Excel Tips and Tricks

References
! ! ! ! ! Excel Annoyances - Curtis Frye Excel Hacks - OReilly http://www.exceltip.com (Joseph Rubin) http://exceltips.vitalnews.com/ (Allen Wyatt) Some Excel Basics as well as formula basics http://jura.wi.mit.edu/bio/education/bioinfo2005/ arrays/Excel_help.html

Mac vs. PC
! If you use a Mac there are a few difference from the PC. ! For instance, Preferences is under the menu Excel. ! Different key strokes may be necessary to do the same trick in a PC. ! The tricks I present here should work on both PC and Macs.

Reading Line by Line

! If you have a large Excel file - you way want to highlight a whole row, not just the cell.
! Press the down arrow and then press Shift and Spacebar ! If you do this often enough you can write a macro or go here: http://www.cpearson.com/excel/RowLiner.htm

Moving Cells with your Mouse

! Moving cells with your mouse instead of key strokes can be convenient, heres how.
! Select the range of cells you want to move by highlighting the range with the mouse. ! Position the mouse pointer over the heavy border that surrounds the selected range. The pointer should turn into an arrow(PC) or hand(mac). ! Click and drag the range to a new location. As you move the mouse, the outline of the range moves. ! When you are satisfied with the new location, release the mouse pointer. The cells are moved.

Selecting a Range of Cells

! Selecting a long range of cells can be a pain. Heres one trick that could help.
! Move the cell pointer to the starting cell. ! Press F8 to activate extend. ! Either use your arrow keys or mouse to click on the ending row/column. ! All cells will be highlighted. ! Press Esc to end extend.

Keep Column Names Visible as You Scroll

! Many Worksheets have Headers for each column. As you scroll thru a worksheet its helpful to be able to see those names. Heres how.
! Select the row immediately below the row you want to freeze. ! In the Window menu, click on Freeze Panes. Excel will put a thick line under the row to freeze. ! To unfreeze the row, go to Window menu again and click on Unfreeze Panes.

Creating Multi-lines in a Cell

! You want to type more than one line in a cell and word wrap is not putting the breaks where you need them.
! Click on the cell and type your first line. ! Press simultaneously Control, Option and Return key. ! You should see a new line being created.

You Want an Unique List of Values

! You have a column of data and would like only the unique values from it.
! Select the column you want the uniqueness based on. ! Choose Filter from the Data menu, and then choose Advanced Filter. A dialog box pops up. ! I always like to choose the Copy to Another Location option. ! In the Copy To Field, specify the cell where you want the list of unique, filtered values to be copied. ! Make sure the Unique Records Only check box is selected and click Okay.

When Excel Chooses the Wrong Format for Your Data

! You want 00125678, not 125678
! The format of the cells that you are entering data in needs to be corrected. ! Go to Format and click on Cells. Excel displays the Format Cells dialog box. ! Click on the Number tab. ! In the Category list, choose Text and click okay.

When Excel Chooses the Wrong Format for Your Data

! The gene name is Oct4 not 4-Oct!
! The previous fix for leading zeros will also work here. ! There is one caveat, you must change the format of the cells before entering the data. ! Otherwise 4-Oct becomes 37167

Data Validation
! Data validation guarantees that each data value you enter will be correct and accurate.
! There are many different ways to validate data. Heres how to present a list. ! Highlight the cells, column or rows that you want to validate. ! Go to Data and click on Validation. ! A popup menu will appear. Under Allow chose list. Under Source, type your comma delimited list. You can check whether or not you want the drop down menu. ! When you press okay, you should see a drop down menu of your list.

Sorting
! You have 5 columns of data you want to sort and Excel only allows you to sort 3.
! If you want to sort by columns A B C D E, select the whole spreadsheet, than sort by C D E, than A B. This will result in all five columns being sorted.

Sorting
! You have a column of Ids that are F1, F2, .F150 and would like to sort based on these ids. How?
! The only way to make Excel sort the proper way is to change your ids to F001, F002, etc. ! =LEFT(C1,1) & RIGHT("000" & RIGHT(C1,LEN(C1)-1),3)

Dealing with Large Files

! Using outside software it is possible to generate a file that is > 65,535 lines. If you want to import this file into Excel, you have a few options.
! If you are familiar with unix commands, you can use the split command to create smaller files. ! If you dont want to break up the file, you could try importing it into Access which has no limit on the number of rows. ! You can use a macro to import the large file and create a new worksheet when necessary.

Fun with Macros

! Macros can be useful if you do the same process over and over again. Heres how to create one.
! If you want to record steps, Click on Tools, Macro, Record New Macro ! Type in a name for your Macro and perform all the steps you want to record ! Click the stop Recording button when done.

Fun with Macros - cont.

! If you are familiar with program code, you can also create macros using VBA (Visual Basic for Applications)
! Click on Tools, Macro, Macros. ! A window will appear, Type in a New Name under Macro Name and click Create
! A VBA editor will appear and you can code and debug your macro. ! You can also paste in code from macros that other people have created.

Making Your Macro A Button

! If you have a macro that you use frequently, going to the menus to run it can be a pain. Heres how to create a button on your toolbar.
! Choose tools, customize and click the commands tab. ! In the categories list, click Macros ! Drag the custom button or custom menu item to the desired spot on a toolbar ! Right-click the button or menu item and choose Assign Macro, select the macro you want, and then click OK and close. ! When the button is clicked, Excel will run the macro.

Some Macro Examples

! When you export a tab delimited file from Excel, Excel puts around each cell
! So when you export a row of information that has this:
! Wavelength 635 ! When you export it, it becomes this: ! Wavelength 635

! Using a macro you can export this file without the extra quotes.

Export Macro
Sub Export() Dim r As Range, c As Range Dim sTemp As String Open "c:\MyOutput.txt" For Output As #1 For Each r In Selection.Rows sTemp = "" For Each c In r.Cells sTemp = sTemp & c.Text & Chr(9) Next c 'Get rid of trailing tabs While Right(sTemp, 1) = Chr(9) sTemp = Left(sTemp, Len(sTemp) - 1) Wend Print #1, sTemp Next r Close #1 End Sub

Finally, When You Need a Break

Pac-Man http://www.xl-logic.com/pages/games.html (Look for paccyman_v1.zip) Rubics Cube http://www.xl-logic.com/xl_files/games/cube.zip Yahtzee http://www.xl-logic.com/xl_files/games/yahtzee.zip Tetris http://www.xl-logic.com/xl_files/games/tetris.zip