Finding Formulas Containing a Specific Function

If you want to find formulas that use a certain function, there are two approaches you can take. This tip looks at both techniques.

Read this tip »

(Thanks to Michael Avidan (MVP), Brian Dorey, Steve Aprahamian, Alex Blakenburg, Ryszard Raciborski, Alan Cannon, Stephen Farrell, Imanuel Echevarría, Jacques Raubenheimer, and Raymond Guzman for contributing to this tip.)

Checking Lock Status of Cells

When you first create a worksheet, all the cells in that worksheet are formatted as locked. As you unlock various cells on the worksheet, you can easily lose track of which cells are locked and unlocked. Here's some ideas on how you can easily check the lock status of individual cells.

Read this tip »

Journal Your Life

Journals go by many names--diaries, sketchbooks, or simply blank books. Regardless of the name, though, journals provide a way for you to record, track, create, dream, and illustrate your life. Journals make it not only possible, but easy. Check out our complete line of high-quality, convenient journals today!

Controlling the Plotting of Empty Cells

When creating a chart from information that contains empty cells, you can direct Excel how it should proceed. This tip explains the process.

Read this tip »

Using a Macro to Set a Print Range

Excel allows you to specify a print range that defines what should be printed from a given worksheet. This tip shows how to specify that print range from within a macro. (It also shows how you can automatically set the range without using a macro.)

Read this tip »

This section is for those having problems making Excel behave. If Excel is giving you fits, feel free to submit your own Help Wanted question.

If you have a solution for the problems below, click the link after the problem to send us your answer. (All responses become the sole property of Sharon Parq Associates, Inc., and can be used in any way deemed appropriate.) If your response is used in a future issue, you will be credited for your contribution to the answer.

Stripping Trailing Letters and Periods

I have data in a worksheet that consists, in column A, of text values, such as 5.552A.P or 8X.345.C. There is no pattern within the data, other than values will always end with some combination of periods and letters (A.P and .C in the examples). I need to strip off these trailing characters and return what is before them. Is there a way to perform this task using a formula?
—Chris Russo (provide an answer for this Help Wanted question)