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3 Crazy Excel Formulas That Do Amazing

Things

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IvealwaysbelievedthatExcelisoneofthemostpowerfulsoftwaretoolsout
there.Itisntjustthefactthatitsspreadsheetsoftware,whichisbyits
naturepowerfulanyway.No,MicrosoftExcel2013itselfhassuchan
awesomecollectionofbuiltintoolsandfeaturesthatithasbeyondany
doubt,becomeoneofthemostusefultoolsforsomanythings.Inthis
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Underconditionalformatting,thereareabunchofoptions.Mostofthese Interview Tips

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abouthighlighting,coloringorshadingcellsbasedonthedatawithinthat
cell.Thisisprobablythemostcommonuseofconditionalformatting VBA Tips
doingthingsliketurningacellredusinglogicallessthanorgreaterthan
formulas.
Oneofthelesserusedorknownaboutconditionalformattingtoolsis
theiconsetsoption,whichprovidesyouwithagreatsetoficonsyoucanuse
toturnanExceldatacellintoadashboarddisplayicon.

IdiscoveredthisonceIupgradedtoOffice2013andusedconditional
formattinginExcel2013.IcheckedouttheiconsetsandsawthesecoolLED
indicatorlightsthatIhadonlyreallyseenbeforeinsomeofthefactory
automationdisplaysIveprogrammed.WhenyouclickonManagerules,
itlltakeyoutotheConditionalFormattingRulesManager.Dependingon
thedatayouselectedbeforechoosingtheiconset,youllseethecell
indicatedintheManagerwindow,withtheiconsetyoujustchose.
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 WhenyouclickonEditRule,youseethedialogwherethemagic
happens.Thisiswhereyoucancreatethelogicalformulaandequationsthat
willdisplaythedashboardiconyouwant.Inmyexample,Imonitortime
spentondifferenttasksversusmybudgetedtime.IfIvegoneoverhalfmy
budget,Iwantayellowlighttodisplay,andifImoverbudget,Iwantitto
gored.

Asyoucansee,Imnotreallybudgetingmytimetoowell.Almosthalfofmy
timeisspentwayoverwhatIvebudgeted.

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 AlsoreadConditionalFormulasinExcel&TricksUsingtheIF
FunctioninExcel

Look Up Items With the VLookup Function

Okay,maybethatisntcrazyenoughforyou.Maybeyouarentsoexcited
aboutsimplelogicalformulasturninglightsonandoff.Fineifyourean
oldschoolExcelfiendandyoulikeusingmoreadvancedExcelfunctions,
thenIvegoneanotheroneforyou.

YouareprobablyfamiliarwiththeVLookupfunction,whichletsyousearch
throughalistforaparticulariteminonecolumn,andreturnthedatafroma
differentcolumninthesamerowasthatitem.Unfortunately,thefunction
requiresthattheitemyouresearchingforinthelistisintheleftcolumn,
andthedatathatyourelookingforisontheright,butwhatiftheyre
switched?

Intheexamplebelow,whatifIwanttofindtheTaskthatIperformedon
6/25/2013fromthefollowingdata?

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 Inthiscase,yoursearchingthroughvaluesontheright,andyouwantto
returnthecorrespondingvalueontheleftoppositehowVLookup
normallyworks.IfyoureadExcelprouserforumsyoullfindalotofpeople
sayingthisisntpossiblewithVLookupandthatyouhavetousea
combinationofIndexandMatchfunctionstodothis.Thatsnotentirely
true.

YoucangetVLookuptoworkthiswaybynestingaCHOOSEfunctioninto
it.Inthiscase,theformulawouldlooklikethis:

=VLOOKUP(DATE(2013,6,25),CHOOSE({1,2},E2:E8,A2:A8),2,0)

WhatthisfunctionmeansinsimpleEnglishisthatyouwanttofindthedate
6/25/2013inthelookuplist,andthenreturnthecorrespondingvaluefrom
thecolumnindex.Inthiscase,youllnoticethatthecolumnindexis2,but
asyoucanseethecolumninthetableaboveisactually1,right?

Thatstrue,butwhatyouredoingwiththeCHOOSEfunctionis
manipulatingthetwofields.Youreassigningreferenceindexnumbersto
rangesofdataassigningthedatestoindexnumber1andthetasksto
indexnumbertwo.So,whenyoutype2intheVLookupfunction,youre
actuallyreferringtoIndexnumber2intheCHOOSEfunction.Crazy,eh?

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 SonowtheVLookupusestheDatecolumnandreturnsthedatafromthe
Taskcolumn,eventhoughTaskisontheleft.Nowthatyouknowthislittle
tidbit,justimaginewhatyoucando!

