Those are great, but the real skill in using Excel is problem solving and creating sustainable solutions to business problems. The real power in Excel is visual basic for applications (VBA). This is the inbuilt macro language that allows you to create your very own programs in Excel. It will take you to the next level and increase your effectiveness of your business. Any spreadsheet application without a macro language will limit your productivity. By using VBA you can automate repetitive processes. All those manual Excel tasks can be done at the speed of light. I would never consider myself as a programmer – just a serious Excel user. Here are some approaches you can take to start learning VBA.

1) Use the macro recorder – the macro recorder is a bit like the old VCR recorders. It is the easier way to get started to automate a repetitive process. It also a great way to learn how code is developed by the recorder itself. It gives you a head start when creating or developing your own programs. Many users use macros to get the majority of the code that is required and tidy it up and add additional code. The macro recorder does have its disadvantages as well. It uses a lot more code than is required, which can slow your process down, especially the standard page setup code. There is much faster code available. Also, the macro recorder records everything you do, especially selections to cells, which are not required. The biggest weakness is it’s inability to loop through a process. If i want to combine the contents of 10 Excel worksheets data into one. The macro recorder would only do this once. Everything would be hard coded, including cell reference and file names. Eventually, your demands from Excel will push you away from the recorder to actually adding your own snippets of code. I did not believe this when i first started learning Excel and VBA, but it is true.

2) Learn from books – There are many great books on the subject. Make sure you get one that is aimed at the beginner. Idiots guide are a good start to cover basics, but you should move on to more technical explanations and their application. It is the application of code that is important. Many books describe the method and it properties, but do not go into any detail of how to use it. The visual editor help option can describe the code already. It is the real life examples you need.

3) Take a course – If your employer can pay, then you should go on a course which will quickly increase your learning curve.

4) Get online – there are many online course, ebooks and guide that will walk you through how to do anything in excel.

If you are looking for a great guide on how to use Excel to create excel dashboards and visual performance reports, then take a look at this product on executive dashboards. You will never use excel the same way again! It includes a PDF guide and excel templates to help you get started. Even the code is provided for you. The charts and dashboard components have been done so you don’t need to recreate them.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dylan_Stewart

3_settings.htm 3_personalizing.htm
Workbook defaults
There are various options in Excel that you can modify to make setting up your workbooks quicker and easier according to your preferences.

You will find many of these options in the dialog box under Tools > Options. The most useful ones are described below:

Setting the default number of worksheets
As you have already seen, when you create a new workbook, 3 worksheets are inserted automatically. If you only ever use 1 worksheet and always delete the remaining 2, then change the number of default worksheets to 1. Similarly, if you often use, say, 6 worksheets, then set the default to 6. You can set a maximum of 255 worksheets.

Go to Tools > Options > General
Change ‘Sheets in new workbook’ to required value between 1 and 255

Setting the default font
You can also set the default font type and size.

Go to Tools > Options > General
Change Standard Font settings

Setting the default file location
When you go to Open or Save an Excel workbook you can determine which folder on your computer you want Excel to open. If, for example, you keep all of your spreadsheets in a subfolder of My Documents called “My spreadsheets”, then you can set this as your default file location.

Go to Tools > Options > General
Change ‘Default file location’ to read “C:Documents and Settings/user/My Documents/My spreadsheets”, where ‘user’ is your user account (login) name

Setting the default language
When performing a spell check on your computer, you need to ensure that the language setting is correct. When Microsoft software is installed, the default language is ‘English (U.S.)’. This can be changed to ‘English (Australia)’.

Go to Tools > Options > Spelling
Change ‘Dictionary language’

Modifying workbooks
In the previous sections you learnt how to change the default settings for workbooks. However, you still may need to make manual changes to some of your workbooks. You can add, remove or re-order worksheets.

Inserting worksheets
To insert a new worksheet into a workbook, go to Insert > Worksheet. This will place a new worksheet to the left of the active worksheet. To insert multiple worksheets into a workbook, first select that number of current worksheets, then go to Insert > Worksheet. You will then see the new worksheets to the left of the active range of worksheets. Try This:

Open a new workbook
Hold down the Ctrl key, then click on 3 adjacent current worksheet tabs to select them.
Release the Ctrl key
Go to Insert > Worksheet

Moving worksheets
You can change the order the worksheets appear in the workbook by dragging the sheet’s tab to the required position. Try This:

Hold your mouse over the tab labelled ‘Sheet1′
Hold down the left mouse button and drag the sheet tab to the left of ‘Sheet4′.
Release the left mouse button

Copying worksheets
Entire worksheets can be copied within the same workbook in a similar way to how we moved a worksheet in the previous exercise. By dragging the sheet tab whilst holding down the Ctrl key, the worksheet is copied to that new location. Try This:

Hold your mouse over the tab labelled ‘Sheet1′
Hold down the Ctrl key
Hold down the left mouse button and drag the sheet tab to the right of sheet tab ‘Sheet3′.
Release the left mouse button then release the Ctrl key

Note how the worksheet has been named ‘Sheet1 (2)’. Worksheets, within the same workbook, cannot have the same name, so Excel automatically numbers the sheets when copied.

