I always build my formulas the same way. I include extra rows below my data, just in case someone adds more next month.

And every time, I get a column with zeros.

A blank row that should be invisible suddenly shows up as zero in the spilled list. Annoying, but there are ways around it. My go-to was to wrap in a FILTER.

Recently it got a lot simpler. One function. Or even better, one character.

Add a dot before or after the colon in your range, like A2:.A100, and Excel quietly drops the blank cells from the result. No formula needed. Want it as a proper function instead? That's TRIMRANGE(A2:A100). Same result. I just find typing the dot faster.

And it stacks nicely with other functions. A rolling 12-month chart. A clean UNIQUE list without a stray zero at the bottom. Same trick, same dot.

👉 Stop blank cells from messing up your spilled ranges​

🆕 Course: Excel Essentials, now on LinkedIn Learning

When LinkedIn asked me to revise their Excel Essential Training on the LinkedIn Learning platform, I was excited to take on the challenge of distilling the essentials in under 5 hours.

A lot of people who use Excel every day never actually learned it. They picked it up in pieces. A formula here, a shortcut someone showed them once, years of getting by. This course is for them. It's also for someone who's never opened Excel before and wants to start right instead of patching it together later.

👉 Use the link in my post to access the course free for 24 hours. No LinkedIn Learning account needed.

🤓 Geeky News

🧑‍🏫 PowerPoint Live gets a refresh button

Two new features for presenting in Teams.

Refresh updates your deck to the latest version mid-presentation with one click - no resharing, no losing your place.

Explain lets attendees select unfamiliar text on a slide and get it broken down by Copilot, without interrupting you to ask.

Refresh works for anyone with a Microsoft 365 subscription. Explain needs a Copilot license too. I don't know if it's just me, but it's getting difficult keeping track of everything that needs or doesn't need a Copilot license.

🎤 Teams finally lets you check your mic before joining

A new button on the pre-join screen tests your speaker and mic before you're actually in the meeting. Plays a tone to confirm sound, records your voice and plays it back, then gives you a quick yes-or-no on both.

Rolling out on desktop first.

Zoom has had it for ages. About time Teams caught up.

📅 Power BI gets a date picker (Excel when?)

​Date slicers in Power BI have a new picker mode that updates itself. Set it to a relative range, like "last 12 months," and it rolls forward automatically as your data refreshes. Viewers can still switch to a manual date or range if they want, no separate slicer needed.

Currently in preview. Turn it on under Options > Preview features.

If you've ever opened a report on the first of the month just to nudge a date filter forward, this one's for you.

🤔 Did You Know?

You might know the shortcut for AutoSum: Alt + = (alt equals sign).

You just have to press Enter for the sum of the numbers above to calculate. Or do you?

Alt + = = (alt equals equals) does the same thing in one move, no finger jumping to a different key.

Thanks to Ian Schnoor for sharing this tip at the Global Excel Summit.

👏 Stood out among the team

Amila completed the Master Excel Power Query: Beginner to Pro. Here's what happened next:

That's the thing about getting good at this stuff. You don't have to push for recognition. You just raise your hand, deliver, and people notice.

See you next week,

Leila

When you're ready, here are some ways we can help:

🎓 Join 400,000+ members in our courses​

📺 Get free tutorials on YouTube​

👥 Train your whole team with our courses. Team pricing and progress tracking - reply for details.

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