Excel Tips

Excel 2024: Recover Unsaved Workbooks »

February 29, 2024

The Auto Recover feature is a lifesaver. It is turned on automatically in Excel 2010 and newer.

Excel 2024: Use Default Settings for All Future Workbooks »

February 28, 2024

In a few minutes, you can teach Excel your favorite settings. Then, every time you create a new workbook with Ctrl+N or insert a new worksheet, the worksheet will inherit all of your favorite settings.

Excel 2024: Fast Worksheet Copy »

February 26, 2024

You can right-click any sheet tab and choose Move or Copy to make a copy of a worksheet. But that is the very slow way to copy a worksheet. The fast way: Hold down the Ctrl key and drag the worksheet tab to the right.

Excel 2024: The Fill Handle Does Know 1, 2, 3… »

February 22, 2024

Why does the Excel Fill Handle pretend it does not know how to count 1, 2, 3? The Fill Handle is great for filling months, weekdays, quarters, and dates. Why doesn't it know that 2 comes after 1?

Excel 2024: Total the Visible Rows »

February 20, 2024

After you've applied a filter, say that you want to see the total of the visible cells.

Excel 2024: Filter by Selection »

February 17, 2024

The filter dropdowns have been in Excel for decades, but there are two faster ways to filter. Most people select a cell in the data, choose Data, Filter, open the dropdown menu on a column heading, uncheck Select All, and scroll through a long list of values, trying to find the desired item.

Excel 2024: Convert Text Numbers to Numbers Quickly »

February 15, 2024

It sometimes happen that you end up with a long column of numbers stored as text and you need to convert those to real numbers.

Excel 2024: Break Apart Data »

February 13, 2024

People often ask about how to parse data that is all in a single column. Say you wanted to sort the data by zip code.

Excel 2024: Double-Click the Fill Handle to Copy a Formula »

February 12, 2024

You have thousands of rows of data. You've added a new formula in the top row of your data set, something like =PROPER(A2&" "&B2). You need to copy the formula down to all of the rows of your data set.