Tag: Microsoft Excel

 Removing duplicate information can be both helpful and intimidating when working with many line items in Excel.

Follow these steps to make the process easy :

1. Ensure your data has column headers and that there are no blank columns or rows between data you want selected and checked.
2. Click anywhere inside the data you wish to have checked for duplicates. (Once you click the Remove Duplicates command, all data will be selected.) 
3. Click the Remove Duplicates command, located on the Data tab, in the Data Tools group. This will select the rest of the data. 
4. A dialog box will pop-up, allowing you to select the columns you want compared for duplicates. It is a best practice to have more selected, rather than fewer, as more criteria will keep the wrong records from being removed. (ex.: If I only chose last name and first name, then there is a good chance I will delete a row that was not actually a duplicate, as there might be more than one person with the same first and last name.) 
5. Once you click the OK button, it will let you know how many duplicates were deleted.  

Learn more was to make Excel less intimidating and your work easier by taking an Excel class with AdvantEdge Training.

All too often, when we are sent data from other, it is not presented in the view we would like. Changing the way our data looks, and being able to do it quickly, can save us some time, when we use the right tools.

In some cases, using a table has some advantages, while using just the drop-down filtering has different advantages. For example, some functions do best when contained in a table; so using regular drop-down filters allows for more complex functionality. Tables, on the other hand, have added functionality to add colors, totals (sum, average, etc.) at the bottom of the data, slicers, and other items not included with drop-down filters.

In our video, we are going to add drop-down filters, and walk through some of the functionality for filtering. Remember, the drop-down filters we use in the video are also available when the table functionality is used for data.

Want to learn more ways to make Excel work for you? Check out AdvantEdge Training’s live training courses.

Creating an Excel template allows a person to reuse a workbook setup over and over, without the need to recreate the wheel every time, nor continuously to clean out old information. By using a template, your workbook is ready and waiting for you to enter data; everything else will happen automatically, when you automate your workbook.

Most of the time, when we are told to use a particular template, the file we are asked to use is not an actual template. This is why the person telling us to use the template also reminds us to do a Save As and rename the file, so we don’t overwrite the existing file. That’s the first indication that it is not an actual template.

The nice thing about a template is that it forces you to save your newly opened template as a workbook. Thus, it is extremely hard to accidentally overwrite your template. To overwrite a template, you would need to follow a number of steps and rename the updated template with the exact name of the old template.

Want to up your skills in Excel? Check out what AdvantEdge Training has available for you in our virtual class room or private onsite group Excel courses.