right arrow, and for columns use
SHIFT+CTRL+up/down arrow. (Thanks to Roman Artemyev, who got paid for submitting this
tip!)
Disabling Microsoft Apology Screen in Office XP
Office XP displays a polite apology message when it crashes, and offers to send a crash
report to Microsoft. Winguides.com offers guidance on permanently disabling this screen.
Displaying the Name of a Month
Enter a date into any cell, and then choose Format and Cells. Choose Custom on the
Number tab. Enter mmmm into the Type field. Use mmm to abbreviate the month, or use
ddd and dddd to display days of the week.
Rounding Numbers to the Nearest 1000
Use the following custom number format #,###, (4 number signs, two commas) to display
15,000,000 as 15,000 (just be sure to include the words 000's omitted somewhere on your
spreadsheet)! (Thanks to Chuck Fina for suggesting a tweak to this tip!)
Optimizing Excel Spreadsheet Calculations
The Microsoft web site has an article that describes how to improve the calculation speed of
your worksheets.
Reading a Lotus 1-2-3 Spreadsheet in Excel
Reading a Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet in Excel isn't always as easy as it should be. If you're
using Excel 5.0 or 7.0, you'll have to save your 1-2-3 file in either the WK1 or WK3 formats.
Excel 97 or 2000 can usually read the WK4 format directly. However, if you're using 1-2-3
97, you're out of luck, since the .123 format isn't recognized by Excel. If your 1-2-3
spreadsheet contains formulas that don't have an exact counterpart in Excel, e.g. @XINDEX,
Excel will report an error and replace the formula with its value. In some cases Excel will
choke on the formatting contained in a 1-2-3 spreadsheet. If so, save the 1-2-3 file in the
WK3 format, then delete the associated .FM3 file. You'll then be able to get the data into
Excel, at the expense of losing all of your formatting.
Recover Password Protected Documents
www.lostpassword.com offers easy to use password unlocking utilities for Excel 2000 and
earlier, as well as server other commercial programs, e.g. Act!, Lotus 1-2-3, etc. We've
successfully used their 1-2-3 and Word modules to recover password protected documents.
Annoyed by the Office Assistant?
In Office 2000 and 2002/XP, simply right-click on the character, choose Options, then unclick
"Use the Office Assistant." Bring the Assistant back by choosing Help, Show the Office
Assistant. In Excel 97, it's a little more difficult: rename the ACTORS folder within
C:PROGRAM FILESMICROSOFT OFFICEOFFICE to DEADACTORS or something other
than ACTORS.
Fix Corruption of Excel's Name Space
From time to time, Excel's name space can become corrupt. In such cases, Excel will
immediately crash whenever you reference certain named ranges from VBA. For instance, a
perfectly functioning VBA routine will suddecausing a General Protection Fault for no
apparent reason. If this happens to you, try creating a new workbook, and copy your VBA
code and data into the new workbook. (Thanks to Bruce McDonald for diagnosing this
problem.)
Copying Data from a Column or Row to Another
The next time that you need to copy data from one column or row to another, try dragging
while holding down the right mouse button. When you drop the data, Excel presents a
special menu with some time saving options. (Thanks again, Stuart!)
Using Excel to Process Data to be Imported into a Contact Manager
If you're using Excel to process data to be imported into a contact manager, such as Act!,
save the data in dBase IV format, rather than a .CSV file. Act! often chokes when
importing .CSV files, but easily accepts .DBF files.
Creating a Header and Footer
In the Page Setup dialog box, enter "Page &[Page] of &[Pages]" in the Header/Footer
sections to create a header or footer that reads "Page n of nn". (Thanks Andrew Weinstein!)
Replacing Non-Printable Characters
Although Word allows you to search and replace non-printable characters, such as line feeds
and carriage returns, it's not as easy in Excel. This line of code will does the trick, though. In
this case, it replaces carriage returns with the HTML line break tag: Selection.Replace
What:=Chr(10), Replacement:="<BR>" If you simply need to eliminate non-printing
characters, use Excel's Clean function.
Working Around Outlook E-mail Security
The new Outlook security measures implemented in Outlook 2000 SR-2 and Outlook 2002
make it an exercise in tedium to send e-mails from Excel or Access through Outlook.
Fortunately, there are solutions:

• Outlook Redemption is a programming-based solution.

