Spreadsheet work often entails seemingly unavoidable data entry tasks. However, very often tedious input tasks can be automated, or at least made easier. In this webcast Excel expert David H. Ringstrom turns his attention to empowering you to work more effectively with getting data into your spreadsheets and transforming data when needed. Techniques include worksheet functions such as CONCATENATE, TEXTJOIN, UPPER, PROPER, and so on, as well as using Microsoft Word to extract text from PDF files. You’ll see how to use Excel on your mobile device to take a picture of a printed document that you then convert to text that within an Excel spreadsheet. Other techniques include helpful aids such as custom lists, data validation, and much more.
David demonstrates every technique at least twice: first, on a PowerPoint slide with numbered steps, and second, in the subscription-based Office 365 version of Excel. David draws your attention to any differences in the older versions of Excel (2019, 2016, 2013, and earlier) during the presentation as well as in his detailed handouts. David also provides an Excel workbook that includes most of the examples he uses during the webcast.
Office 365 is a subscription-based product that provides new-feature updates as often as monthly. Conversely, the perpetual licensed versions of Excel have feature sets that don’t change. Perpetual licensed versions have year numbers, such as Excel 2019, Excel 2016, and so on.
Publication Date: December 2020
Designed For
Practitioners seeking to use Microsoft Excel more effectively.
Topics Covered
- Combining words or other text together by concatenating
- Redacting portions of Social Security numbers by way of Excel's TEXT worksheet function
- Using Text to Columns in any version of Excel to quickly separate city, state, and ZIP code into separate columns
- Using Flash Fill in Excel 2013 and later to quickly insert dashes into a column of Social Security or telephone numbers
- Separating first/last names into two columns without using formulas or retyping
- Minimizing data entry by taking a picture of a document in the mobile version of Excel that you convert to text on your phone
- Automating copying formulas to new rows by way of the Table feature in Excel
- Removing the Table feature from a worksheet if it's no longer needed
- Exploring the pros and cons of merging cells in spreadsheets
- Avoiding the need to merge cells—use the Text Box feature for paragraphs of text instead
- Using PowerQuery/Get & Transform to extract even the most problematic text, for instance bounded by non-breaking spaces, from a list of data
Learning Objectives
- Describe how to recall the character that you can use in lieu of the CONCATENATE worksheet function
- Identify the Office applications that offer the ability to open and edit PDF files
- Describe the functionality that the Flash Fill feature offers
- Recognize which Excel versions allow different functions
- Identify which feature allows you to separate data into multiple columns
Level
Basic
Instructional Method
Self-Study
NASBA Field of Study
Computer Software & Applications (2 hours)
Program Prerequisites
None
Advance Preparation
None
Instructor
David H. Ringstrom
David H. Ringstrom, CPA, is an author and nationally recognized instructor who teaches over 200 webinars each year. His Excel courses are based on over 30 years of consulting and teaching experience. David’s catchphrase is “Either you work Excel, or it works you,” so he focuses on what he sees users don’t, but should, know about Microsoft Excel. His goal is to empower you to use Excel more effectively. He's currently writing a book titled "Exploring Excel's Hidden Treasures". To learn more about David, you can view his
LinkedIn profile and follow him on
Facebook or
Twitter (@excelwriter).