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Excel Training

Using Auto Sum

Let’s look at an example using a formula that provides a total amount.

excel-formulas-summing

In the total row, we want to display the sum of all household expenditure. Make sure that the cell you want to contain the total is active and then click Home > Editing > AutoSum. Because the active cell is positioned directly below a column of numbers, Excel 2010 guesses that you want to sum them and places a selection around them (see A below).

excel-formulas-autosum

B is called the Formula Bar and it displays the content of the active cell, which in this case is a formula. C is the active cell and contains the formula. Let’s look at the structure of a formula.

You can see that the formula starts with a “=”.  All formulas must start with “=”. The next part is SUM, which you can guess represents the SUM function. The contents of the brackets are called arguments and they define the range of cells that we are summing – in this case cells B2 to B7. This range is defined as B2:B7. Autosum is a quick and easy formula to use that automatically identifies its input variables. Let’s now look at a formula we can set up manually.

Defining Your Own Formula In Excel

Suppose we have the following example that details price, VAT and total price.

excel-define-your-own-formula

As you can see, we start with a price before VAT and we need to calculate first the VAT and then the total price. Let’s calculat the VAT first, based on a VAT rate of 17.5%. The formula therefore is VAT = 17.5% x Price. Make cell B2 active and in it type
=17.5%*A2
Excel knows how to handle percentages so you don’t need to convert 17.5% to 0.175 for the calculation. When you press enter, Excel calculates the VAT to be 43.75. We have dealt with the first VAT amount, but what about the rest? There is a quick and easy way to apply the formula you just created to other cells. With cell B2 active, position the cursor over the bottom right corner so that the cursor becomes a ‘+’. When it does, drag downwards to select all cells that should use the formula (down to cell B6).

excel-apply-formula-to-other-cells

When you release the mouse, Excel applies the VAT formula to the selected cells and calculates their values. That’s the VAT for all rows take care of. On to the total price.

Total price = price + VAT

We can define that as a formula by typing into C2 the following

=A2+B2

When you press Enter Excel calculates the sum of A2 and B2 to give 293.75. And we’ve already seen how we can to apply that formula to the remaining cells. The finished spreadsheet should look like this.

excel-formulas

Categories
Excel Training

Paste Options

Microsoft Excel 2010 normally copies all the information in the range of cells you select when you paste the data. Use Excel’s Paste Special command to specify other options, such as pasting only the cell contents (without the formatting) or only the formatting (without the cell contents).

To paste particular parts of a cell selection, click the Paste button arrow on the Ribbon’s Home tab. Then, click Paste Special on its drop-down menu to open the Paste Special dialog box.

Paste only some of a copied or cut cell's properties with Paste Special.

Paste only some of a copied or cut cell’s properties with Paste Special.

You can specify which parts of the current cell selection to use by selecting the appropriate Paste Special options:

  • All to paste all the stuff in the cell selection (formulas, formatting, you name it). This is what happens when you paste normally.
  • Formulas to paste all the text, numbers, and formulas in the current cell selection without their formatting.
  • Values to convert formulas in the current cell selection to their calculated values.
  • Formats to paste only the formatting from the current cell selection, without the cell entries.
  • Comments to paste only the notes that you attach to their cells (kinda like electronic self-stick notes).
  • Validation to paste only the data validation rules into the cell range that you set up with the Data Validation command.
  • All Using Source Theme to paste all the information plus the cell styles applied to the cells.
  • All Except Borders to paste all the stuff in the cell selection without copying any borders you use there.
  • Column Widths to apply the column widths of the cells copied to the Clipboard to the columns where the cells are pasted.
  • Formulas and Number Formats to include the number formats assigned to the pasted values and formulas.
  • Values and Number Formats to convert formulas to their calculated values and include the number formats you assigned to all the copied or cut values.
  • All Merging Conditional Formats to paste conditional formatting into the cell range.

When you paste, you can also perform some simple math calculations based on the value(s) in the copied or cut cell(s) and the value in the target cell(s):

  • None: Excel performs no operation between the data entries you cut or copy to the Clipboard and the data entries in the cell range where you paste. This is the default setting.
  • Add: Excel adds the values you cut or copy to the Clipboard to the values in the cell range where you paste.
  • Subtract: Excel subtracts the values you cut or copy to the Clipboard from the values in the cell range where you paste.
  • Multiply: Excel multiplies the values you cut or copy to the Clipboard by the values in the cell range where you paste.
  • Divide: Excel divides the values you cut or copy to the Clipboard by the values in the cell range where you paste.

Finally, at the bottom of the Paste Special dialog box, you have a few other options:

  • Skip Blanks: Select this check box when you want Excel to paste only from the cells that aren’t empty.
  • Transpose: Select this check box when you want Excel to change the orientation of the pasted entries. For example, if the original cells’ entries run down the rows of a single column of the worksheet, the transposed pasted entries will run across the columns of a single row.
  • Paste Link: Click this button when you want to establish a link between the copies you’re pasting and the original entries. That way, changes to the original cells automatically update in the pasted copies.