Spreadsheet work often entails seemingly unavoidable data entry tasks. However, very often tedious input tasks can be automated, or at least made easier. In this webinar, Excel expert David H. Ringstrom turns his attention to empowering you to work more effectively with getting data into your spreadsheets and transforming data when needed. Techniques include worksheet functions such as CONCATENATE, TEXTJOIN, UPPER, PROPER, and so on, as well as using Microsoft Word to extract text from PDF files. You’ll see how to use Excel on your mobile device to take a picture of a printed document that you then convert to text within an Excel spreadsheet. Other techniques include helpful aids such as custom lists, data validation, and much more.

David demonstrates every technique at least twice: first, on a PowerPoint slide with numbered steps, and second, in the subscription-based Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) version of Excel. David draws your attention to any differences in the older versions of Excel (2021, 2019, 2016, and earlier) during the presentation as well as in his detailed handouts. David also provides an Excel workbook that includes most of the examples he uses during the webcast.

Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based product that provides new feature updates as often as monthly. Conversely, the perpetual licensed versions of Excel have feature sets that don't change. Perpetual licensed versions have year numbers, such as Excel 2021, Excel 2019, and so on.