AlsoreadHowtoDecideWhichExcelLookupFormulatoUse

Insane Nested Formulas to Parse Strings

Asyoucansee,Imtryingtogetalittlecrazieraswego,becauseIknow
therearealwayssomeofyououttherethatgo,wellthatsnotcrazyat
ALL!!Iknow,yourstandardsarehighandImtryingtoliveuptothem.If
Ivefailedwithmylasttwoattempts,IbetIcanappealtoyourneedfor
crazywiththisparticularformula.

TheremaybecaseswhereyoueitherimportdataintoExcelfromanoutside
sourcethatismadeupofastringseparatedbydelimiterswithinthefield
itself.Onceyoubringinthedata,youwanttoparsethatdataoutintothe
individualcomponents.

Hereshowthisisdone(seeifyoucanmentallyfollowalongwiththis
insanity):

Forthefirstfield,toextracttheleftmostitem(thepersonsname),you
wouldsimplyuseaLEFTfunctionintheformula.

=LEFT(A2,FIND(,A2,1)1)

ThissearchesthetextstringfromA2,findsthedelimitersymbol,
subtractsonefortheproperlocationoftheendofthatstringsection,and
thengrabstheleftmosttexttothatpoint.Inthiscase,thatsRyan.Mission
accomplished.

Butwhatabouttheothersections?Well,toextractthepartsontheright,
youneedtonestmultipleRIGHTfunctionstograbthesectionoftextup
untilthatfirstsymbol,andperformtheLEFTfunctiononitagain.Heres
whatthatlooksliketoextractthestreetnumberpartoftheaddress.

=LEFT((RIGHT(A2,LEN(A2)FIND(,A2))),FIND(,
(RIGHT(A2,LEN(A2)FIND(,A2))),1)1)

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 Itlookscrazy,butitsnothardtopiecetogether.AllIdidistookthis
function:

RIGHT(A2,LEN(A2)FIND(,A2))

AndinserteditintoeveryplaceintheLEFTfunctionabovewheretheresan
A2.Thiscorrectlyextractsthesecondsectionofthestring.

Eachsubsequentsectionofthestringneedsanothernestcreated.Sonow
youjusttakethecrazyRIGHTequationyouhadcreatedforthelast
section,andthenpastthatintoanewRIGHTformulawiththeprevious
RIGHTformulapastedintoitselfwhereveryouseeA2.Hereswhatthat
lookslike.

(RIGHT((RIGHT(A2,LEN(A2)FIND(,A2))),LEN((RIGHT(A2,LEN(A2)
FIND(,A2))))FIND(,(RIGHT(A2,LEN(A2)FIND(,A2))))))

ThenyoutakeTHATformula,andplaceitintotheoriginalLEFTformula
wherevertheresanA2.Thefinalmindbendingformulalookslikethis:

=LEFT((RIGHT((RIGHT(A2,LEN(A2)
FIND(,A2))),LEN((RIGHT(A2,LEN(A2)FIND(,A2))))FIND(,
(RIGHT(A2,LEN(A2)FIND(,A2)))))),FIND(,
(RIGHT((RIGHT(A2,LEN(A2)FIND(,A2))),LEN((RIGHT(A2,LEN(A2)
FIND(,A2))))FIND(,(RIGHT(A2,LEN(A2)FIND(,A2)))))),1)1)

ThatformulacorrectlyextractsPortland,ME04076outoftheoriginal
string.

Toextractthenextsection,repeattheaboveprocessalloveragain.Your
formulascangetreallyloopy,butallyouredoingiscuttingandpastinglong
formulasintoitself,makelongneststhatworkreallywell!

AlsoreadExcelFormulas:10FormulasThatHelpedMeKeepMy
Job

Conclusion
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 Sothereyouhaveit.Weretheseformulasandtechniqueswildenough?Do
youhaveanyamazingformulatricksofyourownthatmakeupyourExcel
superusertoolbox?Shareyourinputandfeedbackinthecommentssection
below!

AlsoreadExcelDataEntryTipsandTechniques

Courtesy:makeuseof.com|Author:RyanDube

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Raghu R
ExcelismyPassionandVBALoveofLife.Iliketosolveand
automateanypossibleopportunityinExcelincludingincombination
withOfficeApplications(Access,Outlook,Word,PowerPoint,Visio,
etc)andotherNonOfficeApplications(SAP,IE,Batch,
ConfigurationManagementTools,etc).Note:Allthesolutionsgiven
herearepublishedafterthoroughlytestedtomyknowledge,however
itisadvisedtokeepacopybeforeyoutryit.

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