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Microsoft Excel is a great tool which does your tedious job in an easy way. Whether it might be repeated tasks or managing the data in a clean way, Excel does it well. There are many Excel features which most of us do not know. Knowing those hidden tips and features help us to complete our work faster and save a lot of time. Today, I will let you know some Excel tips to save time and complete your work faster, on your Windows computer.
Excel Tips to Save Time
We may be facing small problems like creating multiple lines in a single cell or printing multiple worksheets on a single paper. We follow different techniques to do this, which might not be as efficient as we might want them to be. This article will let you know how to do such tasks easily to save your time so that you can complete your work in a faster way.
1. Multiple Lines in a Cell
While filling the Excel sheet, sometimes we need to have a lot of information in a single cell. For example, if you want to write the address in a cell, then it needs to be on multiple lines within a cell. Then, if you press the “Enter” button, control moves to the next cell, but that is not what we want. Press Alt + Enter to move the cursor to the next line of the same cell. This would be the savior for having multiple lines in a single cell.
2. Add Cell Values Quickly
If you want to add values or the average value of multiple cell values, then there is no need to using the formula. To get these basic things done, select the cell, press “Ctrl” key and select the cells which you want. On the status bar which is at the bottom of the Excel sheet, you can find the Sum, Average, and other values being calculated. If you want to see other values, just right-click on the status bar and select the value you want to see.
You can add values like Minimum, Maximum, Numerical Count (selected cells containing the numerical values) and many more like this.
3. Create Chart Templates to reuse
Creating the same sort of chart, again and again, is a repetitive work. For example, if you want to create a chart for sales data of the entire month, it is better to create the chart template and use the same template every time you want to use the chart. To create and reuse the chart template, follow these steps.
- Select the required data and insert the chart in a regular way.
- Format it as you want. Add or remove grid lines, data label, trend lines and everything as you want.
- After formatting the chart as you want, select the chart and click on “Save as Template” under the Design tab.
- Now, save the chart with “.ctrx” extension. The default location to save the chart template is C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates\Charts and save the chart template in this location itself. If needed, you can even choose your destination.
- Now, to reuse the chart template, select the latest data and head over to the “insert”, in “Charts” section, go for “Other Charts” and “All Chart Types”. Click Templates and select the template you want. This creates a chart for the latest selected data.
By using the chart template, it saves a lot of time, and there is no need for creating the chart as you want from the beginning.
4. Create a Chart from different cell values
We can create a chart from cell values which are not adjacent. As we already know that, we can select values present in various cells by holding the Ctrl key, then in the same way select values which are not the adjacent cells and then insert the chart. For example, if you have headings in the first column and values in the fourth column, hold the Ctrl key and select the first column and fourth column, then insert the chart.
5. Use Names in Formulas to Understand Easily
Having a name is always easy to recognize. In the same way, having a name to a particular cell or range of data and using it in formulas is easy to understand the formula well. For example, Commission * B5 is easy to understand than C2*B5. To do so, select the cell or range of data and under “Formulas” tab click on Define Name. It asks you to enter the name and check the reference cells before entering the name and click “Ok”.
Say I created the name “Commission” by selecting a particular cell, then when I use Commission*B5, it refers to the cell value which was named Commission.
Read: Make the best use of Name Box in Excel.
Note: Name should start with a character and can also start with an underscore. It should not start with a number, and it should not have spaces.
All the created names can be seen from the Name Box. Click on the drop-down arrow in the Name Box, and it shows the list of names created. Select the name, and it takes you that particular region or area in the worksheet.
These are some of the Microsoft Excel tips for saving time and helps you to complete your tasks easily and quickly. If you have anything to add, please do share with us through comments.
More Excel time-saving tricks, Advanced Excel tips and some Excel Online tips here.
