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11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

Data Entry Forms is an extremely useful feature if inputting data is part of your daily work.... read more

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Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

Data Entry Forms is an extremely useful feature if inputting data is part of your daily work.

It can help you avoid the mistakes and make the data entry process faster. It also helps you focus on one record at a time!

It is a convenient and faster way to input records in Excel by displaying one row of information at a time without having to move from one column to another.

In this tutorial, we will show you How to Create Form in Excel for Data Entry.

Whenever I wanted to enter data in Excel, it would take me a very long time to input these records one by one, but I discovered a handy trick that can turn my Excel Table into a handy Excel Data Entry Form!

11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

Say goodbye to inputting entering data into this Table row by row by row by row….

Watch our free training video on how to create an Excel Data Entry Form

Below, we will cover the Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks that will be beneficial for you:

 

Make sure to download the Excel Workbook below and follow along:

DOWNLOAD EXCEL WORKBOOK

Want to know how to use the Data Entry Form?

*** Watch our video and step by step guide below with free downloadable Excel workbook to practice ***

See also  Create Custom Symbols in Excel based on Numbers

Watch it on YouTube and give it a thumbs-up!

Download the YouTube Excel practice file

 

Watch it on YouTube and give it a thumbs-up!

Download the YouTube Excel practice file

Watch it on YouTube and give it a thumbs-up!

Download the YouTube Excel practice file

1. Create Form in Excel

I will show you how easy it is to Create Form in Excel for Data Entry with the following quick video below (scroll further down to see the step by step instructions after you watch this awesome video).

*** Watch our video below on How to Create Form in Excel in 5 minutes!***

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Create a Data Entry Form in Excel

 

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FREE EXCEL GUIDES

In this tutorial, you have learned how to create form in Excel with minutes without using VBA!!

Follow the steps below:

STEP 1: Convert your Column names into a Table, go to Insert> Table

11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

Make sure My table has headers is also checked.

11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

STEP 2:Let us add the Form Creation functionality to understand how to make a fillable form in Excel.

Go to File > Options

11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

 

STEP 3:Go to Customize Ribbon. 

Select Commands Not in the Ribbon and Form.  This is the functionality we need.

Click New Tab.

11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

 

STEP 4:Under the New Tab, select New Group, and click Add.

This will add Forms to a New Tab in our Ribbon.

11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

Notice that there is also a Rename button, you can use it to rename the New Tab and New Group into something more descriptive, like Form:

11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

 

STEP 5:Select your Table, and on your new Form tab, select Form.

11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

 

STEP 6: A new Form dialogue box will pop up!

Input your data into each section.

Click New to save it.  Repeat this process for all the records you want to add.

Press Close to get out of this screen and see the data in your Excel Table.

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11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

 

You can now use this new form to continually input data into your Excel Table!

11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

 

 

2. Add to Quick Access Toolbar (QAT)

Now that you have learned how to create form in Excel, lets put them on your QAT for easy access.

To add to the quick access toolbar, follow the steps below:

STEP 1: Click on the small arrow right next to QAT.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

STEP 2: Click on More Commands from the dropdown list.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

STEP 3: In the Excel Options dialog box, select All Commands from Choose commands from list.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

STEP 4: Select Form from the list and then click on Add>>.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

STEP 5: Form is now available in the Customize Quick Access Toolbar. Click OK.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

Data Entry Form is now part of your Quick Access Toolbar.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

 

3. Access the Form anytime

To access the Excel Data Entry Form, click on any cell in the table and click on the Form icon in Quick Access Toolbar.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

If you try to access the form when you haven’t selected a cell within the data table, you will receive an error message like the one shown below:

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

 

4. Browse through Records

To navigate through the existing records, simply use the Find Previous and Find Next buttons available on the Data Entry Form.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

You can also use the scroll bar to go through the records one after the other.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

This will save time when you have a data with multiple columns and records.

 

5. Edit Existing Record

Use the Find Previous and Find Next buttons to search for the record to want to edit.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

Once you find the desired record, simply make the necessary edit and hit Enter in Excel.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

The data table will be updated with the changes made.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

 

6. Search Criteria

Using Wildcards

If you wish to search all entries containing the word “east” in the Region Column, you can do that by using the wildcard asterisk (*).

STEP 1: In the Data Entry Form, click on the Criteria button

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Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

STEP 2: In the Region field, type *east (to search all-region containing the word east)

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

STEP 3: Click Find Next to find the entries containing the word east.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

Excel Data Entry Form will find the three entries for you in this scenario!

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

 

Using greater or less than sign

If you want to search for persons having a salary greater than or equal to $75,000, you can do so by following the steps below:

STEP 1: In the Data Entry Form, click on the Criteria button

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

STEP 2: In the Salary field, type >=75000.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

STEP 3: Click Find Next to find all entries with a salary greater than or equal to $75,000.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

 

7. Restore a Record

Suppose you have accidentally deleted the first name of a record.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

And you don’t remember what was written in that field! Don’t panic.

You can use the Restore button in the Excel Data Entry Form and retrieve the data lost accidentally.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

The data will reappear in the respective field.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

One thing you need to keep in mind is that the Restore button is only useful if you haven’t hit Enter.

The moment you press the Enter button, the Restore button will become inactive and you won’t be able to revert back to the original data.

 

8. Data Validation in Forms

Even though you cannot directly add any data validation to the form. Any restriction created on the data table will still be in effect in the Forms.

Let’s see how!

Say, you add a list rule to the Region Column using Data Validation.

STEP 1: Select the Region Column.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

STEP 2: Go to Data Tab > Data Tools (Group) > Data Validation.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

STEP 3: In the Data Validation dialog box, click on the Allow dropdown and select List.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

STEP 4: In the Source field, type Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest, and click OK.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

Data Validation has now been inserted in the Region Column where you are only allowed to enter values present in the list (Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest).

 

STEP 5: Click on the Forms icon in QAT.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

STEP 6: Change the Region for Record 1 from Northeast to East and Click OK.

See also  Excel Table: Styles

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

Once you click OK, you will see an error message as below:

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

 

9. Delete a Record

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

STEP 1: Use the Scroll Bar to navigate to find the entry you want to delete.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

STEP 2: Simply, click on the Delete button.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

STEP 3: A confirmation message will appear on your screen, Click OK.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

The desired entry will be removed from the data table.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

10. Close the Form

To close the dialog box for Data Forms, simply click on the Close button (X) on the top-right corner of the bix.

Top 11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks

 

11. Keyboard Shortcuts for Data Entry Forms

You can use the following keyboard shortcuts to work faster when using Data Entry Forms:

  • Press Tab to go to the next field in the Excel Forms.
  • Press Enter to go to the next record in the Excel Forms.
  • Hit the Esc button on your keyboard to close the Excel Form.

 

Conclusion

This completes our tutorial on the Top 11 things you should know if Data Entry is what you do in Excel. It will not only make the process faster but also a lot more easier and fun!

Few things to keep in mind when using the Excel Data Entry Form are:

  • You can add a maximum of 32 fields per record.
  • You cannot print a data form record.
  • Before you hit Enter, you can restore any changes made to the data.

So, give it a try! I am sure you are gonna love it!!

You can know more about How to Create Form in Excel by going through this tutorial by Microsoft.

Free Excel Webinar Online Training Courses

 

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11 Excel Data Entry Form Tips and Tricks | MyExcelOnline
Bryan

Bryan is a best-selling book author of the 101 Excel Series paperback books.

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