You can use a keyboard shortcut to enter today’s date in a cell, but you can also use it in lots of other places in Excel.
Category Archives: Tips & Tricks
New Task Pane Icons
Seems new icons have been added in the right of screen to allow you to switch easily between Task Panes in a recent upgrade.
This is in the subscription version of Excel.
Power Query shortcut for Adults
The shortcut to display the Queries & Connections Task Pane is easy to remember. It is Adults Only!
To display or hide the Queries & Connections Task Pane you use. These keys are pressed in sequence, not held down.
So only adults allowed in Power Query.
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Single Accounting Underline
Great for headings
I learned something new recently about underlines. They are not all created equal. The Single Accounting underline has some advantages.
Goal Seek
The Goal Seek feature can save you a lot of trial and error when you want a calculated cell to equal a specific value.
The keyboard shortcut to open the Goal Seek dialog is Alt T G.
Shortcut to lock or unlock a cell
The keyboard shortcut to unlock or lock a cell or a range (its a toggle, so it switches between the two) is Alt H O L pressed in sequence, not held down.
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Windows Clipboard
Did you know you can accumulate copied entries in the Windows clipboard?
The default setting is to only have the last thing you copied, but a setting change can give you access to multiple items to paste.
You can also pin items to the clipboard to keep them there.
To change the setting.
Click the Windows button and choose the Settings icon
The select System.
Then select Clipboard (bottom left) and change the Clipboard History to On – done.
If you copy multiple items you can press the Windows key and V to access what’s on the clipboard.
Then you can click the top right elipse icon to Pin the item to the clipboard.
Export as PDF
If you frequently export files as pdfs then this keyboard shortcut may save you a little time.
Pressed in sequence, not held down use
Alt F E A
Adding columns to slicers in Excel
Slicers are a great filter interface. Sometimes, due to layout restrictions, you prefer the slicer to go across the sheet rather than down the sheet. Here’s how you do that.
Percentage Area Chart in Excel
Conditional Format technique
You can use a pie chart to display a percentage, but it wastes a lot of space. An alternative that takes up less space is an area chart.
Restart a Pivot Table in one go
If you want to clear all the fields from a Pivot Table you can use the clear all option.
On the PivotTable Analyze or Analyze tab click the Clear drop down and select Clear All.
This removes all the fields and allows you to start again from scratch.
Linking text boxes
A trick to allow copying between sheets
Linking to a text box in a sheet is straightforward, unless you want to copy that linked text box to another sheet and retain the link. Here is how you do it.
Standard Technique
To link to a text box you click the text box and then click in the Formula Bar and press = and then click the cell to link to and press Enter.
This works OK on the sheet but if you copy the text box to another sheet it links to the same cell in the other sheet. If that’s what you want, great. If it isn’t then you need to use this technique.
Text box copy technique
Click the text box click in the Formula Bar and press = then instead of clicking on the current sheet click on another sheet tab and click a cell in another sheet then return to the current sheet and then click the cell you actually want to link to and press Enter.
By doing it this way the sheet name is included in the link and that ensures the link is kept when you copy the text box to another sheet.
You could also manually type the sheet name into the Formula Bar, but using the mouse is much easier.
Adding a message to grouping icons
A SUBTOTAL trick
It is best practice to use grouping to hide and unhide rows in Excel. I recently saw a technique that also displays a message.
Excel Textbox Linking Issue
Format resets
You can easily link a textbox to a cell. If you change the link you may have an issue with the text format used.
Extracting End of Quarter Dates in Excel
Another MOD solution
A few years ago I wrote an article on extracting the end of quarter date from a date. I recently had a query that was related and I tweaked the previous solution to solve it.
Fix dd.mm.yy date format
On a recent Webinar I was asked a question about an unusual date structure that was imported. The structure dd.mm.yy was not recognised by Excel as a date. Here is formula that fixes it.
Below is an example of the date issue.
The formula in cell B2 is
=SUBSTITUTE(A2,".","/")*1
As you can see the dates in column A are left aligned. That is a clue that they are not recognised as dates in Excel. Dates are right aligned.
The SUBSTITUTE function replaces the full stop between the numerals with a / and makes it look like a date.
This isn’t sufficient as the SUBSTITUTE function will return text. The *1 at the end converts the text date in to a real date that Excel recognises.
Note: Power Query can also automatically fix dates like these when it imports data.
Added 17/11/2021
As per a comment from Rick Rothstein Excel MVP you can use the Text To Column feature to fix the dates in place.
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Indian Financial Year Month Number in Excel
The Indian Financial Year start on 1 April. Like Australia its Financial Year month numbers can be painful. Here is a formula to sort them out.
Retrofit a Factor to an Excel Budget
Range name technique
It is common to have a Factor in a cell or cells in a budget to allow you to easily tweak the numbers by a percentage. If you want to add a Factor to an existing budget model here is how you can do it.
