We are big believers in " keeping it simple.” Far too many people spend tremendous amounts of time formatting their spread-sheets. Although a spreadsheet should be easy to read and follow, this should rarely be at the expense of efficiency. Sorting also will speed the calculation process of many functions significantly.Moving beyond structure, formatting also can cause problems. Excel has a rich set of lookup and reference formulas, some of which require that your data be sorted in a logical order. If you find you are repeating the same data over and over for two or more rows in one of these columns, resist the temptation to use blank cells to indicate repetition.Make sure your data is sorted whenever possible. With this in mind, you should set up tables with column headings going across the first row of your table and related data laid out in a continuous manner directly underneath their appropriate headings.These can then be used for criteria for features such as Advanced Filter and Database functions.People also tinker with the alignment of cell data. Some very good universal colors to consider using in your spreadsheets are black, white, and gray.It is always a good idea to leave at least three blank rows above your table ( at least three, preferably more). Often the overuse of formatting adds size to your workbook, and although your workbook might look like a work of art to you, it might look terrible to someone else.
![]() All data entered into cells formatted as text become text, even if you meant for them to be numbers or dates. Perhaps headings are an exception to this rule.Format cells as text only when completely necessary. If you have altered the default alignment, you will be left scratching your head. It is very common for people to reference cells, which look like numbers but in reality are text. If you start changing this formatting, you will not be able to tell at a glance if the contents of a cell are text or numeric. The arrow in the bottom right will display the Format dialog with the Alignment tab active. As a good alternative, use " Center across selection,” found under Home → Alignment Group. The Microsoft knowledge base is full of frequently encountered problems with merged cells. Generally, you do not want formula cells to be formatted as text!Merged cells can also cause problems. You would use this reference so that when new data is added to the table, it will be referenced in the formulas automatically.This is a very bad habit to form and you should almost always avoid it. In other words, your reference might look something like A:H, or possibly A1:H65536. Because your table might continue to grow (as you add new data), it is common to reference the entire table, incorporating all rows. You might decide you want to use one or more of Excel’s lookup formulas to extract the required information. This forces Excel to examine potentially thousands, if not millions, of cells it otherwise could have ignored.Assume, for example, that you have a table of data ranging from cell A1 to cell H1000. Template For Excel On Manual Calculation ModeHowever, it is very easy to forget to do this! Think of it this way. Your formulas might be reflecting old values and not the updated values because when you go into manual calculation mode, you must force Excel to recalculate by pressing the F9 key ( ⌘-= on Mac OS X). If you are running a spreadsheet in manual calculation mode, sooner or later you will read some information from your spreadsheet that will not have been updated. A spreadsheet is all about formulas and calculations and the results they produce. Many people suggest that shifting calculation mode into Manual via the Office button → Excel → Formulas (pre-2007, Tools → Options → Calculations Mac OS X, Excel → Preferences → Calculation) will solve this problem.However, this is generally very poor advice, fraught with potential disasters. When large numbers of arrays reference large ranges, your workbook’s performance will suffer, sometimes to the point where it becomes unusable and you are forced to run your spreadsheet in manual calculation mode.Excel’s database functions provide many alternatives to array formulas, as discussed in " Sum or Count Cells While Avoiding Error Values”. If you use them to reference large ranges, do so as infrequently as possible. They are best suited to referencing single cells. Address it properly and do not use a “Band-Aid” approach.Array formulas are another common cause of trouble. If you need to run your spreadsheet in manual calculation mode, you have a design problem. That should make the rest of your hacking much easier.To open more than one workbook at a time, select the Office button → Open…, press the Ctrl key (⌘ key on the Mac) while selecting the workbooks you want to open, and then click Open (pre-2007, select File → Open).From any of the workbooks (it doesn’t matter which one), select Windows → View → Arrange All (pre-2007, select Window → Arrange). Although PivotTables might seem very daunting when first encountered, we highly recommend that you familiarize yourself with this powerful Excel feature because once you master PivotTables, you will wonder how you survived without them!At the end of the day, if you remember nothing else about spreadsheet design, remember that Excel works best when all related data is laid out in one continuous table. Another alternative that is often overlooked is the use of Excel’s PivotTable feature, discussed in Chapter 4. To restore your Excel workspace to one full window of a particular workbook, just double-click the title bar (on the Mac, click the green Zoom button in the upper left of the window) appearing on any one of your workbooks. Xlw rather than the standard. When saving your workspace, the file extension will be. To save a workspace, simply select Windows → Save Workspace (pre-2007, File → Save Workspace), enter the workspace’s filename in the File Name box, and click OK. Office 2016 vs 2011 for macIf it says “(General),” change it before typing in the code.To enable grouping, first name the range of cells you want to have grouped so that the data shows automatically on other worksheets. If the drop-down menu says “Workbook” or “Worksheet,” then you in the private module. You can confirm that you’re in the private module by looking at the state of the drop-down menu in the upper left of the code window—this window is usually labeled something like “Workbook - sheetname(Code)”. Close your workbooks as usual when you’re finished.In most cases, you will be taken directly to the private module when you right-click on a workbook or worksheet and select View Code.
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