Excel University Blog

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Jeff Lenning

CalCPA Article Instant Reconciliations

By Jeff Lenning | November 1, 2022 |

When you have two different lists that you need to compare, how do you do it? For example, you want to identify which items on one list (e.g., a check register) appear on the other (e.g. bank activity)? I used to print both lists, grab a ruler and go down row by row ticking items…

List of files in Excel (easy way, no VBA macros or formulas)

By Jeff Lenning | September 27, 2022 |

In this post, I’ll answer a question about how to create a list of files in a folder (and any subfolders) in Excel. For this illustration, we’ll use Power Query instead of VBA/Macros. Objective Before we jump into the details, let’s look at the objective. We want to create a list of files in a…

Use an Excel formula to insert pictures into cells with the IMAGE function

By Jeff Lenning | September 6, 2022 |

Microsoft recently announced the rollout of the new IMAGE function. It enables us to write a formula that inserts an image directly into a cell. This opens up many new interesting possibilities.

2022 Scholarship Winner

By Jeff Lenning | August 11, 2022 |

I am excited to announce this year’s Excel University scholarship winner! This scholarship is supported by the Excel University Alumni Association, so thanks to all of you who have helped make these awards possible over the past 7 years. The winner will receive a cash award plus an Excel University training pass. This year’s recipient…

Import Data from a Picture Image

By Jeff Lenning | July 12, 2022 |

Microsoft recently announced the ability to import data from a picture in Excel for Windows … yay! Let’s say you have an image that contains text or numbers. Perhaps the image is a file (like PNG, GIF or JPG). Or, perhaps you copied it to the clipboard or took a picture with your phone. You’d…

14 New Excel Functions CalCPA Article

By Jeff Lenning | May 9, 2022 |

Microsoft recently introduced 14 new functions for Excel—they are sure to help you save some time. We’ll start with a short description of each and then jump into some demonstrations. To view the demonstrations and learn more about each function, check out the Full Article Published in CalCPA Magazine.

Create a Dynamic PivotTable Style Report with One Formula

By Jeff Lenning | March 29, 2022 |

Historically, we’ve had two basic ways to create reports in Excel. We could enter the report labels and use formulas to compute the report values or we could use a PivotTable. Both options had pros and cons. We’d have to pick the report type based on the context of our workbook. In this post, I’ll…

Extract URL from Hyperlink with an Excel Formula

By Jeff Lenning | February 22, 2022 |

Let’s say you have a hyperlink in a cell in Excel. The hyperlink may have friendly text, such as Click Here, but when you click the link it takes you to a URL such as https://www.excel-university.com. Now, let’s say you want to extract that URL from the hyperlink using an Excel formula. Well … to…

Excel Tips from 25 Experts

By Jeff Lenning | February 8, 2022 |

My friend John Michaloudis does an annual survey of Excel MVPs and experts and asks for their best tip. He compiles the tips into an audio podcast along with show notes and related links. This is a great resource and I love sharing it every year. This year, he rounded up tips from: You’ll definitely…

AutoComplete for Data Validation Dropdown Lists

By Jeff Lenning | January 24, 2022 |

Microsoft just announced an enhancement in Excel desktop that enables autocomplete for data validation dropdown lists … YES! I have been waiting for this capability for literally decades … and it is finally here 🙂 Note: this feature is available in both Excel online and desktop. However, at the time of this writing, it is…