Excel

Microsoft Excel started out with a simple concept: bring a paper spreadsheet into a desktop computer. Since its inception the program has broken all boundaries, brought complicated functions and formulas into the hands of non-mathematicians, and now handles data models like a 3-D database. It is the standard for all business software requirements, and you need to know these tips!

Why things don’t always add up in Excel

Number formatting is a great way to change the appearance of a number, including the number of decimal places of accuracy, but it can also yield some strange results. If you’ve ever had the experience of puzzling over a column of numbers that AutoSum can’t seem to add up, or perhaps you’ve got percentages of… Keep Reading

The More Button in Microsoft Office

There are a lot of “hidden secrets” in Microsoft Office that are actually sitting there right out in the open. A little bit of curiosity will go a long way toward making you into a Microsoft Power User. One of my favorites is the More button. The More button is ubiquitous throughout Microsoft Office, and… Keep Reading

Asking Users for Data using a VBA Input Box

If you are getting started working with Macros in Microsoft Office, there will be plenty of times when you want to ask a user for information. An Excel purchase log might ask how many widgets were ordered, or a Word time card might ask for a user’s name. Whatever information you want to request, the… Keep Reading

Excel: Fill Right and Fill Down Keyboard Shortcuts

There are several ways that Excel can help you with formulas and functions, and a great one is the Fill Down and the Fill Right commands. Essentially, if you’ve gotten the formula correct one time, let Excel do the work for you of copy and pasting it into the other cells. The technique is really… Keep Reading

The Go-To Keyboard Shortcut: Jumping Around in Excel and Word

There are several great tools that will help you jump around in Excel and Word without having to use the mouse. These tools are called Command Shortcuts by Microsoft, but most everyone else knows them as Keyboard Shortcuts. The key to using shortcuts is to be willing to experiment! If you want to do something… Keep Reading

Creating your first macro using visual basic

The computer is first and foremost a time-saving device. My husband was just telling me about how the railroads used armies of clerks to keep track of each box car and it’s contents “back in the day,” and how all of that labor was now being handled by a few desktop computers. Imagine Mr. Scrooge meets… Keep Reading

Turning on the Developer Tab in Excel 2013

A lot of the more advanced features in Excel are accessed through a tab that the majority of people never see; that tab is called the Developer tab. The most common reason people turn on the Developer tab is to access tools that create Macros and Forms. I’ll show you how to use some of… Keep Reading

The FormulaText() Function: New in Excel 2013

There’s a new way to view your formulas in Excel 2013, thanks to a new function called FormulaText(). While other versions of Show Formula force you to choose between seeing your formula or the calculated value, this new function allows you to convert the formula to text and put it in another cell. This is… Keep Reading

Excel 2016 offers Business Intelligence… built in

Waterfall Chart

New chart types in Office 2016 Charts are critical for visualizing data, and Office 2016 promises you three news to look at your information. Microsoft promises that they are “particularly good for visualizing financial or hierarchal information and for revealing statistical properties in your data.” Financial: Waterfall Statistical: Histogram, Pareto, Box and Whisker Hierarchical: Treemap… Keep Reading

Accessibility Features in Office 2016 Strengthen

Office 2016 Accessibility Strengthens

Features that make computer software accessible are often over-looked by mainstream bloggers because they don’t understand them. People who work with the disabled, and those who work for organizations that want to communicate with them, however, know that this is the place where we need to put our strongest efforts. Like most people, I hadn’t… Keep Reading