Excel Tips to Impress Your Boss

Learning Excel's keyboard shortcuts is the fastest and easiest way to make the jump from amateur to power user. Plus, it's great to be the guy everyone comes to asking what the shortcut for Paste Special is (Alt + E + S) or select an column (CTRL + Space) or row (Shift + Space). By utilizing shortcuts, you'll save time switching between the mouse and the keyboard. Typing is also faster than clicking through menus, which will also boost your productivity. When your boss is over your shoulder, it helps to be able to have your cursor flying around the screen making changes [and fixing mistakes! ;)] faster than he or she can follow.

Creating dynamic dashboards in Excel is probably the best "tip" I can give you to impress your boss. Giving him or her a page of inputs and controls with a condensed and clear output tab can not only help them focus on decision-making instead of deciphering charts, but can add a lot to your credibility and professionalism.

Creating good dashboards isn't a skill in and of itself, but a combination of other Excel techniques. Sumifs, charting, in-cell graphs, and controls are all important to creating a fancy and functional dashboard. To go in to each of these skills would easily be a lens in and of itself, but here are some outside links to get you started. Once you've mastered the requisite skills, you'll be smashing data sets together and spitting out beautiful dynamics charts in no time!