Learn Eight Helpful Microsoft Excel Tricks with This

Handy Cheat Sheet

Patrick Allan
Filed to: SPREADSHEETS 8/25/15 1:30pm

If you’re new to using Microsoft Excel, or an experienced user looking for a good visual reference, this handy cheat
sheet covers eight helpful tricks for becoming a spreadsheet pro.

While spreadsheet software is essential for jobs like accounting, it can be useful for any kind of data management.
This infographic, from the Sure Payroll Blog, explains how to use absolute and relative references, how to use the
ampersand and combine cells, organize your spreadsheets with cell coloring, how to use the VLOOKUP function, and
more. Each section is easy to follow with screen captures explaining each tip. If you’re looking for more tips for
becoming a spreadsheet master, you can learn the keyboard shortcuts, and check out our guide on four of the most
important spreadsheet skills you should know.

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Matt Patrick Allan
8/25/15 2:28pm

VLOOKUP is mind-blowing for some people. I tell people that if you have that, you can look pretty smart. And
pivot tables will make you look like Gandalf. They are enough to get you through the basics.

My advice is to take the basics and bend those to your will to make some giant leaps. Something like INDIRECT
can let you create dynamic formulas, SUMPRODUCT can do everything from act like SUMIF to mimicking
INDEX/MATCH, and learning to use array formulas will let you create IF-versions of the formulas that don’t
currently have them (Excel comes with SUMIF, COUNTIF, AVERAGEIF, but you can use arrays to create
MEDIANIF, RANKIF, etc).

While you can employ some ninja skills to make pivot tables do things they aren’t designed to, such as display
non-numerical data, as you progress to more complex data you’ll need to be able to use versions of the above
formulas to slice and dice your data.

ScribbleCat Patrick Allan

8/25/15 4:56pm

Excel is basically 99.99% of my current job (I’ve been doing this for about 4 years now).

Most of my formulas revolve around vlookups and countifs (and also =IF, which I’m surprised isn’t in this
infographic, but maybe that’s because it’s a ya duh sorta thing). Named ranges are also an amazing tool to
familiarize yourself with, along with Index and Indirect. Learning to read and write nested formulas is
incredibly important too.

Lastly, if your work is complicated enough and you want to take it to the next level, or your spreadsheets are
being used by more than just you, I highly recommend learning Visual Basic and writing macros instead of in-
cell formulas. The data won’t be updated in real time, but there’s less for someone to mess up that way, and it’s
pretty nifty boiling everything down to a few buttons clicks.

crashKAPOW Patrick Allan

8/25/15 1:43pm

If VLOOKUP wasn’t a thing, my company would crumble. It is the single most useful thing I learned at my
current job.

Patrick Allan crashKAPOW

8/25/15 1:58pm

Hahaha, I love the responses you’re getting.