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Creative Ways to use Excel

February 9, 2011 by Leave a Comment
A spreadsheet of my construction showing how n...

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Okay, so you may know the basics about Excel; how to use spreadsheets, how to calculate your budget, how to make a list of potential clients with phone numbers and addresses.

What you do not know comes in the way of creation and less on the technical side of counting it all up. And what is out there may surprise you.

Here’s a list to get you going:

  1. Make a “story web” to help organize your thoughts for your next school paper or business project.
  2. Create a quiz. A great step-by-step instruction list can be found here: http://www.ehow.com/how_2257544_create-quiz-excel.html.
  3. Use Smart Art. Make a family tree. Genealogy or family history is all the rage now and encourages family members of all ages to search out their ancestors.
  4. Draw freehand. Choose “scribble” or “curve” from a list of choices. Use your freehand drawing in a power point presentation or slide show.
  5. Import pictures from two sources, either from Clipart Gallery or from Pictures. Use these photos to create your own poster gallery or for use on presentation day.
  6. Create a review came for your class with the Classroom Jeopardy Template. Content can be changed within the template to suit the subject matter.
  7. Create a crossword puzzle. Use it for classroom study or for family fun or learning time. When the last time you found a puzzle that had you find all the reasons to keep a room clean, or what steps are included in the cleaning process, for example?
  8. Synthesize some music. Notes are plotted on a spreadsheet and an instrument is chosen. Hours of fun and learning!
  9. Play Battleship or Stones of Power. Excel offers about 15 games to choose from. Get a list of them here: http://www.clickonf5.org/freebies/14-cool-games-play-microsoft-excel/6251.
  10. Calculate your driving time and distance. Watch this YouTube video to learn how: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPbR92aMB-8.
  11. Learning more about zip codes. Track your customers, find zip codes within a particular radius, and profile your customers using demographic data.

When it comes to being creative in Excel, the options are endless. The biggest problem? Knowing what to try first!

Filed Under: Excel, Microsoft Tagged With: , , , ,

Learning Excel—Getting Past the Fear

February 8, 2011 by Leave a Comment

You’re trying to learn Excel but, so far, it’s outrunning you. How do you begin to understand all the formulas? How and when do you input what? When will you get to the fun stuff?

Numbers, and the terrible addition of formulas, has some of us who are less math conscious running around in circles. We don’t learn the stuff because we can’t get past the numbers. And because everything, or so it seems, is written numerically, we can’t learn the stuff.

But what if things were made simple, almost as easy as eating say, your next Hostess Twinkie?

Here’s some help:

  • See yourself working through your first Excel sheet with no difficulty. Keep this in mind as you work through the process of learning.
  • Get over the “I can’t do math” thoughts. Think positive.
  • Use the tutorials provided by Excel rather than thinking you can learn on your own through trial and error. Tutorials help you maneuver through trial and error. Or get some from your neighbor or best friend. See if they can spend a few hours tutoring you.
  • Monitor your progress. Take yourself out for a treat when certain hurdles are reached; eat that Twinkie.
  • In every program there are learning cycles in which a new concept, understood, builds upon another. Learn one skill before tackling the more difficult one.
  • How do you learn? Knowing if you are a visual, verbal or kinesthetic learner will assist you deciding upon the best option or combination of options.
  • Manage your time. Don’t spend the entire day on the computer learning Excel; you will be burned out before you know it.
  • If you don’t know something, ask. Remember when you were in elementary school and were afraid to raise your hand because you thought you’d ask a stupid question? No more of that. Ask.

Understanding anything comes easier with practice, so don’t be afraid to practice until you get it right. The fun stuff can actually be experienced NOW, during your journey, if you remember the helps above.

Filed Under: Excel, Internet Tagged With: , , , ,

Use Excel for your Next Business Meeting

February 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Business meetings may be all the rage—isn’t everyone having them? Problem is, not many folks like them, though they feel the need to attend them.

Here’s how to make your next meeting interesting, fun and successful using Excel.

