View source for MS Excel tips and tricks

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== Introduction ==

Even with tons of help files to Microsoft Excel it is still nice to keep a page with tips and tricks accumulated over the years. Everyone are more than welcome to add their favorite Excel tips and tricks on this page.

== List of useful shortcut keys  ==

Some shortcut keys can really speedup the way you are working with Excel, below is a list of some very useful Excel shortcut keys. 

{| class="CGTable" border="1"
|-
! Key combination 
! Description 
! Version
|-
| F2 
| Edit the contents of a cell 
| All
|-
| Ctrl + 
| Add cells, columns or rows, depending on selection 
| All
|-
| Ctrl - 
| Delete cells, columns, or rows, depending on selection 
| All
|-
| Ctrl L 
| Convert an area to a table, Excel will suggest the area used if only one cell is selected 
| 2007
|-
| Ctrl C 
| Copy selected cells 
| All
|-
| Ctrl Alt V 
| This will bring up the paste special menu, which allows you to paste as values, formulas, with formatting intact etc. 
| All
|-
| Ctrl Page Up 
| Move to the previous sheet in the workbook 
| All
|-
| Ctrl Page Down 
| Move to the next sheet in the workbook 
| All
|-
| Ctrl H 
| Search and replace dialog will be shown 
| All
|-
| Ctrl F 
| Search dialog will be shown 
| All
|-
| Ctrl SPACE
| Select the current column
| All
|-
| Shift SPACE
| Select the current row
| All
|}

== Tips and tricks ==

=== A fast way to convert text to numbers ===

If you have a cell, column, or row containing numbers represented as text, then here is a very fast way to convert text to number:

# Select the cells you want to convert and copy them using Ctrl C
# Open your favorite text editor (TextPad, UltraEdit, or Notepad++ to mention a few) and press Ctrl V
# Notice how the values from the cells appear tab separated in the text document
# Press Ctrl A to select the contents of the text document and Ctrl C to copy
# Return to Excel, place the cell marker in the top left corner of your selected area and press Ctrl V
# Any number that was previously represented as text will not appear as numbers

Notice that decimal numbers might cause some troubles depending on the localization you are using.

=== Alternative usages of Excel ===

[[Category:Production_guidelines]]