Time is Flying By

As you may know, just over 10 days ago I opened the doors to my Using Dates and Times online course. I hope you've taken the opportunity to check it out, as the course provides all the info you need to discover how to slice, dice, and otherwise manipulate dates and times in your workbooks.

This is a low-cost video course that shows you, on-screen, how your data is entered and interpreted by Excel. I demonstrate in a hands-on manner how you can use that knowledge to allow you to work with dates and times just as easily as you would work with any other numeric data in the program.

You can find complete information on the course here:

https://usingoffice.com/dates-and-times/

Please take the opportunity to check it out. I'm only accepting students in this course through this coming Thursday, so you'll want to act quickly so you don't miss out.

I hope you enjoy the tips in this week's issue of ExcelTips.

—Allen
     

ExcelTips (ribbon) for 12 July 2025
Formulas
Calculating the Average of Five Values Near the End of a Range

It is relatively easy to calculate an average of values in a worksheet. If, however, you want an average of just a subset of values, then things can get a bit trickier. In this tip you discover how to calculate an average for a limited range of cells near the end of a larger range within a column.

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(Thanks to Ryszard Raciborski, Steve Aprahamian, Dave Newcomer, Michael Avidan (MVP), Brian Dorey, Fred Potter, Alan Cannon, Steve Jezard, Kevin Keyser, Stephen Argent, Cedric McKeever, Thomas Reeves, James Woolley, Chris Lefsrud, Christos Constantinou, Ira Bernstein, David Watssman, Steven Morgenstern, and Fred van der Meulen for contributing to this tip.)

 
Charts and charting
Changing the Axis Scale

When creating a chart, you may want to adjust the default scaling that Excel applies to an axis. This is relatively easy to do by following the steps outlined in this tip.

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Baffled by Array Formulas?

Have you heard about the special array formulas you can create in Excel? They make it a snap to perform calculations using large amounts of data and even generate results you can't get with regular formulas. Array formulas may be Excel's best-kept secret. Remove the confusion; discover how to use array formulas today.

 
Powerful spreadsheets
Inserting Rows

Need to insert rows in your worksheet? Excel provides a few techniques you can use to do this. Here are some ideas you can put to work.

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Online and web
Pulling Apart a URL

Excel provides a good number of worksheet functions that can help you pick apart text strings in various ways. In this tip those functions are put to use to pull apart a URL into its component pieces.

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Help Wanted

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.

 
Converting Text Dates to Real Dates

I have a worksheet that contains data that apparently originated on a non-Excel system. One column has the date shown, in text, in the format "TUE 08 JUL 25." I need to convert this to an actual Excel date, but DATEVALUE gives me an error when I try using it. What is the best way to do the conversion?
—Dennis Anderson (provide an answer for this Help Wanted question)

 
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