AutoFill

Use AutoFill in Excel to automatically fill a series of cells. This page contains many easy to follow AutoFill examples. The sky
is the limit!
1. For example, enter the value 10 into cell A1 and the value 20 into cell A2.

2. Select cell A1 and cell A2 and drag the fill handle down. The fill handle is the little green box at the lower right of a selected
cell or selected range of cells.

Note: AutoFill automatically fills in the numbers based on the pattern of the first two numbers.

3. Enter Jan into cell A1.

4. Select cell A1 and drag the fill handle down. AutoFill automatically fills in the month names.

5. Enter Product 1 into cell A1.

6. Select cell A1 and drag the fill handle down. AutoFill automatically fills in the product names.
7. Enter Friday into cell A1.

8. Select cell A1 and drag the fill handle down. AutoFill automatically fills in the day names.

9. Enter the date 1/14/2019 into cell A1.

10. Select cell A1 and drag the fill handle down. AutoFill automatically fills in the days.

11. Instead of filling in days, use the AutoFill options to fill in weekdays (ignoring weekend days), months (see example below)
or years.
Note: also see the options to fill the formatting only and to fill a series without formatting.

12. Enter the date 1/14/2019 into cell A1 and the date 1/21/2019 into cell A2.

13. Select cell A1 and cell A2 and drag the fill handle down. AutoFill automatically fills in the dates based on the pattern of the
first two dates.

14. Enter the time 6:00 AM into cell A1.

15. Select cell A1 and drag the fill handle across. AutoFill automatically fills in the times.

16. When Excel doesn't recognize a list, simply create a custom list.
17. Learn how to use Flash Fill to automatically extract data, combine data, and much more.

If you have Excel 365 or Excel 2021, you can also use the SEQUENCE function to fill a series of cells. This function is pretty
cool.
18. The SEQUENCE function below generates a two-dimensional array. Rows = 7, Columns = 4, Start = 0, Step = 5.

19. The SEQUENCE function below generates a list of odd numbers. Rows = 10, Columns = 1, Start = 1, Step = 2.
Note: the SEQUENCE function, entered into cell A1, fills multiple cells. Wow! This behavior in Excel 365/2021 is
called spilling.
Most Used Functions
Let's check out the 10 most used Excel functions. Visit our section about functions for detailed explanations and more awesome
functions.
Tip: download the Excel file and try to insert these functions.
1. COUNT
To count the number of cells that contain numbers, use the COUNT function in Excel.

Note: use COUNTA to count all cells that are not empty. COUNTA stands for count all.

2. SUM
To sum a range of cells, use the SUM function in Excel. The SUM function below sums all values in column A.

Note: you can also use the SUM function to sum an entire row. For example, =SUM(5:5) sums all values in the 5th row.

3. IF
The IF function checks whether a condition is met, and returns one value if true and another value if false.
Explanation: if the score is greater than or equal to 60, the IF function shown above returns Pass, else it returns Fail. To quickly
copy this formula to the other cells, click on the lower right corner of cell C2 and drag it down to cell C6.
4. AVERAGE
To calculate the average of a group of numbers, use the AVERAGE function (no rocket science here). The formula below
calculates the average of the top 3 numbers in the range A1:A6.

Explanation: the LARGE function returns the array constant {20,15,10}. This array constant is used as an argument for
the AVERAGE function, giving a result of 15.
5. COUNTIF
The COUNTIF function below counts the number of cells that contain exactly star + a series of zero or more characters.

Explanation: an asterisk (*) matches a series of zero or more characters. Visit our page about the COUNTIF function for more
information and examples.
6. SUMIF
The SUMIF function below sums values in the range B1:B5 if the corresponding cells in the range A1:A5 contain exactly circle
+ 1 character.
Explanation: a question mark (?) matches exactly one character. Visit our page about the SUMIF function for more information
and examples.
7. VLOOKUP
The VLOOKUP function below looks up the value 53 (first argument) in the leftmost column of the red table (second
argument). The value 4 (third argument) tells the VLOOKUP function to return the value in the same row from the fourth
column of the red table.

Note: visit our page about the VLOOKUP function to learn more about this powerful Excel function.
8. MIN
To find the minimum value, use the MIN function. It's as simple as it sounds.

9. MAX
To find the maximum value, use the MAX function.

Note: visit our chapter about statistical functions to learn much more about Excel and Statistics.
10. SUMPRODUCT
To calculate the sum of the products of corresponding numbers in one or more ranges, use Excel's powerful SUMPRODUCT
function.

Explanation: the SUMPRODUCT function performs this calculation: (2 * 1000) + (4 * 250) + (4 * 100) + (2 * 50) = 3500.
Formula Bar
Where is the Formula Bar? | Edit a Formula | Show Formula Bar | Expand Formula Bar | Insert Function
The formula bar in Excel displays the value or formula of the active cell. You can use the formula bar to enter or edit formulas.
Where is the Formula Bar?
The formula bar is located below the ribbon and above the worksheet area. To enter a formula, execute the following steps.

