Excel Tips & Tricks
December 2015
Commonly Used Shortcuts (Mac, Excel 2011)
Auto sum
Cmd+ Shift+ T Enter
Borders – outside area
Cmd+ Option+ 0
Delete
Ctrl+ (Minus/- )
Insert
Ctrl+ I
Fill right or Fill down
Ctrl+ R or Ctrl+ D
Font – change size
Cmd+ Shift+ (Period/.) or (Comma/,)
Go to end (contiguous range)
Ctrl+ Arrow Keys
Highlight a contiguous range
Ctrl+ Shift+ Arrow Keys
Group rows or columns
Cmd+ Shift+ K
Worksheets – toggle
Ctrl+ Tab
Worksheets – move between
Fn+ Ctrl+ Down Arrow/Up Arrow
Zoom – sizing or return to 100%
Ctrl+ F2 V Enter Z Enter or Cmd+ 1
Pivot Tables Step-by-Step
To re-organize a spreadsheet to a new format:
• Select all data in sheet, click on the tab Data, and click Pivot
• From the builder, drag which items you want to be your rows,
columns, and values. You can re-imagine any spreadsheet to be
in the format you need it as long as there are numbers as values
(ex: a count of the cells or doing a math formula with the values
like summing or averaging)
Pivot Tables Step-by-Step
• Choose rows and columns from
the fields to populate your
spreadsheet
• Notice the nesting that occurs
when fields are above/below
each other within the label
boxes
• Be sure to update values from
the default count by pressing on
the info (“i”) icon to the right of
the field name
Pivot Tables Step-by-Step
• To reduce the number of columns, filter to select only the options
you want to see in your table
• Once the spreadsheet looks
the way you want it to,
select the cells including the
table, copy, and Paste
Values on a new sheet.
Commonly Used Functions with Descriptions
Absolute vs. Relative Formulas:
• A formula that contains a relative cell reference changes as you
copy it from one cell to another. As an example, if you copy the
formula =A2+B2 from cell C2 to D2, the formula in D2 adjusts
downward by one row and becomes =A3+B3.
• An absolute cell reference is a cell address that contains a dollar
sign ($) in the row ($A3) or column (A$3) coordinate, or both
($A$3). When you enter a cell reference in a formula, Excel
assumes it is a relative reference unless you change it to an
absolute reference.
• Cmd+ T to change selected cells from relative to absolute
Commonly Used Functions with Descriptions
Conditional Formatting:
• Conditional formatting allows you to highlight any columns or rows
and color code them based on predetermined or custom-defined
rules
VLOOKUP & HLOOKUP
When you have two spreadsheets where one row or column is
constant in both #1 and #2 (ex: market or partner name) and you
want to pull data from #2 (ex: state or address) into #1
• VLOOKUP looks at a value in one column, and finds its
corresponding value on the same row in another column.
• HLOOKUP is the exact same function, but looks up data that has
been formatted by rows instead of columns.
• Formula = V or HLOOKUP (cell(s) that match on both
spreadsheets on spreadsheet #1, cell(s) that you want to pull from
spreadsheet #2, number of columns or rows between the two on
spreadsheet #2, FALSE)
More info:
• http://excelexposure.com/2011/10/25/level-1-lookup-referencefunctions/
• http://www.excelfunctions.net/Excel-Vlookup-Tutorial.html
Other Tips
• Transpose cells when you want to convert rows
into columns or columns into rows
• Use Text to Columns to split up one cell by a
symbol (ex: “,”)
• Add &” “& between
two cells in order to
combine two cells
into one; and,
replace the space
with any other text or
symbol if desired
Other Tips
• Use =UPPER( ) or =LOWER( ) to quickly change case of cells
• Press CMD+ALT+Return to create a second line of text within a cell
• Add zeros in front of
numbers by right-clicking
the cell to “Format Cells”
by Custom, entering
“00000” into the field
• Freeze Panes to make a
big spreadsheet easier to
read
Google Explore
Google Explore lets you export and
customize charts after you upload
and view a spreadsheet in Sheets
in Google Drive
• Because Google does this
randomly, select the row you
want analyzed
• To edit the chart, click the graph
icon and it will pop out
Google Explore
Toggle between view and quick-edit mode using the eye and pencil
icons to update any section of the chart (title, legend, axes)
Katie Merritt
KatieMerritt@wholesomewave.org
Additional Resources:
http://excelexposure.com/lesson-guide/
/wholesomewave
@wholesomewave
@wholesomewave
www.wholesomewave.org