Top 25 Microsoft Excel Interview Questions

1)  What is Microsoft Excel?

Microsoft excel is an electronic worksheet developed by Microsoft, to be used for organizing, storing and manipulating.

2) What is ribbon?

The ribbon runs on the top of the application and is the replacement for the toolbars and menus.  The ribbons have various tabs on the top, and each tab has its own group of commands.

3) How can I hide or show the ribbon?

Use the  CTRL and  F1 key to toggle &  show or hide the ribbon.

4) How can you wrap the text within a cell?

You have to select the text you want to wrap, and then click wrap text from the home tab and you can wrap the text within a cell.

5) Is it possible to prevent someone from copying the cell from your worksheet?

Yes, it is possible. In order to protect your worksheet from getting copied, you need to go into Menu bar >Review > Protect sheet > Password.  By

entering password, you can secure your worksheet from getting copied by others.

6) How you can sum up the Rows and Column number quickly in the excel sheet?

By using SUM function you can get the total sum of the rows and columns, in an excel worksheet.

7) How you can add a new excel worksheet?

To add a new Excel worksheet you have to insert worksheet tab at the bottom of the screen.

8) How you can resize the column?

To resize the column you have to change the width of one column and then drag the boundary on the right side of the column heading till the width you want.  The other way of doing it is to select the Format from the home tab, and in Format you have to select AUTOFIT COLUMN WIDTH under cell section. On clicking on this the cell size will get formatted.

9) What are three report formats that are available in Excel?

• Compact
• Report
•  Tabular

10) How would you provide a Dynamic range in “Data Source” of Pivot Tables?

To provide a dynamic range in “Data Source” of Pivot tables, first create a named range using offset function and base the pivot table using a named range created in the first step.

11) Is it possible to make Pivot table using multiple sources of data?

If the multiple sources are different worksheets, from same workbook, then it is possible to make Pivot table using multiple sources of data.

12) Which event do you use to check whether the Pivot Table is modified or not?

To check whether the pivot table is modified or not we use “PivotTableUpdate” in worksheet containing the pivot table.

13) What you could do to stop the pivot table from loosing the column width upon refreshing?

Format loss in pivot table can be stopped simply by changing the pivot table options.  Under the “Pivot Table Options” turn on the “Enable Preserve Formatting” and disable “ Auto Format” option.

14) What is IF function in excel?

To perform the logic test IF function is performed. It checks whether certain conditions is true or false. If the condition is true then it will give result accordingly if the condition is false then the result or out-put will be different.

Example: For example, you select the cell and you want to display that cell as “Greater than five”, when value is true (=5 or 5) and “less than five” when value is false( <5 ). For that by using IF condition you can display result.

=IF (Logical test, value if true, value if false)

=IF (A1>5, “Greater than five, “Less than five”)

15) What does a red triangle at the top right of a cell indicates?

A red triangle in the cell indicates the comment associated with the cell.  If you place mouse on it, it will show the comment.

16) To move to the previous worksheet and to next sheet, what keys will you press?

 To move to the previous worksheet you will use the keys Ctrl+PgUp, and to move to the next sheet you will use keys Ctrl+PgDown.

17) What filter will you use, if you want more than two conditions or if you want to analyse the list using database function?

You will use Advanced Criteria Filter, to analyse the list or if more than two conditions should be tested.

18) What is the quick way to return to a specific area of a worksheet?

The quick way to return to a specific area of worksheet is by using name box.  You can type the cell address or range name in name box to return to a specific area of a worksheet.

19) What is the benefit of using formula in excel sheet?

Calculating the numbers in excel sheet, not only help you to give the final ‘sum up’ of the number but, it also calculate automatically the number replaced by another number or digit.  Through excel sheet, the complex calculations becomes easy like payroll deduction or averaging the student’s result.

20) What is the “What If” condition in excel formulas?

The “What If” condition is used to change the data in Microsoft excel formulas to give different answers.

Example: You are buying a new car and want to calculate the exact amount of tax that will be levied on it then you can use the “What If” function.  For instance there is three cells A4,B4 and C4. First cell says about the amount, second cell will tell about the percentage (7.5%)  of tax and final cell will calculate the exact amount of tax.

21) How you can disable the automating sorting in pivot tables?

To disable the automating sorting in pivot tables,

Go to >  “More Sort Options”> Right Click  “Pivot table” > Select “Sort” menu > Select  “ More Options” >  Deselect the “ Sort automatically when the report is created”.

22) What is the AND function does in excel?

Like IF function, AND function also does the logical function. To check whether the output will be true or false the AND function will evaluate at least one mathematical expression located in another cell in the spreadsheet. If you want to see the final result or output of more than one cells in single cell it is possible by using AND function.

Example: If you have two cells, A1 and A2, and the value you put in those two cells are >5 and you want result should display as ‘TRUE’ in cell B1 if value>5,   and ‘False’ if any of those values<5. You can use AND function to do that.

23) How cell reference is useful in the calculation?

In order to avoid writing the data again and again forcalculating purpose, cell reference is used. When you write any formula, for specific function, you need to direct excel the specific location of that data. This location is referred as, cell reference. So, every time a new value added to the cell, the cell will calculate according to the reference cell formula.

24) What is the sequence of operating mathematical operation in Excel?

The order of sequence of operating is BEDMAS

• Brackets
• Exponents
• Division
• Multiplication
• Addition
• Subtraction

25) What does a LOOK UP function searches in the MS Excel?

In Microsoft excel, the LOOKUP function returns a value from a range or from an array.