1. Select a cell.

2. To let Excel know that you want to enter a formula, type an equal sign (=).

3. For example, type the formula A1*A2 and press Enter.

Excel displays the result (50) in the cell and the formula in the formula bar.

Note: use the asterisk symbol (*) to multiply numbers in Excel.

Themes
Excel offers themes to change the look of your workbook with the click of a button. Each theme consists of 12 colors, two
fonts (Headings and Body) and effects for shapes and SmartArt.
1. On the Page Layout tab, in the Themes group, you can see that the workbook below uses the standard Office theme.

2. On the Home tab, in the Font group, you can view the Theme Colors and Theme Fonts (Calibri Light and Calibri) of this
theme.

To change the theme of a workbook, execute the following steps.

3. On the Page Layout tab, in the Themes group, click Themes and choose the Badge theme.
4. On the Home tab, in the Font group, you can view the Theme Colors and Theme Fonts (Impact and Gill Sans MT) of this
theme.

Note: on the Page Layout tab, in the Themes group, click Colors, Customize Colors to create new theme colors or click Fonts,
Customize Fonts to create new theme fonts. Next, click Themes, Save Current Theme to save your theme in the Document
Themes folder. You can now use this theme in all your workbooks. You can even use this theme in Word and PowerPoint!
Split
Split Horizontally | Split Vertically | Split into Four Panes
You can split your Excel worksheet into panes to view multiple distant parts of your worksheet at once. Simply use the split bar
to change the size of each pane.
Split Horizontally
To split your worksheet (window) into an upper and lower part (pane), execute the following steps.

1. First, select a cell in column A.

2. On the View tab, in the Window group, click Split.

3. Notice the two vertical scroll bars. For example, use the lower vertical scroll bar to move to row 49. As you can see, the first
6 rows remain visible.
4. To change the window layout, use the horizontal split bar that divides the panes.

Note: to remove the split, simply double click the split bar.

Split Vertically
To split your sheet into a left and right pane, execute the following steps.
1. First, select a cell in row 1.
2. On the View tab, in the Window group, click Split.

Tip: you can also use the shortcut Alt + W + S to quickly enable or disable split screen in Excel.
Result:

Conclusion: you'll have two horizontal scroll bars after splitting your worksheet vertically.

Split into Four Panes

You can even split your sheet into four panes. To achieve this, execute the following steps.

1. First, select a cell that is not in column A or row 1.

2. On the View tab, in the Window group, click Split.

Result:

Note: any changes you make to one pane are immediately reflected in the other panes.
Decimal Places
Decrease Decimal | Increase Decimal | Useful Functions
Learn how to show fewer or more decimal places in Excel without changing the number itself. You can also round a number.
Decrease Decimal
To decrease the number of decimal places displayed for a cell, simply click the Decrease Decimal button in Excel.

1. For example, enter the value 2.175 into cell A1.

2. On the Home tab, in the Number group, click the Decrease Decimal button twice.

Result:

Note: if you look at the formula bar, you can see that cell A1 still contains the value 2.175.

3. We can still use this underlying precise value in calculations.

Note: if you want to use 2.2 to get a result of 6.6, round the value in cell A1.
Increase Decimal
To show more decimal places, use the Increase Decimal button in Excel.
1. For example, select the range B1:B5 below.
Note: these numbers look like integers (whole numbers).

2. On the Home tab, in the Number group, click the Increase Decimal button six times.

Result:

Note: Excel stores the exact values of numbers, even if you can't see all the decimal places (except when you're using functions
to change the number of decimal places, which we will see next).

Useful Functions
Excel offers several useful functions to change the number of decimal places of a number.
1. The ROUND function below rounds a number to two decimal places.

Note: if you round a number, you lose precision. For example, if you're using the value in cell B1 in calculations, Excel uses the
value 114.73 (not 114.7261).

2. The TRUNC function in Excel removes decimal places from a given number (without rounding).

Note: if you use the TRUNC function, you lose precision. Use the second argument to specify how many decimals you want to
keep.

3. To extract only the decimal part of a number, use the following formula.

Tip: visit our chapter about rounding numbers in Excel for more information and examples.
Find Features
To access some more advanced find features in Excel, execute the following steps.
1. Click on Options in the 'Find and Replace' dialog box.

2. Type the text you want to find. For example, type Ferrari.

3. Select Workbook from the Within drop-down list to find occurrences across all the worksheets.

4. Checking 'Match case' will make your search case-specific. For example, it will only find Ferrari and not ferrari.
5. Checking 'Match entire cell contents' will only find cells which contain exactly "Ferrari". For example, cells that contain "Car
Ferrari", "Ferrarii" or even "Ferrari " will not be found.

