What Are the Rules for Excel Names?

As Juliet famously said to Romeo, “What’s in a name?” And she was talking about rows (misspelled as “rose”), so maybe Juliet was using a spreadsheet at the time. There are special rules for Excel names, but you might be surprised to see what is allowed.

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Excel Holiday Planner Workbook

Long ago, I created a Christmas planner in Excel, and it has evolved over the years. Well, tomorrow is the first of December, so you’ve probably finished your planning for this year. But, if you haven’t, this year’s new and improved version of the workbook might help. Now it’s an Excel Holiday Planner – you can pick any date as your holiday, instead of being Christmas themed.

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Do You Still Need Excel Subtotals?

Excel has a SUBTOTAL function, which ignores hidden or filtered rows. There is a Subtotal feature too, that quickly groups your data, and adds one or more rows of subtotals. Do we still need these Excel subtotals though, now that we have pivot tables and the AGGREGATE function?

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Excel Data Validation Troubleshooting

How many data validation rules do you have in the giant Excel workbook that you use every morning? If you inherited that file from somebody else, you might not have any idea what’s on some of the sheets. Your workbook could be slowing down, or maybe it’s even crashing, and you’re not sure why. Use these macros for data validation troubleshooting, and see if you need to clean things up.

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Create a Tartan Pattern in Excel

Suddenly, it’s November, and it’s time to plan what you’ll wear on St. Andrew’s Day (November 30th). He is the patron saint of Scotland (and other countries), so of course you’ll need a kilt, made in your family tartan. Fortunately, you can create a tartan pattern in Excel, if your family doesn’t have a tartan. Thanks to John Marshall for creating this handy tool.

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Excel Lookup Formula Challenge 20171026

Here’s an Excel Lookup Formula challenge to get your brain fired up. Can you solve it without doing a Google search? The problem details are shown below, and you can download the sample workbook. It has the sample data, and there are solutions too, on a different worksheet.

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Quick Trick to Add or Move Pivot Table Fields

We’re still recovering from Tuesday’s Spreadsheet Day celebrations, so we’ll keep it simple today. Here’s a quick trick to add or move pivot table fields, just by typing. Watch the really short video, and there are written instructions below, if you prefer those.

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