Jeff Steuben

1. The Magic of Excel –
Formatting Like a Pro
Jeff Steuben
Alliance to Save Energy
jsteuben@ase.org

2. Session Overview
• Introduction
• What you can do with Excel
• Key features of Excel
• Before you start…
• Jeff’s Rules for better spreadsheets
• Questions

3. Introduction
• Session goal
• My background
• Excel is a tool to organize #’s/data
WHAT can we do with Excel?

4. Things you can do with Excel
• Making tables (easier than Word!)
• Calculator
• Fill out forms
• Ongoing data tracking

5. Things you can do with Excel
• Data analysis
• Present data
• Event organizing

6. Things you can do with Excel
• Mail merge

7. Key features of Excel
• Experienced users please bear with us

8. Formulas
• All formulas start with =
• SUM
– sums up all the cells inside the ( )
– Specify a range or individual cells

9. Formulas
• IF
– Conducts a logical test and can do one of two
actions if test is TRUE or FALSE

10. Formulas
• ISBLANK
– Used in logical tests to see if a cell is blank
– Great for making calculations work without
making things look ugly

11. Dragging formulas
• You don’t want to type this on every line
• Hover near the bottom right corner
of a selected cell until you see this
• Click and drag to copy

12. Dragging formulas
This becomes
And so on…

13. Relative vs. Absolute position
• Still looking at these two:
• Position won’t change (absolute) in the
Column “$F” and the Row “$8”

14. Exclamation!
• Referencing a location on another tab uses
this format:
Tab Name!
Followed by the cell location
• Needs single quotation marks if
tab name is multiple words

15. Protecting Cells
• Two stage process
• By default, all cells will lock once you
enable “Protect”
1. Select cells you want to be editable (e.g. data
entry cells)
- Right Click
- “Format Cells”  “Protection” Tab
- Uncheck “Locked”

16. Protecting Cells
2. Protect your sheet.
Enter a password &
select options

17. What you see when you open Excel
• Center your screen on what you want the user
to see.
• Do this for every tab
• THEN save

18. What you see when you open Excel
• The difference between seeing …

19. Hide Cells
• Remove cells from sight without deleting
• Save blank areas for future use
• Improve visual clarity
• Select ROWS or COLUMNS (not cells)
– Right click
– “Hide”

20. Becomes…

21. Before you start…
• Identify your process/goals for the project
• Ask yourself some questions:

22. Q: Will other people be using this?
• Always design as if you will get amnesia
• Don’t cut corners on labeling
• If your document is good, it will resurface in
unexpected places

23. Q: Will the data be ongoing or
one-time?
Or: Will I need limited or unlimited space for my
data?
• Don’t box yourself in

24. Q: How many tabs will I need /
should I have?
• As few as possible without overcrowding
• One document that tries to do everything is
less helpful in the end

25. Q: How should I spatially arrange
my data?
• Rows, Columns or boxes (areas)
• Depends on what you’re doing
Rows
C
o
l
u
m
n
s

26. Q: Will multiple people provide
data to the sheet?
• Make a google doc
• Or track versions with file naming scheme –
v1, v2, etc. or timestamp “2-6-2011”

27. Q: Will I need to prevent people
from changing certain cells?
A: Protect the sheet
• Further editing becomes a pain – do this last

28. Take away message:
Design your document
with the project in mind.

29. Jeff’s Rules
• But first…
WHY are people scared of Excel?

31. Jeff’s Rule #1
• Design with people in mind
– Label all your data
– Make your spreadsheet
easy to read

32. Jeff’s Rule #2
• No hidden numbers inside cells
– Cells have either calculations (formulas) OR
numbers
– Not both

33. Jeff’s Rule #3
• State your assumptions
– The world runs on assumptions
– Do the best you can
– Be able to justify how you got them
– Be flexible to adjusting them

34. Jeff’s Rule #4
• Take advantage of visual formatting to
improve clarity
– White border
– Bold outlines
– Fonts
– Cell colors (don’t overdo it!)

36. Jeff’s Rule #4b
• Use consistent design
– Color scheme
– Fonts
– Rows vs. columns

37. Jeff’s Rule #5
• Avoid clutter and over complexity
– Don’t overcrowd a sheet, make multiple tabs
– Keep tabs to minimum
– Adding more and more features/information
results in a bloated document
– Significant figures

38. Wrap-up
• Excel can do many things
• Take advantage of Excel’s features
• Think before you start
• Remember Jeff’s Rules
and above all…

39. Design for CLARITY and
TRANSPARENCY

40. Thank You!
Questions?
Jeff Steuben
Alliance to Save Energy
jsteuben@ase.org