Faster At Excel

3 Ways To Convert Text To Numbers In Excel

by 1 Comment

3 Ways To Convert Text To Numbers In Excel

Sometimes you get data and something doesn’t look right. See below. The data in the left column is formatted as text. Therefore, it is useless in calculations (you can see that, when I summed the column, the result was zero).

What you will often want instead is for these “numbers” to be truly formatted as numbers — so that you can use them in formulas.

Below, I have converted the text in the left column to actual numbers in the right column. You can see that the SUM function now works.

excel-text-vs-number-formatting

How Do I Know The Data Is Formatted As Text?

[Read more…]

How Do You Paste Special In Excel?

by Leave a Comment

What Is Your Excel Paste Special Profile

How do you Paste Special in Excel?  Leave a comment!

Are you an AA, AB, BA or BA?  See the questions below.

 

(1) How do you bring up the Excel Paste Special menu(s)?

(A) With the mouse (by right-clicking)?

(B) With the keyboard (with the menu key)?

(2) How do you select your Excel Paste Special option?

(A) With the mouse (by clicking)

(B) With the keyboard (by typing the hot key)

excel-paste-special-menu

I strive to be an AB (I right click to bring up the menu, then click on the hot key to choose the option).

But that’s only when the hot key is on the left side of the keyboard.

Why?  I prefer keeping my right hand on the mouse as much as possible.  I find it faster to click on an option than move my right hand off the mouse, onto the keyboard to type it, and then back to the mouse.  For example, I’ll do a RC-V (right-click-V) to Paste Values.  I call this a “hybrid shortcut” since it uses both the mouse and the keyboard.

But I won’t do a RC-N for Paste Links — I find it faster to just click on the Paste Link icon.  That would make me an AA in that situation (doing everything with the mouse) in this case.  Maybe I’m just lazy or averse to change…

If my right hand DOES happen to be on the keyboard already, then I’ll do a BB (everything with the keyboard).  For example, to do Paste Special in this situation, I’ll do a MK-N (menu-key-N).

What about you?  AA, AB, BA or BB?

4 Excel Shortcut Myths Debunked

by Leave a Comment

Why are Excel shortcut myths dangerous?

Why, you ask?  Because Excel is the most popular business software ever in the world (hundreds of millions of users), and probably the most important.  If you are in the business world, you need to know Excel, and the faster you can be at Excel (e.g., with shortcuts), the faster your business (or your part of it) will run.  The faster you and your business can run, the more successful you will be.  This means: promotions, pay increases and greater job satisfaction.  Being fast at Excel makes you more valuable as employee, which increases your upward mobility on the pay scale.  All kinds of new possibilities are opened up for such magnificent people.

If you decide to put off learning shortcuts, then you are putting off advancing your career.  Therefore, any myths and misconceptions that keep you from learning shortcuts are dangerous to your career.  Multiply this by several hundred million people and you’re hindering the global economy!!!  You are in fact decreasing the total amount of cosmic happiness!!!  These myths are dangerous indeed!  They are nearly as dangerous and misguided as the ancient practice of bloodletting (see below).  Bloodletting is as smart as avoiding Excel shortcuts.  See, these evil men below are simultaneously bleeding the naked guy in the chair and telling him Excel shortcuts are bad for his health.

L0003183 Bloodletting, 16th Century Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images images@wellcome.ac.uk http://wellcomeimages.org Patient sitting in a chair with an attendant holding a bowl between his legs to catch blood from the open wound in his stomach. Two others in attendance. 16th Century Feldbuch der Wundartzney Gersdorf, Hans von Published: 1540 Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
L0003183 Bloodletting, 16th Century
Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images
images@wellcome.ac.uk
http://wellcomeimages.org
Patient sitting in a chair with an attendant holding a bowl between his legs to catch blood from the open wound in his stomach. Two others in attendance.
16th Century Feldbuch der Wundartzney
Gersdorf, Hans von
Published: 1540
Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

[Read more…]

Excel Menu Key

by Leave a Comment

What is the Menu Key and why is it important in Excel?

This is a short but hopefully useful post.

Right-clicking, as you probably already know, brings up an Excel “context menu” that gives you quick access to lots of common commands.  The menu differs, not surprisingly, based on the context.  Hitting the Menu Key (or “Context Menu Key” or “Application Key”) brings up the identical menu.  The Menu Key is typically located on the bottom right side of the keyboard, somewhere between the Alt and Ctrl keys.  Below is a picture (your keyboard may be different and smaller keyboards may not even include it – but if yours doesn’t you should consider getting one that does — see my Excel Keyboard Review):

menu-key-keyboard-excel

If you look at a close-up you’ll see that it resembles a mouse pointing at a drop-down menu – as if you had just right clicked.

menu-key-closeup-excel

Thus, you can use the Menu Key to do things in Excel like Paste Special, Insert, Delete, open the Format Cells dialog box and other things you might normally do with the mouse.

If your ultimate goal is to become a keyboard only user in Excel, then the Menu Key is very helpful.  It can turn hybrid shortcuts (that combine the mouse and the keyboard) into plain old keyboard shortcuts.   And it can provide shortcuts that are faster than Alt shortcuts or other keyboard shortcuts.

In general, I advocate using the Menu Key (vs. the mouse) when your right hand is already on (or going to) the keyboard.  Otherwise, I find right clicking to be a faster way to pull up the context menu.

Excel Alt Shortcuts

by Leave a Comment

What are Excel Alt shortcuts?

If you’ve ever seen someone use both hands all day long on the keyboard in Excel, chances are they were using Alt shortcuts or “keyboard accelerators.”  So what are they and how do they work?

If you hit the Alt key you’ll see the Ribbon and the QAT (Quick Access Toolbar – just below the Ribbon) light up with letters or numbers.  See below.

excel-alt-shortcuts-ribbon

These letters and numbers guide you through keystroke sequences that allow you do do virtually anything with your keyboard — instead of clicking with your mouse — as I’ll explain below. [Read more…]