For as commonly used a program as Excel is, very few people are intimately familiar with its full capabilities. The program, which has been an office staple for ages, is an incredibly powerful tool that can be used across a range of applications and industries. It helps organize data and information and can be used to solve all numbers of problems, but you need to know how to use it first. One of the best ways to learn all that excel can do is to begin exploring, and we’ll go over a few underrated Excel functions to get you started.
Save Charts As Templates
If you have a chart you use repeatedly it can be a pain to copy and paste and remove existing data each time you need to make a new version. Simplify your life by creating a template! Start by creating your chart as you normally would, making sure that any fields with data that needs to be replaced are empty. Once your chart is set up, right clock and you’ll see a “Save as Template” option. Next time you need to make a a chart, your template will show up as a new file option!
Use The Advanced Filter to Generate a Unique Value in a Column
One of the features you should get to know this year is the Advanced Filter function. This helpful tool can be used to filter data in a column into a unique value. Start by selecting a specific column in your dataset, click through the Data > Advanced keys until a pop-up window appears. Click the “Copy to another location” and “unique record” prompts and select a second rectangular area, specifiying the target location by either clicking the area or entering the value of the new location. When ready, click “Ok” and your data will then be filtered according to your specifications in the new location. This is an incredibly helpful tool to know if you need a data set to be in a specific order after you’ve inputted everything.
Know Your Shortcuts
With any program there are different shortcuts you can use to help make working more efficient, excel is no exception. There are a wide range of shortcuts you can use, we recommend considering what functions you use the most frequently and then research if there are specific shortcuts you can learn.
Here are a few we use regularly:
Ctrl+ Home: brings you back to cell A1 (or the top of the sheet)
Ctrl+ End: brings you to the last filled cell of the sheet
Ctrl+N: Creates a new workbook
Ctrl+Shift+L: using this command auto filters the data table
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