Excel’s top 12 most popular formulas with examples

Make sure these date and time functions, math tricks, and data manipulation tools are all at your disposal.
by JD Sartain | tech journalist | PCWorld | Oct 02, 2018 2:45 am

Excel has over 475 formulas in its Functions Library, from simple mathematics to very complex statistical, logical, and engineering tasks such as IF statements (one of our perennial favorite stories); AND, OR, NOT functions; COUNT, AVERAGE, and MIN/MAX.

The basic functions covered below are the top 12 most popular formulas in Excel. To help you learn, we’ve also provided a spreadsheet with all the formula examples we cover below.

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There are 24 Date and Time functions listed on …

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TAGS: Microsoft Excel, Office 2013, Office 2016, Office 365, formulas, functions, spreadsheets, workbooks, =TODAY(), =NOW(), =SUM(), =RAND(), =INT(RAND(), =COUNT(), =COUNTA(), =AVERAGE(), =MIN(), =MAX(), =CONCATENATE(), =CONCAT(), =TRIM(), =UPPER(), =LOWER(), =PROPER(A4), =REPT(), =IF(), =IF(AND), =IF(OR),

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How to Create & Use Custom Forms In Word

Create Fillable Forms In Word or
How to Make “Fill in the Blank” Style Word Documents

Content Controls & Macros Make It Easy
by JD Sartain | tech journalist | PCWorld | Sep 11, 2018 3:30 am

It’s a lot easier to create custom forms in Word than you might think and, certainly, much easier than it was many years ago. Under the Developer tab, Microsoft provides nine Content Controls, 12 ActiveX Controls, three Legacy Controls, and three Legacy Form features.

In Microsoft Word, Controls are pre-programmed tools that allow you to add and customize interactive content to your Word forms, templates, documents, and webpages. This article covers six of these Content Controls: Check Box, Combo Box, Drop-Down List Box, Rich Text and Plain Text Controls, and Date Picker.

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We’ll add more controls in updates to this story …

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TAGS: Microsoft Word, Fillable Forms In Word, Office 2013, Office 2016, Office 365, custom forms, nine Content Controls, 12 ActiveX Controls, three Legacy Controls, three Legacy Form features, pre-programmed tools, customize interactive content, templates, documents, web pages, Check Box, Combo Box, Drop-Down List Box, Rich Text, Plain Text Controls, Date Picker, Customize Ribbon, Keyboard Shortcuts, Developer tab, Tag field, Title field, Bounding Box, Start/End Tags, create fillable forms

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Excel Add-Ins: How to find and use them

We’ve selected some favorites for you to try, and some are free.
by JD Sartain | tech journalist | PCWorld | Sep 6, 2018 3:29 am PT

Excel Add-Ins are similar to smart phone apps and graphic plug-ins. That is, they are separate applications written by independent programmers that provide enhanced capabilities for the primary software. You can get Add-Ins for Word, PowerPoint, and other popular programs as well. Most Add-Ins are either free or have a minimal cost and, generally, use very little memory.

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How do Add-Ins work? …

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TAGS: Microsoft Excel, Office 2013, Office 2016, Office 365, Add-Ins, Charts & Graphics, Data Analysis, Educational, Financial & Accounting, Formulas/Functions, Marketing, Productivity & Time Management, Reference, Reports & Templates, Utilities, Manage Microsoft Office Add-Ins, Ribbon menu, COM Add-Ins, Adobe Acrobat PDF Add-In, SmartCharts, Excel 2013, Excel 2016, Time management Add-Ins, Activity Timer, Popup Clock from XLTools, To Do List, Utility Add-Ins, ASAP Utilities, Scan-IT to Office Barcode Scanner, Android, iPhone, iPad, Linear Barcodes, EANs, GS1 DataBar (RSS-14), RSS Expanded, UPCs, 2D Codes, QR Code, Data Matrix, PDF417, Aztec Code, barcode prefix and postfix, Filter Mate Add-in & Filters, Filter Hop, Charts & Maps Add-Ins, instant analytic charts, line, bar, pie, bubble charts, HandyMap Address Lookup, Modern Charts, Data Stories, 360-degree data visualizations, Templates and Reports Add-Ins, TemplateVaultApp, ICE Excel Add-In templates, ICE Data Services

