Productivity Hacks: Excel's Tips and Features You Need to Know.

In the world of numbers and data, Excel stands as the unsung hero, silently powering the wheels of countless businesses, including accounting firms, financial institutions, and even entrepreneurs. Excel's versatility and power have made it an indispensable tool for professionals across various industries. A good alternative to Microsoft Excel is always Google Sheets in my opinion, with a similar interface but it saves a lot of time. In this article, we'll explore some Excel tips and tricks that can not only enhance your productivity but also unlock hidden potential across a wide range of tasks.

Mastering the Basics

Before diving into the more advanced Excel features, it's crucial to have a solid foundation in the basics. Familiarize yourself with essential functions and shortcuts like SUM, AVERAGE, and IF, as these are the building blocks of more complex formulas and analyses. If you are good with basics, you will grasp advanced features very quickly. Remember Google search is your best friend if you want to master Excel, the internet has helped me learn many skills and so you can use it to your advantage.

Keyboard Shortcuts for Efficiency

One of the quickest ways to boost your Excel productivity or efficiency is by using keyboard shortcuts. Memorizing a few essential shortcuts can save you a significant amount of time. Here are some basic ones:

- Ctrl + C (Copy) and Ctrl + V (Paste): Speed up data entry and manipulation.

- Ctrl + Z (Undo) and Ctrl + Y (Redo): Correct mistakes quickly and confidently.

- Ctrl + Arrow Keys: Navigate large spreadsheets with ease.

- Alt + Enter: Add line breaks within cells for better readability.

- Ctrl + B (Bold): Bold the selected cells text.

- Ctrl + S (Save): Save the active workbook.

- Ctrl + N (New): Open a new workbook.

- Ctrl + W: Close the current workbook.

Excel Tables for Data Management

Excel tables are a game-changer for data management. When you convert a range of data into an Excel table, you get automatic filtering, sorting, and formatting. To create a table, select your data and press Ctrl + T. This feature is particularly useful to make your data very presentable, which leads to easier decision making for upper management.

PivotTables for Dynamic Analysis

PivotTables are Excel's secret weapon for data analysis. They allow you to summarize and analyze large datasets in seconds. With a PivotTable, you can quickly answer questions like "What were our top-selling products last quarter?" or "Which clients generated the most revenue?" Learning to create and manipulate PivotTables is a skill that can significantly enhance your accounting capabilities. You can easily understand this by tutorials Create a PivotTable to analyze worksheet data - Microsoft Support or on YouTube.

Conditional Formatting for Visual Insights

Conditional formatting is more than just coloring cells. It's a powerful tool for highlighting trends, outliers, and anomalies in your data. Whether you're working on a budget spreadsheet or analyzing sales data, applying conditional formatting can make your insights pop. you can use formatting basics, like highlight the values exceeding or Top 10 items/percent. You can even make your own formula to use as a formatting tool.

GPT Plugin for Data Transformation

For those dealing with data from various sources, the GPT Plugin is a lifesaver. It enables you to connect to multiple data sources, transform the data with ease, and load it into Excel for analysis. You can find various GPT Plugins under the "Add-Ins" tab in Excel. It's an essential tool for playing around with formulas and other excel functions. Same can be used with Google Sheets.

Less-Known Basic Features of Excel

During my working experience, I've grasped the following tricks, and I hope they help you too:

• Flash Fill: Automatically extracts and formats data based on patterns you specify, saving you from tedious manual data manipulation.
• Data Validation: Ensure data accuracy by defining rules for data entry in specific cells or ranges. This helps when you are sharing your sheet with your team to get things done quickly. Data validation helps in accuracy, which is helpful in using pivot or other excel functions.?

For example: You can set validation to drop down options with Interested, Already Enrolled, Not Interested, Others. Using this would end up with your sheet with similar texts in data making it way easier to use conditional formatting, Formulas or even making a pivot table to show your productivity.

Excel is more than just a spreadsheet program; it's a powerhouse of productivity waiting to be harnessed. By mastering these tips and tricks, along with these cool shortcuts and less-known basic features, you'll not only become a more efficient individual but also open doors to enhanced productivity in various aspects of your professional life. Excel's potential is limitless, and with the right knowledge and skills, you can unlock it to excel in your career and beyond.?

Good Luck!