5 Tips to Master Microsoft Excel

Little by little, knowing how to use Excel is becoming one of the must-have skills in almost every company. That’s why you should know a few things about mastering Excel like a pro.

Check these 5 tips you definitely should try when working on a worksheet.

Keep reading because, at the end of this article, you will have more skills than you started with!

Use two windows:

When working with two or more worksheets, you may find it difficult to switch between them quickly. How amazing would it be if there have a shortcut to do this operation! Just like the “Alt + tab” one on your keyboard. Fortunately, there is a way you can do this:

For MAC

1. Select the Window tab in the main Excel panel, even upper the ribbon.
2. In the context menu, select the “New window” option.

For PC

1. Go to the “View” tab.
2. Look up the “Window” group tool at the right of the panel.
3. “Select the first icon corresponding to the “New Window” button.

Afterward, you can switch between the windows more efficiently, and when you close your file, all changes you’ve done will generally appear in the same worksheet.

Embed an Excel spreadsheet:

This trick is convenient and more straightforward than you can imagine when submitting a proposal for a client in Microsoft Word or other programs. Thus, to do so, you just need to follow these steps:

1. First, in Microsoft Excel, select and copy the cell range you want to embed.
2. Now, in Microsoft Word, go to the “Home” tab and click on the “Paste” icon from the toolbar.
3. Select the “Paste Special” option.
4. On the window pop-up, pick the “Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object” option.
5. Next, check the “Paste link” checkbox.
6. Click “OK” to confirm the operation.

After doing that, any change you make in that specific range you selected in the spreadsheet will appear in the Word file. And this not only works with Microsoft tools. You can follow these steps to put in an email as well.

Quick access toolbar:

After the first approach and settling into using Excel, you may have noticed some tools you repeatedly use. However, when some of these tools are in different tabs, finding them requires extra effort and time. Hopefully, you can enable a command called “Quick Access Toolbar,” also named “QTA.”

It’s pretty easy to use:

1. Right-click on the button tool you want to add.
2. Select the first option that says “Add to Quick Access Toolbar” from the contextual menu.

3. Now you will see a new panel down the principal one with the tool you chose.

But on the contrary, when you want to remove something from the QAT, you only need to right-click the icon and select the “Remove from Quick Acces Toolbar” option.

Finally, you can add a tool to the ribbon by right-clicking on the aid you want and selecting the “Show Quick Access Toolbar Above the Ribbon” option.

Make a copy of your worksheet:

Usually, when you have to use the same worksheet repeatedly with the same formulas or values but with a few changes, the most recommended is to create a copy of the whole worksheet. 

Think about this: if you start a new document and just copy and paste the spreadsheet into another Excel file, you must resize, adjust and check everything is correct. But with a copy, you won’t have to worry about that.

Here’s how to do so:

1. Go down, where you can see the “Sheets” tabs, and right-click on which you want to copy.
2. In the Context menu, select the “Move or copy” option.

3. Pick a location where you want from the dialog box, and choose which tab you want to make the copy.

Note: Mark the “Create copy” checkbox before confirming the operation.

4. Click “OK.”

Then, in the same Excel workbook, you will have a copy of what you selected. 

Find and replace values:

As in Microsoft Word, you can search, find and replace the cell content with a basic command without scrolling through your whole worksheet. To access this command, you need to do the following:

1. First, select the cell range you want to search for what you and to replace.
2. Now you can type Ctrl + F on your keyboard. If you’re in MAC, change the Ctrl key for the Command one.
3. Once you do that, you will see a pop-up window where you can enter the term or value you are looking for.
4. If you are on Mac, notice a button at the bottom left corner that says “Replace.” If you are on a PC, you’ll find the “Replace” option as a Tab.

5. Introduce the item you want to replace and the term to which you want to change it.
6. You can choose from “Replace All” or “Replace” if you want to go individually.

And that’s it. You can use the same tool if you only need to find something.

Do you want to know more?

Check out our Excel course in Skillademia to improve your skills in this fantastic program! And finally, read these unexpected ways to find motivation if you need encouragement before starting Excel or any course you rather! Good luck!