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OINTRODUCTION

fficially released in January 2013, the latest version of Excel 2013 took themarketbyitsamazinglyeasy-to-userinterfaceandincrediblyadvancedfeatures.Itisnolongerasimplespreadsheetcalculator.MicrosoftExcelhasevolvedinto

a full-fledged software that can be applied to any aspect of life, let it be academic,personalorbusiness.

SowhatdoyouintendtouseExcelfor?Tomaintainyourshoppinglist?Orperhapssomeofficework like financialanalysis, statistics,payroll,billingetcetera?Well,Excel isnotjustlimitedtothesebasicfunctions.Itisalotmorethanwhatyouthinkitis.

Excelallowsyoutomakeuserforms,generateandsortthroughunendingdatalists,createinteractivechartsandgraphsandmuchmore.ThereisnolimittowhatExcelcando.AndwhateverthelimitationswereinthepreviousversionshavenowbeenremovedinExcel2013.

Excel2013 is amarvel.Youwillbeamazed to learnwhatwonders it cando.HowevernoneoftheExcelfeatureswillprovideyouanybenefitifyoudontknowhowtouseit.Excel2013isdefinitelymiraculousbutitdoesnotperformmiraclesonitsown.Youneedtomakeafewclickstomakethemiracleshappen.Thisiswherethisbookintervenes.Ittellsyouallthereistoknow,intheeasiestwaypossibleaboutthisenigmaticsoftware.

Butbeforeyoumoveontofindoutwhatthisbookcontains,youneedtoknowifthisbookisforyou.

IsThisBookforYou?

TheExcelMasterGuidebookSeriesoffersadetailedwalkthroughonallthebasicaswellastheadvancedfeaturesofExcel2013.Itisdesignedforalltypesofusers.Whetheryouareabeginner,intermediateoradvanceduser,thisbookhassomethingtooffertoall.

ItservesasanexcellentguideforuserswhoarenewtoExcelandaretryingitforthefirsttime.Itcontainseverythingthatabeginnerneedstoknow.

Ifyouhavealittleknow-howofExcel,thisbookwillteachyoutheadvancedusageofExcel2013andwaystoadaptittoyourownneeds.

ThebookscontainsnumerousadvancedtechniquesandexclusivetipsthatwillmaketheadvancedusersexploreExcelalloveragain.TheexamplespresentedinthisbookaresurelygoingtomakeyourexperienceofExcelmoreexhilaratingthanever.

HowThisBookIsOrganized?

The Excel Master Guidebook Series consist of seven books, each containing severalchapters. Following is a brief description of each part to give you an idea ofwhat thebookscontain.

BookI:GettingFamiliarwithExcel2013

This part introduces you to the new and advanced features of Excel 2013. The secondchapterofthispartshedslightonthebasiclayoutandproceduresofExcel.Youwillalsofind some handy and exciting tips on customizing your Excel and making it morepowerful.

BookII:TheBasicsExplained

Thisbookcontainswalkthroughs and tipson thebasic applicationsofExcel2013.Youwill learnhow toworkonaworkbook,protectyourworksheets, formatting techniques,workingwithtemplates,printingworksheetsandmuchmore!

BookIII:FormulasandFunctions

ThisbooktalksaboutthemostpopularandvaluablefeatureofExcel;thatis,theformulasand functions. From the basics of entering formulas, to simplemathematical functions,arrayformulasandadvancedstatisticalfunctions,thisbookcoversallyouneedtoknowtoexcelatExcelsformulas.Thelastchapterofthisbookgivesyousomerealhandytipsonmakinganerrorfreeworksheet.

BookIV:ChartandGraphics

ThisbookcoversextensivelythecolorfulchartingandotherexcitingpictorialfeaturesofExcel. You will discover some exclusive tricks on using Excels graphical tools andSparklinegraphics.

BookV:DataManagementandAnalysis

Thisbookintroducesyouto thepowerfuldataanalysis toolsofExcel.Youwill learntoworkwiththehandyWhat-IfAnalysistool,theextensivedatalistsinExcel,thevaluablePivotTableandmuchmore!

BookVI:WorkingWithMacrosandVBAProgramming

ThisbookintroducesyoutotheExcelsamazingmacrorecorder.Wehavetalkedindetailabout the recordersmechanismandapplications.Youwill also learnhow tokeepyour

important and frequently neededmacros at hand, so that you can use them easily andquickly. This book also talks about the basic and common applications of the officialprogramminglanguageofexcel,VisualBasicforApplications.YouwilllearnhowtousetheVisualBasiceditortocreateandeditmacros.ThesecondchapterinthisparttellsyouaboutaveryexcitingandhandyfeatureofVBA;thatis,itsabilitytoletyoucreateuserdefinedfunctionsinExcel.

BookVII:Shortcuts&FunctionList

This book contains an extensive list of keyboard shortcuts to performdifferent tasks inExcel.Thereisalsoalistofallthefunctionsbuilt-inExcel2013.

KnowtheImportantIcons

Youwillfindthefollowingiconsthroughoutthebook.Theseareusedtomakethebookmorereadableandgetyourattentiontotheimportantpoints.

Thisiconrepresentsapracticaltip,somethingthatwillmakeExceleasier, interesting and far more enjoyable. It indicates a moreefficient way of doing the task at hand. You will find severaluniqueshortcutsandotherhandytipsinfrontofthisicon.

This icon denotes a tidbit that applies to the subsequent topic.Makesureyoudontskipthenoteandreaditbeforemovingon.Itisfundamentaltounderstandingthesubsequenttopicandmayhelpyoumasterthetaskathand

This icon represents a cautionary note. It is placedwith functionsthatcancauseproblems ifyourenotcareful.Makesureyoureadandunderstanditthoroughlyorelseyoumightenduplosingyourdataormixinguptheentireoperation.

TABLEOFCONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

IsThisBookforYou?

HowThisBookIsOrganized?

KnowtheImportantIcons

BOOKII:THEBASICSEXPLAINED

Chapter5:MovingAroundtheWorksheet

NavigatingRegions

NavigationTipsforKeyboardUsers

NavigationTipsforMouseUsers

LearnToSelectDifferentInPatterns

SimpleSelection

TheDualRoleofCtrl+A

SelectingMultipleRanges

HowtoSelectRangeswithMouse

HowtoSelectRangeswithKeyboard

SelectingMulti-sheetRanges

FindandSelect

GoToSelection

GoToSpecialSelection

Chapter6:WhatDataCanYouEnter?

LearningtheDifferentTypesofData

NumericData

HowtoAddLargeNumericValues

TextData

Formulas

WorkingwithNumericData

WorkingwithTextData

WorkingWithSpecialNumericData

Chapter7:WorkingaWorksheet

EditingEntries

DeletingEntries

PlayingwithSpecialCharacters

SomeValuableDataEntryTips

SettingsforMovingActiveCell

MagicalTricktoEnterDecimalPoints

MovingActiveCellwithinaRange

EnteringSameValueinMultipleCells

LetAutoFillDoYourWork

AddingaLineBreak

AutomatingtheDataEntry

CreatingYourOwnShortcuts

Chapter8:TheMagicalNumberFormatting

WhatIsNumberFormatting?

GetToKnowtheMainFormattingCategories

DifferentWaysofNumberFormatting

ExcelsSmartAutoNumberFormatting

HandyShortcutsforNumberFormatting

NumberFormattingViaRibbon

ExploringtheComprehensiveFormatCellsDialogBox

CustomNumberFormatting

LearningtheCustomFormatLanguage

CodesforCreatingDateandTimeCustomFormats

CreatingCustomFormat

UsingExistingFormats

4-PartCustomFormat

ApplicationsofCustomNumberFormat

CreatingaNullFormat

ColorfulCustomFormat

CreatingCustomFormatsToScaleValues

Chapter9:ManagingYourWorksheet

AddingNewWorksheet

DeletingaWorksheet

Naming/RenamingaWorksheet

DraggingWorksheets

RelocatingWorksheets

MakeYourWorksheetsTabListColorful

Chapter10:AdditionalWorksheetOperations

AdjustingtheView

SameWorksheetMultipleWindows

HowtoCompareWorksheets

HowtoSplitWorksheetsintoDifferentPanes

SplittingintoFreezingPanes

MeettheIncredibleWatchWindow

Chapter11:LearntoWorkwithRowsandColumns

HowtoAddRowsandColumns

HowtoAddCells

HowtoGetRidOfIndividualRowsandColumns

HowtoHideIndividualRowsandColumns

HowtoUnhidetheHiddenRowsandColumns

AdjustingWidthandHeight

AdjustingRowHeight

AdjustingColumnWidth

Chapter12:WorkingWithCellsandRanges

LearntoCopy/MoveRanges

ShortcutCommands

RibbonCommands

AdvancedCopyingOptions

ShortcutKeys

DragandDrop

MovingToOtherSheets

FillingInContiguousCells

PastingFromtheOfficeClipboard

PastingOptions

PasteSpecial

CommentingtoDocumentYourWork

FormattingComments

AddingPicturesinACommentBox

GivingNewShapetotheCommentBox

ManagingComments

ManagingIndividualComments

ManagingAllComments

PrintingComments

NamingRanges

QuickRulesofThumb

HowtoNameCellsandRanges?

DefiningNamesUsingtheNameBox

DefiningNamesUsingtheNewNameDialogBox

DefiningNamesFromSelection

BefriendingtheNameManager

GeneratingAListOfNames

Chapter13:UsingTemplatesinExcel2013

FindingYourRequiredTemplate

HowtoUseTemplatesinExcel2013

ManagingtheTemplates

MakingYourOwnTemplates

CustomizingDefaultTemplates

CreatingYourOwnTemplates

Chapter14:FormattingTechniques

FormattingBasics

HowtoCopyFormatsInExcel

CommonlyUsedFormattingTools

FormattingViatheMiniToolbar

ExploringtheFormatCellsDialogBox

FormattingShortcuts

WorkingwithDifferentFonts

FormattingTextValuesinIndividualCells

AligningtheText

VerticalAlignment

HorizontalAlignment

MergingCells

UsingtheShrinktoFitFeature

RotatingtheDirectionofText

BeautifyyourWorksheet

HowtoAddaBackgroundImage

UsingBorders

MakingYourWorksheetColorful

ThemeFormatting

CreatingYourOwnThemes

StyleFormatting

IntroducingtheCellStyles

ModifyingtheCellStyles

CreatingyourOwnStyle

CopyingStylesfromOtherWorkbooks

DeletingStyles

ConditionalFormatting

UsingGraphicalMarkersforConditionalFormatting

UsingDataBars

UsingColorScales

UsingIconSets

RevealingtheDuplicateValues

ConditionalFormattingviatheQuickAnalysisTool

CreateYourOwnFormulasforConditionalFormatting

ManagingConditionalFormatting

Chapter15:PrintinginExcel2013

BasicPrintingRulesinExcel

PreviewingBeforePrinting

TypesofWorksheetViews

TheNormalViewMode

WorkinginthePageLayoutView

SwitchingtothePageBreakPreview

ExploringthePageSetupSettings

HandlingPageBreaks

PrintingTips

PrintingGridlines

PrintingHeadings

PrintingRowandColumnHeadings

Chapter16:TakeCareofYourWorksheets

SecuringWorksheets

ProtectingIndividualCells

SecuringtheEntireWorkbook

PermissiontoEdit

Hiding/UnhidingaWorksheet

AddingEncryption

PasswordProtection

UBOOKII:THEBASICSEXPLAINED

p till nowwe have talked about what makes Excel 2013 stand apart from itspredecessors and how can you make your Excel customized and even morepowerful than it already is.Well, not it is time to actually get your hands on

Excel2013andstartexploringallithastooffer.