  • Rather than becoming a talking head of numbers, do a quick go over of your seasonal sales using an Excel spreadsheet. Make sure you add Sources and Uses information to the spreadsheet making the presentation more interesting to your employees.
  • When talking inventory, go over the inventory management sheet. Visuals help others to understand and retain pertinent job information.
  • Pass out a calendar at the meeting using excel calendar. A great step by step tutorial on creating a calendar without using MACROs can be found here: http://www.advanced-excel.com/excel_calendar.html.
  • Use Excel Pivot Table to show off stock movement. View it by day, month or year.
  • Put together a survey through Excel that offers your employees an opportunity to express their concerns and ideas without necessarily having to have to put their name on paper.
  • Change or modify your spreadsheet, personalizing it for your specific needs and employee interests.
  • Instead of showing pertinent numbers previously calculated within your power point presentation, calculate important numbers during the meeting. This has a dramatic effect on listeners, and lets them know that you haven’t modified any of the numbers.
  • Make charts using Excel formulas. Logicalexpressions.com has some step-by-step instructions.
  • Try the interactive map. “Interactive map” means, in this case, “interactive image,” and should not be confused with an actual map. Paste pictures, drawings, and graphics, add text, and keep the crowd interested.
  • Build a game. Use the game as the half-way point or use it to explain the newest trends in your business. A great example can be found here, http://www.exceleverest.com/blog/category/Strange-Uses-of-Excel.aspx plus other “wacky” projects you can put together using Excel.

Excel truly extends beyond spread sheets and it’s nice to know that you’re no longer limited—and that’s great when you can get almost everything you need for your next business presentation from one key source.

Filed Under: Excel, Internet Tagged With: , , , , ,

Tablet PCs and Accessories

January 11, 2011 by Leave a Comment

The new rage in computers is the Tablet PC. The Tablet PC is a popular item and computer manufacturers are developing new Tablets that will hit the market in the next six months. For many, the novelty has already worn off. The Tablet PC was simply the next new toy that everyone had to have.

Fans of the Tablet PC are finding that it is a bit inconvenient. The idea of having a touch keyboard on the screen seemed a great idea at first. However, many have discovered it is difficult reading long emails when the keyboard uses up half your screen. While this idea seemed innovative at the time, it is really not functional and can become tedious.

Many Tablet PC owners became envious of traditional lap top users. The laptop is far more comfortable to use especially when traveling and waiting around in airports. To use the Tablet, you have to hold it in your hands or put it on your lap. The neck strain is unbearable.

Now there are accessories available to make the Tablet PC more functional. If you have a Tablet PC, you can purchase an external keyboard. You can also purchase a stand for your Tablet PC. Using the stand to prop up the Tablet makes the configuration similar to a laptop. There is also a case available that folds open like a laptop. The Tablet PC is on one side of the case and the keyboard is on the opposite side.

Tablet PCs seemed like a great idea and the accessories make the Tablet PC easier to use. The accessories make the Tablet PC more like a laptop. You would think consumers would just buy a lap top instead of going through so much trouble to make the Tablet PC like a laptop.

Filed Under: Excel Tagged With:

Three Methods to Learn Microsoft Excel

January 4, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Excel is one of Microsoft’s top software products. A few years ago, spreadsheets were only used in certain areas of business. As Excel became popular and Microsoft developed the software with more functionality, it seems everyone uses Excel. Many businesses use Excel to create company documents and forms. It seems everyone likes to see information displayed on a spreadsheet. For those that are just beginning to learn Excel, the learning process is quite challenging.

You first have to decide how much of Excel you want to learn. You can choose to learn simple Excel basics such as creating a spreadsheet and calculations. Once you determine how far into Excel you want to go, you can choose one of three methods to learn Excel.

If you want to learn Excel on your own, you will find hundreds of books on the subject. Excel is a software program that requires a great deal of practice to become proficient. You will want to choose a book that includes numerous practice exercises. You also want to choose a book that has a quick-guide reference section. These sections are nice to have in case you forget how to use a particular function.

Another more popular method for self-learning is Excel software tutorials. This is a great way to learn Excel on your own. Again, you want to make sure the tutorial offers plenty of practice exercises. You also want to make sure the program contains beginner, intermediate and expert levels.

The best method to learn Excel is to take continuing education classes at your local college. The classes are affordable and you have the benefit of having an instructor. If you have questions, you are able to get immediate answers from the instructor. You are given plenty of practice assignments to become proficient with Excel. You can start with the beginner’s course and work your way up.

