Convert numbers using the apostrophe (')

The easiest way to add leading zeros in Excel is to add an apostrophe (') before the numbers.

This automatically converts numbers into texts, so you will see a green triangle at the top-left corner of the cell indicating an error. When you click the warning sign beside the cell, the number stored as text error will be highlighted. Click on the warning sign and select "Ignore Error" from the options to remove the error message.

Note: This method works with one cell at a time. If you need to add leading zeros to multiple cells, I recommend using one of the following methods.

Changing the Cell Formatting 

Using the Text Format

The quick way would be to change the cell formatting to Text so that Excel doesn't trim your leading zeros by default. To do this, follow the steps:

1. Right-click on the cell or range of cells where you want to add zero in front of your numbers.

2. Select Format cells.

3. The Format Cells dialog box will appear. Select Text from the category list.

4. Click OK.

Alternatively, you can select the range of cells, go to the Home tab, and select Text from the drop-down menu located in the Number section.

Note: This method can be applied to a range of cells, but the data will appear as text values instead of numbers.

Using a Custom Format

You can apply custom formatting if you don't want the data to appear as text and keep the number value. To do this, follow the instructions below:

1. Right-click on the cell or range of cells where you want to add a zero.

2. Choose Format cells.

3. The Format Cells dialog box will appear. Select Custom from the category list to use a new custom format.

4. Enter zeros in the Type box. The Sample box above will show a preview of how the value will appear in the cell.

5. Click OK.

Note: The underlying data will remain stored as a number and display the added leading zeros using the custom number formatting.

Add leading zeros in Excel using formulas

You can use different functions to add leading zeros in front of numbers. These methods work for single cells or multiple cells. Just drag the fill handle down to apply the formula to all the cells where you want to add the zeros.

How to add zero in front of a number using the TEXT function

The Text function converts numeric values into text. The syntax is:

=Text(value, format_text)

where

• value - the value or cell to be converted

• format_text - the format to be used 

To add zeros using this function, type TEXT after the equals sign. Inside the parentheses, enter the cell you want to convert and type as many zeros as needed, separated by a comma. The zeros must appear in double quotation marks. In the example below, I've added zeros to obtain a six-digit value:

=TEXT(C2, "000000")

Press Enter to finish the formula and apply the text formatting in the selected cell.

How to add zero in front of a number using the REPT function

The REPT function repeats characters a given number of times. The name is short for Repeat. This formula works by combining the number of leading zeros with the cell values.

=REPT(text, number_times)

where

• text - the text value to repeat

• number_times - the number of times to repeat the text value

To add zeros in front of a number using REPT:

1. Type =REPT(

2. Inside the parentheses, enter zero followed by a comma.

3. Then, enter the number_times argument, which will dictate how many zeros to add. In the sample above, I've added two leading zeros.

4. Close the parentheses and then type the ampersand (&) symbol

5. Select the cell where your number is stored, and press Enter to apply the formula.

The final formula will look like this =REPT(0, 2)&C2

How to add zero in front of a number using the RIGHT function

The RIGHT function extracts characters beginning from the rightmost side to the left. The syntax only has two arguments and looks like this:

=RIGHT(text, [num_chars])

where

• text - the text you want to extract characters from

• num_chars - the number of characters to extract from the text

This method allows you to add zeros based on the length of your number. For example, if you are looking to always display six-digit numbers and add 0 in front of the number if it's shorter, you can use the following formula:

=RIGHT("000000"&C2, 6)

This will create a default number format. For example, if your number is 1111, the formula will return 001111. However, if your number is 111111, the formula will return 111111 without adding leading zeros.

Note: remember that the RIGHT function only displays the number of characters set by the num_chars argument. If your number is higher than that, it will be trimmed.

How to add zero in front of a number using the BASE Function

The BASE function converts a number into a text representation with the given base. The function takes three arguments, and the syntax is the following:

=BASE(number, radix, [min_length])

where

• number - the value that you want to convert

• radix - the base that is used in the traditional numbering system. For Example, 2 stands for binary, 10 stands for decimal.

• min_length - This is used to determine the minimum string length of the output

To add zeros using this function:

1. Type =BASE(

2. Select the cell where the original number is stored and add a comma

3. Next, enter 10 as the base (we want the same type of number) followed by a comma

4. Lastly, enter the string length. I've used 6 in my example, which will return a number with a minimum of 6 digits.

5. Type ) to close the parentheses and press Enter to apply the formula.

The final formula I got is: =BASE(C2, 10, 6)

How to add zero in front of a number using the CONCATENATE function

The CONCATENATE function allows you to join multiple strings or numbers together. The syntax is straightforward:

=CONCATENATE(text1, [text2]..)

where

• text1 - the first item to be joined

• text2 - the second item to be joined

• textn - the Nth item to be joined

Now let's look at an example. Let's add two zeros in front of an existing number. To do this:

1. Type =CONCATENATE(

2. Then, type "00" followed by a comma

3. Select the cell that contains the original number

4. Type ) to finish the formula and press Enter

Here's the formula I used: =CONCATENATE("00", C2)

Note: Starting with Excel 2019, you can also use the CONCAT function to achieve the same result. The CONCAT function is also available in Excel for Microsoft 365.

Add leading zeros using the Ampersand (&) symbol

The ampersand (&) symbol allows you to combine values from cells or strings similar to the CONCATENATE function.

The steps to create leading zeros using this method are:

1. Type = followed by the number of zeros inside double quotation marks like this ="00"

2. Type the ampersand (&) symbol

3. Select the cell where your original number is stored

4. Press Enter to finish the formula.

My result is: ="00"&C2

What to do next?

In this article, I've shown you how to add zero in front of number in Excel using 9 methods. If you struggle with any of the formulas, please leave a comment, and I'll help you out.

I also encourage you to subscribe to the newsletter. I send weekly tips and practical examples to improve your Excel skills.

