For example, when I type in “01012013” in general format, it converts it to date format, but shows “17 October 4670”, which is clearly not what I had in mind. Apart from the fact that lots of different date formats looks messy, it can cause problems if you want to sort or filter. If you haven’t set a specific date format, Excel will try to ‘guess’ what format you want by how you enter it. You want your number formatting to be consistent and correct – and notably this includes dates.Įxcel stores dates as numbers, but you can set the date format that it is shown in (41275 could be 1 January 2013, or or 1/1/13 etc etc). I’ll highlight every cell that’s not being used and Clear All (Alt+HEA in Excel 2007 or 2010). If I get a spreadsheet that’s moving at a snail’s pace, this is one of the first things I’ll check. It’s worth remembering this even if you don’t do it yourself. If you’re in the habit of formatting the entire row or column in something like bright yellow or bold to make it stand out, you’re jeopardising the speed of your worksheet. Don’t select an entire row or column when you change formatting Iv) You know that the cell is an intentional blank, not an accidental deletionĢ. Iii) If you apply autofilters when there is a blank row, you will probably cut off the section of your table below the blank row Ii) If you navigate around Excel using CTRL and the arrow keys, you will be stopped at each blank I) When you fill down a formula it will stop at the blank row, which may cause errors or at least slow you down Why not just leave them all blank? Several reasons:
And put the same thing every time so that if you try to sort or filter later you won’t have loads of different pointless values (like TBC, None, Pending, Unknown, Don’t know, etc etc). If you have a field that you don’t have data for, instead of leaving it blank, put something like “N/A” instead. So this is a list of the seven things that everyone who touches that spreadsheet should know: If the data is recorded incorrectly it can cause problems, and it only takes one person to spoil the fun for everyone. Whether it’s recording addresses and phone numbers of leads in a sales team, or updating a new starter list in HR, putting stuff into Excel is a very common task.
If you’re anything like me, you’ll have been in any number of jobs that require you to do some data entry in Excel from time to time. They’re tips/habits that I’ve developed over the years but haven’t thought much about … until now. There are excellent tips in this post and it’s great to see them summarized in this way. XLCalibre is a UK-based site that focuses on Excel use by & for Human Resources professionals. If you share spreadsheets in a team, the data will only be as strong as the weakest link in the team.
#When i try to merging cells in excel how to#
This post will describe bad habits in Excel to do with cell formatting and formulas and how to avoid them.
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