With the right learning tools and practice, you will become proficient.

Filed Under: Excel, Microsoft Tagged With: , , , , ,

Any Task, Any Time: Excel

December 28, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Microsoft Excel 2007
Image by Erik Eckel via Flickr

It’s an easy dismissal, a casual shrug — computers aren’t essential to your daily demands, the familial duties; you don’t devote yourself to studying a screen, learning the endless lines of codes and calculations. All efforts online are instead minimal. You are not reliant on a system. You are not dependent on spreadsheets and software accomplishments. All attempts are rooted firmly in the ordinary…. and you prefer it that way.

Excel therefore is not a program that should appeal. You can think of no reasons to use it. It’s a too complex application, demanding far more time than you’re willing to give. It can offer no rewards, you’re certain. There will only be frustration, the technological woes.

This is incorrect.

While Excel is — undeniably — used as a way to understand statistics and business trends, it can also become a benefit for far simpler tasks. There is no requirement for complicated mathematics. Each document can instead be an organization of the data that dominates your life. Domesticity can be explained in numbers.

Maintain all of your addresses, emails and other contact information (creating spreadsheets to contain them all). Chart out your family’s schedule, highlighting each day of the week. Detail all of your utility bills, tracking the yearly costs and noting each month’s intake of electricity and water. Create shopping lists and reminders. And even examine your budget through careful graphs, learning all of the new ways to save money.

The possibilities Excel offers are far greater than simple percentages. They instead can be applied to all elements of life; and the software doesn’t require extensive knowledge of computers or statistics. It can instead be used by anyone — including you.

Allow Excel to redefine your opinion of spreadsheets and charts. Use its many functions to plan your hours more efficiently: saving time, energy and concern. No task is too small and no need is too common.

Excel enables them all to instead be relevant.

Filed Under: Excel, Software, Tips Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Naming Worry: Excel

December 26, 2010 by Leave a Comment

It’s the quick search for a name, the desire for a file. An afternoon has lingered too long, forcing you to remain within a cubicle — surrounded to statistics and the projection of dollars, calculating the trends of the year. Numbers are beginning to blur, however. You want only to escape them. And so you hurriedly look for a tab, know that it will contain the information you need (the final piece of this all too tedious puzzle). But, as you select it, you receive a sudden… error.

Excel will not open the document. It declares instead that it can’t, that the name is already in use. You frown, surprised by this. Your current spreadsheet doesn’t share the same title. There should be no conflict therefore.

The complication isn’t found in the file identity, however. It instead is tucked in one of the cells: you used the same phrase within your sheet; and Excel now cannot distinguish between the two. It instead assumes your command to already be complete, and a new document merely confuses.

A new name must be offered — and a rule must be learned.

Excel offers obvious convenience. Its ability to organize (and process) information could never be denied. But that information must still be labeled as separate entities. There can be no repetition of phrases, no use of the same titles. The program is meant to offer specificity and that becomes impossible when documents contain duplicated data.

It is essential therefore that users take note of their cells, making certain that they do not use the same names for other spreadsheets. Be distinctive instead to avoid any complications — as well as that dreaded error sign.

This is not, despite what so many claim, an inconvenience. It is simply a demand for precision; and those who must rely on Excel for their work should be able to offer it.

Remember the names. Remember the numbers. Do not confuse the two.

Filed Under: Excel, Software, Tips Tagged With: , , ,

Compatibility Found: Excel

December 25, 2010 by Leave a Comment

It has been a sacrifice of quality, a barter of software — systems have never complemented each other, have never offered relief. All programs have instead been disparate, demanding that you choose one and avoid all others. Companies have forever battled, trying to siphon away all profits, all interests. And you’ve been without convenience for decades. There was no compatibility. There was no ease. You were forced instead to choose a platform that never fully satisfied you, unable to offer all of the applications you craved (they were limited by their manufacturers, unable to be properly supported). A computer wasn’t complete. It was merely… ordinary.

Now, however, you’re seeking something more — and Excel allows you to have it.

Established first for the Macintosh system in 1985, Excel was a spreadsheet software that offered unique calculations and then impressive memory capabilities (those have, naturally, been increased throughout the years). It was heralded as an innovation, with many wishing to indulge in its programs. But there was a concern for this: it was intended only for Mac platforms. Certain users would therefore be denied the opportunity to explore its prowess, it was believed.

