If we have to edit or create a text-based document, one of the most used solutions around the world is Microsoft‘s Word . On the contrary, if we want to focus on numerical data, the same firm offers us Excel, an important application that will be of enormous help.
Both solutions are part of the same office suite that the software giant called Office presents to us. In fact, most of you are more than likely to have heard of it or have used it on more than one occasion. It is composed of several programs such as the two mentioned, among others, to solve all our office needs, both professionally and at home.
One of the most powerful applications that we find in the aforementioned Microsoft suite is Excel, a program suitable for all types of users. Whether it is to create calendars, take home accounting, do simple accounts, or manage the accounting of an entire company, this is a software that will help us. Its user interface is made up of a huge number of cells, which is where we actually enter the content and show the results.
How to better organize data in Excel
It is possible that at first many users who are facing Excel for the first time, its interface is somewhat shocking. This is because, as we say, all of it is made up of cells. It is very different from what we are used to in programs of another nature or functionality. However, with the passage of time we will quickly realize that it is the best way to work with numerical data and formulas .
However, especially in cases where we are going to deal with a large amount of data of this type, keeping a certain order can become inescapable. Otherwise over time we will find spreadsheets replicated numerical data, but without being able to understand them. Thus, to achieve this that we tell you, the program itself offers us a series of very useful functionalities to manage everything that we deal with here.
One of the main objectives when designing a new spreadsheet in Excel, in addition to obtaining the desired results, is that it be perfectly understandable. For all this we must structure the data contained here in the best way. This is especially true in the most professional use environments. Keep in mind that on many occasions these same sheets will have to be enlarged or retouched by other users in the future.
Among the many elements that we can use to organize and improve our spreadsheets in this application are the headers and footers.
How Headers and Footers Help
As we mentioned before in these lines we are going to focus on some elements that are somewhat unknown but very useful in Excel, we refer to the headers and footers . Actually, here we refer to some personalized texts we add to the top and bottom of the sheets of the workbook that we are creating in Excel. The cool thing is that these headers and footers are fixed. We mean by this that it is actually an informative text that will be displayed on each and every one of the pages that make up the spreadsheet .
This opens up a wide range of possibilities and ways of using these two elements, all depending on the needs of each case. For example, we can use it to announce the author or company that created the sheet, to establish its creation date , project title, etc.
In addition, when generating these contents we find several well differentiated sections so that we can add several different types of content. Therefore, once we know all this, let’s see how to add these elements to your projects in Excel.
Add these items to our spreadsheet
For all this that we are counting, the first thing we have to do is open the program as such in a conventional way. It does not matter if it is a new empty sheet that we are going to start working with, or one that already has data and is half done, or even finished. and it is that both the header and the footer will not make any changes in the spreadsheet as such or in its added data.
Therefore, to carry out the process that we are going to explain here we will have to go to the Insert section of the main interface of the program. In the upper right part we find a section called Text, where we must click to see the available options.
As you can imagine, from the options available in this section, we will click on the header and footer. At that moment the Excel interface will change slightly so that we can introduce both elements in our spreadsheet.
Customize header and footer in Excel
In fact, here we find three individual boxes that are part of the header. At the top of the new interface we also see a button that says Go to footer. This will allow us to switch between both elements to define and customize both the header and the footer. In both sections we see the three rectangles to which we were referring.
Therefore, in them we will only have to enter the personalized texts that we want to be part of both elements. Of course, at the same time Excel itself gives us the possibility of adding somewhat more special content. For this, in the upper part of this same window, the program offers us a series of shortcuts to add elements such as the page number, the current date, the time, the name of the document, etc.
In addition, here we must bear in mind that thanks to the three boxes mentioned above we have the possibility of specifying up to three individual contents in both the header and the footer. With this simple step we will have the possibility to personalize and manage our Excel spreadsheets much better.