SHORT TIPS ON EXCEL

Here are ten tips that will help you to work efficiently with Excel 

1. Add up a column of numbers in Excel 2007
Once you’ve created a table and entered data, you can easily get a sum of the numbers that you’ve entered. In the row adjacent to the numbers column (or in any other row where you’ve entered text), type in Total. Excel will give you the sum of the numbers entered in the numbers column. To change this to any other summary operation, click the cell and then the down arrow that appears, and select the summary operation you want.

2. Name a table in Excel 2007

Naming a table helps to understand the formulas associated with that table, especially if you have quite a few in each table. To change the default table name (Table 1, Table 2, and so on), click any cell in the table, and then click the Design contextual tab. Go to the Properties group and the Table Name field, and type in the table’s new name.

3. Create a table in Excel 2007

Open a worksheet, type in the headers for columns in adjacent cells and then type a row of data below these. Select all of this. Go to the Home tab and the Styles group and click Formatas Table. A gallery of styles will appear; click the ones you want to apply to the table. Check that the data that appears in ‘Where is the data for your table’ is what you’ve selected and that the My table headers checkbox is enabled. Click OK.

4. Check spelling in Excel 2007

To check spelling in an Excel table, go the Review tab and the Proofing group, and click Spelling. A dialog box will appear when the first misspelled word is found, and you will see various options of how to correct the word. Select the option you want. The spelling checker will then move to the next word, until all the misspelled words have been corrected in this way.

5. Scroll to the end of ranges in an Excel worksheet

If you want to scroll from the beginning directly the end of a range of data in a row or column, press CTRL and the appropriate arrow key for the direction in which you want to scroll. To select the data as you scroll, press CTRL and SHIFT together, along with the arrow key.

6. Move quickly through a large worksheet

If you want to view large portions of your worksheet quickly, first press SCROLL LOCK. Once Scroll Lock is on, hold the CTRL key down and use the appropriate arrow key.

7. Change the width and height of columns and rows

Click and drag the borders of the row or column whose height or width you want to change. To do this for multiple rows or columns, select them and then drag the borders of one of the rows or columns. When you release the mouse button at the desired position, all the rows and columns will take on the new dimensions.

8. Hide rows and columns in Excel 2007

While working with a large amount of data, you may want to hide some rows and columns while you work with the others. Select the rows or columns you want to hide. Go to the Home tab > Cells group. Click Format, point to Hide & Unhide and click Hide Rows or Hide Columns, depending on which you want to hide. To bring them back into the display, you’ll need to click Unhide Rows or Unhide Columns.

9. Move data in a worksheet

To move data in some cells to another part of your worksheet, select the cells and point the mouse to the border of your selection. The cursor will change to a four-directional arrow; now drag the cells to where you want to place them in the worksheet. (If that area contains data already, Excel will ask you whether you want to overwrite that data. Click OK if you do. If not, click Cancel, insert blank cells in that location for the data that you want to relocate, and then drag and drop it again.)

10. Insert a symbol, special character or fraction in an Excel 2007 worksheet

Click the cell where you want to insert the symbol. Go to the Insert tab > Select group and click Symbol. In the dialog box, click the Symbols tab and click the symbol that you want to insert. Click Insert.