Capturing dynamic data

Enter a Line Break Within a Cell
You can control the line breaks for multiple-line headings or labels in your Microsoft Excel worksheet, just like you do in Microsoft Word. Here's how to do it.

1. Click the cell where you want the label or heading to appear.
2. Type the first line of information.
3. Press ALT+ENTER.
4. Type the second line. Then repeat step 3 if you have additional lines to enter.
5. Press ENTER when you've finished typing.

Perform Quick Operations on Your Excel Data
Have you ever wanted to quickly perform an operation on your Excel data, without replacing the data? For example, maybe you have some yearly figures, and you want to see what the daily ones look like. It's easy to do, using the Paste Special command.

1. Type =365 in a cell.
2. Click Copy.
3. Highlight the data for which you want the daily figures.
4. On the Edit menu, click Paste Special.
5. In the Paste Special dialog box, click Divide and then click OK.

All of the data you have highlighted will be divided by 365. If you click in any of the cells, you'll see the operation that was performed displayed in the formula bar.

Import Access Data into Excel
Did you know you could import data from your Microsoft Access databases into Microsoft Excel? Here?s a quick and easy way to do it:

1. Open the Excel workbook into which you want to import the data.
2. On the Data menu, point to Import External Data, and then click Import Data.
3. In the Select Data Source dialog box, click New Source.
4. In the Data Connection Wizard dialog box, click ODBC DSN, and then click Next.
5. Click MS Access Database, and then click Next.
6. In the Select Database dialog box, browse to the database file you want to import, and then click OK.
7. In the Data Connection Wizard dialog box, click the name of the table that contains the data you want to import, and then click Next.
8. Type a name and description, and click Finish.
9. In the Select Data Source dialog box, click the data source you just created and then click Open.
10. In the Import Data dialog box, specify where you want to put the data, and then click OK. (While the Import Data dialog box is open, you can click the row on your spreadsheet where you want the data to appear and the Existing worksheet box will update automatically with the correct information.)

Keep Links to Source Workbooks Up-to-Date
One of the great things about Excel is that you can create formulas in one workbook that link to data stored in another (source) workbook. But, when your source workbook changes regularly (for example, if you update the source and save it under a new name each month), it can be very time-consuming to find and update links to the old source workbook. Fortunately, there's an easy way to do this:

1. Open the workbook that contains the link(s) .
2. On the Edit menu, click Links.
3. In the Source box, click the name of the link with the source you would like to change.
4. Click Change Source.
5. In the Change Source dialog box, click the source workbook you want to refer to.

Create Forms for Easier Data Entry
Entering large amounts of data into an Excel spreadsheet can be very time consuming. Using data entry forms makes your task easier. A data entry form is a dialog box that gives you a convenient way to enter a complete row of information at one time.

To use a data entry form to edit a list:

1. Click a cell in the labeled row you want to add the record to.
2. On the Data menu, click Form.
3. Click OK. A data entry dialog box appears, with field labels that correspond with the column labels in your list.

To add a new record

1. Click New.
2. Type the information for the new record.
3. When you finish typing data, press the ENTER key to add the record.
4. When you finish adding records, click Close to add the new record and close the data form.

Keep the Result, Lose the Formula
I receive invoices from vendors containing formulas that calculate billing data. Before I can use the billing data, I need to convert the formula results to plain numbers. Fortunately, in Excel it's easy to copy and paste a result without the formula.

1. Select the cell containing data you want to copy.
2. Press CTRL+C to copy the cell data.
3. Press CTRL+V to paste the data in a new location.
4. Click the arrow next to the Paste Options smart tag, and then click Values Only.

Use Your Spreadsheet Like a Database with AutoFilter
You can use AutoFilter to analyze the data in your Excel spreadsheet based on specific criteria. For example, if you are a salesperson who has a spreadsheet listing all the clients you have in each region you cover, you can use AutoFilter to sort by a specific region and get a snapshot of just the clients in that region. Here's how you to use the feature:

1. Click a cell in the list you want to filter. You should choose a cell that appears in a row that contains a heading and related data, such as a set of client names or phone numbers.
2. On the Data menu, point to Filter, and then click AutoFilter. Arrows appear at the heading of each column.
3. Click an arrow, and choose your filter criteria from the drop-down menu. (For example, you could filter for a number that's greater or less than a target figure.)

Color-Code Your Excel Sheet Tabs
In Excel 2002, you can color-code sheet tabs for easier identification or grouping of related sheets. Here's how:

1. Select the sheets you want to color by holding down the CTRL key and clicking the tabs.
2. On the Format menu, point to Sheet, and then click Tab Color. You can also right-click the sheet tab and then click Tab Color.
3. Click the color you want, and click OK.

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