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LinkedIn Learning

Excel 2016: Avoiding Common Mistakes

via LinkedIn Learning

Overview

This quick course helps you prevent errors from occurring in your data when you are using Excel, helping you keep your spreadsheets, workbooks, formulas, and values clean.

If you do a lot of work in Excel, you know that errors can easily creep into your data. And even a small error can have big consequences, throwing off important calculations or transmitting incorrect information to your team. In this concise course, Excel expert Dennis Taylor provides quick and easy tips to help you avoid making common mistakes.

Dennis begins with the basics—how to display data so that errors can be easily spotted. Next, he offers handy tips to ensure data is entered correctly the first time, using the AutoFill feature and using AutoCorrect shortcut codes for frequently used entries. Dennis provides easy ways to validate your data, which is particularly helpful when multiple team members are contributing to the same spreadsheet. This includes restricting the data that can appear in a spreadsheet by setting value limits, pre-populating data with drop-down lists, and other methods. He also shows how to avoid mistakes in formulas, how to hide data that doesn't need to be seen, and how to use workbook protection to prevent errors, and more.

Syllabus

Introduction
  • Welcome
  • Using the exercise files
1. Data Entry and Design Tips
  • Reducing data entry and typing
  • Simplify and accelerate date/time entries
  • Use shortcuts and automatic features
  • Structure entries; avoid multiple dates; keep titles in a single row
  • Shortcuts, tips, and techniques
2. Protecting Worksheets and Workbooks with Prevention Tools
  • Lock cells with worksheet protection
  • Protect workbooks
3. Data Validation
  • Restrict data entry with constraints
  • Prevent duplicate entries
  • Force entries to be picked from a list
  • Base entries on formulas
4. Formula Tips
  • Use row and column references
  • Enter function names faster and evaluate portions of formulas
  • Detect errors in formulas
  • Simplify formula entry with AutoSum shortcuts
  • Use Range Names
5. Tracking Down Mistakes in Large, Complex Spreadsheets
  • Analyze a workbook with Spreadsheet Inquire
  • Compare two versions of a workbook with Spreadsheet Compare
Conclusion
  • Next steps

Taught by

Dennis Taylor

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