This week’s hint and tip is on the WEEKDAY function in Excel. This function can be used to return the day of the week as a number relating to a date in your spreadsheets. This isn’t covered in our courses so we decided to do a hint and tip on it. We are going to go through it now below.

WEEKDAY Function

This function returns the day of the week from a date in your spreadsheet. The day is returned as a number and by default ranges from 1 (Sunday) to 7 (Saturday). We are going to go through it’s syntax below:

Function layout: =WEEKDAY(serial_number,[return_type])

• serial_number: this is required. This is either the cell reference where the date is located or you can enter the date be using the DATE function (e.g. for 17th June 2025 you would use DATE(2025,6,17)
• [return_type]: this is optional. This is where you can type in a number from a table to determine the type of return for the formula

Worked example

We are going to go through an example of this function now below.

The formula we are going to use is: =WEEKDAY(B1,2). This formula has the cell reference filled in for the first part and then the number 2 selected from the table of return type options. The return type options are listed below and come up when you are typing it in.

Return type options:

• 1 – Numbers 1 (Sunday) to 7 (Saturday)
• 2 – Numbers 1 (Monday) to 7 (Sunday)
• 3 – Numbers 0 (Monday) through 6 (Sunday)
• 11 – Numbers 1 (Monday) to 7 (Sunday)
• 12 – Numbers 1 (Tuesday) through 7 (Monday)
• 13 – Numbers 1 (Wednesday) through 7 (Tuesday)
• 14 – Numbers 1 (Thursday) through 7 (Wednesday)
• 15 – Numbers 1 (Friday) to (Thursday)
• 16 – Numbers 1 (Saturday) through 7 (Sunday)
• 17 – Numbers 1 (Sunday) to 7 (Saturday)

Once the function is filled in, it returns the number for the day shown in column B. You then copy it down to fill in the rest of the cells.

Conditional Formatting

Now that we have created the formula, we are going to apply conditional formatting to the cells to fill grey the weekend days. Firstly select column C. Then go to conditional formatting, highlight cell rules and choose ‘New Rule’ option. From here set up the following rule, ‘cell value greater than 5’ and the formatting being a grey full colour. The rule can be seen below when you select the manage rules option.

Once applied, the conditional formatting can be seen on the cells as shown in the screenshot below.

The video below shows you what the WEEKDAY function in Excel is and an example of how it can be used. There are lots of functions in Excel that can be used in many ways in your spreadsheets.

Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try it out on your own computer!

We hope you have enjoyed this hint and tip on the WEEKDAY Function in Excel. Why not take a look at our previous video hint and tip on creating a Table of Contents in Word?

The post WEEKDAY Function in Excel – have you heard of or tried this function out? appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

​This week’s hint and tip is about how to create a table of contents in Word document. It also covers how you can update it once it has been inserted. This is on our Intermediate Word training course and it covers where this option is found and how to use it. We are going to go through it now below.

What is a Table of Contents

The table of contents feature in Word is a way that you can have Word generate a table of contents for you automatically. In the past you might have done this manually yourself, but by using Word styles in your documents then you can use this feature instead. It is a really useful feature that allows you to locate topics in a document easily rather than having to go through each page.

How to create a Table of Contents

Firstly, you need to make sure that you use heading styles in your document as Word uses these to create the table of contents.

Once you have set up your document with these styles, you can then go to the References Tab and create one from there. Along the ribbon there is a ‘Table of Contents’ button that you start from. Clicking on this brings up a drop down menu for you. You can choose from a built in styled table of contents or you can choose the option for a custom table of contents.

The custom table of contents allows you to choose the number of levels you want as well as some other options. There is a preview option of what it will look like to help you decide.

Once you click OK, your table of contents will then be inserted into the document as shown below. This is then ready for you to use as needed in the document.

Updating the Table of Contents

There might be times where you make a change to your headings in your Word document. If this is the case, you will then need to update the table of contents to match that change. To do this, click into the table of contents and choose the ‘Update Table’ option on the References Tab ribbon. You can also right hand click into your table of contents to find this. From here you can choose either option depending on what you want to update, then click OK.

