Microsoft Excel Tips and Tricks Page
JohnKalpus.com

Nifty Excel Tricks
Date and Time Codes
Excel function values for calculating investments

Excel error values
Starting an Excel workbook automatically
Transferring custom toolbars to a new workbook or computer

Calculation Tricks
F9 Calculates the formulas in all open workbooks
Shift+F9 Calculates only the formulas in the Active workbook (not the other worksheeps in the same workbook),
Ctrl+Shift+F9 Forces a recalculation of everything.

 

Nifty Excel Tricks
To insert today's date: Press Ctrl + ; (the control key plus the semi-colon key)
To insert the current time: Press Ctrl + Shift + ; (the control key plus the shift key plus the semi-colon key)
   

 

Excel Date and Time Codes...
Code Display
d Day number without leading zeros (1-31)
dd Day number with leading zeros (1-31)
ddd Day of week abbreviation (Sat - Sun)
dddd Day of week name (Sunday - Saturday)
m Month number without leading zero (1-12)
mm Month number with leading zero (1-12)
mmm Month name abbreviation (Jan-Dec)
mmmm Complete month name (January - December)
yy Last two digits of year number (00-99)
yyyy Entire year number (1900-2078)
h Hour without leading zero (0-23)
hh Hour with leading zero (0-23)
m Minute without leading zero (0-59)
mm Minute with leading zero (0-59)
s Second without leading zero (0-59)
ss Second with leading zero (0-59)
s.0 Second and tenth of a second without leading zero
s.00 Second and hundredth of a second without leading zero
ss.0 Second and tenth of a second with leading zero
ss.00 Second and a hundredth of a second with leading zero
AM/PM Time in AM/PM notation
am/pm Time in am/pm notation
A/P Time in A/P notation
a/p Time in a/p notation
[ ] When used too enclose a time code, as in [h]m displays the absolute elapsed time;
allows you to display more than 24 hours, 60 minutes, or 60 seconds.

top of page

Excel function values for calculating investments...
Argument Description
future value (fv) Value of investment at end of term (0 if omitted)
inflow 1, inflow 2, ...inflow n Periodic payments when individual amounts differ
number of periods Term of investment
payment Periodic payments when individual amounts are the same
type When payment is to be made (0 if omitted)
0 = at end of period
1 = at beginning of period
period Number of an individual periodic payment
present value (pv) Value of investment today
rate Discount rate or interest rate

top of page

Excel error values...
Error Value Means
#DIV/O! You attempted to divide a number by zero. This error usually occurs when you create a formula with a divisor that refers to a blank cell.
#NAME? You entered a name in a formula that is not in the Define Name dialog box list. You may have mistyped the name or typed a deleted name. Excel also displays this error value if you do not enclose a text string in double quotation marks.
#VALUE You entered a mathematical formula that refers to a text entry.
#N/A No information is available for the calculation you want to perform. When building a model, you can enter #N/A in a cell to show you are awaiting data. Any formulas that reference cells containing #N/A return #N/A/.
#NUM! You provided an invalid argument to a worksheet function. #NUM can also indicate that the result of a formula is too large or too small to be represented in a worksheet.
#NULL! You included a space between two ranges in a formula to indicate an intersection, but the ranges have no common cells.
#REF! You deleted a range of cells whose references are included in a formula.

top of page

Starting an Excel workbook automatically...
Find the Excel folder called XLStart, (usually located in c:\windows\application data\microsoft\excel\).
Simply save the workbook to the xlstart folder each time.

Ex: put the workbook that contains your macros here and they'll be available each time you run Excel.

 

Transferring custom toolbars to a new workbook or computer...
Excel stores custom toolbars in a file called Excel.xlb. Simply copy this file to a new computer and double click on it to start Excel, and open the new toolbars.

For additional Excel information, visit: www.j-walk.com

top of page

Return to TechnoInfo Page
Return to JohnKalpus.com