Such a belief was incorrect.

A mere two years later the Excel 2.0 was launched — for Windows. Suddenly the two most popular systems of the world were able to be connected, sharing a program that enabled numbers to be fully understood. Individuals no longer had to refuse the spreadsheet ease. They could instead conquer it, no matter what system they favored. Success was achieved.

And it has continued.

As of 2010, Excel can still be applied to both Macintosh and Windows: marking it uncommon among programs. Few ideas have offered such malleability, with companies trying still to flood the market with separate software and codes. This application, however, can be offered to the major platforms — and that ensures support for all.

Compatibility has finally been found and it will always remain.

Filed Under: Excel, General, Internet, Software Tagged With: , , , ,

The Ease of Assistance

December 23, 2010 by Leave a Comment

The world is defined to technology: each day offers a new discovery of machines and software, the virtual ease. Progress is a common thing, proven with every instant. And it bounds in to every home, found in computers and their programming. It’s familiar. It’s accepted. It’s… utterly baffling to you.

You’ve never understood the subtleties of screens, the keyboard commands. All attempts to master systems have instead been met with failure. Windows confuses. Macintosh disappoints. And Linux is a notion you can’t even consider (with far too many calls for codes and source manipulation). You simply can’t comprehend the necessary programs — even Excel.

It’s become a necessity for your career, the use of calculations and clever cells. But you fumble with data; and you hesitate with sparklines. There’s no recognition of the patterns or trends. Instead you merely glare at a monitor, wondering when paper and ink became so obsolete (and if you could bring them back to the public consciousness).

Such actions aren’t required, however. You merely instead must seek help.

Excel is among the most widely used programs in the world. Its ability to connect users of any systems brands it ideal for transferring information and enabling quick edits. All individuals can take advantage of it. And those same individuals can also provide you with assistance.

There are endless tutorials, forums and FAQ pages available for Excel. The infinite possibilities it offers has caused a sudden demand for support — with Microsoft, Macintosh and casual users all providing relevant content. The Internet is flooded to questions and answers, explanations and walk-throughs. And these will allow you to discover all of the information you need to master the program. Comprehensive guides are available, detailing each step and enabling you to learn at your own pace. You merely need to search for them.

Excel is not the horror you have imagined. It merely requires support — and this is all too easy to find.

Filed Under: Excel, Microsoft, Software, Tips Tagged With: , , ,

Beginners Fortune: Excel

December 21, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Screenshot-Microsoft Excel - Book1
Image by Collin Anderson via Flickr

There once was a time when numbers were mastered by hand — when all statistics were drawn on paper and all budgets were tamed with ink. There was a reliance of pencils and eraser smudges, the careful ruler lines. And all reports were shoved into cabinets, left to claim space and eventual dust.

Such times are gone now, however. They’ve been replaced to practicality. With the introduction of Excel, users can radically change the way they compile information: keeping it relevant and organized through the use of cells and spreadsheets. The possibilities become endless and easy… even for those who have never before attempted them.

Too often is it assumed that Excel (and other mathematical programs) are too complex. Beginners fear they will never master them, are unwilling to even try. They become overwhelmed by the potential and refuse to indulge in it. Numbers, they believe, can’t be conquered through computers.

But they can — and Excel makes it simple.

Widely regarded as one of the most accessible software available, Excel allows even the most inexperienced users to learn its practices. The applications are straightforward, lacking the complicated commands many would expect. All tools are clearly defined. All functions are necessary. The design is tailored to the expectations of the individual, with an emphasis on convenience. You are meant to take advantage of this program, not to simply let it remain idle on your screen.

And — to offer a further guarantee — Excel features a comprehensive FAQ section. There beginners will find all of the terms, definitions and explanations they need to succeed. Instinctive engines even allow the software to guess which facts will most help you (enabling you to avoid those long searches and misunderstandings). You will never be without aid.

The world is changing: technology is no longer a pastime; it’s instead a necessity. By using Excel, however, you can also brand it a comfort.

Transform from novice to expert with ease.

Filed Under: Excel, Tips Tagged With: , , , ,
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