Hi Fellow Excel Addict,

How has your week been? I'm a little late this week with my tips. Winter here in Canada presents some challenges and every now and then I get thrown off schedule. As a matter of fact, as I write this, we are in the middle of a major winter storm. The snow is supposed to change to rain later on, so hopefully there won't be too much shovelling tomorrow morning.

Take a look at this web cam. This is about 5KM from my home.

I try to imagine what it would be like to be in some of the warmer climates that many of my newsletter readers are in. Malaysia, India, Cuba, Brazil. I can almost feel the heat.

OK, so much for my daydreaming. My snow shovel will still be waiting for me by the front door tomorrow morning.

I hope you enjoy my tips this week.

Have a great week.

To Your Success!
Francis Hayes (The Excel Addict)

P.S. Just another reminder that if you send me an email, make sure you include "The Excel Addict" in the Subject line. That way, I won't accidentally delete it with all my other daily junk mail.

For example, if your workbook has 5 reports, each of which shows the 'as at' date, just enter the date in the first report (i.e. cell B4) and for every other cell where you want that date displayed, type an equals sign followed by the cell address of the first date (i.e. =B4)

Make the formula an 'absolute reference' (i.e. =$B$4) so you can easily copy and paste the formula to all the other cells where you want to display that date.

Now each time you need to change the 'as at' date, you just change the date in the first cell and all the other dates automatically update.

Another option is to assign a name (i.e. AsAtDate) to the cell containing the first date and then for every other cell where you want that date, type an equals sign followed by that name (i.e. =AsAtDate).

To learn how to assign a name to a cell or range of cells I have repeated my "How To Use Named Ranges" tip from October below.

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.

T-Shirt Contest Winners
January December November October September August July June	Luis Bolivar, Maracaibo, Venezuela Joseph Mathew, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Alexandre Gusmao, Lisbon, Portugal Apollo Tigalo, Angeles City, Philippines Jim Henderson, California, USA Beki Chambers, Indiana, USA Keith Bannister, North Carolina, USA Lisa Hobbs, Pennsylvania, USA

You may already know how to easily adjust column widths based on the contents of the column. Just double-click on the border between two column headings and the column will automatically adjust its width based on the widest entry in that column.

However, often you will find that you also have a report heading occupying a cell in the same column you want to adjust. The problem is, when you double-click, the column adjusts to fit the report heading which is usually much wider than the data in the cells below. Most users will then resort to manually adjusting the column width by dragging the border of the column heading.

What most Excel users are not aware of is that there is a way to adjust column widths to fit your data but ignore data in other cells in that same column. It's called AutoFit Selection.

1) Select just the cells you want to base the column width on. 2) From the Format menu select Column, AutoFit Selection

The column width will adjust to fit the widest entry in the selected cells only. Note also that this tip applies similarly to row heights.

(Extra Tip) How To Use Named Ranges

Another underused feature of Excel is Named Ranges. Named Ranges allow you to assign a meaningful name to a cell or range of cells and then use that name instead of the actual cell reference in your formulas. A name is easier to remember when you are constructing your formulas.

For example, assume you have a workbook that contains a lot of formulas that refer to a tax rate. You could simplify things by using one cell to store the tax rate, naming that cell 'TaxRate' and then, instead of using a cell reference in your formulas, you would use the name 'TaxRate'.

Try this:

1. Enter 45% (tax rate) in cell B5.
2. To name the cell, select Insert, Name, Define.
3. Type 'TaxRate' and click OK.
4. Now, in cells C10:C15 enter some numbers.
5. In cell D10 enter the formula =C10*TaxRate and copy it down to cells D11:D15.

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.

Note that this will change the text size indefinitely until you choose to change it back.

If you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, here's a cool trick you can use to easily adjust the text size on webpages. Hold down the CTRL key while moving the scroll wheel to adjust the text size up or down. This is much easier and quicker for changing the text size.