Week 1              Week 2                Week 3

Tier1 Name 1    Tier1 Name 2   Tier1 Name 3

Tier2 Name 1   Tier2 Name 2   Tier2 Name 3

Tier3 Name 1  Tier 3 Name 2   Tier 3 Name 3

Looks like one of those puzzles in the Sunday Times, doesn’t it? Here’s the thing: Tier 1 folks got contacted every 2 months. Tier 2 every 4 and Tier 3 every 6. So here’s this beautiful schedule, which, when it comes to the end of the names, repeats. Well, it didn’t take me too long, as measured by average ape mentation rates, to figure out that when we repeated the first tier 1 contact it wasn’t going to be time yet to contact the Tiers 2 and 3 people listed for the same week. What’s really embarrassing is how long it took me to solve it. When I’m embarrassed, I try to advertise how stupid I am so everyone else can be embarrassed for me. I think it’s a well thought out psychological strategy. But seriously, this problem had clearly also happened to the person who preceded me, and something similar may have happened to you.

I searched the web for templates or solutions. I consulted Excel experts and tried out their arcane and extremely labor intensive formulas. I squinted and scribbled and searched for different software. I cursed.

Sometimes you just need to look at data in a different direction. If you can’t make a spreadsheet work horizontally, try it vertically. Everything may look different to you. If you want to see my—really very simple—solution to this particular little hell, the details are on this page. If you’re struggling with one of your own, try turning your monitor sideways.

I want to know how many days there are between 10/1/09 and 8/1/2010

I enter the following formula:

=(DAYS360(B1,C1,TRUE))

B1 is the name of a cell. You can put either date there- Excel has no sense of time and doesn’t care.

In cell C1, put the other date.

If you happen to enter your dates in some other cell, like Y2 and Z3, change the formula to match: =(DAYS360(Y2,Z3,TRUE))

That’s it! Hit enter and you’ll see your answer.

Here’s how it looks with the original formula:

Formulas are so terrifying! Now as to why you might want to count days…

1)If you can see the expand/collapse buttons – on a Mac they are red, yellow and green dots in the upper left, and and in Windows, on the right: .

Click the middle button in Windows or the green one on Mac. This will – counterintuitively – shrink the window to fit inside a frame.

2) If that doesn’t work, try changing the screen resolution. You can do that by choose Start, Control Panel, then Display. (Mac: System Preferences under the apple, then Display). The higher the resolution, the smaller the Excel window. Close and reopen Excel.

3) If none of those work and you’re in Windows, try this tip from Seeing Excel’s Program Window (Microsoft Excel):

Reset the window size with command keys:

Press Alt+Spacebar. This displays the Control menu (even if you cannot see it).

Press the letter R; the Excel window is restored to its “in between” size.

Press Alt+Spacebar to again display the Control menu.

Press the letter X; the Excel window is maximized.

If you would rather use the mouse than the keyboard, you can follow these steps:

Right-click on Excel in the task bar

Choose Restore from the menu that pops up. The Excel window returns its “in between” size.

Again right-click on Excel in the task bar.

Choose Maximize from the menu that pops up

I’m afraid I have no idea how to do this on a Mac. If you know, write in here or enter a comment:

in Column A, list your names.
in Column B, enter the following: =RAND()*300
What that will do is enter a random number between 1-300 into Column B. If you choose 1000, it will enter a number between 1-1000. Go wild.

Drag to copy the formula down the whole column. You’ll see something like this:

See the random number in column B? Now sort by Column B. Be sure to choose “no header.” The results are confusing to look at, because Column B has an imperative to randomize and will do so again immediately, but now look at Column A:

Voila! Random!
You can throw away Column B – you don’t need it anymore.

I’d quote her, but she uses pictures – bless her – and those wouldn’t carry over. Take a little side trip over to her site and then come on back for more about Excel. Thanks, LauraJ!

So far, it’s connected to a page about reversing last name first lists and putting them into one column, and some posts about viewing Excel on dual monitors, solving the problem of all of your data pasting into a single cell, and counting multiple variables.

And here’s a silly little tip:

Check marks are useful little critters, and you can use them for counting, too. Many fonts use Alt (Option on Mac) V for a check, but many fonts – especially in Windows – don’t. That means you have to choose Insert>Symbol, find the check mark and insert it. Repeat every time you want it, or copy and paste. More trouble than it’s worth!

Easy fix: Insert a column for your check marks. If you have the font Marlett, change highlight the column and change it to that font. The letter “a” is a check in Marlett.

Now, to count:

Select a cell to enter your count in. Change it to a normal font or you’ll be very confused! Enter:

=COUNTIF(C1:C3,”a”)

The C1 and C3 should be changed to the top cell of your check mark column and the bottom cell of that column. Like this:

Here’s how you get to that formula if you want to do it from scratch: Under the ∑ symbol on your tool bar, or Insert>Function, choose or search for COUNTIF. Once you’ve selected it, a box will open. Click in the first box then click into your column and drag from the top to the bottom, or select it in your favorite manner. Now click in the second box and type “a.” Hit enter.

After you finish, change the font of all but your formula cell to Marlett; it will look like this:

That’s it!

There’s a new page on how to get rid of that annoying markup that remains when you print Word documents after tracking changes here.

Ever paste a table into Excel, only to have it all show up in one cell? Here’s a solution that’s just been moved into the Word Faux Wiki.

There’s a page on The Wonder of Snag-it, a big problem solver for admins.

Finally, there’s a new post right below this one on how to count multiple variables in Excel that will eventually become part of an Excel section.

You might notice a few more little ads at the bottom of the pages. I remain committed to keeping it to a minimum, but I could use a little help supporting site, so if you want any of the software or books you see here, click through!

If you want to be notified of the updates on this site, click on RSS or on “RSS” down at the very bottom of the page. Once you’re there, choose “subscribe in mail” near the bottom of the right hand sidebar.

Cheers!

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Sometimes I need to count more that one variable in a line, but I can never remember the formula. I finally saved a small spreadsheet with the formula in and called it, “How to Count Multiple Variables in Excel.” Imaginative, aren’t I? If you can’t remember it either, use this formula:

=IF(AND(D3=”d”,E3 =”yes”), 1, “0″)

That means if cell D3 consists of the letter “d” and the cell E3 has the word “yes,” count it. If not, enter “0.” The last set of quotations is for the value “if false.” If you leave out the zero and just use:

=IF(AND(D3=”d”,E3 =”yes”), 1, “”)

Excel will leave the cell blank if both variables are not true.

Of course you would use your own cell numbers and entries.

Click into a blank cell at the end of the column you’ve been entering this formula into and choose “Autosum.” You can find this by clicking on ∑ in your toolbar, by choosing “function” from the insert menu (or pane in 2008), or right clicking then choosing “insert function.” If you use one of the latter methods, you’ll then need to choose “sum.” If you click on ∑ and haven’t pulled down to another choice recently, it will default to “sum.” One click totals! Any way you do it, you’ll have the total number of rows that meet your criterion of having both the specified variables. Clever bugger, isn’t it?

Have an Excel question? Send it in here. More about Excel:

Excel Wiki

Reversing Last Name First Lists into a Single Excel Column

Counting Check Marks

Everything Pasted into One Cell!

How to View Excel on Multiple Monitors

Open Excel. Drag it to your extra monitor. Open it again. Reread what I just said – don’t make a new workbook…open it again. Bingo – one on each monitor. You can freely drag and drop between them.

Now…what to do about programs like PowerPoint with a “police” function that won’t let you open more than one instance of the program? Here’s a workaround: How to View PowerPoint on Dual Monitors