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How to Create & Share Custom Style Sheets in Word & PowerPoint

by JD Sartain | tech journalist | PCWorld | Aug 8, 2018 5:28 am

Who knew Microsoft Word could give you a power rush? That’s what you feel when you create a one-click, customized Style Sheet that automatically applies font, paragraph, layout, and other settings to any document. It’s a great way to create consistency for monthly reports or other routine pieces of content. Once you get the hang of Style Sheets, formatting text one paragraph or section at a time will feel as primitive as Sumerians writing cuneiform on wet-clay tablets.

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Style Sheets also work in PowerPoint, and we’ll show you those as well …

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TAGS: Microsoft Word, Office 2013, Office 2016, Office 365, Style Sheets, templates, themes, custom Style Sheet in Word, custom Style Sheet in PowerPoint, Normal Style Sheet, Formatting, serif font, Bookman Old Style, character attributes, bold, italic, underline, paragraph formats, Justification, Line Spacing, Paragraph Indents, Styles Gallery, custom format menu, font, font style, size, Alignment, Justified, Outline Level, Body Text, Format borders, color, line width, Language, Frame, Numbering, Shortcut Keys, Text Effects, Arabic numbers, Roman numerals, caps, lowercase, periods, Bullets, number formats, define new bullets, Wing Dings, artistic options, shadows, gradients, reflections, soft edges, File sharing, graphics, titles, headers, Slide Master, Drawing Tools Format, Shape Styles, Insert Shapes, Shape Styles, Fill, Outline, Effects, WordArt Arrangement of objects, Bring Forward, Send Backward, Align, Group, Rotate, Fill, Gradient, Image Fill, Pattern Fill, Slide Background Fill, Preset Gradient settings, Custom Office Templates

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Excel: How to Create Simple & Dependent Drop-Down Lists

Using tables, named ranges, formulas, data validation, & table styles
by JD Sartain | tech journalist | PCWorld | Jun 25, 2018 8:48 pm

Drop-down lists in Microsoft Excel (and Word and Access) allow you to create a list of valid choices that you or others can select for a given field. This is especially useful for fields that require specific information; fields that have long or complex data that’s hard to spell; or fields where you want to control the responses.

Creating dependent drop-down lists (when combined with an INDIRECT function) is another benefit. This allows you to select a product category from the main menu drop-down list box (such as Beverages), then display all the related products from the submenu (dependent) drop-down list box (such as Apple Juice, Coffee, etc.).

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This works very well for ordering and inventory purposes because …

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TAGS: Microsoft Excel, Office 2013, Office 2016, Office 365, drop-down lists, INDIRECT function, submenus, dependent drop-down lists, spreadsheet, database, Data Validation, workbook, Validation Criteria, Input Messages, Error Alerts, name your tables, Name Manager, My Table Has Headers, range names, Format As Table, choose a style, source box, formula =INDIRECT($D$2), Settings, Source Error, Work-around for two word items =INDIRECT(SUBSTITUTE(D2,” “,”"))

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Microsoft Word: How to Open or Import Other File Formats

Word can handle a surprising number of file formats, though some may look funny
by JD Sartain | tech journalist | PCWorld | Jun 4, 2018 3:01 am

You can open or import a surprising number of file formats into Microsoft Word. Not to be confused with file formatting, which—in most programs—refers to the design of a page, file formats are little encoded programs that tell computers how to handle the files used in specific programs. Look for the three or four letters after the period that follows the file name—that’s the file extension revealing the associated program.

Not all file formats are compatible with all programs, especially those that are radically different, such as a word processor vs. a programming language, or a music file and a graphic file. However, many programs that are similar, such as Word and WordPerfect, are generally compatible.

