Microsoft Excel 2007 Training Shortcuts

We will begin by looking at our trainers’ most favourite shortcuts in Microsoft Excel 2007.  The term shortcuts in relation to Excel in this article refers to the use of either Keyboard shortcuts in Excel (i.e. the use of the keyboard to access functions and perform actions which would otherwise take longer using the mouse) or the use of the Function Keys (The Keys at the top of the Keyboard F1 – F12) to perform shortcuts in Microsoft Excel.

1.  Hold down the CTRL and the ¬ Key (This is the key to the left of the number 1 key) - to show or hide all formulas on your worksheet This tip allows you to reveal all the formulas in every cell on your worksheet at once, which helps you identify which cells contain formulas, what the specific formula is, and allows you to see patterns in lots of adjacent formulas.

2.  Press SHIFT F11 to insert a new sheet within an excel workbook(NOTE: make sure you press SHIFT F11 and not CTRL F11, as CTRL F11 will insert a Macro worksheet which will not work properly).

3.  Select all of your data and press F11 to produce an instant chart(NOTE: You may want to sort your data before you select it. Do this by clicking the SORT button on the Ribbon).

4.  Press F2 to edit a cellThis will allow you to edit say a formula without having to type it from scratch or the need to click into the formula bar.

5.  Press F9 to recalculate formulasYour spreadsheet is set to recalculate every time you enter new data or edit a cell, however pressing F9 will recalculate the whole spreadsheet instantly.

6.  Press CTRL and the TAB key to move between worksheets.

7.  Press CTRL and the * key (use the * on the number pad or CTRL SHFT 8) to highlight a complete range of data (i.e. a data table).

8.  To hide/unhide a row(s):

• To hide a row(s), select a cell(s) and press CTRL 9.
• To unhide a row(s), select the cells containing the range of the hidden row(s) and press CTRL SHIFT (.

To hide/unhide a column(s):

• To hide a column(s), select a cell(s) and press CTRL 0.
• -To unhide a column(s), select the cells containing the range of the hidden column(s) and press CTRL SHIFT ).

Microsoft Excel 2007 Tips

Now we will look at our trainers’ favourite tips in Microsoft Excel.  These are generally useful bits of advice which allow you to access hidden function in Excel or simply work out solutions to problems which are commonly found when using Microsoft Excel.

1.  To edit a cell double click into the middle of the cell

2.  Right click on the Sheet navigation tabs to display a menu of all sheets in a workbookThis tip allows you to see a list of all your sheets in the open Workbook.

3.  After selecting a group of cells containing numbers, look at the status bar (at the bottom of the screen) for a running total of whatever you highlight (i.e. SUM)You may have already noticed this, you can however change the way this displays from Summing numbers to Counting cells, giving you the Minimum or Maximum of the range of cells selected or displaying the Average.  To do this, after selecting a group of cells, right click on the displayed Sum at the bottom right of the page and choose a different function: Sum, Average, Min, Max, Count.

4.  To Zoom in and out of your spreadsheet (i.e. increasing the screen magnification) hold down the CTRL key and roll your mouse wheel forward (to increase magnification) or backwards (to decrease magnification)

Formula Specific Tips For Excel 2007

The shortcuts and tips above relate to the general use of Microsoft Excel 2007.  Here we have included a handful of the formula specific tips which our trainers have selected as the most frequently asked for.

Date & Time

1.  Age: To work out someone’s age given their Date of Birth (DOB) the following formula can be used:

=INT((TODAY()-A1)/365.25)

Where their DOB is in cell A1.

This formula can now be copied down to calculate ages on a whole range of DOBs if you have a list of people’s DOBs.

2.  Converting Time to Decimal: To convert a list of times (formatted to the time format e.g. 14:35) to a simple number, the following formula can be used:

=(A1-INT(A1))*24

where A1 is a cell containing the time.

Text

1.  Use the ampersand (&) symbol to join two text cells together:

=A1&B1

where there is some text in cells A1 and B1(TIP: use a space inside “ “ to put a space in-between the word(s)):

=A1&” “&B1

2.  Use the following formula to extract someone’s first name from a cell containing their whole name:

=LEFT(A1,FIND(“ “,A1))

where their whole name is in Cell A1, put a space in-between the “ “

3.  Use the following formula to extract someone’s second name from a cell containing their whole name:

=RIGHT(A1,LEN(A1)-FIND(“ “,A1))

where their whole name is in Cell A1, put a space in between the “ “

Conclusion

The Microsoft Excel 2007 shortcuts, tips and tricks you have now learned above are an example of the things you will learn when attending a Microsoft Excel 2007 Computer Training Course.  If you found the information in this article useful, you may well benefit from attending one of our courses.  Our trainers are very skilful in giving you the tuition which you require to use Excel in exactly the way you need to use it.

Our Microsoft Excel courses can cover a whole range of subjects specific to your working needs.  The following list is an example of just some of the topics covered in our Excel training courses:

Important tips for power users

• Managing large data collections
• Managing data tables more effectively
• Summarising data using new functions
• Creating powerful conditional formats
• Creating more attractive charts
• Controlling printouts more carefully

Reordering and summarising data

• Organising data into levels
• Looking up information in a data list

Combining data from multiple sources

• Consolidating multiple sets of data into a single workbook
• Linking to / from data in other worksheets
• Linking data from Access or other data sources

Analysing unconventional data sets

• Finding optimal solutions with the solver
• Analysing data with descriptive statistics
• Varying the data to get required results through the use of goal seek

Creating dynamic lists

• Analysing data dynamically with pivot tables
• Importing data from other sources
• Creating dynamic charts using pivot tables and Smart Art

Collaborating with colleagues

• Sharing data lists
• Managing comments
• Tracking and managing colleagues’ changes
• Protecting workbooks and sharing with user privilege
• Authenticating workbooks

iTrain Scotland offers a wide range of Microsoft computer training courses including specialising in Microsoft Excel 2007 courses.

Courses can be delivered in our excellent Edinburgh computer training centre or alternatively delivered on-site at your premises (with the optional use of our mobile training suite). For more information please refer to our website www.itrainscotland.co.uk, e-mail excel@itrainscotland.co.uk or call 0131 272 2790. You can also use the contact form below to send iTrain Scotland a message.

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