Excel Video 31 demonstrates how easy it is to add data to an existing table. If you need to add more rows of data, simply go to the bottom of the table and start typing. Excel will carry over the formatting of the existing table and include the new data in your totals. Don’t worry too much about the conditional formatting example with the patient ages, we’ll spend several lectures on Conditional Formatting in future videos. The point is that formatting that exists in the table automatically carries over to new rows.
The other thing that makes it really easy to add data to tables is when you want to add a calculation in a column. The example in Excel Video 31 is simply calculating the month of the E&M visit, but watch what happens when you enter a calculation in one cell. Excel assumes that you’ll want the same calculation in the rest of the table and adds the necessary formulas automatically. If you’ve overridden a formula or typed in text in a specific cell, Excel ignores that cell when it automatically calculates the rest of the column, but will give you a warning in that cell. We’ll look more at warnings in a future lecture.
In the next Excel video, I’ll discuss how to use the Total Row and show you a trick to always see the totals on the screen.
