Over the last month we have seen some 52, Excel Tips, Tricks, Cheats & Hacks presented by some of the best Excel practitioners on the net:
Excel Tips, Tricks, Cheats & Hacks – Microsoft MVP Edition
Excel Tips, Tricks, Cheats & Hacks – Chandoo.org Excel Ninja Edition
Excel Tips, Tricks, Cheats & Hacks – Notable Excel Sites Edition
Excel Tips, Tricks, Cheats & Hacks – Readers Prequil
In this final post I am presenting a compilation of Readers Contributions.
These have been compiled from comments on the above 4 posts and submissions sent directly to me.
I hope you enjoy the following Excel Tips, Tricks, Cheats & Hacks – Readers Edition
001. Toggle the Absolute/Relative $ Sign in Formulas using F4 – Desk Lamp
Instead of typing $AA$12 simply type AA12 then press F4.
Press F4 to Toggles through the sequence: AA12 -> $AA$12 -> AA$12 -> $AA12 -> AA12
You can read about Absolute vs Relative Cell References here
002. Current Region – Peter Carr
My favorite tip is the CurrentRegion of a range.
CurrentRegion is the contiguous range of cells starting from a cell, and moving out in all directions until an entire blank row or column is reached.
The current Region of the Yellow Cell above is the Red Outlined Area
Keyboard
From the keyboard you can do this by pressing Ctrl+* or Ctrl+A, which is a shortcut for GoTo, Special, Current Region.
VBA
In VBA you can use the Range.CurrentRegion property
If there is a block of data in B4:F10 with blank rows & columns around it
Dim myRange as Range
myRange = Range(“C8”).CurrentRegion
will set myRange to $B$4:$F$10
To identify the number of rows in a contiguous region.
e.g. intNumberOfRows = Range(“FirstCell”).CurrentRegion.Rows.Count
003. Select the Current Region using the QAT – Christine
In addition to the techniques described by Peter above, you can select the Current Region by adding an Icon to the Quick Access Toolbar.
Click on any cell and then click on the icon or use Alt+4
004. Find the Alt-Shortcut Key Number for the QAT – Hui
In the “Select the Current Region using the QAT” post above, Christine showed us how to use the Current Region Icon 
to quickly select the current Region. But how do we know it is the 4th Icon?
The Alt Number is Position dependent, in the example above the Current Region Icon is the 4th Icon from the Left in the QAT and so it is accessed by Alt+4
But by simply pressing the Alt key, Excel will show you the shortcut numbers for the QAT and all other Tabs
So we can see that the Select the Current Region icons is yes, No 4 and so Alt+4 is required to activate it
We can also see that the Record a Macro icon is number 08. To use that You use Alt+08 (Using the Number keys, not the numeric keypad)
Using Alt also shows you all the Tab shortcuts as well
005. Stay on the Current Cell after you press Enter – MF
Typically when entering data as you press the Enter key, Excel advances the current cell to the next cell as defined in the File, Options, Advanced, Editing Options menu
To stay on the current cell Simply press Ctrl+Enter instead of Enter
You can set your default move direction or disable Move Selection permanently by changing the option in the File, Options, Advanced, Editing Options menu:
006. Close a File Shortcut – Johnathan Cooper
Simply pressing Ctrl+W closes the current file
If the file has changed since the last save you are given the option to Save the file before it closes
007. Keyboard Shortcuts – Chirayu
Hide columns – CTRL + 0
Apply Filter (alternative) – SHIFT + CTRL + L
Clear Filter – ALT + D + F + S
Drag Down – CTRL + D
Drag Right – CTRL + R
Drag Up – ALT + E + I + U
Drag Left – ALT + E + I + L
Value Paste – ALT + E + S + V
Format Paste – ALT + E + S + T
You can find a comprehensive list of Keyboard Shortcuts at: Chandoo.org Keyboard Shortcuts
008. Use AutoCorrect to write formula – Wynn Hopkins
My favorite trick is using AutoCorrect to help write INDEX MATCH formulas..