This will have then updated the table of contents for you.

The video below shows you how to create a table of contents in a Word document and also how to update it after. Inserting a table of contents into your Word document can help save you time rather than having to do it manually.

Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try it out on your own computer!

We hope you have enjoyed this hint and tip on how to create a table of contents in Word. Why not take a look at our previous one on using Copilot to create a PivotTable in Excel?

The post How to Create a Table of Contents in Word appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

This week’s hint and tip is looking at how you can create a PivotTable by Copilot in Excel. We cover PivotTables on our Advanced Excel training course but not how to create one using Copilot.  We are going to go through it now below.

Copilot in Excel

Copilot is the AI tool that is available for users in all the Microsoft packages. It can be used for a variety of tasks and there are a number of options it can be used for in Excel.

We have done a previous hint and tip post as a brief introduction to using Copilot. You can find that information here in the hint and tip post.

PivotTable by Copilot in Excel example

We are going to demonstrate the use of the AI tool to analyse and create a PivotTable to summarise the data in a spreadsheet below.

Clicking on the drop down arrow on the Copilot button found on the Home Tab, select the ‘App Skills’ option.

From here a prompt window will appear on the right where you can type in your message with what you want Copilot to do.

We are typing in the following: “PivotTable with sum of sales with part no in rows and customer in columns”. This produces the following screenshot where it is analysing the data.

Once it has finishing analysing, it gives you the summary in the side pane with the option to ‘Add to a new sheet’. This will insert the PivotTable into the workbook for you.

When typing in your message/prompt to Copilot, being more specific and detailed is the key to getting exactly what you require. As we did not mention what to put in the Filters PivotTable field, there is nothing currently there.

PivotTable second example

We are now going to create another PivotTable to analyse the data with a more detailed prompt to show how adding in more information will give you the PivotTable you want.

So, the prompt we are using now is: “PivotTable with sum of sales with part no in rows, customers in columns, sales period and sales year in filters”.

This then produces the PivotTable above which you can see is the same as the previous one except there are now filter options included.

Each time there is then an option to click on the button to ‘add to a new sheet’ so that the PivotTable can be added into your workbook.

The video below shows you how you can create a PivotTable by Copilot in Excel. Copilot can be a good aid tool for a user with some detailed and specific prompts in helping streamline their data analysis.

Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try them out on your own computer!

The post PivotTable by Copilot in Excel – how you can create one using Copilot appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

This week’s hint and tip is slightly different as it looks at a brief introduction to using Copilot in Excel. Copilot is Microsoft’s AI tool and so we thought we’d do a short hint and tip on some key points of using it as well as a little introduction to it.  We are going to go through it now below.

** note: currently at the date this is published all the information is correct, but as Copilot is updated, some of the information below might update and change. It is always worth checking your subscription information or check the Microsoft website if you are unsure **

Copilot in Excel

Copilot is an AI tool that is available for users in all the Microsoft packages. It can be used for a variety of tasks and there are a number of options it can be used for in Excel.

Within your Microsoft subscription package you will receive a number of AI credits. The amount will depend on the subscription package that you have. Each action you do which uses AI will deduct a credit from your balance. This balance resets at the beginning of each month. If you want more credits you can subscribe to Copilot Pro.

Some key points

For Copilot to work on your documents, AutoSave must be turned on. If it is not, then you will only be able to chat to Copilot and not use the other features it has available within the package. You might also need to go into your Excel options settings and enable it.

Once you have AutoSave turned on, your data will need to be formatted in a specific way for Copilot to work and be able to carry out the task you require in Excel.

You will need to either have your data formatted as an Excel Table or as a supported range. Formatting as an Excel Table is through the use of the option found on the Home Tab. A supported range is data where it has not been formatted as a table but meets all the following requirements:

• Only one header row
• No blank headers
• Headers are only on columns, not on rows
• Headers are unique, no duplicate headers
• No merged cells
• No empty rows or columns
• Data is formatted in a consistent way
• No subtotals

Versions of Excel

Some options are currently only available to the web version of Excel (e.g. Clean Data) but are being rolled out to the desktop versions soon.