To group sheets in Excel:

1. Hold down the CTRL key and click each of the tabs one by one

2. When you are satisfied with your selection, release CTRL key

If you want to group consecutive (adjacent) worksheets, click on the first sheet tab, press and hold the SHIFT key, and click the last sheet tab that you want to include in your selection.

How do you tell if sheets are grouped?

When working with grouped worksheets, it is essential to realize that any changes to the active sheet will also affect the rest of the selected worksheets.

In the image above, you can see that the word [Group] is shown next to the file name (in the upper Excel bar). The tabs corresponding to the selected worksheets are also highlighted with a white background. Any sheet tabs outside the group appear in gray.

How to group all worksheets in a workbook

Follow these two simple steps to group all worksheets in a workbook:

1. Right click on any worksheet tab to open the ribbon

2. Click on Select All Sheets to group all the Excel worksheets

How to ungroup worksheets in Excel

Ungrouping worksheets in Excel is just as simple:

1. Hold down the CTRL key

2. Click on each of the worksheets that you want to ungroup

3. Release the CTRL key

Alternatively, you can also ungroup selected worksheets in two easy steps:

1. Right click on any of the selected worksheet tabs

2. Click on Ungroup Sheets to ungroup all the Excel worksheets

To ungroup all worksheets, you can also click any worksheet tab outside the group.

Advantages of grouped sheets in Excel

Whenever you are working with identical sheets, grouping and editing them all at once can save you a lot of time. Once you have grouped the worksheets, editing the active sheet will make the same changes on all the other sheets.

Here are a few situations when it makes sense to select and work with multiple worksheets at once:

• Edit or add new data on several identically structured sheets of an Excel workbook

• Edit or add new formulas that use the same cells

• Correct a typo or mistake on several sheets

• Apply the same formatting to all the worksheets at once

• Print a selection of worksheets

• Move, copy, or delete multiple worksheets

What to do next?

I hope that this article was short and clear and that it showed you, step by step, how to group worksheets in Excel. I publish these Excel tutorials because I truly want you to get better. That is why, if you have additional questions on how to use grouped sheets, please leave a comment, and I'll help you out as soon as possible.

And even though it's frustrating when you get an error after spending a lot of time on a complex formula, Excel errors are helpful because they let us know that something is wrong with our approach. This is why I've put together a list of common Excel errors and an explanation of what's causing them and common fixes.

Excel's error helper

The good news is that each error value corresponds to a specific type of error, which helps you narrow it down to a handful of possible issues. In addition, Excel will display a small green triangle in the upper left corner of the cells affected by errors.

As you can see, the green triangle is visible in my cell because Excel has displayed a #NULL! error. A yellow diamond shape has appeared, which can be pressed to display Excel's error menu.

So, what exactly is this menu used for?

• The gray row tells us which error has been triggered.

• The "Help on this Error" link will open Excel's help panel, where you can find hints on how to fix your error.

• The "Show Calculation Steps..." link will prompt the Evaluate Formula panel, where you can check every step of your formula and see which one is triggering the error.

• The "Ignore Error" link does precisely that - it removes the green triangle from your cell and ignores the error.

• The "Edit in Formula Bar" link takes you to the formula bar to modify your formula.

• "Error Checking Options..." link opens the Error settings. Here, you can tweak and customize Excel's settings related to how errors are displayed and what type of errors to look for and reset the ignored errors from your workbook.

Excel displays nine types of errors (eight if you are not using Office 365 or Office 2021), and you should understand what triggers them and how to fix your broken formula.

Fixing errors

Fixing your Excel errors is a multi-step process. Remember that even though a cell shows an error, it doesn't mean that it's the cell causing it. Often errors cascade from one cell to another or even from different sheets or workbooks. If you fix the underlying error, all the other formulas will be fixed as well. Here is the five steps process I use for fixing my Excel errors:

1. Finding the errors. You can use Go to Special > Formula by pressing Ctrl + G and then selecting Special. Alternatively, you can go to the Home tab, Editing, and Find & Select as shown below.

2. Select all cells with errors using the Go To Special menu. This way, we can see all cells which return error messages.

3. Trace the error back to its source. The Formula Auditing menu provides excellent features to trace back errors to the source or check which cells are propagating your errors.

4. Figure out what's causing the error. If you have a complex formula, it can be a good idea to break it down into smaller parts. You can also use the Evaluate Formula option and see which step generates the error.

5. Fix the source of errors. When you find the cell causing the error and fix the formula, all your other dependent errors will get fixed.

#REF! error in Excel

I get asked a lot, "what does #REF! mean in Excel?" The #REF! error is very common and shows up when a formula refers to a cell that is not valid. Usually, the cell has been deleted, or other cells have been pasted over (using cut and paste). If you see #REF errors appearing after you delete a row or a column, it is wise to click Undo (or use the shortcut Ctrl + Z), evaluate your formula, and decide whether you should replace that cell or remove it.

If you cannot recover deleted data, it is good practice to perform a search in your workbook for #REF! and correct all the affected formulas. If many errors accumulate in your Excel file, it will lead to performance issues like delays in calculating formulas or Excel crashes.

The easiest way to prevent #REF! errors is to check for dependent cells. You can easily see all the cells that link to the cell you want to delete by using the Trace Dependents option in the Formula Auditing section of the Formula Tab. This way, you will know which formulas will be affected if you delete a specific cell from your worksheet.

#REF! error while using VLOOKUP or INDEX

VLOOKUP and INDEX functions can also generate #REF! errors whenever you use incorrect range references. For example, if you specify a value for the col_index_num parameter, which is higher than the total number of columns in your table, VLOOKUP and INDEX will return a #REF! error message.

If you ever encounter #REF! errors within your lookup formulas, the first thing you should do is check your parameters and correct them. Use caution when you delete columns from a range that serve as the table_array argument because they will break your VLOOKUP formulas. A safe approach would be to switch from a hardcoded value to a relative approach using the MATCH function.