Copy the following line into AutoCorrect and then use iii as the text to replace
=INDEX( DblClk_to_Select_Column_to_return, MATCH( DblClk_Single_Lookup_Cell, DblClk_Lookup_Column, 0),0)
This way whenever you need INDEX MATCH you just type iii and AutoCorrect kicks in and you are 3 double clicks away from a robust formula.
AutoCorrect is found in the File, Options, Proofing Menu
Contributor: Wyn Hopkins
009. Fill Blanks in a Data Table before use in a Pivot Table – RobD
When building pivot tables, it helps to have a full column of like values, so if you have a set up such as:
Where the data area has blank cell
Use this handy VBA
‘Change the MyCol value to match your value
Becomes…
Note: The code copies the text above the blank cell, and so the user must be careful that this is a valid assumption
010. Fill Blanks in a Data Table before use in a Pivot Table II – Jomili
Extending the technique shown above, Jomili supplied some VBA code that does the same as 007 above, except that it handles Multiple Columns at once as well as allowing Formulas to be converted to Values in the final result
So
becomes
by using this code:
011. QAT Copy/Paste Shortcut – Ian Watkins
By assigning the Copy, Paste Values and Paste Formulas Icons to positions 1, 2 & 3 of the Quick Access Toolbar
Instead of doing a big move of my hand from Ctrl+C to Alt+2, I can just move a finger from Alt+1 t copy
Click on the new cell and press Alt+2 or Alt+3 without moving my hand
Speeds things up quite a bit!
012. Customize Markers in a Chart – Chandeep
Customizing markers in a chart – http://www.goodly.co.in/customize-markers-in-a-chart/
013. Charting Hacks to work faster – Chandeep
Charting Hacks to work faster – http://www.goodly.co.in/5-charting-hacks-to-help-you-work-faster/
014. Seven Date formulas to make life easy – Chandeep
7 Date formulas to make life easy – http://www.goodly.co.in/date-formulas-in-excel/
015. Customised scrollbar using VBA – Chandeep
Customised scrollbar using VBA – http://www.goodly.co.in/customized-scroll-bar-in-excel/
016. Adding Direct Legends – Chandeep
Adding Direct Legends – http://www.goodly.co.in/how-to-add-direct-legends-to-the-chart/
017. Excel Ninja Menu – Krishna Khemraj
Select a cell or range then move till the 4-way cross appears.
Then Right-Click and drag the selection to another place in the worksheet then, like a ninja, a menu full of skills and throwing stars pops up allowing me to do all kinds of awesomeness.
When you click the fill box on a Date and Right Click and Drag it down, a lot of amazing Date options pop up.
018. Copy & Paste Filtered Data Only – Patricia
If you try to copy subtotaled data (and in earlier Excel versions filtered data), when you paste it all the data displays instead of just the summarized data.
To get around this, select your summarized data, click on Find and Select tab and then select Go to Special.
Click Visible cells Only and click Ok.
Now paste and you will see that only the summarized data has been copied.
You can also go CTRL+G and then click the Special icon at the bottom of the dialog box.
019. Clear Filters for the Current Column – Graham
With a table that is filtered, ensure the active cell is in the header of a filtered column and hit ALT + Down Arrow + C to clear the filter for the current column
020. Names Formula Tips – Pedro Paulo
You can bring up the Name Manager in Excel by pressing Ctrl+F3.
This lists the names used in your current workbook, and you can also define new names, edit existing ones or delete names from the Name Manager.
You can define several named ranges using data that’s arranged in neat tables. Excel creates named ranges from your selection and uses your data headings as the new names.
Make sure your data has headings (top row, left column, bottom row or right column) as these will turn into the names of your named ranges
Select the data including headings, press Ctrl+Shift+F3, in the dialog box select where your headings are (top row, left column, bottom row or right column) and click Ok.
Field Names which include spaces will be replaced with underscores
eg: Account Code will become the Account_Code named formula
021. Avoid Division by Zero – Ian Wilson
If a formula returns a number value, the Iferror() function can be used to isolate a returned value of zero.
You just need to utilize reciprocals:
1/(1/x) = x, however, if x = 0, then the function is an error.
My most common use of this feature is to return a blank instead of a 0.
=iferror(1/(1/sum(range)),””)
This could also be used to avoid division by 0 or replace 0s with a string.
022. Text to Columns Shortcut – Vishal Onkar
When working with lots of Text or CSV Files you invariably end up using the Text to Columns function repeatedly
This can be accessed by the ALT+D+E keyboard shortcut
023. Convert a Month in Words to a Month Number – Denys calvin
To convert a month in words (i.e., “August”) to its number (i.e., “8”), use, at least, the first three letters of the word in the following formula: =MONTH(“mmm”&1)
=Month(“March”&1) returns 3
=Month(“Mar”&1) returns 3
024. Trace Precedent/Dependents – Prashant99
Trace precedent cells Ctrl+[
Trace dependent cells F5+Enter or Ctrl+]
025. Resize Columns – Target
I routinely get sheets with data all smashed up which I hate and I’ve never been able to find a shortcut to do this.
To get around this I use the following VBA and assign a shortcut key (CTRL+Q)
It can be a nuisance if I’ve intentionally hidden columns, but the convenience far outweighs the inconvenience
026. Format Table Header Row – Ronnie
I use Tables many times a day and have a simple macro to give me a consistent Table format
The VBA Code:
027. Quickly Jump to Range – Efand
Type the range address directly in the Name Box and then press Enter to select it.
e.g: type A3:A6 will select its ranges without using any clicking and dragging
If you select a Range say B3:B6, then type a Name in the Name Box “From_Date“, Excel sets up a Named Formula referring to that range
If the Named Formula already exists, eg: From_Date, Typing From_Date into the box will take you to it.
You can also use the Drop Down next to the Name Box to select existing Named Ranges
028. Easily delete all Non-Formula cells – Martin
To easily delete all none-formula entries in a worksheet in one go:
Goto Home, Find & Select, Constants
This selects all cells that do not contain a formula.
Then just hit the delete button and you are done!
029. Reset all Cell Comments to the Same Style – Hui
To Reset all Cell Comments to the Same Style simply copy this code into a code module in your workbook
Edit the style parameters to suit your need
Run the code with F5
Closing
Many many thanks to the Microsoft Excel MVPs, Chandoo.org Ninja’s & My Favorite Excel Websites Authors for the 52 and You for the 29 Excel Tips, Tricks, Cheats & Hacks that have been showcased over these past 5 posts.
I hope you get to to revue all the tips and pass comments and appreciation back to the authors as appropriate.
I will re-run this series in May 2017 so keep a list of your new Excel Tips, Tricks or Hacks handy.
If you have any Excel Tips, Tricks or Hacks, Don’t be afraid to share them below in the comments:
19 Responses to “How to Distribute Players Between Teams – Evenly”
An excellent solution, especially for large data sets.
Another solution without using solver would be to assign the player with the highest score to Team 1, the 2nd to team 2, 3rd to team 3, 4th to team 3, 5th to team 2, 6th to team 1, 7th to team 1 and it continues. This method would end up with a Std Dev of 0.001247219. This works best with a distribution with lower Std Dev for the dataset.
Full Disclosure: this is not my idea, remember reading something a few years ago. Think it may have been Ozgrid
thinking back I now remember why I read about it. About 10 years back I had to distribute around 300 team members into 25-30 odd teams. Used this method based on their performance scores. I used the method I described to do this and the distribution was pretty fair.
Solver would have saved me a ton of time though 🙂
I think the issue with you first Solver approach was that you took the absolute value of the sum of team deviations (which should always be zero except for rounding) instead of the sum of the absolute values (which is a reasonable measure of how unbalanced the teams are).
Here's another simple algorithm you could use: you start from the top (with players sorted from high to low), and at each step allocate the next player to whichever team has the smallest total so far. You can implement it dynamically with some formulas so it will update automatically when the data changes.
If the scores were more widely distributed (so that this might end up with not all teams the same size), you could add a constraint to only pick among the teams which currently have fewest players at each step, or just stop adding to any team when it hits its quota.
When I tried it on the sample, I got the three teams below, with a STDEV of 0.000942809 (i.e. about half of what Solver got to).
