Why do people look at me in such surprise when I tell them I know Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc?

You could have written an IF function that automatically enters “Plastic” if it finds “BM”, “BR”, and “IB”, and then paste that function into every cell of the column.

Good on you. Now it is time to see if you can get hired on permanently for all their Excel needs and avoid giving the temp agency a cut.

Joel is a dick (I have read his blog for a decade) but he knows his shit about Excel since he helped write it.

You Suck at Excel with Joel Spolsky

Sounds like you should be paid more money than you are being paid.

Well, I’m a temp at the moment @JLeslie.

I was just telling my son the other day that I’ve never learned IF commands. I’ve never had need to. I have a need to now, though! I’ll check it out tomorrow.

What would the formula be, @ragingloli?

well, if the strings you are looking for are in the, for example, A column,
the function would be like this:
=if(a$1=“BM”,“Plastic”,if(a$1=“BR”,“Plastic”,if(a$1=“IB”,“Plastic”,””)))
If memory serves me right, it has been a few years since I used excel.

I don’t think kids would be learning tips and tricks in excel other than basic stuff unless they need it. Very few must be aware of the power of excel and things that can be achieved easily using it.

My 31 year old daughter couldn’t remember one bill. I told her to just make an Excel spreadsheet on her phone to keep track of them. She said that was too complicated. WHAT?? I always wanted to teach computer classes at the High School level. They need to know this stuff.

Thanks @ragingloli.

honestly though, if someone says they “know” excel, I expect them to know how to use functions

I know the functions that I know. I don’t know what I don’t know. If I need to learn it I do. Then I know more. Getting insulted when you’re trying to learn doesn’t help a bit.
Virtually everything I know I taught my self. Who taught you when you didn’t know something? And did they insult you for not knowing it?

^^ You should be proud that you already know stuff which people thought you wouldn’t. As far as above comments are concerned just ignore them and keep on learning the way you are!!

Or, to follow up on what @ragingloli said, simply filter the columns for the “contains” values, and then selected the relevant cells, type the word “Plastic” once and hit Ctrl-Enter to grab them all at once.

Or written a macro to automate the whole process.

Or even better, put a damn 2300 row spreadsheet into a database, where it belongs in the first place…

Perhaps they are surprised because you need to put this into your C.V.?

I tend not to buy into the age prejudice thing I am 50 plus and my last job although primarily financial sales also included complicated computer systems. I had to navigate my way around them or it was chips for me. So it was just expected, my age was not an issue.

When you filled out the application for the temp agency, did you specify that you know those things? If not, you’re probably getting paid at “receptionist” rate and the company you’re temping at didn’t realize you have other skills.

I realize you are bored and happy to do something productive. I am wondering if the temp agency would be paying you more (and charging the company more) if they realized you are now using some computer skills, not just answering the phone.

(I was a temp for a bunch of years out of college)

You will likely get paid more at jobs actually requesting someone with Microsoft Office skills. If this employer only asked the temp agency for a receptionist then it pays what it pays. I made $18 an hour at one point temping as an admin. The same company paid less to temps who just answered phones and greeted people.

Did you do the Microsoft Office proficiency testing at the temp agency when you applied?

I think the IF function you go to the cell you want to say plastic and type IF(D5=IB,“plastic”,IF(D5=BM,“plastic”,IF(D5=BR,“plastic”))) that’s assuming the BM, BR, IB is in column D5 (change accordingly). If those letters can occur in various columns maybe what @ragingloli wrote is correct? I’ve never used the $ in formulas, maybe that looks for the word in any part of the row? Is that how it works @ragingloli?

If you use the formula I gave (if I remember it correctly) you should be able to copy it straight down the column like you did the word plastic by using the right bottom corner of the cell. It should automatically change the D5, to D6, D7, etc, as you go down the row.

@ragingloli Does the $ find what you need anywhere in the row?

It’s all on my resume.

@CWOTUS i just work with what they give me.

@JLeslie The $ sign stops it from automatically assigning the next cell location.
I’m at work now. I’ll figure it out.
Thanks for the encouragement!

Actually, @JLeslie, the better formula would be:
=IF( OR( D5 = “IB”, D5 = “BM”, D5 = “BR”), “Plastic”, ””)

I’m sure there’s a better array formula to check, too, but I’m not so familiar with array functions.

the $ sign makes the number part of the cell address dynamic, which makes it automatically increment when you drag-copy it down.

@ragingloli I never use the $ sign and my formulas already do what I think you are saying when I drag down the column to copy. Do you mean your formula works from one cell? Wait, I have to look this up. Never mind.

@CWOTUS Ah, I wondered if there was some sort of way to use “or.”

