A guide to working with excel. EXCEL formulas with examples - Instructions for use

If for the constructed chart there is new data on the sheet that needs to be added, then you can simply select the range with the new information, copy it (Ctrl + C) and then paste it directly into the chart (Ctrl + V).

Suppose you have a list of full names (Ivanov Ivan Ivanovich), which you need to turn into abbreviated ones (Ivanov I. I.). To do this, you just need to start writing the desired text in the adjacent column manually. On the second or third line, Excel will try to predict our actions and perform further processing automatically. All you have to do is press the Enter key to confirm, and all names will be converted instantly. In a similar way, you can extract names from email, merge full names from fragments, and so on.

You most likely know about the magic autofill marker. This is a thin black cross in the lower right corner of a cell, by pulling it you can copy the contents of the cell or a formula to several cells at once. However, there is one unpleasant nuance: such copying often violates the design of the table, since not only the formula is copied, but also the cell format. This can be avoided. Immediately after pulling the black cross, click on the smart tag - a special icon that appears in the lower right corner of the copied area.

If you select the “Copy values only” option (Fill Without Formatting), Excel will copy your formula without formatting and will not spoil the design.

In Excel, you can quickly display your geodata, such as sales by city, on an interactive map. To do this, you need to go to the “App Store” (Office Store) on the “Insert” tab and install the “Bing Maps” plugin from there. This can also be done from the site by clicking the Get It Now button.

After adding a module, you can select it from the My Apps drop-down list on the Insert tab and place it on your worksheet. All you have to do is select your data cells and click on the Show Locations button in the map module to see our data on it. If desired, in the plugin settings you can select the type of chart and colors to display.

If the number of worksheets in a file exceeds 10, then it becomes difficult to navigate through them. Right-click on any of the sheet tab scroll buttons in the lower left corner of the screen. A table of contents will appear, and you can go to any desired sheet instantly.

If you've ever had to manually move cells from rows to columns, you'll appreciate the following trick:

Select a range.
Copy it (Ctrl + C) or by right-clicking and select “Copy”.
Right-click the cell where you want to paste the data and select one of the paste special options from the context menu - the Transpose icon. Older versions of Excel do not have this icon, but you can solve the problem by using Paste Special (Ctrl + Alt + V) and selecting the Transpose option.

If in any cell you are supposed to enter strictly defined values from the allowed set (for example, only “yes” and “no” or only from a list of company departments, and so on), then this can be easily organized using a drop-down list.

Select the cell (or range of cells) that should contain such a restriction.
Click the “Data Validation” button on the “Data” tab (Data → Validation).
In the “Type” drop-down list, select the “List” option.
In the “Source” field, specify a range containing reference variants of elements that will subsequently appear as you enter.

If you select a range with data and on the “Home” tab click “Format as Table” (Home → Format as Table), then our list will be converted into a smart table that can do a lot of useful things:

Automatically expands when new rows or columns are added to it.
The entered formulas will be automatically copied to the entire column.
The header of such a table is automatically fixed when scrolling, and it includes filter buttons for selection and sorting.
On the “Design” tab that appears, you can add a total line with automatic calculation to such a table.

Sparklines are miniature diagrams drawn directly in cells that visually display the dynamics of our data. To create them, click the Line or Columns button in the Sparklines group on the Insert tab. In the window that opens, specify the range with the original numerical data and the cells where you want to display sparklines.

After clicking the “OK” button, Microsoft Excel will create them in the specified cells. On the “Design” tab that appears, you can further configure their color, type, enable the display of minimum and maximum values, and so on.

Imagine: you close the report you've been fiddling with for the last half of the day, and the "Save changes to file?" dialog box appears. suddenly for some reason you press “No”. The office is filled with your heart-rending scream, but it’s too late: the last few hours of work have gone down the drain.

In fact, there is a chance to improve the situation. If you have Excel 2010, then click on “File” → “Recent” (File → Recent) and find the “Recover Unsaved Workbooks” button in the lower right corner of the screen.

In Excel 2013, the path is slightly different: “File” → “Information” → “Version Control” → “Recover Unsaved Workbooks” (File - Properties - Recover Unsaved Workbooks).

In later versions of Excel, open File → Details → Manage Workbook.

A special folder will open from the depths of Microsoft Office, where temporary copies of all created or modified, but unsaved books are saved in such cases.

Sometimes when working in Excel, you need to compare two lists and quickly find the elements that are the same or different. Here is the fastest and most visual way to do this:

Select both columns to compare (hold down the Ctrl key).
Select on the Home tab → Conditional Formatting → Highlight Cell Rules → Duplicate Values.
Select the Unique option from the drop-down list.

Have you ever tweaked the input values in your Excel calculation to get the output you want? At such moments, you feel like a seasoned artilleryman: just a couple of dozen iterations of “undershooting - overshooting” - and here it is, the long-awaited hit!

Microsoft Excel can do this adjustment for you, faster and more accurately. To do this, click the “What If Analysis” button on the “Data” tab and select the “Parameter Selection” command (Insert → What If Analysis → Goal Seek). In the window that appears, specify the cell where you want to select the desired value, the desired result and the input cell that should change. After clicking “OK,” Excel will perform up to 100 “shots” to find the total you require with an accuracy of 0.001.

