Real Excel power users know these

11 tricks
There are two kinds of Microsoft Excel users in the world: Those who make neat little
tables, and those who amaze their colleagues with sophisticated charts, data analysis, and
seemingly magical formula and macro tricks. You, obviously, are one of the latteror are
you? Check our list of 11 essential Excel skills to prove itor discreetly pick up any you
might have missed.
Vlookup
Vlookup is the power tool every Excel user should know. It helps you herd data that's
scattered across different sheets and workbooks and bring those sheets into a central
location to create reports and summaries.

vlookup helps you find information in large data tables such as inventory lists.
Say you work with products in a retail store. Each product typically has a unique inventory
number. You can use that as your reference point for Vlookups. The Vlookup formula
matches that ID to the corresponding ID in another sheet, so you can pull information like
an item description, price, inventory levels and other data points into your current workbook.
Summon the vlookup formula in the formula menu and enter the cell that contains your
reference number. Then enter the range of cells in the sheet or workbook from which you
need to pull data, the column number for the data point youre looking for, and either True
(if you want the closest reference match) or False (if you require an exact match).
Creating charts
To create a chart, enter data into Excel with column headers, then select Insert > Chart >
Chart Type. Excel 2013 even includes a Recommended Charts section with layouts based
on the type of data youre working with. Once the generic version of that chart is created, go
to the Chart Tools menus to customize it. Don't be afraid to play around in herethere are
a surprising number of options.

Excel 2013 includes Recommended Charts with layouts based on the type of data you're
working with.
"If" formulas
IF and IFERROR are the two most useful IF formulas in Excel. The IF formula lets you use
conditional formulas that calculate one way when a certain thing is true, and another way
when false. For example, you can identify students who scored 80 points or higher by
having the cell report Pass if the score in column C is above 80, and Fail if its 79 or
below.

"If" formulas let you pull in just the data you need.
IFERROR is a variant of the IF Formula. It lets you return a certain value (or a blank value)
if the formula youre trying to use returns an error. If youre doing a Vlookup to another
sheet or table, for example, the IFERROR formula can render the field blank if the reference
is not found.
PivotTables
PivotTables are essentially summary tables that let you count, average, sum, and perform
other calculations according to the reference points you enter. Excel 2013
addedRecommended PivotTables, making it even easier to create a table that displays the
data you need.
To create a PivotTable manually, ensure your data is titled appropriately, then go
to Insert> PivotTable and select your data range. The top half of right-hand-side bar that
appears has all your available fields, and the bottom half is the area you use to generate the
table.

PivotTables are a summarization tool that let you perform calculations according to the
reference points you enter.
For example, to count the number of passes and fails, put your Pass/Fail column into
theRow Labels tab, then again into the Values section of your PivotTable. It will usually
default to the correct summary type (count, in this case), but you can choose among many
other functions in the Values dropdown box. You can also create subtables that summarize
data by categoryfor example, Pass/Fail numbers by gender.
PivotChart
Part PivotTable, part traditional Excel chart, PivotCharts let you quickly and easily look at
complex data sets in an easy-to-digest way. PivotCharts have many of the same functions
as traditional charts, with data series, categories, and the like, but they add interactive filters
so you can browse through data subsets.

PivotCharts help you easily digest complex data.
Excel 2013 added Recommended Pivot Charts, which can be found under
theRecommended Chartsicon in the Charts area of the Insert tab. You can preview a chart
by hovering your that option. You can also manually create PivotCharts by selecting
thePivotChart icon on the Insert tab..
Flash Fill
Easily the best new feature in Excel 2013, Flash Fill solves one of the most frustrating
problems of Excel: pulling needed pieces of information from a concatenated cell. When
youre working in a column with names in Last, First format, for example, you historically
had to either type everything out manually or create an often-complicated workaround.

Flash Fill can automtically add data formatted the way you want without using formulas.
In Excel 2013, you can now just type the first name of the first person in a field immediately
next to the one youre working on, click on Home > Fill > Flash Fill, and Excel will
automagically extract the first name from the remaining people in your table.
Quick analysis
Excel 2013s new Quick Analysis tool minimizes the time needed to create charts based on
simple data sets. Once you have your data selected, an icon appears in the bottom right
hand corner that, when clicked, brings up the Quick Analysis menu.

Quick Analysis speeds the process of working with simple data sets.
This menu provides tools like Formatting, Charts, Totals, Tables and Sparklines. Hovering
your mouse over each one generates a live preview.
Power View
Power View is an interactive data exploration and visualization tool that can pull and
analyze large quantities of data from external data files. Go to Insert > Reports in Excel
2013.

Power View creates interactive, presentation-ready reports.
Reports created with Power View are presentation-ready with reading and full-screen
presentation modes. You can even export an interactive version into PowerPoint. Several
tutorials on Microsofts site will help you become an expert in no time.
Conditional Formatting
For most tables, Excels extensive conditional formatting functionality lets you easily identify
data points of interest. Find this feature on the Home tab in the taskbar. Select the range of
cells you want to format, then click the Conditional Formatting dropdown. The features youll
use most often are in the Highlight Cells Rules submenu.

Conditional Formatting lets you easily highlight data points of interest.
For example, say youre scoring tests for your students and want to highlight in red those
whose scores dropped significantly. Using theLess Than conditional format, you can format
cells that are less than -20 (a 20-point drop) with the Red Text or Light Red Fill with Dark
Red Text function. You can create many different kinds of rules, with unlimited formats
available via the custom format function within each item.
Transposing columns into rows (and vice versa)
Sometimes youll be working with data formatted in columns and you really need it to be in
rows (or the other way around). Simply copy the row or column youd like to transpose, right
click on the destination cell and select Paste Special. A checkbox on the bottom of the
resulting popup window is labeled Transpose. Check the box and click OK. Excel will do the
rest.

The Paste Special feature transposes columns and rows.
Essential keyboard shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts are the best way to navigate cells or enter formulas more quickly.
Weve listed our favorites below.
Control + Down/Up Arrow = Moves to the top or bottom cell of the current column Control +
Left/Right Arrow = Moves to the cell furthest left or right in the current row
Control + Shift + Down/Up = Selects all the cells above or below the current cell
Shift + F11 = Creates a new blank worksheet within your workbook
F2 = opens the cell for editing in the formula bar
Control + Home = Navigates you to cell A1
Control + End = Navigates to the last cell that contains data
Alt + = will autosum the cells above the current cell
Excel is arguably one of the best programs ever made, and it has remained the gold
standard for nearly all businesses worldwide. But whether youre a newbie or a power user,
there's always something left to learn. Or do you think you've seen it all and done it all? Let
us know what we've missed in the comments.