Naming worksheets
You can rename worksheets to make them more meaningful and to help you better organise your data.

To name a worksheet, double click on the tab at the bottom of the worksheet and type the new name. Certain characters cannot be used in a worksheet name, such as / * [ ]

Deleting worksheets
To delete an entire worksheet, go to Edit > Delete Sheet. If there is data on the worksheet a warning message will appear to check you wish to permanently delete the worksheet.

Modifying worksheets
As well as making changes to whole workbook settings – as seen in the previous section – you can also change individual worksheet settings to enable viewing and working with your worksheets easier and more personalised.

Inserting rows and columns
At times you may need to insert data in between existing data in your worksheet. Inserting rows and columns into a worksheet does not create an additional row or column (beyond Excel’s limits) but shifts the existing rows down or columns to the right, removing the same number of rows or columns from the end of the worksheet.

Deleting rows and columns
You can also remove rows or columns from your worksheet. This is done in a similar way to inserting rows or columns. First select the row headers or column headers that require deleting, then go to Edit > Delete.

Hiding rows and columns
There may be data on your worksheet that you do not want to see or print, but you do not want to delete. To hide a row or column, right click on the row or column header then select Hide. To unhide a row or column, you must first select the rows or columns wither side of those that are hidden, then right click and select Unhide.

Zooming in and out
You can change the magnification to display more or less of your worksheet.
From the View menu, select Zoom. This will open a dialog box from which you can select a different magnification. The default is 100%.

Freezing panes and splitting windows
The Freeze Panes and Split commands in the Window menu allow you to divide your worksheet into sections so you can scroll independently within different parts of the screen.

The Freeze Pane option freezes the area at the top and/or to the left of the screen to keep any headings in place whilst allowing you to scroll the remainder of the screen. Click in the cell to the right and below the rows and columns you want to freeze then go to Window > Freeze panes.
The Split option actually splits the window into a maximum of 4 separate windows with independent scrolling capability in each.

Article written by:

Penny Buckwell
Owner, EasyPC Training
Brisbane, Australia

Provider of Microsoft and MYOB computer software training.

http://www.easypctraining.com.au

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Penny_Buckwell

How to use Excel Routing Slip

Outlook provides many e-mail functions that make it a good choice for implementing a routing solution. These workflow solutions requires that a piece of information (such as an financial report) to be passed to a X no of users. The user can reviewed and approved throughout the routing workflow. You can accomplish this by either using a third-party solution or create your own custom solution.

Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel both provide the ability to add a routing slip to a file. Here are the steps in using this function in the program

1. On the File menu, point to Send To, and click Routing Recipient. The Routing Slip window enables you to specify a list of people to route the file to, and if you select One after another in the lower left corner of the window, the file may be routed to the individuals in the proper order.

You can also create a routing slip using vBA. The following is an example

Creating the routing slip button

Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()
Application.Dialogs(xlDialogRoutingSlip).Show
End Sub

Sending Excel using Email

It is useful therefore, to know how to effectively use toolbars e.g. how to access hidden buttons, move them, view them and customise them.

Floating and Docking

When a toolbar is positioned to one of the sides of the screen (usually the top), they are known as docked. And when they are hovering anywhere on screen they are known as floating.

You can move and dock a toolbar wherever you want on screen, placing it in the ideal position. To move a toolbar, you simply click and drag it.

2005_excel.pdf
For a floating toolbar, drag it by its Title Bar (the blue bar along the top)
For a docked toolbar, drag it by its 4 dots on the far left of the bar
Showing Hidden Buttons

A toolbar may not have enough room to display all of the buttons it has. If this is the case it will display the buttons that you use more regularly, hiding those that it deems are not so important.

To display a hidden button;

Click on the chevrons at the end of the toolbar
Click on the button you want to use from the drop down list
This button now replaces one of the buttons on the toolbar.

Display a Hidden Toolbar

Toolbars usually appear when needed. For example, on inserting a PivotTable into Excel, the PivotTable toolbar appears. However if the toolbar was closed the last time it was used, this will not happen.

There are 2 main ways to view a toolbar;

Click View > Toolbars
Select the toolbar you want to use
Or

Right click any toolbar button
Select the toolbar you want to use from the shortcut menu
Adding and Removing Buttons

Excel toolbars can be customised to suit your needs. You can add buttons to them, and also remove unwanted buttons.

To add a button to the toolbar;

Click Tools > Customize
Click the Toolbars tab and check the box of the one you want to customise, if necessary
Click the Commands tab
Scroll through the Categories list and select the category containing the button you want to add. For example, select Data to add the AutoFilter button
Scroll through the Commands list and click and drag the button you want to use onto the bar. Drop the button positioning it wherever you want along the bar
To remove a button from a toolbar;

Click Tools > Customize
Click and drag the button off the bar

See more Microsoft Excel training guides at Computergaga.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Al_Murray

The SUMIF() and COUNTIF() functions can only evaluate a single criterion. Sometimes, however, we may want to sum a range of values that meet multiple criteria, which is a good use of array formulas. For example, in the following spreadsheet, we want to sum the amount of each Account // Job combination, but the SUMIF() function only accepts one argument. Note that braces surround an array formula.