#REF! error while using INDIRECT

For those of you who use INDIRECT to create dynamic links, please note that referencing a closed workbook in an INDIRECT formula will result in a #REF! error. In this case, opening the linked workbook will remove the error, and your formula should work correctly. Please note that closing the linked workbook will trigger the #REF! error again.

#REF! error while linking to another Excel file

Whenever you work with files saved on a server or shared location, there is a high chance you will run into this error. If your link turns into something like [Test_link.xlsx]#REF'!$B$2 after opening a linked file, then you should know there aren't many options to restore your formulas. Your best bet is to close your file without saving it. When you reopen it, the error will not be there.

If you have saved your file then all your links will be transformed into #REF and you will not be able to revert them. In this case, restore a previous version of your file or use a locally saved backup.

Now, let me explain what is actually causing this so you can avoid it. For some reason, when you are using a shared location to save your files, Excel is having a hard time recognizing other workbooks that are linked to your current file. So, if you are opening a workbook directly from Windows Explorer (i.e. like you normally open files in Windows) and that file is linked from the current opened Excel workbook, it will generate #REF errors.

To avoid this, once you have linked to a file in your workbook, make sure you only open it from the Data tab, using the Edit Links option.

This tip alone will save you a lot of time, because if you mess up your formulas and don't have a backup, then you will have to manually recreate them (which can be a pain).

#VALUE! error in Excel

This is probably the most common error code. Whenever you encounter a #VALUE! error in Excel it means that something is wrong with the cells you are referencing.

The most frequent solution is to check for different data types in your formula. For example, trying to add a number (i.e. 27) with a text cell (i.e. John) will result in a #VALUE! error message. Now, I know you are not adding numbers with text, but there are scenarios when you may be doing it without even knowing it. For example, if you work with large data sets or download a database from your CRM, they may contain data that looks like numbers but it is in fact stored as text.

Also, referencing cells that have #VALUE! errors will cause most of the functions to return a #VALUE! error as well. Below you can see how AVERAGE, SUM, CONCATENATE, and SUBTOTAL return errors just because they are using the input from column G which returns a #VALUE! error. So, if you can't figure out why your formulas are returning a #VALUE! error, make sure you also check your input.

#VALUE! error while subtracting

If you are using the Windows version of Excel you might get the #VALUE! error when writing basic subtraction formulas. If a simple formula like =B3-C3 returns a #VALUE! error, then you will have to check Windows Region and language settings. To learn more please refer to this official article from Microsoft.

#VALUE! error while using COUNTIF or COUNTIFS

There are three main reasons why COUNTIF or COUNTIFS will return a #VALUE! error. The first one, and most often, is caused by formulas that link to cells in closed workbooks. However, COUNTIF and COUNTIFS functions will not always return #VALUE! error when linking to closed workbooks. From my experience, this happens most often when you are working on a remote environment like SharePoint or an external server. This is a known issue with other Excel functions like COUNTBLANK, SUMIF, or SUMIFS.

How to fix this #VALUE! error? Simply open the linked workbook from your formula, and then press F9 to refresh the formula.

The second reason why COUNTIF will throw in the #VALUE! error is related to your search string. Keep in mind that Excel cannot use a string longer than 255 characters as your search criteria in COUNTIF function. This means that you will have to shorten the string used in your COUNTIF or COUNTIFS formula in order for the functions to work correctly.

The third reason why COUNTIFS will return a #VALUE! error is inconsistent range referencing in your formula. For COUNTIFS (and also SUMIFS), you need to make sure that a similar range of cells is supplied in all the Range/Criteria pairs. For example, a formula like =COUNTIFS(B1:B10, ">="&A1, C1:C12, "<="&A2) because either the first range should be extended to B1:B12 or the second one should be shortened to C1:C10. Otherwise, your formula will keep returning the #VALUE! error message.

#VALUE! error while using SUMPRODUCT

If you are working as an analyst and you are not using SUMPRODUCT then you are missing out. SUMPRODUCT is one of the most powerful and useful functions and I cannot stress this enough. It is versatile and can be easily used to create subtotals based on multiple criteria, it can replace SUMIFS and COUNTIFS, and it can even perform lookups.

However, if your SUMPRODUCT formulas are returning a #VALUE! error, then it means that somewhere in the arrays you have at least one cell containing text. This can be a table header, a comment column, or even a single letter typed by mistake in your array. I am sure you accidentally typed in a Z when trying to use the Undo shortcut Ctrl + Z.

#VALUE! error while using VLOOKUP

If you work with VLOOKUP and your formula returns a #VALUE! error then there are two possible causes.

• The lookup_value argument is more than 255 characters. The quick solution is to shorten the lookup value. If you can't use this approach, then use a combination of INDEX and MATCH functions as a workaround.

• The col_index_num argument contains text or is less than or equal to 0. Make sure you didn't insert a negative value or zero by mistake. It's easy to type 0 instead of 10 or insert additional letters. Double-check your formula and correct any input mistakes.

#DIV/0 error in Excel

What does #div/0 mean in Excel? Well, since dividing by zero will result in no mathematical result that Excel can display, it will trigger a #DIV/0 error message. Whenever you see this message, it means that you are either dividing by a cell that is blank (and treated as zero) or part of your formula that is treated as the divisor equals zero. In order to fix it evaluate your formula and check which part is triggering the error.

#N/A error in Excel

A lot of people are asking me "why is my formula not working?", "what does #N/A mean in Excel?", "how to hide #n/a in Excel?" The #N/A error is Excel's way of telling you that your formula can’t find what you are looking for. This is most common with VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, LOOKUP, and MATCH functions.

If you are looking at how to hide error messages returned by Excel, please read along. The final part of the article explains the best way to approach error messages in Excel.

#N/A error while using VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, LOOKUP or MATCH

If you are using exact match for your lookup functions, then the #N/A error means that no matching result has been found. In order to fix the error, check your data series manually. If the value you are looking for exists, then it means that there may be additional spaces before or after your data.

