{"id":95,"date":"2016-02-15T12:27:12","date_gmt":"2016-02-15T17:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/?p=95"},"modified":"2016-07-29T14:50:18","modified_gmt":"2016-07-29T19:50:18","slug":"excel-formula-help-handy-formulas-to-simplify-your-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/excel-formula-help-handy-formulas-to-simplify-your-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Training on Creating Formulas for Microsoft Excel"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re spending hours inputting information and calculations into Microsoft Excel manually,\u00a0<\/span>there\u2019s some good news and some bad news. The bad news is, you\u2019ve been wast<\/span>ing your time.\u00a0<\/span>The good news – you\u00a0<\/span>don\u2019t have to do that anymore!<\/span><\/p>\n

Excel comes equipped with countless built-in formulas that can simplify your life, accelerate\u00a0<\/span>your workflow and make calculating easier and more accurate. Once you get the hang of them,\u00a0<\/span>you\u2019ll be amazed at the am<\/span>ount of time you can save with these handy Excel formulas, and as\u00a0<\/span>an added bonus, they are often more accurate than typing away at a calculator by hand.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. LEN<\/span>Formula: =LEN(A1)\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

This nifty formula counts the number of characters in a cell. But be careful: it will also count\u00a0<\/span>spaces.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2. SUM<\/span>Formula: =SUM(A1:A13)\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

No rocket science here! This formula easily and quickly calculates the sum value of a series of\u00a0<\/span>cells.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

3. COUNT and COUNTA<\/span><\/h2>\n

Formula: =COUNT(A1:A13)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Use the COUNT formula to count numbers in a range, while ignoring blank and empty cells.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Formula: =COUNTA(A1:A13)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Similar to COUNT, COUNTA counts all\u00a0<\/span>characters<\/span>\u00a0in a range while also ignoring blank\/empty\u00a0<\/span>cells.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

4. TODAY (Date)<\/span>Formula: =TODAY()\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Need a regularly updating date cell for your\u00a0<\/span>spreadsheet? Use this formula to enter today\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>
\ndate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

5. AVERAGE<\/span>Formula: =AVERAGE(A1:A13)<\/span><\/h2>\n

The average, or mean, formula takes the value of cells in a range, adds them up, and then\u00a0<\/span>divides that number by the number of cells, giving you an average value.<\/span><\/p>\n

6. MAX and MIN<\/span>Formula: =MAX(A1:A13)<\/span><\/h2>\n

Use this formula to return the maximum value contained within a given list.<\/span><\/p>\n

Formula: =MIN(A1:13)<\/span><\/p>\n

Use this formula to return the minimum value contained within a given list.<\/span><\/p>\n

7. DAYS and NETWORKDAYS<\/span><\/h2>\n

Need to calculate the number of days between two dates? Simply put the dates in their\u00a0<\/span>respective cells (end date in A2, start date in A1) and use this formula:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Formula: =DAYS(A2,A1)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Similarly, use this formula to calculate the number of workdays within the same specified time\u00a0<\/span>frame.<\/span><\/p>\n

Formula: =NETWORKDAYS(A2,A1)\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

8. TRIM<\/span><\/h2>\n

Need to copy and paste a whole bunch of data into your spreadsheet? Chances are you\u2019ll get\u00a0some messiness in the conversion, including empty cells. Use the TRIM formula to clean it up in\u00a0<\/span>a snap!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Formula: =TRIM(\u201ccopied cell range\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\n

9. RANDOM NUMBER<\/span><\/h2>\n

If you need to generate a random number to stimulate some activity in your spreadsheet, use\u00a0<\/span>this formula to make it happen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Formula: =RANDBETWEEN(10,100)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

10. LEFT and RIGHT<\/span><\/h2>\n

Need to create some user names based off of text within a series of cells? These formulas work\u00a0<\/span>by taking a specified number of letters from the left or right side of the text entered in a cell.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you have the text \u201cHello\u201d in cell A2, and you want to pull the first two letters<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>from it (\u201cHe\u201d), your f<\/span>ormula is \u00a0=LEFT(A2, 2).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Do the same to pull numbers from the right: =RIGHT(A2, 2), to get \u201clo.\u201d<\/span>Using these formulas can not only make your life easier, it can save you a ridiculous amount of\u00a0<\/span>time, especially if you\u2019re working with huge data sets. It\u2019s also a more accurate way of working\u00a0<\/span>with your data!\u00a0<\/span>The formulas outlined here, though, just barely scratch the surface of what Excel is capable of.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Need more Excel formula help? If you\u2019re interested in taking your knowledge of Excel to the next level, and therefore achieving greater\u00a0<\/span>success in your job or business through that knowledge,\u00a0<\/span>consider becoming Excel certified with\u00a0<\/span><\/a>ONLC Training Centers<\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0You (and your boss, if it applies!) will be glad you did.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re spending hours inputting information and calculations into Microsoft Excel manually,\u00a0there\u2019s some good news and some bad news. The bad news is, you\u2019ve been wasting your time.\u00a0The good news – you\u00a0don\u2019t have to do that anymore! Excel comes equipped with countless built-in formulas that can simplify your life, accelerate\u00a0your workflow and make calculating easier […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-microsoft-excel"],"aioseo_notices":[],"modified_by":"blogadmin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226,"href":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions\/226"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}