Excel suggestions, assistance, guidance request

So I transferred to a new company facility, appears many areas communicate via spreadsheet's ( ie;Microsoft excel ).
Looking for guidance on where / how to get the basic knowledge to ...enter text and be able to "fit" into the rows / columns ….sort out common "duplicates", "size" or "set " the prints area.

Thank you all in advance for your assistance.

steven ✉
Jan '19

Any library has Excel books or you can check this website - https://excelexposure.com/

Lena ✉
Jan '19

Um --- Microsoft ---

https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/excel-for-windows-training-9bc05390-e94c-46af-a5b3-d7c22f6990bb

trekster3~ ✉
Jan '19

Go on Ebay and get the book Excel for Dummies...Seriously....these books are great for learning new programs..

joyful ✉
Jan '19

Open Excel. In the upper top right you can ask a question there.

Or
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_excel-mso_windows8?sort=LastReplyDate&dir=Desc&tab=All&status=all&mod=&modAge=&advFil=&postedAfter=&postedBefore=&threadType=all&isFilterExpanded=false&page=1

Nerd ✉
Jan '19

Keep in mind there is usually more than one way to do things, the ribbon, menu options,keyboard shortcuts etc.
Here are some basic tips that apply to all versions of Excel-

1. F2 key- click on a cell use F2 to get a cursor to edit that cell.
2. Word wrap- select an entire column or row (click on the number or the letter) or just one cell. From the 'File' menu at the top you can choose Wrap text from the ribbon. Or click Ctrl +1 to get the format cells window to open, you can make various changes from here not just word wrap.
2. Alt +enter if you are entering text and need to start a new row within the same cell, this acts as a return key.
3. Resizing- hover over the line between 2 columns or 2 rows. When you see a solid black line going north/south crossed by a solid black arrow going east/west you can drag to resize the column. When the arrow is going north/south you can resize a row.
4. Size to fit- If you want to resize all of you cells to fit the text and get rid of extra space, click the top left corner to select the entire worksheet. Hover over one of the row dividers, get the cursor as described in #3, double click to resize all rows. Same can be done with columns by hovering over a row divider.
5. The Page Layout option from the top ribbon has options for printing layout.
6. Tabs at the bottom are for individual worksheets in the same file. Right click on the tab to rename it, delete it, or get an option to insert a new worksheet in that same file.
7. Handy keyboard shortcuts- ctrl + c to copy, ctrl + v to paste.

hktownie ✉
Jan '19

I used Mr. Excel often, like 10 minutes ago, usually very helpful. YouTube also has some great videos.

Bentley
Jan '19

Warren County offers a boot camp that may be worth your time & $$ to help advance you career wise.

Walking Girl ✉
Jan '19

Try lynda.com. Basic to advanced online courses. Move at your own pace. They do charge a fee, I think about $25/mo.

BobL ✉
Jan '19

Wow, Steven, I hope the clock's wrong on your last post. Way toooo early.... Hope Excel tutorials aren't keeping you up :>)

The last update for Excel was radical enough that this old Excel user became a new user again not being able to do what he wants, when he wants..... I have gone backwards...… Hate the help feature IF it connects to the sever to respond. Like having help on Lithium it takes so long..... I usually end up googling for help.

I love the little paintbrush icon thingeee. Highlight a cell, click on the paintbrush and the next cell you click on will copy the first cell's format. Let's you paste formats from cell to cell(s). HOWEVER, only one use per occurrence. You can't keep pasting and pasting the same format over and over like with copy/paste/pasteagain. You have to start over again each time. But I use that a lot in text formatting especially in sheet with multiple cell formats, shadings, gridlines.

The other is, as noted, there are many ways to do a single thing. However, most of us adopt our favorite method over time. There is a customizable Quick Access Toolbar that can be displayed below the menu, You can add your favorite menu items as icons for quick access. So as you arrive on your favorite methods, with your favorite menu icons, you can put them in one quick access menu to zip you along your spreadsheet correction or modification. Can make you faster, stronger, better, than the other office dweebs. I standardly include "row delete," "row add," "print area select," "print," and "save," in this area which serves my needs.

Now if you really want to blow them away, learn to embed your spreadsheets in Powerpoint slides so you can annotate them with overarching bullet points. Surefire audience pleaser. :>)

strangerdanger ✉
Jan '19

StrangerDanger - You can use that "paintbrush icon thingee" (Format Painter) multiple times. The trick is instead of clicking the paintbrush once, double click it. Then your paintbrush will keep doing it. If you forget that trick just hover your mouse over the paintbrush. The pop up help says "Double click this button ...".

GC ✉
Jan '19

SD,
Yes , I am up that early , actually about a 1/2 hour sooner ( coffee and e-mails )

I do appreciate all the tips , they are helpful and many of immediate use.

Thanks Again !

steven ✉
Jan '19

is there an easy way to change text to fit within a column / row ?

steven ✉
Jan '19

Steven - if your text is too long to be displayed in the column, you can increase the size of this particular column. Drag the boundary on the right side of the column heading until the column is the width that you want. Or double click for automatic resizing to fit.

Lena ✉
Jan '19