If you have data that has blanks in it you may be able to combine columns using Paste Special – Skip Blanks.
Category Archives: Excel Blog
Excel Shortcut keys revisited 20 years on
Some things don't change much
20 years ago I had an article published on Excel shortcuts keys – let’s revisit it.
One Minute to Excel #18 – Convert real numbers to text numbers
Two techniques
When you are working with text numbers in tables sometimes you need to convert real numbers into text numbers to do look ups.
There are at least two ways to do this.
Let’s see how to convert real numbers into test numbers, real fast.
Excel Custom List Override
In Australia our financial year starts in July. Excel is set up to work with calendar years and we need to do some date gymnastics to have our reports start in July. Here is a hack for Custom Lists that can make some things better in Excel.
May the fours be with you
Excel and Star Wars combine
On the weekend Sunday the 5th of September 2021 is a big day for Excel.
In Excel the date system starts on 1/1/1900 – that was day 1, and each day since has its own sequential number.
On Saturday September 5, 2021 (Father’s day in Australia) that number is – wait for it – see the image below.
May the fours be with you!
If you remove the formatting from a cell with a date you will see the underlying number.
One Minute to Excel #17 – Convert text numbers to real numbers
Two techniques
When you import numbers from other systems they sometimes come in as text and are left aligned.
There are a couple of ways to fix them and they can both be done in less than a minute.
Pasting into a Large Formatted Table
There is a quick way to do this
There are times when pasting to the bottom of an existing large, formatted table can take a few minutes to update. There is a quicker way.
When the formatted table is selected there is a Table Design (or Design) tab visible.
On the far left-hand side the Resize Table icon allows you to easily extend the range of the formatted.
You can amend the range and add sufficient rows to handle the new data in the dialog that opens.
When you paste into an existing formatted table (rather on the end of the table) you will find it will update a lot quicker.
Twenty Years Ago – Top 10 Excel Functions
How things change
My second article in Accountants Weekly was published 20 years ago today and it was Top 10 Functions for Accountants.
Sort by value and ignore sign revisited
Dynamic array solution
I covered a solution to sorting and ignoring the sign a couple of years back, but it is time to revisit this thanks to dynamic arrays.
Happy Birthday IBM PC
40 years old
The IBM PC was launched 12 August 1981 – 40 years ago – wow!
When I was looking at my first Excel articles I found this article from 20 years ago.
Its amazing that PC’s are roughly the same price these days.
I remember using an IBM PC at college in the early 80’s for word processing. Instead of using a typewriter for your assignments you could use the PC and printer.
You had to book times to use it because there were only two PC’s available and they were used 24 hours a day. There were dual floppy drives – one was for the operating system and one was for data storage – your files. You carried around a floppy drive with all your assignments on it.
Excelling at Excel – Twenty Years Ago Today
My first article
My first article was published on 10 August 2001 in the Accountants Weekly magazine.
I have scanned the original article and it is shown below.
20 years later I thought I would update the 10 points from the article.
- The right mouse button is still a time saver and now has even more options. You can now Filter and Sort using the right click. Try right clicking the navigation icons on the left of the sheet tabs for a complete list of sheets. I drag with the right mouse button to copy formats only, or values only.
- Yes, I still use the Ctrl key to copy quickly. Try dragging a sheet tab with the mouse whilst holding the Ctrl key down – it copies the sheet – woohoo!
- Selecting multiple ranges with the Ctrl key and mouse is even better now. In the more recent Excel versions you can de-select ranges. In the old days you had to start from scratch if you wanted to change a selection.
- Toolbars are gone but the Quick Access Toolbar is customisable – see this post on that.
- Toolbars are out, but you can create your own ribbon tabs using Customize The Ribbon – right click the ribbon.
- Conditional Formatting (Home ribbon) now has lots more options and many built-in ones.
- Shift key – still lots of options with Shift.
- Double clicking – yes lots of time savers. Try double clicking the Format Painter (left side of Home ribbon) to apply formats multiple times. Press Esc to stop.
