10 Excel tricks that feel like cheating

Most Excel users do the same repetitive jobs by hand for years. These ten features remove whole categories of tedious work, and several of them are hiding in plain sight.

1. Flash Fill (Ctrl + E). Type one example, such as a first name pulled from a full name, then press Ctrl + E. Excel spots the pattern and fills the rest.
2. Turn data into a table (Ctrl + T). Formulas, filters and formatting then expand automatically as you add rows.
3. AutoSum (Alt + =). One key press totals the numbers above or beside you.
4. Lock a reference with F4. Press it while editing a formula to toggle between relative and absolute references, which fixes most copy-down errors.
5. Filter on or off (Ctrl + Shift + L). The fastest way to add or remove filters.
6. Text to Columns. Split "Surname, First name" or dates that arrived in one cell, from the Data tab.
7. Remove Duplicates. Also on the Data tab. Always keep a copy of the original first.
8. Freeze Panes. Keep headings visible while you scroll through thousands of rows.
9. Quick Analysis (Ctrl + Q). Select data and instantly preview charts, totals and formatting.
10. XLOOKUP. In current versions, it replaces most VLOOKUP jobs and can look in any direction.

Pick two tricks and use them this week. Speed comes from habits, not from memorising a list.