For Excel, an exact match means that the strings need to be identical. So, if you are looking for "Jane" but your data series contains "  Jane" (two spaces before the text), then Excel will return #N/A because the two strings are considered different.

Most of the time all you need to do to prevent #N/A errors is to make sure that the lookup value is correct and that your lookup tables do not have data with ending spaces. In some cases, it can even be useful to trap the error using IFERROR and display a more friendly message (or just hide the error). The final section of this article describes the use of IFNA, IFERROR, and ISERROR to hide errors or display custom messages.

#NAME? error in Excel

The #NAME? error indicates that Excel is not able to recognize part of your formula. It may be that you have misspelled a function name, you are referencing a named range that doesn't exist, or simply entered a wrong cell reference.

Function name misspelled

Misspelling a function name will make Excel unable to recognize your formula and display a #NAME? error. For example, =SUN(A1:A2) is not a valid formula because the name of the function is not spelled correctly.

The range name used in the formula does not exist

Another common mistake is using a range name that isn't available or misspelling a range name. Most often this happens if you accidentally remove one of your named ranges and Excel is not able to recognize them anymore. Make sure that you double-check your ranges before you delete them.

Invalid range

If you are manually writing the range in your formula (as opposed to selecting it with your mouse or keyboard), you may run into a #NAME? if you forget to use a colon when defining your range. In the example above the MIN function is using an invalid range. The correct range reference is J1:J3, so Excel will return an error.

Text not properly enclosed between double quotes

When you work with functions that handle text you have to make sure that you are enclosing your input between double-quotes. Otherwise, Excel will not be able to recognize it as a text. In the example shown above, the LEN function is not able to return the correct result because the input should be "finance" and not finance.

##### error in Excel

The most probable reason why Excel is displaying ##### instead of your input or result is that the column isn’t wide enough to show all of the cell contents. Increase the width of the column and the error should go away. Also, try reducing the number of decimals, decreasing the font size, and increasing the zoom. This will allow for more content to be displayed.

Alternatively, the ##### error can be caused by formulas that subtract dates or times. In Excel, negative values for dates and times are always shown as #####. To avoid this, try using date functions as much as possible when working with dates. For example, instead of just subtracting two dates try using a function like DATEDIF.

#NULL! error in Excel

Well, the #NULL! error isn't something you will see very often. It basically means that you have incorrectly separated cell references in your formulas. For example, the formula =SUM(A1 A10) will return a #NULL! error because the range lacks the colon ":" or comma "," between the two cell references. All you need to do is adjust the range to A1:A10 or separate the two cells by a comma and the error will go away.

#NUM! error in Excel

What does #NUM! mean in Excel? Well, the #NUM! error is displayed when a number is too large or too small, or when a calculation isn't possible. For example, it's impossible to display 10^3000 because it is too large. Alternatively, if you are trying to calculate the square root of a negative number Excel will return a #NUM! error because this is impossible from a mathematical point of view.

#SPILL error in Excel

#SPILL error only applies to Office 365 and Excel Online. Basically, Excel is telling you that the spill range for a spilled array formula isn't blank. You can read more about this error on Microsoft's website.

How to hide error messages in Excel using IFERROR, ISERROR, or ISNA

Sometimes you may get errors as part of the normal data analysis. An #N/A error in a VLOOKUP formula isn't necessarily bad. It just tells you that the value you are looking for couldn't be found in the table array. However, that doesn't mean #N/A errors are pretty and that is why it makes sense to replace them with a custom message like "value not found" or hide them altogether.

One word of caution though: verify that your formulas are correct before you trap and hide the errors. There is nothing worse than hiding a formula result because it generates an error created by a poor formula/data. For example, a VLOOKUP might return an #N/A error because there are beginning or ending spaces in your lookup value or table array. However, the value exists, and hiding the error rather than fixing will return a wrong result.

Below I will show you 3 examples of how you can customize your error messages for a VLOOKUP formula. These can be applied to any formula you desire.

Your first option is to use IFNA function. This is perfect for displaying a custom message like "Not found" for your VLOOKUP formulas because the IFNA function only replaces your #N/A errors. In cell G6, I have used the formula =IFNA(VLOOKUP(F3, B3:D12, 3, FALSE),"Not found"). If the lookup value cannot be found (in our example Los Angeles Lakers is not included in the table array), then the formula will return an #N/A error. The IFNA formula result will be TRUE and the custom message will be shown. Alternatively, you can remove the custom message and just insert "" and Excel will display a blank cell (like cell G10).

The second option is to use IFERROR function. In cell G7 we have the formula =IFERROR(VLOOKUP(F3, B3:D12, 3, FALSE), "Not found") which will trap any error generated by our VLOOKUP, not just #N/A. For example, if you have a #VALUE! error while using VLOOKUP the message displayed will be the same as for the #N/A error. However, the #VALUE! error should be fixed and not hidden as a "Not found" message.

The third option is to use the IF function with ISERROR. This will achieve the same result as IFERROR but will also work in older versions of Excel. In our example, cell G8 contains the formula =IF(ISERROR(VLOOKUP(F3, B3:D12, 3, FALSE)), "Not found", VLOOKUP(F3, B3:D12, 3, FALSE)). This works pretty much like any other IF formula. If the condition is TRUE (the VLOOKUP  formula returns an error) then display "Not found", otherwise display the result of the VLOOKUP formula.

I hope that after reading this article you are much better equipped to identify the cause of your Excel errors. Where do you struggle with Excel formula errors? Drop me a message in the comments section below.

How to clear all formatting in Excel

The most common way to remove all formatting in Excel is via the Clear Formatting option. To achieve this, simply follow these steps:

1. Select a cell or range of cells from which you want to clear formatting.

2. Navigate to the Home tab and locate the Editing group.

3. Click on the Clear button to open the Clear menu, and select Clear Formats.

How to clear formatting using Format Painter

An alternative option is to remove formatting using Format Painter:

1. Select a blank cell that contains no formatting.

2. Navigate to the Home tab.

3. From the Clipboard group, select Format Painter. You will see a dotted line around the cell once the Format Painter option is activated.

