Free Preview – Week #38

Learn Excel from Mr Excel

Copyright 2005 Bill Jelen
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This week - 6 topics -including some of my favorites.

Transpose, Fill Handle, Copy Across Sheets & more.
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QUICKLY COPY A FORMULA

TO ALL ROWS OF DATA
Problem: As shown in Fig. 138, you have a worksheet with 5,000 rows
of data. You enter a formula in a new column and need to copy it down
to all of the rows. Is there a faster way to copy the formula down to all
rows?

Fig. 138

Strategy: Double-click the Fill handle. This shortcut will copy the for-
mula down until Excel encounters a blank cell in column D or F.
The Fill handle is the square dot in the lower right corner of the cell
pointer box. When you hover your mouse pointer over the Fill handle, it
changes to a cross, as shown in Fig. 139.

Fig. 139
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If there is data in the cell to the left of E2, then Excel will copy the for-
mula based on the first blank cell in column D. If there is no data in D2,
but there is data in F2, then Excel will copy down to the first blank cell
in column F.
Additional Information: The Fill handle can be used to extend a se-
ries. Select two cells that Excel can use to extrapolate the series. Double-
click the Fill handle to extend the series down to all rows. In Fig. 140,
the record numbers will continue in a 1, 2, 3, 4 sequence.
Part
I

Fig. 140

There are other Fill possibilities. One

cool technique is to Fill Weekdays. En-
ter a starting date in one cell. Place
the cell pointer in that cell. Right-click
and drag the Fill handle down several
cells. The tooltip will indicate that you
are filling the series with daily dates.
When you release the mouse button,
you will have several options to choose
from, as shown in Fig. 141. Select
Fill Weekdays to fill in only Monday
through Fridays.

Fig. 141
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Additional Information: The Fill handle is a shortcut to default set-

tings in the Edit – Fill – Series command. Enter a cell, select that cell
and choose Edit – Fill – Series to display a dialog where you can specify
any type of series. As shown in Fig. 142, the dialog will fill the odd num-
bers from 1 to 99, down a column starting with the active cell.

Fig. 142

Summary: Learn to double-click the Fill handle to quickly copy a for-

mula down to all cells in a range of data.
Commands Discussed: Edit – Fill – Series

QUICKLY TURN A RANGE ON ITS SIDE

Problem: As shown in Fig. 143, you have a column of 20 department
names. You need to build a spreadsheet with those names going across
row 1.
Part 1: The Excel Environment 79 of 853

Part
I
Fig. 143

Strategy: Use the Paste Special – Transpose option to turn the range
on its side.
1) Highlight the department names in column A.
2) From the menu, select Edit – Copy to copy the cells to the clip-
board.
3) Move the cell pointer to a blank area of your worksheet. In this
case, perhaps cell C1.
4) From the menu, select Edit – Paste Special. In the Paste Special di-
alog box, choose the Transpose option, as shown in Fig. 144. Choose
OK.

Fig. 144
80 of 853 LEARN EXCEL FROM MR EXCEL

Result: As shown in Fig. 145, the department numbers from column A

are turned sideways and fill cells C1 to Z1.

Fig. 145

Gotcha: The columns that you paste to will not automatically resize to
fit the data. Select C1:Z1 and from the menu, choose Format – Columns
– AutoFit Selection.
Additional Information: The Paste Special Transpose technique can
also be used to convert a horizontal row of numbers into a column.
The technique can also be used to turn a rectangular range on its side.
In Fig. 146, Range A1:D4 was transposed to Range A6:D9.

Fig. 146

Summary: Using the Paste Special Transpose technique is useful to

quickly turn a range of values on its side.
Commands Discussed: Edit – Paste Special – Transpose
Part 1: The Excel Environment 81 of 853

STOP EXCEL FROM

AUTOCORRECTING CERTAIN WORDS
Problem: Every time you type the name of your WYA Division, as shown
in Fig. 147, Excel changes “WAY” to “WAY”, as shown in Fig. 148. It is im-
possible to type WYA without entering it as a formula: =”W”&”Y”&”A.
Part
I

Fig. 147

Fig. 148

Strategy: There is a large list of words that are automatically replaced

as you type. Excel added this feature to correct common mistypings. This
is a good feature, unless you routinely have to type one of the words that
Excel thinks is wrong.
Luckily, you can edit
this list without turning
it off.
From the Tools menu,
select AutoCorrect op-
tions. On the AutoCor-
rect dialog, go to the
AutoCorrect tab. Look
in the Replace Text as
You Type section. Scroll
down to the list to find
where it replaces WYA
with WAY. Select that
line and click Delete, as
shown in Fig. 149.
Fig. 149
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Summary: You can edit how Excel will autocorrect words without turn-
ing off the feature by going to Tools – AutoCorrect – Options and remov-
ing the selected lines from the list.
Commands Discussed: Tools – AutoCorrect – Options

USE AUTOCORRECT TO ENABLE A SHORTCUT

Problem: You work for John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt. It is frustrat-
ing to type this name continuously.
Strategy: Set up an AutoCorrect entry to replace JJJS with John Jacob
Jingleheimer Schmidt.
From the menu, select Tools – AutoCorrect options. In the Replace sec-
tion, type JJJS. In the With section, type the complete name, click Add,
as shown in Fig. 150.

Fig. 150
Part 1: The Excel Environment 83 of 853

Result: Typing “JJJS”, as shown in Fig. 151,

will cause the just the replacement word to
appear.
After typing a Space or hitting Enter to fin-
Fig. 151
ish the cell, “JJJS” will change to the complete
name, as shown in Fig. 152.

Part
I
Fig. 152

Summary: Using Tools – AutoCorrect and adding a shortcut for a long

or difficult word will cause AutoCorrect to fill it in for you.
Commands Discussed: Tools – AutoCorrect Options

WHY WON’T THE TRACK

CHANGES FEATURE WORK IN EXCEL?
Problem: After using Tools – Track Changes, you cannot insert cells.
Strategy: Track
Changes is a great
feature in Word.
However, when
you turn on Track
Changes in Excel,
Microsoft auto-
matically makes
your workbook
a shared work-
book. If you select
Tools – Track
Changes, Ex-
cel will share
your workbook,
as shown in
Fig. 153. Fig. 153
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The shared workbook function in Excel has so many limitations that it

is nearly impossible to use. Once you share a workbook, you cannot do
any of the following tasks:
• Insert blocks of cells
• Delete worksheets
• Merge or unmerge cells
• Change conditional formatting or data validation
• Create charts
• Insert drawing objects, hyperlinks, scenarios
• Use automatic subtotals
• Use pivot tables
• Record or edit macros
• Enter CSE or array formulas
• Use data tables
It is possible that a novice Excel user might never use the above features.
It is even possible that before you bought this book, you never used those
features. However, sharing a workbook makes it virtually unusable for
an intermediate Excel user. There is no strategy for this. Unless your
changes will only involve radically simple worksheet changes, avoid the
Track Changes and Share Workbook options.
Summary: Using Track Changes in Excel should be avoided.
Commands Discussed: Tools – Track Changes; Tools – Share
Workbooks

COPY CELLS FROM ONE WORKSHEET

TO MANY WORKSHEETS
Problem: You have twelve monthly worksheets in a workbook. You’ve
made changes to January and now need to copy the changes to the other
eleven worksheets.
Strategy: After you’ve successfully made changes to January, follow
these steps:
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1) Select the January worksheet. While holding down the Shift key,
select the December worksheet. This will select all twelve work-
sheets and the January worksheet will be the active sheet.

Note: If your changes are in a middle sheet, such as April, then the pro-
cess is different. First, click the April worksheet. Next, Shift+Click the
December sheet, and then Ctrl+Click the January, February, March
sheets.

2) Select the cells that you want to copy. If the cells are not adjacent, Part
select the first range and then Ctrl+ select the remaining ranges. I
3) From the menu, select Edit – Fill – Fill Across Worksheets, as
shown in Fig. 154.

Fig. 154

4) From the dialog, as shown in Fig. 155, select if you want to copy
values, formats, or both.

Fig. 155
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Gotcha: After this, right-click any sheet tab and select Ungroup. If you
fail to ungroup, any changes you make to the active worksheet will be
made to all worksheets.
Additional Details: This command is fairly difficult to use. You have
to be able to group sheets and then make the sheet with the changes to
copy the active (top) sheet. The above steps are designed to help select
all sheets. If you need to copy from March to only June, September, De-
cember, then you might do this:
1) Select March to make it the active sheet.
2) Ctrl+ select June to add to the group.
3) Ctrl+ select September to add to the group.
4) Ctrl+ select December to add to the group.
5) Do the Edit – Fill – Fill Across Worksheets.
Summary: To copy cells from one worksheet to several other work-
sheets, select the worksheets to copy to, including the worksheet that
has the data to copy. With that worksheet as the active sheet, select the
data to copy, and then select Edit – Fill – Fill Across Worksheets.
Commands Discussed: Edit – Fill – Fill Across Worksheets