How to use Wrap Text and Merge Cells Formatting to Improve Excel Worksheet Appearance

Wrap Text for Labels

Wrap Text for Labels

In this tutorial – the second in my series explaining how a worksheet, that my accountant friend Alan Friedman created, works – I focus on improving the formatting for the column labels and other descriptive text.

Wrap Text for Labels

In my experience, I find that many accountants and other financial managers have not mastered the basics of formatting an Excel Worksheet. It seems that they are still using “old fashioned IBM typewriter tricks” when it comes time to create the labels for the columns of data in their spreadsheet.

Case in Point: Using two or more vertical cells to type “Cost of” (Return key on Computer) “Goods Sold.” This “old fashioned” process will lead to multiple problems. For example, improper sorting and filtering of data.

In this tutorial, I demonstrate how to use the Wrap Text command to format a single-cell text label. You will also learn how to use the Keyboard Shortcut Alt + Enter to control where your text “breaks” when wrapping text.

Merge Cells Across Columns

When you have a long, descriptive text – e.g. Your Company Name – it is best to type this into a single cell and then use the Merge Cells Command. Now, when you double-click between Column Letters to automatically expand the width of a column, only the “um-merged” labels in the column are extended in width.

Additional Resources for Tutorial

You can learn “The 50 Best Tips for Excel 2007” on my DVD-ROM. Visit – http://shop.thecompanyrocks.com/50-best-tips-for-excel-2007/ – to learn more about this.

Click on this link to download the Excel Worksheet – created by Alan Friedman – that I use in this lesson.

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How to Apply Alternate Row Shading Using Conditional Formatting in Excel

Alternate Row Shading

Alternate Row Shading w/ Conditional Formatting

This is the first tutorial in a new series. In collaboration with my good friend, Alan Friedman – CPA and partner with the firm Friedman, Kannenberg & Co., PC – I am using Alan’s Financial worksheets to demonstrate how to get the most out of Excel. In this lesson, I show you how to apply Alternate Row Shading – aka “Green Bar Shading” – to a Year-end Inventory Analysis Excel worksheet.

Conditional Formatting in Excel

In this lesson, I create a new rule that uses a formula to determine the “condition” – or criteria – that must be met in order to apply the “formatting” to my selection of cells. The “key” to understanding this rule: The formula that you use for this “rule” must return either TRUE or FALSE. The cells – in the selection – that evaluate to TRUE will receive the special formatting – a background shading.

Extending Range of Cells to Receive Conditional Formatting

In general, you can use Excel’s AutoFill Handle to extend Conditional Formatting to adjacent cells. If, however, you want to apply the “Rule Using a Formula” to non-adjacent cells, first copy a cell that contains the Conditional Formatting. Then, use Paste Special – Formatting to apply this rule to your new selection of cells.

Resources for This Tutorial

I invite you to visit my secure online shopping website – http://shop.thecompanyrocks.com – to preview all of the resources that I offer to you.

Please visit the Friedman, Kanneberg & Co. website to download the worksheet used in this series of lessons – and other seminar handouts.

 

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How to Create Custom Views of a Worksheet in Excel

Custom Views in Excel

Custom Excel Views

This is Part 2 in my series of video tutorials demonstrating the Commands found on the View Tab of the Excel Ribbon. Building on the concepts that I demonstrated in Part 1 (“How to Freeze Row and Column Labels While Scrolling in Excel”), I now show you how to save these settings as a Custom View.

Create a Custom View in Excel

  1. Display the settings that you wish to save as a Custom View – e.g. Changing the ZOOM Level of Magnification, Freezing Rows or Columns, etc.
  2. From the View Tab on the Ribbon, choose the Custom Views Command.
  3. In Custom Views Dialog Box, click Add; Give your View a Name and Click OK.
  4. Remember to Save your Excel Workbook. To test your custom view, I recommend that you revert to your normal or default view and save that version. Then close the workbook and reopen it. Now, it will display the last view displayed when you saved the workbook. Click on the Custom Views Command and select the Custom View that you recently added; the Custom Settings will now display.
  5. Add – and Save – additional Custom Views.

