Excel 2016 Bible.pdf

Chandrajoy Sarkar

(PDF) Excel 2016 Bible.pdf | Chandrajoy Sarkar - Academia.edu

WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org fﬁ rs.indd 09/28/2015 Page i Microsoft® Excel® 2016 Bible WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org fﬁ rs.indd 09/28/2015 Page iii Microsoft® ® Excel 2016 BIBLE John Walkenbach WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org fﬁ rs.indd 09/28/2015 Page iv Microsoft® Excel® 2016 Bible Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 10475 Crosspoint Boulevard Indianapolis, IN 46256 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada ISBN: 978-1-119-06751-1 ISBN: 978-1-119-06749-8 (ebk) ISBN: 978-1-119-06750-4 (ebk) Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/ permissions. LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEB SITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ. For general information on our other products and services please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (877) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002. Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com. Library of Congress Control Number: 2015948798 Trademarks: Wiley and the Wiley logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Microsoft and Excel are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org fﬁ rs.indd 09/28/2015 Page v About the Author John Walkenbach is a bestselling Excel author who has published more than 50 spreadsheet books. He lives amid the saguaros, javelinas, rattlesnakes, bobcats, and Gila monsters in Southern Arizona, but the critters are mostly scared away by his clawhammer banjo playing. For more information, Google him. About the Technical Editor Niek Otten lives in the Netherlands. He started in data processing in 1967 in an insurance company. He ran into Visicalc in 1980 and has been addicted to spreadsheets ever since. His ﬁ rst encounter with Excel (version 1!) was in 1985 on a Macintosh. Since 2005, Niek has been self-employed—reviewing books, writing articles, and developing Excel-related software, such as a high-performance actuarial add-in. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org fﬁ rs.indd 09/28/2015 Page vii Credits Professional Technology & Strategy Director Barry Pruett Senior Acquisitions Editor Stephanie McComb Project Editor Adaobi Obi Tulton Business Manager Amy Knies Technical Editor Niek Otten Executive Editor Jody Lefevere Production Editor Rebecca Anderson Project Coordinator, Cover Brent Savage Copy Editor Karen A. Gill Manager of Content Development & Assembly Mary Beth Wakefield Proofreader Kim Wimpsett Indexer J & J Indexing Marketing Director David Mayhew Cover Designer Wiley Marketing Manager Carrie Sherrill Cover Image iStockphoto.com / Aleksandar WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org fﬁ rs.indd 09/28/2015 Page ix Acknowledgments T hanks again to everyone who bought the previous editions of this book. Your suggestions have helped make this edition the best one yet. And a special thanks to behind-the-scenes folks who helped considerably: Karen Gill (the copy editor who made it more readable), Niek Otten (the technical editor who made it more accurate), and Adaobi Obi Tulton (the project editor who made it all come together). ix WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org fﬁ rs.indd 09/28/2015 Page xi Contents at a Glance Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................ ix Introduction ............................................................................................................... xli Part I: Getting Started with Excel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Chapter 1: Introducing Excel .......................................................................................... 3 Chapter 2: Entering and Editing Worksheet Data ............................................................ 29 Chapter 3: Essential Worksheet Operations .....................................................................51 Chapter 4: Working with Cells and Ranges ..................................................................... 73 Chapter 5: Introducing Tables ......................................................................................109 Chapter 6: Worksheet Formatting .................................................................................129 Chapter 7: Understanding Excel Files............................................................................157 Chapter 8: Using and Creating Templates ...................................................................... 171 Chapter 9: Printing Your Work .....................................................................................181 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 Chapter 10: Introducing Formulas and Functions ..........................................................207 Chapter 11: Creating Formulas That Manipulate Text .....................................................243 Chapter 12: Working with Dates and Times ...................................................................263 Chapter 13: Creating Formulas That Count and Sum .......................................................297 Chapter 14: Creating Formulas That Look Up Values .......................................................327 Chapter 15: Creating Formulas for Financial Applications...............................................349 Chapter 16: Miscellaneous Calculations.........................................................................381 Chapter 17: Introducing Array Formulas .......................................................................395 Chapter 18: Performing Magic with Array Formulas .......................................................421 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445 Chapter 19: Getting Started Making Charts ...................................................................447 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting......................................................................491 Chapter 21: Visualizing Data Using Conditional Formatting ............................................539 Chapter 22: Creating Sparkline Graphics .......................................................................563 Chapter 23: Enhancing Your Work with Pictures and Drawings .......................................579 Part IV: Using Advanced Excel Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601 Chapter 24: Customizing the Excel User Interface ..........................................................603 Chapter 25: Using Custom Number Formats ...................................................................613 Chapter 26: Using Data Validation ................................................................................633 Chapter 27: Creating and Using Worksheet Outlines .......................................................647 xi WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org fﬁ rs.indd 09/28/2015 Page xii Chapter 28: Linking and Consolidating Worksheets .......................................................657 Chapter 29: Excel and the Internet...............................................................................677 Chapter 30: Protecting Your Work ................................................................................689 Chapter 31: Making Your Worksheets Error Free.............................................................701 Part V: Analyzing Data with Excel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731 Chapter 32: Importing and Cleaning Data .....................................................................733 Chapter 33: Introducing Pivot Tables ............................................................................763 Chapter 34: Analyzing Data with Pivot Tables ...............................................................785 Chapter 35: Performing Spreadsheet What-If Analysis ....................................................823 Chapter 36: Analyzing Data Using Goal Seeking and Solver ............................................841 Chapter 37: Analyzing Data with the Analysis ToolPak ..................................................863 Chapter 38: Working with Get & Transform ...................................................................877 Part VI: Programming Excel with VBA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 907 Chapter 39: Introducing Visual Basic for Applications ....................................................909 Chapter 40: Creating Custom Worksheet Functions ........................................................939 Chapter 41: Creating UserForms....................................................................................955 Chapter 42: Using UserForm Controls in a Worksheet .....................................................977 Chapter 43: Working with Excel Events .........................................................................993 Chapter 44: VBA Examples ......................................................................................... 1005 Chapter 45: Creating Custom Excel Add-Ins ................................................................. 1021 Part VII: Appendixes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1031 Appendix A: Worksheet Function Reference ................................................................ 1033 Appendix B: Excel Shortcut Keys ............................................................................... 1053 Index ...................................................................................................................... 1061 xii WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xiii Contents Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xli Part I: Getting Started with Excel 1 Chapter 1: Introducing Excel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Identifying What Excel Is Good For ........................................................................ 3 Seeing What’s New in Excel 2016 ............................................................................ 4 Understanding Workbooks and Worksheets ............................................................. 4 Moving Around a Worksheet .................................................................................. 7 Navigating with your keyboard...................................................................... 8 Navigating with your mouse .......................................................................... 9 Using the Ribbon ................................................................................................ 10 Ribbon tabs................................................................................................ 10 Contextual tabs .......................................................................................... 12 Types of commands on the Ribbon ............................................................... 12 Accessing the Ribbon by using your keyboard .............................................. 14 Using Shortcut Menus ......................................................................................... 16 Customizing Your Quick Access Toolbar................................................................. 17 Working with Dialog Boxes .................................................................................. 19 Navigating dialog boxes .............................................................................. 20 Using tabbed dialog boxes ........................................................................... 20 Using Task Panes ................................................................................................ 21 Creating Your First Excel Workbook ...................................................................... 23 Getting started on your worksheet .............................................................. 23 Filling in the month names ......................................................................... 23 Entering the sales data ............................................................................... 24 Formatting the numbers ............................................................................. 25 Making your worksheet look a bit fancier ..................................................... 25 Summing the values ................................................................................... 26 Creating a chart ......................................................................................... 26 Printing your worksheet ............................................................................. 27 Saving your workbook ................................................................................ 28 xiii WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xiv Contents Chapter 2: Entering and Editing Worksheet Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Exploring Data Types ........................................................................................... 29 Numeric values ........................................................................................... 30 Text entries ............................................................................................... 30 Formulas.................................................................................................... 31 Entering Text and Values into Your Worksheets ..................................................... 32 Entering Dates and Times into Your Worksheets..................................................... 33 Entering date values ................................................................................... 33 Entering time values................................................................................... 34 Modifying Cell Contents ...................................................................................... 34 Deleting the contents of a cell ..................................................................... 34 Replacing the contents of a cell ................................................................... 35 Editing the contents of a cell ...................................................................... 35 Learning some handy data-entry techniques ................................................ 37 Automatically moving the cell pointer after entering data .................... 37 Using navigation keys instead of pressing Enter ................................... 38 Selecting a range of input cells before entering data ............................ 38 Using Ctrl+Enter to place information into multiple cells simultaneously .............................................................................. 38 Entering decimal points automatically ................................................. 38 Using AutoFill to enter a series of values ............................................. 39 Using AutoComplete to automate data entry ........................................ 40 Forcing text to appear on a new line within a cell ................................ 40 Using AutoCorrect for shorthand data entry..........................................41 Entering numbers with fractions ......................................................... 42 Using a form for data entry ................................................................ 42 Entering the current date or time into a cell ........................................ 43 Applying Number Formatting ............................................................................... 44 Using automatic number formatting ............................................................ 45 Formatting numbers by using the Ribbon ..................................................... 46 Using shortcut keys to format numbers .........................................................47 Formatting numbers by using the Format Cells dialog box ..............................47 Adding your own custom number formats .................................................... 50 Chapter 3: Essential Worksheet Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Learning the Fundamentals of Excel Worksheets ....................................................51 Working with Excel windows ........................................................................51 Moving and resizing windows ............................................................. 52 Switching among windows.................................................................. 53 Closing windows ................................................................................ 54 Activating a worksheet ............................................................................... 54 Adding a new worksheet to your workbook................................................... 55 Deleting a worksheet you no longer need ..................................................... 55 Changing the name of a worksheet .............................................................. 56 xiv WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xv Contents Changing a sheet tab color .......................................................................... 57 Rearranging your worksheets ...................................................................... 57 Hiding and unhiding a worksheet ................................................................ 58 Controlling the Worksheet View ........................................................................... 59 Zooming in or out for a better view.............................................................. 59 Viewing a worksheet in multiple windows .................................................... 60 Comparing sheets side by side ..................................................................... 62 Splitting the worksheet window into panes .................................................. 62 Keeping the titles in view by freezing panes ................................................ 63 Monitoring cells with a Watch Window ......................................................... 65 Working with Rows and Columns .......................................................................... 