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Microsoft Excel is a very popular spreadsheet program, developed by Microsoft, which is supported by all the modern operating systems: macOS, Android, Windows and iOS. Moreover, it has a wide range of features: pivot tables, calculating, graphics tools as well as Visual Basic – a macro language for programming. The Microsoft creates updating for this program on regular basis that is why new interesting features appear constantly. Its functions make it popular amidst people working in different spheres: starting from students to accountant and business analytics. Here I will outline five simple excel hacks that will make your life easy if you are a novice in using this program, but even an advanced user might find them quite useful. Thus, here they are:
- Two ways of cell merging
Sometimes we need to make the cells of Excel file bigger, thus if you need to unite definite cells of your document, then these tricks are what you are looking for. There are two ways of cell merging in Excel document; simply using a button “Merge cells” or with the help of “&” symbol. The first one is very, thus even a child can do it. But if you wish to try something new, all you need to do is selecting a cell, press “=” and select other cells, which you need to merge one by one, adding “&” before each. This is how it should look like:
- How to select all the cells quickly?
You might have known about the famous combination of Ctrl+A keys, but there is also much quicker and easy method. You just need to press the button on the left corner of your excel sheet. Only one button and all the cells are selected within half of the second. Frankly, I am not reinventing the wheel now, but this may come in handy for you one day. You can see where to find it here:
- Selecting several files at the same time and switching between various files
If you do not want to open each Excel file separately, you can open all of them at the same time. How is it possible? Just select all the files, which you need to open and press “Enter”. But what to do if you have numerous files opened in Excel, and you need to switch between them quickly? You can easily select the file you need by clicking Ctrl+Tab combination. This function is also valid in your Windows system, and can be used in various applications as well, for instance, you can use it to switch between tabs in your browser. These are very simple, but useful life hacks for everyone.
- Adding new buttons to the Quick access navigation panel
Did you know that you can customize the navigation panel yourself? By default, you have three standard buttons on the quick access panel, but you can easily add the extra ones or change the existing ones if you want. How can you do this? Just select “File” section ⇒ “Parameters” ⇒ and Quick Access Panel and make it meets your needs. Very simple, isn’t it?
- Hiding the empty cells is very easy now
The Excel spreadsheet consists of numerous cells, but sometimes the ones that are empty really distract you from working. What can we do then? Right, we can delete or hide them all, and it is very easy now. You just need to select the row, choose the “Data” tab and select “Filter.” Then you will see the arrow that is pointing down. By pressing this button with an arrow, you will be redirected to the menu, where you can tick the rows you need to hide. There is no magic, just five fingers discount.
As you see, Microsoft Excel is not that difficult to use and, what is more, you can find a lot of free teaching videos on it available online, as well as various articles about other excel life hacks. Of course, I have outlined not a full list of things you can do with excel in order to work faster and more effective. But I really hope these five top-rated tricks will come in handy when using excel for life and work. Learning something new never exhausts the mind, thus try and you will get what you need.
BIO: Emma Rundle is a current prolific freelance writer, who works for https://edubirdie.com for four years. She holds a degree in Computer Science from the University of Edinburgh and she really thinks that today, computers are almost second nature to most of us. Though, in her free time she likes hiking, reading and cooking.
