Not-for-Profit Technology Conference - Virtual-Stop Wasting Time in Excel pdf

Stop Wasting Time in Excel pdf

Pdf Summary

This document is a training overview on how professionals can work more efficiently in Excel by using both classic and newer features. It begins with templates, explaining how default templates like <strong>book.xltx</strong> and <strong>sheet.xltx</strong> can standardize new workbooks and worksheets, while application templates help create consistent reports such as financial statements or expense reports. It also covers where to save templates so they load automatically.

A major theme is faster and more effective formatting. The document explains how to use multi-cell selection, the Format Painter, wrap text for headings, the accounting format, underlines, multiple formats in one cell, custom number formats, and named styles to save time and improve report quality. It also discusses <strong>Precision as Displayed</strong> as a solution for zero-display issues in financial reports.

The document then explores <strong>conditional formatting</strong> for highlighting variances, duplicates, and other data conditions, showing how it supports analysis and audit work. Another key section focuses on <strong>PivotTables</strong>, including how to improve them using field settings, calculated fields, and calculated items to create more insightful reports without relying heavily on formulas.

Finally, the document introduces several newer or underused Excel features: <strong>CLEAN</strong> for removing non-printable characters, <strong>TRIMRANGE</strong> for stripping empty edges from ranges, <strong>PIVOTBY</strong> and <strong>GROUPBY</strong> for creating formula-based pivot-like summaries, and AI tools such as <strong>Analyze Data</strong>, <strong>Clean Data</strong>, and <strong>Copilot</strong>.

Overall, the session emphasizes practical ways to reduce manual work, improve consistency, clean data, and use Excel’s modern tools to analyze and report more effectively.

Keywords

Excel templates

Format Painter

conditional formatting

PivotTables

custom number formats

named styles

Precision as Displayed

CLEAN function

PIVOTBY

Copilot