16 Tips to save time in Excel

These tips to save time in Excel, in addition to being practical and simple, will help you do your work efficiently and in less time, so avoid repetitive tasks with these tips that we will show you.

As we have mentioned in previous articles, the Excel program is a very efficient tool that gives you a great advantage in the workplace. Excel is one of the most widely used applications at the industrial level, which allows you to capture projects, business plans, budgets and/or financial reports, among others.

Although at first, it may not seem easy to handle it, it is not as difficult as it seems. In fact, an Excel spreadsheet makes your life easier. Calculating and managing data using formulas in Excel requires certain skills, as well as certain types of multi-step jobs or repetitive tasks that will waste your time.

Maybe you’ve already run into small problems like trying to print multiple worksheets on one piece of paper, creating multiple lines in the same cell, resizing columns, auto-complete, saving, adding notes, and creating headers or templates regarding a format, among others.

Hopefully, you follow different techniques or methods to try to do it as well as possible and of course in less time. But yes, the purpose of using Excel is to make work practical and fast, and that is why it has several features, shortcuts, or certain steps that help you save time.

That is why we have prepared these tips that will help you eliminate those monotonous tasks and make way for effective work, well done and above all save your valuable time.

Tips to save time in Excel.

Use of templates

The use of templates in Excel can facilitate many tasks, since its usefulness ranges from project schedules, calendars, budgets, invoices, assistance forms, reports, and others. These pre-formats are a tool that, in addition to being very convenient, is one of the main tips to save time in Excel.

Obtaining and using them is very simple. When opening a new file in Excel, a series of formats are displayed that you can also modify or adapt according to your requirements. Also, on the Microsoft website you can find a variety of other templates and resources that can be very useful.

Calculate data quickly

You will not necessarily have to go to the autosum option to know the totality, average or count of data. In fact, there are very few people who can appreciate that in the “status bar” both the sum, the count and the average are displayed at the end of the spreadsheet.

Therefore, if you need to know this information quickly without including a formula or function, you will only have to select the numbers to calculate and the count values ​​you need will automatically appear.

Autocomplete

Let’s assume that you want to include a sequence of dates in a column, by using this function you will be able to quickly auto-complete this information. That is, when the cell is displayed, the sequence of the previous pattern that you have used will automatically appear. For example.

Number each line automatically

Just as you use the autocomplete function for dates or others, the automatic handle also serves to fill cells with data without having to do it manually. You will only have to enter at least the numbering in the first two data cells, highlight the series (that is, the numbers that you have entered in the cell), and in the lower right corner drag to expand the numbering to where you want.

In fact, the autocomplete identifier can also be used for custom lists, and also when using words, some nomenclatures, or certain abbreviations, not just for numbering.

Insert multiple columns and rows

No need to enter rows individually, to save Excel time and quickly add multiple rows and columns, just select the same number of rows or columns you want to enter, right-click inside the selection area, select “insert” and the amounts you need will automatically appear. For example.

Fix rows and columns

If you have a lot of information in your spreadsheet and you also have to scroll too much down/up or left to right, the “fix columns or rows” function is one of the great tips to save time in Excel and it will be very significant. for you.

Having to scroll every second to lose sight of the information (headers or others) is not pleasant and of course, it takes time. However, when you freeze the headers, rows or columns, you will notice that when you scroll up, down, to the right or left, they will remain fixed and visible, and of course, you will be able to scroll the information throughout the spreadsheet.

To do this, you will have to select the row or column to fix/freeze, enter “View” in the upper panel, then select “freeze” and then “freeze top row”. When moving the data through the “scroll” (wheel) of the mouse or in the right sidebar you will notice that the row remains fixed and the information/data is easily displayed.

To give the rows or columns mobility again, you will have to select the row or column again, do the same procedure and select “mobilize panels”.

Change the size of rows or columns

Resizing individual columns/rows so that the data can fit perfectly is time-consuming; however, if you’re one of those who like aesthetics and want to get the most data on a page, check out this tip.

Clicking on the top left corner (between columns and rows) will select the whole spreadsheet, then double-click between 2 columns, that way, it will automatically resize the whole spreadsheet. In the case of rows you must follow the same steps, but this time, in the last step, you will double-click between rows.

Use keyboard shortcuts, this is one of the most efficient tips to save time in Excel.

The “Ctrl” and “Alt” key provides you with many shortcuts, and of course its fast and efficient ways will make you complete tasks in less time.

to do this activity	Function
Close a book	Ctrl+W
Open a workbook.	Ctrl+O
Go to the “Home” tab.	Alt+H
Save a workbook.	Ctrl+S
Copy selection.	Ctrl+C
Paste selection.	Ctrl+V
Undo recent action.	Ctrl+Z
Delete the cell content.	Delete
Choose a fill color.	Alt+H,H
Select a cut area.	Ctrl+X
Go to the “Insert” tab	Alt+N
Apply bold formatting.	Ctrl+B
Center align cell content.	Alt+H,A,C
Go to the “Page Layout” tab.	Alt+P
Go to the “Data” tab.	Alt+A
Go to the “View” tab.	Alt+W
Open the context menu.	Shift+F10
Add borders.	Alt+H,B
Delete column.	Alt+H,D,C
Go to the “Formula” tab.	Alt+M
Hide selected rows.	Ctrl+9
Hide selected columns.	Ctrl+0

Transpose rows and columns

There is a simple process to follow if you want some headers in columns or rows to work in the opposite way, with this function you will not have to type one by one, but you can move all cells quickly. Follow these simple steps:

Select the cells that contain the headers of the rows or columns you want to modify.

