Excel: 7 Easy Tricks for Non-Excel Users

Key insights

• Copilot / Agent Mode
  Excel now uses AI to let you describe tasks in plain English and get automated steps, formulas, or cleanups. 
  Use it to speed data cleaning, create charts, or generate formulas without deep Excel knowledge.
• STOCKHISTORY
  Pull historical market data directly with =STOCKHISTORY("TICKER", start, end), for example =STOCKHISTORY("MSFT","2025-01-01",TODAY()).
  This saves time when tracking prices or building financial summaries without external downloads.
• LARGE and SMALL
  Find rankings fast with =LARGE(range,2) for the second-highest or =SMALL(range,1) for the smallest value.
  Use these for sales rankings, outlier checks, or simple competitive comparisons.
• CHAR(10) and Wrap Text
  Combine cells with line breaks using =A1 & CHAR(10) & B1 and turn on Wrap Text to stack text neatly in one cell.
  This creates readable notes, multi-line addresses, or compact summaries in reports.
• REPT
  Make mini bar charts inside cells with =REPT("█",A1/MAX($A$1:$A$10)*10) to visualize relative values quickly.
  Use REPT for lightweight dashboards when full charts are overkill.
• Pivot Table grouping
  Group age or date ranges in Pivot Tables for clean summaries, and use dynamic ranges or tables so reports update automatically when data changes.
  Combine this with data validation and cell protection to keep shared sheets accurate and polished.

Overview: A Practical Guide from Mynda Treacy

In a recent YouTube video, Excel expert Mynda Treacy of MyOnlineTrainingHub presents a concise set of tips titled "7 Excel Tricks for People Who Aren't 'Excel People'." The piece targets everyday users who need reliable shortcuts for common tasks without deep technical training. Consequently, Treacy focuses on practical techniques that save time and reduce errors, and she frames them for beginners through to more confident users.

The video emphasizes actions that recur in typical office work, such as keeping data tidy, preventing input mistakes, and making spreadsheets update automatically. Although the tips are simple, Treacy argues they are often overlooked, which forces people to use slow or error-prone workarounds. Therefore, the tutorial aims to make those everyday wins accessible to non-experts.

Quick Summary of the Seven Tricks

Treacy walks viewers through seven specific tricks that work across job types. First, she demonstrates the STOCKHISTORY function to pull historical stock data directly into a worksheet, which is useful for basic financial tracking without external tools.

Next, she shows how to find the second largest or smallest values with LARGE and SMALL, then how to combine cell values with line breaks using concatenation and CHAR(10). She also covers formatting currencies correctly, including regional symbols, so values display consistently.

The video continues with the creative use of REPT to make mini bar charts in cells, and it demonstrates grouping age ranges inside PivotTables for cleaner reports. Finally, Treacy highlights a technique that helps spreadsheets update automatically when new rows arrive by converting ranges to an Excel Table and using structured references or built-in refresh behaviors.

Why These Tricks Matter for Everyday Work

These techniques reduce manual effort in ways that matter on a daily basis. For example, using a Table turns static ranges into dynamic ones, so formulas and PivotTables adapt as you add data, which saves time and lowers the risk of missed rows when reporting.

Similarly, functions like STOCKHISTORY and the dynamic aggregation tools avoid repetitive lookups and copying, speeding up routine tasks. Thus, even small conveniences compound into large productivity gains over time, especially for people who manage recurring reports or shared workbooks.

Tradeoffs and Practical Challenges

However, there are tradeoffs to consider when adopting these shortcuts. Automation reduces repetitive work, yet it can also hide errors if users do not check assumptions or validate inputs regularly. For instance, a dynamic data connection may break if the source changes format or if permissions differ across accounts.

Moreover, some of the newer conveniences rely on current Excel versions or specific licensing tiers for AI-driven features, so teams with mixed environments can encounter compatibility issues. Therefore, organizations must balance ease of use with governance, ensuring that automated sheets have checks and documentation to prevent unexpected outcomes.

Compatibility, Security, and Learning Curve

Another practical challenge is compatibility. Functions like STOCKHISTORY and the best behavior of Table features work differently across Excel for desktop, web, and different release channels. Consequently, spreadsheets built with the latest features may not function fully for colleagues on older builds.

Security also matters because automated queries and linked data may expose sensitive information if shared incorrectly. As a result, users should pair convenience with measures like protected cells, controlled sharing, and clear versioning to reduce risk. Finally, while the tricks are simple, teams should plan short training or documentation to keep everyone aligned and to flatten the learning curve.

Takeaways for Non-Experts

Overall, Treacy’s video provides a compact toolkit for people who use Excel but do not identify as power users. It demonstrates that with a few targeted techniques—such as dynamic tables, concise formulas, and lightweight visual tricks—non-experts can deliver cleaner and faster results without mastering advanced formulas.

In short, these tricks encourage safer automation, better presentation, and less repetitive work, but they come with the need for awareness about compatibility and governance. Therefore, viewers should apply them thoughtfully, test outcomes, and document assumptions so that convenience does not become a hidden source of errors.

Keywords

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