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Excel's Formula - sisman

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Part II: Using Functions in Your <strong>Formula</strong>s<br />

To view the result of this formula as a date, you need to apply a date number format to the cell.<br />

Be careful when using the DATEVALUE function. A text string that looks like a date in<br />

your country may not look like a date in another country. The preceding example works<br />

fine if your system is set for U.S. date formats, but it returns an error for other regional<br />

date formats because Excel is looking for the eighth day of the 22nd month!<br />

Generating a series of dates<br />

Often, you’ll want to insert a series of dates into a worksheet. For example, in tracking monthly<br />

sales, you may want to enter a series of dates, each separated by one month. Or, maybe you<br />

want a series of days with weekends omitted.<br />

The most efficient way to enter a series of dates doesn’t require any formulas — just use Excel’s<br />

AutoFill feature to insert the dates. Type the first date and then drag the cell’s fill handle while<br />

pressing the right mouse button (that is, right-drag the cell’s fill handle). Release the mouse button<br />

and select an option from the shortcut menu (see Figure 6-2).<br />

For more flexibility, enter the first two dates in the series, and choose Fill Series from the shortcut<br />

menu. For example, to enter a series of dates separated by seven days, enter the first two dates<br />

of the series and select both cells. Drag the cells’ fill handle while holding the right mouse button.<br />

In the shortcut menu, choose Fill Series. Excel completes the series by entering additional dates,<br />

separated by seven days.<br />

Figure 6-2: Using Excel’s AutoFill feature to create a series of dates.

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