ThisbookcontainswalkthroughsandtipsonthebasicapplicationsofExcel2013.Ittellsyouhowtoworkonaworkbook,protectyourworksheets,formattingtechniques,workingwith templates andmuchmore!This part is not only amust for beginners but for alsothosewhohavesomeexperienceofusingExcel.Youwill findmanyuseful tips inherethatwillmakeworkingonExceleveneasierandfarmoreinteresting.Moreover,therearelotsofnewbasicthingsinExcel2013thatwerentthereinitspreviousversions.

ATAGLANCE

Chapter5:MovingAroundtheWorksheet

Chapter6:WhatDataCanYouEnter?

Chapter7:WorkingaWorksheet

Chapter8:TheMagicalNumberFormatting

Chapter9:ManagingYourWorksheet

Chapter10:AdditionalWorksheetOperations

Chapter11:LearntoWorkwithRowsandColumns

Chapter12:WorkingWithCellsandRanges

Chapter13:UsingTemplatesinExcel2013

Chapter14:FormattingTechniques

Chapter15:PrintinginExcel2013

Chapter16:TakeCareofYourWorksheets

WChapter5:MovingAroundtheWorksheet

orksheetisthecoreelementofExcel.Whateverworkyoudoonexcel,whetheritissimplemathematicalcalculationoracomplexdataoperation,itisdoneonthe worksheet. Hence it is very important that you get comfortable and

proficientonworkingtheworksheet.

While more about working on a worksheet is explained in the next two chapters, thischaptercoversthebasicsincludingthenavigationtechniquesandwaysofselection.Someofyoumayalreadyknowaboutthisstuffbuthereyouwillalsofindsomeshortcutsandalternativemethods.

NavigatingRegions

Beforeyoulearndifferentregionnavigationtechniques,youneedtoknowwhatactuallyaregionis.Aregionisarectangularrangeorblockoffilledcells.Formoreunderstanding,lookattheimagebelow.

Figure5.1-UnderstandingRegions

As you can see, there are 4 regions; highlighted with red for your understanding. Theregioncomprisesofonlyconsecutivelyfilledcells.Assoonasthereisanemptyroworcolumn,theregionbreaks.Infigure5.1,thefourregionsareA3:D15,A17:D18,F3:G15andF17:G18.

ThoughCellG18isanemptycell,itisalsopartoftheregionasitfallsinthatrectangularblock.Theactivecell,thatisA1,isaone-cellregion.

Nowthatyouknowwhatregionis,letslearnsomereallyamazingnavigationtechniques.These techniques will help you navigate around large regions, containing hundreds ofconsecutivelyfilledrowsandcolumns.Youcannotjustscrollupanddowneverytimeyou

needtogettothebottomofa1000-rowtable.

NavigationTipsforKeyboardUsers

Hereareafewtipstomovearoundaregionwithyourkeyboard.

HittheHomeKeytojumptothefirstcellofthecurrentrow.

HolddownCtrlandthenpresstheHomekey,itwillmovetheactivecelltoCellA1.

Tojumpfromthefirstcelloftheregiontothelastcellandinbetween,justpressandholdtheCtrlkeyandthenhitanyofthearrowkeystomoveinthedirection.For example,Ctrl + (right arrow key)will take you to the right edge of theunderlyingregion.IfyouarealreadystandingattherightcornerandthenyouhitCtrl+ ,itwilltakeyoutothelastcellofthecurrentrowintheworksheet.

Ctrl+Endwilltakeyoutothelastcellofthelastcolumnoftheactiveregion.Forexample,clickingCtrl+EndinFigure5.1willselectG18.

HitEndonyourkeyboardfollowedbyanyofarrowkeystomovetothelastrowsand columnsof the currentworkbook in the respective direction. For example ifyoupressEnd+ , itwill takeyou to the lastcellon the righthandsideof theworkbook.

Scroll Lock + Home will jump to the first cell of the current window of theworksheet.

ScrollLock+Endwilljumptothelastcellofthecurrentwindowoftheworksheet.

NavigationTipsforMouseUsers

AsyoucanseeinFigure,thereisadarkborderaroundCellA1.Thisborderisknownastheselectionrectangle.Moving your cursor to any sides of the selection rectanglewillchangethecursorintoa4prongedarrow.Doubleclickingatthistimewillmovetheactivecelltothelastcelloftheregionandinbetween.

ItplaysthesamefunctionthattheCtrl+ArrowKeycombinationdoesforthekeyboardusers.

Refer to Appendix List of Keyboard Shortcuts to learn the keyboard shortcuts fornavigatingworksheets.

LearnToSelectDifferentInPatterns

Therearemanywaysotherthanthetraditionalclickanddragmethodtoselectthedesiredcells.Youcanselectacell,arange,aregion,adjacentrowsorcolumnsormultiplerangesaswell.

There is a difference between a range and a region. The formerrefers to a rectangular block of cells, it could be filled as well ascontainemptycells; thelatterreferstoarectangularblockoffilledcellsonly

Toworkonanycell,firstyouneedtoselectitordertomakeitactive.Youcandosobysimplyclickingoverthedesiredcell.Youcanselectoneormoreranges,buttherewillbeonlyoneactivecellatatime.Bydefault,theactivecellislocatedattheupperleftcorneroftheselectedrange,unlessyoumoveittoanyothercell.

Thesewerejustthebasics.Nowletsexploresomemoreinterestingwaysofselection.

SimpleSelection

The simplestwayof selecting a rangeor region is to bringyour cursor to the first cellfromwhereyouwanttostarttheselection.Thenclickanddragtoselectthedesiredrange.

Ifyouareakeyboarduser,thenusethearrowkeystomovetheactivecelltotheupper-cornerofthedesiredselection.ThenholddowntheShiftKeyonyourkeyboardandusethearrowkeystodragtheselection.ReleasetheShiftkeyonceyouaredoneselecting.

To select a rangeof cellsusingbothkeyboardandmouse:Clickonecornerof theunderlying range,hold theShiftKeyonyourkeyboardandthenclicktheothercornerothercorneroftherange.

Thepurposeof tellingyou severalwaysof selecting ranges is thatyou try all and thensettleontheonethatyoufeelismosthandy.

Thereisanotherwaytoselectlargeworksheetareasandrangescontainingthousandsofcells.Allyouneedtodoistozoomouttheworksheettoexpandtheselectionarea.

Therearethreewaysofzoomingin/outtheworksheet.

1. Clickthezoomcontrolbuttons(+/-)ordragthezoomsliderlocatedatthebottomrightoftheworksheet.

2. HolddowntheShiftKeyandspinthemousewheel

3. Click the percentagemeter right next to the zoom slider. This will open up theZoomDialogboxcontainingmorezoomingoptions.

Figure5.2-ZoomedOutViewofaWorksheetAlongWiththeZoomDialogBox

Toselecttheentireworksheetandallthecellsinit,clickthesmallboxrightbeneaththenamebar.

TheDualRoleofCtrl+A

Ctrl + A is a very famous and commonly used keyboard combination among theMSOffice users. As you may already know, hitting this combination on the keyboardselectstheentirecontentontheworddocument,excelworksheetoranyotherOfficefilethatiscurrentlyopened.

Well,theroleofCtrl+AhasbeenslightlyenhancedinExcel2013.Itcanperformtwofunctions;

1. Ifyouwanttoselecttheentireworksheet,movetheactivecelltoanyoftheemptycell on the worksheet and then pressCtrl + A on your keyboard. In this case,clicking an empty cell is necessary before you hit the specified keyboardcombination.

2. If you want to select any one region, take the cursor to any filled cell of theparticularregionandthenpressCtrl+Aonyourkeyboard.Thiswillonlyselectthedesiredregion.

SelectingMultipleRanges

A multiple or noncontiguous range, more commonly known as the nonadjacent rangeconsistsoftwoormorerangesthatarenotnexttoeachother.

The following image is anexampleofanonadjacent range.Asyoucan see, it containsseveralregionsaswellemptyranges.

Figure5.3-ANonadjacent/Multiple/NoncontiguousRange

Toselectamultiplerangewiththemouse,holddowntheCtrlkeyanddrageachrangeyouwant.DonotreleasetheCtrlkeytillyouaredoneselectingalltheranges.Theupperleftcellinthelastlyselectedrangebecomestheactivecell.AsyoucanseeinFigure5.3,CellF21istheactivecell.

HowtoSelectRangeswithMouse

Ifyouwanttoselectafewentirerowsorcolumns,presstheCtrlkeyandthenonebyoneclick theheadingof theparticular rowsandcolumns.Thefirstcellof thelastselectedrowbecomestheactivecell.

Ifyouwanttoselectarangeofadjacentrowsorcolumns,holddowntheCtrlkeyandclicktheheadingofthefirstrowofthedesiredrange.WhiletheCtrlkeyisstillpressed,clicktheheadingoftheotherendoftherange.

For Mouse Users: To change the active cell without disturbing theselection,holddowntheCtrlkeywhiletheselectionisstillthereandclickthedesiredcelltomakeitactive.

HowtoSelectRangeswithKeyboardTo select an entire region, click over any filled cell in the particular region andpressCtrl+Shift+Spacebar

Likewise, to select an entireworksheetwith the keyboard, click over any emptycellontheworksheetandpressCtrl+Shift+Spacebar

Toselectanentirecolumn,clickoveranycellintheparticularcolumnandhitCtrl+Spacebar

Toselect anentire row,clickover anycell in theparticular rowandhit Shift+Spacebar

Ifyouwanttoselectseveraladjacentrows,selectarangethatincludescellsofalltherows thatyouwant toselect thenhitShift+Spacebar.Supposeyouwant toselectRow3toRow10inFigure5.3.Todoso,firstyouneedtoselectatleastone cell in each row from Row3 toRow10.Next, pressShift +Spacebar toselectallthedesiredrows.

Ifyouwanttoselectseveraladjacentcolumns,selectarangethatincludescellsofallthecolumnsthatyouwanttoselectthenhitCtrl+Spacebar.SupposeyouwanttoselectColumnCtoColumnFinFigure5.3.Todoso,firstyouneedtoselectatleastonecell ineachcolumnfromColumnC toColumnF.Next,pressCtrl+Spacebartoselectallthedesiredcolumns.

For keyboard users: To change the active cell without losing theselection,hitEntertomovedownonecell,hitShift+Entertomove

uponecell,hitTab tomoveonecell to the right,hitShift+Tab tomoveonecelltotheleft.

Refer to Appendix List of Keyboard Shortcuts to learn more keyboard shortcuts forsomeselectingcell(s).

SelectingMulti-sheetRanges

In addition to contiguous and noncontiguous ranges on the same worksheets, you canselect ranges acrossmultipleworksheets aswell. Suppose youwant to apply a specificformattinginRow1andRow2ofSheet1andSheet3.

Hereishowyoucandothis,

1. SelectRow1andRow2inSheet1

2. HolddowntheCtrlkeyandselecttheSheet3tab.

3. SelecttheHometabandapplythedesiredformatting.

Excelwillapplytheparticularformattingstyletoalltheselectedrows.Likewiseyoucanformatsimilarlythecolumnsandrangesinmultipleworksheets.

FindandSelect

Itisnotonlytheregionsandrangesthatyoucanselect.Youcanevenselectonthebasisofthetypeofdatainthecells,formatting,commentsandseveralotherelements.TheFind& Select drop down list at the extreme right of the Home tab contains many helpfulselectioncommands.

Figure5.4-TheFind&SelectDropDownList

The top twooptions;namelyFindandReplaceworks just like the traditionalMSOffice

Find and Replace feature. The five commands in the middle, from Formula to DataValidation, are the most commonly used selection commands. They do as their namesuggests.

For example, the Formulas command selects all the cells containing any formula inthem.Likewise,theConditionalFormattingcommandfindsandselectsallthecellsonwhich there is any sort of Conditional Formatting applied. More about ConditionalFormattinginChapter14.

GoToSelection

The Go To command in the Find & Select menu is another very helpful way ofselectingdifferentelementsintheworkbook.Themostbasicfunctionofthiscommandisthatitmovestheactivecelldirectlytothedesiredposition.JustopentheGoTodialogboxandenterthenameofthecellyouwanttojumpto.

