MS Excel is more than just maintaining data in an organized system
rows and columns
fashion. That’s where true strength lies
data manipulation
.
Let me share an example. I stayed in a rented apartment with 4 other friends. We keep a number of monthly expenses on an Excel spreadsheet that can be divided equally at the end of each month.
When several costs are incurred by one head, it is easy to edit a single cell value. However, when a constant value needs to be operated on all cells, it takes some effort. For example, I want to increase the value of each cell by a specific number. It seems simple with only 5 rows edited. But as the number of rows and columns increases, things start to get more complicated.
This is what my sample data looks like and we will add the number 50 to all the numeric values present in the list. And, we won’t be editing individual cells. In addition, we will not apply any formulas. There is another way out.
Quick Tip: How to get cursor to next line on same cell in Excel? Enter, takes it to the next cell, right? Try Alt + Enter.
Step 1: For our case, take any blank cell and enter 50 in it. Then select the cell (not the text), right click on it and select Copy.
Step 2: Now, select the cells whose values you want to edit. There are different ways to select multiple cells together and I assume you know those ways.
Step 3: After the selection is done, right-click and tap Special Stickers.
Step 4: The moment you do that, you will see a special stickers modal window. And, as in our case, we will choose Add word radio button Work part.
Step 5: Hit Alright and watch the values change instantly. Easy and fun, right?
Let me give you another math example. Let’s say you have a table that lists certain items against costs. You decide to run an offer and offer a 10% discount on all items. Are you going to calculate each value outside and then edit in the sheet? Are not. You just take 0.90 like in Step 1 and they apply Multiply like in step 4.
I guess you can imagine the potential of such a paste option. So, in Excel, pasting doesn’t always mean copying a value from somewhere to paste as-is. You can do much more.
Cool Tip: If you want to apply such a trick on selected data, you can apply a filter to sort the data before you begin.
Conclusion
Think of a few scenarios for yourself and I’m sure you’ll be able to apply this trick to some of your spreadsheets. If you have other tricks that complement the one we’ve shared, we’ll be happy to see them in the comments. Let us know.
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
