10 Excel Hacks That Most People Aren’t Aware Of

Here are ten Excel hacks that many people may not be aware of.

These hacks should help you become more efficient and productive when working with Excel!

Flash Fill:

Excel's Flash Fill feature can quickly extract, combine, or format data based on a pattern you establish. Simply start typing a desired pattern in a column adjacent to your data, and Excel will automatically detect the pattern and fill in the remaining cells accordingly.

Transpose Data:

You can easily transpose data in Excel by copying the data range, right-clicking on the destination cell, selecting "Paste Special," and checking the "Transpose" option. This will switch rows and columns.

Remove Duplicates:

To remove duplicate values from a dataset, select the range, go to the "Data" tab, click on "Remove Duplicates," and choose the relevant columns. Excel will remove duplicate values, leaving only unique entries.

Custom AutoFill Lists:

Excel's AutoFill feature allows you to create custom lists. Go to the "File" tab, select "Options," choose "Advanced," scroll down to the "General" section, and click on "Edit Custom Lists." Here, you can input your own list of values that Excel will recognize for AutoFill.

Quick Analysis:

Excel's Quick Analysis tool provides instant access to various data analysis features. Simply select your data range, and a small icon will appear in the bottom-right corner. Clicking on it will open a menu with options like formatting, charts, totals, and more.

Format Painter Shortcut:

Instead of repeatedly clicking the Format Painter button to copy formatting, double-click it. This will lock the Format Painter, allowing you to apply formatting to multiple cells without continuously clicking.

Split Text into Columns:

If you have data in a single column that needs to be split into separate columns, you can use the "Text to Columns" feature. Select the column, go to the "Data" tab, click on "Text to Columns," choose the delimiter (e.g., comma, space, or custom), and Excel will split the text into multiple columns accordingly.

Insert Current Date and Time:

Pressing Ctrl + ; (semicolon) will insert the current date into a cell, and pressing Ctrl + Shift + ; (semicolon) will insert the current time.

Create a Drop-Down List:

You can create drop-down lists in Excel to provide predefined options for cell entries. Select the cells where you want the drop-down list, go to the "Data" tab, click on "Data Validation," choose "List," and enter the values for your list.

Link Data between Sheets:

To reference data from one sheet to another, use the formula "=SheetName!CellReference". Replace "SheetName" with the actual name of the sheet and "CellReference" with the cell you want to reference. This allows you to display and manipulate data from one sheet on another sheet.