Lisa A. Bucki - Excel: Portable Genius

1. Chapter 3
2. Chapter 8

1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 3
4. Chapter 4
5. Chapter 5
6. Chapter 6
7. Chapter 7
8. Chapter 8
9. Chapter 9

by Lisa A. Bucki

Excel Portable Genius

Copyright 2021 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 9781119763611

ISBN: 9781119765080 (ebk)

ISBN: 9781119763598 (ebk)

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An author, trainer, and content expert, Lisa A. Bucki has been educating others about computers, software, business, and personal growth topics since 1990. She has written and contributed to dozens of books and multimedia works, in addition to providing marketing and training services to her clients and writing online tutorials. Bucki is cofounder of 1x1 Media, LLC (www.1x1media.com), an independent publisher of books and courses focused on howto topics for entrepreneurs, startup founders, makers, and other business professionals.

When Associate Publisher Jim Minatel reached out to me to ask if I was still writing, I was thrilled. I had been off in the wilderness working on other types of projects, so signing on with Wiley felt like a return to my publishing roots. It even got better from there. When he and Senior Managing Editor Pete Gaughan brought Project Manager Kezia Endsley and Technical Editor Joyce Nielsen on board, it was (as Jim put it) fun getting the band back together. All of us have worked together in various capacities and projects going back decades. And all of my colleagues on this project are still at the top of their game.

I thank all of them for their excellent work on this project, as well as Copy Editor Kim Wimpsett, Content Refinement Specialist Saravanan Dakshinamurthy, Proofreader Nancy Carrasco, and all the other Wiley employees or partners who had a direct or indirect role in this undertaking.

My gratitude also eternally flows to my excellent and patient husband, Steve Poland, and all of our beloved furry dog children.

If having hundreds of millions of users or more constitutes success, then Excel meets that test. In my decades as a tech writer and editor, Excel has led the competition in providing powerful yet accessible computational and data capabilities. Accessible can be a relative term, however. For some people, the hundreds of features in Excel can be intimidating. Others may wrestle with the best ways to create formulas or manage lists of data.

Excel Portable Genius aims to help you answer nine key questions you may come up against when using Excel. The book covers the Excel features that you need to know, along with some others that you should want to know. I try to get right to the point in describing features and steps, so you can power through, problemsolve on your own, and free up time for other activities.

A few special elements provide guardrails and inspiration. Notes help you delve a bit deeper into some topics, Cautions give advice and help you steer clear of problems, and Genius icons convey the pro tips that will make you more efficient, more productive, and (I daresay) more impressive in the results that you crank out from Excel.

I need to mention one last item from the need to know category before you dive in to . The screenshots for the figures in this book were shot at a low 1024 x 768 resolution to enhance their final appearance within the book's format. Most users now have their screens set to a much higher resolution, so you may see differences in your screen versus the figures, particularly with regard to the appearance of the ribbon. Also, users with touch screen systems may see additional screen options and features not shown in the figures.

Thank you, reader, for adding Excel Portable Genius to your library.