Modern Excel is a freely downloadable Microsoft Excel Plugin that helps you to easily convert unintelligible Excel formulae that use References (for cells) to tailored formulae that use customized words / strings to refer to Cells, Rows and Columns. Once the conversion is done, it becomes extremely simple for anyone to understand the formula.
For example: You can change the formula A3 * B3 that looks indiscernible to something like Cost * No_of_Items which is perfectly explicable. The custom names have to be specified in the spreadsheet itself in the same row or column without leaving any blank rows and column in between.
How it Works:
1. Download the Modern Excel plugin (Zip file) from the link provided at the end of this article.
2. Unzip the file and install the Plugin by running the setup.exe file.
3. Look at the Excel screenshot below to visualize the spreadsheet that we will use for this purpose.
4. You can clearly see that the present formulae used in the spreadsheet are purely based on cell references.
5. In the top Menu bar, click on View and then click on the Show Task Pane (Modern Excel) button in the toolbar at the top. Next click on ‘Analyze’ and apply all the recommendations displayed by the Plugin.
6. Now when you view the same formulae, you will observe that the obscure cell references have changed to custom names based on the row / column names that you have used in your spreadsheet. These are very easy to learn and understand.
You must ensure that there are no blank columns / rows between the ones that carry the customized (named) words to be used and those that carry the numerical values that are used in the calculation. Without this, the resultant formula will not be completely intelligible and may carry some cell references.
Final Words:
Modern Excel is a neat Microsoft Excel Plugin that you can use to make your formulae understandable and intelligible as compared to the obscure ones that use cell references and are difficult to discern at times.
Click here to download the Modern Excel plugin in Zip file format.