- Comments – now Comments have been re-badged as Notes and Comments are a new threaded commentary system.
- Paste Special – Ctrl + Alt + V opens Paste Special after copying.
When published all those years ago these tips applied to both Excel 97 and Excel 2000. We have come a long way since those days.
Putting a Message on All Sheets in Excel
A text box solution
Let’s say you have a validation check in your file and you want to display a message based on the validation status. Here is one way to do that.
Recent Webinar Feedback
Based on the first Beginners webinar
I received this email from someone who isn’t in my typical webinar audience of accountants and finance staff.
They had attended the first of the Beginners live sessions.
Clearing Unlocked Cells in Excel
A macro makes it easy
People always ask, how to do you lock Excel? In fact you have to unlock Excel and then protect the sheet. The default setting for all cells is locked, so you need to unlock input cells.
Another Useful Print Macro
And it is recorded
Not all recorded macros are re-usable. This print selection one is.
Page Breaks in Excel
Turn them off
When you set your print area or use the Page Break Preview View, Excel will show you the page breaks on the grid. If this annoys or distracts you, here is how to remove them.
It’s a one-line macro that turns off the page breaks in the current sheet.
Sub TurnOffPageBreaks() ActiveSheet.DisplayPageBreaks = False End Sub |
If you are new to macros then this blog post can take you through how to use them.
The above code can be copied and pasted into the code window.
If you want to turn page breaks off for all the sheets in the file use the code below.
Sub TurnOffAllPageBreaks() Dim ws For Each ws In Worksheets ws.DisplayPageBreaks = False Next ws End Sub |
I hope these code snippets are useful.
Excel Macros and Merged Cells
Merged cells are a problem
I don’t like merged cells. Here is one more reason.
One Minute to Excel #16 – Create a useful macro
Wow - a replacement for Merge cells in less than a minute
The Merge cells format has lots of issues. It can crash macros and stop you copying and pasting.
In less than a minute you can use a macro to solve the problem.
Putting Excel into Lock Down
Locking involves a format
There are a few lock downs in place around Australia at the moment, so let’s look at putting Excel into lock down.
One Minute to Excel #15 – Replace Colours
It can be done
Replacing colours manually can be a tedious task.
Did you know you can use Excel’s built-in Find & Replace to do the job for you?
Confirming Names are Unique in Excel
COUNTIFS to the rescue
If you have a list of first names and last names and you want to make sure the list has no duplicates you can use a formula to confirm the names are unique.
One Minute to Excel #14 – Flash Fill
Excel's Super Hero
Joining names; extracting codes or converting dates is usually done with formulas, but there is now a formula-free solution called Flash Fill.
Make Sure All Input Cells Have an Entry in Excel
COUNTIF to the rescue
When creating an input range you may need to validate input cells. That may mean ensuring all input cells have an entry. Here’s how.
Excel Formatted Table Headings
No duplicates allowed
The headings in a formatted table must be unique.
How Many Rows and Columns in a Range
Two functions to the recue
Excel has two functions to answer these questions.
Power Query Finding Text in Another Column
Return TRUE if text is in another column
If you need to find if text is in a column you can use the Text.PositionOf function to confirm it exists.
Filter Issue with Excel
Be careful with formatted tables
When you have a filter in place in Excel you typically only affect the visible cells when you edit multiple cells. There is a case when you are affecting all cells not just the visible ones.
Missing Chart Data in Excel
Another macro to the rescue
The default setting for charts in Excel is to hide the data on the chart if it is hidden on the sheet. I forgot that recently when I created a few charts using a workings area to hold the chart data. I later hid the workings with column grouping. Oops – when you hide the data in the charts go blank.
One Minute to Excel #13 – Create and Use a Check Box
Tick it to the next level
A check box is an easy interface to create and use.
See how to add one to a sheet and use it in a calculation.
Distinct Count Formula in Excel
New and old functions combined
It is now easier to create a distinct count formula in the subscription version of Excel. You can also use a criteria. A distinct count only counts each value once. Duplicate entries are ignored.