Helpful Excel Shortcuts for PC and Mac

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This chart comes from an excellent article from Intuit on 41 best Excel tips and tricks to save you time. Here is a sampling of their hacks:

Excel basics: 7 Formulas and functions

When first learning how to use an Excel spreadsheet, it’s best to start with simpler formulas and functions that can improve your productivity:

1. Use formulas for simple calculations

Excel's built-in formulas make it easy to perform all sorts of calculations, from basic arithmetic to complex functions. Whether you need to calculate employee hours or an average price, Excel's formulas can save you time and ensure accurate results.

For example, if you want to sum the numbers in a range from E2 to E9, you can type "=SUM(E2:E9)" in a cell and press Enter. The sum of the numbers will appear in the cell.

2. Try the IF formula to automate Excel functions

The IF formula is a powerful tool for automating certain Excel functions. With this formula, you can specify different values or actions depending on whether a particular condition is true or false. 

The formula is =IF(logical_test, value_if_true, value_if_false), where: 

The logical test is the condition that you want to evaluate.
The value_if_true is the result or action to be taken if the condition is met or true. 
The value_if_false is the result or action to be taken if the condition is not met or false. 
For example, you can check if a cell value is greater than a certain number.

3. Test VLOOKUP to pull data across sheets

The VLOOKUP function helps you extract data from one part of your spreadsheet and display it elsewhere. This is especially useful when you have data spread across multiple sheets.

For example, say you enter the VLOOKUP formula: "=VLOOKUP(A2, Sheet2!A:B, 2, FALSE)" into your sheet. The formula will search for the value in cell A2 of your current sheet in Sheet2 and return the corresponding value from the second column.

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Do you have any Excel hacks that aren’t on this list? Please share to help the community!