Data Entry Annoyances: My "wow" moment in this section came from a sidebar note about how to use the sometimes-annoying AutoCorrect feature to insert chunks of customized "boilerplate" text. Since I hate to type, I'll definitely be using this hitherto-unnoticed feature.
Format Annoyances: I haven't used Conditional Format much, in part because of the completely non-intuitive way Excel calls out colors from its palette. I once spent the better part of a morning trying (and failing) to copy a custom palette from one worksheet to another. Frye sets out the solution in three simple steps.
Formula Annoyances: This entire section is wonderful (I love the power of Excel formulas), so it's hard to pick a single best. The tips on rounding hours to the next quarter-hour or tenth-hour and dropping your own VBA procedure into a formula were most ingenious.
Data Manipulation Annoyances: Hands-down, the best tip for me in this section is the solution to the "what-if" analysis annoyance. Frye guides us through creating separate "scenario" values using Excel's Scenario Manager (a feature I had been unaware of until I read this book).
Note: This section also covers Pivot Tables in some detail. I bought two Excel How-To Books last year to help me learn to use pivot tables, and neither gave me the same superlative guidance as these 14 pages of section 4.
Chart Annoyances: I'm not one who uses Excel's chart function frequently, but one tip really hit the memory buzzer. I once had a Powerpoint presentation that included several Excel charts in it. Sometimes they would print, but sometimes they wouldn't. Frye told me—in a single sentence—why that happens.
Exchanging Data Annoyances: At last! A step-by-step guide to moving data from Excel to Access. (To a help-desk tech, this page alone will be worth the cost of this book.) In addition, a tip on publishing worksheets on a web page details one of the idiosyncrasies of interactive Excel, and how to solve it in the HTML source view.
Funniest Annoyance Vignette: (about workbook permissions) "Ok, you've seriously scared me. Isn't there any way to be sure my workbook data doesn't leak out? I mean, I've got J.Lo's phone number in there."
Printing Annoyances: I am a strong believer in commenting any customized effort, and spreadsheets are no exception. Problem is, Excel makes it extremely difficult to print comments with your worksheet. Frye's instructions let you print such comments in context. (In a strong second place is the tip on how to suppress printout of those annoying "#VALUE" cell errors.)
Article comments
1 - Sisyphus
This looks great! Thank you! I'm referring to the reference to the Photoshop and Excel 2003 conflict! I have to check this out ASAP as it is driving me bonkers. Another annoyance: no integrated way to share workbooks over the web (yes, there are third party tools like BadBlue and Soft Writer that seem to fill the niche... but nothing from Microsoft?).
2 - Curt Frye
Hi Sisyphus,
I didn't know about BadBlue; if I had, I certainly would have mentioned it. I believe SharePoint is Microsoft's solution for collaborative web sharing, though you can let your co-workers access shared files over a LAN by setting the appropriate folder permissions.
Thanks for the lead!
Curt
3 - DrPat
Thank you for feedback on the review, Curt! And let me say again how USEFUL your book is to any level of Excel user.
4 - sohbet
But I'm a law professor. Why doesn't isthatlegal.org count?
5 - Justin
the annoyance/fix on this page saved me a lot of time. book must be great
6 - Dustin
Thanks for the tip on selecting only visible cells. I was having a nightmare trying to format my monthly reports... hidden cells containing confidential information can be a bit of a problem! I don't know what Microsoft was thinking.