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SPREADSHEET TIPS FROM AN EXCEL ADDICT
Helping Average Spreadsheet Users
Become Local Spreadsheet Experts
Thu Aug 14, 2003
A Free Weekly Publication of TheExcelAddict.com
http://www.theexceladdict.com
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This newsletter is sent ONLY to those who have Subscribed, is
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This newsletter was sent to:
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CONTENTS
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1) Editor Notes
2) Excel "Quick Tips"
3) T-Shirt Contest
4) "How To Excel" Mini-Tutorials:
5) Reader Suggestions
6) Spreading The Word
7) "Non-Excel" Tip
8) Subscription Management
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EDITOR NOTES
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Hi Francis,
I hope you're finding some valuable information in my
newsletters. You know, you can never get enough tips. I admit,
sometimes I feel like I'm still only scratching the surface of
Excel's possibilities and I've been using it fulltime for ten
years - it's that powerful.
My goal has always been to figure out the fastest and easiest
way to get things done and Excel has really helped me do that. I
hope I can share some of that knowledge with you and help you
save some valuable time.
You have been joined this week by new subscribers from Canada,
the US and Britain. We've practically spanned the globe with
this thing in only a couple of months.
Have you shared a copy of this newsletter with your Excel-using
friends and associates. They'll love you for it. Ok, maybe not
LOVE you but I'm sure they will appreciate it.
I'll be making the May draw for my T-Shirt contest in the next
couple of days. Watch your email for the announcement of the
winner.
I'm making the final team selection for my Girls Under 12
All-Star team today. That's going to be tough. Wish me luck!
Have a great week.
To Your Success!
Francis Hayes (a.k.a. The Excel Addict)
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QUICK TIPS
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Creating A Series Of Dates
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A few years ago I was talking to someone who worked at the same
company as I did but in a different department. She asked me to
help her with one of her spreadsheets. As I was showing her how
to do what she had asked about, I noticed that her worksheet
contained a long a list of dates (every two weeks). The strange
thing to me was that all these dates were entered as strings of
text rather than dates. I asked her how she came up with all
these dates and she told me that it takes her several hours to
look up the dates on a calendar and enter the dates in her
worksheet. That was the last time she did that.
Here's the trick I showed her to enter all those dates in a
couple of seconds.
When you need to enter a series of dates in your workbook, for
example a list of bi-weekly paydays, there are several ways to
do it. Here is a simple and fast one I use all the time. First
enter your starting date in a cell (i.e. June 6, 2003). Now
enter the next date in the series (June 20, 2003) in the next
cell down and then select the two cells. Move your cursor over
the bottom-right corner of the selected cells and the cursor
will change to a black plus sign. Click and hold your left mouse
button and drag down as far as you want your series to go.
You'll notice a little pop-up next to the cursor showing the
date you have filled to. When you get to the end date you need,
release the mouse button and there is your series of dates in an
instant.
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Calculate A Person's Age
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Here is an easy way to calculate someone’s age using Excel. In
cell A1 enter someones date of birth and in another cell enter
this formula (copy and paste it right from this email).
=DATEDIF(A1,NOW(),"y") & " years, " & DATEDIF(A1,NOW(),"ym") & "
months, " & DATEDIF(A1,NOW(),"md") & " days"
This will return a string like: 33 years, 9 months, 18 days
You could also use this technique in many other situations where
you need to calculate the time between today and some any other
date.
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T-SHIRT CONTEST
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Every month I am giving away a really cool t-shirt from
TheExcelAddict.com. You can sneak a peak at my website
http://www.TheExcelAddict.com
If you subscribed to this newsletter prior to this current
month, you can still get your name in for the draw each month by
helping me share this newsletter.