66 Inserting rows and columns ........................................................................ 66 Deleting rows and columns.......................................................................... 68 Changing column widths and row heights .................................................... 68 Changing column widths .................................................................... 68 Changing row heights......................................................................... 69 Hiding rows and columns ............................................................................ 70 Chapter 4: Working with Cells and Ranges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Understanding Cells and Ranges........................................................................... 73 Selecting ranges ..........................................................................................74 Selecting complete rows and columns ...........................................................76 Selecting noncontiguous ranges ...................................................................76 Selecting multisheet ranges ........................................................................ 78 Selecting special types of cells .................................................................... 80 Selecting cells by searching ........................................................................ 82 Copying or Moving Ranges ................................................................................... 84 Copying by using Ribbon commands ............................................................ 85 Copying by using shortcut menu commands ................................................. 86 Copying by using shortcut keys ................................................................... 87 Copying or moving by using drag-and-drop .................................................. 88 Copying to adjacent cells ............................................................................ 89 Copying a range to other sheets .................................................................. 90 Using the Ofﬁce Clipboard to paste .............................................................. 90 Pasting in special ways ............................................................................... 92 Using the Paste Special dialog box ............................................................... 94 Performing mathematical operations without formulas ......................... 96 Skipping blanks when pasting ............................................................ 97 Transposing a range ........................................................................... 97 Using Names to Work with Ranges ........................................................................ 97 Creating range names in your workbooks ..................................................... 98 Using the Name box ........................................................................... 98 Using the New Name dialog box........................................................... 99 Using the Create Names from Selection dialog box ................................ 99 Managing names .......................................................................................101 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org xv ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xvi Contents Adding Comments to Cells ..................................................................................102 Formatting comments ................................................................................103 Changing a comment’s shape ......................................................................105 Reading comments ....................................................................................106 Printing comments ....................................................................................106 Hiding and showing comments ...................................................................107 Selecting comments ...................................................................................107 Editing comments......................................................................................107 Deleting comments ....................................................................................107 Chapter 5: Introducing Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 What Is a Table? .................................................................................................109 Creating a Table .................................................................................................112 Changing the Look of a Table ..............................................................................113 Working with Tables ........................................................................................... 116 Navigating in a table ................................................................................. 116 Selecting parts of a table ........................................................................... 117 Adding new rows or columns ...................................................................... 117 Deleting rows or columns ...........................................................................118 Moving a table ..........................................................................................118 Working with the Total Row ....................................................................... 119 Removing duplicate rows from a table .........................................................120 Sorting and ﬁltering a table .......................................................................121 Sorting a table..................................................................................122 Filtering a table ................................................................................123 Filtering a table with slicers ..............................................................125 Converting a table back to a range ..............................................................128 Chapter 6: Worksheet Formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Getting to Know the Formatting Tools .................................................................129 Using the formatting tools on the Home tab ................................................131 Using the Mini toolbar ...............................................................................131 Using the Format Cells dialog box ...............................................................132 Using Different Fonts to Format Your Worksheet...................................................133 Changing Text Alignment ...................................................................................136 Choosing horizontal alignment options .......................................................137 Choosing vertical alignment options ...........................................................139 Wrapping or shrinking text to ﬁt the cell ....................................................139 Merging worksheet cells to create additional text space ...............................140 Displaying text at an angle ........................................................................ 141 Controlling the text direction ....................................................................142 Using Colors and Shading ...................................................................................142 Adding Borders and Lines ...................................................................................143 Adding a Background Image to a Worksheet .........................................................146 Using Named Styles for Easier Formatting ............................................................ 147 xvi WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xvii Contents Applying styles .........................................................................................148 Modifying an existing style .......................................................................149 Creating new styles ...................................................................................150 Merging styles from other workbooks .......................................................... 151 Controlling styles with templates ............................................................... 151 Understanding Document Themes........................................................................ 151 Applying a theme ......................................................................................153 Customizing a theme .................................................................................155 Chapter 7: Understanding Excel Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Creating a New Workbook....................................................................................157 Opening an Existing Workbook............................................................................158 Filtering ﬁlenames ....................................................................................160 Choosing your ﬁle display preferences ........................................................160 Saving a Workbook ............................................................................................. 161 Using AutoRecover .............................................................................................163 Recovering versions of the current workbook ..............................................163 Recovering unsaved work ...........................................................................163 Conﬁguring AutoRecover ...........................................................................164 Password-Protecting a Workbook .........................................................................164 Organizing Your Files .........................................................................................165 Other Workbook Info Options ..............................................................................166 Protect Workbook options ..........................................................................166 Check for Issues options ............................................................................166 Manage Versions options ............................................................................167 Browser View options .................................................................................167 Compatibility Mode section ........................................................................167 Closing Workbooks .............................................................................................167 Safeguarding Your Work .....................................................................................168 Excel File Compatibility ......................................................................................168 Checking compatibility ..............................................................................168 Recognizing the Excel 2016 ﬁle formats ...................................................... 170 Saving a ﬁle for use with an older version of Excel ....................................... 170 Chapter 8: Using and Creating Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Exploring Excel Templates .................................................................................. 171 Viewing templates ..................................................................................... 171 Creating a workbook from a template ..........................................................172 Modifying a template................................................................................. 174 Understanding Custom Excel Templates ............................................................... 174 Working with the default templates ............................................................ 175 Using the workbook template to change workbook defaults .................. 175 Creating a worksheet template ........................................................... 176 Editing your template .......................................................................177 Resetting the default workbook .........................................................177 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org xvii ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xviii Contents Creating custom templates .........................................................................177 Saving your custom templates ...........................................................178 Using custom templates.....................................................................178 Getting ideas for creating templates ...................................................179 Chapter 9: Printing Your Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 Basic Printing ....................................................................................................181 Changing Your Page View ....................................................................................183 Normal view ..............................................................................................183 Page Layout view ......................................................................................184 Page Break Preview....................................................................................186 Adjusting Common Page Setup Settings ...............................................................187 Choosing your printer ................................................................................188 Specifying what you want to print .............................................................189 Changing page orientation .........................................................................190 Specifying paper size.................................................................................190 Printing multiple copies of a report ............................................................190 Adjusting the page margins .......................................................................190 Understanding page breaks ........................................................................192 Inserting a page break ......................................................................192 Removing manual page breaks ...........................................................193 Printing row and column titles ...................................................................193 Scaling printed output ...............................................................................194 Printing cell gridlines ................................................................................195 Printing row and column headers ...............................................................195 Using a background image..........................................................................195 Adding a Header or a Footer to Your Reports ........................................................197 Selecting a predeﬁ ned header or footer .......................................................197 Understanding header and footer element codes ..........................................198 Other header and footer options .................................................................200 Other Print-Related Topics ..................................................................................200 Copying Page Setup settings across Sheets ..................................................200 Preventing certain cells from being printed ................................................201 Preventing objects from being printed ........................................................202 Creating custom views of your worksheet ....................................................203 Creating PDF ﬁles ......................................................................................204 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions 205 Chapter 10: Introducing Formulas and Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Understanding Formula Basics ............................................................................207 Using operators in formulas........................................................................208 Understanding operator precedence in formulas ..........................................210 Using functions in your formulas ...............................................................212 xviii WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xix Contents Examples of formulas that use functions ............................................212 Function arguments ..........................................................................213 More about functions ........................................................................214 Entering Formulas into Your Worksheets ..............................................................214 Entering formulas manually .......................................................................217 Entering formulas by pointing ....................................................................217 Pasting range names into formulas .............................................................218 Inserting functions into formulas...............................................................219 Function entry tips ...................................................................................221 Editing Formulas................................................................................................221 Using Cell References in Formulas .......................................................................222 Using relative, absolute, and mixed references.............................................223 Changing the types of your references ........................................................225 Referencing cells outside the worksheet ......................................................225 Referencing cells in other worksheets ................................................226 Referencing cells in other workbooks .................................................226 Using Formulas in Tables ....................................................................................227 Summarizing data in a table ......................................................................227 Using formulas within a table ....................................................................229 Referencing data in a table ........................................................................230 Correcting Common Formula Errors ......................................................................232 Handling circular references ......................................................................233 Specifying when formulas are calculated .....................................................234 Using Advanced Naming Techniques ....................................................................236 Using names for constants .........................................................................236 Using names for formulas ...........................................................................237 Using range intersections...........................................................................238 Applying names to existing references ........................................................240 Working with Formulas ....................................................................................... 241 Not hard-coding values .............................................................................. 241 Using the Formula bar as a calculator .......................................................... 241 Making an exact copy of a formula ............................................................. 241 Converting formulas to values ....................................................................242 Chapter 11: Creating Formulas That Manipulate Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 A Few Words About Text .....................................................................................243 Text Functions...................................................................................................244 Working with character codes.....................................................................245 The CODE function ............................................................................245 The CHAR function ...........................................................................246 Determining whether two strings are identical ............................................248 Joining two or more cells ...........................................................................248 Displaying formatted values as text ............................................................249 Displaying formatted currency values as text .............................................. 251 Repeating a character or string .................................................................. 251 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org xix ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xx Contents Creating a text histogram .......................................................................... 251 Padding a number .....................................................................................252 Removing excess spaces and nonprinting characters ....................................253 Counting characters in a string ..................................................................254 Changing the case of text ..........................................................................254 Extracting characters from a string ............................................................255 Replacing text with other text ...................................................................256 Finding and searching within a string ........................................................257 Searching and replacing within a string ......................................................257 Advanced Text Formulas .....................................................................................258 Counting speciﬁc characters in a cell ..........................................................258 Counting the occurrences of a substring in a cell .........................................258 Extracting the ﬁ rst word of a string ...........................................................259 Extracting the last word of a string ............................................................259 Extracting all but the ﬁ rst word of a string .................................................260 Extracting ﬁ rst names, middle names, and last names .................................260 Removing titles from names .......................................................................262 Creating an ordinal number ........................................................................262 Counting the number of words in a cell .......................................................262 Chapter 12: Working with Dates and Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263 How Excel Handles Dates and Times.....................................................................263 Understanding date serial numbers .............................................................263 Entering dates...........................................................................................264 Understanding time serial numbers ............................................................266 Entering times ..........................................................................................267 Formatting dates and times........................................................................268 Problems with dates ..................................................................................269 Excel’s leap year bug .........................................................................269 Pre-1900 dates ..................................................................................270 Inconsistent date entries...................................................................270 Date-Related Worksheet Functions ......................................................................271 Displaying the current date .......................................................................272 Displaying any date ...................................................................................273 Generating a series of dates ....................................................................... 274 Converting a nondate string to a date .........................................................275 Calculating the number of days between two dates ......................................276 Calculating the number of workdays between two dates ...............................276 Offsetting a date using only workdays ........................................................278 Calculating the number of years between two dates .....................................278 Calculating a person’s age...........................................................................279 Determining the day of the year .................................................................280 Determining the day of the week................................................................281 Determining the week of the year ..............................................................281 Determining the date of the most recent Sunday .........................................281 xx WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xxi Contents Determining the ﬁ rst day of the week after a date .......................................282 Determining the nth occurrence of a day of the week in a month .................282 Calculating dates of holidays ......................................................................282 New Year’s Day ..................................................................................283 Martin Luther King, Jr., Day ..............................................................283 Presidents’ Day .................................................................................284 Easter ..............................................................................................284 Memorial Day ....................................................................................284 Independence Day .............................................................................284 Labor Day .........................................................................................284 Columbus Day ...................................................................................284 Veterans Day ....................................................................................285 Thanksgiving Day .............................................................................285 Christmas Day ..................................................................................285 Determining the last day of a month ..........................................................285 Determining whether a year is a leap year ...................................................285 Determining a date’s quarter ......................................................................286 Time-Related Worksheet Functions ......................................................................286 Displaying the current time .......................................................................287 Displaying any time ..................................................................................287 Calculating the difference between two times .............................................288 Summing times that exceed 24 hours ..........................................................289 Converting from military time....................................................................291 Converting decimal hours, minutes, or seconds to a time..............................292 Adding hours, minutes, or seconds to a time ...............................................292 Rounding time values ................................................................................293 Working with non-time-of-day values .........................................................294 Chapter 13: Creating Formulas That Count and Sum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297 Counting and Summing Worksheet Cells...............................................................297 Basic Counting Formulas.....................................................................................299 Counting the total number of cells..............................................................301 Counting blank cells ..................................................................................301 Counting nonblank cells ............................................................................301 Counting numeric cells ..............................................................................302 Counting text cells ....................................................................................302 Counting nontext cells...............................................................................302 Counting logical values ..............................................................................302 Counting error values in a range .................................................................302 Advanced Counting Formulas ..............................................................................303 Counting cells by using the COUNTIF function .............................................303 Counting cells based on multiple criteria.....................................................304 Using And criteria.............................................................................306 Using Or criteria ...............................................................................307 Combining And and Or criteria ...........................................................308 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org xxi ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xxii Contents Counting the most frequently occurring entry .............................................308 Counting the occurrences of speciﬁc text ....................................................309 Entire cell contents ...........................................................................309 Partial cell contents ..........................................................................310 Total occurrences in a range ..............................................................310 Counting the number of unique values ........................................................310 Creating a frequency distribution ............................................................... 311 The FREQUENCY function................................................................... 311 Using formulas to create a frequency distribution ...............................313 Using the Analysis ToolPak to create a frequency distribution .............315 Using a pivot table to create a frequency distribution ......................... 317 Summing Formulas .............................................................................................318 Summing all cells in a range.......................................................................318 Computing a cumulative sum......................................................................319 Ignoring errors when summing ...................................................................320 Summing the “top n” values .......................................................................321 Conditional Sums Using a Single Criterion ............................................................322 Summing only negative values ...................................................................323 Summing values based on a different range .................................................323 Summing values based on a text comparison ...............................................324 Summing values based on a date comparison ...............................................324 Conditional Sums Using Multiple Criteria .............................................................324 Using And criteria .....................................................................................325 Using Or criteria ........................................................................................326 Using And and Or criteria...........................................................................326 Chapter 14: Creating Formulas That Look Up Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 Introducing Lookup Formulas .............................................................................327 Functions Relevant to Lookups ...........................................................................329 Basic Lookup Formulas .......................................................................................330 The VLOOKUP function ..............................................................................330 The HLOOKUP function ..............................................................................332 The LOOKUP function ................................................................................333 Combining the MATCH and INDEX functions ................................................334 Specialized Lookup Formulas ..............................................................................336 Looking up an exact value .........................................................................337 Looking up a value to the left ....................................................................338 Performing a case-sensitive lookup .............................................................339 Looking up a value from multiple lookup tables ...........................................340 Determining letter grades for test scores .....................................................341 Calculating a grade-point average ...............................................................342 Performing a two-way lookup .....................................................................343 Performing a two-column lookup ................................................................344 Determining the cell address of a value within a range.................................345 Looking up a value by using the closest match ............................................346 xxii WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xxiii Contents Chapter 15: Creating Formulas for Financial Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349 The Time Value of Money ....................................................................................349 Loan Calculations............................................................................................... 351 Worksheet functions for calculating loan information .................................. 351 PMT .................................................................................................352 PPMT................................................................................................352 IPMT ................................................................................................352 RATE ................................................................................................353 NPER ................................................................................................353 PV ...................................................................................................354 A loan calculation example ........................................................................354 Credit card payments .................................................................................356 Creating a loan amortization schedule ........................................................358 Summarizing loan options by using a data table ..........................................359 Creating a one-way data table ............................................................360 Creating a two-way data table ............................................................361 Calculating a loan with irregular payments .................................................363 Investment Calculations .....................................................................................365 Future value of a single deposit ..................................................................365 Calculating simple interest ................................................................365 Calculating compound interest ...........................................................366 Calculating interest with continuous compounding .............................369 Future value of a series of deposits .............................................................371 Depreciation Calculations ...................................................................................373 Financial Forecasting ......................................................................................... 