A book by Excel guru John Walkenbach. A weighty Talmud that makes no sense to read from cover to cover - refer to it as a reference for any questions. That’s exactly what, for everyone (well, almost) - a very wide coverage of topics. There's even a section on macro basics to give you a basic understanding of them. Formulas and graphs are discussed in detail.

It should be noted that Walkenbach makes such books for each version. 2007, 2010 and 2013 are not so different from each other, and I still get by with the book based on the 2010 version.

In the Russian edition, the 2010 version is made on slightly worse paper, but with higher quality screenshots.

I would like to note the great work of the Russian publishers of Walkenbach’s books - they localized all the examples and files.

This book is better executed than the User's Bible. Nice paper and illustrations.

Suitable if you already know the basics and want to delve deeper into pivot tables, formulas, and data analysis. The book contains examples and detailed descriptions of basic Excel functions, array formulas, complex and little-known formulas (for example, RAZNDAT, which is not in the function wizard and in the auto-completion list - it can only be entered manually if you know about it) and - what, perhaps, the most valuable thing is advanced formulas created from several functions (such as, for example, a formula that allows you to find the occurrence of some text in a cell -)

Although short basics of Excel are given here too - so if you are not a complete beginner, you can skip the first book in favor of this one.

Some examples of useful formulas from the book:

Formula to calculate the quarter number by date:

=ROUNDUP (MONTH(A1)/3,0)

Counting the number of unique values in an interval (array formula):

(=SUM(1/COUNTIF(Interval,Interval)))

Search for the closest value in a range (we look for the number closest to “Target” from the “Data” array)

(=INDEX(Data,MATCH(SMALL(ABS(Target-Data),1),ABS(Target-Data),0)))

Effect of alternating lines in conditional formatting:

Create a condition for the formula:

=REMAT(ROW();2)=0

and paint the cells with the desired color.

There are hundreds of such examples in the book. My copy was covered in sticky notes, highlighting interesting and useful ideas.

The best Excel book for those involved in analysis, statistics, reporting, and working with large arrays.

The most complete and high-quality guide to creating macros in Excel. She came to the rescue in many situations, and was very helpful in creating complex projects in VBA (a la the automatic creation of analytical reports in Word based on management reporting in Excel).

Included with the book, the author offers files with all the examples discussed in it. There are a lot of them. This is invaluable material that allows you to quickly learn how to write macros in practice, combining the “poke method” with information from the book.

By the way, there are the same example files for the first two books in this review.

95% of the time I can find the answer to an Excel question in one of these three books by Walkenbach. His books are larger and more expensive than the countless “self-teaching books” on the market. But it’s better to invest in them once and have high-quality information at hand than to be fooled by the apparent simplicity of a tutorial that promises quick and fundamental mastery of the material :)

This book is for those who love the format of “life hacks” and ready-made solutions.

Excel, unlike the first book on the list, is not suitable for fundamental mastery, but it is highly likely to help you quickly solve your current work problem. The book contains 100 tips such as “How to make two charts the same size,” “Detecting extra spaces,” and “Removing minus signs from negative numbers.”

I note that the VBA language changes little and does not depend on versions. For a long time I used the book “Excel 2003. Professional programming in VBA” and only when the 2013 version was released I acquired a new edition. So in the case of this book, don’t let the 2010 in the title confuse you.

There are tons of useful articles and video tutorials. By the way, the author of this site has his own book with ready-made techniques and solutions. And it is offered with example files. I recommend.

If you've never used a spreadsheet to create documents before, we recommend reading our guide to Excel for Dummies.

You'll then be able to create your first spreadsheet with tables, graphs, math formulas, and formatting.

Detailed information about the basic functions and capabilities of the table processor.

Description of the main elements of the document and instructions for working with them in our material.

By the way, to work more efficiently with Excel tables, you can familiarize yourself with our material.

Working with cells. Filling and formatting

Before taking specific actions, you need to understand the basic element of any .

An Excel file consists of one or several sheets divided into small cells.

A cell is a basic component of any Excel report, table or graph. Each cell contains one block of information. This could be a number, date, monetary amount, unit of measurement, or other data format.

To fill out a cell, simply click on it with the pointer and enter the required information.

To edit a previously filled cell, double-click on it.

Rice. 1 – example of filling cells

Each cell on the sheet has its own unique address. Thus, you can carry out calculations or other operations with it.

When you click on a cell, a field will appear at the top of the window with its address, name and formula (if the cell is involved in any calculations).

Select the cell “Share of shares”. Its location address is A3. This information is indicated in the properties panel that opens. We can also see the content.

This cell has no formulas, so they are not shown.

More cell properties and functions that can be applied to it are available in the context menu.

Click on the cell with the right mouse button.

A menu will open with which you can format the cell, analyze the contents, assign a different value, and other actions.

Rice. 2 – context menu of the cell and its main properties

Sorting data

Often users are faced with the task of sorting data on a sheet in Excel. This feature helps you quickly select and view only the data you need from the entire table.

