Excel Tutorial with Hints, Tips & Tricks

Resize a Column

• Place your mouse pointer on the thin line between the column headings
  (eg. on the line between B and C)
• The mouse pointer will change shape to a double-headed arrow, click and drag to resize the column
  

Resize Multiple Columns

• Select (highlight) the columns you want to resize
• Keeping the columns selected, resize one of the columns in the selection (by placing your mouse pointer
  on the thin line between the column headings eg. on the line between B and C)
• The mouse pointer will change shape to a double-headed arrow, click and drag to resize the column
• This will automatically resize all the selected columns to the exact same size

 

Resize a Row

• Place your mouse pointer on the thin line between the row headings
  (eg. on the line between 2 and 3)
• The mouse pointer will change shape to a double-headed arrow, click and drag to resize the row

 

To Change the Worksheet Name

• Double click the existing name of the worksheet you want to change name
• Overtype the selected text

 

To Turn Off Error Checking (those green triangles)

Both Excel 2002 and 2003 have a feature switched on which constantly checks for potential errors in 
your worksheets. When Excel thinks it's found an error the cell is "marked" or "flagged" with a small green triangle in 
the upper-left corner. To switch off this feature:

• Go to the Tools menu, click on Options
• In the Options dialogue box, click on the Error Checking tab
• Untick the Enable Background Error Checking check box
• And click OK 
• This should clear the green triangles in all Excel workbooks

 

To Copy a Worksheet
 
If you use copy and paste when copying a whole worksheet, you will find it does not maintain formatting of row
and column sizes, so try this:

Method one:

• From the Edit menu, select Move or Copy Sheet
• In the dialogue box make sure you tick the option: Create a Copy

Method two - the quicker way:

• With your mouse pointer, point at the sheet name (the tab) of the worksheet that you want to copy
• Click and start to drag to the left or right and at the same time hold down the Ctrl key
• You will see a small plus sign appear next to the mouse pointer - this indicates you are making a copy
• Keep holding down the Ctrl key as you release the mouse button when the pointer is exactly where you want the worksheet copy to be placed
• This is the quickest and easiest way to make an exact copy of the worksheet, including all formatting
   

Resize Multiple Rows

• Select (highlight) the rows you want to resize
• Keeping the rows selected, resize one of the rows in the selection (by placing your mouse pointer
  on the thin line between the row headings eg. on the line between 2 and 3)
• The mouse pointer will change shape to a double-headed arrow, click and drag to resize the row
• This will automatically resize all the selected rows to the exact same size

 

IMPORTANT: Please note that hints, tips and tricks suggested above are offered purely as an aid to our customers - no responsibility can be accepted by ABC Dee Training for the consequences of any actions taken based on our comments or suggestions.