Data entry rules in Excel give users more control over the type of data that can be entered into cells in spreadsheets. We discussed how to use lists in a previous how-to, in this example we’ll show you how to specify the data type that can be entered and the different options available to you. [...]

Outlining and grouping rows or columns in Excel makes it easy to organize and declutter spreadsheets that have a ton of data on display. Say you have several rows with the sales figures by month and the last row is a summation of the data, rather than display all months you can group the data [...]

Commenting in Excel allows you to keep annotations and references on specific cells. Comments are generated by the user as described in the tutorial below or when the Excel spreadsheet is set to Track Changes (future article). Comments appear only when you create and edit them or when you toggle their display using the Show [...]

The use of Special Characters is probably one of the least frequently accessed features in Excel, nevertheless it requires special attention because everyone should know how to insert special characters while using Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and other applications. We live in a world where everything is copyrighted, trademarked, and patented…so it is important that we [...]

As a frequent user of Excel I find that one of the most useful features is AutoFill. When preparing spreadsheets for presentations or when your organizing data to keep a sense of sanity, AutoFill will simplify that task. AutoFill will ensure data integrity and will maintain order when data series require it.
In the example [...]

If you create spreadsheets in Excel and would like a way to ensure that data entered by others is consistent, you can use data validation lists to specify the items that can be entered into a specific cell. Data Validation lists work by allowing users to specify a list of data that is [...]

I often work with multiple Excel windows at any given time and I have found that I work best with Excel when all open windows are displayed on the Windows Taskbar (see screenshot below for illustration). The default setting for this feature groups all Excel windows (or workbooks) into one Taskbar button. This can be [...]

I have a set of documents that I frequently use in Excel and Word. Most of the time I can find them using the Recent Documents menu, but at times when they are not listed (because I’ve opened so many other documents) I have to locate the files to open them. I am always looking [...]

Like I stated in my previous post, I was able to get a copy of Office 2010 and have been playing with it since. The videos below are just a preview of each of the applications mentioned below, more will follow. Even though it is a technical preview I found it to be [...]

Excel like many of Microsoft’s other Office applications are extremely powerful tools that have many ‘hidden’ features. I stumbled on the Analysis ToolPak when I took an quantitative analysis class for my Masters program. Once I enabled the add-in and learned how to use the tools it provided, I have not used any other statistical [...]