MICROSOFT EXCEL DATA ENTRY TIP: Let Excel Automatically Complete Your Abbreviations

Microsoft Excel is used for tabulation of data, which means you can enter data in rows and columns called spreadsheet, like the table below:

Looking at this table, you’ll observe that all the company names end with “Nigeria Limited”.

Now, let’s say you have to manually enter a lot of data like these showing hundreds of company names. You know, that’s a lot of data to enter and a lot of work. Good news is that Microsoft Excel has a feature to automatically add the “Nigeria Limited” (or anything you want) to the company names when you hit an abbreviation you specify.

For example, you may specify that whenever you type nltd (or any other acronym you choose), Microsoft Excel should automatically replace it with Nigeria Limited. That way, you just type company name and type nltd, Excel completes the name for you, thereby saving you time and also reducing typing mistakes.

How To Do This:

1. Open Excel, Click File –> Click Options. See the figure below:

2. Click Proofing –> Click AutoCorrect Options. See figure below:

3. In the AutoCorrect dialogue box, type nltd (in Replace field), type Nigeria Limited (in With field) and Click Add. See figure below:

4. Click OK in the AutoCorrect box. Click OK to close the Excel option box.

5. The Result: Whenever you type nltd and hit enter or space bar, Excel automatically writes Nigeria Limited.

Now, try this with any other abbreviation and replacement you want.

NOTE:

Ø  This is case sensitive, which means if you set nltd to get replaced with Nigeria Limited, it would not work with NLTD (upper case).

Ø  This is saved in Excel even after closing the workbook and opening it again. If you no longer want it, go to the AutoCorrect dialogue box and delete it manually.

Hope you find this tutorial helpful. Let me know your thoughts.