Copilot is seen as being especially useful for users who have large datasets that need tidying up or summarising quickly. We are going to go through an example of how it can be used for data analysis in a future hint and tip.

When using Copilot within Excel, it’s important to click on the arrow and choose the ‘App Skills’ option. This allows you to use the AI tool with your data within the workbook you are currently in, rather than just asking the AI tool a chat based question.

The post Using Copilot in Excel – a brief introduction to the AI package appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

This week’s hint and tip is looking at how you can use the presenter view in PowerPoint when you are presenting your presentations. We do cover this on our Basic PowerPoint training course but we also decided to do a hint and tip on it.  We are going to go through it now below.

Running a presentation

There are several ways to run your slide show presentation, some being:

• Pressing F5
• Clicking on the small slide show button (bottom right corner of screen)
• The options on the slide show tab

The option you choose will depend on how you want to start off your presentation. Once you start it, there are then further options for how you progress through it. We are going through this now below.

Slide show view

Your screen will look slightly different depending on how many screens you have linked up. If you just have the one screen (a laptop screen or a desktop monitor) then it will look like the print screen shot below.

Here you can see just the presentation slide itself. At the bottom of the screen you can see buttons when you hover your mouse over it. These buttons give you other options available for use during your presentation. You can also still use your right-hand mouse click for options too. You can run your presentation in this view even if you have two screens if you prefer.

Presenter view

However, if you have a monitor plugged into a laptop/desktop screen, you will get two different screens. The monitor screen will look like the slideshow one above and then the print screen below seen on your laptop/desktop screen. This screen on your laptop/desktop is called presenter view and can be seen below.

This second screen gives you the same options as the slide show view, but it gives you a bit more of a detailed view. This is optimised for presenting on a projector as it gives the presenter more options without interfering with the appearance of the presentation itself.

This two-way view can be altered through the display settings option at the top. Here you can choose to duplicate the screen so that both screens will look like the slide show view.

The video below shows you what the presenter view is in PowerPoint and how it can be used in your presentations. The presenter view is a great aid that can be used when you are presenting.

Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try them out on your own computer!

The post Presenter View in PowerPoint – how you can use it in your presentations? appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

​This week’s hint and tip is about how to insert a chart into a Word document. Also covered is how to format the chart once it is inserted. We cover this on our Intermediate Word training course and where this option is found and how to use it. We are going to go through it now below.

Inserting a chart in Word

The option to insert a chart in Word is found on the Insert Tab. To use it, click on the Insert Tab and then along the ribbon, click on the button called Chart.

From here a pop up window will appear. Here you can choose the style of Chart you want and click OK. This will then insert a chart into your document and give you an Excel window to amend the data.

Editing/formatting the chart

After you have inserted your chart, you get two tabs for editing/formatting. These are the Chart Design tab and the Format tab. The Chart Design tab allows you to change the appearance of the chart through the use of Chart Styles. You can also edit the data and change the chart type from this tab.

Once your chart is inserted, you can then add Chart Elements to it, e.g. Axis Titles or Data Labels. One way to do this is via the Chart Design Tab and the other way is via the + button in the top right hand corner of your chart. Both these ways will bring up the chart elements options that you can add to your chart.

The video below shows you how to insert a chart into a Word document and how to format or edit it. Inserting a chart into your Word document is a great way to visually display information.

Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try it out on your own computer!

We hope you have enjoyed this hint and tip on inserting charts in Word. Why not take a look at our previous one on how to insert a table in Word?

The post Inserting Charts in Word – how to do this and edit them appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

​This week’s hint and tip is about how to insert a table into a Word document. It also covers some formatting that you can apply once the table is inserted. This is on our Intermediate Word training course and it covers where this option is found and how to use it. We are going to go through it now below.

Inserting a table in Word

The option to insert a table in Word is found on the Insert Tab. To use it, click on the Insert Tab at the top and then along the ribbon you can click on the button called Table.

From here there are two ways in which you can insert a table into the Word document.

