7 Things You're Doing WRONG⚡in Excel

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We've curated seven common Excel mistakes you might be making without even realizing it. More importantly, we offer practical solutions and better approaches to enhance your Excel experience. Whether you're a seasoned pro or a beginner, this video is packed with valuable tips that will transform the way you use Excel.
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📊 What You'll Discover:
▪️ External Links Mishaps: Learn the right way to copy sheets without unintentionally creating external links.
▪️ Manual Text Adjustments: Discover a more efficient method than manually adjusting text in cells.
▪️ Merge vs. Center Across Selection: Understand why merging cells in datasets isn't always the best choice and explore a smarter alternative.
▪️ File Structure Optimization: Get insights into organizing your Excel files more effectively.
▪️ The Pitfalls of Hiding Rows & Columns: Find out why grouping is often a better approach than hiding rows and columns.
▪️ Avoiding Hardcoding in Formulas: Learn the importance of referencing cells instead of hardcoding values in formulas.
▪️ The Power of Excel Tables: Embrace the advantages of using Excel tables for dynamic and automated updates.
00:00 7 Things You Should Never Do in Excel
00:26 Creating External Links
02:45 Manually Adjusting Text in Cells
03:59 Merging Cells
06:52 Poor File Structure
07:48 Hiding Rows & Columns
10:08 Hardcoding Values in Formulas
12:03 Not Using Excel Tables
14:52 Wrap Up
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#Excel

[@LeilaGharani]

Get your own copy of our Excel mistakes Cheat Sheet here 👉 pages.xelplus.com/excel-mistakes-cheat-sheet

[@vikingshark2634]

I'm just flattered you think I'm only doing 7 things wrong

[@puertadelaestrella]

Even if I already know 90% of the material, the 10% new things I learn are always fantastic. Thanks Leila

[@ExcelTutorials1]

Same! The center across colunms, and justify fill for text are going to be two nifty tricks that are going to help me take my sheets to another level

[@0623kaboom]

problem is the merged cells with the year dates in them should never have been unmerged and she never have to select across years ... she should be using cell ranges for the data ... as it is display page she was on NOT a calculation page ... she messed up big time ... excel first and foremost is a database ... thats right folks a database ... not a spreedsheet ... thats the maths you do on the database of information you have entered into the spreedsheet ... most of what she calls wrong is actually just NOT the way she was taught ... she never learned the old fashioned hand made spreedsheets and accounting books ... and so has no background in WHY things are done differently than the way she understands them ...

[@kclark63]

I agree.

[@darthPixel]

i can bet that there is more really advanced excel users watching Leila's videos than those who just think they are advanced ;)

[@karlpetersen7147]

I am a self taught Excel user. I knew that I wasn’t taking advantage of Excel like I should, but after finding your channel I realize that I have a lot to learn. I find your teaching technique and examples are very good and I plan to go back in your lessons and relearn using the tips you provide..great job thanks!

[@vergitube]

Same here:)

[@dunghtan]

Me too. 😅

[@Sheistmeister]

I have never used the justify to spill text over cells - great tip. Many thanks Leila 👍

[@LeilaGharani]

My pleasure!

[@WM-mu8ep]

@@LeilaGharani I feel like the job market for this is over saturated when I look at how many followers you have now 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@craigk621]

Agreed...the other tips are great but are known by people that have used Excel for many years. I've always done that manually....not any more!

[@hamzayousuf8412]

Thanks Leila, great selection of common mistakes. I am waiting for part 2 of this video.

[@prasadshrivatsa6126]

This was a great tip indeed. Solved a huge problem for me.

[@Amy1Charlotte2]

The external links issue has plagued me for years. Thank you for clarifying how this happens, how to prevent it and how to correct it. This is why I subscribed to your channel.

[@LeilaGharani]

Thanks William!

[@markward8483]

I had a similar problem but when I go to break the external link I get errors as it cannot find the original document! I have a feeling I need to rebuild sheet from stratch!

[@myghy]

@@markward8483 worksheet where the link is found is probably hidden

[@1Roso]

This is a big headache, MS is acting like terrorist when we do NOT want external links to be created in the first place. So If anyone needs external links to be created , then make it from paste drop down menu ... but hey, why would MS do that,right? they cant even make it simple to implement CTRL+SHIFT+V for PASTE AS TEXT feature .... google has it for years. crap

[@johnpodaras5345]

I also had similar issues which I tended to resolve by global search/replace. This is a much more elegant solution; thank you Leila, especially as it also catches the remote links in conditional formatting which is notoriously difficult to find without resorting to some sort of VB routine.

[@BillTheScribe]

I had no idea the first three things existed, but I've been wanting them for years. Of course, now I have to go back and changed all my sheets.

[@LeilaGharani]

😊

[@MrAitch_]

I am the only person in my company with any prior IT experience and everything you mention here, as well as many other basic problems, I come across daily. It's seems to be a never ending task adjusting and correcting all these sheets. Other sheets I refuse to touch as they have become so complex over the years it is easier to just start again with a blank page. I wish I could get everyone in the company to spend a couple of hours a week watching your channel. I watch a few now and then and manage to pick up a gem or two I didn't know. Keep up the good work there are plenty of people who benefit from your knowledge and generosity.

[@chrismcl6373]

Every time I watch one of these videos, I have *at least* one moment where I gasp and start thinking about how I can use what I’ve just learned. Thank you!

[@chh8860]

One 'new' item for me, i.e. checking for external links, and 6 helpful 'reminders' ... for a total of 7 gems ... 👍👍 Thank you ... thank you ... thank you ....

[@LeilaGharani]

My pleasure, Chris. Hope they'll come in handy at some point.

[@moeeeeeeeekdkdkd]

You absolutely make my excel experience WAY BETTER on each video you upload every week! I'm very greatful dear Leila.

[@felipesignorellireis7839]

Hi Leila, how do you create the Selection in the dashboard that is showed in you explanation about Groupy lines? 8:00

[@gsingh5402]

Mohammad stop speaking to women it is haram

[@fstorino]

@@felipesignorellireis7839 at 8:42 you see a "1" in cell C21, which changes as she changes the selection in the dashboard. She probably manually added a radio button with the options and linked it to cell C21, with a dynamic array formula (FILTER) just below it. See this other video of hers: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pYS3mHmLnrd3fas

[@felipesignorellireis7839]

@@fstorino ah ok. Thanks my friend. I will see it.

[@jeremyfincher7284]

Simply put in two words... ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT. Many thanks from Johannesburg, South Africa

[@mirrorreflection3479]

Wish this video was longer. Hope to see more of what we doing wrong in part two.

[@SyedUsman]

Check out these videos on my channel 👇👇 Thermometer Graph kzbin.info/www/bejne/pXfakHiHqq-Ardk Database Functions (DCOUNT, DSUM, DAVERAGE) kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5moha2njdBrh7c Excel Shortcut Keys (Urdu / Hindi) kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5S9lYiQgq2dj5o Spell Number - Convert Numbers To Text In Excel kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmqYqaOiesaXp5I Settling Invoices against payment using solver kzbin.info/www/bejne/l2i9p4uPhKh3i8U Quarterly Sum using Offset Function kzbin.info/www/bejne/nHKwiYKund13qdk One Minute Learning Series Column Charts kzbin.infoxqnt_gFJGl8?feature=share Remove Excel Blanks kzbin.info/www/bejne/oYikoYCHa5mcbrs Autofilter Hack kzbin.info/www/bejne/qWHdd32knqasnck Sumif kzbin.info/www/bejne/moS9Zn-amLpgqaM

[@chuckm8254]

Although an extensive Excel user, I've learned a lot from your videos. Thanks Finally have something to contribute. Hidden numbers. Your comments are great. One additional - Name the cell that you will use in multiple cells. In your example, name 8% "InterestRate". When you include it in cells, it already is fixed with '$'. Also, you mention using 7 or 24 is okay. Those are still "magic numbers." Why 7? Instead, use Name Manager, define "DaysOfTheWeek" as "=7" Now your formula is divided by "DaysOfTheWeek" making it very clear what the 7 meant.

[@LeilaGharani]

Thanks for sharing!

[@adabekee4964]

Great comment! Thank you

[@iji_k]

Somehow I prefer to also put the labels in a sheet 🤷‍♀️ Now I’m curious what happens with =7 (hard coded value), but not enough as to open the computer. It will have to wait till tomorrow Yup, it doesn’t appear in the Name Box like the labels that are cell references. I can see the benefit of having universal constants “protected” in Name Manager rather than at large in a sheet. I guess it has advantages and disadvantages like most things in life :))

[@r0cketplumber]

Yes, after the Mars Climate Observer became the Mars Crustal Observer due to a units conversion error, I replaced hardcoded values with named conversions. I have a sheet named Conversions with entries like this: Basic conversions: Factor Value Atm2pa 101325.0 atm2psi 14.6960 btu2j 1055.1 cal2J 4.1868 F2R 459.6699607 ft2m 0.3048 lb2kg 0.4536 psi2pa 6894.757 The values become named variables that can be used in formulas and I can then do complex conversions like: Enthalpy 5.000 Btu/lb 11.63 kJ/kg where the 11.63 value is =B33*btu2j/lb2kg/1000 Thus the conversions are documented in the formulas.

