It can help you prepare your content, organize data projects, and create budgets and lists.Įxcel can be great for education use, because you can use it for probability, statistics and data science. What are the best uses for an Excel table?įor decades, Excel has been the go-to application to work through and analyze large amounts of data. Use the drop-down menus to structure a sentence that describes the filtering you want.įor my table, I've chosen to select dates after Jan. The Custom AutoFilter box that opens is very intuitive to use. Just like before, you click the arrow next to the column you want to sort, go through the Filters for that column and select Custom Filter. If none of the existing filters suit your needs, you can create a custom filter. Text Filters: Begins With, Contains and Does Not Contain are the most valuable preset text filters.Number Filters: The most useful of these for entrepreneurs are Top 10, Below Average and Above Average.You can sort data based on day, month, year, week and quarter. Date Filters: These filters are robust.Here are some other helpful built-in sorting features in each category: To unfilter your table, click the icon next to the column you sorted, and select the Clear Filter option. As you can see, the only visible rows are now those that contain below-average profits. Here, I've chosen to filter Profits based on Below Average. For example, columns that are filled with numbers give you access to Number Filters, columns with text give you access to Text Filters and columns with dates give you access to Date Filters. The type of filters you access in each column is dependent on the data category. You can do basic sorting, or you can use specialized filters. When you click any of the arrows, you can access drop-down menus that make sorting simple. You'll notice that the top of each column now has a small arrow next to the header. All of these designs function the same way only the colors differ, so just choose what you like. You'll immediately see a drop-down menu with many design options. To turn this data range into a table, select it and click Format as Table. We'll start with a basic Excel spreadsheet that depicts two weeks of tracking sales, operation costs and profits based on date. With all that in mind, here's how you can turn your data ranges into tables. Copying formulas and selecting date ranges is also clearer in a table than it is in a raw spreadsheet. Data is easier to sort and filter in a table, and it's easier to maintain a consistent nomenclature.ĭata entry is simpler because formatted tables can be dynamic and change as new information is added. When you convert a data range into a table in Excel, you not only get a nicer-looking design, but you also add functionality. This guide will start with beginner formatting and move through intermediate skills. Excel allows you to create custom tables and filters easily.įormatting tables in Excel helps you add functionality and aesthetic dimension to your spreadsheets.With just a few tweaks to the features in Excel, you can be an intermediate user in no time.Excel is not just for budgets it can be used for statistics and data science, too.