First way – via Insert Tab, ‘grid boxes’

The first way to insert a table is by using the ‘grid boxes’ that appear once you click on the Table button. As you hover your mouse over these boxes, you will be able to see a preview of your table behind in your document. There is a 7×6 limit to the size of table you can create via this method.

Once you have decided on the table size, you can click on the box and it will insert the table into the document. From here you can then format and edit your table.

Second way – via Insert Tab, ‘Insert Table’ option

A second way in which you can insert a table into the Word document, is via the Insert Table option that appears under the grid boxes. This option allows you to type in the number of columns and rows you require.

With this way, there is no limit to the table size you can create. After you have typed in the size you require, click OK and it will insert it for you.

Once inserted, you can then use the options available to edit and format your table.

Editing/formatting the table

When you click on your table, two extra tabs will appear at top of your screen. These are Table Design and Table Layout. These two tabs can then be used to format and edit your table.

The Table Design tab has all the formatting options for the appearance of the table. These include colours and borders and also the option to use built in Table Styles.

The Table Layout tab has the editing options for altering the actual table itself. These include options like inserting and deleting rows and changing text directions.

As well as using this tab, you can also insert rows or columns from the table itself. If you hover your mouse over the end of the line in your table a plus in a circle will appear. Click on this and a row or column will be inserted.

To delete rows or columns, first select the row or column you do not need. Next click on the Delete option on the ribbon or by right hand clicking.

The video below shows you how to insert a table into a Word document and also how to edit and format it after. Inserting tables into your Word document is a great way to help summarise information.

Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try it out on your own computer!

We hope you have enjoyed this hint and tip on inserting tables in Word. Why not take a look at our previous one on how a between symbol can be created through formulas in Excel?

The post Inserting Tables in Word – how to do this and edit them appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

This week’s hint and tip is about how you can ‘create’ a between symbol in Excel. There are a number of symbols in Excel and when comparing cells the greater than and less than ones are used a lot. We often get asked if there is a between symbol similar to these two and unfortunately no, but you are able to ‘create’ one using a formula. This formula is covered on our Advanced Excel training course but we decided to do a hint and tip on it with its use in this example too. We are going to go through it now below.

The AND function

The AND function in Excel is a logical function that returns an outcome of TRUE if all the arguments are true and FALSE if at least one argument is false. We can use this AND function to test if something is greater than or equal to and less than or equal to something. This essentially is a way of testing for ‘between’ in Excel.

Using a ‘between’ symbol in an IF function

A reminder of the layout of the IF function can be seen below with explanation of its parts:

=IF(logical test,Value_if_true,Value_if_false)

The logical test is what you are looking for or your ‘question’. Then the ‘Value_if_true’ part is the outcome of the test is true. Finally the ‘Value_if_false’ part is if the outcome of the test is false.

Often the logical test is looking to test if something is greater than or less than something, but you can also test for if something is between something. There isn’t a symbol for this, you have to use the AND function and nest it within the IF function. We’re going to show this below.

Worked example

We are now going to create a formula that allows us to test for ‘between’. As there is no actual symbol on your keyboard for this, we are using the AND function to ‘create’ this symbol. This is then being nested into the logical part of the IF function.

The formula we are going to use is shown below:

=IF(AND(B1>=E1,B1<=E2),B1*E3,E4)

The parts of the formula are explained below:

• Logical test: AND(B1>=E1,B1<=E2). This function is testing if B1 is greater than or equal to E1 and also if B1 is less than or equal to E2
• Value if true: B1*E3. The outcome if it is true, a percentage calculation to work out the discount
• value if false: E4. The outcome if it is false, nothing/zero

As the AND function will only return a TRUE if all the arguments in it are true, this formula will only return TRUE if the cell B1 is ‘between’ the two cells E1 and E2.

The video below explains how you can create this ‘between’ symbol and then use it within your formulas in Excel.

Watch the video below to find out more and then try it out on your computer!

We hope you have enjoyed this hint and tip. Why not take a look at our previous one on using the Evaluate Formula option in Excel?