• Express Click Yes is a free download that automatically clicks through the security
prompts for you.

• Additional guidance is offered at www.slipstick.com , the preeminent site for

Outlook/Exchange.
Color Chart
Doug Jacobson has a created a great color chart that has the decimal values that you can
use with the RGB function for setting colors of objects with VBA. Alternatively, a hardcopy
version is available from Amazon.
Need to Determine the Last Day of a Month in VBA?
Here's a code snippet that shows how:

strDate = DateValue("01/01/2000")
strMonth = Month(strDate)
stryear = Year(strDate)
MsgBox DateSerial(stryear, strMonth + 1, 0)

Using a zero for the day argument of the DateSerial function causes VBA to return the last
day of the month. Note that you have to add 1 to the month argument to get the end of the
current month, otherwise DateSerial would return the last day of the previous month.
Problems with the VBE Properties Window
From time to time, the properties window of the Visual Basic Editor (VBE) will fail to dock
properly. When this happens, users who are comfortable with-- and choose to back up--the
Windows registry can rename the following key from
HKEY_USERSDefaultSoftwareMicrosoftVBAOfficeDock
to
HKEY_USERSDefaultSoftwareMicrosoftVBAOffice;Dock

This will solve any errant docking behavior within the VBE. If you're using Windows 2000 and
Office XP, the registry key is
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftVBA6.0CommonDock

Editing the registry is a dangerous operation that should only be performed by an

experienced user at your own risk. (Thanks to Brian Murphy for relief of this annoying
problem!)
Hidden Sheets Within a Workbook
Be careful when working with hidden sheets within a workbook via VBA. Excel will allow you
to copy a hidden sheet out of a workbook, into a new file. You can then, via VBA, save that
workbook with only a hidden worksheet. Of course, this is a corrupt workbook that you then
can't open.
Automated tasks in Excel
Tommy Flynn's VBA site offers many VBA routines that automate various tasks in Excel.
Excel Formula Debugging Trick
Be sure to enter formulas in Excel in all lowercase letters. When you press enter, Excel
converts all valid portions of the formula to UPPER CASE. For instance, in the case of
=sum(jj1:j10), pressing enter causes Excel to return the #NAME error, with =SUM(jj1:J10).
Notice that the incorrect JJ1 is still in lower case, while the rest of the formula was
capitalized. (Our thanks go to Aamir Ijaz Khan, who earned $5.00 for submitting this tip!)
Excel Shortcut Keys
Learn about over 270 Excel shortcut keys on the Accessibility section Microsoft web site at
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/products/keyboard/keyboardsearch.asp
Navigating Multi-Sheet Workbooks Quickly
Did you know that you can quickly navigate multi-sheet workbooks by right-clicking on the
arrow buttons at the bottom left-hand side of the screen? Doing so causes a menu with all
sheet names to appear. Left click on the sheet of your choice, and then that sheet will be
immediately activated.
Excel Programming Reference Book