HitF5orCtrl+GtoopentheGoTodialogboxdirectlywithoutexpandingtheFind&Selectdropdownlist

Otherthanthebasicactivecellselection, theGoTocommandperformsthefollowingfunctions.

1. Ithelpsyouselectbigrangeofcells.

Forexample,ifyouclickovercellA1,launchestheGoTodialogbox,typeG100andthenhitShift+Enteronyourkeyboard.ItwillselecttherangeA1:G100.

2. Ithelpsyougotoanotherworksheetinthesameworkbook.

Todoso,launchtheGoTodialogboxandtypethenameoftheworksheetyouwanttomoveto,followedbyanexclamationmark.

SupposeyouwanttomovetoCellG5ofworksheetnumber2.PressF5onyourkeyboardtoopentheGoTodialogboxandthentypeSheet2!G5.HitEnterandthisshouldmovetheactivecelltothedesiredlocation.

3. Ithelpsyougotoanotherworksheetinanotherworkbook.

If you want to go to another worksheet in any other workbook than the one currentlyopened,opentheGoTodialogboxandtypeinthefollowingformat:

[nameoftheworkbook]worksheet!Cellname

Forexample,tomovetocellA1inworksheet3ofworkbooknamedBudgetlist,opentheGoTodialogboxandtypeinthefollowingcommand.

[Budgetlist.xlsx]Sheet3!A1

Asyoucanseetherearesinglequotationmarksenclosingthesheetreference in the above command. You need to put in this if thename of the workbook contains spaces. Conversely, dont putquotationmarksiftherearenospace(s)inthetitleoftheworkbook

GoToSpecialSelection

The Go To Special command in the Find & Select menu contains some additionalselection options. It ismore like the advanced search settings where you can find andselectcellsthatmeetexactspecifications.

Figure5.5-TheGoToSpecialDialogBox

Asyoucanseeintheaboveimage,theGoToSpecialdialogboxcontainssomeofthe

GoTocommandfeaturesalongwithafewmore.

AfteryouselectanycommandintheGoToSpecialdialogbox, ithighlights thecellsthatmeetsthespecifiedrequirements.

IfyouselectarangeofcellsbeforeusinganyoftheGoToSpecialcommands, it will highlight the desired cells within the selectedrangeonly

FollowingisabriefdescriptionoftheGoToSpecialcommands.

Comments:Itselectsthecellscontainingoneormorecomments

Constants:Thiscommandselectcellscontainingstatisticaldatasuchastextornumbers;itdoesnotselectcellshavingformulas.

Formulas:Itselectsallthecellscontainingthespecifiedtypeofformula.Thisselectionfeature was there in the Find & Select menu as well. Clicking it there selects cellscontaininganytypeofformula.TheformulacommandintheGoToSpecialdialogboxallowsyoutobemorespecificinyourselection.Youcanspecifywhichtypeofformulasyouwanttoselect.

Blank:Asthenamesuggests,itselectsalltheblankcellswithinregions.

CurrentRegion:Itisanotherwayofselectingtheentireregion.Clickoveranycelloftheregionyouwanttoselectthengoforthecurrentregioncommand.Itwillselecttheentireregion.

Current Array: Just like the Current Region command, the Current Array commandselectstheentirearraytowhichtheactivecellbelongsto.

Objects:Thiscommandselectsallthegraphicalobjectsinyourworksheet,regardlessoftheselectedregion.

RowDifferencesandColumnDifferences:These twooptions are abitmore advancedbut are very useful once you get the hang of it.Also known as the debugging options,these two commands compare the values in the selected range of cells to identify theinconsistencies.

Youneedtoselectarangeofcellsbeforeyougoforeitherofthesecommands.Theactivecellservesasthebenchmarkforcomparison.

TheRowDifferencescommandcomparesthecellsintheselectedrangewiththecellsinthesamecolumnastheactivecell.

Conversely, theColumnDifferences command compares the cells in the selected rangewiththecellsinthesamerowastheactivecell.

In either case, it highlights the cells that are not similar to the benchmark cell. Forexample,ifthebenchmarkcellcontainsanAVERAGEformula.Excelwillselectallthecells that contains values and formulas other the AVERAGE formula. Or suppose thebenchmarkcellisanemptycell.Excelwillhighlightallthecellsintheselectedrangethatarefilled.

In simplewords,RowDifferences andColumnDifferences commands compare all thecellswiththebenchmarkcellandselectallthosethatdonotmatchit.

PrecedentsandDependents:Thesetwocommandshelpyoutoidentifyallsuchcellsthateither contains a formula or that are linked to any other formula. In other words,PrecedentsandDependentsselectcellsthatareeitherdependentonanyothercellorviceversa.

The best part about these commands is that they can be used on individual cells also.Suppose there is a formula in Cell G6. To find out the cell upon which this formuladepends,clickoverG6thenselectthePrecedentscommand.ItwillhighlightthecelluponwhichtheG6formuladepends.

AsyoucanseeinFigure5.5,therearetwosuboptionsofthesecommands;namelyDirectOnlyandAllLevels.Bydefaultthefirstoptionisselected,whetheryougoforPrecedentsorDependents.

IfyouselectDirectOnly,Excelwill findandhighlightcells thatdirectly refer tooraredependentuponactivecell.

If you select All Levels, Excel will find and highlight cells that are not only directlydependentontheactivecellbutalsothatareindirectlylinkedtoit.

If you are stuck in some highly pronged formula and are unable tofigure out its precedents or dependents, try theTracePrecedents andTrace Dependents commands in the Formula Tab. Rather thanhighlighting the linkedcells asdoes the GoToSpecialCommands,theFormula tab commands draws arrows showing the dependents or

precedents of the selected cell.MoreonTracePrecedents andTraceDependentsinChapter25

LastCell:Itselectsthelower-rightcellintheactiveareaoftheworksheet,regardlessoftheselectedregion.

VisibleCellsOnly:Asthenamesuggests,thiscommandexcludethecellsinhiddenrowsandcolumnsfromtheselectedrange.

ConditionalFormats:Thiscommandhighlightthecellsthathaveanyrulesofconditionalformattingappliedonthem.ItworksthesameastheConditionalFormattingCommandintheFind&Selectmenu.

DataValidation: As you can see in Figure 5.5, there are two sub options of the DataValidationCommand.IfyougobytheAlloption,ExcelwillselectallthecellstowhichanysortofDataValidationisappliedto.IfyouselecttheSameoption,itwillselectthecellscontainingthesameDataValidationrulesastheactivecell.

TheDataValidationcommandintheFind&Selectmenuperformsthesamefunctionasthe All option explained above. Refer to Appendix List of Keyboard Shortcuts tolearnthekeyboardshortcutsforsomeGoToSpecialcommands.

EChapter6:WhatDataCanYouEnter?

xcel is not just about numbers. It is about text, graphics, timelines, formulas,specialcharactersandmuchmore.Youcanworkondifferent typesofdata thatareexplainedindetailinthischapter.Italsotellshowtoworkwithspecialtypes

of numeric values such as Date and Time in Excel. You will be amazed to see howcomprehensiveandsmartlyinteractivetheinputsystemofExcel2013is.

LearningtheDifferentTypesofData

An Excel workbook can carry countless number of worksheets and each worksheetcontains innumerous cells, 17 billion to be specific. It is these cells that contain all thenon-graphical data. The graphical data that includes charts, pictures, buttons and othersuchobjectsarecontainedbytheworksheetsinvisibledrawlayer.

The non-graphical data is further divided into three types; namely text, numeric andformula.Acellcanholdanyofthethreetypes,briefedasfollows.

NumericData

As the name suggests, numeric data refers to a numeral or any quantity in terms ofnumbers. It could be the sales revenue, the inventory count, contact number, the testpercentageandsoon.

Excelsnumericvaluesandresultsofformulasarepreciseupto15digits.Ifyoutypealargevaluesuchas58,987,654,852,364,759,851(20 digits), Excel will only display the first 15 digits(589,876,548,523,647), the rest will be replaced by zeros. Thisnormallydoesnotcausemuchofaproblemunlessyouareenteringacardnumberofanyothernumericvaluethatneedstostayasitis.

HowtoAddLargeNumericValues

Ifyouwanttoenternumericvaluescontainingmorethan15digitsthatyoudonotwanttobechanged,youneedtoenterthemastext.Therearetwowaystodothat.

1. Beforeentering thevalue into thecell,go toHome tabandselectText from thedropdownlistlocatedabovetheNumbergroup;asillustratedintheimagebelow.

Figure6.1-EnteringLargeNumericValuesAsText

2. Typeanapostropheintheunderlyingcellfollowedbythenumber.

Eitherways,theExcelwillinterpretthevalueastextandwillnotmakeanychangestoit.

Apart fromprecision,Excelalsohascertain limitations in termsofhowlargethenumericvaluecanbe.ThelargestpositiveintegerthatExcel can hold is 9.9E+307. Such large numbers are mostlydisplayedinscientificnotations.9.9E+307mean9.9times10tothe307th power. In other words, 99 pursued by 306 zeros. Likewise,thelargestnegativeintegerthatacellinExcelcanholdis9.9E+307.

TextData

This type of data represents text values such as name of the students, file directory,descriptionofanythingandsoon.

AtextvaluethatstartswithanumberisconsideredastextbytheExcel.Forexample,ifyouenter 50 subjects in a cell, itwill be takenas textby theExcel.Asa result, youwontbeabletousethis50inaformula.Todoso,write50inonecellandsubjectsinanother.

Formulas

Formulasarethecoreelementandprimaryusageofthespreadsheet.YoucanmaintainalistofemployeesinWordaswell,butyoucannotcalculatetheirpayrollthere.

Excel contains many flexible formulas; by flexible we mean you can modify them asrequired.Youcanmergetwoormoreformulasinonecell,changethevaluesandsoon.Formulascanusenumericaswellastextvalues.Howeverthelatterneedstoenclosedindoublequotationmarksintheformula.

Whenyouenteraformula,theunderlyingcelldisplaystheresultsoftheformulaandnottheformulaitself.Ifyouwanttoseetheformulaormodifyit,movetotheunderlyingcellandhitF2onyourkeyboard.Youcanalsoviewandedittheformulaintheformulabar.

Figure6.2-ViewingFormulaintheCellandTheFormulaBar

In the above image, the values highlighted in blue areText values.The green ones arenumericvaluesandtheorangecellscontainformulas.Apparentlyitlooksliketheorangecell contains numeric data, however these are the results of the formula. In Figure 6.2,when the activecellwasmoved tooneof the formula cell (B6) andF2waspressed, itdisplayed the formula in the underlying cell. As you can see, the same formula alsoappearsintheformulabar.

WorkingwithNumericData

Intheprevioussection,wetalkedaboutthedifferenttypesofvaluesthatyoucanenterinExcel.Nowletsexplorethetechniquesforenteringthosevalues.

Ifyouwanttoenteranumericvalueintoanycell,clickovertheunderlyingcellandtypeinthevalue.HitEnterormovetoanyothercell.Thevaluethatyouenterinacellwillalsoappearintheformulabarwhentheappropriatecellisselected.

Youcanenteranyinteger,currency,decimalpointsoranyothertypenumericvalue.You

canalsochangetheformatafterenteringanynumber.Forexample,ifyouenter1000andthen wants to change it to currency form, you can do so by selecting the appropriatecurrencyfromthecurrencydropdownlistintheHometab.Youcanincreaseordecreasedecimal points and also add commas to separate thousands. Learnmore about numberformattinginChapter8.

If you want to enter a negative integer, precede the number with aminussignorencloseitinparentheses().

WorkingwithTextData

JustlikeExceldisplaysthenumericvalueofacellintheformulabar,soitdoesthetextvalue. But if the text value is exceptionally long, the formula bar displays a part of itunlessyouincreaseitsarea.