376 Chapter 16: Miscellaneous Calculations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 Unit Conversions ................................................................................................381 Solving Right Triangles ......................................................................................384 Area, Surface, Circumference, and Volume Calculations .........................................385 Calculating the area and perimeter of a square ............................................386 Calculating the area and perimeter of a rectangle ........................................386 Calculating the area and perimeter of a circle ..............................................386 Calculating the area of a trapezoid .............................................................386 Calculating the area of a triangle................................................................387 Calculating the surface and volume of a sphere ...........................................387 Calculating the surface and volume of a cube ..............................................387 Calculating the surface and volume of a rectangular solid ............................387 Calculating the surface and volume of a cone ..............................................387 Calculating the volume of a cylinder ...........................................................388 Calculating the volume of a pyramid ...........................................................388 Rounding Numbers .............................................................................................388 Basic rounding formulas ............................................................................389 Rounding to the nearest multiple ...............................................................390 Rounding currency values ..........................................................................390 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org xxiii ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xxiv Contents Working with fractional dollars ..................................................................391 Using the INT and TRUNC functions ............................................................392 Rounding to an even or odd integer ............................................................392 Rounding to n signiﬁcant digits .................................................................393 Chapter 17: Introducing Array Formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395 Understanding Array Formulas ............................................................................395 A multicell array formula ...........................................................................396 A single-cell array formula .........................................................................398 Creating an Array Constant.................................................................................399 Understanding the Dimensions of an Array ..........................................................400 One-dimensional horizontal arrays .............................................................400 One-dimensional vertical arrays .................................................................401 Two-dimensional arrays .............................................................................401 Naming Array Constants .....................................................................................403 Working with Array Formulas..............................................................................404 Entering an array formula ..........................................................................404 Selecting an array formula range ................................................................405 Editing an array formula ............................................................................405 Expanding or contracting a multicell array formula .....................................406 Using Multicell Array Formulas ...........................................................................407 Creating an array from values in a range .....................................................407 Creating an array constant from values in a range .......................................408 Performing operations on an array..............................................................408 Using functions with an array .................................................................... 410 Transposing an array ................................................................................. 410 Generating an array of consecutive integers ................................................ 411 Using Single-Cell Array Formulas.........................................................................413 Counting characters in a range ...................................................................413 Summing the three smallest values in a range ............................................. 414 Counting text cells in a range .................................................................... 415 Eliminating intermediate formulas ............................................................. 416 Using an array in lieu of a range reference .................................................. 418 Chapter 18: Performing Magic with Array Formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421 Working with Single-Cell Array Formulas .............................................................421 Summing a range that contains errors.........................................................421 Counting the number of error values in a range ...........................................423 Summing the n largest values in a range .....................................................423 Computing an average that excludes zeros...................................................424 Determining whether a particular value appears in a range ..........................425 Counting the number of differences in two ranges .......................................426 Returning the location of the maximum value in a range .............................427 Finding the row of a value’s nth occurrence in a range .................................428 Returning the longest text in a range .........................................................428 xxiv WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xxv Contents Determining whether a range contains valid values .....................................429 Summing the digits of an integer ...............................................................430 Summing rounded values ...........................................................................431 Summing every nth value in a range ...........................................................432 Removing nonnumeric characters from a string ...........................................433 Determining the closest value in a range.....................................................434 Returning the last value in a column ..........................................................435 Returning the last value in a row ...............................................................436 Working with Multicell Array Formulas ................................................................437 Returning only positive values from a range ................................................437 Returning nonblank cells from a range .......................................................439 Reversing the order of cells in a range ........................................................439 Sorting a range of values dynamically .........................................................440 Returning a list of unique items in a range .................................................441 Displaying a calendar in a range .................................................................442 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics 445 Chapter 19: Getting Started Making Charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447 What Is a Chart? ................................................................................................447 Understanding How Excel Handles Charts ............................................................448 Embedded charts .......................................................................................449 Chart sheets..............................................................................................450 Creating a Chart.................................................................................................452 Hands On: Creating and Customizing a Chart........................................................453 Selecting the data .....................................................................................454 Choosing a chart type ................................................................................454 Experimenting with different styles ...........................................................454 Experimenting with different layouts .........................................................456 Trying another view of the data .................................................................457 Trying other chart types............................................................................458 Working with Charts ..........................................................................................460 Resizing a chart ........................................................................................460 Moving a chart ..........................................................................................460 Copying a chart .........................................................................................461 Deleting a chart ........................................................................................461 Adding chart elements...............................................................................461 Moving and deleting chart elements ...........................................................461 Formatting chart elements .........................................................................462 Printing charts .........................................................................................464 Understanding Chart Types .................................................................................464 Choosing a chart type ................................................................................465 Column charts ...........................................................................................467 Bar charts ................................................................................................. 470 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org xxv ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xxvi Contents Line charts ............................................................................................... 471 Pie charts ................................................................................................. 474 XY (scatter) charts .................................................................................... 475 Area charts ...............................................................................................477 Radar charts .............................................................................................478 Surface charts ...........................................................................................481 Bubble charts ............................................................................................482 Stock charts..............................................................................................483 New Chart Types for Excel 2016 ...........................................................................485 Histogram charts ......................................................................................485 Pareto charts ............................................................................................485 Waterfall charts ........................................................................................487 Box & whisker charts .................................................................................487 Sunburst charts ........................................................................................488 Treemap charts .........................................................................................488 Learning More ...................................................................................................490 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491 Selecting Chart Elements ....................................................................................491 Selecting with the mouse ...........................................................................492 Selecting with the keyboard.......................................................................493 Selecting with the Chart Elements control...................................................493 User Interface Choices for Modifying Chart Elements ............................................494 Using the Format task pane........................................................................495 Using the chart customization buttons .......................................................496 Using the Ribbon .......................................................................................496 Using the Mini toolbar ...............................................................................497 Modifying the Chart Area ...................................................................................497 Modifying the Plot Area .....................................................................................498 Working with Titles in a Chart ............................................................................499 Working with a Legend .......................................................................................500 Working with Gridlines .......................................................................................503 Modifying the Axes ............................................................................................503 Value axis .................................................................................................503 Category axis ............................................................................................508 Working with Data Series .................................................................................... 512 Deleting or hiding a data series ..................................................................513 Adding a new data series to a chart ............................................................513 Changing data used by a series ................................................................... 514 Changing the data range by dragging the range outline ....................... 514 Using the Edit Series dialog box ......................................................... 515 Editing the Series formula ................................................................. 515 Displaying data labels in a chart ................................................................ 517 Handling missing data ............................................................................... 519 Adding error bars ......................................................................................520 xxvi WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xxvii Contents Adding a trendline ....................................................................................521 Modifying 3-D charts .................................................................................522 Creating combination charts ......................................................................523 Displaying a data table ..............................................................................526 Creating Chart Templates ....................................................................................527 Learning Some Chart-Making Tricks ....................................................................528 Creating picture charts ..............................................................................528 Creating a thermometer chart ....................................................................530 Creating a gauge chart ...............................................................................532 Creating a comparative histogram ...............................................................533 Creating a Gantt chart ...............................................................................534 Plotting mathematical functions with one variable......................................536 Plotting mathematical functions with two variables ....................................537 Chapter 21: Visualizing Data Using Conditional Formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539 About Conditional Formatting .............................................................................539 Specifying Conditional Formatting ......................................................................541 Formatting types you can apply .................................................................542 Making your own rules ..............................................................................542 Conditional Formats That Use Graphics ................................................................544 Using data bars .........................................................................................544 A simple data bar ..............................................................................544 Using data bars in lieu of a chart .......................................................545 Using color scales ......................................................................................546 A color scale example ........................................................................546 An extreme color scale example .........................................................548 Using icon sets ..........................................................................................549 An icon set example ..........................................................................549 Another icon set example .................................................................. 