Scared straight? Reviewing Excel files in the wake of Wells Fargo
The Wells Fargo inadvertent disclosure episode provides a high-profile reminder that attorneys who are responsible for reviewing and producing client documents must thoroughly understand those documents.
As reported by the New York Times, the inadvertently produced material "included copious spreadsheets with customers' names and Social Security numbers, paired with financial details like the size of their investment portfolios and the fees the bank charged them."
Here is a list of skills that I think every reviewer must have to competently review spreadsheets in the eDiscovery context:
- Reviewing the entire workbook, not just the current tab.
- Understanding Filters.
- Identifying hidden rows, columns, and worksheets.
- Identifying & deciphering formulas.
- Understand the Freeze Panes display feature.
- Finding and expanding truncated text.
- Identify the boundaries of a worksheet.
- Finding each worksheet's print formatting.
Understanding absolute, relative, and mixed cell references in Excel
A worksheet in Excel is made up of cells. These cells can be referenced by specifying the row value and the column value.
The power of Excel lies in the fact that you can use these cell reference in other cells when creating formulas.
There are three kinds of cell references in Excel:
- Relative cell references.
- Absolute cell references.
- Mixed cell references.
Understanding these different type of cell references will help you work with formulas and save time (especially when copy pasting formulas).
Text import wizard gone? How to import CSV and text files in Excel
Microsoft quietly replaced the comfortable Text Import Wizard from Excel and replaced it with the "Get & Transform" tools.
The "Get & Transform" tools offer a lot of options and are very powerful. Unfortunately, they are quite complicated to use. Here is what you should now.
Topics in this article include:
- Restore the "Text Import Wizard".
- How to use the "Text Import Wizard".
- Import text and csv files with the "Get & Transform" tools.
Excel named range - How to define and use names in Excel
This tutorial explains what an Excel name is and shows how to define a name for a cell, range, constant or formula. You will also learn how to edit, filter and delete defined names in Excel.
Topics include:
- Excel name - the basics.
- How to name a range in Excel.
- How to create a named constant.
- How to make a named formula.
- How to name columns and rows (create names from selection).
- How to create a dynamic named range in Excel.
- Excel name rules.
- Scope of Excel names.
- Excel Name Manager.
- Top 5 benefits of using names in Excel.
- Excel named range - tips and tricks.
Excel and modeling governance: What can we do better?
Looking around, a few things are apparent:
- Everyone is still using Excel.
- Spreadsheets still contain errors.
- Graduates still don't have the requisite spreadsheet skills upon entering the workforce.
- Companies still aren't regularly enforcing good model governance.
This article (see page 7) looks at how we can address the issues and make spreadsheets more user-friendly and faster to use, less prone to error and more capable of completing the tasks required of them.
Excel chart secondary axis alternatives
Sometimes a secondary axis is a necessary evil. After all, most of the time you can't plot big numbers and little numbers in the same chart without the little numbers getting lost in the scale.
With a few simple changes, we're able to present our readers with a chart that's quick and easy to read. Let's be honest, anything less would be a waste of their time and yours.
7 ways to use Excel REPT function
When is the last time you used the REPT function in Excel? REPT is one of Excel's little-known, overlooked and underutilized functions, yet it is very useful.
Here are 7 ways you can start using the REPT function:
- Add leading zeros.
- Create inline charts.
- Replace nested
IF. - Create a mirror chart.
- Create stem and leaf plots.
- Extract N words from a text string.
- Create a star rating system.
Do you have to use Dim to declare variables?
When looking at other people's VBA code in books or on the internet we often see the Dim statement being used to declare variables.
It is possible to write valid VBA code without declaring variables, so why bother?
This blog discusses the advantages and disadvantages of declaring variables in VBA.
Use IFERROR with VLOOKUP to get rid of #N/A errors
When using the VLOOKUP formula in Excel, sometimes you may end up with the ugly #N/A error. This happens when your formula can not find the lookup value.
In this tutorial, I will show you different ways to use IFERROR with VLOOKUP to handle these #N/A errors cropping up in your worksheet.
Using the combination of IFERROR with VLOOKUP allows you to show something meaningful in place of the #N/A error (or any other error for that matter).
