⭐ 10 Easy Excel Tricks Every User Should Know (Plus: The Fastest Way to Generate Excel Formulas!)

Microsoft Excel is one of the most powerful tools on the planet—but most people use less than 10% of what it can do. Whether you're a beginner or a daily Excel user, you can dramatically speed up your workflow with a few simple tricks.

In this guide, you’ll learn 10 easy Excel tricks that will save you time, reduce errors, and make you look like an Excel expert.

And at the end, I’ll show you a powerful tool that can instantly generate any Excel formula from plain English—so you never have to Google formulas again.

🔥 1. Use CTRL + Arrow Keys to Jump Instantly

Instead of scrolling through long sheets, press:

• Ctrl + ↓ → jump to the last row

• Ctrl + ↑ → jump to the first row

• Ctrl + → → jump to the last column

Perfect for large datasets.

🔥 2. Double-Click Fill Handle to Auto-Fill

Instead of dragging formulas:

1. Write the formula in the first cell.

2. Double-click the bottom-right corner of the cell.

Excel auto-fills the entire column.

🔥 3. Use Flash Fill (Magic Excel Feature!)

Excel can detect patterns and auto-fill.

Examples:

• Combine first and last names

• Extract numbers from text

• Format phone numbers

Enable with:
Data → Flash Fill or press Ctrl + E

🔥 4. Freeze Panes to Keep Headers Visible

Go to:
View → Freeze Panes → Freeze Top Row

This keeps your header visible when scrolling deep into a dataset.

🔥 5. Convert Text to Columns (Super Useful for CSVs)

If you have messy data:

1. Select the column

2. Go to Data → Text to Columns

3. Split by commas, tabs, or custom separators

🔥 6. Use Conditional Formatting to Highlight Patterns

Go to:
Home → Conditional Formatting

Use it to highlight:

• Duplicates

• Values above or below average

• Upcoming deadlines

• High/low sales

🔥 7. Use SUMIF and COUNTIF (But Don't Memorize—There’s an AI Trick Below!)

Common functions:

=SUMIF(range, criteria, sum_range) =COUNTIF(range, criteria)

These functions filter and calculate—but many people struggle to write the formulas correctly.

🔥 8. Insert Drop-Down Menus

Improve data entry with dropdowns.

Go to:
Data → Data Validation → List

Great for:

• Status options

• Departments

• Categories

🔥 9. Use Remove Duplicates

One click to clean your dataset.

Data → Remove Duplicates

Perfect for emails, user lists, product IDs, etc.

🔥 10. Use XLOOKUP (Better Than VLOOKUP!)

Instead of VLOOKUP, use Excel’s modern lookup function:

=XLOOKUP(lookup_value, lookup_array, return_array)

No more worrying about column numbers or left-to-right limitations.

💡 Bonus: The Fastest Way to Generate ANY Excel Formula Instantly

If you love Excel but struggle with formulas like:

• SUMIFS

• VLOOKUP / XLOOKUP

• INDEX MATCH

• COUNTIFS

• IF statements

• Nested formulas

…then you’ll love SmartSideAI.

🚀 SmartSideAI: Convert Plain English → Excel Formulas Instantly

Just type what you want:

“Sum all values in Column B where Column C is greater than 500.”

SmartSideAI generates:

=SUMIFS(B:B, C:C, ">500")

Or:

“If A2 is empty, return blank, otherwise multiply A2 and B2.”

SmartSideAI instantly gives:

=IF(A2="", "", A2*B2)

No guessing.
No Googling.
No complicated Excel syntax.

👉 Try SmartSideAI Now — Free Demo

Generate any Excel formula in seconds:

🔗 https://smartsideai.netlify.app/

See why hundreds of Excel users rely on SmartSideAI to save time every day.