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The CELL function can provide a wide range of information about cell properties. One property is called "protect" and indicates whether a cell is unlocked or locked. All cells start out "locked" in a new Excel workbook, but this setting has no effect until a worksheet is protected.
The...Read more
The goal is to create a formula that returns "Done" in column E when a cell in column D is not blank (i.e., contains a value). In the worksheet shown, column D records the date a task is completed. If column D contains a date (i.e. is not empty), we can assume the task is complete...Read more
The goal is to display a checkmark (also called a "tick mark" in British English) when a task is marked complete. The easiest way to do this is with the IF function and the mark you would like to display. The article below explains several options.
The...Read more
If the active cell is empty, Excel will extend the selection to the first non-empty cell to the right. If the active cell is non-empty, Excel will extend the selection on the last non-empty cell to the right. On a Mac, the command key (⌘) can be used instead of the control key.Read more
In the example worksheet, column D contains a date when a task is completed. If the task is not yet complete, the cell in column D will be empty (blank). In column E, the goal is to display the word "Open" when there is no date in column D. If there is a date in column D, the...Read more
This shortcut toggles filters on and off for a range of data. It works on tables or filtered lists, and it's a fast way to clear filters - just turn autofilter off, then on again to reset all filters.
Note: in Excel 2016, this shortcut doesn't appear to work if slicers are on the...Read more
In this example, the goal is to filter data to show rows where dates have expired or will be expiring soon. In the table to the left, we have equipment that needs to be replaced every x months, where x appears in the "Months" column. The "Replaced" column shows the date equipment was...Read more
How do you figure out what formula to use? A teardown of 5 good formulas you can use to highlight dates based on a common month and year value using conditional formatting.Read more
Note: This example assumes the start date will be provided as the first of the month. See below for a formula that will automatically return the first day of the current month.
In this example, the goal is to generate a dynamic calendar for any given month, based on a start date...Read more
In this example, the goal is to calculate the number of hours between two times. This basic problem comes up frequently when tracking time and may be described in various ways:
The goal is to remove the forward-slash ("/") from the URLs in column B when it is present as the last character. When a URL does not end with a forward slash ("/") the original URL should be returned without modification. Despite the fact that Excel offers many functions designed to work...Read more
This formula is a good example of nesting one function inside another. At the core, this formula uses the IF function to return a check mark (✓) when a logical test returns TRUE:
=IF(...
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This shortcut alternately expands and collapses the ribbon. Another useful option is to double click on any tab of the ribbon. This will also expand and collapse the ribbon.Read more
The Excel TODAY function returns the current date, updated continuously when a worksheet is changed or opened. The TODAY function takes no arguments. You can format the value returned by TODAY with a date number format. If you need current date and time, use...Read more
The Excel NOT function returns the opposite of a given logical or Boolean value. When given TRUE, NOT returns FALSE. When given FALSE, NOT returns TRUE. Use the NOT function to reverse a logical value.Read more
Paste will paste everything on the clipboard, both content and formatting. Use Paste Special to selectively paste only parts of what was copied. On the Mac, Ctrl + V also works.
You can also use Enter in Windows, and fn + Return on a Mac to paste from the clipboard.Read more
The Excel TEXT function returns a number formatted as text. This makes it easy to embed a formatted number (e.g., dates, times, currencies, percentages, fractions, etc.) in a text string with the number format of your choice.Read more
Excel contains over 500 functions, with more functions added every year. That is a huge number, so where should you start? This guide provides a walkthrough of over 100 important functions in Excel with many examples and links. Click function names for details and more examples....Read more
This shortcut selects the data area of a table, when the cursor is in an Excel table. Behavior changes as the shortcut is used more than once:
If the active cell is empty, Excel will extend the selection to the first non-empty cell to the left. If the active cell is non-empty, Excel will extend the selection on the last non-empty cell to the left. On a Mac, the command key (⌘) can be used instead of the control key.Read more
If the active cell is empty, Excel will extend the selection to the first non-empty cell below the active cell. If the active cell is non-empty, Excel will extend the selection on the last non-empty cell below the active cell. On a Mac, the command key (⌘) can be used instead of the control key...Read more
The default behavior for drag and drop is to cut data in cells, but you can also copy cells during drag and drop. To copy cells, use this shortcut before or after you start to drag the selection. Excel will display a small plus (+) symbol to indicate the copy operation.Read more