Seven quick tips for MS Excel

Microsoft Excel is one of the most commonly used programs by businesses, with an array of features ensuring it is used in a wide number of tasks. 

But given its complexity and depth, we have compiled a list of seven handy quick tips to help you get more from your software.

Open multiple files at once

If you’re switching between tasks or have lots of projects on the go simultaneously, it can be useful to open more than document at a time. Rather than firing up Excel and then going through the menus, you can open more than document at the same time by selecting all the items you wish to open (using control and left click on the mouse) and then press enter.

Move between Excel files

Having opened multiple files, it can be time-consuming to flick between documents, however, you can speed up this process by hitting Ctrl and Tab. This also works with other programs, such as your preferred internet browser – handy if you have multiple windows on the go at once.

Add multiple rows and columns, fast

While adding a single row or column is easy – you right-click and select ‘add new row’ – it can be time-consuming if you want to add several lines. However, there is an ultra-productive trick – drag and select the number of rows you want to add and then right click and hit ‘insert’.

Quickly navigate around the screen

This tip is handy for those who have large documents – pressing Ctrl and a directional key will move you to the edge of the sheet – the last populated cell in that direction – a useful timesaver compared with endlessly scrolling to reach the bottom of a document.

Change the case of the text

You can change the case of text in specific cells, if necessary using the following codes:

• =UPPER(Cell) : This will capitalise all text in the selected cell.
• =LOWER(Cell): This will do the opposite, switching all text in the cell to lower case.
• =PROPER(Cell): This will only capitalise the first character of a word.

Quickly Input values starting with zero

Trying to input complicated values, such as 00123, can be frustrating as Excel will typically decide you meant to input ‘123’ and autocorrect it, removing the zeros.

There is a quick solution to this, however. If you add a single quote mark ahead of the first digit, Excel will not change your figures.

Use Autocorrect to your advantage

Inputting a complicated value several times can be repetitive, however the autocorrect function will replace text with the correct text. For instance, ‘Penta’ can easily be replaced with ‘market-leading IT outsourcing company Penta’, meaning every time ‘Penta’ is written, it is automatically replaced by ‘market-leading IT outsourcing company Penta’.

Go to File->Options->Proofing->AutoCorrect Options and input Replace text with correct text in the red rectangular area, and all those changes will be easily made. Simple.

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