Excel efficiency improvement: Five practical tips to help you process tables quickly

Even users who have been using Microsoft Excel for decades can always discover new techniques to improve efficiency. This article shares five practical Excel tips I have accumulated over the years to help you speed up your spreadsheet workflow.

1. No need to freeze the first line: Use Excel tables cleverly

When working with Excel tables containing a lot of data, you may get used to freezing the first row through the View tab so that the header is always visible when scrolling.

But in fact, if you format the data as an Excel table, you don't need this step. First, make sure that the first row of the data contains the column title. Then, select the data and click "Table" in the "Insert" tab.

2. Copy and access multiple projects simultaneously

Most people know the shortcut keys for copying (Ctrl C) and pasting (Ctrl V) in Excel. But what is less known is that you can copy multiple items from different sources at the same time and paste them into a spreadsheet with just one click.

For example, you are creating a player profile for your football team. For each player, you need their ID, photos and online profile links.

Even if the player ID is in a separate worksheet, the photos are in a Microsoft Word document, and the online profile URL is accessed in a web browser, you can copy each item one by one.

Then, go back to the spreadsheet where you want to paste the copied item, click the clipboard launcher icon in the Start tab, and view the item you just copied in the clipboard pane. Note that there is an icon next to each item to remind you of its original position.

Related Reading: The Power of Microsoft Office Clipboard (link to related blog posts)

Now, select the cell you want to paste the first item and click the item in the clipboard pane. Repeat this process for other copied items.

3. View all formulas: Display formulas with one click

By default, Excel worksheet cells display formula results, and the formula bar displays the formula you use to get that result.

Related reading: Getting Started Guide to Excel Formulas and Functions (link to related blog posts)

However, you can also display the formula itself in the cell. To do this, press Ctrl ` (backtick key, usually in the upper left corner of the keyboard).

With this shortcut, you can quickly see which cells contain formulas, understand how to calculate, and check for errors. Additionally, when enabled, selecting a cell containing the formula will highlight the cells it references, making troubleshooting easier.

Press Ctrl ` again to restore the spreadsheet to its default state.

4. Right-click to view all worksheet tabs

In Excel, the tab manager at the bottom of the navigation screen is a relatively tedious task, especially when there are many worksheets in the workbook. Clicking the small arrow in the lower left corner of the Excel window to scroll through the tabs will waste a lot of time.

Related Reading: Why Always Rename Excel Worksheets (Link to Related Blog Posts)

5. Quick calculation of the status bar

One of the easiest but probably the most underutilized tools in Excel is the status bar, which is located in the bottom right corner of the Excel window.

Related Reading: How to Customize and Use the Status Bar in Excel (Link to Related Blog Posts)

Specifically, when you select certain data in a spreadsheet, the status bar provides calculations for instant analysis without additional formulas.

In this example, the table is sorted in descending order of appearances, and I want to quickly see the total and average goals scored by any player who makes 100 or more appearances.

While this information can be generated using formulas, I don't want the results to appear in a spreadsheet - my goal is just to quickly view the data for analysis.

So once I select the total number of goals scored by the relevant players, the average, count and sum of the selected cells appear in the status bar.

If you don't see these totals in your Excel version after selecting two or more cells containing data, right-click the status bar and check the aggregate calculations to display from the six options (Average, Count, Numeric Count, Min, Maximum, and Sum).

Also, I can click on any calculations in the status bar to copy the value to the clipboard so that I can paste it elsewhere as needed.

To save time using Microsoft Excel, in addition to the tips shared in this article, you can also make the most of the name boxes to speed up navigation and personalize quick access to the toolbar to execute your most commonly used commands immediately.

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