These free excel tutorial videos will help you learn how to work in excel.
At the same time, these videos double-up as bookkeeping tutorials because we teach you how to manipulate information in our excel cash book which is a great and free template for any small business to start their bookkeeping in.
Free Excel Tutorial #1 Insert Rows to Excel and Update Formula in New Cells
To insert one row
Left click on the row number, in the left margin, below where you want the new row (the row will be inserted above)
Right click and select Insert
To insert several rows
Left click on the row number, in the left margin, below where you want the new rows.
Hold the left click down and drag down the number of rows that corresponds to how many new rows you want. So if you want 2 rows, drag down over 2 rows.
Let go of the left click and right click, select Insert
Update the formula
If you have a column with formulas, click in the new cells within that column and look in the formula bar.
If it is blank, then you need to copy the formula from an original cell and paste it into the new cells.
A quick way is to hover your curser on the small square on the bottom, right corner of the original cell. When it changes to a black cross, left click and hold, drag down into the new cells.
This will paste the formula into the new cells – click on each new cell and check the formula bar.
Test that it works by entering random data into the new rows to see if the formula includes that data in it’s calculations
Free Excel Tutorial #2 Excel Remove Delete Rows and fix Formula Error #ref! (hash ref)
Delete a Row
Move your cursor to the left margin
hover over the number of the row you want to delete so that the black, right-facing arrow pops up
right click your mouse and select Delete.
Delete Several Rows
To delete say three rows, once again move your cursor to the left margin
hover until the black arrow appears (usually a split second),
press the left mouse down and hold it down,
drag down three rows, let go of the left button and click the right mouse button.
Amending #Ref! (hash ref) Symbol This usually appears in cells with formulas which are missing the information that was previously on the spreadsheet. In this case, because rows have been deleted, the ‘link’ to those deleted cells is broken so the formula is unable to complete its calculations.
To correct this, we need to simply copy and paste a working formula from a cell that has one, usually a cell above where the rows were deleted.
Go to the bottom right corner of the working cell
hover over the small square in the corner until you get a small black cross
click the left mouse button, hold it down and drag all the way down the cells that have the #Ref! symbol.
This replaces the broken formula
Free Excel Tutorial #3 Add Columns in Excel
To add a column
Left-click your mouse at the top of a column next to where you want your new column to be added
Click the right mouse button and select Insert
To add several columns
Follow step one above but hold the left-click down and drag across the existing columns by the number that you want to add.
So, if you are adding three columns, drag across three, right click and select Insert.
If the formatting on the new columns is wrong, copy the formatting from the good cells
Left click and drag across the good cells and select the formatting field box in the Quick Access Toolbar
Then left-click, hold the click down and drag across the cells that need updating.
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