Therearetwowaystoexpandtheformulabarandviewthefulltextinit.

1. Takethecursortothebottomedgeoftheformulabaranddragitdown,asshownbelow.

Figure6.3-IncreasedHeightoftheFormulaBar

2. HitCtrl+Shift+U to toggle theheightof the formulabar. Inorder touse thisshortcut,youneedtoexpandtheformulabaratleastonceusingthefirstmethod.Thiskeyboardcombinationwillthenexpandtheformulabartothepreviousheightortosinglerow-defaultsize.

You can enlarge the formula bar to view the full text but what happens to thecorresponding column?When you enter a text value that takes upmore space than thecolumnwidth,eitherofthetwothingsmayhappen.

1. Ifthecellrightnexttothetext-containingcellisfilled,Excelwilldisplaythetext

onlyasmuchasitfitsinthepertinentcolumn.

2. Iftheadjacentcellsareempty,Excelwillsplitthedisplayintotheadjoiningcells.Rememberthatitisonlythedisplayofthetextthatisexpandedtoadjacentcells.Thevalueitselfresidesinonecellonly.Soifyouwanttomakeanychangesinthetext,youneedtoclicktheunderlyingcelltodoit.Theadjacentcellsjustcontainthedisplayandnotthevalue,actuallytheyarestillempty.

Sowhat if theadjacentcellsarenotemptyandstillyouneed todisplay theentire text.Well,hereareacoupleofthingsthatyoucantry.

Decreasethesizeofthefont.

Wrapthetextintomultiplelineswithinthesamecell.TheWrapTextcommandcanbefoundintheAlignmentgroupoftheHometab.

Ifpossible,editthetexttomakeitshorter.

Increase thewidthof thecolumn.Youcandosobyrightclicking theunderlyingcolumnandmanuallyenteringthedesiredwidth.Oryoucandragtheedgeofthecolumntoexpandit.

WorkingWithSpecialNumericData

Date and time values are a subtype of numeric data. Excel considers them as specialnumericvaluesthatareformattedinaccordancewiththestandarddateandtimepattern,unlessspecifiedotherwise.

If you want to enter date or time in any cell, you need to understand the Excelsmechanisminthisregard.

First we will talk about Excels date management system which is based on serialnumbers. The earliest date that Excel recognizes is January 1, 1900. It carries a serialnumber1.LikewiseJanuary1,1900hasaserialnumber2andsoon.

Now you dont have to learn all these serial numbers. This mechanism helps Excelinterpret dates in formulas.You just need to enter the desired date in the standard dateformat.

The default date format of Excel depends upon the regional date settings of yourcomputer.Forexample,iftheregionaldateformatofyourcomputeris(Day/Month/Year),

thenyouneedtofollowthesamepatternwhentypinginthedateinanycell.

You can change the date pattern in Excel without disturbing yourcomputersdatesettings.Todoso,rightclicktheappropriatecellandselectFormatCells>Date.

Justlikethedatesystem,thetimesystemofExcelisalsobasedonserialnumbers.Thisone however is in decimals. For example, the serial number for noon (half day) is0.5.Again you dont need to get in much detail about these serial numbers. Just enter thedesired time into the cell in the recognized format. You can change the time formatsettingsbyrightclickingtheappropriatecellandselectingFormatCells>Time.

RefertoChapter19tolearnmoreaboutDateandTimeformattingandformulas.

EChapter7:WorkingaWorksheet

ntering, editing, undoing and deleting data are the core activities of everyspreadsheet youmake.Whether youmake a payroll system onExcel, generategraphsandchartsordoVBAprogramming,whateveryoudoonExcel requires

youtoentertherelevantdata,formatandedititanddeletethewrongentries.

The preceding chapter has already covered the basics of data entry. This chapter talksabouttheeditinganddeletingpart.Italsocontainssomepracticalandefficientdataentrytips.Thismayseemabasicchaptertosomeofyou.HoweveryoumightfindabetterorquickerwayofdoingsomethinginExcelthatyoudofrequently.

EditingEntries

Thissectiontalksabouttheeditingofvaluesinacell.Youcanalsoedittheformattingofthecells(explainedintheupcomingchapters).Editingthevaluedoesnotaffecttheformattingandviceversa.

Thereareseveralwaysofeditingvalues,dependinguponthelengthandnatureofdata.Ifthecellcontainsafewwordsornumbersorasimpleformula,youcaneasilyoverwriteit.Justmovetotheunderlyingcellandtypeinthenewvalue.Thisstrategyhoweverisnotrecommendedifthecellcontainslengthytextoracomplicatedformula.

Incasewhereoverwritingthedataisnotfeasibleormaytakeupalotoftime,youmaywanttoconsidereditingit.

Todoso,justselectthecellandthenmakethechangesintheFormulabar.Whateditsyoudo in the formula barwill simultaneously update in the corresponding cell.NowmanyusersdontliketoeditintheFormulabar.Theyratherprefertomakethechangesdirectlyinthecell.Ifyouwanttoeditthisway,justmovetotheappropriatecellandhitF2.Formouseusers,doubleclicktheunderlyingcellandmakethechanges.

Ifyouwant toedit in thecelldirectly,makesure it isenabled intheExceloptions.Todo so, selectFile >Options >Advanced.ThereyouwillanAllowEditingDirectlyinCellsoption.Makesurethecorrespondingboxischeckmarked.

Wheneveracellisintheeditmode,youwillnoticethatthetwoicons(Xand )intheformulabarareactivated.TheseareillustratedinFigure7.1.

Figure7.1-TwoiconsintheFormulaBar

ClickingXwillclosetheeditmodewithoutacceptingthechangesmadeinthecell.ThekeyboardshortcutforthistoolisEsc

Clicking willacceptthechangesandthenclosetheeditingmode.YoucanalsohitEnteronyourkeyboardtodothis.

DeletingEntries

If youwant to delete any entry, just click over the cell and hit theDelete key on yourkeyboard.Todeletemorethanonecell,selecttherangeofcellsyouwanttogetridofandthenpressDelete.Thismethodhoweverdeletes thecontentof thecellonly. Itdoesnotcleartheformatting.

Foradvanceddeletingoptions,selecttheHometabandclicktheCleardropdownlist.Itis thesmallpink tiltederaser like icon located in theEditinggroupof theHometab,asshownintheimagebelow.

Figure7.2-TheClearDropDownList

Asyoucansee,thislistcontainssixoptions.

ClearAllclearseverythingcontainedwithinthecell.Thisincludesthevalue,formatting,comments,hyperlinksandanyotherobjects.

ClearFormatsclearsonlytheformatting,leavingbehindthecontentuntouched..

ClearContents deletes thecontentonly. Itdoesnotdisturb the formatting.Pressing the

Deletekeyonthekeyboardgivesthesameeffect.

ClearCommentsdeletesthecomment,ifthereisanyattachedtotheselectedcell.

ClearHyperlinksremovesthehyperlinkleavingbehindthecontent.Itdoesnotdeletethevalueinthecell,justtakesawayitshyperlink.Theformattingisalsountouched.

RemoveHyperlinksworkssimilartotheClearHyperlinkscommand.Howeveritremovestheformattingofthecellaswell.

PlayingwithSpecialCharacters

Minus,plus,parentheses,commaandfewcharactersareconsideredasspecialvaluesbyExcel.Enteringthemwithnumericvalueschangesthenatureofthecontent.

FollowingaresomebriefguidelinesonhowExcelinterpretsspecialcharacters.

Ifyouwant toentera formula, itmustbeginwithanequals (=)signorelseExcelwillconsideritasplainnumericortextvalue.

AplussignhasnovalueforExcelifenteredbeforeanumericvalue.Howeverifaformulaisprecededbyaplussign,itisequivalenttotheequals(=)sign.

Youcanentercommastoseparatethousandsinnumericvalues,howevertheydonotappearintheeditmore.Forexample,2,543,415woulddisplayas2543415intheformulabar.

Eore innumericvaluesrepresents theexponentofscientificnotation.Toenter a positive exponential number, put a plus sign (+) after E. For example,3E+5means300,000.Likewiseifyouwanttoenteranegativeexponentialnumber,putaminus(-)signafterE.Forexample,3E5means0.00003.

Ifyouenteradollarsign($)followedbythenumericvalue,itwillautomaticallybe converted into the currency format, containing the dollar sign and commaseparators.

Numeric entries that are preceded by aminus sign (-) or those enclosed inparenthesesareconsideredasnegativevaluesbyExcel.

Ifyouenterslash(/)betweennumbers,itwillbeconvertedintotheDateformatbyExcel. For example, if you enter 5/13 then depending upon the regional datesettingsofyourcomputer,Excelwilleitherconvertthisvalueinto13-MayorMay

2013.

Slash(/)canalsobeusedtodisplayafraction,howevertomakesurethatExceldoesnot interpret theslash(/)asadate,putaspacebetweenthenumberandthefraction.Forexample,324/9.Asyoucansee,thereisaspacebetween32and4/9.ThiswayitwontbeconsideredasadatebyExcel.

Ifyouwanttoenterafractionwithoutanynumber,beginwithazeroandaspace.Forexample,ifyouwanttoenter5/10asafractionthentypein05/10intheappropriatecell.Thiswayitwontbeconsideredas10thMaybyExcel.

SomeValuableDataEntryTips

Whenworkingonlargedataandspreadsheets,dataentrymaygetboring.Hereareafewmoretipsthatwillmakedataentryquickerandinterestingforyou.

SettingsforMovingActiveCell

WhenyoupressEnteronyourkeyboard,thecurrentcellautomaticallymovesdownonecell.Ifyouwanttochangethissetting,selectFile>Options>Advanced.TherethefirstcheckboxisAfterPressingEnter,MoveSelection, followedbyaDirectiondropdownlistcontainingDown,Right,UpandLeft;asshownintheimagebelow.

Figure7.3-SettingsforMovingActiveCell

Makesurethecheckboxismarkedandthenselectthedesireddirection.Forexample,ifyouselectRight,thenthenexttimeyouhitEnteronyourkeyboard,thecurrentcellwillmoveonecelltotheright.

Youcanalsokeepthisoptionturnedoffandinsteadusethearrowkeyson your keyboard to move the active cell in the correspondingdirection.

MagicalTricktoEnterDecimalPoints

Whenyouneedtofilllargespreadsheetswithnumericdatathatcontainsdecimalpointsatfixedplaces,youcanusetheAutoDecimalfeatureofExcelthat insertsadecimalpointautomaticallyineverynumericvalueyouenter.

Tousethistool,

1. SelectFile>Options>Advanced

2. There on the second number you will find a checkbox labeled AutomaticallyInsertaDecimalPoint.Thisoptionisuncheckedbydefault.

3. Tickthischeckboxandenterthenumberofplacesatwhichyouwantthedecimalpointtobe,asshowninFigure7.4.

4. ClickOK

5. Now go back to your worksheet and start entering the numeric values. If youselectedtwodecimalplacesinthesettings,entering98756intoacellwillconvertinto987.56.Likewisewhatevervalueyouenterwillcontainadecimalpointbeforetwoplaces.

6. Onceyouaredoneenteringthedecimalvalues,gobacktotheAdvancedsettingsand unmark theAutomatically Insert aDecimal Point checkbox.Dontworry,revertingthesettingswontaffectyourdecimalvalues.TheonesthatyouenteredwhiletheAutoDecimalfeaturewasactivatedwillstayasiswithdecimalpoints.

Figure7.4-ActivatingtheAutoDecimalFeature

Makesureyoudeactivate theAutoDecimalfeatureassoonasyouare done using it as it applies to all theworkbooks saved in yourcomputerratherthantheonecurrentlyopened.Ifyouforgottoturnoff the feature and start working on any other workbook, it may

causeconfusionandmessuptheentiredata

MovingActiveCellwithinaRange

If youwant to edit a specific range of cells, it is recommended to select it first beforemakinganyentries in anycell.Doing sowill restrict the active cellwithin the selectedrange.

