Book Image

Exploring Microsoft Excel’s Hidden Treasures

By : David Ringstrom
Book Image

Exploring Microsoft Excel’s Hidden Treasures

By: David Ringstrom

Overview of this book

David Ringstrom coined the phrase “Either you work Excel, or it works you!” after observing how many users carry out tasks inefficiently. In this book, you’ll learn how to get more done with less effort. This book will enable you to create resilient spreadsheets that are easy for others to use as well, while incorporating spreadsheet disaster preparedness techniques. The time-saving techniques covered in the book include creating custom shortcuts and icons to streamline repetitive tasks, as well as automating them with features such as Tables and Custom Views. You’ll see how Conditional Formatting enables you to apply colors, Cell icons, and other formatting on-demand as your data changes. You’ll be empowered to protect the integrity of spreadsheets and increase usability by implementing internal controls, and understand how to solve problems with What-If Analysis features. In addition, you’ll master new features and functions such as XLOOKUP, Dynamic Array functions, LET and LAMBDA, and Power Query, while learning how to leverage shortcuts and nuances in Excel. By the end of this book, you’ll have a broader awareness of how to avoid pitfalls in Excel. You’ll be empowered to work more effectively in Excel, having gained a deeper understanding of the frustrating oddities that can arise daily in Excel.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
1
Part 1: Improving Accessibility
6
Part 2:Spreadsheet Interactivity and Automation
12
Part 3: Data Analysis

Sparklines

Traditional charts in Excel may to take up a lot of space on the screen or printed page, but are not the only game in town. Sparklines are tiny charts that appear within worksheet cells, as shown in cells B4:B8 in Figure 9.13:

Figure 9.13 – Sparklines

For instance, you might use Sparklines as part of a dashboard, which is a spreadsheet that communicates a large amount of information in compact form. Let’s first walk through the process of creating each type of Sparkline and then I’ll show you an odd quirk. Follow the next steps:

  1. Activate the Sparklines worksheet in the example workbook for this chapter.
  2. Select cells F4:I4 and then Insert | Line within the Sparklines group to display the Create Sparklines dialog box.
  3. As shown in Figure 9.14, the Data Range setting is prefilled with the range of cells you selected:

Figure 9.14 – Create Sparklines dialog box

Nuance

Often in...