Click any of these buttons-Chart Elements, Chart Styles or Chart Filters-to reveal additional chart formatting options. In addition, a set of icons appears outside the top right edge of a chart when it is selected. It will help inexperienced users create charts that help explain the data and don’t confuse the viewer. Recommended Charts shows only a subset of chart types that are appropriate to the data you’ve selected. This falls somewhere between a whiz-bang new feature and something that makes working in Excel more intuitive. Take the guess work out of which chart to choose to best display your data. While you could have always done this with formulas, now Flash Fill ensures anyone can do it very quickly and easily. You can use the same process to extract last names, to join first and last names, to extract months, days or years from dates and even extract values from cells. The first names of everyone in the list will be entered into that that column immediately. In a blank column adjacent to the one that contains full names, you simply type the first name and then click the Home tab, and select Fill, Flash Fill.

One such problem is extracting a person’s first name from a column of full names. It solves some common problems that currently require cumbersome workarounds to achieve. Its predictive data entry can detect patterns and extract and enter data that follows a recognizable pattern. The most whiz-bang new feature is the Flash Fill tool. Want to split first and last names into two columns? Look to the new Flash Fill feature. There’s also access to your SkyDrive account, and the option to set up additional SkyDrive or SharePoint accounts. You can pin worksheets to this list or click Computer to access recently accessed locations (any of which you can pin permanently here, too). The Open tab now gives you access to recently accessed workbooks, making it a combination of the Open and Recent tabs from Excel 2010. In Excel this has been revamped to show exactly what you’re doing so you can choose the appropriate task. The Backstage View, introduced in Office 2010, is accessible from the File menu. The Open tab has links to recently accessed files and locations. Although the Start Screen can be disabled, I find it useful enough to stick with it. New users will appreciate the template choices, and existing users will likee the Recent file list and quick access to existing files.

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