Excel

PivotTables, formulas, charts, conditional formatting, and what to do when Excel won't cooperate.

52 guides in this category.

Formulas & Functions

• How to Calculate Percentages in Excel - Work out percentage of a total, percentage change, markup and sales tax in Excel, and stop a correct formula displaying as 0.25 or 2500%.
• How to Calculate the Difference Between Two Dates in Excel - Count the days, working days, months or years between two Excel dates, and fix the result when it displays as a date instead of a number.
• How to Combine Text from Two Cells in Excel - Combine first and last names or city, state and ZIP into one cell with the & operator, CONCAT or TEXTJOIN, then convert the result to plain text.
• How to Pull Data from Another Sheet in Excel - Show a value from one worksheet on another by clicking it, and understand the reference Excel writes for you before you fill it down a column.
• How to Use Goal Seek in Excel - Work backwards from the answer you need. How to run Goal Seek in Excel, fill the three boxes, read the result, and know when to reach for Solver.
• How to Use IF and IFS Functions in Excel - IF returns one answer when a test passes and another when it fails. Learn the syntax, the quoting rules, nested IF, IFS, and AND/OR tests.
• How to Use LAMBDA and LET Functions to Clean Up Excel Formulas - Use Excel's modern LET and LAMBDA functions to simplify massive, complex formulas so they are easier to read and edit.
• How to Use Named Ranges in Excel - Name a range once and every formula that uses it reads like plain English. How to create, use, edit and scope named ranges in Excel.
• How to Use SUMIF and COUNTIF in Excel - Count and total only the rows that match a condition, with the COUNTIF and SUMIF criteria syntax that trips everyone up, plus SUMIFS and COUNTIFS.
• How to Use VLOOKUP in Excel - VLOOKUP pulls a matching value out of a table. Learn the four arguments, why the last one must be FALSE, and the column-counting trap to avoid.
• How to Use XLOOKUP in Excel - XLOOKUP searches a range for a value and returns a corresponding result from another column or row.
• How to Write Your First Excel Formula - Write your first Excel formula and total a column with SUM and AutoSum — every piece explained from the equals sign up, no experience assumed.
• Understanding Absolute and Relative Cell References in Excel - The dollar sign is why one formula survives being dragged down a column and another falls apart. Here is what each reference type does and when to use it.

Charts & PivotTables

• How to Create a PivotTable in Excel - Summarize and analyze large datasets in Excel with PivotTables. Learn how to create, format, and refresh interactive reports.
• How to Create and Customize Charts in Excel - Create and customize charts in Microsoft Excel to visualize data trends. Form graphs for reports, presentations, and dashboards.
• How to Refresh and Fix a PivotTable When Data Changes - Make a PivotTable pick up new rows, clear stale filter items, repair a broken data source, and stop formatting resetting on every refresh.

Copilot & AI in Excel

• How to Use Copilot in Excel to Analyze Data - Use Microsoft Copilot in Excel to analyze data, create charts, find trends, and generate formulas with natural language prompts.
• How to Use the Analyze Data Feature in Excel - The Analyze Data feature (formerly called Ideas) in Excel uses artificial intelligence to identify trends, patterns, and insights in your data.
• Understanding Why Copilot Only Works in Excel for the Web (and How to Fix It) - Why is the Copilot button grayed out in your Excel desktop app but works perfectly in your browser? Learn the three strict rules Excel requires.

