Excel Tips
For the
best Excel tips on the internet, subscribe to
Vital News Excel Tips, available
here
for excel 2003 and
here
for excel 2007
Quick Date
Entry
To insert the current date into a cell, press CTRL+; (control key plus the
semi-colon key).
Auto Sum Keystroke
Instead of clicking the auto sum button 
,
press ALT+= (Alt key plus the equals key).
AutoFill in reverse
You already know how to use AutoFill. If not, type January in a cell. With
that cell selected, place your insertion point over the lower right corner until
it turns into a black cross. Click, hold the left mouse button down, and drag
down a few cells. When you release the mouse, you’ll see the cells filled with
the appropriate months. However, try it in reverse and you’ll remove your
AutoFill. With the same cells, go to the lower right corner and reverse the
procedure by dragging into the listed months. You’ll see them disappear.
Quick Borders
To place a border around a cell or a selection range, press CTRL-SHIFT-&.
Stay in the cell
Instead of going to the cell below when you press the Enter key, press
CTRL-Enter and you will stay in the same cell.
Get to the End
Want to go to the last column in an Excel worksheet. Press CTRL-right arrow
key. Try CTRL-down arrow key for quickly getting to the last row in the
worksheet. Return to cell A1 by pressing CTRL-Home.
Hide Excel Values with a Null Format
Sometimes you may want to hide values in individual cells. You can do this by
assigning a null number format to the cells. To do so, select the appropriate
cells. Then, choose Format/Cells from the menu bar. Select Custom from the
Category list box. Then, in the Type text box, enter three semicolons (;;;).
Finally, click OK.
The Underline button does double-duty
If you've ever wanted to double underline the contents of a cell, you
probably selected Format/Cells from the menu bar, chose Double from the
Underline dropdown list, and clicked OK. That's quite a bit of work for such a
minor formatting change. You can achieve the same results simply by pressing the
[Shift] key and then clicking the Underline button on the toolbar.
Easily re-order worksheet columns
You've probably run into situations in which you need to re-arrange the order
of the columns in a worksheet. However, you may not be going about it in the
most efficient manner. Rather than enduring the laborious process of inserting a
blank column and then cutting and pasting the data, there's a much easier way.
First, select the columns you want to move. Move your mouse pointer to the edge
of the selection until it changes from a cross to a regular pointer arrow. Now,
press [Shift], then click and drag the column to the new position. You'll see a
faint "I" bar that runs the entire length of the column, along with a
box indicating what the new address will be. Simply release the mouse button
before releasing the [Shift] key, and the column is moved without overwriting
any data. Note that the same basic technique also works with rows.
Easily align objects to Excel's
columns and rows
If you're having a hard time aligning objects on a worksheet, try this
shortcut. Hold down the [Alt] key when dragging a chart or graphic, and the
object's frame will snap to the cell.
Select Current Range
A quick way of selecting the current range is to press CTRL-SHIFT-*. This
will select the current range in which the insertion point is located.