The braces cannot be typed in but are entered automatically by Excel when you enter the formula by pressing CTRL-SHIFT-ENTER. An array formula can do multiple calculations in a single cell or render multi-cell results from a single calculation. In this case, the array formula performs multiple calculations per cell.
4_array.htm

Excel 2003 has a built-in feature that enables data in a worksheet to be sorted. Sorting data in Excel 2003 can bring important data together, organise its appearance within the document, and allow the user to spot data that are incorrectly formatted or incomplete.

In most cases, sorting is done for the convenience of the user, but in a few cases, it is a necessary precursor for certain functions, like subtotaling a table. Although sorting data in Excel 2003 involves multiple columns of data, Excel 2003 can sort a single data column. This is helpful when alphabetising a list, or organising a column of numbers.

Excel’s basic sorting function enables you to specify the sort order for data in columns. For example, if you have a number of addresses, you can sort by the last name of the recipient. If each recipient has a unique last name, this works. If some recipients have the same last name, you may want to configure the sort to use the last name as the primary sorting criterion, followed by the first name of the recipient as a second sorting criterion. Using multiple sorting criteria will enable you to control the sort order more precisely.

Excel 2003 looks for inconsistencies between the first item in a column and the rest of the data in the column. If it finds inconsistency in form, Excel 2003 recognises that the first item in a column is likely to be a header value or column label. These labels are typically ignored, and do not become part of the data being sorted. If the data in each column are consistent, Excel assumes that the first item in the column is data and will sort it along with the other data in the column.

To sort a single column of values in Excel 2003, select the column to be sorted and press the Sort Ascending or Sort Descending button, both of which appear on the Standard toolbar. The Sort Ascending button will order information in the least to greatest order (or alphabetic order, if it is a column of text). The Sort Descending button will sort the values from greatest to least, or reverse alphabetic order if the values are text values.

To sort multiple columns of text, select the columns to be sorted. Only the selected columns will be sorted, so be sure to choose the entire data record before you sort data. If you do not, data from various records will be mixed together. Choose Data > Sort …. The Sort dialogue box will appear. Identify the most important sort criteria and identify whether the sort should be performed in ascending or descending order. The Sort dialogue box should show your column labels or the first data cell in each column, if there are no data labels. You may choose up to three sort criteria and indicate for each choice the sort order you expect. You can also indicate whether or not your data have a header row and set options that control how case sensitivity is handled.

Once you have set your sort criteria, press OK. Your data will be sorted according to the order you’ve specified. If you find that you are sorting data in Excel 2003 incorrectly, you may press Ctrl-Z or select Undo from the Edit menu to undo the sort and return your data to its unsorted state.

Notes for editors: Claire Blinman is the training manager at Computer Training Solutions in Bristol. Computer Training Solutions offer Excel courses or call 0800 019 6882

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Claire_Jarrett
1_confessions.htm

The number formats provided by Excel don’t meet your needs you can easily create your own custom formats. Excel offers extensive tools for creating very specialized number and date formats. These capabilities even include the ability to include labels as part of the format. So, for example, a format could include the label “Sales in Units” as part of the format.

Select the cells you want to format.
On the Format menu, click Cells, and then click the Number tab.
In the Category list, click a category, and then click a built-in format that resembles the one you want.
In the Category list, click Custom.
In the Type box, edit the number format codes to create the format you want. (Editing a built-in format does not remove the format.)
You can specify up to four sections of format codes. The sections, separated by semicolons, define the formats for positive numbers, negative numbers, zero values, and text, in that order. If you specify only two sections, the first is used for positive numbers and zeros, and the second is used for negative numbers. If you specify one section, all numbers use that format. If you skip a section, include the ending semicolon for that section. Use format codes that describe how you want to display:

A number
Date or time
Currency, percentage, or scientific notation
Text or spacing
Number Format Codes

# displays only significant digits and does not display insignificant zeros.
0 (zero) displays insignificant zeros if a number has fewer digits than there are zeros in the format.
? adds spaces for insignificant zeros on either side of the decimal point so that decimal points align when formatted with a fixed-width font, such as Courier New. You can also use ? for fractions that have varying numbers of digits.
So, for example: To have 12 displayed as 12.0 and 1234.568 displayed as 1234.57 you would use the #.0# custom format. To have 44.398, 102.65, and 2.8 with aligned decimals you would use the ???.??? custom format.

Date and Time Format Codes

To display days, months, and years, include the following format codes in a section. If you use “m” immediately after the “h” or “hh” code or immediately before the “ss” code, Microsoft Excel displays minutes instead of the month.

If the format contains an AM or PM, the hour is based on the 12-hour clock, where “AM” or “A” indicates times from midnight until noon and “PM” or “P” indicates times from noon until midnight. Otherwise, the hour is based on the 24-hour clock. The “m” or “mm” code must appear immediately after the “h” or “hh” code or immediately before the “ss” code; otherwise, Microsoft Excel displays the month instead of minutes.