Excel Programming Weekend Crash Course is a great reference book for anyone interested in
learning how to create macros in Excel. Even experienced VBA users will pick up a few new
tricks. The material is broken down into chapters that take 30 minutes to complete, so it's
easy to work through the material at your own pace.
Quickly Copy Data Down a Column
To quickly copy data down a column, try double-clicking on the fill handle. Excel will
automatically copy down the current column, and stop at the last non-blank cell in the
preceding column. The Fill Handle is the little notch in the bottom-right hand corner of the
active worksheet cell.
Determining the Number of Months Between Two Dates
=DATEDIF - If you ever need to determine the number of months between two dates, the
simplest way is with the =DATEDIF function. Here's a sample scenario:
=DATEDIF(A1,B1,"m") will return 12 if cell A1 contains the date 01/01/02 and cell B1
contains the date 12/31/02. If this is a function you can use, make sure to make a note of it in
a place where you'll remember, because it's only documented in Excel 2000! You won't find
mention of it in any other Excel version. Chip Pearson offers some additional background on
this function, including its storied history.
Selecting Data
Selecting Data - Rather than using your mouse to highlight a range of data, try holding down
the Shift key, then at the same time use the arrow keys or Page-Up/Page-Down keys to
select your data. Using the keyboard to select data offers much more control over the cursor,
so that your mouse doesn't end up at row 38,472 when you're only trying to highlight down to
row 148.
Eradicating Links - Part I
Using a spreadsheet that contains links that you can't identify can be frustrating. Fortunately,
we have a free download that will give you some relief. To install the add-in, download the
file, then in Excel, click Tools, Add-Ins, Browse, locate and double-click the findlink.xla file,
then click OK. A Find Links choice will appear on your Tools menu. An alternate way to find
links is to search for exclamation marks (!) or "*.xls" without the quote marks.
Eradicating Links - Part II
If you're interested in the technical details on how this utliity works, read the article available
at http://www.microsoft.com/europe/vba/downloads/mod199806dr.doc
Eradicating Links - Part III
Here's the last tip in our series of eradicating links. Microsoft offers a free Delete Links
Wizard, which is available from http://www.acctadv.com/go.mv?id=deletelinks
Displaying File Name and Path
Enter =CELL("filename") in a worksheet cell to display the name and path of your
spreadsheet. If you save the file in a new location, the formula will update automatically. (Our
thanks go to Manprit S.) http://www.acctadv.com/go.mv?id=tip
Show Path and File Name on Printouts
If you're using Excel 2002 or later, you can add &[Path]&[File] to the Header or Footer fields
under File, Page Setup. This will print the location and file name of your spreadsheet, e.g.
C:My DocumentsMy Spreadsheet.xls.
Combining Multiple Sheets into One Printed Page
This article on the Microsoft web site shows how you can combine print areas from multiple
sheets into a single page print out:
http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/2000/ExPrintAreas.aspx
Calculating Part of a Formula
You can calculate part of a long formula by highlighting a portion of the formula bar and
pressing F9. Be sure to press the escape key afterwards, otherwise the calculated result will
replace the formula. This is a great way to isolate problems in a long formula. (Neale
Blackwood got paid for submitting this tip. Learn how at
http://www.acctadv.com/submit_tip.php)
Data Validation
Excel's Data Validation feature allows you to restrict inputs within a cell. For instance, to limit
inputs between 0 and 100, select a cell, then choose Data, then Validation. On the Settings
tab, allow Decimal, then specify 0 for the Minimum and 100 for the Maximum. Fill in the Input
Message and Error Alert tabs if you want to customize the prompts for that cell. Entering
anything other than a number between 0 and 100 will result in an error prompt. (Our thanks
go to Kavitha Gandhi, who got paid for submitting this tip! Learn how at
http://www.acctadv.com/submit_tip.php)
Excel Formulas Quiz
The Microsoft web site has a new quiz that tests your knowledge of Excel functions and
formulas. Don't worry. The answers are provided after you take the quiz! Plus, this is an easy
way to learn a bit about Excel. www.acctadv.com/go.mv?id=functionquiz
Rounding to the Nearest 500
The CEILING function allows you to round number to any increment you choose. For
instance, if cell A1 contains $2,320.00, then entering =CEILING(A1,500)in cell B1 will return
