What do you use Excel for?

I have a question for those people, whose work is not connected with Excel very tighly. For what purposes do you use Excel for?

Though I do use it for work, I do also use it for a bunch of non-work related purporses, such as:
- I created a program to automatically balance my checkbook in Excel (I just make the line entry, as it does all the balancing)
- do loan payment calculations when I am shopping for a new car
- store important information in lists that I can sort and filter, as I need

Thank you! I just wanted to know how I can use Excel more efficiently.

From some of the posts online here over the years, I have also seen people use it to Catalog their music, movies, books, etc.
There are lots of different ways you can use it, depending on your needs and interests.

Joe4 said:

There are lots of different ways you can use it, depending on your needs and interests.

Click to expand...

I totally agree!

From my experience, Excel doesn't come to you without you having a requirement/need but you eventually end up working in Excel when you realize that you can do almost all kinds of data manipulation with it. The following is just a sample that might give another usage idea.

When I import data from other sources to a database, like Excel, text/CSV files, etc., I often use Excel to create SQL statements, so I can manipulate data as I wish before the import. Following is a sample of creating INSERT INTO statements to be executed to transfer data. Although this is for creating data, I use the same logic to create UPDATE statements which make things really faster.
(Names and information in the mini-sheets below are not real)

Not only for SQL but generating text content in Excel by using formulas and its tabular structure easily helps me a lot in many other applications. The following is a sample of an HTML list that I will use in a static HTML page and created quickly instead of typing all those in the editor:

Wow, thank you very much for such a detailed description!

In our organization, I recently worked on creating a VBA based tool that
> Creates multiple AutoCAD Drawings based on a selected template
> Opens AutoCAD, updates the drawings by mapping the values assigned in a table.
It translates Engineer's work directly to drawings and reduces manual work and review time.

As you go on digging, you will find Excel with its powerful features, creates a vast array of endless possibilities. Keep exceling!!

I've kept a running (exercise) log in Excel since 1998 and thanks to the marvellous, clever and selfless folk on this board who've tirelessly helped me out, it's become an amazing app and a pleasure to use.

I used to scrap data for my PhD.

I do a lot data processing and filteration, creating reports for my company and for that excel is my go to tool