[@vivekphadke16]

Have learned it by trial and error and feel that people who are watching this video are lucky as they get readymade intelligence. Thanks, Leila for making me think in Excel.

[@controlsgirl]

Finding formatting is also another PHENOMENAL one!!!

[@jcgmba98]

I'm retired now and still find your videos amazingly useful. Where were you when I was starting my career?! I shutter to think of how much time & frustration I would have saved by knowing your tips. Ugh. Thanks.

[@Donkeys_Dad_Adam]

Epic as always! I do have one thing to add on the edit links issue: If you "move or copy" a protected worksheet over to a new workbook, you won't be able to change the source to the destination workbook until you unprotect the worksheet. So if anyone runs into this and panics when the "Change Source" button is grayed out, just unlock the worksheet and carry on... *IF, the worksheet you want to copy is protected and you don't know the password, just select the entire worksheet in the source file, then copy/paste all of it into a blank worksheet in the destination file, you can use Paste Special to paste formats, formulas, column widths, etc. to get an unlocked identical version of the locked source worksheet. Then Edit Links/Change Source, and you're good to go in that case as well. Also, if you get plagued by external links that you just can't seem to find, check into your Data Validation Drop Down lists and look for references to external sources. I've run into that one often too.

[@marcpennings7881]

It's always a delight to watch your creations! The content depth and the speed of how you go about things seem to always match my expectations and information intake capabilities 😊

[@MDCapitanio]

Just passing by to amass to the crowd of people thanking you.

[@thorntontarr2894]

The use of tables with charts - pure GOLD! Yes, I WAS doing it wrong before but not now.

[@leerv.]

Center across selection?!! I never knew that was there! I'm definitely going to be using that now, thanks Leila! :) Good tip about not using hard-coded numbers. In programming those are called "'magic numbers" and it's considered bad practice.

[@coryburris8211]

I absolutely despise merged cells. When Excel added that feature, I had to add a macro button for the center across cells function, since I use it so frequently.

[@dontown1531]

Great hint about deleting table rows. I've been using Excel since 1993 (Ver.5) but still learning new things every day.

[@JoeOvercoat]

What you said, except back to Lotus.

[@markwertheimer2320]

Although I retired after 40 year career in Marine Engineering, I love to learn as well as I love Excel! I wish I had this channel when I was working but I’m glad I found it now. Keeping up with the Kual kids now!

[@stevennye2441]

The external links issued has bothered me for five years, I liked the other selections and use many of them but being able to update the external links is a great help.

[@kenguzzetta2571]

The fixing of a group of cell within a formula is life changing for me. I knew I needed to do that, but didn't realize there was a shortcut key for it.

[@matheusparanahiba1057]

Hi Leila, I'd like to thank you for all the material you provide us! I've started watching your videos in 2017 and took the Unlock Excel VBA and Macros course when I was still an Electrical Engineering undergraduate. The skills I've learned with you helped me a lot during my internship, and today I work as a planning engineer in a huge utility company in my country (Brazil). Your courses surely have been a great part of my success. Congratulations for your excel!ent work and thank you very much!

[@vivek-placardcommunication9705]

You are just wonderful Leila. Your calm and affectionate voice makes it more easier to understand. Thank you so much.

[@sng2225]

This is one of the best Excel resources. Excel is immensely powerful and there still so many things to improve productivity.

[@LeilaGharani]

So true. There's always more to learn.

[@brianspiller9075]

Also, for variable, instead of referencing using an abolute cell reference, there is the option to Name the Cell whcich can also help clarify what variables are in a formula.

[@thinkingoutloud6741]

It can also be useful to name constants, so people looking at the formula can follow your thinking. And it will reduce the possibility of a constant being mistyped if used in multiple places.

[@LeilaGharani]

Thanks for sharing!

[@bobbrewer5608]

I watched the video expecting to get great tips, which was correct. Some I did know, some not. Yet the most valuable thing to be was quickly referenced in the third tip when you double clicked format painter to apply formatting across multiple locations. I had no clue that existed. So I got 8 tips instead of 7. Thanks Leila.

[@LeilaGharani]

Great to hear, Bob!