IfyouselectaspecifiedrangeofcellsandthenpressEnter,theactivecellwillmovetothenext cell within the range. When it will reach the last cell in the first column of theselectedrange,itwilljumptothefirstcellofthenextrowandsoon.

Figure7.5-MovementPatternoftheActiveCellwithintheSelectedRange

Figure 7.5 shows how active cellmoveswithin a selected region.When the active cellreachesthelastcell intheselectedrange,whichisCellC15intheaboveimage,itgoesback to the first cell of theunderlying rangeonpressing anotherEnter.Nomatter howmanytimesyoupressenter,theactivecellwillroamwithintheselectedrange,unlessyouclickoutsidetherangeorhitanynavigationkey.

Tomovebackacell,hitShift+Enter.

EnteringSameValueinMultipleCells

Ifyouwanttoenterthesamevalueinmorethanonecell,therearethreewaystodothat.

1. Youcancopythevalueandpasteit individuallyinall thedesiredcells.Howeverthis way of copying data is not feasible when you are working on largespreadsheetsandneedstocopythesamevalueinhundredsofcells.

2. Anotherway is to enter thevalue inonecell, then take the cursor to thebottom

right edge of the underlying cell and click and drag it to the desired number ofcells. This method is appropriate for copying data in adjacent ranges andconsecutivecells.Youcannotdrag thesamevalue intoanoncontiguous rangeorcellslocatedapartoneanother.

3. The thirdandbestwaytocopyavalue intomultiplecells isCtrl+Enter.First,selecttherangeofemptycellswhereyouwanttoenterthesamevalue.Bydefault,the active cellwill be the first cell of the selected range.Donot click anywhereelse, just select the range, enter the value and then hit Ctrl + Enter on yourkeyboard.Thisshouldinsertthesamevalueintoallthecellsoftheselectedrange.

LetAutoFillDoYourWork

AutoFillisoneofthemosthandyandpopularfeatureofExcel.Ithelpsyoutofilldatainaseriesofcells.ItusestheAutoFillhandletodothis.

AutoFillhandleisasmallboxlocatedatthelowerrightedgeoftheactivecell,asshowninFigure7.6

TheAutoFillfeatureisprettyeasytouse.AllyouhavetodoisclickandAutoFillhandleanddragittocopythevalueintheactivecelltothedesiredseriesofcell.TakealookattheFigure7.6

Figure7.6-TheAutoFillFeatureandtheAdditionalAutoFillOptions

Inthisimage,anumericvalue12345isenteredinCellA2.WhentheAutoFillhandleofthiscellwasdraggedbelow, thesamevaluewascopied inall thecellsup towhich thehandlewasdraggedto.Thistoolcanbeusedtocopytextvaluesandformulasaswell.

AutoFillhandledoesnotonlycopythesamevalue.Itfillsaconsecutivepatternofseriesaswell. In Figure 7.6, the first twomonthswere enteredmanually inCellB2 andB3.Thenboth thesecellswereselectedand theircombinedAutoFillhandlewasdragged tocompletetheseriesofmonths.

If theAutoFill handle is not visible on yourworksheet, itmay beturnedoff.ToturnontheAutoFillhandle,SelectFile>Options>Advanced. There you will find a checkbox labeled Enable FillHandle and cell drag-and-drop. Place a tick mark next to thischeckboxtoenabletheAutoFillhandle.

InFigure7.6,thereisasmallboxpointedbytheredarrow.Thisboxappearswhenyoudrag theAutoFillhandle.Clicking thiswillopenupadditionalAutoFilloptionssuchasCopyCells,FillFormattingOnly,FillwithoutFormattingandsoon.All theoptionsareselfexplanatory.Forexampleifyoujustwanttocopytheformattingofactivecellandnotthevalueitself,clickFillFormattingOnly.LikewiseclickingCopyCellswillcopythevalueaswelltheformattinginthedraggeduponcells.

AddingaLineBreak

Ifyouwanttoenteralengthytextvalueinacellbutdonotwantittotakeuptoomuchofthecolumnwidth,youcanaddaLineBreak.Itwillbreakthetextupintomultiplelineswithinthesamecell.

ToenteraLineBreak,pressAlt+Enter.Doingsowilladdanotherlineinthesamecell.Youcanenteralinebreakafteryouhaveenteredthevalueorwhileentering.

When you enter a Line Break, Excel automatically converts theunderlyingcellsformattingintoWrapText.HoweverunlikenormaltextwraptheonethatyoudobyclickingtheWrapTexticonintheHometab,thisonegivesyoucontroloverwhereyouwanttoaddtheLineBreak.

If you want to remove a Line Break, bring the cell into the edit mode and go to the

insertionpointof theparticularLineBreak, thenhitDelete onyourkeyboard.The textthatwasthereafterthelinebreakwillmoveupalongtheprecedingtext.

AutomatingtheDataEntry

AutoComplete is another very helpful feature of Excel. It automates the data entry byrememberingyourentriesandtheninsertingthesametextinmultiplecells.

Supposeyouentered thewordCompany inacell.Excel remembers it.AssoonasyouwillenterCo intheanyothercell,Excelwilloffertofill inCompany there.Ifitisthesamewordthatyouwanttoinsert,justhitEnter.

IfthereareseveralwordsthatstartwithCoandthewordofferedbyExcelisnottheoneyouarelookingfor,rightclickthecellandselectPickFromDrop-downList.ThiswillattachadropdownlisttotheunderlyingcellcontainingallthewordsstartingwithCothatyouhaveatsometimeenteredinthesameworksheet

YoucanturnofftheAutoCompletefeaturebyselectingFile>Options>Advanced. Unmark the checkboxEnable AutoComplete for cellvalues.

RefertoChapter17tolearnmoreaboutthehandyAutoCompleteFeature.

CreatingYourOwnShortcuts

JustliketheAutoFillandAutoComplete,theAutoCorrectfeatureofExcelisanotherveryhandytool.Itallowsyoutocreateshortcutsforwordsthatyoucommonlyuse,sothatyoudonthavetotypethemagainandagain.

Forexample,ifyouaremakingaspreadsheetorExcelbasedreportondifferenttypesofenvironmentfriendlycolorfulplasticbagsandyouneedtotypethisphrasefrequently,youcancreateanAutoCorrectshortcutsuchasefborenvoranyotherabbreviationthatyoucaneasilyremember.Supposeyoucreatedenv.Nowwheneveryoutypeenvinany of the cell, theAutoCorrect featurewill automatically change it into environmentfriendlycolorfulplasticbags.

TosetupyourownAutoCorrectshortcuts:

1. SelectFile>Options>Proofing

2. There you will see the AutoCorrect Options button. Click it to open theAutoCorrectdialogbox;asshowninFigure7.7.

3. MakesuretheReplaceTextasYouTypecheckboxismarked.

4. Enter the originalword in theReplace box and its desired shortcut in theWithbox.Figure7.7illustratestheexamplediscussedabove.Likewiseyoucancreateasmanyshortcutentriesasyouwant.

Figure7.7-CreatingAShortcutEntryUsingTheAutocorrectFeature

TheAutoCorrect entries are applied to all theMicrosoft Office Applications. It meanswhatevershortcutsyoucreateinExcelwillworkinMSWordandotherMSOfficeappsaswell,andviceversa.

RefertoAppendixListofKeyboardShortcutstolearnthekeyboardshortcutsforDataEntry.

FChapter8:TheMagicalNumberFormatting

ormatting is of numerous types; changing fonts, adding colors, shading, bordersand so on, all this comes under formatting.However there is onemore type offormattingthatisexclusivetoMicrosoftExcelonlyandthatisnumberformatting.

Whilemore about number formatting is explained in the upcoming headings, it simplyreferstochangingtheappearanceofthenumbersinthecells.

Thischapterexplainsindetailtheconceptofnumberformatting.Itcoversthecategoriesofnumberformatting,differentmethodsofformattingnumbersandsomehandyshortcutsaswell.

WhatIsNumberFormatting?

As just mentioned, Number Formatting is the process of modifying the appearance ofnumeric values.By appearancewemean comma separators, decimal points, percentagesign, currency symbols and so on. The purpose of all this is tomake the valuesmoreunderstandable.

Number formatting just changes the look of the cells. It does notaffecttheactualunderlyingvalues.

When you enter any numeric values in Excel, they are unformatted by default. Theyrepresentnothingbutasimplestringofnumbers.Therearecountlesswaysinwhichyoucanformatthem,asexplainedintheupcomingsection.

GetToKnowtheMainFormattingCategories

The innumerous ways of Number Formatting are classified into several categories, asbriefedbelow.

General:Everynumericvaluethatyouenterinacellcarriesageneralformatbydefault.Normally,itreferstotheplainstringofnumerals.Howeverifthenumberistoolarge,thegeneralformatisautomaticallyconvertedintothescientificnotation.

Number: This category of format ismostly used to display precise values and decimalpoints.TheNumberFormatalsocontainstheoptiontoaddcommatoseparatethousands.Anotherveryinterestingthingaboutthisformatisitsredcoloringofnegativevalues.In

otherwords,ifyouenteranynegativevaluesorvaluesenclosedinparenthesesandthenapplynumberformattingtoit,allthenegativevalueswillturnred.

Currency:Asthenamesuggests,thisformatisusedtodisplaymonetaryvalues.Justlikethe number format, this one also contains the decimal, thousand separator andnegativevalue-redcoloroption.

Accounting:It issimilartothecurrencyformat.TheonlydifferencebetweenthetwoisthattheAccountingformatlinesupthecurrencysymbolsanddecimalpointsinacolumn.

Date:Thisformatturnstheunderlyingvaluesintothedefaultdateformat.Thebestthingaboutthisformatisthatitallowsyoutoselectyournativedateformat;asshowninFigure8.1

Figure8.1-SelectingtheLocationandRegionalDateFormat

Time: This format is used to represent time values. Just like theDate format, this oneoffersoptionstoselectyourcountrybasedrecognizeddateformat

Fraction:Itallowsyoutoselectfromninedifferentfractionbasedformats.

Percentage:Ifthisformatisappliedbeforeenteringavalue,itwillputapercentagesigninfrontofanyvalueyouenterintheselectedcells.Italsocontainstheoptiontodeterminedecimalplaces.

It ishighly recommended thatyouapply thepercentage formattingbeforeenteringthevalues.Ifdoneafterwards,itwillmultiplyallthe

underlying values with 100 and then put a percentage sign withthem. For example, if you enter 80 in a cell and then applyPercentage formatting to it, itwill change the value to 8000%.Onthe other hand, if you would have changed the formattingbeforehand,80wouldhavebecome80%andnothingmore!

Scientific: Applying this format will change the value into scientific notations. Forexampleifyouenter500,000andthenapplythisformatting,itwillconvertthevalueintoexponentialform(5.00E+0.5)

Text:Thisformatisusedtodisplaythenumericvaluesastext.Excelsnumericvaluesarepreciseup toonly15digits. Ifavaluecontainsmoredigits, thenumeralsafter the15thdigitarereplacedbyzeros.Soifyouwanttoenteranumericvaluecontainingmorethan15digitsthatneedtostayasit is,applyTextformattingtotheappropriatecellandthenenterthevalueinit.

Thisformatismostlyusedtoentercreditcardnumbersandothersuchvalues.

Special:Thiscategorycontainsfouradditionalformats,includingZipCode,ZipCode+4,PhoneNumber,andSocialSecurityNumber.

Thefourformatsareonlyavailableforsomeparticularlocations.Ifit does not appear in your location, just change the location toEnglish(UnitedStates)andallthefourformatswillappearinthedialogbox,asshowninFigure8.2.

Figure8.2-FourTypesofSpecialFormats

Custom:Thisoptionallowsyoutocreateyourownnumberformatsthatarenotavailableinanyothercategory.Customizednumberformattingisexplainedindetaillateroninthischapter.