$2,500.
Formula Watch Window in Excel 2002
If you have Excel 2002, try the Watch Window feature. This allows you to keep tabs on
worksheet cells anywhere in your workbook. This is a great way to immediately know if a
change you make on one sheet is affecting a critical formula on another. Access this feature
through Tools, Formula Auditing, Show Watch Window.
Dragging Between Sheets or Windows
Dragging between sheets can be difficult with the mouse unless you use the Alt key. If you
have a workbook maximized, e.g. only one sheet is visible, you can drag a selection to
another sheet by holding the Alt key while dragging and pointing to the sheet tab you want to
go to. If you hold Ctrl and Alt you will copy instead of move. You can also press the Alt while
dragging with the right mouse button. Pressing Alt is also useful if you have two windows
visible side by side and are copying between them. (Neale Blackwood got paid for submitting
this tip...learn how at www.acctadv.com/submit_tip.php.)
Excel Tip: Right-Drag Tricks
If you drag the fill handle of a date with the right mouse button, a special menu appears
option to Fill Weekdays, along with other choices. The right-drag menu that appears offers
other options if you're dragging text or numbers. (Neale Blackwood got paid for submitting
this tip. Learn how at www.acctadv.com/submit_tip.php.)
Sorting By Column
The default setting for sorting in ascending or descending order is by row. Occasionally, you
may want to sort by column instead. To do so, choose Data, Sort, then click the Options
button. Choose Left to Right, then click OK. Select the row that you want to sort by, then click
OK. (Shah Sital got paid for submitting this tip. Learn how at www.acctadv.com/go.mv?id=tip.)
Sheet Name Formula
This formula will return the name of the current worksheet:
=MID(CELL("filename",INDIRECT("rc",)),FIND("]",CELL("filename",INDIRECT("rc",)))+1,255)
Make sure that you've saved your file with a name other than Book1, otherwise the formula
won't work. (Kenneth Lam got paid for submitting this tip. Learn how at
www.acctadv.com/go.mv?id=tip.)
Transposing Formulas
When copying a sheet full of formulas that refer to other worksheets and using paste special
| transpose to place them in a new worksheet, the formulas reference incorrect cells. A
simple trick is to use ctrl-h (replace) to change all the "=" signs to a benign value (such as
AAAA or 9999), then copy and transpose. Once in the new worksheet, you can use the same
process to change the 9999 back to = and all your formulas reference the right cells. (Rick
Gray got paid for submitting this tip. Learn how at www.acctadv.com/go.mv?id=tip).
Office Profile Wizard
The Office Profile Wizard simplifies the process of transferring your Microsoft Office settings
when you change computers. Two versions are available:
Office 2000 http://www.acctadv.com/go.mv?id=xl2kpw
Office XPhttp://www.acctadv.com/go.mv?id=xlxppw
Formatting Every Other Row
You can use Excel's conditional formatting feature to highlight every other row in a
spreadsheet, similar to the old-style green bar paper. To do so, select the portion of the
spreadsheet that you wish to format, and then choose Format | Conditional Formatting.
Change Cell Value Is to Formula Is and enter this formula:
=MOD(ROW(),2) <> 0
Click the Format button, and then under Patterns select the color of your choice. Click OK
twice.
Business Intelligence Webcast
A free webcast that provides an overview of using Microsoft Excel for business intelligence is
available from Microsoft at www.acctadv.com/go.mv?id=webcast. Topics include using pivot
tables, pivot charts, and web-based analysis. You can also link to other free webcasts from
this site.
Excel 2003 Review
The esteemed Excel book author John Walkenbach has published a review of Excel 2003.
View it online at http://www.acctadv.com/go.mv?id=xl2003wr.
Simplify Your Summary Page Formulas
To create a workbook where the first page summarizes the rest of the workbook, make sure
that your workbook has at least 4 sheets. Name the second sheet Start and the last sheet
End. Hide these two sheets, which should left be blank. On the first sheet, the formula
=SUM(Start:End!B2) will sum cell B2 on all other sheets in the workbook. Additional sheets
inserted later will automatically be included in the summary. (Thanks to Brian Volk, who got
paid for submitting this tip! Learn how.
Create a Link that is a Picture
Copy a range of cells to the clipboard, then hold the Shift key and click the Edit menu. Click
the Paste Picture Link. (This option is not available unless you hold the Shift key) This
creates a picture that is linked to the cells you copied. You can move this picture around as
