Clever Clogs tip # 707
14 July 2022


Quickly and easily analyse data (Microsoft Excel 2013 onwards) *

A couple of years ago I wrote a tip recommending not to ignore Clippy in disguise.

Speaking of Clippy, during last Thursday's training session one of my course participants wrote in the chat that she was 4 when Clippy was around. Talk about Throwback Thursday! But I digress ... don't ignore Clippy in disguise.

At the time I told you Clippy was replaced by tiny "smart tags" that most people seem to ignore. I shared my favourite three (Paste Options, Auto Fill Options and Insert Options) and today I want to add another overlooked an underused button that pops up occasionally ... Quick Analysis.

It does what it says on the tin ... it quickly analyses your data. It's a super-fast way to see the various tools and apply conditional formatting, create PivotTables, add totals, show sparklines - and much more!

Here's how:

  1. Select the cells you want to analyse. (Remember CTRL + spacebar?)
  2. Click the Quick Analysis button that pops up just below the selection or press CTRL + Q.
  3. Hover over the various choices in Formatting, Charts, Totals, Tables and Sparklines to get a preview and select the one that best matches your needs.

So if you don't know exactly what tool to use, check out the various options. It even gives ideas about PivotTables (under its Tables tab).

Related tips

  1. Don't ignore Clippy in disguise: tip_569.php
  2. Select rows and columns in a table: tip_525.php
  3. Analyse your data - the easy way (Excel for Microsoft 365): tip_662.php
  4. Create PivotTables - no know-how necessary tip_624.php

Last and this week's CleverClogsTipTime on LinkedIn

  1. Does size matter?
  2. Find a needle in a haystack

PS In case you were wondering why there wasn’t a tip last week… I was prepping and running a tailored PowerPoint training session (yep, the Throwback Thursday one).

PPS Thanks for reading my tips – even as far as the PPS ;) That said, “they” often say that the PS is guaranteed to be read. I never accepted ads or sponsorship for my tips, but if you want to help keep this going, hire me to do a 15-minute curiosity coffee or lunch and learn session for your team, book one of my courses or webinars or simply drop me a line to say hi. It really makes a difference to know you think the tips are useful.


* Unless stated otherwise this tip is written for Microsoft 365 desktop apps and Windows 10 users, but might also be useful in Office 2010, 2013 and 2016.