Word is flexible enough to bring in spreadsheets from Excel or slides from PowerPoint, as well as text from other word processors.

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Weird line breaks and other issues can arise, however, so follow these instructions …

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TAGS: Microsoft Word, Office 2013, Office 2016, Office 365, import other file formats, import spreadsheets, import Excel, import slides, import PowerPoint, import text from other programs, File Types, .TXT files, text encoding, conversion utility, HTML, HTM, XML, ODT, PDF, HTML webpage, Open Document Format (ODF) files, XML-based, Open Source file formats, .ODS for spreadsheets, .ODP for presentations, .ODG for graphics, .ODF for formulas, ODF for mathematical equations, ASCII files, Rich Text Format files (RTF), Word Perfect files, .DOC, .WPD, .WPS, Adobe PDF, edit PowerPoint slides in Word, Copy and Paste the slides, edit Microsoft PowerPoint slide, Insert Picture, Insert Clip Art

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Cloud Traffic Poised to Quadruple by 2017, Challenge CIOs

–by JD Sartain, CIO; November 27, 2013

A recent report from Cisco Systems suggests that global cloud traffic will reach 5.3 zettabytes in 2017. That’s more than four times the traffic seen in 2012. Analysts and vendors say this will have far-reaching implications for enterprise IT.

CIO: Cisco Systems’ third annual Global Cloud Index forecasts that global cloud traffic will more than quadruple, from 1.2 zettabytes in 2012 to 5.3 ZB in 2017. That works out to about 443 exabytes a month, or about 476 billion GB.

More than three-fourths of that data will originate in the data center, “largely generated by storage, production and development data in a virtualized environment” and “used in activities that are virtually invisible to individuals,” the report says. An additional seven percent, “primarily driven by data replication and software-system updates,” will flow between data centers. The remaining 17 percent of this traffic will come from end users’ multimedia and project-oriented cloud services.

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Cloud Traffic to Come From Users, Not Enterprise Databases …

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Google’s Gigabit Internet: Not Coming to a Neighborhood Near You

Unless you’re lucky enough to live in Kansas City, Provo, or Austin
–by Julie Sartain, Network World; November 19, 2013 07:01 AM ET

Network World: When Google announced plans in 2010 to jump into the broadband business, the company received more than 1,000 applications from communities hoping to be selected for Google Fiber, which promised gigabit-speed Internet at low prices or even free Internet for seven years if you chose a slower speed.

As we head into 2014, Google has delivered super-fast Internet to exactly one place, greater Kansas City; it’s just now rolling out the service to Provo, Utah—where it purchased a pre-existing municipal network for $1; and has announced plans for Austin, Texas, in 2014.

After that, who knows? Google has not released any further scheduling information.

But if you’re Verizon, Comcast or AT&T, you might be breathing a little easier these days, knowing that Google apparently is not planning to buy up all that unused dark fiber and compete in the residential broadband market on a nationwide scale—at least for now.

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There has always been speculation about Google’s motives, and …

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Will You Star In the Next Google or Facebook Ad?

–by JD Sartain, CIO; November 12, 2013

Recent updates to Google and Facebook privacy policies give the companies permission to use your photos in commercial content such as ads. Users aren’t pleased—but, at the moment at least, they are almost powerless to stop it.

CIO: It’s no surprise that Google and Facebook have both mutated into 21st century yellow pages. Both are free services that use advertising dollars for operating expenses. But there has to be a line somewhere between dollars and sense—common sense; that is—to distinguish between advertising and exploitation.

Facebook kicked off the season with important updates to two legal documents: Its Data Use Policy and its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan summarized these changes in a document titled Proposed Updates to our Governing Documents, but it’s just a brief summary of the proposed updates. The long version requires more concentrated focus.

