Configuring Excel

Tips, Tricks, and Answers

The following articles are available for the 'Configuring Excel' topic. Click the article's title (shown in bold) to see the associated article.

Accessing the Formula Bar without the Mouse
Hate to take your hands off the keyboard while working on a worksheet? Here's one way to activate the Formula bar without the need of using the mouse.

Adding an Equal Sign Tool
In older versions of Excel (97 and 2000) the program had an equal sign tool that appeared right next to the Formula bar. If you miss this tool, you can add it to the Quick Access toolbar by following the steps in this tip.

Changing Excel's Cell Reference Notation
Excel 2007 supports two different types of cell reference notation. The notation method is adequate for most people, but you may need to make a change because of your familiarity with other spreadsheet programs.

Changing Undo Levels
Excel maintains a record of most of the commands you execute so that you can later "undo" those commands, if desired. It is helpful to understand the way that Excel maintains this list of commands and how it can be changed.

Changing Worksheet Gridline Color
Want the gridlines in your worksheet to be a different color? You aren't limited to stodgy black; Excel lets you make them just about any color you want. Here's how to make the change.

Choosing what Happens when You Press Enter
Excel lets you specify how it should behave when you press Enter. If you change this behavior, Excel assumes you want it changed for all workbooks on which you might be working. Here's how to adjust it so that the behavior can vary based on which workbook you are using.

Controlling Row and Column Headers
Normally Excel displays row and column headers in a worksheet. If you prefer, you can turn these navigational aids off completely.

Correcting Pale Shading of Selected Cells
Does the pale coloring scheme used to mark selected cells by Excel 2007 drive you nuts? You aren't alone. Here's an idea of what you can do to reduce the frustration.

Disabling ScreenTips
ScreenTips are one of those artifacts of Microsoft trying to make Excel be overly helpful. If the ScreenTips bother you, you can turn them off by following this tip.

Disabling the AutoFill Feature
AutoFill is a great editing tool that comes in particularly handy when you are first creating a worksheet. You may, at some point, want to turn off the feature. This tip shows how you can do this.

Displaying Excel's Developer Tab
The Developer tab of the ribbon is the gateway to many advanced features in Excel, including those features related to working with macros. The Developer tab is not visible by default in Excel, but here's how to make sure it remains displayed on your system.

Displaying Page Breaks
Page breaks can be added to a worksheet manually or automatically. If you want to see where Excel places page breaks, you'll want to pay attention to this configuration tip.

Displaying Page Breaks in a Worksheet
Excel uses two types of page breaks, and you can display them in your workbook by making a configuration change in the program. This tip shows the setting you need to change.

Formula Doesn't Automatically Recalculate
What are you to do if you suspect that some of your worksheet functions aren't recalculating automatically? Here's some ideas you can check out.

Getting Rid of Error Checking
A little green triangle in the corner of a cell means that Excel thinks there is an error with the cell contents. If those triangles bother you, here's how to turn them off.

Getting Rid of Insert Options
When you insert rows, columns, or cells in a worksheet, does the resulting Insert Options icon bother you? Here's how to get rid of it.

Getting Rid of the Paste Option Buttons
Paste some information into a worksheet and Excel helpfully displays some options related t the paste operation. If you don't want to see those options, here's how to turn the feature off.

Manually Calculating Worksheets
If your worksheet becomes slow and sluggish whenever you make an edit, it could be because Excel's recalculation is taking too long. What to do? Switch to manual calculation.

Numbers Mysteriously Divided by 100
Enter a value into a cell and "poof!" it is automatically divided by 100. What's going on, and how can you fix it so that Excel actually enters what you type into the cell?

Setting Rules for Error Checking
Excel can check the data and formulas in your worksheet to see if it detects any errors. The rules used for this checking can be modified, if you desire.

Specifying a Set Decimal Point for Data Entry
Don't want to always type the decimal point as you enter information in a worksheet? If you are entering information that always has a certain number of digits after the decimal point, you can instruct Excel to always assume where the decimal point should be placed, even when you don't type one.

Specifying Enter Key Behavior
When you are entering data in a worksheet and you press Enter, it is the signal to Excel that you are done with the current cell. What happens next depends on a setting you make that indicates which way you want Excel to move the selection.

Specifying the Number of MRU Files
MRU (most recently used) files can be a great help when you work with a given set of common workbooks. Excel allows you to easily adjust the number of MRU files it tracks for you.

Specifying Where Excel Saves AutoRecover Files
Excel, by default, periodically writes information to AutoRecover files that can help protect your data in case Excel is ended abnormally. You can specify where you want these AutoRecover files stored by using the information in this tip.

Tab Key Causes Screen to Jump
Have you ever pressed the Tab key, expecting to move to the next cell in your worksheet, only to have Excel completely change what you see on the screen? This could be due to a setting deep inside Excel related to transitioning from other spreadsheet programs.

Tab Key Doesn't Move from Cell to Cell
Normally the Tab key can be used to move from one cell to another in Excel. If this cell movement doesn't work for you, it could be because of the way you have the program configured.

Turning the Formula Bar On and Off
The Formula Bar is a regularly used feature in the Excel interface. You can, however, modify whether Excel displays the Formula Bar or not.

Understanding Excel's Different Starting Dates
When keeping track of dates, internally, Excel uses special date serial numbers that are based upon a specific day in the past. In reality, however, Excel can use one of two starting dates for its date serial numbering.

Unwanted Files Loading when Starting Excel
Imagine how painful it would be if every time you started Excel it tried to load all the files in your root directory? That is what was happening to Stephen, and here's how to fix it.

What Happens after You Press Enter
What happens when you press Enter in a cell depends on how you have Excel configured. Here's the way you can control the action Excel takes.

Zooming or Scrolling with the Mouse Wheel
Excel allows your mouse's center wheel to be used for two different purposes. Here's how to throw the switch that indicates which purpose should be used.

 

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