ADVANCED MS EXCEL 2007 USEFUL FUNCTIONS & FORMULAS FOR DAILY USE

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1 ADVANCED MS EXCEL 2007 USEFUL FUNCTIONS & FORMULAS FOR DAILY USE Objectives This workshop will explore the advanced functions available in Excel 2007 to facilitate your work. It will introduce the useful statistical, text and information functions for data analysis and information extraction. It will also demonstrate how to apply various formulas to deal with practical cases in your daily work. Course Content Quick review on essential functions Useful statistical functions for handling data analysis e.g. ranking students, counting students grades Useful text functions for extracting words from cell e.g. extracting surname from a full name, removing trailing spaces Useful information functions for extracting information from cell e.g. finding out data type of cell contents, handling various error types Other useful functions e.g. finding out the date after 30 working days from today, finding out this week s number in the current year, and more Function Auditing Tracing Dependent, Precedents Tracing Arrows Worksheet Protection specific useful case - e.g. protecting only cells that contain formulas Pre-requisite Intermediate MS Excel 2007 the useful techniques Duration 6 hours (2 sessions) Advanced Excel - Useful Functions for Daily Use Page 1

2 Quick review on essential functions Advanced Excel - Useful Functions for Daily Use Page 2

3 Common statistical functions COUNT COUNT(value1,value2,...) Value1, value2,... are 1 to 30 arguments that can contain or refer to a variety of different types of data, but only numbers are counted. Arguments that are numbers, dates, or text representations of numbers are counted; arguments that are error values or text that cannot be translated into numbers are ignored. If an argument is an array or reference, only numbers in that array or reference are counted. Empty cells, logical values, text, or error values in the array or reference are ignored. If you need to count logical values, text, or error values, use the COUNTA function. Examples In the example below, COUNT(A1:A7) equals 3 COUNT(A4:A7) equals 2 COUNT(A1:A7, 2) equals 4 Advanced Excel - Useful Functions for Daily Use Page 3

4 COUNTA COUNTA(value1,value2,...) Value1, value2,... are 1 to 30 arguments representing the values you want to count. In this case, a value is any type of information, including empty text ("") but not including empty cells. If an argument is an array or reference, empty cells within the array or reference are ignored. If you do not need to count logical values, text, or error values, use the COUNT function. Examples In the given example, COUNTA(A1:A7) equals 6 COUNTA(A4:A7) equals 4 COUNTA(A1:A7, 2) equals 7 COUNTA(A1:A7, "Two") equals 7 Advanced Excel - Useful Functions for Daily Use Page 4

COUNTIF Counts the number of cells within a range that meet the given criteria. Syntax COUNTIF(range,criteria) Range is the range of cells from which you want to count cells.

5 COUNTIF Counts the number of cells within a range that meet the given criteria. Syntax COUNTIF(range,criteria) Range is the range of cells from which you want to count cells. Criteria is the criteria in the form of a number, expression, or text that defines which cells will be counted. For example, criteria can be expressed as 32, "32", ">32", "apples". Example Advanced Excel - Useful Functions for Daily Use Page 5

6 Example countif() Advanced Excel - Useful Functions for Daily Use Page 6

7 Case study - Information Extraction Advanced Excel - Useful Functions for Daily Use Page 7

Useful functions: FIND FIND finds one text string (find_text) within another text string (within_text), and returns the number of the starting position of find_text, from the first character of

8 Useful functions: FIND FIND finds one text string (find_text) within another text string (within_text), and returns the number of the starting position of find_text, from the first character of within_text. Syntax FIND(find_text,within_text,start_num) Find_text is the text you want to find. Within_text is the text containing the text you want to find. Start_num specifies the character at which to start the search. The first character in within_text is character number 1. If you omit start_num, it is assumed to be 1. Example 1 Advanced Excel - Useful Functions for Daily Use Page 8

MID MID returns a specific number of characters from a text string, starting at the position you specify, based on the number of characters you specify.