4. Select all the cells for which you want to clear formatting. This will revert them to the default Excel format.

Keyboard shortcut to Clear Formatting

Clearing formatting using a keyboard shortcut is very fast. All you need to do is:

1. Select the cells from which you want to remove the formatting.

2. Press ATL + H + E + F.

Quick Tip: You need to press the keys in successive order, not all at once.

Remove all Cell Formatting from the entire worksheet

Removing cell formatting from the entire worksheet is just as easy.

1. Press CTRL + A to select the entire cells from your worksheet. Alternatively, you can click on the green triangle from the upper left part of your worksheet (above row 1 and to the left of column A).

2. Navigate to the Home tab > Editing group.

3. Open the Clear menu and select Clear Formats.

Quick Tip: If you have manually applied formatting only to some part of the cell contents, then you will have to change the color of the cell back to black manually. Using either Clear Formats or Format Painter will not remove such formatting. In the screenshot below, you can see that the word 'increased' has been formatted with green.

How to clear Conditional Formatting in Excel

Conditional Formatting is a very powerful tool and can be used to achieve so many things. In fact, I've written a comprehensive article on How to find duplicates in Excel using Conditional Formatting.

However, if you apply too much Conditional Formatting, this will significantly slow down your Excel file. If this is the case, then it's really important to know how to clear Conditional Formatting in Excel using just a few easy steps:

1. Select the cells from which you want to remove the Conditional Formatting.

2. Navigate to the Home tab and locate the Styles group.

3. Click on the Conditional Formatting button to open the menu.

4. Click on the Clear Rules button and select the Clear Rules from the Selected Sheet.

Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut ALT + H + L + C + S to achieve the same result.

Quick Tip: You can also remove the Conditional Formatting from the entire worksheet by selecting Clear Rules from Entire Sheet.

If you still don't understand how to clear formatting in Excel after reading this article, please leave a comment, and I'll help you out. I reply to every single comment.

Merged cells provide flexibility if you want to create a nice and structured presentation, but when it comes to usability, in most cases it will break your file rather than improve it. For example, if there are merged cells in your columns you cannot sort data. Also, using merged cells in formulas can be a pain because Excel sees it as a range of cells rather than a single cell.

How to unmerge cells in Excel

Unmerging cells in Excel is very easy and, in most cases, straightforward. Here are the easy steps:

1. Select the cell (or multiple cells) that you want to unmerge;

2. Navigate to the Home tab and look for the Alignment group;

3. Click on the Merge & Center drop down menu and select Unmerge Cells. Alternatively, you can click directly on Merge & Center button.

Regardless of the method, you choose the result will be the same: the merged cells will be split into multiple cells and the original value will always be positioned in the upper left corner of the initially merged range. The rest of the cells will be blank.

If you prefer video, this short tutorial from Microsoft shows how to merge and unmerge cells in Excel.

If you are looking to unmerge cells in Excel for iOS or Excel for macOS please read this article from Microsoft.

Unmerge cells using Format Cells dialog box

Since Merged cells are mostly used for styling your spreadsheet, Microsoft included the option to Merge and Unmerge cells directly from the Format Cells menu. To separate cells using this method follow these steps:

1. Select the cell you want to unmerge;

2. Navigate to the Home tab, look for the Alignment group, and click on the small arrow in the bottom right corner. Alternatively, you can right-click in the cell and select Format Cells...

3. In the Alignment tab unckeck the Merge cells option and click OK.

Unmerge cells in Excel shortcut

Unfortunately, there is no pre-built shortcut to Merge and Unmerge cells. However, it is possible to access the Merge cell menu using the Alt key along with 3 other keys. To Unmerge cells press Alt, followed by H, M, and U.

Pressing Alt will trigger the keyboard menu selection. By pressing H you will navigate to the Home tab. Pressing the letter M will open the Merge cells menu, while U is used to select Unmerge Cells.

So, the shortcut to unmerge cells is Alt -> H -> M -> U.

Alternatively, you can use Alt -> H -> M -> C to merge any selected cells.

How to unmerge all merged cells in a Worksheet

When you have a large spreadsheet the idea of splitting all merged cells may seem intimidating, but this can be achieved easily in just a few clicks.

First, you need to select the entire sheet. You can do this by pressing the triangle in the upper left corner of your worksheet. Alternatively, you can press CTRL + A to select the entire sheet.

Once you have the entire sheet selected, check the Merge & Center button from your Alignment tab. If it's highlighted this means there are merged cells within your selection. Then, simply press the Merge & Center or select Unmerge Cells from the drop-down menu as shown before.

How to unmerge cells in Excel and fill cells with original values

Oftentimes, when doing data cleansing you will need to unmerge cells and fill the unmerged cells with the same value as the original cell. The image below shows what we are after:

This is very useful when you are working with files structured as databases because it will allow you to properly use a lot of functions like VLOOKUP, SUMIF, or SUMPRODUCT.

As you remember, I mentioned that when you unmerge cells the content will be moved to the upper-left cell of the merged range of cells. This means that the blank cells will always be underneath our original content, which makes it easy for us to copy data using a simple formula.

To unmerge cells and fill down with the same values, just follow these step-by-step instructions:

1. Select the column with the merged cells. You can also select the entire table if there are merged cells in multiple columns. Click the Merge & Center button to separate cells.

2. Select your data again, navigate to the Home tab > Editing group, Find & Select, and click on Go To Special…

3. Select Blanks from the Go To Special dialog box and click OK.

4. While the blank cells are still selected, we will enter the formula by typing the equal sign (=), followed by the up arrow key (↑). This simple formula will take the value from the cell above and copy it into the blank cell.