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For details, you have to dig deeper. Essentially, the policy says, you give us permission to to use your name, profile picture, content, and information …

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The Last Days of Unix

After a 30-year run, once dominant server OS gets 86ed by x86es
–by Julie Sartain, Network World; August 19, 2013 06:02 AM ET

Network World: Unix, the core server operating system in enterprise networks for decades, now finds itself in a slow, inexorable decline. IDC predicts that Unix server revenue will slide from $10.2 billion in 2012 to $8.7 billion in 2017, and Gartner sees Unix market share slipping from 16% in 2012 to 9% in 2017.

Jean Bozman, research vice president at IDC Enterprise Server Group, attributes the decline to platform migration issues; competition from Linux and Microsoft; more efficient hardware with more powerful processor cores, which is less expensive and requires less maintenance; and the abundance of Unix-specific apps that can now also run on competitor’s servers.

Errol Rasit, research director at Gartner, concurs that the primary cause of Unix weakness over the past decade is migration from the RISC platform to x86-processor based alternatives, which can run many Unix workloads, usually at attractive price/performance ratios. Today, x86 technology attracts most new deployments and innovation, such as cloud computing and fabric-based computing, which further validates the technology as a preferred platform.

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The challenge for users is to understand the minutiae of Unix technology trends and …

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In Their Own Words: Unix Pioneers Remember the Good Times

–by Julie Sartain, Network World; August 19, 2013 06:02 AM ET

Network World: We caught up with the pioneers who brought us the Unix operating system and asked them to share some memories of the early days of Unix development.

Unix co-developer Ken Thompson worked at Bell Labs from 1966 until he retired in December 2000. He recalls this prank:

“The Unix room was on the sixth floor at one end of Bell Labs. The cafeteria was on the ground floor about a quarter of a mile away. There were dozens of ways to walk to lunch. You could pick one of four or five staircases and any segment of the six floors. One day, we were walking through the fourth floor, which was being renovated. It looked like a bombed out city. The walls and ceilings were open with pipes and wires hanging everywhere. I noticed that there were, what looked like, speakers throughout the ceiling. I had always wanted to tap into the Bell Labs PA system and thought this was a perfect chance.”

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At night, I examined the speakers more closely and discovered …

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Celebrating Unix Heroes

–by Julie Sartain, Network World; August 19, 2013 06:02 AM ET

Network World: Unix, the multitasking, multi-user operating system was developed in 1969 at Bell Labs by AT&T employees and associates. Unix descendants and clones include Berkeley Unix, Minix, Linux, AIX, A/UX, HP-UX and Solaris. Apple’s Mac OS X is based on Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) UNIX. This presentation features the early Unix pioneers and their contributions to the computer industry.

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In their own words: Unix pioneers remember the good times …

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Can Your IP Address Give Away Your Identity to Hackers, Stalkers, and Cybercrooks?

–by Julie Sartain, Network World; July 17, 2013 10:04 AM ET

Network World: In today’s world of hackers, stalkers and cybercriminals, not to mention government spy programs and commercial sites that collect information about you for advertising purposes, is there a way to surf the Web and keep your privacy intact? Or does that mere fact that you have an IP address mean that your identity is out there for the taking?

Turns out, there’s no easy answer to this question. Legally, an IP address does not constitute personal identifiable information, according to two recent court cases.

In July 2009, in a case involving Microsoft, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington ruled that IP addresses do not constitute personal identifiable information (PII). And in a separate case in 2011, the Illinois Central District Court also ruled that an IP address does not—by itself—qualify as personal information that can accurately identify a specific Internet user.

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Alan Webber, a research analyst at the Altimeter Group, agrees that with the exception …

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Can Your IP Address Give Away Your Identity?

–by Julie Sartain, Network World; July 16, 2013

Network World: Can hackers, stalkers, criminals, and other Internet users track you down by your Internet Protocol (IP) address? According to the courts, several analysts, and IT professionals, the answer is both yes and no. An IP address by itself can identify a specific access device, but not who’s using it or exactly where you are. However, by combining IP address with other types of information, it is possible to get pretty specific.

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For example, it’s possible to narrow down IP addresses to a general geographic area …

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