Custom Views are Worksheet Level Views

When you create a Custom View, it only applies to the Excel Worksheet where you created it. In fact, while you “Show” a Custom View, all other Worksheets in the Active Workbook are NOT available.

Excel Tables and Custom Views

 There is one “gotcha” with Custom Views. If you have formatted a data set as an Excel Table on ANY worksheet in the workbook, ALL Custom Views are blocked out. Watch  this video to see how to “work around” this roadblock.

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How to Freeze Row and Column Labels While Scrolling an Excel Worksheet

Split Panes on Worksheet

Split Panes on Worksheet

This is Part 1 in a multiple part series of tutorials. I am responding to the requests of several viewers who want to know the best ways to view an Excel Worksheet.

Freeze Panes and Split Bars

In this tutorial, I demonstrate how to use the three commands on the Freeze Pane Menu:

  1. Freeze Top Row
  2. Freeze Panes – Rows above and Columns to the left of the Active Cell
  3. Freeze First Column

When you need more flexibility to control the visible panes on your worksheet, use the Split Bars. I show you how to apply, modify and remove Split Bars – Vertical and Horizontal – on your worksheet.

With the Split Bars, you gain additional Navigation Scroll Bars – One above the Split and one below the Split with a Horizontal Split Bar. And, one to the left and one to the right of the Vertical Split Bar.

Go to Additional Tutorials in this Series

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How to Clear All Underlying Cell Formatting in Excel

Clear Underlying Formatting

Clear Underlying Formatting

Have you ever typed data or a formula in a cell only to be surprised by the result? For example, you type in a number and then, unexpectedly,  Excel displays a Date or a Time in that cell. This happens frequently when you reuse an older Excel Worksheet of if you start working on a worksheet that a colleague or client has sent you.

Why does this happen?

Clear All Underlying Cell Formatting

In my experience, I have found that many Excel users mistakenly think that pressing the DELETE Key will “erase” the cells in the selection. No, No, No. The Delete key only erased the cell content – the data, text or formulas entered or pasted into the cell(s). The Delete key does NOT remove the Underlying Cell Formatting!

In this tutorial, I demonstrate how to remove the underlying cell formatting while leaving the cell Contents in place.

Topics Covered in this Tutorial

  • Using the Clear Formatting Command
  • Adding the Clear Command to your Quick Access Toolbar
  • Using Go To Special to Find and Select all cell that use either Conditional Formatting or Data Validation
  • Finding the Last Cell in your worksheet – you may be surprised to find a “remote cell” is NOT Blank!

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Summarizing Employee Hours Worked and Vacation Time over 52 Weeks in Excel

Sum Across Worksheets

Sum Across Worksheets

This is the third episode in my series of Excel Tutorials where I share my best practices for creating an Excel Workbook that contains 52 weeks of Employee Time Cards. In this lesson, I focus on techniques to Summarize – or Consolidate – the hours worked or taken as vacation, by each employee, over a period of several weeks.

Sum Across Worksheets

This is a great tip to learn! In my experience, I find that very few experienced users of Excel know that you can do this! This will eliminate the hassle of linking to a cell in individual worksheets to create your formula. There is, after all, a limit to the number of characters that you are allowed in a formula!

Consolidate Data By Position

Since each worksheet in this workbook is identical in structure, Data Consolidation is simple. Provided, that is, that you remember to “Add” each worksheet range reference in the Dialog Box. In this example, I have “created a link” to each worksheet so that the data can be easily updated.

Links to Other Tutorials in this Series

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Use an Excel Template to Customize a Worksheet with 52 Weeks of Employee Time Cards

Template for Time Cards in Excel

Time Card Templates in Excel

This is Part Two in my new series of Excel Tutorials where I share my best practice tips for creating 52 weeks of Employee Time Cards – for hours worked. In this segment, I focus on starting the process with an Excel Template.

Finding Templates for Time Cards

As I demonstrate in the video, there are at least two easy sources for finding a Time Card Template:

  1. Sample Templates Installed on your Computer
  2. Templates that you can preview and download from the Microsoft Office Templates Website

Examining Templates that You Download

Before you even think about duplicating the Excel Template that you just downloaded, it is important for you to take a few minutes to explore:

  • The Formulas used in the Template
  • The Formatting used in the Template – especially the formatting for Dates and Times
  • The Protection Applied (if any) to the cells or the entire worksheet

Creating Drop-down Menus for your Template

Since our premise here is that we will copy the template to 51 additional worksheets, it makes sense to use Data Validation to create a series of “drop-down menus” for Employee names and the Start Date for each week. I demonstrate how to do this in the video tutorial.