551 Creating Formula-Based Rules .............................................................................552 Understanding relative and absolute references ...........................................553 Conditional formatting formula examples ....................................................554 Identifying weekend days .................................................................555 Highlighting a row based on a value ...................................................555 Displaying alternate-row shading .......................................................556 Creating checkerboard shading ..........................................................556 Shading groups of rows .....................................................................557 Displaying a total only when all values are entered .............................557 Creating a Gantt Chart ......................................................................558 Working with Conditional Formats.......................................................................559 Managing rules .........................................................................................560 Copying cells that contain conditional formatting .......................................560 Deleting conditional formatting .................................................................560 Locating cells that contain conditional formatting ......................................560 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org xxvii ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xxviii Contents Chapter 22: Creating Sparkline Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563 Sparkline Types .................................................................................................564 Creating Sparklines ............................................................................................565 Customizing Sparklines ......................................................................................568 Sizing Sparkline cells.................................................................................568 Handling hidden or missing data ................................................................568 Changing the Sparkline type ......................................................................569 Changing Sparkline colors and line width....................................................569 Highlighting certain data points ................................................................570 Adjusting Sparkline axis scaling .................................................................570 Faking a reference line ..............................................................................571 Specifying a Date Axis ....................................................................................... 574 Auto-Updating Sparklines...................................................................................575 Displaying a Sparkline for a Dynamic Range ........................................................ 576 Chapter 23: Enhancing Your Work with Pictures and Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579 Using Shapes .....................................................................................................579 Inserting a Shape ......................................................................................580 Adding text to a Shape ..............................................................................583 Formatting Shapes.....................................................................................584 Stacking Shapes ........................................................................................585 Grouping objects .......................................................................................586 Aligning and spacing objects......................................................................586 Reshaping Shapes ......................................................................................587 Printing objects ........................................................................................588 Using SmartArt..................................................................................................590 Inserting SmartArt....................................................................................590 Customizing SmartArt ...............................................................................591 Changing the layout and style ....................................................................592 Learning more about SmartArt ...................................................................593 Using WordArt ...................................................................................................593 Working with Other Graphics Types .....................................................................594 About graphics ﬁles ...................................................................................594 Inserting screenshots ................................................................................598 Displaying a worksheet background image ..................................................598 Using the Equation Editor ...................................................................................598 Part IV: Using Advanced Excel Features 601 Chapter 24: Customizing the Excel User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603 Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar .................................................................603 About the Quick Access toolbar ..................................................................604 Adding new commands to the Quick Access toolbar......................................605 Other Quick Access toolbar actions .............................................................608 xxviii WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xxix Contents Customizing the Ribbon .....................................................................................609 Why you may want to customize the Ribbon ...............................................609 What can be customized ............................................................................609 How to customize the Ribbon ..................................................................... 610 Creating a new tab ............................................................................ 610 Creating a new group ........................................................................ 611 Adding commands to a new group ...................................................... 611 Resetting the Ribbon ................................................................................. 612 Chapter 25: Using Custom Number Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613 About Number Formatting ..................................................................................613 Automatic number formatting .................................................................... 614 Formatting numbers by using the Ribbon .................................................... 615 Using shortcut keys to format numbers ....................................................... 615 Using the Format Cells dialog box to format numbers ................................... 616 Creating a Custom Number Format ....................................................................... 617 Parts of a number format string .................................................................620 Custom number format codes......................................................................621 Custom Number Format Examples ........................................................................623 Scaling values ...........................................................................................623 Displaying values in thousands ..........................................................623 Displaying values in hundreds ...........................................................624 Displaying values in millions .............................................................624 Appending zeros to a value ................................................................626 Displaying leading zeros ............................................................................626 Specifying conditions ................................................................................627 Displaying fractions ..................................................................................627 Displaying a negative sign on the right .......................................................628 Formatting dates and times........................................................................628 Displaying text with numbers ....................................................................629 Suppressing certain types of entries ...........................................................630 Filling a cell with a repeating character ......................................................631 Chapter 26: Using Data Validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633 About Data Validation ........................................................................................633 Specifying Validation Criteria .............................................................................634 Types of Validation Criteria You Can Apply ...........................................................635 Creating a Drop-Down List ..................................................................................637 Using Formulas for Data Validation Rules .............................................................638 Understanding Cell References ............................................................................639 Data Validation Formula Examples .......................................................................641 Accepting text only ...................................................................................641 Accepting a larger value than the previous cell ...........................................641 Accepting nonduplicate entries only ...........................................................642 Accepting text that begins with a speciﬁc character ....................................643 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org xxix ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xxx Contents Accepting dates by the day of the week ......................................................643 Accepting only values that don’t exceed a total ...........................................643 Creating a dependent list ...........................................................................644 Chapter 27: Creating and Using Worksheet Outlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647 Introducing Worksheet Outlines ..........................................................................647 Creating an Outline ............................................................................................ 651 Preparing the data .................................................................................... 651 Creating an outline automatically ...............................................................652 Creating an outline manually .....................................................................653 Working with Outlines ........................................................................................654 Displaying levels .......................................................................................654 Adding data to an outline ..........................................................................655 Removing an outline .................................................................................655 Adjusting the outline symbols....................................................................655 Hiding the outline symbols ........................................................................656 Chapter 28: Linking and Consolidating Worksheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657 Linking Workbooks ............................................................................................657 Creating External Reference Formulas ..................................................................658 Understanding link formula syntax ............................................................658 Creating a link formula by pointing ............................................................659 Pasting links.............................................................................................660 Working with External Reference Formulas ..........................................................660 Creating links to unsaved workbooks ..........................................................660 Opening a workbook with external reference formulas .................................661 Changing the startup prompt .....................................................................662 Updating links ..........................................................................................663 Changing the link source ...........................................................................663 Severing links ...........................................................................................663 Avoiding Potential Problems with External Reference Formulas .............................664 Renaming or moving a source workbook ......................................................664 Using the Save As command .......................................................................664 Modifying a source workbook .....................................................................665 Intermediary links ....................................................................................665 Consolidating Worksheets ...................................................................................666 Consolidating worksheets by using formulas ...............................................667 Consolidating worksheets by using Paste Special .........................................668 Consolidating worksheets by using the Consolidate dialog box .....................669 A workbook consolidation example .............................................................671 Refreshing a consolidation ......................................................................... 674 More about consolidation ...........................................................................675 xxx WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xxxi Contents Chapter 29: Excel and the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677 Saving a Workbook on the Internet .....................................................................677 Saving Workbooks in HTML Format ......................................................................679 Creating an HTML ﬁle ................................................................................680 Creating a single-ﬁle web page ...................................................................681 Opening an HTML File ........................................................................................683 Working with Hyperlinks ....................................................................................684 Inserting a hyperlink ................................................................................684 Using hyperlinks .......................................................................................686 E-Mail Features ..................................................................................................686 Discovering Ofﬁce Add-Ins..................................................................................687 Chapter 30: Protecting Your Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689 Types of Protection ............................................................................................689 Protecting a Worksheet ......................................................................................690 Unlocking cells..........................................................................................690 Sheet protection options ............................................................................692 Assigning user permissions ........................................................................693 Protecting a Workbook .......................................................................................694 Requiring a password to open a workbook ...................................................694 Protecting a workbook’s structure ..............................................................695 VBA Project Protection .......................................................................................697 Related Topics....................................................................................................697 Saving a worksheet as a PDF ﬁle .................................................................698 Marking a workbook ﬁ nal ...........................................................................698 Inspecting a workbook...............................................................................698 Using a digital signature ............................................................................700 Getting a digital ID ...........................................................................700 Signing a workbook...........................................................................700 Chapter 31: Making Your Worksheets Error Free . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 701 Finding and Correcting Formula Errors.................................................................701 Mismatched parentheses ............................................................................702 Cells are ﬁlled with hash marks ..................................................................704 Blank cells are not blank ...........................................................................704 Extra space characters ...............................................................................704 Formulas returning an error .......................................................................705 #DIV/0! errors ...................................................................................706 #N/A errors .......................................................................................707 #NAME? errors ..................................................................................708 #NULL! errors ...................................................................................708 #NUM! errors ....................................................................................709 #REF! errors ......................................................................................709 #VALUE! errors..................................................................................710 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org xxxi ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xxxii Contents Absolute/relative reference problems ..........................................................710 Operator precedence problems .................................................................... 711 Formulas are not calculated........................................................................712 Actual versus displayed values ...................................................................712 Floating point number errors......................................................................713 “Phantom link” errors................................................................................714 Using Excel Auditing Tools..................................................................................715 Identifying cells of a particular type ..........................................................715 Viewing formulas ......................................................................................716 Tracing cell relationships ...........................................................................718 Identifying precedents ......................................................................718 Identifying dependents .....................................................................719 Tracing error values ...................................................................................720 Fixing circular reference errors...................................................................720 Using the background error-checking feature ..............................................720 Using Formula Evaluator ............................................................................722 Searching and Replacing ....................................................................................723 Searching for information ..........................................................................724 Replacing information ...............................................................................725 Searching for formatting ...........................................................................725 Spell-Checking Your Worksheets ..........................................................................726 Using AutoCorrect ..............................................................................................728 Part V: Analyzing Data with Excel 731 Chapter 32: Importing and Cleaning Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733 Importing Data ..................................................................................................733 Importing from a ﬁle .................................................................................734 Spreadsheet ﬁle formats ....................................................................734 Database ﬁle formats.........................................................................735 Text ﬁle formats ...............................................................................735 Importing HTML ﬁles ........................................................................736 Importing XML ﬁles ..........................................................................736 Importing a text ﬁle into a speciﬁed range..................................................736 Copying and pasting data ..........................................................................738 Data Cleanup Techniques ....................................................................................738 Removing duplicate rows ...........................................................................738 Identifying duplicate rows .........................................................................740 Splitting text ............................................................................................ 741 Using Text to Columns .......................................................................742 Using Flash Fill ................................................................................. 743 Changing the case of text ..........................................................................746 Removing extra spaces............................................................................... 747 xxxii WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xxxiii Contents Removing strange characters .....................................................................748 Converting values ......................................................................................748 Classifying values...................................................................................... 749 Joining columns ........................................................................................750 Rearranging columns ................................................................................. 751 Randomizing the rows ............................................................................... 751 Extracting a ﬁlename from a URL ............................................................... 751 Matching text in a list ...............................................................................752 Changing vertical data to horizontal data ...................................................753 Filling gaps in an imported report ..............................................................755 Checking spelling ......................................................................................757 Replacing or removing text in cells .............................................................757 Adding text to cells ...................................................................................759 Fixing trailing minus signs ........................................................................760 A Data Cleaning Checklist ...................................................................................760 Exporting Data .................................................................................................. 761 Exporting to a text ﬁle .............................................................................. 761 CSV ﬁles ........................................................................................... 761 TXT ﬁles ........................................................................................... 761 PRN ﬁles ..........................................................................................762 Exporting to other ﬁle formats ...................................................................762 Chapter 33: Introducing Pivot Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 763 About Pivot Tables .............................................................................................763 A pivot table example ................................................................................764 Data appropriate for a pivot table ...............................................................767 Creating a Pivot Table Automatically ...................................................................769 Creating a Pivot Table Manually ..........................................................................771 Specifying the data ...................................................................................771 Specifying the location for the pivot table ..................................................772 Laying out the pivot table..........................................................................773 Formatting the pivot table .........................................................................775 Modifying the pivot table ..........................................................................777 More Pivot Table Examples ..................................................................................779 What is the daily total new deposit amount for each branch? ........................779 Which day of the week accounts for the most deposits?................................780 How many accounts were opened at each branch, broken down by account type? ...................................................................................781 What’s the dollar distribution of the different account types? ......................781 What types of accounts do tellers open most often? .....................................782 In which branch do tellers open the most checking accounts for new customers? .....................................................................................783 Learning More ...................................................................................................784 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org xxxiii ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xxxiv Contents Chapter 34: Analyzing Data with Pivot Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 785 Working with Nonnumeric Data ...........................................................................785 Grouping Pivot Table Items .................................................................................787 A manual grouping example .......................................................................787 Automatic grouping examples.....................................................................788 Grouping by date ..............................................................................788 Grouping by time ..............................................................................793 Creating a Frequency Distribution .......................................................................794 Creating a Calculated Field or Calculated Item ......................................................796 Creating a calculated ﬁeld ..........................................................................798 Inserting a calculated item ........................................................................800 Filtering Pivot Tables with Slicers .......................................................................804 Filtering Pivot Tables with a Timeline..................................................................806 Referencing Cells Within a Pivot Table .................................................................807 Creating Pivot Charts .........................................................................................809 A pivot chart example ...............................................................................809 More about pivot charts .............................................................................812 Another Pivot Table Example ..............................................................................813 Using the Data Model .........................................................................................817 Learning More About Pivot Tables .......................................................................821 Chapter 35: Performing Spreadsheet What-If Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823 A What-If Example .............................................................................................823 Types of What-If Analyses ...................................................................................825 Performing manual what-if analysis ............................................................825 Creating data tables...................................................................................826 Creating a one-input data table ..........................................................826 Creating a two-input data table .........................................................829 Using Scenario Manager .............................................................................833 Deﬁ ning scenarios ............................................................................833 Displaying scenarios .........................................................................836 Moodifying scenarios ........................................................................837 Merging scenarios .............................................................................837 Generating a scenario report..............................................................838 Chapter 36: Analyzing Data Using Goal Seeking and Solver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 841 What-If Analysis, in Reverse ...............................................................................841 Single-Cell Goal Seeking .....................................................................................842 A goal-seeking example .............................................................................842 More about goal seeking ............................................................................844 Introducing Solver .............................................................................................845 Appropriate problems for Solver ..................................................................845 A simple Solver example.............................................................................846 More about Solver ...................................................................................... 851 xxxiv WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xxxv Contents Solver Examples .................................................................................................852 Solving simultaneous linear equations ........................................................853 Minimizing shipping costs .........................................................................855 Allocating resources ..................................................................................858 Optimizing an investment portfolio ............................................................859 Chapter 37: Analyzing Data with the Analysis ToolPak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 863 The Analysis ToolPak: An Overview .....................................................................863 Installing the Analysis ToolPak Add-In ................................................................864 Using the Analysis Tools .....................................................................................864 Introducing the Analysis ToolPak Tools ...............................................................865 Analysis of Variance ..................................................................................866 Correlation................................................................................................866 Covariance ................................................................................................867 Descriptive Statistics .................................................................................867 Exponential Smoothing..............................................................................868 F-test (two-sample test for variance) ..........................................................868 Fourier Analysis ........................................................................................869 Histogram .................................................................................................869 Moving Average .........................................................................................870 Random Number Generation .......................................................................871 Rank and Percentile ..................................................................................873 Regression ................................................................................................873 Sampling .................................................................................................. 874 T-Test ....................................................................................................... 874 Z-Test (two-sample test for means)..............................................................875 Chapter 38: Working with Get & Transform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877 Get & Transform: An Overview ............................................................................877 Data Sources for Get & Transform ........................................................................878 Example: A Simple Query ....................................................................................879 Choosing the data source ...........................................................................879 Removing extraneous columns ...................................................................880 Importing the data ....................................................................................882 Modifying the query ..................................................................................882 Refreshing the query .................................................................................883 How Your Actions Are Recorded...........................................................................884 Example: Returning Summarized Data .................................................................885 Example: Transforming Data from a Web Query .....................................................888 Separating the year from the movie title.....................................................888 Fixing the dollar values .............................................................................890 Adding an Index column ............................................................................892 Importing the data ....................................................................................892 Example: Merging Two Web Queries......................................................................893 Performing the ﬁ rst web query ...................................................................893 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org xxxv ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xxxvi Contents Performing the second web query ...............................................................894 Merging the two queries ............................................................................896 Example: Getting a List of Files ...........................................................................898 Example: Choosing a Random Sample ...................................................................901 Example: Unpivoting a Table ...............................................................................904 Tips for Using Get & Transform............................................................................905 Learning More ...................................................................................................906 Part VI: Programming Excel with VBA 907 Chapter 39: Introducing Visual Basic for Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 909 Introducing VBA Macros .....................................................................................909 Displaying the Developer Tab ..............................................................................910 About Macro Security .........................................................................................911 Saving Workbooks That Contain Macros ...............................................................912 Two Types of VBA Macros ....................................................................................913 VBA Sub procedures ...................................................................................913 VBA functions ...........................................................................................915 Creating VBA Macros ..........................................................................................917 Recording VBA macros ...............................................................................917 Recording your actions to create VBA code: The basics.........................917 Recording a macro: A simple example .................................................918 Examining the macro ........................................................................919 Testing the macro .............................................................................920 Editing the macro .............................................................................920 Another example ..............................................................................921 Running the macro ...........................................................................921 Examining the macro ........................................................................922 Rerecording the macro ......................................................................923 Testing the macro .............................................................................923 More about recording VBA macros ...............................................................923 Absolute versus relative recording ......................................................924 Storing macros in your Personal Macro Workbook ................................925 Assigning a macro to a shortcut key ...................................................925 Assigning a macro to a button ...........................................................926 Adding a macro to your Quick Access toolbar ......................................927 Writing VBA code ......................................................................................927 The basics: Entering and editing code ................................................927 How VBA works.................................................................................928 Objects and collections ......................................................................930 Properties ........................................................................................931 Methods ...........................................................................................933 Variables ..........................................................................................933 Controlling execution ........................................................................934 xxxvi WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xxxvii Contents A macro that can’t be recorded ...........................................................936 Learning More ...................................................................................................937 Chapter 40: Creating Custom Worksheet Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 939 Overview of VBA Functions .................................................................................939 An Introductory Example....................................................................................940 A custom function.....................................................................................940 Using the function in a worksheet ..............................................................941 Analyzing the custom function ..................................................................941 About Function Procedures .................................................................................942 Executing Function Procedures ...........................................................................944 Calling custom functions from a procedure ..................................................944 Using custom functions in a worksheet formula ...........................................944 Function Procedure Arguments ...........................................................................945 A function with no argument .....................................................................945 A function with one argument ...................................................................946 Another function with one argument..........................................................946 A function with two arguments ..................................................................948 A function with a range argument ..............................................................949 A simple but useful function ......................................................................950 Debugging Custom Functions ..............................................................................950 Inserting Custom Functions ................................................................................ 951 Learning More ...................................................................................................953 Chapter 41: Creating UserForms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 955 Why Create UserForms? .......................................................................................955 UserForm Alternatives ........................................................................................956 The InputBox function ..............................................................................956 The MsgBox function .................................................................................957 Creating UserForms: An Overview ........................................................................960 Working with UserForms ............................................................................961 Adding controls.........................................................................................962 Changing the properties of a control ...........................................................963 Handling events ........................................................................................964 Displaying a UserForm ...............................................................................964 A UserForm Example ...........................................................................................964 Creating the UserForm ...............................................................................965 Testing the UserForm .................................................................................966 Creating an event handler procedure...........................................................967 Another UserForm Example .................................................................................968 Creating the UserForm ...............................................................................968 Testing the UserForm .................................................................................969 Creating event handler procedures ..............................................................971 Testing the UserForm .................................................................................972 Making the macro available from a worksheet button...................................973 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org xxxvii ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xxxviii Contents Making the macro available on your Quick Access toolbar ............................973 More on Creating UserForms ................................................................................ 974 Adding accelerator keys ............................................................................. 974 Controlling tab order ................................................................................. 974 Learning More ...................................................................................................975 Chapter 42: Using UserForm Controls in a Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977 Why Use Controls on a Worksheet? ......................................................................977 Using Controls ...................................................................................................980 Adding a control .......................................................................................980 About Design mode ....................................................................................980 Adjusting properties ..................................................................................981 Common properties ....................................................................................982 Linking controls to cells ............................................................................983 Creating macros for controls .......................................................................983 Reviewing the Available ActiveX Controls ............................................................985 CheckBox ..................................................................................................985 ComboBox .................................................................................................985 CommandButton........................................................................................986 Image .......................................................................................................987 Label ........................................................................................................987 ListBox .....................................................................................................987 OptionButton ............................................................................................988 ScrollBar ...................................................................................................988 SpinButton ...............................................................................................989 TextBox ....................................................................................................990 ToggleButton ............................................................................................991 Chapter 43: Working with Excel Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 993 Understanding Events ........................................................................................993 Entering Event-Handler VBA Code........................................................................994 Using Workbook-Level Events ..............................................................................996 Using the Open event ................................................................................996 Using the SheetActivate event ...................................................................997 Using the NewSheet event ..........................................................................998 Using the BeforeSave event ........................................................................998 Using the BeforeClose event .......................................................................999 Working with Worksheet Events ..........................................................................999 Using the Change event ........................................................................... 1000 Monitoring a speciﬁc range for changes .................................................... 1000 Using the SelectionChange event .............................................................. 1001 Using the BeforeRightClick event ............................................................. 1002 Using Nonobject Events .................................................................................... 1002 xxxviii WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xxxix Contents Using the OnTime event ........................................................................... 1003 Using the OnKey event ............................................................................ 1003 Chapter 44: VBA Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005 Working with Ranges ....................................................................................... 1005 Copying a range ...................................................................................... 1006 Copying a variable-size range ................................................................... 1006 Selecting to the end of a row or column .................................................... 1007 Selecting a row or column ........................................................................ 1008 Moving a range ....................................................................................... 1008 Looping through a range efﬁciently .......................................................... 1009 Prompting for a cell value ........................................................................ 1010 Determining the type of selection ............................................................ 1012 Identifying a multiple selection ............................................................... 1013 Counting selected cells ............................................................................ 1013 Working with Workbooks .................................................................................. 1014 Saving all workbooks ............................................................................... 1014 Saving and closing all workbooks.............................................................. 1015 Working with Charts ........................................................................................ 1015 Modifying the chart type......................................................................... 1016 Modifying chart properties ...................................................................... 1016 Applying chart formatting ....................................................................... 1017 VBA Speed Tips ................................................................................................ 1017 Turning off screen updating ..................................................................... 1017 Preventing alert messages ........................................................................ 1018 Simplifying object references ................................................................... 1018 Declaring variable types .......................................................................... 1019 Chapter 45: Creating Custom Excel Add-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1021 What Is an Add-In? .......................................................................................... 1021 Working with Add-Ins ...................................................................................... 1022 Why Create Add-Ins? ........................................................................................ 1023 Creating Add-Ins .............................................................................................. 1024 An Add-In Example .......................................................................................... 1025 About Module1 ........................................................................................ 1026 About the UserForm ................................................................................. 