Whenacellisineditmode,itdisplaysthevalueintheunformattedstate.Sameiswithformulabar.Itshowsthevalueinisunformattedform.Howeverthisruledoesnotapplytodate,timeandpercentageformat. Once you apply any of the three mentioned formats, theresultingvaluewillappearthiswayintheeditmodeaswellastheformulabar.

DifferentWaysofNumberFormatting

Now that you know the different types of formatting that you can apply on numericvalues,letsseehowyoucanactuallyperformNumberFormattinginExcel.

Make sure you select a cell or range of cells before applying anytypeofformattingtoit.Theformattingthatyouapplyworksontheselected cell(s) only. It is not applied on all the cells in theworksheet,unlessyouselecttheentireworksheetandthenapplythedesiredformattingstyle.

ExcelsSmartAutoNumberFormatting

Thereareseveralwaysofdoingnumberformatting,theeasiestoneofwhichisbyusingExcelsbuilt-inAutoNumberFormattingfeature.Whenyouenteranyvalue,Exceltriestoidentifyitsnatureandformatsaccordingly.Forexample,ifyouenter15.8andthenhitthe % key on your keyboard, Excel will automatically change it into percentageformatting.Likewise ifyouprecedeavaluewithadollar sign ($),Excelwillconvert itintothecurrencyformatandaddcommasanddecimalpointstoit.

If you are entering numeric values and yet your values are notautomatically turning into the percentage format, select Home >Options > Advanced. Locate the checkbox labeled as EnableAutomaticPercentEntryandputatickmarkinit.

HandyShortcutsforNumberFormatting

Shortcuts alwaysmakeoneswork easy and fun.And like everyother feature, there arekeyboardshortcutsfornumberformattingaswell.

ThemostcommonlyusedshortcutsforNumberFormattingareasfollows.

KeyboardShortcut Description

Ctrl+Shift+~ ApplytheGeneralFormat

Ctrl+Shift+$ ApplytheCurrencyFormatwithtwodecimalplaces

Ctrl+Shift+% ApplythePercentageFormat

Ctrl+Shift+! Addtwodecimalplaces,commasandminussign(-)fornegativevalues

Table8.1-CommonKeyboardShortcutsforNumberFormatting

Howeverthesearenottheonlyones.Refer toAppendix for thecomplete listofNumberFormattingshortcuts.

NumberFormattingViaRibbon

The Home Tab in the Ribbon also contains the frequently used number formattingcommands.Youwill find them in theNumbergroupof theHome tab, as shown in theimagebelow.

Figure8.3-NumberFormattingCommandsintheHomeTab

Thisdrop-downlistcontains11numberformats.Howeverasyoualreadyknow,thesearenot all the type of formats available in Excel. So if you could not find your requirednumber format here, clickMoreNumber Formats located at the bottom of this drop-drownlist.

Justbeneaththisdrop-downlist,thereareiconsforthefivemostcommonlyusednumberformats,asshowninFigure8.4

Figure8.4-IconsfortheFiveCommonlyUsedNumberFormattingCommands

Startingfromtheleftintheaboveimage,theiconsareforcurrency,percentage,thousandseparator, increase decimal and decrease decimal. If you want to apply any of thementionedformats,justselecttheunderlyingcell(s)andclicktherespectiveicon.Youcanapplyformattingbeforeaswellasafterenteringthevalues.Howevertheformerishighlyrecommendedincaseofpercentageformat.

ExploringtheComprehensiveFormatCellsDialogBox

The drop-down list in the ribbon and the shortcuts do not contain all the NumberFormattingoptionsExcelhastooffer.TheFormatCellsdialogboxisrightplaceforit.

TherearefourwaystolaunchtheFormatCellsDialogbox,asexplainedbelow.

1. Rightclicktheselectedcell(s)andthenselectFormatCells.

2. PressCtrl+1onyourkeyboard

3. ClickthesmalldownwarddiagonalarrowlocatedatthebottomrightcorneroftheNumbergroupintheHometab.

4. Open theNumberFormatdrop-down list in theNumbergroup in theHome tab,thenclickMoreNumberFormatslocatedatthebottomofthelist.

Makesure toselect thecellor rangeofcells inwhichyouwant toapply the formatting before opening the Format Cells dialog boxthroughanyoftheways.

IntheFormatCelldialogbox,alltheformattingcategoriesarelistedonthelefthandside.Click a category to open its sub-options. At the bottom of the dialog box is the briefdescriptionoftheformatcategorythatyouselect.

Figure8.5-TheFormatCellsDialogBox

ThevaluebeneathSampleshowshowyourselectedvaluewilllooklikeafterapplyingthe

particularformatting.Youcanscrollupanddownandcheckdifferentformatstillyoufindtheoneyouarelookingfor.ClickOKonceyouaredoneselectingthedesiredformat.

CustomNumberFormatting

ThenumberformatsofExcelareverycomprehensiveandelaborate.Youwillfindabuilt-informatofalmosteverytypeyouneed.Thesearealsoprettyeasytouse.Sotrytofindtheoneyouarelookingforinthealreadyavailableones.Incaseifyouareunabletofindone,youcanalwayscreateyourownformat.

Custom number formats are saved only in theworkbook inwhichyou create them. To copy your custom formats to any otherworkbook, copy the cell carrying the particular custom format andthenpasteittotheappropriatecellintheotherworkbook.

LearningtheCustomFormatLanguage

Customnumberformattingisabitcomplex.Ithasitsownsetofcodesandsymbolsthatyouneedtounderstandbeforeyoutrymakingaformatofyourown.

0(zero)

Known as the Digit Placeholder, this symbol makes sure that the specified number ofdigits are displayed in the underlying value. Now there could be either of the twoscenarios.

1. If a numeric value has lesser digits than the number of zeros specified in theformat,thenthisdigitalplaceholderdisplaystheinsignificantzeros.Forexample,ifyoucreateaformat0.00andthevalueis0.58,itwillbedisplayedas0.58.Ontheother hand if the format is 0.0000 and the value is still 0.58, then it will bedisplayedas0.5800.

2. Conversely,ifanumericvaluehasmoredigitsthanthenumberofzerosspecifiedintheformat,itroundsofthevalue.Forexampleiftheformatis0.00andthevalueis0.587,itwillbedisplayedas0.59.Likewiseiftheformatis0.0andthevalueis0.587,thenthevaluewillbedisplayedas0.6

Inshort,thepurposeofthe0digitplaceholderistoequatethenumberofdigitsinavalue

tothenumberofzerosintheformat.

?

AlsoknownastheDigitPlaceholder,thissymbolhidesinsignificantvaluesanddisplaysonlythemainvalue.Moreover,thisplaceholderensuresthatthevaluesarealignedonthedecimalpoints.Forexample,iftherearethreevalues(1.25,1.2and1.229)andall threeareformatted0.???,thentheywillbealignedas1.2,1.25and1.229ontheworksheet.

Youcanusethisdigitplaceholderforfractionsthathavevaryingnumbersofdigits.Thissymbolwillnotonlyeliminate theextra insignificantzeros in individualvaluesbutwillalsoalignthemintermsoftheirdecimalpoints.

#

ThisisanotherDigitPlaceholder.Itworksalmostlikethe0(zero)placeholderexceptthatisdoesnotdisplaytheinsignificantzerosifthevaluehaslesserdigitsthanthenumberof# specified in the format. You can also put thousand separators in this symbol. Forexample,#,###meansthatExcelshouldputacommaaftereverythirddigittotheleftsideofthedecimalpoint.

.(DecimalPoint)

Itworksjustlikeanormaldecimalpoint.Youcanplaceitinyourcustomizedformattodeterminehowmanydigitsyouwanttotheleftandrightofthedecimalpoint.

%

Knownasthepercentageindicator,thissymbolmultiplestheunderlyingvalueby100andplacea%signnexttoit.

,(comma)

The basic usage of this symbol is to place thousand separators in the numeric values.Howeveryoucanalsousecommatoroundavalue.Ifyouplaceonecommaattheendofaformat,itwillroundoftheunderlyingvalueandwilldisplayitinthousands.Likewise,ifyouplace twocommasat the endof a format, itwill roundup thevalue to thenearestmillion.

$+()space

Addanyof thesecharacters inyourformula todisplaythemin thevalue.Thecharacterwillbeplacedatthesamepositionwhereyouentereditinyourformula.

\

Just like theprevioussymbols,abackslashhelpsyou todisplaycharacters in thevalue.Forexample,ifacellisformattedwith###\P,thevalueintheformattedcellwillcontainaPwithit.Thebackslashisnotdisplayedinthecell.

Donotuseabackslashtodisplayanyofthesecharacters:$+()space.Justputthemasitisintheformulatomakethemappearinthepertinentcell.

Text

It works just like backslash except for the fact that it displays all the text within thequotationmarksratherthanjustonecharacter.ForexampleifyouwanttodisplayUSDinacellafteranumericvalue,youcanformatitwith###USD.Youcanalsoperformthesamefunctionwithabackslashbutinthatcaseyouwouldhavetoputabackslashbeforeeachcharacter,forexample,###\U\S\D

/

ThisFractionFormatsymbolisusedtodisplayanumberinafractionformat.

Just like the decimal places precision, you can also determine theaccuracyofafractionvalue.Forexample,if0.415isformattedwith#?/?,itwillbedisplayedas2/5.Howeverifyouformatthesamevaluewith#???/???thenitwillbedisplayedas83/200

[color]

Itdisplaysthecharactersinthespecifiedcolor.

[Colorn]

It displays the data entries inn colorwheren is the number of color in Excels colorpalette.Itcouldbeanywhereinbetween056.

*(asterisk)

Thisistherepetitionindicator.Itrepeatsthenextcharacterintheformatasmanytimesas

requiredtofillthecolumnwidth.Youcanputonlyoneasteriskperformat.

_(underscore)

Thissymbolisusedforalignmentpurposes.Itputsspaceequal to thewidthof thenextcharacterintheformat.

@

Thisisatextplaceholder.Ifacellcontainsatextvalueandisformattedwiththissymbol,itwilldisplaythetextinthepositionwhere@standsintheformat.Forexample,ifacellcontainsPaulandisformattedwithMyNameis@,itdisplaysasMyNameisPaulintheunderlyingcell.Textplaceholderisveryhelpfulincaseswhenyouneedtodisplaythesame text in everycellwith justoneworddifference.Youcanput the same text in theformatandthedifferentwordsintheformattedcells.

EE+ee+(Exponents)

If a format contains either of these symbols, it will display the value in the scientificnotationformat.ThenumberofdigitplaceholdersattherightsideofEoredeterminestheminimum digits in the notation. E- and e- displays a minus sign before negativeexponentialvalues,whereasE+ande+recognizesthenatureoftheexponentanddisplaysaplusorminusaccordingly.

CodesforCreatingDateandTimeCustomFormats

Youcancreatecustomformatsfordateandtimevaluesaswell.Butforthatyouneedtolearnadifferentsetofcodes.

