As an excel user, you know the value of good formatting. A messy excel model can be a nightmare to navigate and understand - which is why many excel professionals have developed a strict threshold for when it's time to get to work on their excel tables. When building an excel model, it's important to make sure anyone could easily take it over and comprehend it without much trouble. This means formatting everything with plenty of readability in mind - from your lookups to your output tables. Taking the extra step of making sure everything is properly formatted with simple organization can go a long way in delivering a valuable excel model.

Keeping your excel sheets organized is essential in order to easily refer back to previous calculations. A great way to do this is by formatting the tabs in your excel model so that they go from left to right. Put your output tables on the far left, followed by any other data displayed in the following tabs and finally, place any lookup excel sheets on the very right. Having a consistent model will help keep your work organized, making it easier for you make any changes or corrections needed as you progress with your project.

Keeping your excel worksheets organized can often seem overwhelming and exhausting, but with a few simple tricks, it can be made easy. For example, clearly labeling columns with different colors will provide an overall visual of what is happening in each excel tab. Keeping all of the raw data in your far left columns allows for simple access when creating lookups and calculated fields on the right side of your excel sheets. This key excel tip helps to keep everything visually organized and easily assessable in one glance!

Struggling to navigate your excel workbook? Separators and colors to the rescue! Adding separators to your tabs will help you easily identify which tabs are related and make navigation a breeze. Then take it up a notch by adding some pizzaz to your excel worksheets by color coding the tabs. Now you'll be able to tell at a glance which excel sheets contains what, making it easier than ever to get around. Thanks for tuning in, and don't forget to check out our video for a live walkthrough of excel navigation techniques.