The post Between Symbol in Excel – is there one in you can use in an IF function? appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

This week’s hint and tip is on the the evaluate formula option in Excel. Formula auditing can be a very useful feature in Excel as it can help you debug and explain complex formulas that you might struggle to understand. This can be especially useful if the formulas are in a spreadsheet that someone else created. We cover some formula auditing in our Intermediate Excel training course, but not this exact option so we decided to do a hint and tip on it. We are going to go through it now below.

Formula Auditing in Excel

Formula auditing can be a very helpful and useful feature in Excel for users to help them understand formulas in their spreadsheets. Formulas can be hard to understand for anyone but especially if you aren’t the creator of them. The options available in the formula auditing area in Excel are a great way to try and help you understand and debug or troubleshoot formulas. There are a number of options in the area on the ribbon, we are going to go through one now below.

Evaluate Formula option

This evaluate option allows you to go through the formula step by step and shows the result of the underlined part of the formula in the box. As you click through, it will keep giving results until it finally gives you the answer of the formula.

To use this option, you click on a cell with a formula in it and then click on the Evaluate Formula button. This brings up a pop up window that you can see below in the screenshot.

The pop up window will tell you the cell that you are referring to and then will let you evaluate the formula in the box next to it.

The video below talks through the evaluate formula option and how you can use it in Excel. Take a look to find out more and then try them out on your own computer!

We hope you have enjoyed this hint and tip on the evaluate formula in Excel option. Why not take a look at our previous video hint and tip on the the functions SUMIFS and COUNTIFS in Excel?

The post Evaluate Formula in Excel – what is this option and what does it do? appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

This week’s hint and tip is on the SUMIFS and COUNTIFS functions in Excel. Functions (also referred to as formulas) are used by many on a day to day basis in Excel. These functions are seen as a ‘step on’ from the SUMIF and COUNTIF as they work off multiple criteria and so can give a bit more flexibility in their use. We cover the SUMIFS formula on Master Class Excel Silver training course, but we decided to do a hint and tip on it with COUNTIFS too. We are going to go through it now below.

SUMIFS function in Excel

The SUMIFS function is the same as the SUMIF except it has a bit more flexibility in that it can add up ranges based off multiple criteria whereas SUMIF only adds up based off one criteria.

The syntax for the formula can be seen below with explanation for each part:

SUMIFS(sum_range, criteria_range1, criteria1, [criteria_range2, criteria2], …)

The parts you need are:

• sum_range: this is required.
• criteria_range1: this is required. This is the first range for the criteria associated with it
• criteria1: this is required. This is the criteria that defines which cells to be counted in the formula
• [criteria_range2, criteria2]…: these are optional (shown by the square brackets)

Look at the construction of the formula below.

We’ve used the SUMIFS formula to work out how many Oranges were sold by Susan. Here the formula picks up row 3 and row 7 where product is Oranges and the salesperson is Susan. Then it adds up the cells in column A meeting these criteria i.e. 4 + 12 = 16

COUNTIFS function in Excel

Similarly, with the COUNTIFS function, it has a bit more flexibility than COUNTIF in that it can count up based off multiple criteria than just one criteria with COUNTIF.

The syntax for the formula is shown below with an explanation for each part:

COUNTIFS(criteria_range1, criteria1, [criteria_range2, criteria2]…)

The parts you need are:

• criteria_range1: this is required. This is the first range for the criteria associated with it
• criteria1: this is required. This is the criteria that defines which cells to be counted in the formula
• [criteria_range2, criteria2]…: these are optional (shown by the square brackets)

Look at the construction of the formula below.

We’ve used the COUNTIFS formula to work out how much Bread was sold by Jane. Here the formula picks up row 3 and row 7 where product is Bread and the salesperson is Jane. Then it counts up how many rows in the data meeting these criteria, i.e. 1 row + 1 row = 2 rows

The video below talks through the SUMIFS and COUNTIFS functions and how they can be used in Excel.

Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try them out on your own computer!

We hope you have enjoyed this hint and tip on the SUMIFS and COUNTIFS functions in Excel. Why not take a look at our previous video hint and tip on the autocomplete data validation feature in Excel?

The post SUMIFS and COUNTIFS Functions in Excel – what do these do? appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.