[@roprep1982]

double tap on "paste format" was THE best. After years of excel just realized that

[@jorgesantanderm]

This is brilliant! These Excel tips are in the top, not many creators of content put them. Thank you Leila!

[@vijayarjunwadkar]

Thank you Leila! You never fail to impress with every video by revealing something about Excel, that surprises us! Keep up the great work! 😊👍

[@LeilaGharani]

Thank you! 😃

[@paulseebach5978]

Hi Leila. Could you do a tutorial about using Connections and specifically "to Access"?

[@evelynsu1491]

Leila, I did not know how ignorant I am until I changed a new job and came across your videos. Thank you for all the informative tips and tricks.

[@productionmastrr]

We need to protect this woman at all costs. She has such eloquently delivered knowledge! Thank you for the content!

[@paulboot4987]

RE hardcoding values, another tip is to use consistent cell styles (home>styles). I'm "forcing" myself, colleagues, and clients to always format cells according to whether it's data input, calculation, or comments to help distinguish between hard-coded input and soft / calculated values. Makes the sheet also visually easier to understand.

[@andrewcharlesmoss]

Some great advice there, Leila. Regarding external links - they are annoying to work with! The biggest challenge is breaking them from the Edit Links window. Sometimes it’s impossible to find every last trace of them in a workbook. It’s a shame that clicking Break Link doesn’t do that for you!

[@LeilaGharani]

True. Sometimes you get a lot of them hidden too in name manager. These can also end up making the workbook slower....

[@nikitamaheshwari8494]

At times, some external references exist in Name manager as well. Delete references from Name Manager (Ctrl F3 is shortcut) and your links would break easily after that.

[@jagex4me]

Having to manually adjust the references to the former file I thought was quick, but Edit Links is so much easier and no risk of missing a reference. Tyvm

[@gonzaloenrique8741]

That "I don't give a sheet!" mug is a good one 😂

[@LeilaGharani]

One of our favorites 😁

[@meniporat3527]

Referring to tip#6: “hardcoded” values An even better idea is to put such a value (usually a parameter, such as: VAT, discount factor, local tax etc.) into an outstanding cell at the top of the worksheet [with its description] so that it can be easily seen and easily modified. This, of course, is not applicable in cases where you have many parameters on the same sheet. Unfortunately, there's no method to make sure that this parameter is being used in all the formulae in which it was meant to be used.

[@thetcrew004]

Good tips. I love to use table, but sometimes it seemed to slow down the process when you have a more complicated formulas. Also, I never understand the concept of grouping. Can you do a video of grouping? What’s the purpose it? Thanks.

[@irrelevant_noob]

If you've ever used the Subtotals feature, the end result of that one is to create something like groups and subgroups for the data, allowing you to toggle between viewing the detailed entries within the data and viewing just the category totals (which an SQL user might call "rollups"). Groups work similarly, except they don't have the extra row, they just allows you to toggle visibility of data. (while leaving a visible marker on the side, as the video shows.)

[@FaysalEasyExcel]

wonderful. thanks for sharing. liked your "cell justify" tips.

[@jmklei0]

Great stuff. Thank you Leila. Next video ideas: 1) naming ranges, 2) iferror

[@LeilaGharani]

Thanks for the suggestions!

[@botix1979]

Very useful video Leila, now I can´t see any reason to use "merge" function anymore...can you any? Thanks!

[@adamshults9810]

Agreed I wish they would replace the merge button.

[@svrsvr6183]

When it comes to hardcoding - ofcourse never within a formula, and it is also easy to spot which cells are a hardcoded number and which are the outcome of a formula by making a hardcoded input number blue compared to the standard black print.

[@onnodegraaf706]

Hey Leila, I'm a professional excel user! At least I thought as much, but now I'm enjoying your videos!

[@SholaDsdg]

Refreshing Leila! Thank you!

[@Nonas63]

Simply great! Thank you Leila!

[@justyna6134]

Perfect - as always !!! Thank you Leila !!!

[@giorgiozattini4112]

Great, great video and tips, as always! Thank you Leila!!

[@netdoctor1]

I've spent about 15 years learning Excel, and it looks like I'm at about 1% of its capability. Stumbled on this Tubers page by accident. Definitely subscribing to this one. Thank you for sharing.

[@marwerno]

I usually do not get much new info in Excel tutorials since I know stuff already, in yours I did. Well done. Useful tips!

[@paulprobst7728]

Thank you Leila! What a fantastic presentation!! You taught me alot today.