Code Description

d Displaythedaynumberwithoutleadingzeros(1-31)

dd Displaythedaynumberwithleadingzeros(01-31)

ddd Displaythedayoftheweekasanabbreviation(Sun-Sat)

dddd Displaythefullnameoftheday(Sunday-Saturday)

m Displaythemonthnumberwithoutleadingzeros(1-31)

mm Displaythemonthnumberwithleadingzeros(01-31)

mmm Displaythenameofthemonthinabbreviatedform(Jan-Dec)

mmmm Displaythefullnameofthemonth(January-December)

mmmmm Displaythefirstletterofthemonthsname(J-D)

yy Displaythelasttwodigitsoftheyear(00-99)

yyyy Displaythefullfour-digityearnumber(0000-9999)

h Displaythehourwithoutleadingzeros(0-23)

hh Displaythehourwithleadingzeros(00-23)

m Displaytheminutewithoutleadingzeros(0-59)

mm Displaytheminutewithleadingzeros(00-59)

s Displaysecondwithoutleadingzeros(0-59)

ss Displaysecondwithleadingzeros(00-59)

s.0 Displaysecondandtenthsofasecondwithoutleadingzero

s.00 Displaysecondandhundredthsofasecondwithoutleadingzero

ss.0 Displaysecondandtenthsofasecondwithleadingzero

ss.00 Displaysecondandhundredthsofasecondwithleadingzero

[] Displaytheabsoluteelapsedtime;thatis,itdisplayhoursgreaterthan24andminutesorsecondgreaterthen60

AM/PMoram/pmDisplaytimeinAM/PMoram/pmrespectively.Ifthisisnotspecifiedintheformula,Exceldisplaythetimeusingthe24-hourclock

A/Pora/p DisplaytimeinA/Pora/prespectively

Table8.2-CodesforCreatingDateandTimeCustomFormats

CreatingCustomFormat

Now that you know the language of custom formatting, lets see how you can actuallymakeyourownnumberformat.Therearetwowaysofcreatingcustomerformats;youcandosobyusingthebuilt-innumberformatsorusingthe4-partcustomformatconcept.

UsingExistingFormats

Theeasiestwayofcreatingacustomformatistobuildonthebuilt-inExcelformats.Hereishowyoucanusetheavailablenumberformatsasthestartingpointandmodifythemtomakeoneofyourown.

1. First,typeanumericvalueinanemptycell.Forexample,0.259

2. Applytheappropriatenumberformatonit.Byappropriatewemean,theonethatresembles the custom format you want to create. In this example, the fractionformatisapplied.Thischangedthevalueto1/4.

3. SelectthiscellandthenopentheFormatCellsdialogbox.

4. Select the Custom category. Here you will see that format you selected ishighlighted in the list of formats. The highlighted formatwill also appear in theTypetextboxlocatedjustrightabovethelistofformats,asshowninFigure8.6

Figure8.6-TheTypeTextBoxIntheCustomFormatCategory

5. Edit the format as desired, in theType text box. You can use the custom formatsymbolsexplained in theprevioussection tomodify the format. In thisexample,weaddedtwomoredigitsplaceholderstotheformat.AsyoucanseeinFigure8.7,putting placeholders increased the precision of the fraction value and now itappearsas223/861intheunderlyingcell.

Figure8.7-CreatingaCustomFormatUsinganAvailableFormat

ClickOktoconfirm.Thiswontaffecttheoriginalformat.Theformatthatyoucreatewillappearatthebottomofthelist.

Todeleteacustomformat:SelecttheformatandhittheDeletebuttonlocated at the bottom right outside the formats list. Remember, you

cannotdeletethebuilt-innumberformats.

4-PartCustomFormat

Ifyouareunabletofindaresemblingnumberformattocustomize,youcancreateoneofyourown.Acustomformatcanhaveupto4sub-formats.Inotherwords,youcanmakefourdifferentformatsandthencombinetheminallonesingleformat.

The4-partcustomformatismeanttodifferentiatefourdifferenttypesofvalues;positive,negative,zeroandtextvalues.Youcanspecifyasmanyasfourformats;justmakesuretoseparatethesub-formatswithsemicolons.

Hereareafewpointsthatyouneedtorememberwhilecreatinga4-partcustomformat.

Ifyouspecifyanyoneformat,Excelwillapplythattoallthevalueswithintheselectedrange.

Ifyourcustomformatcontainstwoparts,thefirstappliestothepositivevaluesandzeros,andthesecondtothenegativevalues.

Ifyouspecifythreeformatswithinyourcustomformat,thefirstappliestothepositivevalues,thesecondtothenegativevaluesandthethirdtothezeros.

If you custom format contains fourparts, it is applied and interpreted in thefollowingsequence:Positivevalues;Negativevalues;Zerovalues;Textvalue. Inother words, the first format applies to the positive values, the second to thenegativevaluesandsoon.

Ifyourcustomformatcontainslessthanfourparts,itwillhavenoeffectonthetextvalues.

Table8.3illustratesafewexamplesofcustomformatting.Thefirstcolumncontainsafewdifferenttypesofvalues,thesecondcolumncontainsacustomformatandthirdoneshowshowtheoriginalvalueswillbedisplayedinthecellaftertherespectivecustomformatisappliedtothem.

OriginalCellEntry CustomFormat FormattedValue

5500 #,##0USD 5,500USD

987.569 _($(#,##0.00) $(987.57)

9876543215 #,##0 9,876,543,215

856 Extension:_### Extension:856

8009985436 (###)###-#### (800)998-5436

42163956 ####-##-### 421-63-956

3/31/2014 mmmm-d,yyyy March-31,2014

Table8.3-ExamplesofCustomFormatting

ApplicationsofCustomNumberFormat

CustomformatisalotmorethanjustafewexamplesillustratedinTable8.3Whileyouneedtopracticemakingdifferentformatstogetthehangofcustomformattingcodes,hereafewmoreapplicationsalongwithexamplesofcustomformatting.

CreatingaNullFormat

Youcancreateanullformattohidethevaluesinaworksheet.Allyouhavetodoistypeasemicolonforthatpartoftheformat.

Remember,justlikeeveryothercustomformat,thenullformatisalsointerpretedinthefollowingorder:

Positivevalueformat;Negativevalueformat;Zerosformat;Textvalueformat

Forexample,ifyouwanttohidenegativevalues,zerosandtextfromaselectedrangeofcells,selecttheappropriaterangeandformatitwith###;;;

Threesemicolonsmean that ithides the last three typesofvalues in the selected range.Likewise,ifyouputtwosemicolonsinthestartingfollowedbytheformatforzerosandtextvalues,itwillhidethepositiveandnegativevalueswithintheselectedrangeofcells.

Todisplayonlytextvalues,formattheunderlyingwithnothingbutasinglesemicolon(;).Tohideallthevalues,formatwith;;;

Thenullformatonlyhidesthevaluesinthecells.Theentriesarestillvisibleinformulabar.Tolearnhowyoucanhidethevaluesincellsaswellintheformulabar,refertoChapter16

ColorfulCustomFormat

Youcancreateacustomformat togivedifferentcolors todifferent typesofvalues.Allyouhavetodoisprecedetheappropriateformatwiththenameofthedesiredcolor.Forexample, if you want to apply a red colored telephone number format to a string ofnumericvalues,edittheappropriatecellwiththefollowingformat:

[Red](###)###-####

Likewise, if you have a spreadsheet full of mixed-up values and need to differentiatepositive,negative,zeroandtextvalues,selecttheentireworksheetandtypethefollowingformatinthecustomformattypebox:

[Red];[Green];[Blue];[Yellow]

Theabovecustomformatdisplaysallthepositivevaluesinred,negativevaluesingreen,zerosinblueandtextvaluesinyellow.

Youdonotnecessarilyhavetousethesamecolorsinyourcustomformat.Youcanselectfromthe followingcolors:Yellow,Black,Cyan,Magenta,Green,Blue,RedandWhite.Youcanalsospecifythenumberofthecolor.

IfyouspecifyacolororcolornumberthatisnotinExcelsbuilt-inrangeofcolors, itproduces thespecifiedcolorbymixingupsomebuilt-in shades. Such colors are called dithered. These colors aregoodforshadingthecellsbutdoneworkverywellforcoloringthevaluesandlines.

CreatingCustomFormatsToScaleValues

You can create custom formats to scale large values. For example, suppose you areworkingwith large numbers such as 1,500,000,000. If youwant, you can display thesenumbers in thousands (1,500 in this example).Theunderlyingvaluewould still remain1,500,000,000andthesamewouldbeusedincalculations.Theformattingonlymakesitlookshorterontheworksheet,hencetakinguplessofthecolumnwidth.

Hereareafewcustomformatstoscaledownnumericvalues.

#,###,

It removes from the display, the last three digits to the left of the decimal place. Forexample,987654displayedas987

#,###.00,

It removes from the display, the last three digits to the left of the decimal place androundedtotwodecimalplaces.Forexample,987654displayedas987.65

#,###,,

The above format displays the value inmillionswith no decimal places. For example,987654321displayedas987.

#,###.00,,

Theabove formatdisplays thevalue inmillionswithnodecimalplacesand rounded totwodecimalplaces.Forexample,987654321displayedas987.65

#,###,,M

ThisformatalsodisplaysthevalueinmillionshoweveritalsoputsanMwiththevalue.Forexample,987654321displayedas987M

0.00

Thisformatremovesfromthedisplay,thelasttwodigitstotheleftofthedecimalplaceandroundedtotwodecimalplaces.Forexample,9876displayedas98.76.

Justlikeyoucancreatecustomformatstoscaledownvalues,youcandothesametoscaleupaswell.Hereareafewcustomformatstoscaleupnumericvalues.

#,000

Thisformatdisplaysthreemorezeroswiththevalue.Forexample,9displayedas9,000

#,000,000

Thisformatdisplayssixmorezeroswiththevalue.Forexample,9displayedas9,000,000

WChapter9:ManagingYourWorksheet

orksheetisthefaceoftheExcel.WhateverworkyoudoonExcelisdoneonaworksheet. In thepreviousversionsofExcel,eachworkbookcontainedthreeworksheets.However inExcel2013,everyworkbookcontainsasinglesheet

andhas its ownwindow.So insteadof placing all thework in oneworksheet, you cancreateadifferentoneforeachelementforyourproject.

Forexample,ifyouaremaintainingasalesrecordofyourstore,youcancreateadifferentworksheet for every month and product, perhaps for every sales agent too. Multipleworksheetsmightsoundcomplextoyoubutnotwhenyoucanrenameeachofthem,setadifferentcolorforeveryworksheetslabelandsoon.

Thischaptercoversallsuchthingsthatyouneedtoknowtomanageyourworksheets.Itgivesyouhandytipsforsomeofthebasicworksheetoperationsalongwithsomecolorfulandinterestingtricksformanagingyourworksheets.

AddingNewWorksheet

Therearefourwaysofaddingaworksheettoaworkbook.

1. Clicktheplussignlocatedattherightsideofthelastsheettab.Thiswilladdanewsheettotheactiveworkbook.

2. HitShift+F11onyourkeyboard.Thiswilladdasheettabtotheleftofthecurrentworksheet.

3. RightclickthesheettabandclickInsert.ThiswillopentheInsertdialogboxonthe Excel screen. Select worksheet in the General tab and click OK. A newworksheetwillbeaddedjustrightbeforetheactiveworksheet.

4. SelecttheHomeTab.ClicktheInsertdropdownlistandselectInsertSheet.Thiswilladdanewworksheettotheleftofthecurrentsheet.

DeletingaWorksheet

Ifyouhaveaddedaworksheetbymistakeornolongerneedone,youcandeleteitveryeasily.

Therearetwowaysofdeletingaworksheetfromaworkbook.

1. Open theworksheetyouwant todelete.Go toHome tab.SelectDeleteSheet in

theDeletedropdownlist.

Figure9.1-DeletingaWorksheetUsingtheRibbonCommands

2. RightclickthesheettabandclickDelete.

Figure9.2-DeletingaWorksheetbyRight-ClickingtheWorksheetsTab

Eitherways, if the underlyingworksheet contains any data, Excel asks you to confirmonceagainifyouwanttodeletetheworksheet.ClickDeleteifyousurelywanttodeleteit.ClickCancelotherwise.

Figure9.3-ConfirmationtoDelete

If the worksheet is blank and never used before, Excel deletes it without asking forconfirmation.

Youcanalsodeletemultiplesheetsatatime.Todoso,pressandholdtheCtrlkeyandonebyoneselectallthetabsyouwanttodelete.Theselectedsheetsnamesareboldandunderlined.Thendeletebyeitheroftheabovementionedways.

Todeleteanadjacentgroupofsheets,clickthefirstsheetofthegroup,hitandholdShiftonyourkeyboardthenselect thelast tabof thegroup.Doingsowillselectall thesheet

tabsinbetween.Thendeleteusingeitherofthetwomethods.