6. A question mark (?) matches exactly one character. For example, F?rrari will find Ferrari, Forrari and Farrari.

7. An asterisk (*) matches a series of zero or more characters. For example, F*rrari will find Ferrari, Forrari, Farrari, Foorrari
and Faaaaaarrari.

Tip: visit our page about wildcards for more tips and tricks.
Calendar
This example describes how to create a calendar in Excel (2024 calendar, 2025 calendar, etc). If you are in a hurry,
simply download the Excel file.
Note: the instructions below do not teach you how to format the worksheet. We assume that you know how to
change font sizes, font styles, insert rows and columns, add borders, change background colors, etc.

This is what January 2025 looks like.

The big question is: how do we tell Excel that January 2025 starts on a Wednesday?

1. First, to make the formulas easier to understand, we created the following named ranges.
Name Cells
CalendarYear K5
JanOffset =DATE(CalendarYear,1,1)-WEEKDAY(DATE(CalendarYear,1,1))

Explanation: dates are stored as numbers in Excel and count the number of days since January 0, 1900. The DATE
function returns the number that represents the date. The DATE function accepts three arguments: year, month and
day. The WEEKDAY function returns a number from 1 (Sunday) to 7 (Saturday) representing the day of the week of a
date. For example, January 1st, 2025 is the same as 45658. This date falls on a Wednesday. In other words,
=DATE(CalendarYear,1,1) equals 45658 and WEEKDAY(DATE(CalendarYear,1,1)) equals 4. As a result, JanOffset equals
45658 - 4 = 45654.

2. Let's take a look at the formula in cell B4.

Explanation: JanOffset+1 is nothing more than a date. In fact, it is (4-1) days earlier than January 1st, 2025. This
formula checks if the year of this date equals CalendarYear and the month equals January (1). If true, it returns the
date. If not, it returns an empty string ("").
3. Let's take a look at the formula in cell E4.

Explanation: JanOffset+4 is nothing more than a date. In fact, it is (4-4) days earlier than January 1st, 2025. This is the
first day of the year! This formula checks if the year of this date equals CalendarYear and the month equals January
(1). This is true! Excel returns the date.
4. We changed the format to "day format" to only display the day of the month.
Note: in a similar way, you can create the formulas for the other days in January and the other months. This calendar
tool lets you create a calendar for every year you want! Just use the Spin Button to increase the calendar year.
Save As
Save As | Save
Use the shortcut F12 to display the Save As dialog box in Excel. Press CTRL + s to save an existing workbook. It's good
practice to periodically save while you are working on your Excel file.
Save As
To display the Save As dialog box, execute the following steps.

1. On the File tab, click Save As.

2. Click Browse.

Result:
Note: instead of executing step 1 and step 2, simply use the shortcut F12.

3. Choose a file location.

4. Enter a file name.

5. Click Save.

Save
Again, it's good practice to periodically save while you are working on your Excel file. Saving often can prevent your work
from being lost.

1. Edit an existing workbook.

2. Simply press CTRL + s to save the changes.

3. Press F12 (Excel opens the Save As dialog box again) to create a copy of this workbook while keeping the original.
Page Breaks
Insert a page break in Excel to specify where a new page will begin in the printed copy.
To insert a horizontal page break, execute the following steps.

1. Select the first row of the new page.

2. On the Page Layout tab, in the Page Setup group, click Breaks.

3. Click Insert Page Break.

Excel displays a solid line (manual page break) to show you where the new page begins. Dashed lines are page breaks inserted
automatically by Excel.
Note: in a similar way, you can select a column to insert a vertical page break.

4. On the File tab, click Print for a print preview.

Note: to remove a horizontal page break, select a cell below the page break that you want to remove and click Breaks, Remove
Page Break. To remove all manual page breaks, click Breaks, Reset All Page Breaks. You cannot remove automatic page
breaks.
This example teaches you how to protect the workbook structure in Excel.
If you protect the workbook structure, users cannot insert, delete, rename, move, copy, hide or unhide worksheets anymore.

1. Open a workbook.

2. On the Review tab, in the Protect group, click Protect Workbook.

3. Check Structure, enter a password and click OK.

Note: The Windows option is not available in Excel 2013 and later versions.

4. Reenter the password and click on OK.

Users cannot insert, delete, rename, move, copy, hide or unhide worksheets anymore.

Note: to unprotect the workbook, click Protect Workbook and enter the password. The password for the downloadable Excel
file is "easy".
Custom Sort Order
You can use Excel to sort data in a custom order. In the example below, we would like to sort by Priority (High, Normal, Low).
1. Click any cell inside the data set.

2. On the Data tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click Sort.

The Sort dialog box appears.

3. Select Priority from the 'Sort by' drop-down list.

4. Select Custom List from the 'Order' drop-down list.

The Custom Lists dialog box appears.

5. Type the list entries.

6. Click OK.
7. Click OK again.

Result. Records are sorted by Priority (High, Normal, Low).