I have always used Excel to perform basic tasks, but only recently did I discover its ability to perform somewhat complex analytics. In this article, I explore three of the lesser-known but powerful features of Excel.
Data Validation
Data Validation helps you restrict what can be entered in a cell. This is useful for preventing errors in large datasets.
This is powerful because it ensures data quality and consistency, and reduces manual cleaning later
Dashboards
Dashboards combine charts, tables, and key metrics into a single, interactive visual display. You can create dashboards with Excel by combining tables, charts, and multiple charts.
You can also use Slicers to filter multiple charts at once. This is one of the most powerful features of Excel because it lets you see patterns, trends, and anomalies at a glance, making decision-making faster and more informed.
Lookup Functions
-> VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, XLOOKUP
Lookup functions let you find values in large datasets quickly.
Example with XLOOKUP:
=XLOOKUP("John", A2:A100, C2:C100, "Not Found")
This searches for "John" in the first column and returns the corresponding value from the Sales Amount column.
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