To Display
Use this Code

Months as 1–12
M

Months as 01–12
Mm

Months as Jan–Dec
Mmm

Months as January–December
Mmmm

Months as the first letter of the month
Mmmmm

Days as 1–31
D

Days as 01–31
Dd

Days as Sun–Sat
Ddd

Days as Sunday–Saturday
Dddd

Years as 00–99
Yy

Years as 1900–9999
Yyyy

Hours as 0–23
H

Hours as 00–23
Hh

Minutes as 0–59
M

Minutes as 00–59
Mm

Seconds as 0–59
S

Seconds as 00–59
Ss

Hours as 4 AM
h AM/PM

Time as 4:36 PM
h:mm AM/PM

Time as 4:36:03 P
h:mm:ss A/P

Elapsed time in hours; for example, 25.02
[h]:mm

Elapsed time in minutes; for example, 63:46
[mm]:ss

Elapsed time in seconds
[ss]

Fractions of a second
h:mm:ss.00

In addition to the above formatting characters, Excel allows you to use the left and right bracket around any time or date code to make Excel show elapsed time. For example, let’s assume you have a start time (or date) as a fixed value in a cell and you have a formula that calculates the current time and date (i.e. =now()) in another cell. You can subtract the beginning time or date from the current time and date and have the elapsed time (or number of days, or number of minutes, or number of seconds, etc.) displayed using the left and right brackets.

1_formats.htm

This tutorial outlines how to convert a complex pivot table from Excel into an interactive web based application using a program called SpreadsheetWEB which is available at www.spreadsheetweb.com

<Ask Dr ExcelAdvisor>

I am having problems trying to publish an Excel pivot table as a web page. I
have being going through File- save as Webpage- publish (selecting to open
up in IE) it come up with an error message “To use this Web page
interactively, you must have Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 Service Pack 2
(SP2) or later and the Microsoft Office 2003 Web Components.” I am using IE7
and have downloaded the web components and still have no luck. I am also
getting an error message that says that it can’t open the data file.

This can be easily fixed by creating a custom format that slightly modifies the accounting format.

Accounting Format Before Modification
_(* #,##0.00_);_(* (#,##0.00);_(* “-”??_);_(@_)

Accounting Format Modified to Get 0.00 Rather and – for Zero
Values
_(* #,##0.00_);_(* (#,##0.00);_(* 0.00_);_(@_) 1_zeros.htm

The easiest way to create this custom format is to first format the cell using the accounting format. Next bring up the format dialog box and select Custom Format. The current cell format (i.e. the accounting format) will be displayed in the Custom Format dialog box and all you will have to do is to modify the format sequence.

Microsoft Excel is a fantastic tool for analyzing scientific data. Microsoft Word is a fantastic tool for writing up scientific research. So surely Microsoft Office is the only software a scientist would ever require beyond that associated with specialist scientific apparatus?

Unfortunately, that has never been the case and most university researchers would identify one big problem with the Office suite and that is why it’s always been difficult to present formulas in Word and Excel. Even when you type a simple fraction like 3/5, it gets presented on a single line. As for Greek symbols like pi…well, that would mean many hours wasted trawling through Excel’s Insert Symbol menu.

This may sound a little unfair. After all, a standard Microsoft installation would include something called Equation Editor. Suffice to say, it wasn’t advertised in the promotional videos. Software like Matlab was considered vastly superior and had the added advantage that you could analyze the equations as well. Anyway, the good news is that Microsoft has taken a big step forwards with Office 2010 and it’s now possible to correctly display formulas in a pretty painless fashion.

In Excel 2010, you should select the Insert ribbon, and click Equation. This creates a textbox and brings up a whole new ribbon with options for inserting equations. As well as providing easy access to the main Greek symbols, Microsoft have provided quick access to a number of simple functions, such as fractions and exponentials.

When you write your formula, you will see that any x symbols show up in formula script. That means no extra formatting is required between typing the formula and publishing the completed work. This is ideal if you’ve ever wanted to label a chart with its mathematical formula.

The only caveat to add to all the above is that your freshly written equation will appear in a textbox. Textboxes are distinct from the main spreadsheet in that they have no cell address. This means they can be dragged across the sheet to your desired location. Obviously you don’t want to have to move the formula every time you insert or delete rows from the underlying spreadsheet. Fortunately the default settings for such objects ensure that they retain their local position at all times.

Experienced Excel users will appreciate that textboxes default to having a border and white background. That’s because they are often used to add comments or guidance to a user and so have to stand out. Otherwise a user would be foolish not to type words directly into the spreadsheet’s cells. As equations can only be created in textboxes, the default settings are somewhat different; there is no border and no fill.

Following the above steps, it should be easy to incorporate mathematical equations into any spreadsheet development you do. This means you can present your research professionally without having to produce your formulas in e.g. Matlab and screen capture them before putting them in your final report.

It’s worth stating that equations can also be entered in Word 2010 directly using a similar technique. Alternatively you can embed your Excel spreadsheets in Word because Office allows you to integrate your Word documents with your spreadsheets.

