To prevent shifting, use the dollar sign ($). If you copy a formula and paste it in the next cell down, Excel will shift that referenced cell, so it would say A2 instead. When you write a formula, you reference cells by their position, such as A1. So bone up on any or all of these tricks to excel at Excel. But it's easy to master some of the more interesting and intricate tips that will make your time using the program a little easier, and will make you look like a guru of high-tech spreadsheetery.

There are so many ways to slice and dice numbers, give that data a new look, and more, it's impossible to recount them all. One thing almost every Excel user has in common: not knowing enough. That's not even mentioning the almost infinite number of excellent looking charts it can generate with the right (or even wrong!) data.

It's not all that shocking to see people using it as their word processor, despite Microsoft Word typically sitting right next to it. It can make a relatively effective contact manager or full-blown customer relationship manager. Plenty of people populate Excel's seemingly infinite grids with data, using it as a flat-file database. The current Excel version, available in Microsoft Office 2019 as part of a Microsoft 365 subscription and other methods, is a PCMag Editors' Choice. It does just about everything one could ask for in a spreadsheet. Excel is more than a brand everyone knows: it is powerful. Microsoft Excel's dominance as a spreadsheet has yet to be truly tested, certainly not by Corel's Quattro Pro (still sold today in WordPerfect Office (Opens in a new window)), the open-source tools of LibreOffice, or even by Google's Sheets (the spreadsheet part of Google Drive). It's the world's premiere spreadsheet application, and has been the industry standard for over 35 years, replacing the once-venerable Lotus 1-2-3, the first killer app for PCs in the 1980s. There are very, very few people on planet Earth who could ever say they've completely mastered every intricate little thing about Microsoft Excel (Opens in a new window).

How to Set Up Two-Factor Authentication.

How to Record the Screen on Your Windows PC or Mac.

How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files.

How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill.

How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone or iPad.

How to Block Robotexts and Spam Messages.

Quick analysis button not showing up