Hi Fellow Excel Addict,

Thanks for joining me again for some more time-saving Excel tips.

I've mentioned to you previously about some of the challenges I'm facing trying to get my newsletter past all of the junk mail filters pervading the Internet. If you have experienced any problems receiving my newsletter in the past, I would really appreciate you letting me know. For the record my newsletter goes out EVERY WEEK. If you have missed any of them it is because someone (likely your own Internet Service Provider) filtered your email before it got to you.

Your input on this matter will help me share my tips with more and more struggling Excel users.

Everyone loved the "Why be average when you can Excel?" quote so much that I've created a really cool screensaver with this quote. I am looking for some people to test this screensaver for me. I want to see how it works on various computers before I release it to everyone. For the first 20 people who reply to me with the Subject line "The Excel Addict Screensaver", I will send you a link (in a day or two) where you can download the screensaver from my website.

Thanks in advance for your help. Till next week...

To Your Success!
Francis Hayes (The Excel Addict)

The solution is to use the F2 key to toggle between edit mode and select mode.

Jim Rohn's Weekly E-Zine is a free weekly publication dedicated to providing valuable insights and information that can help empower and improve both your business and personal life. Find out more at http://www.TheExcelAddict.com/rd/jimrohn.htm.

All you have to do each month is click here to recommend my newsletter and website to a friend. For each person that you refer, your name will go into the t-shirt draw. The more Excel friends you refer, the more chances you have of winning a t-shirt. But please, recommend it only to people you know and who are Microsoft Excel users.

If you use the 'Tell A Friend' link at www.TheExcelAddict.com you could win $10,000 and you will also qualify for my t-shirt draw.

*** Each monthly winner will be notified by email and will have 10 days to reply with a shipping address. If I don't receive a reply within 10 days, another name will be drawn.

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Excel has some great tools that allow you to do amazing things with your data. The sad thing is that most Excel users spend years working with Excel without ever knowing they even exist.

One such tool is Excel's AutoFilter. If you work with lists of data in Excel (and who doesn't?), AutoFilter is essential. I'll cover the basics here.

First you must have a list. The first row must contain headings. The list can be any number of columns wide and any number of rows high. There should be no blank rows in the list. There should be a blank column to the right and a blank row to the bottom of the list. If the list doesn't start in row 1 there must be a blank row above the headings. If the list doesn't start in column A, there should be a blank column to the left of the list.

To get started you need to turn on AutoFilter. Select a cell in your list and from the Data menu select Filter, AutoFilter. You will see a dropdown arrow appear beside each column heading in your list.

Selecting either dropdown arrow will present a list you can choose from to filter your data to show just the rows that match the criteria you select. All other rows are temporarily hidden. You can further filter your list by selecting another dropdown arrow.

Notice that blue dropdown arrows identify the columns you have applied filters to and blue row numbers identify the rows that meet the filter criteria..

To remove the filter applied to a column, click on that dropdown arrow and select (All) from the list.

To remove the filters applied to all columns, from the Data menu select Filter, Show All.

If you want to do further work with your filtered data, you can copy and paste it somewhere else.

To calculate amounts for your filtered data, add a SUBTOTAL formula two rows below your list in the column you wish to calculate. Do this before applying any filters. Your subtotal formula will look like =SUBTOTAL(9,D1:D50) where D1 is the first row in your list and D50 is the last row in your list. Now, when you apply filters to your list, the subtotal formula will automatically calculate the total for only those records matching your filter criteria.

(Excel Addict Trick: For ad hoc analysis of your data, instead of putting the subtotal formula below your data, insert a couple of rows above your data and add the subtotal formula there. Then you won't have to scroll all the way to the bottom after applying each filter.)

This is powerful!

To remove the filters applied to all columns and turn off AutoFilter, from the Data menu select Filter, AutoFilter.

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 amazing capabilities.

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". I'm sure they'll appreciate it.

Maybe you know someone who supervises or employs many Excel users. That's where your referral could have a big impact.

VERY IMPORTANT: Please refer only people you know personally, who use Microsoft Excel and would benefit from this newsletter.

Bang! Bang! Bang! That's me banging my head on the desk.

What a waste of valuable time.

If you understand some basic keyboard shortcuts you can avoid becoming a victim in this situation.

Here's the simplest and quickest way to rescue yourself from this situation. Press the Windows key which will pop up your Start menu. If your keyboard doesn't have a Windows key (next to the ALT key), simply press CTRL+ESC to pop up the Start menu. Now use the up arrow key to select Shut Down and press the Enter key. If the Shut Down option is not selected on the dialog box, use your arrow key to select it, then press the Enter key.

You will be prompted to save any open documents that changes have been made to. For each Save prompt, use the TAB key to select Yes or No and press Enter.

Now isn't that much easier than redoing all of your lost work?