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If there are any of you who feel as
though your growing experiences with
today’s technologies is very much like a
trip with Alice down the rabbit hole, this
column is for you. Our purpose here is to
familiarize you with many of the features
present in today’s technologies that we
hope will make your day easier. We invite
your comments and suggestions as we
focus on improving skills and gaining new
perspectives on technology as it affects a
paralegal’s daily tasks.
Learning to Excel
The following applies to Microsoft® Office
Excel® 2000, 2003, and 2007.
Many people use Excel for numeric calculation
and lists, but did you know that
Excel can calculate dates, also? The date
functions provided with Excel (plus at
least one “hidden” function) can be
tremendous time-savers if you learn to use
them properly.
Those Tasty Dates
So where are these date functions found?
If you click on the function button (the
small button to the left of the formula
bar—the one with the letters “fx”—see
Figure 1) an “Insert function” box
appears. (See Figure 2.)
Click on the button to the right of the
“Or select a category” dropdown list and
select “Date & Time.” A list of date functions
will appear in the “Select a function”
box. Click on one of the functions and a
brief explanation or description of the
function appears below the box. For this
article we will look at two very useful functions:
the “WEEKDAY” function, and the
hidden “DATEDIF” function.
Just Another Manic… WEEKDAY
So what use is the WEEKDAY function?
The WEEKDAY function is very handy
when you are trying to determine the day
of the week for a certain date. This function
has built-in arguments or parameters that you must assign a value to before you
can obtain an answer (see Figure 3).
Let’s take a look at the function wizard
in action. Figure 4 shows a date in cell B1
with the function wizard activated in cell
B2. The wizard is activated by clicking
first in cell B2 then (1) clicking on the fx
button, (2) selecting “Date & Time” from
the dropdown list, then (3) selecting
WEEKDAY from the dropdown list. In
this example the wizard is requesting values
for the arguments. The first argument
(Serial_number) has been assigned a value
by pointing the wizard to cell B1 so it will
analyze whatever date is typed in that cell.
The second argument is set to “1” indicating
that the user wishes to use the normal
week format, where Sunday is the first day
of the week.
Figure 5 shows the result after the user
clicked the OK button. The result is “3,”
indicating that March 25, 2008 was a Tuesday.
But what if you’d rather see the actual
name of the weekday in cell B2 than a
number?
To display the name of the weekday in cell
B2 rather than a number, right-click on
cell B2 and select “Format cells” (see Figure
6). The “Format cells” dialog box will
appear (see Figure 7).
Select “Custom” on the “Number” tab,
type “dddd” in the “Type” box, then click
the OK button. The result is now the
name of the weekday instead of a number.
What’s the 'DIF'?
DATEDIF is a “hidden” function in Excel
that calculates the difference between two
dates. There is no mention of the function
in the Help file, nor is it included with the
rest of the functions, but Excel 2000 and
every version forward supports the function. The DATEDIF function arguments
are as follows:
=DATEDIF(Date1, Date2, OutputRequirement)
Date1 is the first date, Date2 is the second
date, and OutputRequirement is one of the
following values (see What It Does table below):
In the example below (see Figure 8),
DATEDIF is used to calculate the difference
in number of years, months, and days
between July 10, 1960 and March 25, 2008.
As you can see, cell B3 displays the number
of years between the two dates. (The formula
for that cell is displayed in the formula
bar.) The formula for B4 is =DATEDIF(
B1,B2,”YM”) and the formula in cell
B5 is =DATEDIF(B1,B2,”MD”). The
answer, then, is that there is 47 years, 8
months, and 15 days between July 10, 1960
and March 25, 2008.
Improvise and Experiment
Taking advantage of the tools available to
you is not only smart, it is essential to your
success. If you have not already used the
date functions feature in Excel, experiment
with them. The hours you save using it to
calculate dates for your docket or to fill in
the blanks on a contract might convince
you that the time you spent learning about
this feature was well worth it. Being able
to calculate dates quickly and easily may
convince you that this feature was just the
assist you needed to help you increase your
accuracy and efficiency. And while it may
not truly be magic, your attorneys may
think your improved productivity is.
Pamela Crosby is a Litigation/Trial Paralegal
for Kessler & Collins, P.C. in Dallas,
Texas, and an adjunct instructor for The
American Institute of Paralegal Studies,
(http://www.americanparalegal.edu/), where
she teaches E-discovery. She is also a member
of the Institute’s Legal Tech Advisory
Committee.
Microsoft and Microsoft Excel are registered
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation
in the United States and other countries.
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