It’s already in front of you (we’ll figure out how to create it further in the article). Imagine that you need to sort data for January in ascending order.

How would you do it? Simply retyping a table is extra work, and if it is large, no one will do it.

There is a special function for sorting in Excel. The user is only required to:

Select a table or block of information;
Open the “Data” tab;
Click on the “Sorting” icon;

Rice. 3 – “Data” tab

In the window that opens, select the table column on which we will carry out actions (January).
Next is the sorting type (we group by value) and, finally, the order - ascending.
Confirm the action by clicking on "OK".

Rice. 4 – setting sorting parameters

The data will be sorted automatically:

Rice. 5 – the result of sorting the numbers in the “January” column

Similarly, you can sort by color, font and other parameters.

Mathematical calculations

The main advantage of Excel is the ability to automatically carry out calculations while filling out the table. For example, we have two cells with values 2 and 17. How can we enter their result into the third cell without doing the calculations ourselves?

To do this, you need to click on the third cell in which the final result of the calculations will be entered.

Then click on the function icon f(x) as shown in the image below.

In the window that opens, select the action you want to apply. SUM is the sum, AVERAGE is the average, and so on.

A complete list of functions and their names in the Excel editor can be found on the official Microsoft website.

We need to find the sum of two cells, so click on “SUM”.

Rice. 6 – select the “SUM” function

There are two fields in the function arguments window: “Number 1” and “Number 2”. Select the first field and click on the cell with the number “2”.

Its address will be written into the argument line.

Click on “Number 2” and click on the cell with the number “17”. Then confirm the action and close the window.

If you need to perform mathematical operations with three or more cells, simply continue entering the argument values in the Number 3, Number 4, and so on fields.

If the value of the summed cells changes in the future, their sum will be updated automatically.

Rice. 7 – result of calculations

Creating tables

You can store any data in Excel tables.

Using the quick setup and formatting function, it is very easy to organize a personal budget control system, a list of expenses, digital data for reporting, etc. in the editor.

They have an advantage over a similar option in other office programs.

Here you have the opportunity to create a table of any size. The data is easy to fill out. There is a function panel for editing content.

In addition, the finished table can be integrated into a docx file using the usual copy-paste function.

To create a table, follow the instructions:

Open the Insert tab. On the left side of the options panel, select Table. If you need to consolidate any data, select the “Pivot Table” item;
Using the mouse, select the space on the sheet that will be allocated for the table. And also you can enter the location of the data in the element creation window;
Click OK to confirm the action.

Rice. 8 – creating a standard table

To format the appearance of the resulting sign, open the contents of the designer and in the “Style” field, click on the template you like.

If desired, you can create your own view with a different color scheme and cell highlighting.

Rice. 9 – table formatting

Result of filling the table with data:

Rice. 10 – completed table

For each table cell, you can also configure the data type, formatting, and information display mode. The designer window contains all the necessary options for further configuration of the sign, based on your requirements.

In order to understand how to use this program, you need to consider EXCEL formulas with examples.

If you place the mouse cursor on any cell and click on the “select function” item, the function wizard appears.

With its help, you can find the required formula as quickly as possible. To do this, you can enter its name and use the category.

Excel is very convenient and easy to use. All functions are divided into categories. If the category of the required function is known, then its selection is carried out according to it.

If the function is unknown to the user, he can set the category “full alphabetical list”.

For example, the task is given to find the SUMIFS function. To do this, you need to go to the category of mathematical functions and find the one you need there.

VLOOKUP function

Using the VLOOKUP function, you can extract the necessary information from tables. The essence of vertical scanning is to find the value in the leftmost column of a given range.

After which the total value is returned from the cell, which is located at the intersection of the selected row and column.

The calculation of VLOOKUP can be seen using the example which contains a list of names. The task is to find the last name using the given number.

Using the VLOOKUP function

The formula shows that the first argument of the function is cell C1.

The second argument A1:B10 is the range in which the search is carried out.

The third argument is the ordinal number of the column from which the result should be returned.

Calculate a given last name using the VLOOKUP function

In addition, you can search for a surname even if some serial numbers are missing.

If you try to find a last name from a non-existent number, the formula will not give an error, but will give the correct result.

Searching for a last name with missing numbers

This phenomenon is explained by the fact that the VLOOKUP function has a fourth argument, with which you can set interval viewing.

It has only two meanings - “false” or “true”. If the argument is not specified, it is set to true by default.

Rounding numbers using functions

The program functions allow you to perform exact rounding of any fractional number up or down.

And the resulting value can be used in calculations in other formulas.

Numbers are rounded using the ROUNDUP formula. To do this, you need to fill in the cell.

The first argument is 76.375 and the second is 0.

Round a number using a formula

In this case, the number was rounded up. To round the value down, select the ROUND DOWN function.

Rounding occurs to the nearest whole number. In our case, up to 77 or 76.

Excel helps simplify any calculations. Using a spreadsheet you can complete higher mathematics assignments.

The program is most actively used by designers, entrepreneurs, and students.

The whole truth about Microsoft Excel 2007 formulas

EXCEL formulas with examples - Instructions for use

It might be useful to read: