In order to excel in the workplace, one of the most essential tools to understand is Microsoft Excel. A spreadsheet program, Microsoft Excel is used for a variety of reasons, mainly to track data. For so many of us in the legal field, Excel is a program that we keep close.

Whether it is for tracking deadlines, calculating numerical amounts, or more, we tend to use this software on a daily basis.

Below are some common (and not so common) tricks for working in Excel.

Creating a new line.
- Much like pressing ‘Enter’ in Word creates a new line, you can do the same in Excel. However, you need to press down “ALT” while hitting “Enter” in order to create the new line.
Adding up all of the numbers in a cell.
- Formula: =SUM(A2:A8)
- You can also select the Σ symbol under the “Home” tab to create this formula. You can also select “Average,” “Count Numbers,” “Max,” “Min,” and more.

Creating a table from existing data.
- Select the data from the spreadsheet to be included in the table.
- Go to “Insert” and select “Table.”
- Select whether or not your table has headers; then, click “Ok.”
- The table will be created, and you will be able to sort based on each column.

You can also select “Format as table” under the “Home” tab to create a table as well.

Combining two or more cells into one.
- Formula: =A2&” “&B2
- You need to manually enter the spaces; otherwise, the text will just merge together.

Comparing two columns.
- Formula: =IF(A2=B2, “Yes”,”No”)
- This is useful if you are comparing two sets of data.

- You can also use this to find case-sensitive matches, using the following formula:
- =IF(EXACT(A2, B2), “Yes”,”No”)

Separating one column into several columns.
- Select the column of text you need to separate.
- Go to “Data” and select “Text to Columns.”
- Choose “Delimited.” This will allow you to choose what character will divide the column.
- Select your delimiters. This is how the columns will be created. If it is a list of names, I use “Space.”
- Press “Finish.” You should now have separate columns for your text.

These are just some of the tools that Excel has to offer. In my experience, I am constantly searching for new ways to utilize the mechanics of Excel within the workplace. Excel almost always has a workaround to any problem you may have. If you cannot find the answer, rest assured; someone else has Googled it, and someone else has made a website about it.

May 21, 2020/by Paralegals