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Insert and Delete Rows and Columns

April 22, 2012
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Many students over time have asked me the reason for the location of the Microsoft Office Excel 2003 commands that Insert or Delete a row or column of cells. Using the Insert menu to add a row or column makes sense. A new user sees the Insert menu, clicks it and find the options to insert a cell, row or a column as the top three commands of the Insert menu. Makes good sense. But if you want to delete a cell, row, or column, you would think that there would be a Delete menu, right? Wrong. The command to delete a row, or a column is in the Edit menu. And you don’t delete a cell by itself. Go figure!

To maintain a resemblance of consistency in using these commands, I show students how to use the context menu, commonly referred to as the right-click or shortcut menu. They select a range of cells, right-click inside the block of cells, and choose the Insert and Delete commands. I also note to the students that these commands, along with other commands that have the ellipse, the three dots ( ) that follow a command,  indicating a command contains another menu with more options to choose. In this case, the options contain the Insert and Delete commands and the options to insert or delete a row or column.

If you get frustrated trying to find the commands to add or remove a row or column, see how easy it is just to select a block of cells, right-click the cells and add or removed them from a worksheet.

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Originally posted 2010-02-24 06:00:10. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Pound sign (#) error messages

April 13, 2012
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If you see one or more pound signs in a cell or column, Read more »

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Originally posted 2010-12-15 02:07:38. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Type a Fraction, get a Date!

April 12, 2012
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You want to type a fraction in Excel, but always get a date. How do you break this date?

The easy way is to put a ‘0’ (zero) and a space, in front of the fraction.

But what if you are typing a long row or column of cells with fractions. It’s time-consuming to put zeroes in front of each fraction. What to do?

  • Select the cells you want to change
  • Click Format from the Menu Bar
  • Click Cells
  • Click the Number tab, and then in the Category: window, select Fraction
  • Click the OK button to accept this display change.

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Originally posted 2010-12-08 23:14:33. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Microsoft Excel Formulas or AutoSum?

April 12, 2012
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New users have asked me, what is the difference using formulas to calculate a total, or using the AutoSum function. Convenience! Read more »

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Originally posted 2009-09-29 06:00:48. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The Large and Small Functions in Microsoft Excel

April 11, 2012
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Using the Large and Small Statistical Functions

It’s pretty straight-forward using the =Max() function to get the highest value in a range of cells or the =Min() function for the lowest value in a range of cells. But what if you need to get the 3rd largest or the 2nd lowest values in a range of cells? Read more »

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Originally posted 2009-09-29 06:00:48. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Currency Style is not Currency Category

April 11, 2012
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The Currency toolbar button ( $ ) in Excel 2003 and 2007 will not display a number the same way as the Currency category in the Format Cells dialog box. Read more »

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Originally posted 2010-12-08 23:14:33. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Let’s Make a Date with Excel 2003

April 10, 2012
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Need to make a table in Excel that includes the days of the week, or the months in a year? Let Excel handle that for you. Read more »

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Originally posted 2010-12-08 23:14:33. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Turn On or Off Microsoft Excel Gridlines

April 10, 2012
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Open Microsoft Excel and you see worksheet gridlines, and labels that identify each row and column. Print Microsoft Excel and you may see nothing but the numbers themselves.  No gridlines. No row and column headings. What happened? Read more »

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Originally posted 2010-12-08 23:14:33. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Excel Print Settings

April 9, 2012
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After you enter data into your Excel spreadsheet, it’s time to print it out. You click the Print command. It displays a dialog box with a section labeled Print What. You think the answer is obvious! Print the information I just entered, right? Not so fast. Read more »

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Originally posted 2009-05-11 07:37:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

“$” Symbols Aligned in a Column

April 9, 2012
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A Dollar is a Dollar? Not with Excel.

Type the following numbers in a column: 1000, 2000, 3000.

Change the number 1000 to Currency format:

Format -> Cells -> Currency -> OK

Change the number 2000 to Accounting format:

Format -> Cells -> Accounting -> OK

Now, change the column width to 12:

Format -> Columns -> Width -> 12 -> OK

Notice the $ symbol before the number 1000 is next to the first number, while the $ symbol before the number 2000 is not next to the first number, but next to the left-cell border.

Now, here is the twist. The Currency format category in the Format Cells dialog box is not the same as the Currency Style on the Formatting Toolbar.

Click on the number 3000, then click the $ symbol on the Formatting Toolbar. The $ symbol is next to the left border of the cell, which is the Accounting format. Go figure. Kind of like finding the Shutdown command in the Start button.

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Originally posted 2010-12-08 23:14:33. Republished by Blog Post Promoter