Q 39. Which of the following features is used to create direct access to other sheets or objects in the workbook?
Answers
Answer:
Excel users know that workbooks are a powerful metaphor. But many users are equally aware that dealing with workbooks can cause a huge number of snags. The hacks in this chapter will help you avoid some of these snags while taking advantage of some of the more effective but often overlooked ways in which you can control your workbooks.
Before we leap into the hacks, though, it’s worth taking a quick look at some basics that will make it much easier to create effective hacks. Excel is a very powerful spreadsheet application, and you can do incredible things with it. Unfortunately , many people design their Excel spreadsheets with little foresight, making it difficult for them to reuse or update the spreadsheets they’ve so carefully built. In this section, we provide several tips you can follow to ensure that you’re creating spreadsheets that are as efficient as possible.
The 80/20 Rule
Perhaps the most important rule to follow when designing a spreadsheet is to take a long-term view and never assume you will not need to add more data or formulas to your spreadsheet because chances are good that you will. With that in mind, you should spend about 80 percent of your time planning your spreadsheet and about 20 percent implementing it. Although this can seem extremely inefficient in the short run, we can assure you that the long-term gain will far outweigh the short-term pain and that the planning gets easier after you’ve done it for a while. Remember that spread-sheets are about making it easy for users to get correct information, not just about presenting information that looks good only once.
Structural Tips
Without a doubt, the number one mistake most Excel users make when creating their spreadsheets is that they do not set up and lay out the data in the manner in which Excel and its features expect. Here are, in no particular order, some of the most common mistakes users make when setting up a spreadsheet:
Unnecessarily spreading data over many different workbooks
Unnecessarily spreading data over numerous worksheets
Unnecessarily spreading data over different tables
Having blank columns and rows in tables of data
Leaving blank cells for repeated data
The first three items on the preceding list add up to one thing: you should always try to keep related data in one continuous table. Time and time again we see spreadsheets that do not follow this simple rule and thus are limited in their ability to take full advantage of some of Excel’s most powerful features, including PivotTables, subtotals, and worksheet formulas. In such scenarios, you can use these features to their full potential only when you’ve laid out your data in a very basic table.
It is no coincidence that Excel spreadsheets can comprise 1,048,576 rows (65,536 pre-2007) but only 16,384 columns (256 pre-2007). With this in mind, you should set up tables with column headings going across the first row of your table and related data laid out in a continuous manner directly underneath their appropriate headings. If you find you are repeating the same data over and over for two or more rows in one of these columns, resist the temptation to use blank cells to indicate repetition.
Make sure your data is sorted whenever possible. Excel has a rich set of lookup and reference formulas, some of which require that your data be sorted in a logical order. Sorting also will speed the calculation process of many functions significantly.
Formatting Tips
Moving beyond structure, formatting also can cause problems. Although a spreadsheet should be easy to read and follow, this should rarely be at the expense of efficiency. We are big believers in "keeping it simple.” Far too many people spend tremendous amounts of time formatting their spread-sheets. Although they don’t necessarily realize it, this time frequently comes at the expense of efficiency. Often the overuse of formatting adds size to your workbook, and although your workbook might look like a work of art to you, it might look terrible to someone else. Some very good universal colors to consider using in your spreadsheets are black, white, and gray.
It is always a good idea to leave at least three blank rows above your table (at least three, preferably more). These can then be used for criteria for features such as Advanced Filter and Database functions.
People also tinker with the alignment of cell data. By default, numbers in Excel are right-aligned and text is left-aligned, and there are good reasons to leave it this way. If you start changing this formatting, you will not be able to tell at a glance if the contents of a cell are text or numeric. It is very common for people to reference cells, which look like numbers but in reality are text. If you have altered the default alignment, you will be left scratching your head. Perhaps headings are an exception to th