Right-click and select copy, you can also copy in the home tab, then select the column or row where you want to insert the header.

Select the “paste” option in the home tab, a window will be displayed and you will click on “special paste”, then you will select the “transpose” option in the check box, and finally click on “OK”.

Enter multiple lines in a cell

On many occasions we need to enter a lot of information in the same cell, for this, we bring you a practical tip to save time in Excel.

It happens that when we are writing certain data, an email, for example, and we need to continue adding information, we press “Enter” but it happens that when we do that, it moves to the next cell. Well, so that this does not happen, you will press “Alt + Enter” so that the cursor moves to the next line, but always in the same cell.

Link tabs or cells

Creating a direct link promotes quick access to information in case your workbook contains multiple spreadsheets with cross data. In the same way, if other people access it, they will be able to have the data in less time.

Steps to follow:

Select the cell that has the data you want to link, then right-click and choose the “Hyperlink” option, although you can also do it in the general tab, with the “Insert” option.

Then, in the popup window, you select “Place in this document”, then you will enter the text to display in that cell, a specific cell reference and the spreadsheet in the workbook with the data to which it is being linked, then click accept and that’s it.

Use a name in formulas

Giving something a name to be able to identify or recognize it is always practical and will make the job easier. Particularly when naming a cell or data range and making use of it in formulas will help you understand it in the best way.

For example, if you have to multiply “amounts” by “percentage” when formulating it, the alphanumeric multiplication will appear, that is, “E2*C16” but it is easier to understand if “percentage*E2” is reflected.

To achieve this, select the cell you want to name, then, in the upper panel, enter the “Formulas” option, then “assign name”.

Before entering the name check the reference cells, once verified, click accept. That assigned name will reference the value of the cell that was named.

For your part, you should consider the following:

1.- The name must begin with a character or an underscore.

2.- It must not have spaces or start with a number.

3.-All the names can be viewed from the name box (name manager) in which, upon entering, it will show you that particular area or region in the worksheet.

Use “paste special” to do quick calculations

Doing calculations such as subtraction, addition, division or multiplication without using formulas is easier with the “paste special” option. If you have to do small calculations and quickly, this function is quite useful.

Suppose you have a column with a number of numbers that you want to divide by an amount, which in this case would be “100” for example, to do so you must write that amount (100) in a separate cell and select all the cells with the numbers that you want to split, then you will right click and select “copy”.

Later, in the upper panel you will click on “paste special” and when the pop-up window is displayed, choose the option “divide”, then “accept”. That way you will see how all the figures will be divided automatically. This method is instant and fast.

Simple conditional format.

As we have mentioned above, conditional formatting is one of the functional features of Excel. For example, in your data spreadsheet, you have a survey or information that you want to classify with affirmative and/or negative answers, and that is where the simple format applies efficiently.

Steps to follow:

Select the cells that contain the YES/NO answers and in the home, tab click on the “Conditional Formatting” drop-down box, then choose “rules to highlight these rules”, then “text that contains”. Then a pop-up window will be displayed where you can write the word “YES” and choose the format in the box on the right, likewise, it will apply to the “NO” format.

Once the task is completed you will be able to see all the YES and NO answers formatted in the way you selected. This conditional format option also applies if you want to do it for future data.

Insert graphics.

Charts are a great feature for visually displaying your data. There are several types, bars, circular, columns, lines and others.

For example, using the format of the previous example of the attendances (YES/NO), select all the cells with said information, then in the function of the upper panel “Insert”, click on “Recommended graphics”, in the end, Excel will compile all the data and it will place the best graphic that adapts to your requirements, and to finish you must click on “OK” to be able to insert it into the spreadsheet.

Now, in case the recommended graphics are not to your liking, you can choose the “all graphics” option in the pop-up window and apply other formats.

Classifications with filters

When you have a lot of information in your spreadsheet that you need to classify, the “Filter” function falls like a glove. With it you can sort or filter the data of a certain column.

As? Following the example, suppose you need to filter all the “YES” for assistance or all the “NO”, we will explain. Select the cell to classify, then, in the upper panel, choose the option “Sort and filter”, then “Filter”.

By clicking on the triangle that appears in the lower right part of the “assistance” cell, you will be able to choose which information to filter, the “YES” or the “NO” and click on accept, all the information you chose will automatically appear.

In fact, you will not only be able to do it in that column, since, if you have a spreadsheet with a lot of data, you can sort and filter it even in alphabetical order, or from highest to lowest, so you can explore the features of this function.

Window display.

There may be times when you need to work with multiple Excel workbooks simultaneously and you need to review data, copy data, and compare information from one workbook to another, and doing it manually is time-consuming and tedious work.

So this tip to save time in Excel will make everything easier for you. In the “View” option you are presented with several options such as:

By selecting “Arrange All”, you will be able to organize all your open workbooks on one screen and you will have the option to choose how to display it, whether in a tiled, vertical, horizontal or even cascading way.

If you choose the option “see page break” you can see several pages simultaneously, and it is used for comparisons. The option to “view side by side” will also allow you to compare two open workbooks, with it it will not be necessary to maximize or minimize the windows.

These Excel time-saving tips will help you complete your work faster, easier, and more efficiently.