Handy Excel functions that will save you time and work!
Where would we be without Microsoft Excel? Excel is the powerful spreadsheet program that helps financial professionals in particular. But that same accuracy and precision is also necessary in many other professions, in some it is even an important competency. So too within the role of Contracting Consultant at HeadFirst Group. Excel is also much more than just a tool to create figures and (financial) reports. Besides the standard functions Excel offers numerous other applications that far exceed the basic functionality and the possibilities of Excel are endless. Do you want to work more efficiently in Excel so you have time for other things? We have some practical tips for you.
Infinite possibilities in Excel
In Excel you can keep track of all sorts of things that you can then run numerous calculations on, if necessary. This makes collecting, checking and correctly entering data much easier. You can use Excel not only for financial purposes, but also for various other activities and activities the program offers numerous useful functions that make life a lot easier, regardless of your position.
For example, it is useful for keeping track of your personal finances, preparing budgets, planning a vacation, managing inventory, analyzing data for research and creating charts and tables for presentations. No doubt there are many more super handy applications with Excel to think of. And also useful to know is that there are lots of (free) templates online, for example for creating a content calendar, task list or checklist.
Which Excel functions are not commonly known but still useful to know?
Many people have made Excel's functions and features their own. There are plenty of tricks in Excel that not everyone knows, but are beneficial to know. In our opinion, these are five very powerful features.
Tip 1: Ready-made tables
If you have put your data into Excel and you want to change the formatting, you can do so quite quickly and easily by choosing 'Format as Table' in the Home tab. Then you can choose an appropriate layout that you like. If you later add rows or columns, the layout will automatically be changed. In addition, such a ready-made table includes a handy filter function that lets you quickly find the information you want. If you still want to change the layout, you can do so at any time.
Tip 2: Quick cell formatting
Are you already using keyboard shortcuts? Useful for applying formatting options to cells, for example, without having to open a dialog box. For example, use Ctrl + Shift + & to add a border to a selection (cell) and Ctrl B makes the contents bold.
Another handy thing to know: by default the cell property 'text' is used, but often you want to change it to, for example, a date, currency or a number. Use Ctrl + Shift + $ to add currency with two decimal places and Ctrl + Shift + ! for a number with two decimal places. Ctrl + Shift + % displays a percentage as an integer. Unfortunately, there is no keyboard shortcut available for setting the cell type as "account number" (but there is via Cell Properties > Number > Special).
There are lots of keyboard shortcuts you can use in Excel. Check this out: handy keyboard shortcuts in Excel.
Tip 3: Make a choice list
Making mistakes is human, and so are typos. To avoid typos in data that returns frequently, you can create a pick list. Write down the data you want to recur as choices in a column. Then select the cells where you want choice options. Go to Data Validation under the Data tab. Set the validation criterion to List. An icon will now appear next to the input box under Source. If you click on it, you can select the selection options. An arrow will appear next to the cell, allowing you to select from the drop-down list you just created. Handy!
Tip 4: Quickly add dates
It may seem a bit redundant, but we still find it a handy shortcut: to insert the current date use Ctrl + ; and with Ctrl + Shift + ; the current time. There is another handy shortcut: use Ctrl + Enter to copy the cell value or formula from the active cell to a selected range.
Tip 5: Transpose
This feature, often overlooked, can rearrange matrix data. For example, if you have a matrix with names in the first column and cost items in the second column, but you want a matrix where the names are displayed as rows and the cost items are displayed below them, you can cut and paste the data again to a different layout. If a large range is involved, then the transpose function is many times faster. Use this function by entering "=TRANSPONEREN(A0:A0)" with the desired cell range in the parentheses.
Why do you need to be able to work with Excel?
You can save yourself a lot of time both privately and at work by working with Excel. Having the right Excel skills will make you employable for various types of jobs. Mainly, we see that working with Excel is a crucial skill for workers in the modern world.