It is frustrating that commands in Excel 2007 are spread out amongst 7 different ribbon tabs. Episode 930 will show you how to add your favorite commands to the QAT - Quick Access Toolbar so that you can have one-click access to these commands.
This video is the podcast companion to the book, Learn Excel 97-2007 from MrExcel. Download a new two minute video every workday to learn one of the 377 tips from the book!
This video is the podcast companion to the book, Learn Excel 97-2007 from MrExcel. Download a new two minute video every workday to learn one of the 377 tips from the book!
Transcript of the video:
Hey. Welcome back to the MrExcel netcast. I'm Bill Jelen.
Well, you know, since the 1st of the year, I made a resolution.
I was going to use Excel 2007, read lots of books about Excel 2007, but it was not always my first choice.
I've done many podcasts, as you know, using Excel 2003, and all this week we talked about Jim's question about how to consolidate that data, and, you know, after kind of reflecting on what’s driving me insane about the new Excel, the one thing is when I need to sort data.
So, I want to sort by AtoZ.
You know, I keep heading up to where AtoZ used to be in Excel 2003, and it's frustrating that we don't have an AtoZ button here.
We have to open SORT & FILTER, choose SMALLEST TO LARGEST.
So, it's a 2-click process now, or click on DATA and then click on AtoZ.
It's kind of where it used to be.
Wouldn’t it be easier if we just had 1-click access to this?
And when you start to find these commands in Excel 2007 that you really wish you had access to all the time, well, that's when we use the quick access toolbar.
Now, the quick access toolbar, by default, starts out above the ribbon, starts out right up here with SAVE, UNDO, and REDO, and it's kind of tiny.
It only has 3 icons and, really, it only has room for about 20 icons before you hit the title of that spreadsheet.
So I always right click that and say show it below the ribbon.
That gets it closer to the spreadsheet and also gives me room for about 44 icons going across on a 1024 monitor.
If you have one of those nice 14-inch monitors, you could probably fit 10,000 icons going across.
So, when I see an icon that I want to have access to all the time, for example the AtoZ or ZtoA, very simple, just right click it and say ADD TO QUICK ACCESS TOOLBAR.
I'll do that also for the other one, ADD TO QUICK ACCESS TOOLBAR, so we have both of those there.
Now, if I need to sort data, you know, if I need to sort this by ORDER, just choose one cell in the ORDER field, and I can go click ZtoA or AtoZ, and I have access to it all the time.
So, as you're making the transition from Excel 2003 to 2007, you find these commands that you really wish that you had on the HOME tab but they're not there, well, just find them, even if they're behind something, and you can right click and say that you want to add that to the quick access toolbar, and you'll have a nice easy strip there.
Actually, I’m not recommending this, but if you get all of your favorite commands, you can then right click and say MINIMIZE THE RIBBON.
Just get rid of the ribbon and use the quick access toolbar all the time.
Again, that's not something I’m recommending, but if you want to go that way, feel free.
Alright.
Well, this week we’ve talked about 4 different ways to solve Jim's problem of data on different worksheets.
If you have a different way, please feel free to drop me a note -- bill@mrexcel.com -- and we'll talk about your method in a future podcast.
Thanks for stopping by.
We'll see you next time for another netcast from MrExcel.
Well, you know, since the 1st of the year, I made a resolution.
I was going to use Excel 2007, read lots of books about Excel 2007, but it was not always my first choice.
I've done many podcasts, as you know, using Excel 2003, and all this week we talked about Jim's question about how to consolidate that data, and, you know, after kind of reflecting on what’s driving me insane about the new Excel, the one thing is when I need to sort data.
So, I want to sort by AtoZ.
You know, I keep heading up to where AtoZ used to be in Excel 2003, and it's frustrating that we don't have an AtoZ button here.
We have to open SORT & FILTER, choose SMALLEST TO LARGEST.
So, it's a 2-click process now, or click on DATA and then click on AtoZ.
It's kind of where it used to be.
Wouldn’t it be easier if we just had 1-click access to this?
And when you start to find these commands in Excel 2007 that you really wish you had access to all the time, well, that's when we use the quick access toolbar.
Now, the quick access toolbar, by default, starts out above the ribbon, starts out right up here with SAVE, UNDO, and REDO, and it's kind of tiny.
It only has 3 icons and, really, it only has room for about 20 icons before you hit the title of that spreadsheet.
So I always right click that and say show it below the ribbon.
That gets it closer to the spreadsheet and also gives me room for about 44 icons going across on a 1024 monitor.
If you have one of those nice 14-inch monitors, you could probably fit 10,000 icons going across.
So, when I see an icon that I want to have access to all the time, for example the AtoZ or ZtoA, very simple, just right click it and say ADD TO QUICK ACCESS TOOLBAR.
I'll do that also for the other one, ADD TO QUICK ACCESS TOOLBAR, so we have both of those there.
Now, if I need to sort data, you know, if I need to sort this by ORDER, just choose one cell in the ORDER field, and I can go click ZtoA or AtoZ, and I have access to it all the time.
So, as you're making the transition from Excel 2003 to 2007, you find these commands that you really wish that you had on the HOME tab but they're not there, well, just find them, even if they're behind something, and you can right click and say that you want to add that to the quick access toolbar, and you'll have a nice easy strip there.
Actually, I’m not recommending this, but if you get all of your favorite commands, you can then right click and say MINIMIZE THE RIBBON.
Just get rid of the ribbon and use the quick access toolbar all the time.
Again, that's not something I’m recommending, but if you want to go that way, feel free.
Alright.
Well, this week we’ve talked about 4 different ways to solve Jim's problem of data on different worksheets.
If you have a different way, please feel free to drop me a note -- bill@mrexcel.com -- and we'll talk about your method in a future podcast.
Thanks for stopping by.
We'll see you next time for another netcast from MrExcel.
