Let’s face it. You already know the SUMs & COUNTs of Excel. But what should you learn next? There are more than 400 functions in Excel and most of them are useless for day-to-day situations. So, in this page, let me highlight the TOP 10 EXCEL FUNCTIONS for data analysis work.
The TOP 10 Excel Functions
Here are the top 10 functions you should learn and master first.
- SUMIFS
- XLOOKUP
- FILTER
- COUNTIFS
- INDEX
- EDATE
- UNIQUE
- TEXTJOIN
- SORT
- IFERROR
TOP 10 Excel functions - Video
If you want to understand what these functions are how to use them either read on or watch the below video.
1. SUMIFS
Use SUMIFS to add up values that meet one or more conditions. Example uses:
- Total sales to England
- Total donations made to charity cause A in the last 7 days
SUMIFS Syntax
SUMIFS(values you want to add,
condition 1 range, condition 1,
condition 2 range, condition 2…)
SUMIFS example
=SUMIFS(A1:A10, B1:B10, “London”)
Adds up all values in A1:A10 where B1:B10 is London
Learn more about SUMIFS:
2. XLOOKUP
Use XLOOKUP to search for a value in a list and return corresponding value from another list. For example:
- Get due date for invoice number 934
- Find price for the product code PR023
👉🏼 XLOOKUP Syntax
XLOOKUP(value to find,
list to look in,
what do you want to get,
what to do if not found)
💡 XLOOKUP example
=XLOOKUP(“Almond Choco”, Product[name], Product[price])
Finds the price of Almond Choco in the Product table.
Learn more about XLOOKUP:
3. FILTER
Use FILTER to filter a list or table and see matching results for your criteria. This is a dynamic array function. That means, if there are more than one values, Excel automatically spills the values and shows them on the sheet. For example:
- List all sales records for “John”
- Find out which students have attended all sessions of Physics-301 class.
👉🏼 FILTER Syntax
FILTER(your data, filter criteria
what to show if no values are filtered)
💡 FILTER example
=FILTER(Product, Product[price]>20)
Lists all the Product table rows where the price is more than 20.
4. COUNTIFS
Use COUNTIFS to count how many values meet one or more conditions in your data. For example:
- Number of times “Adam” exceeded $1,000 order value
- How many recipes use Paprika?
👉🏼 COUNTIFS Syntax
COUNTIFS(condition 1 list, condition 1,
condition 2 list, condition 2…)
💡 COUNTIFS example
=COUNTIFS(Orders[name], “Adam”, Orders[value],”>1000″)
Counts how many times Adam’s order value is more than 1000.
Learn more about COUNTIFS:
5. INDEX
Use INDEX to get a value in a list by specifying the position. INDEX formula returns the reference instead of a value. This makes it quite versatile. It is my favorite Excel function.
For example:
- What is the 12th item in the invoice list?
- Get all the values in 3rd column of the order data.
👉🏼 INDEX Syntax
INDEX(your data, row number, column number)
💡 INDEX example
=INDEX(FILTER(Product[name], Product[price]>20), 3)
Returns the 3rd product name which has price more than 20. Here, INDEX is reading the output of FILTER.
Learn more about INDEX:
6. EDATE
Use EDATE to calculate a future or past date after a specified number of months.
For example:
- What is the date 7 months after project start date?
- What is the date exactly two years ago from today?
👉🏼 EDATE Syntax
EDATE(date, months)
💡 EDATE example
=EDATE(TODAY(), -24)
Returns the date exactly two years ago from today.
Learn more about Date functions:
7. UNIQUE
Use UNIQUE to remove any duplicates in your list. This is a Dynamic Array Function, so Excel will return and spill multiple values if needed.
For example:
- What products are sold?
- Which students have joined only one sports club?
👉🏼 UNIQUE Syntax
UNIQUE(your data)
💡 UNIQUE example
=UNIQUE(Order[Product])
Returns all the products from Order table. If a product appears multiple times, it will show up only once.
Learn more about UNIQUE function:
8. TEXTJOIN
Use TEXTJOIN to combine a bunch of values with a specified delimiter.
For example:
- Combine all product names to one text value with comma delimited.
- All names of students who joined Maths 203 course in March 2022.
👉🏼 TEXTJOIN Syntax
TEXTJOIN(delimiter, ignore empty values?, your data)
💡 TEXTJOIN example
=TEXTJOIN(“, “,TRUE,
FILTER(Enrollments[name], Enrollments[course]=”Maths-203″))
Combines all student names in the Maths-203 program in comma separated format.
Learn more about TEXTJOIN function:
9. SORT
Use SORT to sort a list or table in ascending or descending order. This is a Dynamic Array Function, so Excel will spill your outputs as needed.
For example:
- Sort the Orders table to show highest values on top.
- List students by department and name in alphabetical order.
👉🏼 SORT Syntax
SORT(your data, sort column, sort order)
💡 SORT example
=SORT(Enrollments, {1,2}, {1,1})
Sorts the Enrollments table in the ascending (alphabetical) order by department and student name (columns 1 & 2 of the table).
Learn more about SORT function:
10. IFERROR
Use IFERROR to stop error messages from showing up on the screen.
For example:
- Calculate sales commission but print 0 if there is an error.
- Get the 10th item of a filtered list, but show “not enough items” if there is an error.
👉🏼 IFERROR Syntax
IFERROR(your formula, error message to show)
💡 IFERROR example
=IFERROR(INDEX(FILTER(Product[name], Product[price]>20), 10), “Not enough items”)
Tries to get the 10th product with price >20, but if there is an error, prints “Not enough items”.
Learn more about IFERROR function:
Download Example Workbook
I have prepared an Excel file with 20+ examples for these important functions. Click here to download and play with the workbook.
Change the values / formulas or use the data set to develop your own formulas.
More on Formulas & Functions
If you are just starting out, I suggest focusing and mastering the above 10 functions first. But if you are ready to next level, then go thru the below articles & resources for more.
- 35 shortcuts & tricks to make you an #AWESOME Data Analyst
- 100+ Excel formula examples
- 15+ Examples of SUMIFS & COUNTIFS (video)
- COURSE: Excel formulas & other important skills for Data Analysis – Excel School
Happy learning.
28 Responses to “Pimp your comment boxes [because it is Friday]”
This borders on Excel soft-cell...er, soft-core...porn. My favorite kind.
Wow, that is pimp-TASTIC! I have a question, as a VBA n00b: additional comment boxes stay plain unless I "run" the macro. Is there a way to change all comments, going-forward?
hi Chandoo, well, I like the macro approach. For those who don't like it, there is another way: just add the "draw" toolbar to the shapes toolbar (via Custom etc), click on "edit comment", click on the auto-shape and then choose "draw" drop-down, --> modify auto-shape --> then you even can have a heart or a banner (I like the horizontal banner in in purple :-)) . in excel 2007, you have to add this custom menu that you choose via Excel Options --> Custom --> it is called "change/ modify auto-shape"!!!
best,
@Chandoo. Great Post 🙂
@Tim : the way the macro is coded, it must be run very time.
@Community: If someone has an idea to perform it when opening an existing excel, it should be nice.
@Community: if someone has some code to revamp the commentboxes on all sheets, please share it. 🙂
@Microsoft Excel-progammers: some pimpoptions for the commentboxes should be great.
Cheerio
Tom
For the auto run, please add the codes in workbook:
Private Sub Workbook_SheetActivate(ByVal Sh As Object)
Call Comments_Tom
End Sub
Wow, that was a lot of fun... Thanks Tom!
@Jeff... Now, 5000 people know about your favorite porn... 😛
@Tim ... you can write an event to handle the new comments. I wouldnt recommend it as it is really painful. another option is to use the macro suggested by Yukikomi. It will update comments everytime you activate the sheet.
@laguerriere: very cool 🙂
@Chandoo ... Thanks! This is good stuff. I combined your tip with a tip from Mark O'Brien, then assigned it to a button on Excel 2010's Quick Access Toolbar, to format comments AS I add them. I also like how Mark's code saves me the trouble of backspacing my name out of new comments:
Sub AppendToExistingComment()
'Source: Mark O'Brien at http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57296
Dim oRange As Range
Dim oComment As Comment
Dim sText As String
'Use object variable to hold range.
