Anyone who works a lot with Excel will tell you that many jobs require you to do the same thing in Excel repeatedly. Typical tasks include copying data, formatting spreadsheets, creating reports or maybe manually updating calculations. There are many more such tasks. The individual tasks we will just do because they do not take long, but when you add them up over a week. You will realise how much time we lose.

Excel offers a range of automation tools that can mean that you will not need to do repetitive tasks manually again. It has been proven that automation can reduce human error, improve consistency, increase accuracy, and free up valuable time.

Why Should You Learn to Automate Tasks in Excel?

In case you are not convinced of learning how to automate in Excel, here are the main benefits:

  • Save hours of manual work
  • People make mistakes, so you can reduce human error
  • Ensure consistency in spreadsheets
  • Improve your productivity
  • Focus on business analysis and strategy, rather than repetitive administration
  • Scale processes as your data grows

Use Excel Tables to Automate Data Management

Automating tasks in Excel by converting data ranges into Excel Tables is one of the easiest tricks. When you convert a cell into a table, you will often find that tables contain controls and automation that are very useful.

To create a table:

  1. Select your dataset.
  2. Click the Insert Tab.
  3. Choose Table.

The converted Table will now enable Excel to automatically expand formulas into new rows, extend formatting, and simplify filtering and sorting. There are more benefits.

Automate Calculations with Formulas

Formulas are an Excel original trick and tip. There are so many, but each enables faster processing and automation.  Instead of manually calculating figures, Excel can instantly update results whenever data changes.

Some of the most useful functions include:

  • SUM
  • AVERAGE
  • IF
  • SUMIFS
  • COUNTIFS
  • VLOOKUP
  • HLOOKUP
  • XLOOKUP
  • INDEX MATCH

For example, a customer service person needs to look up a customer’s information, which could be done manually by scrolling through thousands of lines of data. However, a single VLOOKUP formula can automatically do so.

Use Conditional Formatting to Highlight Information

Conditional Formatting automatically changes the appearance of cells based on rules. You can use this to highlight large numbers or numbers that do not fit the pattern.

Here are some uses:

  • Finance jobs, like Accounts Payable, can use it to highlight overdue invoices
  • Supply Chain can use it to flag low stock levels
  • Data entry people can use it to identify duplicate entries
  • Sales and Marketing can use it to emphasise top-performing sales figures

This creates automated analysis and faster decision-making.

Automate Reporting with Pivot Tables

Creating tables and summary reports can be time-consuming and may require advanced formulas and Excel skills to ensure accuracy.  However, Pivot Tables can automatically summarise large datasets in seconds.

Pivot tables can do many things quickly. Here you can see a few:

  • Group and categorise data
  • Calculate totals
  • Show averages
  • Count the number of records
  • Analyse trends, and you can even add calculations at the summary level
  • Build management reports
  • Create dashboards

Once your Pivot Table is set up, it is always there; all you need to do is refresh the report, and it is ready for export to management reports

Use Power Query to Eliminate Repetitive Tasks

Power Query automates data preparation tasks required for analysis and reporting. Here are some typical tasks that can be done:

  • Removeduplicates
  • Split columns
  • Merge datasets
  • Solve formatting issues
  • Filter any unwanted records

Power Query can record your repetitive actions and apply them to any new data that is imported.

Record Macros to Automate Repetitive Tasks

Excel Macros can automate longer processes. You will record the Macro using Excel’s Macro recorder and save it with a button. You can click the button and apply the process automatically. If you master Macros, you can record extensive processes. However, the process must be identical.

Use VBA for Advanced Automation

Macros can automate long processes, and advanced users will learn how to use Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). This is the language used when the Excel Macro recorder is running. This is quite complex to learn, but it can be very valuable. Knowledge of VBA can open up career opportunities.

VBA is a more difficult skill to learn, but it remains one of the most powerful automation tools.

Create Dynamic Dashboards

Dashboards are popular ways of summarising data. It requires knowledge of several items that combine several skills we have discussed; you can see them below:

  • Tables
  • Pivot Tables
  • Power Query
  • Formulas
  • Charts

However, if Dashboards is your passion, you should consider learning Microsoft Power BI.

Automate Data Imports

Data importing is a common requirement in Excel. Now you can use the following options to automate the transfer of data into a spreadsheet format:

  • Power Query
  • Data Connections
  • CSV imports
  • Database connections

There are many benefits to automating this, as it reduces errors often made at this stage.

Common Excel Tasks You Can Automate

To finish the blog, here is a list of the most typical tasks that people who use Excel will try to automate:

  • Monthly reporting
  • Data cleaning
  • Format spreadsheets
  • Update dashboards
  • Look up information
  • Import external data
  • Create summary reports

Across our Microsoft Excel Diploma, you will find an array of functions and tools that can automate your work. You should also consider learning how to use an AI tool in order to assist you in automating processes further.