"6 Great Excel Tricks for You to Discover Some Excel 2003 Functionality."

Here are the 6 Amazing Excel Tricks that you shouldn't miss:

1.) Hiding Duplicate Records As Easy As 1-2-3!

One of the most common mistakes users make in preparing a report or sorting data is including duplicate entries. A built-in filter in Excel will take care of this problem. Follow these steps:

• From the Data menu, point to Filter and click Advanced Filter.
• Drag across the worksheet to select/highlight the lists containing duplicate entries.
• Check Unique records only option.
• Click OK.

Excel will now hide any duplicate records in the selected range.

2.) Saving time with Custom Views

Custom Views is a tool in Excel that lets you assign a name to a particular sheet layout so you can recall it for later viewing. Making good use of custom views can save a great deal of time. For example, you can eliminate repetitive hiding, resizing, filtering, and other changes for producing various printed reports. Each set of options can be saved as a view. Then, all you need to do is apply the view before you print.

To access the feature:

• From the View menu, click Custom Views.
• From the Custom Views dialog box displayed, you'll see a listing of saved views, and you can add or delete views.

When adding a view, you have the option of including print settings, hidden rows and columns, and filter settings. The new view even remembers where the active cell was when the view was saved, so when you open that view, it will "jump" to the spot in your sheet that corresponds to that view.

3.) How About Those Functions that Exceed the 30-argument limit?

Excel has a 30-argument limit for statistical functions. It's easy to get around, though, if you group some of your arguments within parentheses.

Instead of entering AVG(A1,A2,A3…,A33), you can enter AVG((A1,A2,A3)A4…,A33), and Excel will accept the grouped arguments as a single argument within the formula.

4.) Why Conditional Formatting?

Conditional formatting refers to the ability to format a cell based on the contents of the cells. Conditional formatting makes it easy to highlight certain values so that they stand out visually. For example, you may set up conditional formatting so that if a formula returns a negative value, the cell background displays yellow, etc.

The best part is that conditional formatting is easy to set up. Just click the cells you'd like to format and select Format | Conditional Formatting. The Conditional Formatting dialog box lets you set up the conditions by which the formatting of the cell will occur. You pick the operator (between, equal to, less than, etc.) and the value or range of values. Click Format to open the Format Cells dialog box, where you can select the colors and styles to be used.

Each cell can have several conditional formats. For example, you might say that if a certain cell's value is between 10 and 30, the text should be bolded red on a yellow background.

5.) Catching Data Entry Errors

A workbook can be shared so that different peoples can access the same file at the same time. But it's a fact that shared workbooks generate more errors than workbooks with only one owner. Here's one way to flag errors as they occur:

• Select all cells in which data will be entered.
• From the Format menu, click Conditional Formatting.
• From the Conditional Formatting dialog box displayed, specify which cell values to flag.
• Click the Format button.
• From the Format Cells dialog box displayed, click the Patterns tab and select a color to signal errors.
• Click OK.

Now, when someone enters an error, it will be flagged with your selected color.

6.) How to Customize "division by 0" Error Messages?

Working in a complex worksheet, you may have encountered that annoying "#DIV/0!" error when the divisor of your formula is a zero. Using the IF function, you can create your own message for display when you divide by zero.

The IF function will be like this:

=IF (DIVISOR = 0,"Your Desired Text", DIVIDED/DIVISOR)

The IF function evaluates the first parameter (DIVISOR = 0). If it's TRUE, it displays the second parameter ("Your Desired Text") in the cell. If it's FALSE, the function displays the third parameter (DIVIDED/DIVISOR) in the cell.

With these 6 Excel tricks I believe it can really help you to learn Excel 2003 faster. What you need to do is that you must open the worksheet and practices it to get you familiar with these tips. For more Excel tricks, click the links below:

Excel Tricks: Discover Even More Microsoft Excel 2003 Tips

Excel 2003 Tips: Uncover 5 Tips to Improve Your Microsoft Excel Skills

Microsoft Excel Tips: 5 Secrets to Help You Work More Efficient on Excel 2003

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