Ah, wait, it is actually the other way around. The $ sign locks it.

But, does the $ let you use one cell as a formula? I haven’t looked it up yet. For instance, my boss has been using an entire column to put in the current currency exchange from USD to EUR, and another column for the reverse. I want to get rid of those two columns and just have one cell for each at the top of the spreadsheet. I know there is a way. Probably, my husband knows how, but he’s been so busy I haven’t asked him.

if you put the $ in front of both the letter and the number ($A$1), it should lock the address to that cell.

I got basic IF command down, but just for one variable. I actually need to search for 3: BM, MR, IM. All of those need the designation of “plastic.”

I can’t use it on the spread sheets I’m working on now, because the column I need to put them in isn’t clear. It has other designations in it. I just want to know how to do them.

@JLeslie If you add up a couple of cells, like, A1 + B1 and put the function in C3, then copy that function and drag it on down the C column it automatically adjusts the rows to match what. For example, it will automatically pick up, A2, B2, then A3, B3.
If you put the $ in, it doesn’t automatically adjust. It just keeps referencing back to the one cell where you specified $.

Here’s add on tool you can use to achieve this. Check this link here

Fyi.. this ^^ is not an advertisement but just found it while googling for your problem..)

Thank you SO much for your help, @imrainmaker!

You’re welcome..)

@Dutchess_III The use of the parenthesis in my IF formula should take care of needing to search for BM, MR, and IM.

IF(D5=IB,“plastic”,IF(D5=BM,“plastic”,IF(D5=BR,“plastic”)))

@CWOTUS suggested an equation with “or” which makes sense to me too; I’ve never tried it. =IF( OR( D5 = “IB”, D5 = “BM”, D5 = “BR”), “Plastic”, ””)

Edit: for some reason the entire equation doesn’t show on my the mobile, but it’s fine on desktop. If you are using a mobile device switch to desktop at the bottom of the page to make sure you are seeing the equation in its entirety.

I love Excel

@Dutchess_III: What you can do, if you are proficient in Excel (even with reasonable proficiency), is tell the agency you’d like to utilize your skills more and perhaps, for future jobs they will hire you out (and pay you) at a higher rate.

Another advantage of getting jobs that utilize your Excel is that it can be kind of like on the job training. You might learn some things from someone there who knows it. You can be honest with them and tell them you are not a “wiz” at it but have a decent proficiency, and that may be all the client needs. Then you can ask questions and they might give you some training, and as you go along you’ll get more and more skilled.

I love Excel too, @Stinley. I taught my self basic IF commands yesterday morning, and this morning I teased out how to Nest! It is so cool.

I have to say here that if you did NOT know “if” functions and nesting until now, people might be looking at you strangely when you make a claim to “know” Excel… because you obviously don’t really know it, at least in terms of common functions. “IF” is one of the commonest.

Just putting that out there. I try to avoid making claims of being “expert” at Excel (not that this is the claim that you’re making) because I have a pretty good sense of the limitations of my knowledge, even though I do know keyboard shortcuts, multiple ways to do most of the things that I want to do, troubleshooting and auditing of spreadsheets, named ranges and writing and using VBA procedures for macros and user-defined functions, among other things. I’m not an expert, and I think sometimes that I “barely” know Excel when I meet real experts online. (I can also break sheet protection passwords any time – at least on versions of Excel through 2013 – I haven’t tried with the newer version yet, though I don’t use that capability ‘for fun’ or for malicious purposes, either.) I barely know Excel.

Spend some time at sites like MrExcel.com and others of that ilk and you’ll see what I mean. In fact, I will add that I didn’t start to really understand Excel until I started trying (and failing, a lot) to explain functions to users who were even less experienced than I was. If you want to learn Excel faster, I recommend that, too: start answering others’ questions about “How do I… ?” and see how it advances your own knowledge.

I never had a reason to know it, @CWOTUS. I never had a job that required the knowledge. I’ve never had one person ask if I know IF commands. Not one. Not one interviewer, no one.
I know IF commands are common becasue I hear of them often, but I never needed to learn them.

Yesterday I learned them. They are very simple. Can’t use them for what I originally wanted to use them for, but I now have that knowledge tucked away.

Do you know these example of Excel functions?
ABS
ACOS
ASINH
ATAN
COS
FACTDOUBLE
GCD
BESSELI
BESSELK
BIN2HEX
DELTA
ERFC
GESTEP
BETADIST
BETAINV
COVAR
LOGINV

Well, if you don’t know them people might be looking at you strangely when you make a claim to “know” Excel.

Nobody knows anything until they learn it.

And there shouldn’t be any embarrassment or shame piled on one when they try to learn something new.