We are not trying to teach you to make errors. Rather we want you to
see how easy it is to make them. Hopefully, the next time you perform
any of the following, you will remember what you see here and be more
careful.
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Copy and Paste- cells or blocks of cells
Copy and paste are two of the most useful and dangerous features in
Excel. If no thought is given to what is being copied, absolute and
relative referencing can cause havoc with your spreadsheet. |
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Deletion- rows, columns and cells
Deleting rows, columns, or cells can result in errors. If the deleted
areas were being used in calculations elsewhere in the sheet you will
get a #REF error message in these formulae and in all likelihood your
spreadsheet won’t work.
If, as a result of a deletion of a single cell (as apposed to rows
or columns) you move cells to the left, the formulae maintain there
original references and could suddenly be wrong. |
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Insertion- rows, columns and cells
Inserting rows, columns, or cells can cause problems in Excel. If
insertions are made on the border of calculations such as SUM and
NPV, the inserted line may be accidentally omitted from the calculation |
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If/ Sumif/ Countif
The IF commands do not allow you to easily review what is being done.
If your criteria is slightly wrong (e.g. a space is inserted) the
IF could be wrong. It is vital that you have a cross check cell that
ensures that, for example the sum of your ‘sumifs’ equals
the range. |
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Multiple workbooks and Links between Workbooks
If changes are made to spreadsheets that are linked to other spreadsheets,
it is VITAL that all the workbooks are open at the same time. This
is because Excel can only monitor and adjust the relationship between
cells on different workbooks if all of them are open. |
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Hidden cells
Be on the look out for hidden cells in spreadsheet models, especially
if you are using a spreadsheet developed by another person. You may
find you are including more than you expect in your calculation. Likewise,
if you copy across hidden areas, you may well overwrite formulae that
are important to the spreadsheet model. |
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Lookup
The lookup functions in Excel provide a useful tool. However, it is
vital that you explicitly code into the formulae whether you are looking
for an exact match, or whether an approximation is adequate. For this
function it is vital to understand the way Excel sorts lists. |
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Absolute and Relative Referencing
One of the most common problems with spreadsheets is the lack of understanding
with regards the use of absolute and relative referencing. This referencing
is how you tell a formula to react as it is copied to other cells.
TIP: By clicking on a cell reference and pushing F4, you can alternate
between the absolute options].
If the incorrect referencing is used, copies of the formulae will
give the incorrect result. This is more clearly shown in conjunction
with the Copy/ Paste feature. Watch the video clip to understand
it better. |
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Quote of the page:
Learn all you can from the mistakes of others. You won't have time to
make them all yourself. - Anon
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Free Microsoft Excel Training?
Visit our
training pages. |
