Excel Hacks: 100 Industrial Strength Tips and Tools

If you think that getting creative with Excel means the underhanded tweaking of numbers, think again. Excel Hacks shows even the most experienced users how to do things with Excel they might never have thought of doing--and lets them have a little fun while they're at it. Microsoft Excel is not just the dominant spreadsheet in the world; it's also one of the most popular applications ever created. Its success lies not only in its power and flexibility, but also in its streamlined, familiar interface that casually conceals its considerable capabilities. You don't need to know everything that Excel can do in order to use it effectively, but if you're like the millions of Excel power users looking to improve productivity, then Excel Hacks will show you a wide variety of Excel tasks you can put to use, most of which are off the beaten path. With this book, Excel power users can bring a hacker's creative approach to both common and uncommon Excel topics--"hackers" in this sense being those who like to tinker with technology to improve it. The "100 Industrial Strength Tips and Tools" in Excel Hacks include little known "backdoor" adjustments for everything from reducing workbook and worksheet frustration to hacking built-in features such as pivot tables, charts, formulas and functions, and even the macro language. This resourceful roll-up-your-sleeves guide is for intermediate to advanced Excel users eager to explore new ways to make Excel do things--from data analysis to worksheet management to import/export--that you never thought possible. Excel Hacks will help you increase productivity with Excel and give you hours of "hacking" enjoyment along the way.

Table of Contents:
Credits; Preface; Chapter 1. Reducing Workbook and Worksheet Frustration; 1. Create a Personal View of Your Workbooks; 2. Enter Data into Multiple Worksheets Simultaneously; 3. Prevent Users from Performing Certain Actions; 4. Prevent Seemingly Unnecessary Prompts; 5. Hide Worksheets So That They Cannot Be Unhidden; 6. Customize the Templates Dialog and Default Workbook 7. Create an Index of Sheets in Your Workbook 8. Limit the Scrolling Range of Your Worksheet 9. Lock and Protect Cells Containing Formulas; 10. Find Duplicate Data using Conditional Formatting; 11. Tie Custom Toolbars to a Particular Workbook; 12. Outsmart Excel's Relative Reference Handler; 13. Remove Phantom Workbook Links; 14. Reduce Workbook Bloat; 15. Extract Data from a Corrupt Workbook; Chapter 2. Hacking Excel's Built-in Features; 16. Validate Data Based on a List on Another Worksheet; 17. Control Conditional Formatting with Checkboxes; 18. Identify Formulas with Conditional Formatting; 19. Count or Sum Cells That Meet Conditional Formatting Criteria; 20. Highlight Every Other Row or Column; 21. Create; 3D Effects in Tables or Cells; 22. Turn Conditional Formatting and Data Validation On and Off with a Checkbox; 23. Support Multiple Lists in a ComboBox; 24. Create Validation Lists That Change Based on a Selection from Another List; 25. Force Data Validation to Reference a List on Another Worksheet; 26. Use Replace- to Remove Unwanted Characters; 27. Convert Text Numbers to Real Numbers; 28. Customize Cell Comments; 29. Sort by More Than Three Columns; 30. Random Sorting; 31. Manipulate Data with the Advanced Filter; 32. Create Custom Number Formats; 33. Add More Levels of Undo to Excel for Windows; 34. Create Custom Lists; 35. Boldface Excel Subtotals; 36. Convert Excel Formulas and Functions to Values; 37. Automatically Add Data to a Validation List; 38. Hack Excel's Date and Time Features; Chapter 3. Naming Hacks; 39. Address Data by Name; 40. Use the Same Name for Ranges on Different Worksheets; 41. Create Custom Functions Using Names; 42. Create Ranges That Expand and Contract; 43. Nest Dynamic Ranges for Maximum Flexibility; 44. Identify Named Ranges on a Worksheet; Chapter 4. Hacking PivotTables; 45. PivotTables: A Hack in Themselves; 46. Share PivotTables but Not Their Data; 47. Automate PivotTable Creation; 48. Move PivotTable Grand Totals; 49. Efficiently Pivot Another Workbook's Data; Chapter 5. Charting Hacks; 50. Explode a Single Slice from a Pie Chart; 51. Create Two Sets of Slices in One Pie Chart; 52. Create Charts That Adjust to Data; 53. Interact with Your Charts Using Custom Controls; 54. Three Quick Ways to Update Your Charts; 55. Hack Together a Simple Thermometer Chart; 56. Create a Column Chart with Variable Widths and Heights; 57. Create a Speedometer Chart; 58. Link Chart Text Elements to a Cell; 59. Hack Chart Data So That Blank Cells Are Not Plotted; Chapter 6. Hacking Formulas and Functions; 60. Add Descriptive Text to Your Formulas; 61. Move Relative Formulas Without Changing References; 62. Compare Two Excel R

About the Author :
David Hawley of Perth, Australia is a professional Microsoft Excel consultant whose company, OzGrid Business Applications, offers services in all aspects of Excel, and VBA for Excel. The company's web site at www ozgrid.com provides online and email Excel training, a directory of useful Excel add-ins, a user forum, and lots of tips and tricks. Raina Hawley of Perth, Australia is a professional Microsoft Excel consultant whose company, OzGrid Business Applications, offers services in all aspects of Excel, and VBA for Excel. The company's web site at www ozgrid.com provides online and email Excel training, a directory of useful Excel add-ins, a user forum, and lots of tips and tricks. Raina is also a lecturing team member at West Australian Institute of Management (WAIM) with specific expertise in Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Internet and email.