5. Press CTRL + Enter to fill all unmerged blank cells. Since you want to apply the same formula to all these cells, you need to finish the formula with CTRL + Enter rather than Enter.

And there you have it. Now each blank cell contains the value from the originally merged cell.

How to find merged cells in Excel

Whenever you are preparing an Excel file it is best to avoid using unnecessary merged cells. However, when working in a large company there is a high chance that you will receive files that contain merged cells from other colleagues. Moreover, these cells may not be easy to spot, especially in large files with multiple sheets.

So, how do you find merged cells that are not easy to spot? There is a quick method using the Find dialog box and I will guide you through the entire process.

1. Open the Find dialog box. You can do this using the CTRL + F shortcut or by navigating to Home -> Editing -> Find & Select -> Find.

2. In the Find and Replace dialog box, click the Options button, and then on Format.

3. Go to the Alignment tab, select the Merge cells check box under Text control, and click OK.

4. Now you can click on either Find Next or Find All.

• Find Next will select the next merged cell it founds and navigates through each cell corresponding to your find criteria.

• Find All will display a list of all merged cells which can then be selected individually. Excel will automatically select the corresponding cell.

Extra tip: You can adjust your search criteria to find all merged cells in the entire Workbook, not just the currently active sheet. To do so, simply change the Within criteria from Sheet to Workbook.

If you are looking for a different approach, I have also posted an article on How to find duplicates in two excel sheets.

How to find duplicates in Excel

Conditional Formatting is a very versatile tool. It has pre-defined conditions but you can also use formulas for more complex tasks. You can find the Conditional Formatting in the Home tab, under the Styles section. If you select Highlight Cells Rules/Duplicate Values, Excel will highlight all cells which are found at least twice.

Please keep in mind that this approach works best when you have a unique identifier to distinguish between different database entries.

The file contains a database with users. When they registered, they provided their First name and Family name and the system generated an ID. Now, let's assume that we used several sources to create this table in Excel and some of the users appeared more than once. Using the Duplicate Values option on column E, we can highlight the users with the same name.

However, looking closer we can see that there are some users with the same name but different IDs. This means that using the pre-defined "Duplicate Values" Conditional Formatting is not good enough in this case. Simply deleting the highlighted values based on the name criteria would result in losing data.

A better approach is to check the full entry (ID + Full name) by creating a Conditional Formatting rule using a formula. To do so, simply select the area where you want to apply the Conditional Formatting rule. In my case this is range $B$3:$B$202. Then, navigate to the "Conditional Formatting" tab and click on "New Rule".

Choose "Use a formula to determine which cells to format" as the Rule Type and insert the formula you want to use. Don't forget to change the formatting of the cells in the Format tab. My rule contains the following formula:
=SUMPRODUCT(($B$3:$B$202=B3)*($E$3:$E$202=E3))>1

How the SUMPRODUCT formula works

In case you are not familiar with the SUMPRODUCT formula, I strongly recommend taking the time to learn it. I assure you it has a lot more uses than looking for duplicates in Excel.

SUMPRODUCT returns the sum of the products of ranges or arrays. While this may not sound like much, keep in mind that SUMPRODUCT is a versatile function and can be used in a wide variety of situations. This incredible function can be used to count or sum items based on criteria (like COUNTIFS or SUMIFS) but provides a lot more flexibility.

Syntax and arguments of SUMPRODUCT:
=SUMPRODUCT (array1, [array2], [array3], ...)

array1 - The first array or range to multiply, then add.
array2 - [optional] The second array or range to multiply, then add.
array3 - [optional] The third array or range to multiply, then add.

While SUMPRODUCT function uses arrays, it does not require the standard array syntax (Ctrl + Shift + Enter) to enter. SUMPRODUCT will behave exactly like the SUM function when only one array is supplied. Keep in mind that SUMPRODUCT supports up to 30 arrays.

SUMPRODUCT assigns a value of 1 when the criteria are met, or a value of 0 when the criteria are not met. Then, it sums all the values and returns the total. Using "*" sign in the formula makes the two conditions cumulative.

Understanding the Conditional Formatting formula

The easiest way to understand how to find duplicates in Excel with this conditional formatting formula is to split it into three parts.
Part one and two checks to see if cells from arrays ($B$3:$B$202) and ($E$3:$E$202) match the values from cells B3 and E3 respectively. If they are both true, then it will return a value of 1.

Part three checks if the sum resulted from SUMPRODUCT is greater than 1. The conditional formatting formula will then move to the next set of cells, B4 and E4, and perform the same checks, then continue all the way down to row 202.

A simple way of looking at this formula would be:
a) SUMPRODUCT will check if ID from cell B3 is found in the array $B$3:$B$202 and generates an array with only 1s and 0s: {1, 0, 0, 1, ... , 0, 1}.
b) SUMPRODUCT will check if the Full name from cell E3 is found in the array $E$3:$E$202 and generates the second array: {1, 0, 0, 0, ... , 1, 0}.
c) SUMPRODUCT will multiply these two arrays and return the sum: {1*1 + 0*0 + 0*0 + 1*0 + ... + 0*1 + 1*0}.
d) The formula will check if the result returned by SUMPRODUCT is greater than 1 (remember our ">1" condition).

If the value is greater than 1, this means that the combination of ID + Full name is not unique in our table.

Note: Keep in mind that all the arrays in the SUMPRODUCT formula must be the same size. Otherwise, SUMPRODUCT will generate a #VALUE! error.

The result of the two Conditional Formatting rules

When you apply the new rule, it will highlight all the cells that match the result of our formula. In this example, I mentioned that there are some entries that have the same name, but the ID is different. This can be the case when two people with the same name register on a website or if two employees have the same name. They will have different IDs but the same name.

In column B the highlighting is made using the SUMPRODUCT formula, while cells from column E are highlighted using the built-in Excel conditional formatting. In the case of "Michelle Collins" the file contains 3 entries. Two of them are duplicates (rows 7 and 27), but there is another entry (row 12) that is unique. Highlighting the cells based solely on the name would result in a false highlight in this case.

