Keyboard Shortcuts – Part 1

Here are the steps to follow in this lesson:

  1. All shortcuts in this lesson require you to hold down the “CTRL” key while you press a single Letter.
  2. Ctrl+A will select either all of the cells in the current worksheet or just the range of cells where you are working.
  3. Ctrl+B (Bold), Ctrl+I (Italic) and Ctrl+U (Underline) will “toggle” the formatting on or off.
  4. Ctrl+D (Fill Down) and Ctrl+R (Fill Right) require you to select a range of cells beforehand.
  5. The “Office Clipboard” allows you to retain 24 items in memory. You can use them in all of the applications across the MS Office Suite. (Ctrl+F1 brings up the Task Pane for the Clipboard)
  6. Ctrl+Z (Undo) and Ctrl+Y (Redo) apply to the last 16 actions (provided you have not “saved” the workbook.)

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I have added an Index of topics taught

Now, it is is easy to locate the video lesson that you are looking for. I have added an Index to the front page of this blog – Index of Topics Taught.

Just click on the topic and you will go directly to the video lesson.

As each new video lesson is added to my site, I will update the Index to add the link.

This suggestion came from one of my colleagues who reviewed this website. I welcome your feedback.

Find the video lesson that you want – Index to all Excel Topics

News! My DVD, “The 50 Best Tips for Excel 2007” is now available to purchase. I invite you to visit my online bookstore for more details.

Learn how to convert text in a cell into multiple columns

Here are the steps to follow in this lesson:

  1. Highlight the cells containing the text that you wish to extract.
  2. From the Data menu, choose “Text to Columns” and follow the Wizard.
  3. Choose the correct “Delimiter,” e.g. “Space” or “Tab.”
  4. Preview the result and click Finish.
  5. Cut and paste as needed.

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News! My DVD, “The 50 Best Tips for Excel 2007” is now available to purchase. I invite you to visit my online bookstore for more details.

Related Videos

Learn to extract information from a text string

Here are the steps to follow in this lesson:

  1. Use the =LEFT() Function to extract characters at the beginning of a text string.
  2. Use the =RIGHT() Function to extract characters at the end of a text string.
  3. Be sure to distinguish “stored cell” entries from “formatted” or “displayed” cell values.
  4. Before you use the =MID() Function to extract characters in the middle of a text string, be sure to locate the starting location.
  5. The =MID() Function requires 3 arguments.

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News! My DVD, “The 50 Best Tips for Excel 2007” is now available to purchase. I invite you to visit my online bookstore for more details.

Use the proper text function to change the case

Here are the steps to follow in this lesson:

  1. Use the =PROPER() function to convert your text string.
  2. Look out for names like “Mckinley” – You will need to edit these cells manually by:
  3. Changing the cells from Formulas to Values using Copy, Paste Special, Values. Then edit each cell.
  4. Before deleting a column of data, be sure to change the cells from Formulas to Values.

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News! My DVD, “The 50 Best Tips for Excel 2007” is now available to purchase. I invite you to visit my online bookstore for more details.

Use the =TRIM() Function to eliminate unnecessary space inside a cell

Here are the steps to follow in this lesson:

  1. When we wrote the formula =B4&” “&C4&” “&D4)  we found an unnecessary blank space between “First Name” and “Last Name” when the cell reference for “Middle Name” was blank.
  2. Edit that formula by using the =TRIM() Function to remove the extra space in the resulting cell.

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News! My DVD, “The 50 Best Tips for Excel 2007” is now available to purchase. I invite you to visit my online bookstore for more details.

Learn 2 ways to combine text from multiple cells into 1 cell

Here are the steps to follow in this lesson:

  1. Method #1 – Use the =CONCATENATE() Function Wizard.
  2. Text1 will be the cell reference for “First Name.”
  3. Text2 will indicate a SPACE between the 2 names. Type ” ” into the text2 indicator.
  4. Text3 will be the cell reference for “Last Name.”
  5. Method # 2 – Use the Ampersand (&) symbol in your formula e.g. =B4&” “&C4.

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News! My DVD, “The 50 Best Tips for Excel 2007” is now available to purchase. I invite you to visit my online bookstore for more details.

Related Video Lessons

Use Paste Special, Add to combine data from 2 columns

Here are the steps to follow for this lesson:

  1. Copy the data in the new column.
  2. Select the top cell in the original column and click Paste Special, Add
  3. To preserve any special formatting in the original column take this extra step:
  4. Click Paste Special, Values, Add

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News! My DVD, “The 50 Best Tips for Excel 2007” is now available to purchase. I invite you to visit my online bookstore for more details.

How to identify and convert text values to numbers

Here are the steps to follow in this lesson:

  1. Very that all values are actually numbers e.g. use the =COUNT() and =ISTEXT() functions.
  2. To convert a series a text values to numbers, first select a blank cell and copy it to the clipboard.
  3. Highlight your text values and choose Edit, Paste Special. In the Paste Special Dialog Box choose ADD.
  4. All text values are now converted into numbers that can be summed, etc.

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News! My DVD, “The 50 Best Tips for Excel 2007” is now available to purchase. I invite you to visit my online bookstore for more details.

Name a cell and use it in a formula

Here are the steps to follow in this lesson:

  1. A “named cell” creates an Absolute cell reference.
  2. One way to name a cell is to select the cell and type the name you want in the “Name Box” (Do not use any spaces) and hit Enter
  3. To apply the Named Cell in an existing formula, highlight the part of the formula and select Insert, Name, Paste (the named cell) and click OK.
  4. Consider creating a “Named Constant” for numbers you use frequently in a formula e.g. Sales Tax or Inflation Rate.
  5. To create a Named Constant choose Insert, Name, Define and in the “Refers to” box type (for example) = 0.0715
  6. Follow the same procedure to use the Constant in your formula: Insert, Name, Paste (named Constant) and click OK.
  7. Edit the Named Constant if e.g. the Sales Tax Rate changes. All formulas that use the Named Constant (in this workbook) will update automatically!

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News! My DVD, “The 50 Best Tips for Excel 2007” is now available to purchase. I invite you to visit my online bookstore for more details.