Learn Excel 38

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Free Preview Week #38Learn Excel from Mr Excel

Copyright 2005 Bill JelenAll Rights Reserved

Encourage your friends to sign up athttp://www.mrexcel.com/learn-excel.html

This week - 6 topics -including some of my favorites.

Transpose, Fill Handle, Copy Across Sheets & more.


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76 of 853 LEARN EXCEL FROM MR EXCEL

QUICKLY COPY A FORMULA

TO ALL ROWS OF DATA

Problem: As shown in Fig. 138, you have a worksheet with 5,000 rows

of data. You enter a formula in a new column and need to copy it down

to all of the rows. Is there a faster way to copy the formula down to all

rows?

Strategy: Double-click the Fill handle. This shortcut will copy the for-

mula down until Excel encounters a blank cell in column D or F.

The Fill handle is the square dot in the lower right corner of the cell

pointer box. When you hover your mouse pointer over the Fill handle, itchanges to a cross, as shown in Fig. 139.

Fig. 138

Fig. 139


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Part 1: The Excel Environment 77 of 853

Part

I

If there is data in the cell to the left of E2, then Excel will copy the for-

mula based on the first blank cell in column D. If there is no data in D2,but there is data in F2, then Excel will copy down to the first blank cell

in column F.

Additional Information: The Fill handle can be used to extend a se-

ries. Select two cells that Excel can use to extrapolate the series. Double-

click the Fill handle to extend the series down to all rows. In Fig. 140,

the record numbers will continue in a 1, 2, 3, 4 sequence.

There are other Fill possibilities. One

cool technique is to Fill Weekdays. En-ter a starting date in one cell. Place

the cell pointer in that cell. Right-click

and drag the Fill handle down several

cells. The tooltip will indicate that you

are filling the series with daily dates.

When you release the mouse button,

you will have several options to choose

from, as shown in Fig. 141. Select

Fill Weekdays to fill in only Monday

through Fridays.

Fig. 140

Fig. 141


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Additional Information: The Fill handle is a shortcut to default set-

tings in the Edit Fill Series command. Enter a cell, select that celland choose Edit Fill Series to display a dialog where you can specify

any type of series. As shown in Fig. 142, the dialog will fill the odd num-

bers from 1 to 99, down a column starting with the active cell.

Summary: Learn to double-click the Fill handle to quickly copy a for-

mula down to all cells in a range of data.

Commands Discussed: Edit Fill Series

QUICKLY TURN A RANGE ON ITS SIDE

Problem: As shown in Fig. 143, you have a column of 20 department

names. You need to build a spreadsheet with those names going across

row 1.

Fig. 142


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Part

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Strategy: Use the Paste Special Transpose option to turn the range

on its side.

1) Highlight the department names in column A.

2) From the menu, select Edit Copy to copy the cells to the clip-

board.

3) Move the cell pointer to a blank area of your worksheet. In this

case, perhaps cell C1.

4) From the menu, select Edit Paste Special. In the Paste Special di-alog box, choose the Transpose option, as shown in Fig. 144. Choose

OK.

Fig. 143

Fig. 144


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Result:As shown in Fig. 145, the department numbers from column A

are turned sideways and fill cells C1 to Z1.

Gotcha: The columns that you paste to will not automatically resize to

fit the data. Select C1:Z1 and from the menu, choose Format Columns

AutoFit Selection.

Additional Information: The Paste Special Transpose technique can

also be used to convert a horizontal row of numbers into a column.

The technique can also be used to turn a rectangular range on its side.

In Fig. 146, Range A1:D4 was transposed to Range A6:D9.

Summary: Using the Paste Special Transpose technique is useful to

quickly turn a range of values on its side.

Commands Discussed: Edit Paste Special Transpose

Fig. 145

Fig. 146


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Part

I

STOP EXCEL FROMAUTOCORRECTING CERTAIN WORDS

Problem: Every time you type the name of your WYA Division, as shown

in Fig. 147, Excel changes WAY to WAY, as shown in Fig. 148. It is im-

possible to type WYA without entering it as a formula: =W&Y&A.

Strategy: There is a large list of words that are automatically replaced

as you type. Excel added this feature to correct common mistypings. Thisis a good feature, unless you routinely have to type one of the words that

Excel thinks is wrong.

Luckily, you can edit

this list without turning

it off.

From the Tools menu,

select AutoCorrect op-

tions. On the AutoCor-

rect dialog, go to the

AutoCorrect tab. Lookin the Replace Text as

You Type section. Scroll

down to the list to find

where it replaces WYA

with WAY. Select that

line and click Delete, as

shown in Fig. 149.