This formula can provide an easy way to find duplicate rows as well. Just add more conditions to the SUMPRODUCT formula and it will reveal all your duplicates.

If you have additional questions or need help with your project, please let me know by posting a comment.

Indent using Ribbon Options

By default, Excel aligns text strings to the left of the cell and numbers to the right. If you don't like the look of your data, you can increase or decrease the indentation. This is how to increase indent in Excel cells:

1. Select the cell that contains the text you want to indent.

2. Click the Home tab.

3. In the Alignment group, click on the Increase Indent icon.

You can use the same process to indent multiple cells at once.

Removing cell indentation is just as easy. Follow steps 1 to 3 described above, but use the Decrease Indent icon instead.

Keep in mind that text alignment determines how Excel indents:

• If the data is aligned to the left, Excel will indent from the left.

• If the data is aligned to the right, Excel will indent from the right.

• If your content is centered, the first time you press the Increase Indent icon, Excel will align your data to the left and indent once from the left.

Indent using Format Cells dialog box

An alternative option is to indent using the Format Cells dialog box.

1. Select the cell or cells that you want to indent.

2. Right-click and select Format Cells.

3. Click on the Alignment tab.

4. Insert the indent size in the Indent field or use the up and down arrows to adjust the indentation.

5. Press OK.

Each indent moves the contents of the cell to the right by about three characters.

If you want to remove the indent, follow the steps described above and insert 0 (zero) in the Indent field.

Indent individual lines in the same cell

As you might have seen, the indentation is applied to the entire cell. This means that if you have text that spans across multiple lines, you won't be able to indent only one line using this method.

The good news is that there is a workaround to indent individual lines within the same cell. It's not pretty, and the method can't be applied to multiple cells at once, but it gets the job done.

For this to work properly, you need to have your text stored on multiple lines.

To achieve this, select the cell that you want to edit and press F2 to get into the edit mode (or double-click on the cell). Position the cursor where you want to insert a new line and press ALT + ENTER.

Once your data is split the way you want it, position the cursor at the beginning of the line and press Spacebar until you are satisfied with the indentation. Move to the next row if needed and repeat. When you are done, press ENTER to finish your changes.

Here is how the indentation process looks step by step.

If you need additional spacing, all you need to do is enter the cell edit mode again and increase the indent by adding more spaces at the beginning of the lines.

How to indent in Excel using a Keyboard Shortcut

If you prefer using your keyboard, you'll be happy to learn that two Excel indent shortcuts allow you to increase indent and decrease indent quickly.

Keyboard shortcut to Increase Indent in Excel: ALT + H + 6

Keyboard shortcut to Decrease Indent in Excel: ALT + H + 5

To use these shortcuts, select the cells where you want to apply the indentation and press the keys in the order shown above. You need to press the keys in succession (i.e., one after the other), not simultaneously.

What to do next?

If you have additional questions about how to indent in Excel, please leave a comment below. I reply to every message, and I want to help you become better.

Why would you need to hide a worksheet in Excel? Well, maybe you have some source data, and you don't want it to be visible, or you simply want to keep all your drop-down lists hidden from the public eye. Whatever the reason, you can hide as many sheets as you need using a few quick methods. Just remember, at least one sheet needs to remain visible.

How to hide sheets in Excel with right-click menu

The fastest way to hide sheets in Excel is using your mouse right-click. All you need to do is:

• Select the sheet or group of sheets to hide. If you struggle, use this article to learn how to group worksheets in Excel.

• Right-click the selection and choose Hide from the menu.

Boom! The selected sheets are now hidden and no longer visible in the Excel window.

How to hide worksheet using the ribbon

The second method to hide a worksheet in Excel is using the ribbon. Here are the steps:

1. Select any visible sheet or grouped sheets that you want to hide.

2. Navigate to the Home tab, locate the Cells group, and click Format.

3. In the dialox box, look for the Visibility section, click Hide & Unhide, and select Hide Sheet.

Keyboard shortcut to hide Excel sheets

While Microsoft Excel provides no keyboard shortcut for hiding sheets, you can hide a worksheet using just your keyboard. To do so, press the following keys one by one (in a sequence, not all together): ALT, H, O, U, S

How to hide Excel sheet using only your keyboard

Don't worry. You don't have to remember these keys. When you hit ALT, Excel will open the keyboard menu. From there, you can select the corresponding letter:

• H - selects the Home menu

• O - opens the Format panel

• U - selects the Hide & Unhide menu

• S - selects Hide Sheet

How to tell if there are hidden sheets

If your Excel workbook doesn't have any hidden sheets, the Unhide button is grayed out and cannot be pressed. If one or multiple sheets are hidden, then the Unhide button can be pushed, and you can use one of the above methods to unhide them. You can unhide multiple sheets at once, or one by one.

What to do next?

As you've seen, it's really simple to hide worksheets in Excel. If you need to unhide any hidden worksheets, it's just as easy.

If you have any Excel questions or how to work faster and more productively, don't hesitate to reach out. Write a comment, and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

In this article, I'll show you:

• How to lock all cells from an Excel worksheet

• How to lock specific cells only

• How to lock formula cells

• How to lock cells based on color

• How to lock cells using Kutools for Excel (a useful Excel add-in)

How to lock all cells in Excel

By default, all cells in an Excel spreadsheet are locked. However, you can still edit them unless you protect the worksheet with a password. Once you set a password, the locked cells will no longer be editable unless you provide the password.

1. Select all the cells in the active Excel worksheet. You can do this either by using the CTRL + A shortcut or by pressing on the gray arrow from the upper left corner (above row 1 and to the left of column A).

2. Right-click anywhere on the sheet, and choose Format Cells (or press CTRL + 1).

Note: You can also navigate to the Home tab and click Format located on the upper right side.

