::: Excel tips 14 :::

>> Counting the days via cell subtraction <<

By default, Excel 97 adjusts the display of dates to friendly displays that users can identify. But behind the scenes, Excel still thinks in numbers. So finding the number of days between two days is as easy as simply subtracting one cell that contains a date, regardless of format, from another date-carrying cell.
For example, let's suppose a user has entered the date 2/20/2000 in cell A1 and 3/10/2000 in cell A2. The formula A2-A1 will return the result 19 (2000 was a leap year). Note: You must use the date that falls later in the calendar year as the first argument of the equation, or the equation will return an error.
By default, Excel will format the result of a formula in the same format as the source cells. So in our example, it reports that the difference between 2/20/2000 and 3/10/2000 is 1/19/1900. However, simply right-clicking the formula cell, selecting Format Cells, and selecting a Number format will fix this problem.

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>> Quickly shuffling toolbar buttons <<

Here's a quick tip you can pass on to your users who like to modify their Excel toolbars.
Instead of right-clicking a toolbar and selecting Customize to launch the Customize dialog box, they can simply press the [Alt] key and click and drag a button to any toolbar they want. Of course, both the source and target toolbars must be visible for this procedure to be effective.
One quick word of warning: This technique moves buttons, so they will no longer be on the default toolbar. If users want to copy a button to a new toolbar while retaining its position on the original one, they can hold down [Ctrl][Alt] while clicking and dragging the button.