[@FaaBioo972]

Wow ! Working for years on Excel and this 7 tips blowned my mind 🤩 *THANK YOU*

[@LeilaGharani]

You're very welcome!

[@blue-oceandreamer2756]

Such a filled excitement watching your Excel tutorial videos! Such a productivity channel for my work and others. Thank you so much, Leila!

[@ferdiregala9955]

Thanks Leila!!! You explain the topics well and very easy to understand.

[@michaels8199]

I knew a number of those practices, but the ones I learned are invaluable. As always, a joy to learn from Leila.

[@adriancritchley2485]

Discovering Center Across Selection changed my life and blows people's minds when I show them.

[@vapol]

Thanks for our kind help Leila. I 've learned a lot of new things about excel.

[@IntraFinesse]

Leila, I never fail to pick up tips from your presentations. They are excellent. Thank you for taking the time to make them.

[@HighKingTurgon]

Thank you for sharing these tips-I am almost entirely self-taught and I am NO power user. All my best stuff I got from my wife. Now I know that I can refer to your channel and courses to get, like, really good at excel.

[@ibrahimalouayed9140]

Great tips especially merging, justify and grouping. Thanks a lot Leila

[@sedarathnadcd]

Lots of new learning, Thank you Ms. Leila

[@williambell4591]

I absolutely LOVE your channel Leila! Your tips are ALWAYS timely! As a software developer that works a lot with "Excel jockeys", your tips, since discovering your channel a year or so ago have always been stellar! Thanks so much for what you do!

[@samuelkodjoe1645]

the first two examples is a life saver indeed....thanks leila!

[@johnbufton1487]

Thank you. Valuable information and much appreciated.

[@gowrishprabhu]

This is one of those videos from which one can get an instant boost in productivity. Just loved the selection/collection of tips used here.👏🏻

[@sisteradmn]

Epic tips! The center across cells solved a major mystery! Thx

[@jesse6327]

Wow, this was such an awesome set of instructions and tips. Thank you Leila!!

[@richardloo7216]

Good and useful tips here. A couple of things I didn't know about. Thanks.

[@Diachron]

I've been using Excel for decades,and usually think "there can't be anything new here to me!". And yet, you always manage to highlight features I was completely unaware of. Keep up the amazing work.

[@remy9536]

Leila is the best as always! I did not know about the Fill/Justify and the Center Across Selection trick.

[@vivekpachisia5198]

Helpful tips... Thanks Leila

[@javadjafari402]

I loved justify function. super helpful Leila Thanks for sharing

[@02buddha02]

You're tips are amazing. Simply amazing!

[@carlosesteban6041]

Amazingly helpful, thanks for sharing

[@shivanisrivastava5667]

Thanks Leila! Really informative.

[@EbolaStew]

Great video. Very helpful! Thanks!

[@robertlupango1383]

Very helpful tips and tricks as always! Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work!

[@user-tm1eq8rz5s]

Very worthwhile. Thanks!

[@fernandosantos3576]

Nice tips, Leila. Thanks!

[@NassosKranidiotis]

Very useful tips. Thank you so much!

[@irenemehraj6544]

Thank you for the link feature. I actually manually amended all the formulas when copying from one workbook into another! Thank you so much for teaching this one.

[@moisestatis5418]

loved these tips. thanks so much!

[@pogo30pago]

Thanks Leila, every time you make a video I learn something!!! 👍

[@Deedington]

Every video that you put up has taught me something useful that I did not know or appreciate fully before. So thanks Leila!

[@deepti730]

We are lucky to have you!! Thank for making our work easier😊

[@redflowerdiva]

Great tips. I absolutely found the external links useful among others you've shown.

[@OneDSystems]

Center across selection... always a great trick I did not know from your videos!!! Thanks Leila, you really rock!

[@bassemfarag6791]

Very informative as always. Many thanks Leila!

[@FarhanMerchant]

Very informative & useful; Many Thanx !!

[@flortirelli7203]

Thanks a lot! Every single thing in this video has been extremely helpful. Greetings from Argentina!

[@fuzzylon]

Thanks for another excellent video Particularly about tables - I never knew how these worked and I'll find them so useful now.

[@takhar05]

Fantastic video! Thank you!

[@jrobinson8898]

Thanks Leila!! Always learning great techniques from you. Love the Trace Dependants feature!🥰

[@asteel1236]

Great tips - thanks very much!!

[@EK-my9oe]

Thanks and many and many thanks Leila..

[@Rosiechen2018]

Always learning something new from watching your videos, thank you Leila! You're an amazing instructor.