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Leila Gharani - XelPlus

Forget Tinder! Can Excel choose your perfect partner? πŸ“±

Published 7 months agoΒ β€’Β 4 min read

3 things we’re covering today:

  • Excel Training Camp in Vegas, baby!
  • Quick & easy removal of blank rows
  • Can Excel help your love life?

πŸͺ„Excel Magic: Deleting Blank Rows in Seconds​

Have you ever dealt with a messy Excel spreadsheet filled with unwanted blank rows?

I bet you did, I mean - who hasn't? It can be frustrating and time-consuming to clean up. But no worries. You're about to learn a simple trick that will clear those blank rows with just a couple of keystrokes.

1. Start by selecting any cell within your data range.

2. Press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + G to open the "Go To" dialog box.

3. Then press Alt + S to activate "Special".

4. Using the arrow keys in the "Go To Special" dialog box, select the "Blanks" option (or simply press 'k' to jump directly to 'Blanks'), then press Enter.

All the blank cells in your data will be selected.

5. To delete the entire rows with blank cells, press Ctrl + - (minus key).

6. Excel will prompt you with a dialog box - use the down arrow (or press 'u') to select "Shift cells up" and press Enter.

And just like that, your spreadsheet is free from those disturbing blank rows!

Master these shortcuts and your coworkers will be so amazed at your skill and speed they won't know what hit them.

Check out this #shorts for a video walkthrough.

Now that you know how to quickly eliminate blank rows, let's take a deeper look at the tool that made it possible πŸ‘‡

Go To Special is an often overlooked feature that can help you solve many common problems:

πŸ” It can help you identify hardcoded values in the middle of your formulas (as I demonstrate here).

πŸ”’ You can use it to select and then lock all the cells with formulas so that no one messes with them.

πŸ†Ž You can use it to compare rows and select mismatching values that you can then format for quick identification.

🎨 Or use it to find cells that had conditional formatting or data validation applied.

There are many more practical uses - feel free to explore the available options and think how they can help you in your work.

​

🎰 Master Excel with the Pros: Las Vegas, Dec 7-9

Ready to boost your Excel skills in Sin City? Mark Dec 7-9 on your calendar and prepare for a unique blend of expertise and entertainment.

Why Should You Be There?

  • Meet Excel Legends: This is your chance to connect with renowned experts like Oz du Soleil, Jordan Goldmeier, and Bob Umlas. Build lasting relationships with key figures in the Excel community.
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Ready to invest in becoming an Excel pro?

Get 10% off your ticket if you act fast. Use code LEILA10. Click HERE to secure your spot now.

Let's dive into a world of Excel mastery!
​

πŸ€“ Geeky News

πŸ“‚ OneDrive Redesign - improved organization and collaboration

Microsoft is overhauling OneDrive for Business. The already released changes include the ability to search for files by the person who shared it, easy filtering by file type, color-coding of folders, and ability to 'favorite' a file.

The same experience will soon come to Teams and Outlook, with more exciting features expected over the coming months, including Copilot integration.

If you're using OneDrive via File Explorer, you're also getting the refreshed Home page design, plus some welcome updates to the OneDrive Sync experience. They include prevention from accidental deletions, simplified Sync Settings menu, and seamless Open in App experience for non-Office files.
​

πŸ“ˆ Power BI - integrations with OneDrive and SharePoint

You can now view your Power BI files directly in OneDrive for Business and SharePoint. If someone shares a pbix file with you, you don't need to install Power BI Desktop! You can simply open it and interact with it in the browser. You do, however, need a paid Power BI license for that.

The feature is still in preview, but now it's enabled by default. If you don't want it, you have to disable it in Options > Preview features. If you have the Oct 2023 version of Power BI Desktop and don't see it, it's possible that your admin has already disabled it for the entire organization.
​

πŸ‘₯ New Teams - faster, leaner, and here to stay

The new, faster and more efficient Teams experience is now generally available. For now, you can still use the Classic Teams, but any new features and enhancements will only be available on New Teams (including the upcoming Copilot).

​

πŸ’š My Favorite Things

Recently, I came across this 2020 article from The Economist, authored by Alice Hines, which sheds light on a curious trend in modern romance.

The piece explores how some individuals are turning to data-driven methods to navigate their relationships.

For example, Jacob, a finance professional, created a spreadsheet named "How to Choose a Goddess" to quantitatively assess potential life partners based on various attributes. He assigned weights to qualities like physical intimacy and conversation and used this data to score his potential partners.

Hines finds that these data-driven approaches, which include rationality and structure to address emotions like jealousy, might appear unconventional, but they offer a unique perspective on understanding the complexities of love and relationships.

πŸ€” What do you think? Would you trust Excel to choose your perfect partner?

Our editor refused to connect his Tinder data with Power Query for this experiment 🀷😁

BTW, "Between the Sheets" was almost the name of our weekly newsletter - we went with "XelPlus weekly" instead. I know - boring, right? So what do you think? Should we rename? Click one of the options below:

​YES! Let's call this newsletter "Between the Sheets"​

​NO! Keep the current name "XelPlus Weekly"​

Thank you for voting. I'm really curious πŸ€”

​

πŸš€ Power Stories

Congratulations to Ayush for successfully completing our latest course, Automate with Power Query - Recipes to solve business data challenges. I hope the new certification and, above all, the new knowledge gives you a solid edge in your career.

Got a success story about using your XelPlus skills? I’d love to hear it! Hit reply to share the details, and inspire other students πŸ˜‡

See you next week,

Leila️

P.S. Heads up! The price for our Automate with Power Query course is set to increase on the 24th of October. We've added more content, and are introducing a handy solution recipe eBook soon. It will be your quick-reference guide to tackle data challenges effortlessly. Current students enjoy these perks without extra costs. Want in on the deal? Enroll now to lock in the current $99 rate before the 30% hike!

Want more?

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Leila Gharani - XelPlus

Helping you easily overcome data challenges with Excel & Power BI

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.

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