For many, Microsoft Excel can be a bit intimidating in the breadth of its applications. Because of this, managers often find themselves watching their teams take up huge amounts of time trying to understand formulas and learn how to sort data properly. While it will always take time to analyze data, there are a lot of tools and settings you can take advantage of to make the process more streamlined.
How to Increase Productivity While Using Excel
Adjust default settings
One of the best ways to increase productivity within Excel and give your employees a confidence boost in the process is to adjust the default settings. While much of the application's out-of-the-box setup is very useful, there are ways to cater to your staff in particular. At the end of the day, you should consider your staff's preferences and the type of data you're presenting when choosing your customizations, such as rounding numbers to the hundredth if you're using dollar values or changing your default file location.
Instruct your staff on useful tools
Microsoft has joined the fray in providing its own suggestions for increasing productivity, focusing less on settings and more on little-known commands and tools that cut down on time when you're working within the application. These include:
- Press F6 to move easily between two panes: Eschew the need to take your hands off the keyboard when flipping between panes (of which you can have up to four open at a time). Instead, simply press F6 and you're brought through the sequence.
- Use "CTRL+]" to identify what formulas reference a cell: One of the main concerns when you're working within a spreadsheet—especially when dealing with raw data—is changing a cell's value without being sure which other cells are affected. This handy tool lets you know which cells would change as well. Select the desired cell, then hold down the CTRL key while pressing the ] key.
- Transpose a dataset: The TRANSPOSE function allows you to swap axes. This is especially useful when you have gone through the trouble of importing data and realize too late it would be more useful to view it differently.
- Jump to the last cell in a direction: It's downright annoying to have to scroll up, down, left and right within a massive spreadsheet to get to the data in an end cell. To make it easier, you can double-click any of the four border walls on a selected cell and the focus will jump to the start, finish, top or bottom of that same cell group.
- Autofill from a list: In case you don't have this set up already, you can press "ALT+DOWN ARROW" to see what data you have already inserted within a column and choose from these options to fill the cell. This is particularly useful when you're inserting the same data/names/figures many times within one column.
Make use of add-ins and templates
Now that your staff has a grasp on useful tools within the Excel applications, point your employees toward resources that can help them think creatively about their spreadsheets. Business Spreadsheets contains a list of add-ins that enhance your ability to present, manage and report on data, along with training other employees and saving time. In addition, Make Use Of published a list of templates that can help boost productivity when tracking projects.
To help in your efforts, we created a video resource demonstrating some lesser-known features that can speed up your workflow. Watch the complimentary 30-minute video: "10 Microsoft Excel Aha Features You Need to Know," to learn how to make use of subtotals, the camera tool, the IFERROR function and more!
