Comparing it to other spreadsheet programs like Apple’s very own iWork, the latter is merely child’s play. The set features of MS Excel are just too robust that even Apple can’t compete. There are the free solutions from OpenOffice and LibreOffice and they are not even worth looking at.
As it is, Excel is a beast. It takes a lot of practice and training in order to practically use everything the program is offering. Here are the three nifty MS Excel tips that can make your life much easier.
• Importing Data from the Web—Copy pasting text from the Internet is as easy as Ctrl+C and then Ctrl+V. However, when you are faced with an image, it’s difficult to decipher things.
You can copy the text always, with modern a program that allows the computer to scan texts from images. How about table in image format? You are not going to manually type each and every data to each and every cell. It takes too much time and is more than tedious.
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| [Image Source: mytechtricks.com] |
Today, tabled data embedded in webpages do have their own mark-ups. Using t the page’s source file, you can extract the elements of the tables. This can also be done within Excel itself. Here’s how to do it.
o Open Excel
o Click Data tab
o From Access button
o Click “From Web” Button right below “From Access”
o Enter the url of the webpage where the table you are transferring is found on the “New Web Query” window. Press Go.
o As the web-page appears the windows, the tables in the page will show yellow arrows beside them.
o Click the neon green beside the tables you want to import.
o Click Import
o Type in the cell where you want your imported table to appear.
o Done!
• Use AutoFilter- Excel filters had existed since Excel 97. It is still a mystery why people are not using them, especially considering how useful it is. It transforms Excel into an entirely new thing. Here is a great example on how AutoFilter is used. If you are into a video game business and you are stocking games.
You can add columns in the spreadsheet and utilize it for your future reference. You can add two columns to the sheet, example, “RPGs” and then “Genre.” You just have to turn the AutoFilter function and then click cells, choose from the Data menu and then the submenu, AutoFilter.
• Use the Ctrl keys—After all these years, people are still not using the Ctrl keys for shortcut commands. Ctrl can also be used in quicker navigation all over the cells with Ctrl+Arrow keys. You can save a lot of seconds by using Tab and Page Down too. Entry data would be much faster if people are religiously using the shortcut keys.
Sarah Del RosarioAbout the Guest Author:
Sarah Del Rosario is a Professional writer. She currently partners with officekonsulenterne.dk. Using a Microsoft Excel-course may improve your skills with the program beyond what we’ve looked at in this article.