Category Archives: Formula

Apply Conditional Format for alternate row color based on groups…

Posted on June 8, 2019 by

…that works even when filter is applied. The situation: We have a table that we would like to apply color banding based on groups.  We can achieve this by inserting a helper column to identify the sequence of each group, … Continue reading →

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Extract FirstLast names in CamelCase with #Excel formula

Posted on March 10, 2019 by

In the previous blog post, we see how Flash Fill extracts First Name and Last Name from an email address in a format shown above.  I’ve also recorded a video for that post. Flash Fill is so smart to detect … Continue reading →

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Highlight weekends and holidays using Conditional Formatting in #Excel Part 2

Posted on January 13, 2019 by

Conditional Formatting with formula could be tricky (or difficult), especially when the data layout is bad because you have to very clear and careful on the “applied to” range and the absolute/relative references set in the formula. Otherwise, it won’t work and can be quite confusing, if not frustrating. 😛

In this post, I will talk about a case that you will see how empty rows in a data set would complicate the process in setting up conditional formatting. And then I will show three different approaches to tackle the issues. Hope you find it helpful. Continue reading →

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Learn something new from something that I think I knew well…

Posted on October 17, 2018 by

Today is a public holiday in Hong Kong.  A perfect break in the middle of a busy week.  What did I do on a public holiday?  Excel, Excel and Excel. 🙂 I watched a few videos from my favourite YouTube … Continue reading →

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Change the first letter to upper case, first word only please #Excel

Posted on July 19, 2018 by

This is a short story of mine, and an imaginary conversation in my head…  How to change the first letter (of first word only) to upper case in Excel? This was a question from a colleague sitting opposite to me.  … Continue reading →

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Posted in Formula | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

How to remove leading space in #Excel

Posted on May 10, 2018 by

When TRIM and CLEAN do not work… Is it something bothering you? To fix this problem, we need to understand where is the “leading space” coming come.  Before we jump to that, I want to show you two Excel functions … Continue reading →

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Has Space or NoSpace in worksheet name?

Posted on March 1, 2018 by

Have you received workbook from others that carries underscore _ as if a space in their worksheet names?  Did you wonder why people use underscore when we can actually use space in worksheet name? Well… did you know… long long time ago, #Excel … Continue reading →

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The missing link of HYPERLINK function in #Excel help

Posted on February 17, 2018 by

I seldom use the HYPERLINK function in #Excel.   Normally I insert hyperlink by CTRL+K, then setting the reference I want the link to go to.   That is super easy (or quick and dirty)! Note: You may go to Insert tab on ribbon … Continue reading →

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Posted in Formula | Tagged | 2 Comments

How to lookup an image in #Excel

Posted on January 20, 2018 by

Lookup an image using “Linked Picture” in #Excel Perhaps you have used VLOOKUP to return a value from a table very often.  However you cannot use VLOOKUP to return an image…  So how the above can be done?  You will … Continue reading →

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Posted in Excel Tips, Formula | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Insert a text string into a specific position of another text string in #Excel

Posted on November 25, 2017 by

Turn REPLACE function into “INSERT” function Continue reading →

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How to turn “1st January, 2017” into #Excel recognizable date?

Posted on November 5, 2017 by

Quite a long time ago, I wrote a post to discuss a trick to format date with “st”, “nd”, “rd”, etc… In this post, I am going to discuss the reversed way: Turning an English written date with “Dst MMMM, … Continue reading →

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Posted in Formula | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Lookup a specific combination of characters exclusively, e.g. 5A not 5AA

Posted on September 10, 2017 by

Got the following question: hi, how do i search for a specific combination of characters exclusively i.e. if one cell contains 5A;3B&4C while another cell contains 5AA;3B&4C, and my search criteria is 5A, i want the results to return only … Continue reading →

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Using MIN/MAX to answer whichever lower/higher questions

Posted on August 16, 2017 by

What is “Whichever higher”? Situation: You call to your favourite restaurant to reserve a private room for family dinner on Saturday.  The restaurant manager tells you that there will be a minimum charge of $2000 for a private room.   That mean, … Continue reading →

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The amazing SUMPRODUCT

Posted on June 3, 2017 by

Advanced use of SUMPRODUCT for multi-conditional SUM In the previous posts, we talked about the basic of SUMPRODUCT, the behaviors of logical  values (i.e. TRUE/FALSE) when they are put into basic mathematics operations.  These set the foundation to understand the … Continue reading →

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Posted in Formula | Tagged , | 15 Comments

The logic gate

Posted on May 27, 2017 by

Have you heard about Logic Gate?  I learned logic gate in high school physics.  Decades ago… so don’t expect I can remember what it is.  😛 Having said that, I do remember the fundamental concept about AND gate and OR gate, … Continue reading →

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Posted in Formula | Tagged , | 4 Comments

SUM the PRODUCTs or SUMPRODUCT? That’s the question.

Posted on May 20, 2017 by

The basic of SUMPRODUCT Suppose we have a column showing retail price of different items; another column showing the units sold (illustrated above).  To get the total sales, most people will deploy a helper column to get the sales of each … Continue reading →

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Posted in Formula | Tagged | 2 Comments

CrossTab SUM with 3 variables

Posted on May 13, 2017 by

This post is trying to answer a question by Laura in the post of 2D SUMIF with two variables – one on column and one on row. Here’s part of the question: ……I want to look up the department in the vertical … Continue reading →

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Posted in Formula | Tagged | 3 Comments

Transpose Data (Static and Linked)

Posted on January 14, 2017 by

Answer to the 5 little Tricks posted in the beginning of the year – Part 1/5 Transpose Data – Result is static This is actually a simple trick of using Copy and Paster (Special, Transpose).  See? It can be done in a … Continue reading →

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Posted in Excel Tips, Formula | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Be cautious when using SUMIF(s)

Posted on November 20, 2016 by

SUMIF is a handy but helpful function.  The syntax is simple: =SUMIF(range,criteria,[sum range] What it does is quite straight forward indeed.  In the example above, it instructs Excel to look into the range (A2:A7), look for the matching criteria, which … Continue reading →

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Posted in Excel Tips, Formula | 2 Comments

Writing a long formula in steps

Posted on August 13, 2016 by

Writing a long formula is not easy, even for an advanced Excel user.  What I mean long is  a formula with many nested FUNCTIONS within a single formula.  The difficulty I am talking about is not related to whether you understand the … Continue reading →

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