Makesuretheworksheetisofnousetoyouoryouhaveabackupofthe data before you delete anyworksheet.Deleting aworksheet inExcelcannotbeundone.Youwontbeable torecoveraworksheetonceitisdeleted.

Naming/RenamingaWorksheet

Whenyouopenaworkbookoraddmoreworksheets in it,Excel labels themwith theirrespectivenumber.Bydefault,worksheetsarenamedasSheet1,Sheet2andsoon.Nowthese names are very plain and non-explanatory. So if you want, you can rename thesheetsasdesired.

Renamingworksheetsmakesiteasyfortheuserstolocatedata.Forexample,itiseasiertofindoutthesalesglitchinaparticularmonthwhenthesheetsarerenamedasmonthsratherthanjustsheetnumbers.

Therearetwowaysofrenamingasheet;

1. Right click the sheets tab you want to rename and click Rename. This willactivatetheeditmodeofthesheetstabwhereyoucantypeinthenewname.HitEnteroncedone.

2. Doubleclicktheappropriatesheetstab.TypeinthenewnameandpressEnter.

Notethatthesheetnamescannotexceed31characters.Youcanaddspacesinthenamesbutyoucannotusethefollowingcharactersinasheetsname:

*Asterisk :Colon \Backslash

?QuestionMark /Slash []SquareBrackets

Trytokeepashortnameasitwouldconsumelessspaceonthescreen.Thelengthierthenameis,thewiderthetabwillbeandthefewernumberoftabsyouwillbeabletoseeonthetablistwithoutscrolling.

DraggingWorksheets

You can rearrange the worksheets in any order you want. For example, if you have aseparateworksheetforeachemployeesperformance,youmaywanttorearrangethetabsinalphabeticalordertomakeiteasiertolocateanyparticularemployeesworksheet.

Youcanalsomakeacopyofaworksheetinthesameworkbook.Forexample,ifyouhavemade a performance appraisal sheet for an employee, you may want to use the sametemplateforalltheemployeesbutinadifferentworksheet.Excelallowsyoutocopythesameworksheetasmanytimesasyouwantinthesameworkbook.Sojustcopythesameperformanceappraisal sheet foreveryemployeeandedit thedataas required.Thiswayyou wont have to type the same template in every employees performance appraisalworksheet.

There are several ways of rearranging and copying worksheets in Excel, as explainedbelow.

To move a worksheet, just click and hold the worksheet tab and drag it to thedesired location.Youwillsee that themousepointerchanges tosmallnotewhileyoudrag.Takethispointertothedesiredlocationanddropitthere.

To copy a worksheet within the same workbook, press and holdCtrl on yourkeyboard while you click and drag the appropriate worksheet to the desiredlocation. The originalworksheetwill stay in its placewhile a copy of itwill becreatedinthepositionwhereyoudraggedit.Inthiscase,thesmallnotelikepointerwillcarryaplussignonit.

RightclicktheappropriateworksheetandclickMoveorCopy.ThiswillopentheMoveorCopydialogboxasshowninFigure9.4.Asyoucansee,thisdialogboxcontainsthenamesoftheallworksheetsintheselectedworkbook.Justselecttheworksheetbeforewhichyouwanttorelocatetheunderlyingworksheet.Ifyouwanttocopyaworksheet,clickthecheckboxCreateacopylocatedatthebottom of theMove or Copy dialog box. The first twomethods are easier. Thedialogboxisnormallyusedtomoveorcopytheworksheetinanyotherworkbook,asexplainedinthenextsection.

Tomoveorcopyagroupofworksheetsimultaneously,pressandholdCtrlwhileyouselectalltheappropriateworksheettabs.Thendragthe

grouptothedesiredlocation.

RelocatingWorksheets

It is not the sameworkbookwhereyou can copyormoveworksheets to.Youcan alsomoveorcopyaworksheettoanyotherworkbook.

Tomoveorcopyaworksheettoanyotherworkbook,itisimportantthattheotherworkbooktowhichyouwanttocopyisalsoopen.

1. To relocate a worksheet to any other workbook, right click the appropriateworksheetandclickMoveorCopy.ThiswillopentheMoveorCopydialogboxasshowninFigure9.4

Figure9.4-TheMoveorCopyDialogBox

2. ClicktheToBookdropdownlistandselectthetargetworkbook.Thiswilldisplaythenamesoftheallworksheetsintheselectedworkbook.

TheToBook drop-down listdoesnot contain thenamesof all theworkbooksonyoursystem.Itonlyincludestheworkbooksthatarecurrentlyopen.

3. Just select the worksheet before which you want to relocate the underlyingworksheet.Ifyouwanttocopytheworksheet,clickthecheckboxCreateacopylocatedatthebottomofthedialogbox.

When youmove or copy aworksheet to any otherworksheet, thecustom formats, if anycontained in it, are alsocopied to theotherworkbook.

Thisisnottheonlywaytomoveorcopyworksheetstootherworkbooks.Youcandosoby theClick andDragmethod aswell. First, open both theworkbooks and then alignthemhorizontallyonthescreen.Nowdragtheworksheetfromoneworkbooktoanother.Ifyouwanttocopyaworksheet,holddowntheCtrlkeyonyourkeyboardandthenstartdragging.

Toaligntheworkbooksinhorizontalpanes,minimizeallthewindowsonyourdesktopexceptthetwoworkbooks.RightclickyourdesktopstaskbarandclickShowwindowsstacked.

MakeYourWorksheetsTabListColorful

Ifnamesarenotenoughtodifferentiatethesheettabs,youcanalsocolorthem.Youcanspecifyadifferentcolorforeachtab.

Tochangethecolorofasheettab,

1. Rightclicktheappropriatetab

2. SelectTabColorandthenclickthedesiredcolor.

Figure9.5-ColoringtheWorksheetsTabs

Ifyoudontlikeanyoftheavailablecolors,clickMoreColors locatedatthebottomofthecolorpalette.Toremoveacolorfromatab,clickNoColor.

Thisoperationcolorsthetabitselfandnotthefont.HoweverExcelautomaticallychangesthecolorofthefonttomakeitvisibleontheselected tabcolor.Forexample, ifyouchooseblackcolor foryourtab,Excelwillchangethecolorofthetabsnamefonttowhite.

TChapter10:AdditionalWorksheetOperations

hepreviouschapterelaborated thebasicoperationsregardingworksheets.TheseareamusttolearnifyouplantoworkonExcel.Howeverthereisalotmorethatyou can do than just managing worksheets. You can compare different

worksheets, split them up into different panes and so on. This chapter covers all suchadvancedoperations. It also introduces you to the amazingly accommodating andhigh-techWatchWindowofExcel2013.

AdjustingtheView

Whenyouopenaworkbookfor the first time,bydefault thepageview isset to100%.Thatiseverythingyouseeonscreenisshowedat100%view.Youcanzoominandzoomouttomagnifyorshrinktheviewrespectively.ThesmallestviewinExcelis10%andthelargestis400%.

Ifyourworksheetcontainsnumerouspagesandrangesspreadthroughouttheworksheet,youcanshrinktheviewtogetabirds-eyeviewofyourworksheet.Converselyyoucanzoomintomakeoutthetinycodesandformulas.

Zooming in and zooming out the view of a worksheet does notchangethefontsize,formattingorprintingsetup.Itjustchangestheview.

Figure10.1showsaworksheetzoomedoutto10%.

Figure10.2showsaworksheetzoomedinto400%.

Figure10.1-WorksheetZoomedOutTo10%

Figure10.2-WorksheetZoomedOutTo400%

Therearethreewaysofchangingtheviewofaworksheet:

1. PressandholdtheCtrlkeyonyourkeyboardandspinyourmousewheeltoshrinkormagnifytheview.

2. Clickanddragthezoomsliderlocatedatthebottomrightofyourworksheet.Slidetotherightsidetozoomin.Slidetothelefttozoomout.

3. SelecttheViewtabontheribbon.Hereyouhavethreeoptionsinthezoomgroup;namelyZoom,100%andZoomtoSelection.

Ifyouselect100%,itwillreverttheviewtonormalifwaschanged.

If youwant to see a particular rangeof cells in onepane, select it first and then select

ZoomtoSelection.Excelwillchangetheviewtofittheselectedrangeinthewindow.Ifthe selection is large, it will shrink the view. On the other hand, if the selected rangecomprisesof fewcellsonly, itwillmagnify theview to fill the entirewindowwith theselectedcells.Inshort,thiszoomingoptiondisplaystheselectedrangeofcellsonly.

The third option in the View tab isZoom. Clicking it will open theZoom dialog boxwhereyoucanspecifythedesiredpercentage.Ifyoudonotfindyourdesiredviewpercentinthedialogbox,simplytypeitintheCustomtypebox.TheFitSelectionroundcheckboxyieldsthesameeffectastheZoomtoSelectioncommand.

Figure10.3-TheZoomDialogBox

Ifyouzoomin/zoomoutaworksheet,itwillchangetheviewofthecurrent worksheet only. It wont affect the display of otherworksheetsintheworkbook.Asamatteroffact,Excelallowsyoutosetdifferentazoompercentageforeveryworksheet.

The first time youopen a newworksheet, its zoom factor is 100%.However once youchangeit,itwillstaythiswayevenifyouclosetheentireworkbook.Thedisplaywouldremainthesameeverytimeyouopentheparticularworksheet,unlessyouchangeitagain.Excelopensuponthelastchangedzoomfactor.

SameWorksheetMultipleWindows

Attimes,youmayneedtocomparetwodifferentrangesofthesameworksheet.Oryoumaywanttomodifyaworksheetandobserveitseffectonanyotherworksheetofthesameworkbook.Ineithercase,dontyouthinkitwouldbeverytimeconsumingandhecticto

togglebetween two rangesor twoworksheetsagainandagain.Well,Excel2013solvesthisissueforyou.Itallowsyoutoviewthesameworksheetintwodifferentwindowsonthesamescreen.

Oryoucanalsoviewtwodifferentworksheetsofthesameworkbookononescreen.Thisoptioncomesveryhandywhenyouneed tocompare two rangesor incaseswhereyouneedmodifythevaluesinonesheetandanalyzeitseffectonthevalueslinkedinanyotherworksheet.

Ineithercase,theprocesstodisplaytwoworksheetsortworangesofthesameworksheetononescreenisthesame.

SelecttheViewtab>NewWindow.

Excelwillopenupanewworkbookexactlythesameastheactiveworkbook.NowclickArrangeAlllocatedrightbeneaththeNewWindowbuttonintheViewtab.

ThiswillopenuptheArrangeWindowsdialogbox,asshowninFigure10.4

Figure10.4-TheArrangeWindowsDialogBox

Clickanyoftheroundcheckboxestodisplaytheworksheetsinthedesiredarrangement.For example, if you selectHorizontal, itwill stack both theworkbooks horizontally, asillustratedinFigure10.5

IfyouselecttheWindowsofActiveWorkbookcheckbox,Excelwillarrangewindowsoftheactiveworkbookonly.

Figure10.5-TwoSameWorksheetsArrangedHorizontally

AsyoucanseeinFigure10.5,twosameworksheetsarearrangedhorizontally.Noticethename in the Title bars. As you can see, Excel renames the titles when you view aworksheet in multiple winos. It appends a colon and a number to each window; theoriginalworkbookisassignednumber1andtheotheroneisrepresentedbynumber2.

Theworksheets inmultiplewindowsare linked toone another.Sowhateverchangesyoumakeinoneareautomaticallyupdatedintheother.Notethattheotherwindowisjustthedisplaycopyandclosingitwont affect theoriginalworkbook.However thechangeswouldremainthere.

HowtoCompareWorksheets

TheArrangeWindowsfeatureofExcel2013isveryhelpfulifyouwanttocomparetwoworksheets. Even more valuable is the View Side by Side feature that makes thecomparison easier. Apparently this feature arranges the open windows horizontally;however it contai