Ed Bolton is the founder of Excel4Business, and an expert at spreadsheet development.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ed_Bolton

1_insertsymb.htm

In the past the developers of Excel (and most of the other Microsoft Office applications) built in little hidden programs that would run inside the application if you knew the secret sequence of keys. These secret routines were generally humorous and entertaining. Apparently management decided that these respites of comic relief were inappropriate for something as serious as spreadsheet software and they were all but discontinued in Excel 2000. The only Easter egg in Excel 2000 displays a scrolling credits box that is black text on a white background with a black border. To get to this last remaining Easter egg in Excel 2000 go through the following steps.

Open a new, completely blank workbook
Press the F5 key to bring up the Go To dialog box
Enter X2000:L2000 in the Reverence text box and click OK
Press the Tab once so that the cell in column M is selected
Hold down [Ctrl][Shift] and click on the Chart Wizard icon on the Standard Toolbar
The result will be the very dull looking listing of development credits that will scroll up the screen.

In Excel 97 there is a much jazzier version of this Easter egg that has the user flying a space ship around the list of credits. The user controls the space ship with the mouse and is not allowed to crash and burn no matter how poorly he drives. To find this Easter egg in Excel 97 simply follow the same steps outlined above but substitute X97:L97 for X2000:L2000.

In Excel 2002 (Excel 10), there is no Easter egg per se’. Apparently, Microsoft has received complaints about the waste of resources and file bloat. However, if you still have Internet Explorer 5.0 loaded, this Easter Egg requires Excel 2002:

Open a new Excel workbook.
Select File * Save as Web Page
In the Save As dialog, select ‘Publish Sheet’ and ‘Add Interactivity’
Save to an htm file on your hard drive (any file name).
Open the htm file with Internet Explorer 5.
Select cell WC2000 and scroll the sheet such that cell WC2000 is the first cell on the left. Highlight the entire row.
Press Shift+Crtl+Alt and click the Office logo in the upper-left.
Your screen will be transformed into an auto racing game, with developer credits (and other things) visible on the roadway. Use the following keys:
Arrow keys: to steer and accelerate
Space bar: To fire at other cars
O: To drop an oil slicks
H: To turn on your headlights

1_easter.htm

Imagine that you have the output from an accounts system: a table of payments made by your company. For each row of the table in Excel you have:

Creating a Pivot Table with Grouped Dates

Imagine that you have the output from an accounts system: a table of payments made by your company. For each row of the table in Excel you have:

the supplier code
the amount of the purchase
the date the purchase was made

You want to see the trend over time for each supplier, so you create a pivot table showing this data. To do this (at least for Microsoft Excel 2007 and Excel 2010):

Select a single cell in your table.
Click on the INSERT tab in the ribbon, and choose to insert a pivot table.
Choose OK to choose all of the default options (this will create a new worksheet).
Drag the supplier code onto the ROW LABELS section of the pivot table, the purchase date onto the COLUMN LABELS section and the amount of the purchase onto the VALUES section.

You should now have a pivot table with the supplier codes going down the left-hand side, the unique dates going across the top and the total spending for each combination of date and supplier as values in the middle. We now want to group the dates together into months, quarters or years.

To do this, click on the first date in your column headings. Now click on the DATA tab on the ribbon, and choose GROUP. A dialog box should appear, and you should be able to choose to combine dates together into months and/or quarters and/or years. Hey presto! an instant monthly or quarterly or annual reporting facility.

What Can Go Wrong

If you get the message CANNOT GROUP THAT SELECTION when you do the above, the reason is almost certainly that not all of your dates are dates. For example, if you have 9,999 dates and just one cell which isn’t a date, Excel will still refuse to group by your date field.

To solve the CANNOT GROUP THAT SELECTION problem, you need to persuade Excel that every single one of the dates in the date field column really is a date. To do this, first check the format – a left-aligned value can be a giveaway, since Excel will right-align dates by default. Another common problem is that dates imported from a mainframe system can appear with full stops (aka periods to American readers) instead of slashes: 25.12.2099 rather than 25/12/2099.

One way to spot problems like this is to use the ISNUMBER function, which returns either TRUE or FALSE depending on whether Excel recognises a date or not. Since Excel treats dates as numbers behind the scenes, you should look for the FALSE values returned by the ISNUMBER function and correct the corresponding dates.

One final point – Excel can be slow to recognise changes – you might find that it helps to save, close and reopen a spreadsheet before retesting grouping in your pivot table.

Andy Brown is a Microsoft Excel trainer for Wise Owl training. You can see a list of the Excel 2003, Excel 2007 and Excel 2010 training courses that Wise Owl offer at http://www.wiseowl.co.uk/excel/index.htm. We also publish our Excel exercises online, so you can test your knowledge of Excel pivot tables at http://www.wiseowl.co.uk/training/exercise-list/t-906.htm.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andy_J_Brown

This will classify and prioritize your data, and will work out the subtotals for you. You will have to sort the data before you can tell excel to create the subtotals.

In order to create the subtotals, first you will need to select and sort the data by the columns for which you wish to create the subtotals. Then go into the data tab and click on the subtotal button in order to display a dialog box. In this dialog box select the column you wish to be subtotaled and then select the function with which will be used to calculate the subtotal.

When you have finished doing this, you will need to select the column or columns that you want the results to be displayed. Then select any other specific criteria or options that you want, before clicking on OK. Finally, simply review your result, hiding or display and of the finer details.

If you want to remove all of the subtotals, you will need to select the cells with the data and the subtotals and then click the subtotal button within the data tab. When you have done this, go into the subtotal dialog box and click on the remove all button to remove all of the subtotals from the spreadsheet.

Notes for editors: Daniel Blinman recommends Computer Training Solutions, an IT training company with centres in London, Bristol, Swindon Solihull and Reading. Computer Training Solutions offer Excel training and PowerPoint training call 0800 019 6882 for more information on courses. subtotal.htm

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Daniel_Blinman

Shared workbooks is a great feature of Microsoft Excel. You need to set up ‘shared workbooks’ if input from many persons is required to complete a project. This feature allows you to collaborate with others in your team quickly and easily. In short, a shared workbook is set up to allow multiple users on a network to be able to edit it simultaneously. In fact, the team can view the data at the same time. For example, the boss may need to know the status of a project. Many times if the same group works on multiple projects they may also need to know the status of the progress of others. 6_shared.htm

How is the shared workbook set up? One of the people in the team can create a template or a standard workbook where data from different people can be entered based on their expertise. In a tour operator scenario one of the persons will enter the air fares, another will take care of the lodging and yet another will finalize the local sight-seeing in a taxi or bus. Once the workbook has been prepared using proper formatting, the workbook is saved in a shared folder on the network which is then available to everyone who is working on the project.

Since some Excel features can be used or viewed but not changed once the workbook is shared, the author of the workbook must ensure that features like data validation, charts, conditional formats, merged cells, hyperlinks, scenarios, pivot-table reports, worksheet protection and macros are carefully incorporated and set up before the sharing is implemented.

Now comes the interesting part: If two users edit the same cell in a worksheet of a shared workbook, a conflict resolution window pops up and you can decide the changes which you wish to accept. Also every time a team member saves the shared workbook, you get an update notice. You can also highlight or track the changes automatically.
As you can see, you work in shared workbook as you would with any workbook with the main advantage that the shared workbook improves the productivity of the team by utilizing their expertise in a project and you can view who is working on the workbook at any point of time.creative sharing.htm

Dr. Dinesh K Takyar is a corporate trainer since the last 15 years. http://www.familycomputerclub.com/excel/shared-workbook-in-excel.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dinesh_Takyar< /A>

You can format anything in Excel so it will not appear on the worksheet but still be present in the worksheet. This works for both screen and printing. The custom format characters are three semicolons or ;;;

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You can fill in several types of series by selecting cells and dragging the “fill handle” or by using the Series command (point to Fill on the Edit menu, and then click Series). By dragging the fill handle of a cell, you can copy the contents of a cell to other cells in the same row or column. If a selection contains a number, date, or time period, you can extend the series. For example, if you want to fill in a series of dates where the dates go from the last date of one month to the last date of the next month, simply enter in the first two month ends and then drag the range down with the fill handle

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In theory it should be easy to switch from one MS Office VBA programming language to another, since all the underlying principles are the same

Similarities between Excel VBA and Access VBA

In theory it should be easy to switch from one MS Office VBA programming language to another, since all the underlying principles are the same. It doesn’t matter whether you’re writing VBA macros within Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint or Word, you’re still using:

- objects, collections, methods and properties

- variables (the DIM statement)

- IF conditions and loops

- message boxes and input boxes

- subroutines and functions

In fact, the only thing which is different is the object and collections defined within the application. So how hard can it be to switch from (say) Excel VBA to Access VBA? The answer, sadly, is… fairly hard. Here’s why!

Differences between Excel Visual Basic and Access Visual Basic

The main differences between the two programming languages are that Access supports two macro languages, doesn’t support recording, has two different ways to create Visual Basic macros, hides a lot of its functionality in the DoCmd object and has two separate object models. If that didn’t make much sense, worry not – the rest of this article will explain each of these points in turn.

Access has Two Macro Languages

This is a red herring. Microsoft Access has two separate languages for writing macros: one called macros, the other called either modules or Visual Basic. If you have any knowledge of VBA, you should ignore the first; it is provided for people who have no programming experience, and doesn’t support proper looping, error-handling and many other structures. So although the Access database window contains a MACROS tab, you should ignore this completely!

Access doesn’t Support Recording

Want to know how to colour a cell red with pink spots in Excel? If you can’t guess the macro command (unlikely), you can just record a macro and have a look at the resulting code. This is a vital aide-memoire even when you’re a VBA guru.

Access, on the other hand, doesn’t support recording – not even in the latest version at the time of writing, Access 2010. This is, to say the least, a shame (interestingly, while Word supports VBA recording, PowerPoint doesn’t any more: Microsoft removed the facility from version 2007 onwards). This means that you’re often forced to resort to Google, Microsoft help or phoning a friend to find out how to do something in Access VBA.

Two Different Ways to Write Macros in Access

Want to create a VBA macro in Access? To do this, you need to go to the VBA code editor. Strangely, you can do this in two different ways: either press ALT + F11 as normal, or click on the Modules tab in the database window and choose to create a new module. Why are there two different ways to do the same thing? Historical reasons, we think.

Access Uses the DoCmd Object for Many Commands

Access VBA is complicated (or simplified?) by the fact that about half the commands begin with DoCmd. For example:

DoCmd.OpenForm – to open a form

DoCmd.Maximize – to maximise a window

Features like this make Excel a far more logical programming language than Access.

Access has Two Separate Object Models

Excel is pretty self-contained (although if you’re creating your own dialog boxes, you’ll be using a separate applications called Microsoft Forms). Access, however, splits into two almost equal parts:

- tables and queries are part of the Access database engine

- forms, reports, macros and modules are part of the Microsoft Access application

Although you’ll probably only hit this complication when you get into advanced programming in Access, it’s another Access feature to muddy the VBA water.

In summary, then, we’d say that Excel macros are far more straightforward than Access ones. Added to this is the fact that it’s much quicker to learn Excel than it is to learn Access, and you get two unequal learning curves!

Andy Brown is a trainer and developer for Wise Owl Training, a company providing Microsoft computer training in the UK.

For Wise Owl courses specific to Excel Visual Basic, go to http://www.wiseowl.co.uk/excel/courses/vba.htm; for courses specific to Access Visual Basic, go to http://www.wiseowl.co.uk/ms-access/training/visual-basic.htm.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andy_J_Brown

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MS Excel can be customized in a way that suits a user to achieve his goal. It is extensively used in financial organizations. The features of MS Excel are as follows:

Workbooks: A document in MS Excel is called a workbook. Each workbook contains sixteen worksheets by default. A user can change this number by resetting the default options. Worksheets within workbooks make it easy to bind files of related information. When a user opens a workbook, he can use all the worksheets to perform a task. To create a workbook, a user will have to select the New command from the File menu. To open an existing workbook, a user will have to select the Open option from the File menu. A user can insert a worksheet between two worksheets by choosing the Worksheet option from the Insert menu.

Using keyboard: The following table provides different keyboard shortcuts for selecting a row, column, current cell, worksheet, etc.

To Select Keyboard Shortcuts

Current Cell Enter

Entire Column CTRL+Spacebar

Entire Row hift+Spacebar

Entire Worksheet CTRL+SHIFT+Spacebar

A user can perform various kinds of entries in a cell. He can enter text, number, data, and time in a cell. He can also enter some special characters such as $ % + – / ( ). He can also enter date and time in a cell. He can select different formats for date and time according to his own requirements.

Entering Data in Series: A user can fill a range of cells either with the same value or with the series of values. This can be done using the Autofill handle (small square on the bottom-right corner of the active cell).

Cell References: MS Excel provides three types of cell references: relative, absolute, and mixed. Relative references refer to the cell relative to the given position. Absolute references refer to the specific cell irrespective of the position of the formula. The ‘$’ sign is used to denote an absolute reference. Mixed references are a combination of both relative and absolute references. It has one absolute co-ordinate and one relative co-ordinate. $CI and C$1 are both examples of mixed references.

MS Excel allows fast searching and instant replacing of data. To search or replace the data entered by a user, he can use the Find or Replace command from the Edit menu.

Inserting or Deleting Rows and Columns:

MS Excel provides the facility to insert rows or columns into the existing worksheet. Inserting a row of data shifts the rest of the rows down and removes the last row of the worksheet. Similarly, inserting a column shifts the rest of the columns to the right and deletes the rightmost column. This occurs because the total number of rows and columns remain the same in any case.

MS Excel provides several formatting features that enhance the appearance of the data, which is presented in the worksheets. Some of them are described as follows: MS Excel allows setting up a page before printing. To set up a page, a user will have to open the File menu and click on the Page Setup. The Page Setup dialog box will appear that will allow the user to set the paper size, orientation of the data, scaling of the area, set the left, right, bottom, and top margin, set the header and the footer, etc.

MS Excel provides the autofit selection that adjusts the width of the column according to the widest entry in that column. A user can hide or unhide certain rows or columns. He can also provide the default column standard width.

MS Excel allows a user to align the characters in different ways by using the Alignment tab page of the Format Cells dialog box. The dialog box provides a number of alignment options.

Horizontal Alignment options:

General: The text is left aligned and the numbers are right aligned. This is the default status.

Left: Aligns the contents to the left of the cell.

Center: Aligns the cell contents to the center of the cell.

Right: Aligns the contents to the right of the cell.

Fill: Fills the selected cells with the single character.

Justify: This option is selected with multiple lines of text as it wraps the contents from left to right.

Vertical Alignment options:

Top: Aligns the text at the top of the cell.

Center: Places the text in the center of the cell.

Bottom: Aligns the text on the bottom of the cell.

Justify: Wraps the text from top to bottom.

MS Excel provides a facility of viewing the same worksheet simultaneously in more than one window. This is accomplished by selecting the New Window command in the Windows menu. A user can also create more than one window to arrange the workspace to promptly access the information needed. Using MS Excel, a window can be arranged in different ways by using the Arrange command from the Windows menu.

If a user wants to move between different windows, he can do so by pressing Ctrl+F6 to go to the next window or by pressing Ctrl+Shift+F6 to go to the previous window. He can temporarily hide or unhide windows by choosing the Hide command in Window menu to hide the active window or by choosing the Unhide command in the Window menu to unhide the hidden window.

When a user works on a very large worksheet with row and column headings, the row headings scroll off to the left when he moves towards the right. Similarly, when he moves down to see the data, the column headings scroll up. To overcome this problem, he can split the active window into two, with row or column headings in one window and the data on the other window.

Controls: The controls are the special objects, which enhance user interface and facilitate user input. MS Excel provides several custom controls such as list boxes, check boxes, and dialog boxes, etc. A large number of toolbars are found in the View menu. Users can add a toolbar or a number of toolbars into the working document depending upon the work involved and use different controls in their documents.

Functions and formulas: The built-in formulas are called functions. MS Excel provides analyzing data and manipulating text by using different functions. Users can easily calculate percentage, interest, average, etc. by using built-in functions. This can be done either by typing in the function-based formulas or by using function wizards. Formulas are widely used in simple computing (such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) and advanced computing. They provide the power to analyze data extensively.

Auto-calculation: MS Excel spreadsheet allows a user to automatically recalculate the whole worksheet every time a change is made in a single cell. There are basically two kinds of recalculations.

Automatic: In this type of calculation, the change in the value of the cell automatically recalculates the whole worksheet.

Manual: In this type of calculation, the recalculation of the complete worksheet is performed by pressing the F9 key. This option can be selected on the Calculation tab page of the Options dialog box, which is opened by choosing Options from the Tools menu.

Charts: One of the most important features of MS Excel is a chart. MS Excel allows users to view data entered as tables in a graphical form as charts, which helps a user to easily understand, analyze, and compare data. Excel allows its users to create either two-dimensional charts or three-dimensional charts. A user can enhance the chart by adding chart items, such as data labels, a legend, titles, text, and gridlines. He can also do formatting on these items by using colors, alignment, fonts, and other formatting attributes. MS Excel also allows users to view charts along with the data by using embedded charts. These charts are included in the worksheet and can be copied, moved, and resized in the same way as can be done with any other graphical object.

Database: Data are raw facts, information is processed data, and a database is an organized collection of information. Every organization heavily depends upon databases to store, retrieve, and maintain different kinds of data. MS Excel provides all this in the form of its database feature. In MS Excel, database can be created in two ways:
Enter the data in the form of table in the worksheet.

Use the Data Form command

Records can be inserted, deleted, and sorted by using the Data menu.

With the above-described features of MS Excel, users can perform almost all the operations they want in a very efficient and easy way. Its advanced features have made it the first choice for professionals working in a financial organization to perform their lengthy tasks in an easy way and in a quick manner. Therefore, MS Excel has become the most preferred choice for most of the users as well as professionals throughout the world.

uCertify was formed in 1996 with an aim to offer high quality educational training software and services in the field of information technology to its customers. uCertify provides exam preparation solutions for the certification exams of Microsoft, CIW, CompTIA, Oracle, Sun and other leading IT vendors. To know more about uCertify, please visit http://www.ucertify.com/

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I was trying to publish a pivot table on excel 2010 with powerpivot add on, but I do not know how to save with feature interactivity likes in excel 2003

<Question to Dr ExcelAdvsior>

I was trying to publish a pivot table on excel 2010 with powerpivot add on, but I do not know how to save with feature interactivity likes in excel 2003. I tried to save with publish pivot table option but the web page stilled freeze liked the designing in excel.

How do I publish it to get the result like an add interactivity option in excel 2003? I knew that this option was removed since excel 2007 but what feature that replace it?

<Answer>

Well,you can create slicers and page filters and these should be still “interactive” on SharePoint. If you cannot open the workbook in SharePoint at all, you should make sure that you have installed the PowerPivot components correctly.

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Pivot Table Slicer (Report/Page Filter Slicer)

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It is important for you to know which option best suits your business before purchasing any software package. Selecting the right software for your business can be made easier if you consider a few things before parting with your money.

The suitability and effectiveness of the software are the first things to consider. What do you need it to do for you? For instance, if you deal with a physical product, you should look for software that can keep a track of your inventory, alternatively, a package that is capable of client tracking will suit those businesses that sell a service. Any software chosen should also include tax reporting, payroll and invoicing as standard.

Software that can be upgraded is another thing that should be considered when choosing your package. Often a small business will grow into a larger concern and so it is wise to choose software that your business can ‘grow in to’ as it expands. It is advisable to look for a package that can be easily added to to meet all of your future requirements.

Any accounting software you consider should be compatible with your existing hardware and operating systems. If you do need to change or install new hardware to make the software work, then make sure you factor this into the cost comparisons you make. It is also useful if the accounting software chosen allows you to import financial information from your existing accounting software or spreadsheets as this will save you a considerable amount of data entry time.

The overall cost of the accounting software you opt for should be considered before you decide to acquire it. As with many things the more expensive the package the more you can probably expect from it. However, this is not always the case, so tread carefully and set a reasonable budget. Most software providers are competitive with their pricing and so most businesses should be able to find something that both fits their budget and meets their business needs.

To find out how we can help your business visit Accountants Plymouth

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