Links to Additional Video Tutorials in this Series

Additional Resources for Excel

I invite you to visit my new, secure, online shopping website – http://shop.thecompanyrocks.com – to discover the many training resources that I offer you!

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Tips for Creating 52 Weeks of Employee Time Cards in Excel

Insert & Copy Worksheets

Insert & Copy Worksheets

We are now winding down the end of the year 2011. Several of my viewers and clients have asked my for help in creating one Excel Workbook that will contain 52 weeks of employee time card information:

  • Name and Department of Employee
  • Hours Worked each day of the week – Regular and Overtime
  • Number of Holiday / Sick Days that were used / that remain, etc.

First Tutorial in this Series

Rather than trying to create each individual – and some are very specific – request, I have decided to combine multiple requests into a series of Best Practice Tips for my general audience to consider.

In this lesson, I demonstrate:

  • Two methods for adding new blank worksheets to the Excel workbook
  • Two Methods for inserting an exact copy of an existing – and formatted – worksheet
  • My favorite tip – Fill Across Worksheets – either the formatting only, the contents only or the default setting – both formatting and contents.

Links to Additional Tutorials in this Series

Watch Tutorial In High Definition

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Additional Resources at My Online Shopping Website

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Excel Keyboard Shortcuts for Navigating Between Cells, Worksheets, Documents and Programs on your Computer

Excel Keyboard Shortcuts

Excel Keyboard Shortcuts

This is the latest installment in my series of Video Tutorials for Keyboard Shortcuts in Excel. This time the focus is on Keyboard Shortcuts for Navigating between:

  • Cells in a worksheet. For example, to move to the last “occupied” cell ( a cell with data) in a column or row
  • Worksheets in the active Workbook
  • Other Excel workbooks or documents that are open on your computer
  • Other programs that are open on your computer

Links to Other Videos in Keyboard Shortcuts Series

Here is the link that will take you to the other Video Tutorials that I have created for Excel Keyboard Shortcuts.

Download the Complete – FREE –  “Chart of Popular Keyboard Shortcuts for Excel.”

There are two ways for you to download – for FREE – My “Chart of Popular Keyboard Shortcuts for Excel:”

  1. Click here to download this – for FREE – at my new, secure online shopping website.
  2. Click here to download this – for FREE – from my Exclusive Membership Content page.

Watch Tutorial in High Definition on YouTube

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YouTube Tutorial for Excel Keyboard Shortcuts

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How to Distinguish Cell Content from Cell Formatting in Excel

Cell Content vs Cell Formatting

Cell Content vs. Cell Formatting

Many Excel Users are surprised to discover that the Delete Key does not clear the formatting for the selected cell or range of cells. This can cause some unusual “surprises” you you or one of your colleagues later uses this “Deleted” Cell Range!

On the other hand, some cells must be formatted properly in order to return the correct result. This is especially true for cells that contain Time and Date Calculations. For example, in order to properly calculate a Sum of Hours that exceeds 24 hours, you need to apply the Custom Format [h]:mm to the formula cell.

Topics Taught in this Tutorial

  • Adding the Clear Command to the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT).
  • Using Go To Special – Last Cell, to find the last cell in the worksheet that contains either content or formatting – or both!
  • Understanding how Excel Stores Dates (as a Serial Number) and Times (as a Decimal Number) vs. How you use Cell Formatting to make Dates & Times easier to understand.
  • Using Keyboard Shortcuts to add the Current Date – Ctrl + ; (semi-colon) or Current Time -Ctrl + Shift + : (colon), or to “Toggle” between Formulas and Displayed Results  -Ctrl + ~ tilde).

Visit My New, Secure Online Shopping Website

Stop by http://shop.thecompanyrocks.com to see the new products that I have created. You can also download – for FREE – my Chart of Popular Excel Keyboard Shortcuts when you visit.

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YouTube Tutorial for this Post

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