Excel's Hidden Gems: Four Tools That Can Save You Hours
Excel has been around for decades, and Microsoft has buried some of its most useful features deep within menus. Yadullah Abidi, a staff writer at MakeUseOf, recently discovered four tools that can save users hours of time.
The first tool is the Camera tool, which allows users to take live snapshots of cells and paste them anywhere in their workbook or even into Word or PowerPoint. The snapshot stays dynamically linked to the source data, so if a user changes a number in the original cells, the snapshot updates automatically.
Another useful tool is Flash Fill, which can split, combine, or reformat text with just one or two examples. Users can type their desired result for the first couple of rows and Excel will often show them a preview before filling in the rest of the column.
The Analysis ToolPak, a free add-in bundled with every copy of Excel, includes 19 data analysis tools, such as regression, ANOVA, and histograms. However, it's not enabled by default and users need to go to File > Options > Add-ins to enable it.
Lastly, the Watch Window lets users pin specific cells to a floating panel that always shows their sheet, name, current value, and formula, no matter where they scroll or which workbook they're in.