Hi Fellow Excel Addict,

How are things going in your part of the world? It's back-to- school time for my two girls and we are one week away from the big soccer tournament that we have been preparing for for so long.

In another two weeks I will have some more free time as soccer winds down for the season and the demand for 'dad's taxi' lessens (wishful thinking, probably). I plan on using some of that time for updating my website more regularly and getting things back on track with my ebook.

I always appreciate suggestions and comments so please feel free to write me anytime you want.

Have a productive week.

Keep on Excelling,
Francis J Hayes (The Excel Addict)

P.S. VERY IMPORTANT Please remember to include "TheExcelAddict" in the Subject line of any email you send me. This will help it stand out in the flood of junk email I have been receiving lately.

DISCOVER NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR, CANADA:
This is where I grew up: http://www.brigus.net/
This is where I now live: http://www.conceptionbaysouth.ca/
This is my beautiful province: http://www.gov.nf.ca/tourism/

Excel shows you the letter for each column in the column headings but what if you want to know which column number it is?

Here are three simple solutions:

• In a cell enter the formula =COLUMN(cellAddress). The formula result will be the column number. In this example, you can see that column AC is the 29th column.
  

• Go to Tools, Options, General, uncheck 'R1C1 reference style'

  or try this quick-and-dirty trick that I use...

• Click a cell in column A and drag all the way to the column you want the number for (i.e column R) and notice the small popup box next to the mouse pointer (i.e 1R x 18C). In this example, the column number is 18.
  

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If you want to prevent duplicate data from being entered into a range, here is a pretty simple solution by using Data Validation.

1. Select the range of cells in which you want to prevent duplicates (for example, A1:A50).
2. From the Data menu select Validation.
3. Click on the Settings tab.
4. From the Allow dropdown box select Custom.
5. In the formula box type =COUNTIF($A$1:$A$50,A1)=1 (see explanation below)
6. Click on the Error Alert tab.
7. In the Title box type "Duplicate Entry!"
8. In the Error Message box type "You cannot enter a value already in the list."

Instead of typing the cell ranges in the formula, you can select them with the mouse. For the validation range (i.e. A1:A50) select the range, then press the F4 key to make it an absolute reference (includes dollar signs). For the criteria range (i.e. A1) click on the first cell in the validation range (no dollar signs). You do not need to copy this formula. When you select the range first and then apply Data Validation, the validation applies to the whole range. The cell reference you use in the formula is not limited to one column. You can use a range such as $A$1:$C$50.

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.

As you install more and more programs on your computer, you'll notice that each new program gets added to the bottom of the Programs menu. When you go to run a program (Start, Programs), finding the right one can sometimes be a little difficult. Bring some order to this chaos by resorting these program shortcuts in alphabetical order.

Click Start, Programs, right-click on any of the listed programs and select 'Sort by Name' from the shortcut menu.