Excel's Formula - sisman

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Part II: Using Functions in Your Formulas
Filling in the Gaps
When you import data, you can end up with a worksheet that looks something like the one in
the accompanying figure. In this example, an entry in column A applies to several rows of data. If
you sort such a range, you can end up with a mess, and you won’t be able to tell who sold what.
When you have a small range, you can type the missing cell values manually. If your worksheet
database has hundreds of rows, though, you need a better way of filling in those cell values.
Here’s how:
1. Select the range (A3:A14 in this example).
2. Choose Home➜Editing➜Find & Select➜Go To Special to display the Go To Special
dialog box.
3. In the Go To Special dialog box, select the Blanks option.
4. Click OK to close the Go To Special dialog box.
5. In the Formula bar, type =, followed by the address of the first cell with an entry in the column
(=A3 in this example), and then press Ctrl+Enter to copy that formula to all selected
cells.
6. Press Esc to cancel the selection.
7. Reselect the range and then choose Home➜Clipboard➜Paste Values.
Each blank cell in the column is filled with data from above.
Using Advanced Filtering
In many cases, standard filtering does the job just fine. If you run up against its limitations, you
need to use advanced filtering. Advanced filtering is much more flexible than standard filtering,
but it takes a bit of up-front work to use it. Advanced filtering provides you with the following
capabilities: