Recently I have started a research project that requires quite a bit of Excel. Now if you don’t use Excel for research, maybe you still use it for keeping class grades once in a while? 
The first thing I do on every Excel installation is to change it to the R1C1 style. In Excel, each cell can be referenced in two styles: A1 and R1C1. (See a bit of history here.)
The former is the default (as of Version 2003). Each cell is referenced by its column name and then row number. So the first cell is called A1.
The latter is my preferred style. Each cell is referenced by its row number and column number. So the first cell is called R1C1.
Now some people may think that “E3″ is more intuitive than “R3C5″, and I can probably agree with them when the spreadsheet is small. But when the spreadsheet gets big and spans a couple hundred columns, I cannot contemplate seeing “BK439″…
To switch to the R1C1 style, go to tools->Options->General->R1C1 Reference Style.
The two styles are equivalent in power (if you use them right), but I will show you later why R1C1 has an advantage when it comes to formula editing.
