I know, I know…but sometimes it’s just easier.

Here are some basic things which are handy to know in Excel.

Pivot Tables

Select the rows / columns you want, and go to Insert > Pivot Table. Then logically put the columns in appropriate data categories. For a more detailed description see this tutorial by Microsoft.

Filtering Data

Filter all columns in a sheet? Select the first cell with data and go to Data > Filter. Seriously, it’s that easy.

Highlight Non-NULL Cells

Example of how to highlight non-blank cells in column A.

  1. Go to Home > Conditional Formatting > New Rule.
  2. Select “Use a formula to determine which cells to format”`
  3. Enter the formula =NOT(ISBLANK($A1))
  4. Configure your desired formatting (i.e. fill yellow)
  5. Click Okay
  6. Change “Applies to” to your column =$A:$A
  7. Click Apply