Fig. 147

Fig. 148

Fig. 149


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Summary: You can edit how Excel will autocorrect words without turn-

ing off the feature by going to Tools AutoCorrect Options and remov-ing the selected lines from the list.

Commands Discussed: Tools AutoCorrect Options

USE AUTOCORRECT TO ENABLE A SHORTCUT

Problem: You work for John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt. It is frustrat-

ing to type this name continuously.

Strategy: Set up an AutoCorrect entry to replace JJJS with John Jacob

Jingleheimer Schmidt.

From the menu, select Tools AutoCorrect options. In the Replace sec-

tion, type JJJS. In the With section, type the complete name, click Add,

as shown in Fig. 150.

Fig. 150


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Part

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Result: Typing JJJS, as shown in Fig. 151,

will cause the just the replacement word toappear.

After typing a Space or hitting Enter to fin-

ish the cell, JJJS will change to the complete

name, as shown in Fig. 152.

Summary: Using Tools AutoCorrect and adding a shortcut for a long

or difficult word will cause AutoCorrect to fill it in for you.

Commands Discussed: Tools AutoCorrect Options

WHY WONT THE TRACK

CHANGES FEATURE WORK IN EXCEL?

Problem: After using Tools Track Changes, you cannot insert cells.

Strategy: Track

Changes is a great

feature in Word.

However, when

you turn on Track

Changes in Excel,

Microsoft auto-

matically makes

your workbook

a shared work-

book. If you select

Tools Track

Changes, Ex-

cel will share

your workbook,

as shown in

Fig. 153.

Fig. 151

Fig. 152

Fig. 153


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The shared workbook function in Excel has so many limitations that it

is nearly impossible to use. Once you share a workbook, you cannot doany of the following tasks:

Insert blocks of cells

Delete worksheets

Merge or unmerge cells

Change conditional formatting or data validation

Create charts

Insert drawing objects, hyperlinks, scenarios

Use automatic subtotals Use pivot tables

Record or edit macros

Enter CSE or array formulas

Use data tables

It is possible that a novice Excel user might never use the above features.

It is even possible that before you bought this book, you never used those

features. However, sharing a workbook makes it virtually unusable for

an intermediate Excel user. There is no strategy for this. Unless your

changes will only involve radically simple worksheet changes, avoid theTrack Changes and Share Workbook options.

Summary: Using Track Changes in Excel should be avoided.

Commands Discussed: Tools Track Changes; Tools Share

Workbooks

COPY CELLS FROM ONE WORKSHEET

TO MANY WORKSHEETS

Problem: You have twelve monthly worksheets in a workbook. Youve

made changes to January and now need to copy the changes to the other

eleven worksheets.

Strategy: After youve successfully made changes to January, follow

these steps:


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Part

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1) Select the January worksheet. While holding down the Shift key,

select the December worksheet. This will select all twelve work-sheets and the January worksheet will be the active sheet.

Note: If your changes are in a middle sheet, such as April, then the pro-

cess is different. First, click the April worksheet. Next, Shift+Click the

December sheet, and then Ctrl+Click the January, February, March

sheets.

2) Select the cells that you want to copy. If the cells are not adjacent,

select the first range and then Ctrl+ select the remaining ranges.

3) From the menu, select Edit Fill Fill Across Worksheets, asshown in Fig. 154.

4) From the dialog, as shown in Fig. 155, select if you want to copy

values, formats, or both.

Fig. 154

Fig. 155


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Gotcha: After this, right-click any sheet tab and select Ungroup. If you

fail to ungroup, any changes you make to the active worksheet will bemade to all worksheets.

Additional Details: This command is fairly difficult to use. You have

to be able to group sheets and then make the sheet with the changes to

copy the active (top) sheet. The above steps are designed to help select

all sheets. If you need to copy from March to only June, September, De-

cember, then you might do this:

1) Select March to make it the active sheet.

2) Ctrl+ select June to add to the group.

3) Ctrl+ select September to add to the group.

4) Ctrl+ select December to add to the group.

5) Do the Edit Fill Fill Across Worksheets.

Summary: To copy cells from one worksheet to several other work-

sheets, select the worksheets to copy to, including the worksheet that

has the data to copy. With that worksheet as the active sheet, select the

data to copy, and then select Edit Fill Fill Across Worksheets.

Commands Discussed: Edit Fill Fill Across Worksheets

Learn Excel 38

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