you would a graphic. The picture updates automatically when you change the related cells.
This is a helpful way to combine data from multiple locations on to a single sheet, particularly
for printing purposes. (Neale Blackwood got paid for this tip. Learn how.
Navigating Between Worksheets
To easily navigate between worksheets, press Ctrl+Page Up to move to the right, or
Ctrl+Page Down to move to the left. (Girish Dinakaran got paid for submitting this tip! Learn
How
Formatting Text Within a Cell
To alter the font or color of any part of a cell, use the Formula Bar at the top of the screen to
highlight a portion of the text within a cell. Next, click Format, and then Cells. You can use
Font tab to change the font or apply characteristics such as superscript/subscript,
underlining, bold, or color.
Split Screen Worksheet View
Double-clicking the narrow button above the scroll-bar on the right, or to the right of the
scroll-bar along the bottom will allow you to create a split view of your worksheet, allowing
you to see two portions of the same sheet at once. (Our thanks go to Neale Blackwood, who
got paid for this tip.)
Google Search Add-In
Microsoft MVP Ron de Bruin has created a free Google Search Add-In for Excel. Initiate
searches of the Microsoft web site, your favorite Excel site, or a number of user groups all
from within Excel.
Cell Comments
You can document your worksheet by right-clicking on a cell, and then selecting Insert
Comment. Add a message or instruction associated with that cell. This is a great way to
share your thoughts with multiple users of the spreadsheet. Cell comments can serve as a
helpful memory aid. Right-clicking on a cell that already contains a comment enables you to
add, edit, or delete the comment. (Mitchell Marks got paid for submitting this tip!)
Math Tricks with Paste Special
The Paste Special feature on Excel's Edit menu can save signficant time. For instance, you
can convert a column of numbers with implied decimals, e.g. 1000 to whole numbers, 10.00.
To do so, enter 100 in a worksheet cell, and then copy that cell to the clipboard (Edit, Copy is
one way). Next, highlight the cells that you want to divide by 100, and then choose Edit,
Paste Special, Divide, and then click OK. You can also use Paste Special to perform
multiplication, addition, or subtraction.
See Two Sheets within a Workbook Simultaneously
Sometimes it's helpful to see two sheets within the same workbook at the same time. To do
so, choose Window, and then New Window. Next, choose Window, Arrange, and then
choose Horizontal. Click Windows of Active Workbook, and then click OK. If you want to
see the windows side by side, choose Tiled or Vertical in the Arrange dialog box.
March Madness Spreadsheet
The Payne Consulting Group offers a free March Madness spreadsheet that you can use to
track the progress of your favorite college basketball teams through the field of 64.
Save Your Workspace
Working on multiple files today? Open them all at once tomorrow by creating an Excel
Workspace File. Choose File, Save Workspace to group all of the files you currently have
open into a workspace. You can open the group of files all at once by choosing File, Open,
and then change the File Type to Workspaces to access your saved workspaces.
Wheel Mice Tips
You can zoom in or out on a worksheet by holding down the Control key as you scroll the
wheel on your mouse. Separately, the freeware program FreeWheel enables scrolling in the
Visual Basic Editor if it's not already supported by your mouse driver.
Use the Fill Handle to Copy Formulas
You can copy a formula or text to adjacent cells by clicking on the fill handle (the notch in the
right-hand corner of a worksheet cell) with your left-mouse button and dragging either down
or across. (Our thanks go to Kedar Desai, who got paid for submitting this tip!) For even
more options, hold down the right-mouse button while you click and drag...when you release
the mouse button, a shortcut menu will appear.
Analysis ToolPak
The =EOMONTH function is a handy way to determine the last day of a given month.
However, that function requires that you have the Analysis ToolPak installed and enabled
(users often don't). Instead, use the =DATE function. For instance, =DATE(2000,1,0) will
return 12/31/99. You can also use this technique in your VBA macros and functions. (Thanks
to Stephen Bullen for this clever tip!)
Dynamic Ranges
Arguably, one of the most powerful features in Excel is the ability to create dynamic ranges,
which expand or contract as you add or delete data. You can create a dynamic range that
consists of a single row by choosing Insert | Name | Define, then enter MYRANGE in the
Names In Workbook field, then enter the following formula