Data Entry, Sorting & Cleanup

• How to Convert a PDF to an Excel Spreadsheet - Pull the tables out of a PDF into Excel with the built-in From PDF import, no converter website and no retyping.
• How to Create a Drop-Down List in Excel - Create a drop-down list in Excel using Data Validation. Restrict cell inputs to ensure consistent and error-free data entry in spreadsheets.
• How to Find and Highlight Duplicates in Excel - Highlight duplicate values in Excel with conditional formatting, flag repeat entries with COUNTIF, count them, filter them, and clear the formatting after.
• How to Format Data as a Table in Excel - Turn a plain range into an Excel table with Ctrl + T for banded rows, filter buttons, sticky headers, a Total Row, and formulas that grow with your data.
• How to Insert Checkboxes in Excel - Add tickable checkboxes to a range of Excel cells, count the ticked ones with a formula, and strike completed tasks out automatically.
• How to Remove Duplicate Rows in Excel - Find and remove duplicate rows in Excel using the built-in Remove Duplicates tool or conditional formatting.
• How to Sort and Filter Data in Excel - Sort data alphabetically or by value and use filters to show only the rows you need in Excel.
• How to Split Text into Columns in Excel - Use Text to Columns to split names, addresses and codes into separate columns without losing leading zeros or overwriting the data sitting beside them.
• How to Stop Excel Changing Numbers into Dates - Stop Excel turning entries like 1-2 into 2-Jan and dropping leading zeros from ZIP codes, and rescue a column it has already converted.
• How to Use AutoFill in Excel - Use Excel AutoFill to quickly fill cells with patterns, sequences, dates, and formulas by dragging the fill handle.
• How to Use Data Validation and Input Tips in Excel - Use Excel's Data Validation feature to control what users can enter in a cell - including dropdown lists, number ranges, date ranges, and custom rules.
• How to Use Flash Fill in Excel - Flash Fill spots the pattern in your data and finishes the column for you - splitting full names, reformatting phone numbers, and more.
• How to Use Power Query in Excel - Clean an imported file once in Power Query, then refresh next month's version in one click instead of repeating every fix by hand.

Formatting & Printing

• How to Freeze Panes and Split Views in Excel - Keep column headers and row labels visible while scrolling in Excel. Learn how to Freeze Panes and split worksheet views.
• How to Hide and Unhide Rows and Columns in Excel - Bring back hidden Excel rows and columns, including column A, and work out why Unhide does nothing when the rows are filtered instead.
• How to Print an Excel Spreadsheet on One Page - Fit a wide worksheet onto a single printed page using scaling, print areas, margins and page breaks, without shrinking the text past the point of readability.
• How to Use Conditional Formatting in Excel - Conditional formatting highlights cells based on rules you define - such as coloring values above a threshold or adding data bars to visualize trends.
• How to Wrap Text and Merge Cells in Excel - Wrap long text inside a cell, add line breaks with Alt + Enter, and merge cells without breaking sorting, filtering, and your formulas.
• Understanding Number Formats in Excel - A cell holds a value and the number format only decides how it looks — the one idea behind #####, rounding gaps and dates that appear from nowhere.

Fix Excel Problems

• How to Fix Circular Reference Warnings in Excel - Excel says a formula refers to its own cell. How to find the looping cell from the status bar, fix the two everyday causes, and when iteration is right.
• How to Fix Common Excel Formula Errors - Decode Excel error values like #REF!, #VALUE! and #DIV/0!, then fix the cause each one names instead of rewriting a formula that was never wrong.
• How to Fix "######" Errors in Excel Cells - Seeing a row of hashtags (######) quickly means Excel cannot fit the content inside the cell.
• How to Fix Excel Crashing or Freezing - Fix Excel when it freezes, stops responding, or crashes on one particular file — covering Safe Mode, add-ins, graphics acceleration, and file repair.
• How to Fix Excel Not Opening Files or Showing a Blank Workbook - Fix issues where Microsoft Excel refuses to open a file or only opens a completely blank, grey window with no spreadsheet.
• How to Fix Numbers Stored as Text in Excel - Green triangles, left-aligned numbers and SUM returning 0 mean Excel is holding your numbers as text. Here is how to convert them back for good.
• How to Fix "This Workbook Contains Links to External Sources" in Excel - Find, update, or safely remove broken external links in Microsoft Excel to stop the annoying startup warning.
• How to Open a CSV File in Excel Without Breaking It - Stop Excel mangling CSV exports. Import with Data > From Text/CSV to keep leading zeros, long numbers and accented characters intact.
• How to Shrink a Large Excel File - Cut a bloated workbook down to size by clearing the phantom used range, stripping whole-column formatting, and compressing the images inside it.

More Excel Guides

• How to Mail Merge from Excel to Word - Generate personalized letters, labels, or individual emails in bulk. Connect an Excel list to Word, insert merge fields, preview, and send.
• How to Protect a Sheet or Workbook in Excel - Lock cells, protect a sheet, and protect the workbook structure in Excel — plus how to unprotect, and what to do about a password nobody has.
• How to Use Excel Keyboard Shortcuts - The Excel keyboard shortcuts worth learning, grouped by task — navigating, selecting, entering data, formatting, and formulas, with Mac equivalents.
• How to Use Find and Replace in Office - Find and Replace lets you search for specific text, formatting, or values and replace them across an entire document or spreadsheet.
• Understanding Excel Features - Excel is one of the most powerful tools in Microsoft 365, but most users only scratch the surface - typing data into cells and doing basic math.