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Freeze or lock rows and columns in an Excel worksheet
When you are working with a large spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel, it’s easy to find yourself scrolling down or across and losing track of where you are. This lesson explains how to freeze rows and columns (officially known as “Freeze Panes”) in Excel 2010 for Windows and Excel 2011 for Mac.
Convert a text value into a date in Excel
Sometimes you’ll find yourself working with dates in an Excel spreadsheet that have been pasted or imported into Excel from another datasource. When that happens, Excel can treat those dates as text – in other words, they look like dates but don’t behave like dates. For example you can’t sort by date properly. This lesson looks at several ways you can convert a date which Excel is treating as text into a proper date value in Excel.
Multiply two columns and add up the results using SUMPRODUCT
The SUMPRODUCT function allows you to multiply two arrays of numbers together (e.g. Quantity Sold and Price Per Unit) and add the results each individual calculation together. Without the SUMPRODUCT function, you’ll find yourself having to create a third column in which you multiply the Quantity by Price for each row, and then find the sum of all the individual formulas. This lesson shows you how to use SUMPRODUCT to do all that with just one formula.
Print an Excel 2010 spreadsheet with header rows at the top of every page
When printing in Excel 2010 for Windows, it is sometimes useful to print a set of rows (e.g. column headings) on each page in the print out. There is nothing worse than having a printout that runs to multiple pages, with the column headings only printed on the first page. This lesson shows you how to get header rows printing at the top of every page.
Print header rows at the top of every page in Excel 2011 for Mac
When printing in Excel, it is sometimes useful to print a set of rows (e.g. column headings) on each page in the print out. There is nothing worse than having a printout that runs to multiple pages, with the column headings only printed on the first page. This lesson shows you how to get header rows printing at the top of every page in Microsoft Excel 2011 for Mac. You will also learn how to print header columns on the left of every page in your printout.
Use COUNTBLANK to count empty or blank cells in a range in Excel
COUNTBLANK allows you to count the number of empty or blank cells in a range in Excel. This lesson shows you how to use COUNTBLANK, and also shares a couple of things to watch out for when you use COUNTBLANK in an Excel formula.
Use SUMIFS to sum cells that match multiple criteria in Excel
The SUMIFS function in Excel allows you to sum the values in a range of cells that meet multiple conditions, or criteria. For example, you might use the SUMIFS function in a sales spreadsheet to to add up the value of sales of a specific product by a given sales person (e.g. the value of all sales of a microwave oven made by John). This lesson explains how to use SUMIFS.
Using SUMIF to add up cells in Excel that meet certain criteria
The SUM function in Excel allows you to add up the values in a range of cells. However, sometimes you only want to add up the cells that meet certain criteria. That’s where the SUMIF function comes in handy, along with the more capable SUMIFS function.
Find the minimum or maximum value in a range of cells in Excel
Excel offers a couple of handy functions that you can use to calculate the smallest and largest values in a range of cells. They are simple functions that go by the names of MIN() and MAX(). This lesson shows you how to use them. It also introduces SMALL() and LARGE(), functions which duplicate what MIN and MAX do, plus more besides.
Use Conditional Formatting to shade alternate rows in Excel
If you are working with large tables of data in Excel, you can make your spreadsheet easier to read by formatting alternate rows to be shaded a different colour. There are a number of ways you can achieve this. This lesson shows you a quick and easy way to do it on Excel 2011 for Mac.