6 Excel Hacks That’ll Help Boost Your Productivity

Did you know that there are over 1.2 billion Microsoft Office users worldwide?

MS Word, Powerpoint, and particularly Excel, are available in almost every office in the world. 

If you use MS Office software regularly, you are likely aware that they are powerful tools and you can use them for a staggering range of projects. How can you increase your skills?

Why not check out our list of simple Excel hacks that you can apply immediately? You might find that they can save you a lot of time, and thus money.

1. Use More Than One Window

If you are working with more than one spreadsheet on a single screen then it can be tricky to keep switching between the two. However, one simple can help you. 

You can easily arrange for both spreadsheets to display side by side. Go to the view menu on the ribbon. From there click “New Window”. 

You will then have an individual Excel window for both spreadsheets.

2. Scroll Without Scrolling

If you have many columns and rows, it can be cumbersome to move from the beginning to the end of your dataset. 

Why not move between the start and the end with the click of a button. Push “Control” and the up arrow (“↑”) once will take you to the top row of the current data set. That is the last row before a blank row.

If you hit control and up twice, you will travel to the top of the spreadsheet.

3. Change Values

The find and replace function is a powerful tool to help you update information or even correct errors. 

Highlight the section of information that you want to search and hit control + F. You will see a menu where you can select “Find” or “Replace”. 

In the “Replace” section you can easily enter the text and replacement text you wish to enter. 

4. Manipulate From Outside Excel

Excel is an incredibly flexible program and can even communicate with outside software. For instance,  you can even read and write Excel-based data by using an external .net environment. 

Why not check out this article to learn how functions such as c# write to excel are possible.

5. Expedited Formatting

Did you know that with only one keyboard shortcut you can change the number formatting of an entire column?

Let’s imagine that you want to format an entire column of figures as US dollar currency. You could go to format and do this manually. However, why not use the Control+Shift+$ shortcut to do the same task instantly.

6. Format Painting

If you need to create a new column with the same formatting properties as another column what shortcuts are available?

You can simply select the column and select “Copy”. After this highlight the column you want to create. Instead of hitting “paste”, select “Paste Special”. This will copy all the formatting attributes of the first column. 

Excel Hacks to Save You Time and Money

Microsoft Excel is found in almost every office in the world. It is used to make calculations and manage projects the world over.  By learning a few extra Excel hacks you can get even more out of this program thus saving you time and money. 

If you are interested in office and productivity tips then we are here to help. Why not take a look at our other blog articles. You might find advice that can help you today.