=OFFSET(Sheet1!$B$5,0,0,1,COUNTA(Sheet1!$5:$5))

in the Refers To field, then finally click Add to save the reference. in addition, it's even
possible to take this method a step further and make both the rows AND columns dynamic,
with the following syntax

=OFFSET(Sheet1!$B$5,0,0,COUNTA(Sheet1!$B:$B),COUNTA(Sheet1!$5:$5))

where the range counts how many cell entries are in column B, and how many cell entries
are in row 5, then expands or contracts the range automatically. (Major thanks on this one,
Stuart!)
Array Formulas
Chip Pearson, an Excel MVP, has written a helpful explanation of array formulas in Excel. His
site also contains other helpful Excel tips, links, and info.
Hiding Formulas
To make your formulas completely invisible to a user, select the cells, choose Format | Cells,
click the Protection Tab, then select the Hidden checkbox and click OK. Next, apply the
same color to the text within the cells as your background, i.e. white letters on a white
background are invisible. Finally, choose Tools | Protection | Protect Sheet to enable
protection, which will prevent the formulas from appearing on the formula bar.
Formula Arguments
When entering a formula in Excel 97 or 2000, press Ctrl+Shift+A to view the arguments for
the function. For instance, typing =DSUM into a cell, then pressing Ctrl+Shift+A will return
=dsum(database,field,criteria). In Excel 2002/XP, a screen tip appears automatically once
you type the function name.
Circular References
If you purposely need to use a circular reference in a worksheet, make sure that you enable
the Iteration option by choosing Tools | Options, click the Calculation tab, then toggle the
Iteration checkbox. Otherwise, you'll repeatedly get error messages stating that Excel can't
evaluate the formula.
Subtotal Function
There's much more to Excel's SUBTOTAL function than meets the eye, such as the ability to
only sum visible cells. Refer to Excel's online help for more information. (Thanks to Shane
Devenshire for this one!)
Looking for more help with formulas?
Buy a copy of John Walkenbach's Excel 2002 Formulas today from Amazon.com. Another
book that we highly recommend is Microsoft Excel Version 2002 Inside Out by Craig Stinson
and Mark Dodge.
Recently Used Files List
By default, the File menu in Excel shows the last 4 files that you saved. Get more out of this
list by choosing Tools, Options, and then selecting the General tab. Set the Recently Used
File List choice to the maximum setting of 9.
Moving Rows
To move a worksheet row, select the desired row(s) and then while holding the Shift key
down, use the left mouse button to grab the edge of the selection. You can now drag and
drop the row where you wish. This technique also works with columns, or even a group of
cells. (Thanks to Jeff Jurs, who got paid for this tip!)
Excel Shortcuts
Case Training, Inc. has recently launched an Excel CD-based training session featuring 49 of
the best timesaving tips presented in the form of short videos. Try a sample video clip or
purchase on our web site.
Free Excel Templates
The Microsoft web site contains numerous free Excel templates, including amortization tables
for loans and mortagages, college costs calculators, personal budget, and more!
Calculation Secrets
Decision Models can help you create more effective spreadsheets by understanding Excel's
calculation secrets.
Close Multiple Excel Files at Once
To close multiple Excel files at once, hold down the Shift key while you click on File,and then
Close All. (Our thanks go to Somasundaram Kannan, who got paid for submitting this
tip...learn how!)
Freeze Panes
You can lock certain rows or columns in place as you scroll through a worksheet. Position
your cursor below any rows and/or to the right of any columns that you wish to freeze in
place, then choose Window and Freeze Panes. Unlock the rows/columns by choosing
Window, and then Unfreeze Panes.
You Can't have a History

Did you know that it's not possible to assign the name History to an Excel worksheet? This is
a reserved sheet name that Excel uses in conjunction with the rarely used Track Changes
feature that appears on the Tools menu. To work around this limitation, add a period or a
space after the word History.
Remove All Page Breaks from a Worksheet
Press Ctrl-A to select all cells, and then choose Insert, and Reset All Page Breaks.
Excel or Access?
The Microsoft web site offers a helpful article that offers guidance on whether Excel or Access
would be best for managing your data.
Recovering Damaged Files in Excel 2002
The Microsoft web site includes an article that discusses techniques for recovering damaged
spreadsheets. Also, Greg Lovern reports that as a last resort, you may be able to recover a
damaged Excel workbook created in Windows by opening the file in the Mac version of
Excel.
Searching and Replacing Wildcard Characters
In rare instances, you might need to search and replace the * or ? characters with something
else. To keep Excel from seeing these as wildcard character, Ture Magnusson reports that
you can just precede them with a tilde (~). Thus, if you're replacing question marks with a
different character, use ~?.