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Excel's text functions can be used to manipulate or change text data in your spreadsheet. These functions can save you from having to retype data that has been imported from another source.

Excel 2007 PROPER Function
Sometimes the data we want to import or copy into a spreadsheet is in the wrong case. That is to say, it might be all capitals or all small letters. To convert this data to proper case (which uses partial capitalization) Excel has the PROPER function.

The syntax for the PROPER function is:

= PROPER ( Text )

Text - the text you want to change. This can be a cell reference, a word or words enclosed in quotation marks, or a formula that outputs text.

Excel 2007 LOWER Function
There may be times, however, when you want the data you import into your Excel spreadsheet to be all in lower case (small letters). To achieve this without retyping it you can use the LOWER function.

The syntax for the LOWER function is:

= LOWER ( Text )

Text - the text you want to change.

Excel 2007 VALUE Function
Or, sometimes when data is imported or copied into an Excel spreadsheet the numbers are converted to labels. This means that they can't be used in formulas or functions. To change them back into values, so that they can be used in calculations, use the VALUE function.

The syntax for the VALUE function is:

= VALUE ( Text )

Text - the data you want to change.

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Excel Tips from About.com:Spreadsheets

Dates are important parts of many spreadsheets. They can be used to simply add the current date to a spreadsheet or they can be used to calculate the number of days between two dates.

DATEDIF

The DATEDIF function can be used to calculate the number of days between two dates in versions of Excel from 97 to 2007.

To use the function you must type it manually into a cell on the worksheet rather than using the dialog box method available for other functions.

The syntax for the DATEDIF function is:

= DATEDIF ( start_date , end_date , unit )

The function has three arguments that need to be entered as part of the function:

* start_date - the first or starting date.
* end_date - the second or last date.
* unit - tells the function to find the number of days ("D"), months ("M"), or years ("Y") between the two dates.

NETWORKDAYS

The NETWORKDAYS function, one of Excel's Date and Time functions, can be used to count the number of working days between two dates. The function automatically removes weekend days from the total. Specific holidays can also be omitted.

The syntax for the NETWORKDAYS function is:

= NETWORKDAYS ( Start_date , End_date , Holidays )

Start_date - the start date of the chosen time period.

End_date - the end date of the chosen time period.

Holidays - can be used to exclude one or more dates from the total number of working days (optional).

DAYS360

The DAYS360 function, one of Excel's Date and Time functions, can be used in accounting systems to calculate the number of days between two dates based on a 360-day year (twelve 30-day months).

The syntax for the DAYS360 function is:

= DAYS360 ( Start_date , End_date , Method )

Start_date - the start date of the chosen time period.

End_date - the end date of the chosen time period.

Method - A Boolean value (TRUE or FALSE).

* If TRUE -- the function uses the U.S. method of calculating start and end dates.
* If FALSE -- the function uses the European method of calculating start and end dates.

Note: The Method can be omitted.

Change the Default/Standard Font in Excel

1. From the Tools menu, select Options, and then select the General tab.
2. From the Standard font dropdown list, select the desired font, and set the Size.
3. Click OK.