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Insert new line in Excel formula - Mac and Windows I ran across the need to insert a line break into a formula in Excel 2008 (I am pretty sure this works with most older versions too). My problem was simple.
Many of you are transitioning to Excel for the Mac, and have asked us what our favorite Excel Mac shortcuts are. While our keyboard covers show the 20 most commonly used shortcuts, there are definitely a few gems that really make using Excel on the Mac that much better than the PC. That’s right…I said it…Excel for the Mac is better than the PC!
Here are the Top 5:
1) Increase/Decrease Font Size – SHIFT+COMMAND+. (increase)SHIFT+COMMAND+, (decrease)
The reason why this is the best Mac Excel shortcut is because it doesn’t even exist on the PC! Quickly increase and decrease the font size without going through the Format Cells menu or clicking on the pesky font size drop-down in the toolbar.
2) Delete Everything in Selected Cells – FN+DELETE
Why is it so hard to delete stuff in Excel for the Mac? Press fn+delete and you’ll actually delete everything in your selection and the delete button actually works like it’s intended to work.
3) Create Filter – SHIFT+COMMAND+F
You have a list of data and you need to create a filter. Instead of going through the regular toolbar, navigate to the first row with the field names in your list and hit shift+command+f. Simple.
4) Center Align Data – COMMAND+E
You have a bunch of cells with data and they are all weirdly aligned. Some are right-aligned and some are left-aligned. The reason why this shortcut is so powerful is because it’s SO EASY to use! There is no equivalent on the PC; the PC shortcut is ALT, H, A, C! Definitely a lot simpler to hit command+e in my opinion!
5) Autosum a Bunch of Numbers – SHIFT+COMMAND+T
We’ve all had to type =SUM(blah blah blah) before to sum a bunch of numbers. This handy shortcut let’s you create the sum automatically without having to type in the formula! Just go to the empty cell below a bunch of numbers you want to sum and hit shift+command+t and Excel automatically knows which cells you want to sum!
In conclusion, Excel for the Mac is pretty powerful…
Which Excel for Mac shortcuts do you use every day? Which Excel shortcuts on the PC do you wish existed on the Mac?
-->Symptoms
When entering a formula an error will occur if trying to use a symbol that is not the default 'list separator' in the Windows Regional settings.
Cause
If the error occurs when you use a character to separate the arguments you expect to work and Excel will not accept it then this is typically caused by either or both of the following scenarios:
- The list separator in Windows - Regional Settings does not match what is being typed for the Excel formula.
- The 'Use system separators' option is set in Excel Advanced Options and does not match what is being typed for the Excel formula.
![Inserting Formula On Excel For Mac Inserting Formula On Excel For Mac](/uploads/1/2/5/8/125861422/282724457.png)
Resolution
To workaround the error message follow the following steps:
- Determine if 'Use system separators' is selected in Excel options. From the File menu select Options. Select Advanced. In the 'Editing options' group determine if 'Use system separators' is unselected. If it is unselected you can select it to have Excel use the Windows Regional settings or specify the 'Thousands separator' you want to use.If the 'Use system separators' is enabled then look in the Region (Regional) Settings in the Windows Control Panel. The list separator is specified in the Additional settings.
- Use the same character as the designated list separator in Windows settings when creating the formula(s).
- Use the Reset button to reset the options to match the default for the selected country or modify the Windows List Separator to a different character (some special characters cannot be used).
Note
By default, Microsoft Excel uses the system separators that are defined in the regional settings in Control Panel. If you sometimes need to display numbers with different separators for thousands or decimals, you can temporarily replace the system separators with custom separators. To do that please follow the steps in the following article.
The comma is the default list separator for US - English Locale.
Changing the List separator in the Windows Region settings will affect the delimiter used when opening or saving a Comma-separated value (.csv) file as Excel utilizes the Windows list separator character for the delimiter in .csv files.