Top 5 EASY Excel Time Savers!

Angelica Choo Quan walks through a suite of powerful features and shortcuts that can shave hours off routine workbook tasks in Excel. Presented in a clear, step-by-step fashion, she highlights how to leverage built-in tools and keyboard shortcuts to automate common operations, streamline data entry, and improve analysis efficiency for anyone working in Excel.

1. Flash Fill for Automated Data Entry

Angelica begins with Excel’s Fill feature—often called Flash Fill—which detects patterns in your data and automatically fills cells:

• Drag the fill handle to repeat text or numbers.
• Provide two examples (e.g., “1” and “2”, or “Jan 1” and “Jan 5”) to define a custom sequence.
• Use it for dates, months, day names, quarters, and even custom lists.

This tool is perfect for quickly populating lists and series without manually typing every entry.

2. Instant Checkboxes via Shortcut

Next, Angelica demonstrates how to insert a form checkbox without enabling the Developer tab:

• Select the cells where checkboxes are needed.
• Press Alt + N, C, B to insert checkboxes in one keystroke.
• Use these in inventory lists, task trackers, or any checklist format.

This shortcut replaces the multi-click process with a single command, speeding up form creation.

3. Toggle Formula View for Auditing

To audit a sheet full of formulas, Angelica shows how to quickly switch between values and formulas:

• Press Ctrl + ` (the tilde key) to display all formulas in place of their results.
• Press the shortcut again to revert to normal view.

Viewing formulas side-by-side helps users trace errors and understand complex workbooks at a glance.

4. Efficient Data Transposition

Angelica covers two ways to flip data orientation:

1. Paste Special → Transpose:
   • Copy the source range (Ctrl + C).
   • Right-click the destination cell and choose Paste Special → Transpose.
2. TRANSPOSE Function:
   • Enter =TRANSPOSE(range) in the target cell.
   • Press Enter to fill a dynamic, linked transposed array.

The function method ensures updates to the source data reflect instantly in the transposed output.

5. Create Tables from Images

Angelica highlights a lesser-known feature that converts pictures into live tables:

• Copy any on-screen table as an image or use Snip & Sketch.
• On the Data tab, choose From Picture → From Clipboard.
• Review and correct any OCR errors, then click Insert Data.

This eliminates manual data entry when importing neatly formatted tables from PDFs, websites, or screenshots.

6. Format as Table & Use XLOOKUP

In her final tip, Angelica combines two powerful techniques:

• Format as Table
  • Select the range and press Ctrl + T.
  • Enable filters, structured references, and consistent styling instantly.
• XLOOKUP Function
  • Enter =XLOOKUP(lookup_value, lookup_array, return_array, "No match").
  • Automatically retrieve corresponding data (e.g., employee names by IP address).

Together, these features make data management and lookups both faster and more reliable.

By mastering these shortcuts and tools—Flash Fill, checkbox insertion, formula view toggle, transposition methods, image-to-table conversion, and table/XLOOKUP workflows—users can streamline virtually every aspect of their Excel experience. Angelica Choo Quan’s practical examples demonstrate that a few simple keystrokes can transform time-consuming tasks into seconds-long operations.

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