Team 1: John, Hugo, Tom, Josh, Eric, Zane, Charles, Andrew
Team 2: Barry, Michael, Kenny, Joe, Xavier, Patrick, Oliver, William
Team 3: Henry, Steven, Ben, Frank, Kyle, Edward, Cameron, Lachlan
Thanks for sharing!
Hi,
I was looking at all the solutions and this is closest to what I intended to do. I am dividing a bunch of players into 3 soccer teams. Players availability is also a factor while deciding the teams.
So the steps the excel needs to do is as follows:
1) In availability column if "yes" go to next
2) Equally divide 'Goalkeepers', 'Strikers', 'Defenders' basis their quality
So the end result gives each 3 teams a balance of players playing at different positions.
Can this be done on Google spreadsheet with only availability as an input from the user and rest calculates by itself.
Sorry for asking such a pointed question, but I have been struggling to find a solution for it for sometime now!
Hi Ishaan,
I am working on a similar problem at the moment, so I am wondering if you ever found a solution and if you are willing to share what you did.
Hi everyone, this is a variation of the famous Knapsack Problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knapsack_problem.
I had to use a VBA implementation recently as part of a problem, where we ar trying to allocate teams of an organization into different locations (we are a large company with many different team). The goal was to optimally allocate teams to individual buildings without putting too many teams into one building and not splitting teams apart.
As we had around 400 teams of different sizes, solver couldn't handle it anymore. Luckily there is a Knapsack algorithm implementation in VBA readily available on the internet :).
I also went with a heuristic approach first!
An interesting mathematical solution but what if Eric and Xavier can't stand each other or Patrick is best friends with Steven - the real life problems that effect "even" teams.
@Joe
You can add more criteria like
If Eric and Xavier can't stand each other
=OR(AND(E15=1,E16=1),AND(F15=1,F16=1),AND(G15=1,G16=1))
It must be False
If Patrick is best friends with Steven
=OR(AND(E5=1,E17=1),AND(F5=1,F17=1),AND(G5=1,G17=1))
It must be True
Note that the 2 formulas above are exactly the same
except for the ranges
One must be True = Friends
One must be False = Not Friends
Nice Post!
Just one question What if number of players are not even or equally divisible.
Nice post Hui!
I download your workbook and just try to change in options the Precision Restriction from 10E-6 to 10-8 and the Convergence from 10E-4 to 10E-10. The process take almost the same time, but the results was great.
The standard deviation I got was 0,000471.
Team 1: John, Tom, Kenny, Frank, Eric, Xavier, Edward, Zane
Team 2: Steven, Hugo, Ben, Joe, Josh, Oliver, Cameron, William
Team 3: Barry, Henry, Michael, Kyle, Patrick, Charles, Andrew, Lachlan
Great application of Solver! Thanks for the link!
Great explanation. Well done... However, I tried with 6 teams of 4 players and solver never did finish.
How about vba code for the same data set.
I have 3 column A B C wherein A has text and B has number Wherein C is blank. And in C1 been the header C2 where I want the name to come evenly distributed the number which is in Column B.
My Lastcolumn is 1000.
Sorry if I'm being slow here, but how is 'Team Score' calculated? I've gone through the explanation several times but it seems to just appear.
@Hrmft
This process uses the Solver Excel addin
Solver is effectively taking the model and trying different solutions until it gets a solution that meets all the criteria
Then solver puts the solution into the cell and moves to the next cell
So yes it appears to "just appear"
Hi ! Thank you so much ! Works great 🙂
I cannot get the fourth Equation to work in my excel spreadsheet
You have =($E$2:$G$25=0)+($E$2:$G$25=1)=1 as a SUMIF solution, I have, =($F$2:$H$13=0)+($F$2:$H$13=1)=1 as my solution but it does not work. The only thing I changed is the ranges. Any suggestions?
Thank you.
Jim
I cannot get the fourth Equation of TURE or FALSE statements to work in my excel spreadsheet You have =($E$2:$G$25=0)+($E$2:$G$25=1)=1 as a SUMIF solution, I have, =($F$2:$H$13=0)+($F$2:$H$13=1)=1 as my solution but it does not work. The only thing I changed is the ranges. Any suggestions?
Sorry I left some of it out in the previous question,
Thank you. Jim