Articles

Replace ugly IFs with MAX or MIN

In this article, we show you how to replace a complicated IF statement with a clever and compact formula based on MIN or MAX. This is a great tip any time you need to choose the smaller or greater of two values inside a formula.

Conditional formatting with formulas

Although Excel ships with many conditional formatting "presets", these are limited. A more powerful way to apply conditional formatting is with formulas, because formulas allow you to apply rules that use more sophisticated logic. This article shows 10 examples, including how to highlight rows, column differences, missing values, and how to build Gantt charts and search boxes with conditional formatting.

19 tips for nested IF formulas

Are nested IFs evil? Are they necessary? Are there alternatives? The answer is Yes! This in-depth article explores nested IF formulas in detail, with lots of tips, and several alternatives.

How to set a default template in Excel

Excel has the ability to use a custom template for all new workbooks. If you find yourself making the same changes to new workbooks (changing row height, font size, zoom, etc.) a default custom template can save you time and trouble.

Excel shortcuts on the Mac

Shortcuts work great in the Mac version of Excel, but there are differences you should know about. This article explains the 5 key differences you need to be aware of to work productively with Excel shortcuts on a Mac. 

23 things you should know about VLOOKUP

Although VLOOKUP is a pretty simple function, there is plenty that can go wrong. Quickly learn more than 20 things you should know about VLOOKUP to make your experience pleasant and profitable.

Danger: beware VLOOKUP defaults

Many users aren't aware of it, but VLOOKUP will use approximate match mode by default. This can be a disaster because VLOOKUP can return a totally incorrect result. Read below to learn how match modes work in VLOOKUP, and how to avoid this dangerous problem.

Highlight dates in the same month and year

Excel has a built-in conditional formatting rule that will highlight dates that occur "this month". But what if you want to highlight dates in the same month and year for any date?

Can pivot tables save your job?

This article is for those of you who don't get pivot tables. Maybe you tried pivot tables once, and didn't see what the big deal was, or maybe you got frustrated when a pivot table wouldn't behave. They can be that way.

Pivot Table Tips

Many Excel experts believe that Pivot Tables are the single most powerful tool in Excel. This article provides more than 20 tips you should know to work productively with Excel Pivot Tables.

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