Using Microsoft Excel: 3 Tips that will make you look like a Guru to your boss in under 5 minutes.
For us creative types or anyone for that matter, it can be easy to overlook the power of knowing a few tips in Excel. I have included a few below that can save you tons of time and energy. The videos below were recorded using Office 2016 for Mac but the steps remain the same.
1) Conditional Formatting
Conditional formatting is used to quickly highlight important information in a spreadsheet. For example, if you want to highlight certain cells in a spreadsheet based on a value, you can do that. To get started, select the cells that you want to use the conditional formatting on. Next, select “Conditional Formatting” from the home ribbon. Next, select the argument you wish to use to identify which criteria you want so the correct cells are highlighted. In the below example, I used the “color scales” -> “green-yellow-red” scale to show which stocks had the highest and lowest returns in my portfolio. Excel will automatically color code the cells for you.
2) Switching (Transposing) Columns to Rows
If you have data in your spreadsheet in columns and rows, and you want to switch the information, excel has the ability to make this process a lot faster and a lot less tedious than selecting cells individually. Start by selecting the column of cells that you wish to transpose. Right click and select copy from the dropdown menu. Next, select the cell where you wish to transpose the information to. Right click and select the “paste special” feature from the dropdown. Finally, select transpose and click OK.
3) Rotating Text in a Table
When working in multiple rows of information, you can rotate text in cells to make the information more readable. Start by selecting the cells at the top of your table (also known as headers). Next, select the “orientation” feature on the home ribbon and click on “angle counterclockwise from the dropdown. Excel will automatically rotate the information in the cells you selected.
If you enjoyed these tips and would like to see more, please hit the ❤ below and let me know in the comments what you would like to see.