9 MID MID returns a specific number of characters from a text string, starting at the position you specify, based on the number of characters you specify. Syntax MID(text,start_num,num_chars) Text is the text string containing the characters you want to extract. Start_num is the position of the first character you want to extract in text. The first character in text has start_num 1, and so on. Num_chars specifies the number of characters you want MID to return from text. Example Advanced Excel - Useful Functions for Daily Use Page 9

10 LEN LEN returns the number of characters in a text string. Syntax LEN(text) Text is the text whose length you want to find. Spaces count as characters. Example Advanced Excel - Useful Functions for Daily Use Page 10

11 IS Functions Example Advanced Excel - Useful Functions for Daily Use Page 11

12 Example: The invoice table Information extracted from the invoice table Advanced Excel - Useful Functions for Daily Use Page 12

13 Extracting name information Extracting days information Advanced Excel - Useful Functions for Daily Use Page 13

Data Validation with Useful Functions Example on basic validation: Limiting data to be from a list In a travel agency invoice sheet, we would like

14 Data Validation with Useful Functions Example on basic validation: Limiting data to be from a list In a travel agency invoice sheet, we would like any tour code entered limited to valid tour codes only: Select the range to set data validation: Advanced Excel - Useful Functions for Daily Use Page 14

15 Data --> Data Validation: Set on data validation Settings tab: Now data can be selected from the specified list: Advanced Excel - Useful Functions for Daily Use Page 15

16 Example on validation using function Ensuring that only text may be entered into the cells of column A. Solution Use Data Validation: 1. Select Column A. 2. Select in Data Validation dialog box: Settings --> Custom Advanced Excel - Useful Functions for Daily Use Page 16

17 3. Enter the following formula in the Formula box: =ISTEXT(A1) 4. Click the Error Alert tab, and make the following alert settings: 5. Click OK. Advanced Excel - Useful Functions for Daily Use Page 17

18 Now try out what happens when you enter a non-text in the validated range Exercise To restrict the length of entries in column A to a maximum of 5 characters, what do you need for the formula box below? Hints You may find the LEN( ) formula useful. Advanced Excel - Useful Functions for Daily Use Page 18

Copying and Pasting Validation list only When copying a cell that contains validation criteria to a different cell, the criteria are copied along with the text, formula and format.

19 Copying and Pasting Validation list only When copying a cell that contains validation criteria to a different cell, the criteria are copied along with the text, formula and format. If you want to copy only the validation criteria, use Paste Special. To copy only the validation criteria, first copy the cell which contains the validation, and then select a different cell and rightclick. From the shortcut menu, select Paste Special, click Validation, and click OK. Advanced Excel - Useful Functions for Daily Use Page 19

In the above worksheet, suppose you want to protect some cells, say, you don t

20 Protecting a selected range in a sheet To protect selected range(s) in a sheet, you need to go through a few steps. In the above worksheet, suppose you want to protect some cells, say, you don t want modifications on the formulas. First, select the whole sheet: Advanced Excel - Useful Functions for Daily Use Page 20

& Hidden for cell protection formatting:

21 Next, go for formatting cells : Release appropriate protection for cell formatting: Then, for those range(s) or cell(s) you want to protect, check Locked & Hidden for cell protection formatting: Advanced Excel - Useful Functions for Daily Use Page 21

22 After Cell level, it will be Sheet level protection that you need to set: Enter password to protect sheet if applicable: Advanced Excel - Useful Functions for Daily Use Page 22

cell(s) to verify the modifications can be done as

23 Try to make changes to the protected cell(s) to verify if that has been protected: Also make changes to other cell(s) to verify the modifications can be done as expected. Advanced Excel - Useful Functions for Daily Use Page 23

Functions are predefined formulas that perform calculations by using specific values, called arguments, in a particular order, or structure.

MATHS AND STATISTICAL FUNCTIONS Functions are predefined formulas that perform calculations by using specific values, called arguments, in a particular order, or structure. For example, the SUM function