All you have to do each month is refer your friends and
associates to my website and newsletter through the Refer A
Friend link on my website. For each person that you refer, your
name will go into the draw. The more friends you refer, the more
chances you have of winning a t-shirt. (See the SPREADING THE
WORD section below for important details on Spamming)
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"HOW TO EXCEL" MINI-TUTORIALS
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How To Print Just A Small Section Of Your Worksheet
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So you've spent hours getting your spreadsheet just the way you
want it. All 10 pages of it. Now you need to print out a small
part of the spreadsheet but you really don't want to print all
ten pages. What do you do? Do you mess around with your
PrintArea and print settings and hope that you can remember how
to set them back?
A quick and risk-free way to print part of your spreadsheet
without changing any PageSetup settings is by using the Print
Selection option.
Here’s how:
(1) Select the range of cells you want printed;
(2) from the File menu select Print...;
(3) in the 'Print' dialog box select Selection and click OK.
Go ahead try it now. See how easy this is?
Can you think of times when you would want to use this?
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How To Enter Many Sum Formulas In One Step
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You have multiple columns of data which you need to add totals
to.
If you're like most Excel users, you probably use AutoSum to
create the total for your first column, then copy that formula
and paste it to the remaining columns. There, that was easy
wasn't it.
But did you know there was a much faster way to do the same
task?
First, highlight all of the cells where you want your totals to
go. Then, click the AutoSum button and ,presto, you have created
all of your totals in one click.
Think that was cool?
OK, let's assume you have a block of data which you need totals
for both columns and rows. Highlight the whole block of data but
extend the area you have selected to include the first blank row
below your data and the first blank column to the right of your
data. Now, click the AutoSum button.
Just like magic, you have totals for both your columns and rows
in one step.
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READER SUGGESTIONS
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TIPS: Do you have an Excel tip you'd like to share with
everyone, please send it to tips@TheExcelAddict.com
TESTIMONIALS: Please drop me a line at kudos@TheExcelAddict.com
and let me know how my Tips, Tricks, Shortcuts, and Techniques
have helped you.
COOL STUFF: Do YOU know of some "out-of-the-ordinary" really
cool thing that YOU can do in Excel? Share it with me and I may
publish it in a new section coming to my website called "Cool
Stuff You Can Do With Excel". Send your suggestions to
coolstuff@TheExcelAddict.com
OTHER COMMENTS: If you have any other comments or suggestions,
please don't hesitate to let me know at
francis@theexceladdict.com
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SPREADING THE WORD
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Currently this newsletter is reaching Excel Addicts in: Canada,
USA, Germany, Norway, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, China, Australia,
South Africa, and Jordan.
There are tens of millions of other Microsoft Excel users all
over the world. The vast majority of them have a very limited
knowledge of Excel's capabilities. My goal is to share this
information with everyone I possibly can and help them to
benefit from Excel's lesser know capabilities.
Francis, please help me spread the word about my newsletter. If
you know other Excel users, please tell them about "Spreadsheet
Tips From An Excel Addict". You can forward this email to them
or, if you'd like to qualify for my T-Shirt Contest, go to my
website http://www.theexceladdict.com and use the Refer A Friend
link to let them know. I'm sure they'll appreciate it.
NO SPAMMING! Please refer only people you know personally and
who use Microsoft Excel and could benefit from this newsletter.
PLEASE NOTE: Before you forward this newsletter to anyone else,
first delete the Unsubscribe Link at the bottom of this
newsletter. You wouldn't want someone to 'accidentally' remove
your name from my mailing list, would you?
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BONUS "NON-EXCEL" TIP
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Surfing The Net Without A Mouse
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Believe it or not, you can surf the Internet without using your
mouse.
You can use the TAB key to move through the links on a web page
and when you get to the link you want to follow, just press
ENTER. Use the BACKSPACE key to move back to the previous page
and to move backwards through the links on a webpage hold down
the SHIFT key when you press TAB.
Why would you even want to do that, you ask?
Well, you may not want to do this all the time but when you are
filling out forms on a web page and have your two hands on the
keyboard, it is easier to TAB to a link and press ENTER than to
be reaching back and forth between the mouse and the keyboard.
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SUBSCRIPTION MANAGEMENT
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"Spreadsheets Tips From an Excel Addict" is a weekly publication
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