MS EXCEL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

What is Microsoft Excel?

Microsoft Excel is an electronic worksheet or spreadsheet application which is used for
organizing, storing, and manipulating and analyzing data. It is developed by Microsoft.
What are cells?
The area where data is stored is known as cell.
What is ribbon?
Ribbon refers to the topmost area of the application that contains menu items and
toolbars available in MS-Excel. Ribbon can be shown/hidden using CTRL+F1.
How many data formats are available in Excel? Name some of them.
Eleven data formats are available in Microsoft Excel for data Storage. Example:
Number – Stores data as a number
Currency – Stores data in the form of currency
Date – Data is stored as dates
Percentage – Stores numbers as a percentage
Text Formats – Stores data as string of texts
Which are the two macro languages in MS-Excel?
XLM and VBA (Visual Basic Applications). Earlier versions of Excel used XLM. VBA
was introduced in Excel 5 and mostly used now.
Is it possible to prevent someone from copying the cell from your worksheet?
Yes, it is possible. To protect your worksheet from getting copied, you need to go into
Menu bar >Review > Protect Sheet > Password. By entering a password, you can
secure your sheet from getting copied by others.
Explain pivot tables and its uses.
A pivot table is a tool that allows for quick summarization of large data. It automatically
performs a sort, count, total or average of the data stored in the spreadsheet and
displays result in another spreadsheet. It saves a lot of time. Allows to link external data
sources to our Excel.
What are three report formats that are available in Excel?
Following are the types of report formats
Compact
Report
Tabular
Difference between COUNT, COUNTA, COUNTIF and COUNTBLANK in Ms-Excel.
COUNT is used to count cells containing numbers, dates, etc. any value stored as
number excluding blanks.
COUNTA or Count All is used to count any cell value containing numbers, text, logical
values, etc. any type of value excluding blanks.
COUNTBLANK count blank cells or cells with an empty string.
COUNTIF and COUNTIFS count cells matching a certain criteria.
How can you apply the same formatting to every sheet in a workbook in MS-
Excel?
Right Click 'Worksheet tab' > Choose 'Select All Sheets'. Now any formatting done will
be applied to the whole workbook. To apply to a particular group of sheets, select only
those sheets that need formatting.
To move to the previous worksheet and next sheet, what keys will you press?
To move to the previous worksheet, you will use the keys Ctrl + PgUp, and to move to
the next sheet you will use keys Ctrl + PgDown.
What is a spreadsheet?
A spreadsheet is a digital ledger for storing values. It contains rows and columns that
make up cells where information can be held.
What are common functions of Microsoft Excel?
Common functions used in Excel are mathematical functions, like SUM and DEGREE,
logical functions, like TRUE or FALSE, date and time functions, index match and pivot
tables.
How do you freeze panes in Excel?
MS Excel allows you to freeze panes that will help you see the headings of the rows
and the columns even if scroll down a long way on the sheet.
First, select the Rows and Columns you wish to freeze
Then, select Freeze Pane present in the View tab
Here, you will see the following three options to selectively freeze the rows and columns
as shown in the image below:
How do you create Pivot Tables?
In order to create a Pivot table, you will first need to prepare the data in a tabular format.
Keep the following points in mind while preparing the data:
Arrange the data into rows and columns
The first row should contain unique heading for each of the columns
The columns should have only one type of data
Rows must have data for a single recording only
No blank rows 
Columns should not be completely blank
The data for creating Pivot table should be separate from other data present in the
sheet
Explain how to calculate compound interest in Excel?
To calculate compound interest in Excel, you can use the FV function. FV returns the
future value of an investment based on the periodic, constant interest rate and
payments.
SYNTAX:
FV(rate, nper, pmt, pv, type)
To find the rate, the number of periods are used to divide the annual rate (annual rate/
periods). nper is obtained by multiplying the no. of years (term) with the periods (term *
periods). Periodic payment (pmt) can be any value (including zero).
What is the difference between formulas and functions in excel?
Formulas are specified by the consumer who uses some results to measure them;
either simple or complex formulas can consist of values, functions, names, etc. 
On the other hand, a Function is a built-in code that gets employed in some actions.
Excel has many integrated functions like SUM, PRODUCT, IF, SUMIF, COUNT, and so
forth.
What is the shortcut to the Microsoft excel 2013 data filter?
The shortcut key to place the filter in the data is Ans Ctrl Shift L.
How do you build a hyperlink?
Navigation between worksheets and files/websites uses hyperlinks. The shortcut used
is Ctrl K to construct a hyperlink. The box for ‘Insert Hyperlink’ appears. Enter the
address and the text that should be shown.