Excel 365
Using a form for data entry
Usually, the data in Excel spreadsheets is presented in lists of rows, and each row represents a data record. Excel offers an easy way to work with this data type through a data entry form that Excel can automatically generate. This form of data works with a normal data range or a table.
Apply or remove cell borders
Another way to highlight data in Excel, along with the use of colors, is to use borders. Borders and lines within borders are often used to group a range of similar cells or to delimit rows or columns. Excel offers 13 predefined border styles and tools to create your styles.
How to see formulas on the spreadsheet
Sometimes it is handy to view (and print) the formulas in all the cells in a spreadsheet without visiting each cell manually.
Splitting text strings without using formulas
When working with data in Excel spreadsheets, it is sometimes necessary to split text lines into columns. Excel offers many different functions for working with text strings, but you don't have to use formulas for this task:
Check data entry for invalid entries
You can greatly reduce data-entry problems in your workbooks by making Excel check entries before entering them in specific cells. To do so, you need to define restrictions and data-validation rules for those cells.
Excel Formula auditing tools
When working with formulas in Excel, it is often necessary to find where a mistake was made. Excel provides very useful tools:
- the simple way to evaluate just a part of a formula,
- the Formula Evaluator allows you to see how the various parts of a nested formula are evaluated and the order in which the formula is evaluated:
Removing excess spaces and nonprinting characters
Data imported into an Excel spreadsheet often contains extra spaces or strange (often unprintable) characters. There are two handy functions, TRIM and CLEAN, to cleanup such data:
Adding and removing page breaks
Usually, all workbooks are opened in the Normal view in Excel. Thus, page breaks aren't displayed until you print (or preview) the spreadsheet or entire workbook at least one time. In a preview, horizontal and vertical dotted lines indicate the page breaks:
Creating and using named ranges
Named ranges (also known as defined ranges) are a powerful feature in Excel that allows you to assign a symbolic name to a cell, range of cells, or formula. These defined names are a convenient replacement for the address of a cell, data range, or formula in other formulas, charts, diagrams, shapes, etc.
Using a custom sort order
Excel proposes different ways to sort data. You may sort your data in alphabetical order, according to the background or text color of the data, etc.
In some cases, you may want to sort your data in non-standard ways. For example, if your data consists of month names, you usually want it to be ordered by month numbers rather than alphabetically.
In some cases, you may want to sort your data in non-standard ways. For example, if your data consists of month names, you usually want it to be ordered by month numbers rather than alphabetically.