Set oRange = ActiveCell
'Use object variable for comment
Set oComment = oRange.Comment
'text to be added to the comment box
sText = InputBox("Type text to be added:", "APPEND TO COMMENT TEXT")
If Len(sText) = 0 Then End
'If Active Cell has a comment then append new text to the end of the comment text
If Not oComment Is Nothing Then
sText = oComment.Text & vbNewLine & sText
oRange.Comment.Delete
End If
'Add a comment with the contents of sText
oRange.AddComment sText
DoEvents
Comments_Tom
End Sub
Thank you very much for the code, it seems to be working for the most part; I am having a problem however. Once the routine makes the corrections to the comment, the comment becomes invisible. By invisible, I mean that when I highlight my mouse over it, nothing appears. However, when I right click the cell and click 'edit comment' then the comment becomes visible and I enter edit mode. Upon clicking out of the comment, it simply vanishes again. I've tried to fix this problem by adding a .shape.visible = msoTrue but then every comment is always visible. o_O please advise...
Thank you,
Nick
@Nick- That is because the font color of the comment is white and when you select the color of selection is also white hence you can not see anything. Try to change the color code in the routine to something else. would work
Thanks for that! The code works perfectly!
[...] look at Format Excel Comment Boxes using VBA Macros | Chandoo.org - Learn Microsoft Excel Online [...]
@ Chandoo - code works great and the comments look super cool. But I have ran into a small issue. In the comments, I am inserting pictures. When I run the macro, for all comments which already have pictures; pictures are deleted. Pls help me retain the pics in comments.
[…] posted some code one of his readers submitted, it "pimps" your comment boxes from those boring black-text-on-yellow rectangles to something more professional and eye-pleasing. […]
love in it
Hi Tom,
This looks really excellent. I am however relatively new to macros / VBA codes so having copy pasted your code in the Developer mode of an Excel file, what are the next steps to use them? Can you please help? Just to recap, I opened a blank Excel workbook, clicked on Developer, copy pasted the comments code and saved the file to the desktop.
Now how do I go about using it to add comments to an existing file? My apologies for asking a question which may be basic to you great geniuses, but I am not there yet and aspire to get there.
Many thanks for helping me with next steps that I need to take so that I can now use the code.
Best Wishes
Deepak Dave, CMA, MBA, PMP
Senior Management Consultant
Dear Dave,
The best thing to do is to copy the macro in the personal.xls(x) file. The personal excel file will always be launched when you open excel so you can use it with every excelworkbook.
Read all about it on the page of Microsoft.
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Copy-your-macros-to-a-Personal-Macro-Workbook-aa439b90-f836-4381-97f0-6e4c3f5ee566
Once you have the macro in the personal, you can 'call' the macro by the keyboardcombination 'alt+f8' and klik on the macroname.
Hope this clarifies the 'how to'. Good luck with your first steps in the wonderfull world of macro's.
Tom
Hi Tom,
Many thanks. I will try that out. Learning is fun and learning this stuff is even more amazing.
Best Wishes
Deepak Dave
There is a line 'Dim LArea As Long' which does not appear to be used. Have I missed something?
Dear Gary,
Correct the 'Dim LArea As Long' is indeed not relevant and can be deleted.
Tom
Excellent hack!
For some reason when I opened my file after using LibreOffice Calc, all comment boxes had changed to some arrow shape.
So this macro helped me from manually changing more than 5000 comments in a worksheet, or having to install some Excel extension.
I used it with the following attributes to get back old style comments:
It helped me from manually changing more than 5000 comments in a worksheet, or having to install some Excel extension.
.Shape.AutoShapeType = msoShapeRectangle
.Shape.TextFrame.Characters.Font.Name = "Calibri"
.Shape.TextFrame.Characters.Font.Size = 10
.Shape.TextFrame.AutoMargins = True
.Shape.TextFrame.AutoSize = True
Thanks a lot!
This was helpful, thank you
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But wanna remark on some general things, The site style is great,
the articles is really great : D. Good job, cheers
Is there code to add to this that will format a particular part of the comment (i.e. make the last sentence in the comment bold and in italics)?
This is fantastic!
How would I add auto-sizing to it?
I tried adding this:
.Shape.AutoSize = True but it gives me an error and as a novice at VBA I can't figure it out.
.Shape.TextFrame.AutoSize = True
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How should the code be changed in order to tun once for all worksheets in a workbook?