Filter by Cells Value Excel Hack
Excel has a right click Filter option that speeds up filtering by a single value. You can hack that shortcut to do a little bit more.
Mouse Based Formulas in Excel
Are you a man or a mouse?
Do you hate using the keyboard for formulas? Does having to peck the = or + key to create a formula annoy you? Well there is an answer.
Excel Border Icons
Speed up your work
I typically turn gridlines off on my sheets and then use borders for the lines. I have added icons to my Quick Access Toolbar to speed up the process.
Free Webinar Recording – Excel Format as Table Feature
Feedback score 95% based on 58 responses
In March 2020 I presented a session on Excel’s Format as Table Feature. I covered it’s advantages and how to use it to improve your Excel files.
The detailed pdf manual and example file can be downloaded using the button below. Content is listed below the video.
CPD note – if you are claiming CPD for watching this recording you need to keep your own records. People who attend the live sessions receive an annual listing of attendances.
In this session you will learn all about Excel’s formatted tables.
Many of Excel’s features and functions work seamlessly with formatted tables. They can help you improve the structure and reliability of your spreadsheet files.
Formatted tables can allow you to create powerful reports like those in a relational databases.
Topics covered
- advantages and limitations of formatted tables
- keyboard shortcuts
- using formatted tables with formulas
- solutions to some of the limitations of formatted tables
- using range names with formatted tables
- using formatted tables with data validations
- creating a running total
- using PivotTables
- Relationships (Data tab)
As always I will share a few other tips.
Negative Time in Excel
Party like its 1904
It is possible, but it involves a setting change that comes with a warning.
Free Webinar Recording – Excel Budget Challenge Solution
Feedback score 92% based on 83 responses
In February 2020 I reviewed my solution to an Excel Budget Challenge from late 2018. This included some advanced Excel budget techniques.
The detailed pdf manual and example file can be downloaded using the button below. Content listed below the video.
CPD note – if you are claiming CPD for watching this recording you need to keep your own records. People who attend the live sessions receive an annual listing of attendances.
This session includes a lot of useful content and it brings together a number of different techniques. The content is worthy of a paid session but since it was a public challenge I am presenting the session for free.
The materials includes the challenge documentation, the pdf manual and the solution file. I assume you have read the documentation. You also receive the blank Excel file if you want to create your own solution.
Techniques/topics covered include
- using INDEX-MATCH (better alternative to VLOOKUP)
- 3-D formulas to summarise all report sheets and techniques to make using them easy
- using a reporting template to speed up creation
- validations
- extracting sheet names
- automating reports
Free Webinar Recording – Date and Time Calculations
Feedback score 95% based on 61 responses
In January 2020 I looked at solving some of the frustrations date and time calculations can cause in Excel.
The detailed pdf manual and example file can be downloaded using the button below. Content listed below the video.
CPD note – if you are claiming CPD for watching this recording you need to keep your own records. People who attend the live sessions receive an annual listing of attendances.
Discover the functions that handle different types of calculations.
See how to avoid some of the frustrations that dates and times can cause. Topics covered include:
- adding months to a date
- formulas for the first and last day of the month
- using today’s date in a formula
- handling days of the week calculations
- automating dates in headings
- how to avoid the traps in time calculations
- remove times from dates
- generating random dates (for testing)
As always there will be a few other tips and tricks shared during the session.
Validating Data Validation in Excel
Part One
The most common type of Data Validation in Excel is a drop down list. In the example below I allow the user to select a year, then a month (using a drop down) and then enter a valid day in the month.
Hyperlinking to a Cell in Another Excel File
It is possible
You can create a hyperlink to another Excel file in Excel but you can’t control what sheet or cell will be active. Well you can actually, but you need to know how.
Grouping Icon Above Group Rows in Excel
Finding a well hidden setting
The default setting is to have the grouping icon below the grouped rows. But you can switch things and have the icon at the top of the grouped rows.
Free Webinar Recording – Excel Yourself 2019
Feedback score 93% based on 41 responses
In December 2019 I reviewed four of my articles from 2019 plus some new content.
The detailed pdf manual and example file can be downloaded using the button below. Content listed below the video.
CPD note – if you are claiming CPD for watching this recording you need to keep your own records. People who attend the live sessions receive an annual listing of attendances.
This year’s webinar includes
- a new logic function IFS
- how to do budget allocations across months using the MOD function
- how to do complex monthly budget allocations
- using helper cells to achieve advanced conditional formats
As always there will be other tips and tricks shared along the way.
Excel Sort within a Sort
Colour by numbers
Did you know you can sort by colour in Excel? Did you know you can sort ascending or descending within that colour? I was asked a question in a recent webinar and in answering I found out that you can sort within a sort.