Top 10 Excel Tips and Tricks to Save You Time

Microsoft Excel is packed with useful features to help you organize, analyze and present data efficiently. However, not everyone knows about the many time-saving tips and tricks that Excel has to offer.

In this blog post, we share our top 10 favorite Excel power user tips and tricks to help you work faster and smarter in Excel.

1. Use Keyboard Shortcuts

Mastering Excel keyboard shortcuts can save you a huge amount of time compared to clicking around with your mouse. Some of the most useful shortcuts include:

• Ctrl + C (copy)
• Ctrl + V (paste)
• Ctrl + Z (undo)
• Ctrl + F (find)
• Ctrl + P (print)

Make an effort to learn shortcuts for the commands you use most often.

2. Freeze Panes

Freezing panes locks columns and rows in place so you can scroll through a large spreadsheet while keeping headings visible. Select the cell below the rows and to the right of the columns you want frozen, then go to View > Freeze Panes.

3. Use Flash Fill for Data Entry

Flash fill is a great way to quickly enter repetitive or pattern-based data. Instead of manually entering data, just enter the first few rows, select the data, go to Data > Flash Fill, and Excel will detect the pattern and complete the rest for you.

4. Filter Data with Slicers

Slicers provide easy filtering capabilities without having to open dropdowns to select criteria. Just insert a slicer connected to your data set, and click or select the different options you want to filter by.

5. Reference Data from Another Sheet

You can reference data from another worksheet or workbook quickly using the following format:

=Sheet2!A1

This pulls data from cell A1 in Sheet2.

6. Use Conditional Formatting

Conditional formatting highlights cells based on rules you set. For example, you can highlight cells yellow if they contain duplicate values. This provides visual indicators to easily scan data.

7. Speed Up VLOOKUPs

VLOOKUP is powerful but can get slow on large sheets. For faster performance, convert your data range to a Table (Ctrl + T) and reference the table name and column names.

8. Create Custom Data Views

Custom views let you save different sheet views for quick access later. Set up views for certain tasks - like removing columns, applying filters, or showing summaries.

9. Link Cells Between Worksheets

You can link cells and reference data between different worksheets. This allows you to keep sheets clean and organized while still connecting them.

10. Use the Quick Analysis Tool

Select your data, then go to the bottom right Quick Analysis corner icon. This provides quick formatting, charting and data insights with just a click.

Practice these top 10 Excel tips and tricks to work faster and maximize productivity. Automate repetitive tasks, optimize formulas, and utilize all of Excel's built-in time-saving features.