Win a Copy of the New Mr. Excel Book! It’s Awesome!

I'm giving away 4 copies of Bill Jelen's newest book, MrExcel XL: The 40 Greatest Excel Tips of All Time.

Note: The contest is now over, but checkout my review of this great book below.  There is also a video at the end of the page with a tutorial on the winning tips.

My Review of this Awesome New Book

Not all Excel books are created equal.  My friend Bill Jelen (aka Mr. Excel) released a new book last month titled, MrExcel XL: The 40 Greatest Excel Tips of All Time.

This is Bill's 40th Excel book, and I have to say it is probably my favorite Excel book of all time.

This book is not only packed with Excel tips and tricks, it is also very entertaining and sure to provide some laughs.

Bill has put together the 40 Greatest Excel Tips Of All Time for this book, and it is packed with awesome time saving tips and techniques.  If you have ever been to one of Bill's live seminars or read one of his other 39 books, then you've probably found yourself saying, “Wow!  I never knew Excel could do that!”  This new book is no exception.

The image above is an example of one of the tutorials in this book.  I'm a visual learner and really appreciate all the screenshots.

30 Additional Excel Tutorials

Szilvia Juhasz (my friend and co-host of Excel TV) co-authored this book with Bill and added 30 additional Excel tips and tricks.  This was in honor of Excel's 30th birthday this year, and this section of the book is packed with some fantastic tips.

Szilvia was also kind enough to mention my name in reference to my explanation of VLOOKUP with the Starbucks menu.  Checkout page 194 for that one.  Thank you Szilvia! 🙂

So that's 70 Excel tips and tutorials that are clearly explained with nice screenshots and images, all on glossy pages.  It's an awesome book and I have picked up some great tips from it.  No matter how long you have been using Excel, there is always something new to learn.

Have You Ever Had an Excel Cocktail?

But it doesn't stop there.  This book is not only a great learning reference, it is also very entertaining.

Part 3 of the book includes Szilvia's new book called, The Excel Lover's Guide to Cocktails.

This is an Excel inspired cocktail recipe book.  You will learn how to make some great drinks like the Power Pivotini (think Martini), Stacked Column Shot, Ctrl+B (think Bloody Mary), Broken Link (think Old Fashion), and many more.

The cocktail book is included as a section inside the book and contains some great pictures of each drink.

These would be a lot of fun to make for any office party, and I advise consuming after you have finished working with Excel for the day. 🙂

Get Ready to Laugh!

After you make yourself an Excel cocktail you can flip through part 4 of the book – Excel Fun.

This last section of the book includes an Excel Joke Book by Jordan Goldmeier, a collection of hilarious Excel Tweets collected by Debra Dalgleish, Excel Art by the Frankens Team, and a collection of True and Almost True Stories from Mr. Excel himself.

If you work with Excel a lot then you have experienced your fair share of ups and downs.  Happy dances when things go right, and head pounding frustration when things break.  This section of the book makes light of a lot of those challenges, and let's you know that you are not alone… 🙂

The inside back cover also includes the Periodic Table of Excel Keyboard Shortcuts by Mike Alexander.  I love keyboard shortcuts and this is a really cool visual reference using the periodic table.

There is a ton of content packed into this 277 page book.  I love to just flip through it and learn something new every time I pick it up.  All the pages are glossy and you can tell that a lot of work went into the artwork and images.  It's a great book to keep on your desk, or to give as a gift to your favorite Excel geek.

Win a Free Copy of the Book

To help spread the word about this awesome book, I am going to give away 4 free copies!

This will be the printed version of the the book.  You can check it out here on Amazon or The Mr Excel Bookstore.

I will hold a drawing and to pick the winners at random.

I want to make it as easy as possible for you to enter the drawing.  So, all you need to do is leave a comment at the bottom of this post with your favorite Excel tip.

This could be something as simple as your favorite keyboard shortcut or formula.  One of my favorites is the Alt+; keyboard shortcut to select visible cells.

Add a sentence or two to describe what your shortcut or tip does, so others can learn from it.  And don't worry about it being the most amazing tip ever, just something simple that saves you time.

Winners Announced!

I want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone that participated in this contest.  There were over 350 unique comments, and a lot of great tips that we can all learn from.

Here are a list of the winners I picked at random.  I accidentally picked 6, instead of 4, so we have two extra winners.  Congratulations!

• Lynne – Ctrl+. (period) to move around selected range.
• Rajendra – Use Pivot Tables for working with numbers – Report Filter Pages
• Tom Crouch – Excel Tables and Ctrl+T
• Diane Smith – Double Clicking the Format Painter
• Matthew – F2 to Edit Text or Formula in active cell
• Debra Holcomb – Ctrl+; (semicolon) to enter today's date

Video of the 6 Winning Tips

I also put together a tutorial video of the 6 winning tips listed above.

I will be adding more videos and tutorials on the tips you posted in the future.  Feel free to read through the comments below, and see how many of the tips you already know. 🙂

Thanks again!