Use These 7 Excel Tricks to Give Your Business a Head Start

Don't wait, start using these tips today to give your business a head start!

If you're a business owner, having a head start on the competition is essential. And while there are many ways to gain an edge, one of the most powerful tools at your disposal is Microsoft Excel. Excel is a versatile program that can be used for everything from tracking inventory to managing customer data.

If you know how to use Excel to your advantage, you can give your business a serious leg up on the competition. Here are seven essential Excel tricks that every business owner should know. You can visit Microsoft's support site for detailed tutorials or watch plenty of instructional videos on YouTube to help you better understand them.

1. Use formulas to automate data entry

This is one of Excel's basic features. It can be something simple as additions, subtractions, to more advanced formulas such as VLOOKUP to help you find things in a table or a range by row. If you are new to Excel, start with learning the basic formulas:

• Sum: This function provides you with the sum of the values you've selected. You can add individual values, cell references or ranges or a mix of all three.
• Average: This function provides you with the average (arithmetic mean) of the values you selected.
• Max/Min: These functions provide you with the maximum and minimum values in the range of cells you have selected.
• Count: This function provides you with the number of entries that contain numbers.

If you frequently find yourself entering the same data into Excel, you can save yourself some time by using formulas to automate the process. There are over 475 Excel formulas to use. These formulas can help you convert data automatically, and populate cells with data that is entered elsewhere in the worksheet. With a little creativity, there are all sorts of ways you can use formulas to automate data entry in Excel. So next time you find yourself doing the same task over and over again, see if there's a way to let formulas do some of the work for you. It'll save you time and help minimize errors.

2. Pivot tables

This is one of Excel's most powerful tools. If you have lots of data, manually sifting through all the information can be time-consuming and tedious. Pivot tables allow you to quickly summarize and analyze your data so that you can make better data-based decisions for your business. Best of all, you don't have to create any formulas.

For example, let's say you have a list of customers and their purchase history. With a pivot table, you can easily see which customers spend the most money, what type of products they're buying, and how often they're making purchases. To create a pivot table, select the data you want to analyze, then go to Insert > Pivot Table. From there, you can drag and drop the fields you want to include in your table.

3. Data visualization

Excel is not just a tool for crunching numbers -- it can also be used for data visualization through graphs and charts. This is especially helpful if you want to present your data in a way that is easy for others to understand. For example, let's say you want to show your sales figures for the past year. Rather than simply presenting a list of numbers, you could create a line graph that shows how your sales have fluctuated over time. To do this, select the data you want to visualize, then go to Insert > Chart. From there, choose the type of chart that best represents your data.

4. Macro recorder

If you find yourself doing the same thing over and over again in Excel, there's a good chance you can automate that task using macros. Macros are basically little programs that tell Excel what to do. When you create a macro, you are recording your mouse clicks and keystrokes that can be played back at any time. They can be as simple or as complex as you need them to be.

By automating repetitive tasks, you'll free up time to focus on more important things.

For example, macros are useful if you always format your charts in a certain way or if you always insert the same formulas into your cells. To record a macro, go to View > Macros > Record Macro. Once you've recorded your macro, you can play it back by going to View > Macros > Run Macro.

5. Use conditional formatting to highlight important data

One of the easiest ways to make data stand out is to use conditional formatting. This feature allows you to apply different formatting options to cells based on their contents. For example, if you want to keep track of sales over a certain amount, you can use conditional formatting to highlight all cells that contain a value above your threshold. You could also use it to highlight cells that contain certain keywords. Conditional formatting is a great way to call attention to important data points so they can be more easily analyzed.

Conditional formatting can also help make patterns and trends in your data more apparent. You can create rules that determine the format of cells based on their values. For example, you can automatically change the color of the cell based on the cell value. To use it, first select the range of cells, the table, or the whole sheet that you want to apply conditional formatting to. On the Home tab, click Conditional Formatting. Point to Highlight Cells Rules, and then click Text that Contains. Type the text that you want to highlight, and then click OK.

6. Forecasting

Many people find Excel to be a useful tool for managing data and tracking information. However, Excel can also be used for forecasting, or predicting future events. Forecasting can be useful in a variety of situations, from planning a budget to predicting sales figures. In Excel, forecasting is accomplished using the forecast function. This function takes two sets of data: the historical data that will be used to generate the forecast, and the number of periods into the future that the forecast should extend.

After you have selected the data, click on the Data tab, and in the Forecast group, click Forecast Sheet. In the Create Forecast Worksheet box, pick either a line chart or a column chart for the visual representation of the forecast. In the Forecast End box, pick an end date, and then click Create. Excel will create a new worksheet that contains both a table of the historical and predicted values and a chart that expresses this data.

The forecast function then generates a trend line based on the historical data, and projects that trend into the future. To get the most accurate data, make sure to use historical data that is representative of the future period you're forecasting for. Consider using multiple forecasting methods and compare the results to see which is most accurate. Finally, use sensitivity analysis to test how sensitive your forecast is to changes in assumptions. This will help make your Excel-based forecast as accurate as possible.

7. Flash fill

The flash fill feature is another tool to help if you find yourself having to enter the same data over and over again. Flash fill allows you to automatically fill in data that follows a pattern. For example, if you have a list of first and last names, you can use flash fill to automatically fill in the full names. Flash fill also looks for the pattern in any corrections you make and then completes the work on your behalf.

To use flash fill, simply start entering the data that you want to be filled in. For example, if you want to fill in a list of full names, start by entering the first names in one column and the last names in the next column. Then, click on the cell where you want the full names to appear and select "flash fill" from the "data" menu. Excel will then automatically fill in the rest of the cells based on the patterns that it detects.

If you're running a business, chances are you're using Microsoft Excel on a daily basis. But are you using it to its full potential? Excel is an incredibly powerful tool that can save you time, money, and headaches if you know how to use it properly. And with its vast array of features and capabilities, it can help you make better decisions for your business. These tips just scratch the surface on what Excel can do for you. The more you experiment and learn, the greater your chances to give your business a head start!