Minimize Data Entry

Learning Objectives

• To recall the character that you can use in lieu of the CONCATENATE worksheet function.
• To identify the Office applications that offer the ability to open and edit PDF files.
• To state the functionality that the Flash Fill feature offers.

Course Description

Spreadsheet work often entails seemingly unavoidable data entry tasks. However, very often tedious input tasks can be automated, or at least made easier. In this online CPE webcast Excel expert David H. Ringstrom turns his attention to empowering you to work more effectively with getting data into your spreadsheets and transforming data when needed. Techniques include worksheet functions such as CONCATENATE, TEXTJOIN, UPPER, PROPER, and so on, as well as using Microsoft Word to extract text from PDF files. You’ll see how to use Excel on your mobile device to take a picture of a printed document that you then convert to text that within an Excel spreadsheet. Other techniques include helpful aids such as custom lists, data validation, and much more.

David demonstrates every technique at least twice: first, on a PowerPoint slide with numbered steps, and second, in the subscription-based Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) version of Excel. David draws your attention to any differences in the older versions of Excel (2019, 2016, 2013, and earlier) during the presentation as well as in his detailed handouts. David also provides an Excel workbook that includes most of the examples he uses during the webcast.

Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based product that provides new feature updates as often as monthly. Conversely, the perpetual licensed versions of Excel have feature sets that don't change. Perpetual licensed versions have year numbers, such as Excel 2019, Excel 2016, and so on.

In this online excel CPE course following major topics are covered:

• Adding the hidden Form Command back to Excel 2007 and later.
• Combining words or other text together by concatenating.
• Creating an in-cell list by way of Excel’s Data Validation feature.
• Editing .PDF documents in Word 2013 and later—useful for unlocking data you wish to edit in Excel.
• Extracting data from PDF files with Power Query in Microsoft 365.
• Learning how the Table feature empowers you to improve the integrity of Excel spreadsheets.
• Removing the Table feature from a worksheet if it’s no longer needed.
• Separating first/last names into two columns without using formulas or retyping.
• Setting the default font for all future new workbooks.
• Transforming text by way of Excel’s UPPER, LOWER, PROPER, and TRIM functions.
• Simplifying multiple-field lookups with concatenation (combining fields into a single cell).
• Redacting portions of Social Security numbers by way of Excel’s TEXT worksheet function.

Overview

• Custom lists feature

  4 mins
• Entering data sideways

  14 mins
• Editing PDF documents

  21 mins
• Text to columns feature - Addresses

  30 mins
• Data validation - Lists

  44 mins
• TEXT function for social security numbers

  51 mins