You might spend most of your precious time entering formulas and formatting range on Excel, but all that could go to waste if someone enters inappropriate value. The good news is you can fix these issue hassle-free provided you detect them. But the most effective way to go about this is avoiding them in the first place. In this post, we will share some of the most notable tips you can employ if you’re to reduce data entry errors and protect the validity of your data.
- Validate Input Values
Thanks to the data validation excel feature, it will prove quite easy for you to do away with inappropriate data. All it takes is for you to specify the conditions that a value ought to meet, and Excel will automatically reject the values that are not in line with the set conditions. To make use of this feature, simply click on the Data tab after which you should click the Data Validation drop-down in the Data Tools group.
- Provide a List
Even though validating data input values will help you in doing away with data entry mistakes, it isn’t foolproof. For instance, you may opt to limit entries, but it’s still possible for the user to enter the wrong decimal value. To prevent this from happening, it would be better for you to create a list when input values belonging to a given set. Through this action, users will choose an item from the list thus narrowing down their opportunities of introducing errors into the sheet. You can then use this list to enter data into a range or single cell.
The Bottom Line
Avoiding data entry mistakes in Excel is not that hard as it might sound. All it takes is for you to understand what is expected and you’re good to go. Hopefully, the above-mentioned tips will serve as a good starting point if you are to do away with errors once and for all. Be sure to ask for help if you are still finding it hard in eliminating the errors.