Excel Formula Shortcuts

You have learned how to build a formula by entering it manually. That's a good way to start out because it forces you to understand the basics of formula writing. But writing formulas by hand is a drag; plus, it's easy to type in the wrong cell address. For example, if you type A2 instead of A3, you can end up with incorrect data, and you won't necessarily notice your mistake.

As you become more comfortable with formulas, you'll find that Excel gives you a few toolslike point-and-click formula creation and the Insert Function buttonto speed up your formula writing and reduce your mistakes. You'll learn about these features in the following sections.

In previous versions of Excel, the Insert Function dialog box was almost exactly the same, except it was known as the Function wizard.