of selected cells by clicking on the small box at the bottom of the workbook close to the middle. Easily find out the sum, counts, mean, max, etc.Use a colon to select a range of cells.Minor trick = to stop the shimmering around a selected cell, press esc (selection is still loaded).Track changes in your document (very useful if you shared it with someone else for editing) going to tools > track changes > highlight changes (can reject or accept them too).If I leave out the dollar sign, it'll do B1 - A1, B2 - A2, etc. For example, I want to subtract cell A2 from a whole column so I type ' = B1 - $A$2 ' into B1 and drag the lower right corner to do that for the column of B. If you don't want a particular cell to change as you autofill, add a dollar sign in front of its coordinates.

1 in one cell, 2 in adjacent cell on the right or below) and dragging the bottom right corner once you see the black cross icon for your mouse (see second picture).

Autofill cells by typing out enough to define a pattern (eg.

This gives you better control, such as only the formatting or the plain text rather than the function.(see first picture)

Go to edit (on the top menu bar) > paste special (or right click for this option) to customize what you want to paste.

Pressing shift + an arrow key (up/down/left/right) will advance your selection be as many cells as you press for the arrow key (press up twice to select two more cells up, etc.).

I've also compiled a short list of little tips and keyboard shortcuts for ease of use: Side notes: votes in contests would be very much appreciated if you like this tutorial. Even if you're an excel wizard, perhaps you'll still find step 10 helpful (I'm fairly proud of the notes I took while I read up on how to use Excel.). But learning how to make and maintain spreadsheets is a valuable skill that can save you time, paper, and brain power (Banking check books work fine, sure, but online copies are quite convenient once you get the hang of it!). I'll essentially be going over basic Microsoft Excel functions and tips as this tutorial progresses, so no need to worry if you've barely opened a spreadsheet before.

Even my brother has asked me to send him a template, so I thought this tutorial might come in handy for others too. I've been updating a custom Microsoft Excel (the spreadsheet program of the Microsoft suite) spreadsheet for this purpose, and one day a friend saw it and asked me to teach her how to make something similar. I like to record my monthly spending patterns to get a good feel for how much I'm spending in certain categories, whether I'm going in monthly deficits, etc.

Daily expense sheet