I used to hate fixing this in Excel... not anymore


You know those annoying problems that waste more time than they should?

  • A report lands in your inbox… but the dates are in some weird format you can't use.
  • You’ve got data in columns that should be flipped to rows.
  • The dataset’s huge. The deadline’s close. And you're still looking for a clear takeaway for your slide.

You’ve probably run into one of these. Or all three.

And dealing with them? Takes way longer than it should.

But what if you could solve each of these in under 30 seconds...

with one simple line?

🎬 New video: 3 ridiculously fast Python in Excel fixes

video preview

They’re quick fixes you can actually use. The kind that makes your coworkers ask, “Wait, how’d you do that?”

🐍 New Course: Coming June 25th

I’m recording the Machine Learning section right now. We’re about 90% done.

The Python tricks in today’s video are a small preview.

This course goes much deeper.

It's Python in Excel... for the Real World.

I wanted to build something specifically for Excel people, not coders.

Plus, a lot of the courses I came across only showed me how to use Python to do the stuff I can do in Excel anyhow. So the goal here was to highlight what we can now do, that we couldn't do or at least easily do in Excel.

Stay tuned - I’ll share more soon.

🤓 Geeky News

🪟 A new Start (menu)

The Start menu in Windows 11 just got a major glow-up.

It now shows your pinned apps up top, recommended files in the middle, and a new scrollable view of all installed apps at the bottom.

You can switch between a Category view (apps grouped by purpose) and a Grid view (alphabetical, but easier to scan). And yes, Windows remembers your last view.

It also adapts to your screen size - showing more or fewer columns depending on your device - and collapses unused sections to keep things tidy.

The Phone Link also gets a dedicated section.

Want a cleaner look? You can toggle off recommendations in Settings.

This redesign has been a long time coming. If you're curious, you can check out the designs that didn't make the cut.

🌐 Two fresh updates coming to Edge

Picture-in-picture is now fully controllable. Pause, skip, scrub, and mute right from the floating window. Keep working while that tutorial (or cat video) stays in view.

Plus, a new AI-powered history search helps you find sites even if you mistype or barely remember what they were. It runs on your device, so your data stays private.

Small updates, big time-savers.

🍏 Apple jumps ahead to 26

(Yes, I use an iPhone. As does most of the team. Much to the dismay of my husband.)

Apple’s skipping straight to iOS 26 with a major redesign and new features:

  • Sleek “Liquid Glass” look (think: iOS meets Windows Vista)
  • Smarter call screening and hold assist
  • Safari, Messages, and CarPlay get a refresh
  • Live translation in calls and texts (offline too, but only on newer devices)

🗓️ Launches mid-September

📱 iPhone 11 and up (AI features need iPhone 15 Pro+)

💚 Did You Know? Ctrl + Wow!

Want to cross something off your Excel to-do list. Literally?

Just hit Ctrl + 5 to strike through selected text.

Quick, clean, done.

Want more ways to strike through like a pro? 👉 Check out the full blog post.

👏 Unlocking what Excel can really do

Some tools just get better the deeper you go.

Here’s what Matt shared after diving into Excel Essentials for the Real World:

Congrats Matt! 🎉

That’s the kind of transformation we love to see. And the kind we design our courses to deliver.

Thanks for being here & see you next week! 👋

Leila

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Leila Gharani - XelPlus

XelPlus is a leading online education company, providing training courses for Excel, Power BI, Finance, and Google Sheets. XelPlus’ bestselling courses are popular among financial analysts, CFO’s, and business owners. Technology is changing fast. We help our members turn confusion into confidence with every skill learnt.

Read more from Leila Gharani - XelPlus

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