3. On the Protection tab, a check in the Locked check box indicates that all cells are locked. Click OK to confirm that all cells are locked.

4. Navigate to the Review tab and click Protect Sheet in the Protect group.

5. Check the list of actions that you want users to be able to perform on your worksheet.

6. Enter a password in the Protect Sheet dialog box. Confirm the password by re-entering it in the next dialog box. If you leave the password field empty, Excel will not set a password for your file, but your worksheet will still be locked.

7. Click OK.

Seeing the Unprotect Sheet option active in the Protect group confirms that all the cells are now protected.

How to lock specific cells in Excel 

To lock specific cells in Excel, make sure that all cells are unlocked. To unprotect specific cells and leave the other ones protected, follow the steps below:

1. Select all the Excel cells from the active worksheet.

2. Right-click anywhere on the sheet and select Format Cells (or press CTRL + 1).

Note: You can also go to Home and click Format located on the upper right side.

3. On the Protection tab, uncheck the Locked check box and click OK.

Note: A solid box in the Locked check box means the selected cells contain both unlocked and locked cells.

4. Select the specific cells that you want to protect. For example, select range A1:A4.

5. Right-click on the selected cells and click Format Cells (or press CTRL + 1).

6. On the Protection tab, check the box next to Locked.

7. Click OK. Now, only the cells from the range A1:A4 are locked for editing when the worksheet is protected.

How to lock formula cells

One thing you certainly don't want others to mess up is cells that contain formulas. To prevent cells with formulas from being edited, follow these steps:

1. Select all cells in the active Excel worksheet by pressing CTRL + A.

2. Right-click anywhere on the sheet, and choose Format Cells (or press CTRL + 1).

Note: You can also go to the Home tab and click Format located on the upper right side.

3. On the Protection tab, uncheck the box next to Locked and click OK.

4. Go to the Home tab, and click Find & Select from the Editing group.

5. Click Go To Special from the drop-down list.

6. Select Formulas, and click OK. All the cells with formulas in the worksheet will be selected.

7. Press CTRL + 1, and check the Locked checkbox under the Protection tab.

8. Click OK.

9. Add a password to your Excel document by following the steps from the first section of this guide, and you should be good to go. All the cells containing formulas are protected, while the user can change the rest.

Note: A solid box in the Locked checkbox means the selected cells contain both unlocked and locked cells.

How to lock cells in Excel based on color

I often use colors to show the users which are input cells, especially in files designed to work as templates. The nice part about this approach is that you can set up your Excel file to allow input only in colored cells.

Let's look at an example where we want to protect all cells except those colored in light yellow. To do this easily, we want the user to use the tab key to move from one cell to another by locking the rest of the cells and leaving only the yellow cells unprotected.

First, we need to lock all the cells. Check the steps above on how to lock all cells in Excel. After protecting all the cells using the Protect Worksheet feature, follow the instructions below to leave the yellow cells unlocked.

1. Select the range where you want to allow input of data. You can also select the entire sheet if you prefer. In this example, cells C2, C5, and C6 are input cells that I want the user to be able to change. They are used to calculate the mortgage payment using a simple mortgage calculator, but I want the interest rate and the period to be fixed.

2. Press CTRL + F and click Options in the Find & Replace dialog box.

3. Click Format, and expand the drop-down list. Select the Choose Format From Cell option.

4. Select one of the colored cells that you want to unlock. The selected format will be displayed in the Find and Replace window.

5. Click Find All in the Find & Replace dialog box, and press CTRL + A to highlight all the colored cells in the worksheet.

6. Press CTRL + 1 to go back to the Format Cells option and uncheck the Locked checkbox under the Protection tab.

7. Click OK.

8. Click Protect Sheet from the Review tab, and enter a password.

9. Click OK.

One thing to remember is that this method also considers other formatting options. This means that if you have yellow cells formatted as currency and yellow cells formatted as percentages, they will not all get selected at once using the Find and Replace method. The best approach would be to decide which cells you want to unlock before applying additional formatting like borders, font styles, or number formats.

How to lock cells in Excel using Kutools for Excel

If you use Kutools for Excel, you have additional options available.

Kutools is a downloadable Excel add-in that offers more than 300 powerful advanced features and functions for Excel. It also offers a free 30-day trial of the full version, with no credit card required. Selection Lock/Unlock and Encrypt Cells features can be used in protecting cells in Excel worksheets.

Locking cells using the Selection Lock/Unlock feature

1. Select all cells in the active worksheet.

2. Click Kutools Plus in the menu bar and click Worksheet Design to activate the Design tab.

3. On the Design tab, click Unlock Cells.

4. A dialog box will appear saying that the selected cells have been unlocked. Click OK to close the dialog box.

5. Select the cells or ranges that you want to lock, and click Lock Cells on the Design tab.

6. Click OK to close the Kutools for Excel dialog box.

Locking cells using the Encryption Cells feature

If you use sensitive data in your file (like payroll information), you could use the Encryption Cells feature. To activate it:

1. Select the cells that you want to lock and encrypt.

2. Click Kutools Plus in the menu bar, and then click Encrypt Cells.

3. Select Encrypt Cells from the drop-down list to open the Encrypt Cells dialog box.

4. Enter a password into both the Password box and the Confirm box, and then select one of the mask types.

5. Click OK. The selected cells will be encrypted.

 You can decrypt it by selecting Kutools Plus > Encrypt Cells > Decrypt Cells, and then type your password into the Decrypt Cells dialog box.

What to do next?

After reading this guide, I hope that you have a much better understanding of how to lock cells in Excel and protect your spreadsheets. Using password protection helps you safely share your spreadsheets with other users without worrying about accidental changes.

And remember, it's always wise to make a full backup of your Excel file before adding a password to it since it's very common for people to forget passwords after months of not using them.

In case you've set a password and forgot it, you can read this article on how to remove the password from an Excel file. It helped hundreds of people recover lost passwords and saved them countless hours.