Which Excel Function To Use
One of the most common questions we get asked in the Excel training courses we run is which Excel function to use for a particular situation. The delegates often know enough about the various tools and formula available but they struggle to associate there problem with one of the tools.
As a result we have created a ‘Which Excel Function to Use’ App which, by answering 5 questions, will give you some ideas of which tools and functions you should investigate.
The questions try to understand what you are trying to do and match your requirements with the characteristics of all the tools and functions available in Excel.
For example if I wanted to extract some letters out of a cell, perhaps the first 6 numbers from an ID number to get the birth day, I would specify the following. The formula needs to
- work within a cell (do something inside a cell instead of over many cells)
- handle text (or number or date or all types)
- provide an exact answer (as opposed to approximate answers)
- provide only a single cell as a answer (instead of placing the answer/s over many cells like the autofilter or pivot table would do)
- ‘Extract’ some information.
The app will suggest RIGHT, MID, LEFT, TRIM as the 1st four options. In this case you would use the LEFT function.
To find out more you can click on the link below