1026 Testing the workbook .............................................................................. 1027 Adding descriptive information ................................................................ 1027 Creating the user interface for your add-in macro ...................................... 1027 Protecting the project.............................................................................. 1028 Creating the add-in ................................................................................. 1029 Installing the add-in ............................................................................... 1029 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org xxxix ftoc.indd 09/18/2015 Page xl Contents Part VII: Appendixes 1031 Appendix A: Worksheet Function Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1033 Appendix B: Excel Shortcut Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1053 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1061 xl WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org ﬂ ast.indd 09/01/2015 Page xli Introduction T hank you for purchasing Excel 2016 Bible. If you’re just starting with Excel, you’ll be glad to know that Excel 2016 is the easiest version ever. My goal in writing this book is to share with you some of what I know about Excel and, in the process, make you more efﬁcient on the job. The book contains everything that you need to know to learn the basics of Excel and then move on to more advanced topics at your own pace. You’ll ﬁ nd many useful examples and lots of tips and tricks that I’ve accumulated over the years. Is This Book for You? The Bible series from John Wiley & Sons, Inc., is designed for beginning, intermediate, and advanced users. This book covers all the essential components of Excel and provides clear and practical examples that you can adapt to your own needs. In this book, I’ve tried to maintain a good balance between the basics that every Excel user needs to know and the more complex topics that will appeal to power users. I’ve used Excel for more than 20 years, and I realize that almost everyone still has something to learn (including myself). My goal is to make that learning an enjoyable process. Software Versions This book was written for the desktop version of Excel 2016 for Windows. Much of the information also applies to Excel 2013 and Excel 2010, but if you’re using an older version of Excel, I suggest that you put down this book immediately and ﬁ nd a book that’s appropriate for your version of Excel. The user interface changes introduced in Excel 2007 are so extensive that this book will be very confusing if you use an earlier version. Also, please note that this book is not applicable to Excel for Mac. Ofﬁce 2016 is available in several versions, including a web version and a version for tablets and phones. This book covers only the standard desktop version of Excel 2016. xli WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org ﬂ ast.indd 09/01/2015 Page xlii Introduction Conventions Used in This Book Take a minute to scan this section to learn some of the typographical and organizational conventions that this book uses. Excel commands Excel 2016 (like the three previous versions) features a “menu-less” user interface. In place of a menu system, Excel uses a context-sensitive Ribbon system. The words along the top (such as File, Insert, Page Layout, and so on) are known as tabs. Click a tab, and the Ribbon displays the commands for the selected tab. Each command has a name, which is (usually) displayed next to or below the icon. The commands are arranged in groups, and the group name appears at the bottom of the Ribbon. The convention I use is to indicate the tab name, followed by the group name, followed by the command name. So, the command used to toggle word wrap within a cell is indicated as Home ➪ Alignment ➪ Wrap Text You’ll learn more about the Ribbon user interface in Chapter 1, “Introducing Excel.” Typographical conventions Anything you’re supposed to type using the keyboard appears in bold. Lengthy input usually appears on a separate line. For example, I may instruct you to enter a formula such as the following: ="Part Name: " &VLOOKUP(PartNumber,PartList,2) Names of the keys on your keyboard appear in normal type. When two keys should be pressed simultaneously, they’re connected with a plus sign, like this: “Press Ctrl+C to copy the selected cells.” The four “arrow” keys are collectively known as the navigation keys. Excel built-in worksheet functions appear in uppercase monofont, like this: “Note the SUMPRODUCT function used in cell C20.” Mouse conventions You’ll come across some of the following mouse-related terms, all standard fare: ■ xlii Mouse pointer: The small graphic ﬁgure that moves onscreen when you move your mouse. The mouse pointer is usually an arrow, but it changes shape when you move to certain areas of the screen or when you’re performing certain actions. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org ﬂ ast.indd 09/01/2015 Page xliii Introduction ■ Point: Move the mouse so that the mouse pointer is on a speciﬁc item; for example, “Point to the Save button on the toolbar.” ■ Click: Press the left mouse button once and release it immediately. ■ Right-click: Press the right mouse button once and release it immediately. The right mouse button is used in Excel to pop up shortcut menus that are appropriate for whatever is currently selected. ■ Double-click: Press the left mouse button twice in rapid succession. ■ Drag: Press the left mouse button and keep it pressed while you move the mouse. Dragging is often used to select a range of cells or to change the size of an object. For Touchscreen Users Excel 2016 also works with touchscreen devices. If you happen to be using one of these devices, you probably already know the basic touch gestures. This book doesn’t cover specific touchscreen gestures, but these three guidelines should work most of the time: ■ When you read “click,” you should tap. Quickly touching and releasing your finger on a button is the same as clicking it with a mouse. ■ When you read “double-click,” tap twice. Touching twice in rapid succession is equivalent to double-clicking. ■ When you read “right-click,” press and hold your finger on the item until a menu appears. Tap an item on the pop-up menu to execute the command. Make sure you enable Touch mode from the Quick Access toolbar. Touch mode increases the spacing between the Ribbon commands, making it less likely that you’ll touch the wrong command. If the Touch mode command is not in your Quick Access toolbar, touch the rightmost control and select Touch/ Mouse Mode. This command toggles between normal mode and Touch mode. How This Book Is Organized Notice that the book is divided into six main parts, followed by two appendixes. ■ Part I: Getting Started with Excel: This part consists of nine chapters that provide background about Excel. These chapters are considered required reading for Excel newcomers, but even experienced users will probably ﬁ nd some new information here. ■ Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions: The chapters in Part II cover everything that you need to know to become proﬁcient with performing calculations in Excel. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org xliii ﬂ ast.indd 09/01/2015 Page xliv Introduction ■ Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics: The chapters in Part III describe how to create effective charts. In addition, you’ll ﬁ nd chapters on the conditional formatting visualization features, Sparkline graphics, and a chapter with lots of tips on integrating graphics into your worksheet. ■ Part IV: Using Advanced Excel Features: This part consists of eight chapters that deal with topics that are sometimes considered advanced. However, many beginning and intermediate users may ﬁ nd this information useful as well. ■ Part V: Analyzing Data with Excel: Data analysis is the focus of the chapters in Part V. Users of all levels will ﬁ nd some of these chapters of interest. ■ Part VI: Programming Excel with VBA: Part VI is for those who want to customize Excel for their own use or who are designing workbooks or add-ins that are to be used by others. It starts with an introduction to recording macros and VBA programming and then provides coverage of UserForms, events, and add-ins. ■ Part VII: Appendixes: This book has two appendixes that cover Excel worksheet functions and Excel shortcut keys. How to Use This Book Although you’re certainly free to do so, I didn’t write this book with the intention that you would read it cover to cover. Instead, it’s a reference book that you can consult when ■ You’re stuck while trying to do something. ■ You need to do something that you’ve never done before. ■ You have some time on your hands, and you’re interested in learning something new about Excel. The index is comprehensive, and each chapter typically focuses on a single broad topic. If you’re just starting out with Excel, I recommend that you read the ﬁ rst few chapters to gain a basic understanding of the product and then do some experimenting on your own. After you become familiar with Excel’s environment, you can refer to the chapters that interest you most. Some readers, however, may prefer to follow the chapters in order. Don’t be discouraged if some of the material is over your head. Most users get by just ﬁ ne by using only a small subset of Excel’s total capabilities. In fact, the 80/20 rule applies here: 80% of Excel users use only 20% of its features. However, using only 20% of Excel’s features still gives you lots of power at your ﬁ ngertips. xliv WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org ﬂ ast.indd 09/01/2015 Page xlv Introduction What’s on the Website This book contains many examples, and you can download the workbooks for those examples from the web. The ﬁles are arranged in directories that correspond to the chapters. The URL is www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. Please note that the URL is case sensitive, so use all lowercase letters. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org xlv WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 1 Part I Getting Started with Excel T he chapters in this part are intended to provide essential background information for working with Excel. Here, you’ll see how to make use of the basic features that are required for every Excel user. If you’ve used Excel (or even a different spreadsheet program) in the past, much of this information may seem like review. Even so, it’s likely that you’ll ﬁ nd quite a few tricks and techniques in these chapters. IN THIS PART Chapter 1 Introducing Excel Chapter 2 Entering and Editing Worksheet Data Chapter 3 Essential Worksheet Operations Chapter 4 Working with Cells and Ranges Chapter 5 Introducing Tables Chapter 6 Worksheet Formatting Chapter 7 Understanding Excel Files Chapter 8 Using and Creating Templates Chapter 9 Printing Your Work WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 3 CHAPTER 1 Introducing Excel IN THIS CHAPTER Understanding what Excel is used for Looking at what’s new in Excel 2016 Learning the parts of an Excel window Introducing the Ribbon, shortcut menus, dialog boxes, and task panes Navigating Excel worksheets Introducing Excel with a step-by-step hands-on session T his chapter is an introductory overview of Excel 2016. If you’re already familiar with a previous version of Excel, reading (or at least skimming) this chapter is still a good idea. Identifying What Excel Is Good For Excel is the world’s most widely used spreadsheet software and is part of the Microsoft Ofﬁce suite. Other spreadsheet software is available, but Excel is by far the most popular and has been the world standard for many years. Much of the appeal of Excel is due to the fact that it’s so versatile. Excel’s forte, of course, is performing numerical calculations, but Excel is also useful for nonnumeric applications. Here are just a few of the uses for Excel: ■ Number crunching: Create budgets, tabulate expenses, analyze survey results, and perform just about any type of ﬁ nancial analysis you can think of. ■ Creating charts: Create a variety of highly customizable charts. ■ Organizing lists: Use the row-and-column layout to store lists efﬁciently. ■ Text manipulation: Clean up and standardize text-based data. ■ Accessing other data: Import data from a variety of sources. 3 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 4 Part I: Getting Started with Excel ■ Creating graphical dashboards: Summarize a large amount of business information in a concise format. ■ Creating graphics and diagrams: Use Shapes and SmartArt to create professionallooking diagrams. ■ Automating complex tasks: Perform a tedious task with a single mouse click with Excel’s macro capabilities. Seeing What’s New in Excel 2016 Here’s a quick summary of what’s new in Excel 2016, relative to Excel 2013. Keep in mind that this book deals only with the desktop version of Excel. The mobile and online versions do not have the same set of features: ■ Get & Transform (formerly known as Power Query) is fully integrated. Get & Transform is a ﬂexible tool that makes it easy to import data from a variety of sources and transform it in a variety of ways. In the past, this tool was in the form of an add-in, and it worked only with the Pro versions of Excel. See Chapter 38, “Working with Get & Transform,” to learn more. ■ The 3D Map feature is also in all versions of Excel 2016. This feature, formerly known as Power Map, allows you to create impressive data-driven maps. This is a rather specialized tool, and it is not covered in this book (but you can see an example in Chapter 20). ■ New chart types are available. Excel 2016 supports the following new chart types: TreeMap, Sunburst, Waterfall, Box & Whisker, Histogram, and Pareto. See Chapter 19, “Getting Started Making Charts,” for examples. ■ Forecasting is simpliﬁed. Excel can forecast values using several new worksheet functions and even create a chart that shows the conﬁdence limits. This feature is discussed in Chapter 15, “Creating Formulas for Financial Applications.” ■ A new “Tell me what you want to do” feature provides a quick way to locate (and even execute) commands. ■ The Backstage area (which displays when you click the File tab) has been reorganized. ■ There are new Ofﬁce theme colors. A Colorful option uses a different color for each Ofﬁce 2016 application. (Excel is green.) Understanding Workbooks and Worksheets You perform the work you do in Excel in a workbook. You can have as many workbooks open as you need, and each one appears in its own window. By default, Excel workbooks use an .xlsx ﬁle extension. 4 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 5 Chapter 1: Introducing Excel In previous versions of Excel, users could work with multiple workbooks in a single window. Beginning with Excel 2013, that is no longer an option. Every workbook that you open has its own window. 1 Each workbook contains one or more worksheets, and each worksheet is made up of individual cells. Each cell can contain a value, a formula, or text. A worksheet also has an invisible draw layer, which holds charts, images, and diagrams. Each worksheet in a workbook is accessible by clicking the tab at the bottom of the workbook window. In addition, a workbook can store chart sheets; a chart sheet displays a single chart and is accessible by clicking a tab. Newcomers to Excel are often intimidated by all the different elements that appear within Excel’s window. After you become familiar with the various parts, it all starts to make sense, and you’ll feel right at home. Figure 1.1 shows you the more important bits and pieces of Excel. As you look at the ﬁgure, refer to Table 1.1 for a brief explanation of the items shown in the ﬁgure. FIGURE 1.1 The Excel screen has many useful elements that you will use often. Ribbon Display Options Tab list Title bar Tell me what you want to do Window Minimize button User name Window Maximize/Restore button Quick Access Toolbar File Button Window Close button Ribbon Collapse the Ribbon button Name box Column letters Row numbers Formula bar Active cell indicator Vertical scrollbar Sheet tab scroll buttons Sheet tabs Horizontal scrollbar Status bar Macro recorder indictor New sheet button Page view buttons WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org Zoom control 5 c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 6 Part I: Getting Started with Excel TABLE 1.1 6 Parts of the Excel Screen That You Need to Know Name Description Active cell indicator This dark outline indicates the currently active cell (one of the 17,179,869,184 cells on each worksheet). Collapse the Ribbon button Click this button to temporarily hide the Ribbon. Click it again to make the Ribbon remain visible. Column letters Letters range from A to XFD — one for each of the 16,384 columns in the worksheet. You can click a column heading to select an entire column of cells or drag a column border to change its width. File button Click this button to open Backstage view, which contains many options for working with your document (including printing) and setting Excel options. Formula bar When you enter information or formulas into a cell, it appears in this bar. Horizontal scrollbar Use this tool to scroll the sheet horizontally. Macro recorder indicator Click to start recording a Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macro. The icon changes while your actions are being recorded. Click again to stop recording. Name box This box displays the active cell address or the name of the selected cell, range, or object. New Sheet button Add a new worksheet by clicking the New Sheet button (which is displayed after the last sheet tab). Page View buttons Click these buttons to change the way the worksheet is displayed. Quick Access toolbar This customizable toolbar holds commonly used commands. The Quick Access toolbar is always visible, regardless of which tab is selected. Ribbon This is the main location for Excel commands. Clicking an item in the tab list changes the Ribbon that is displayed. Tell me what you want to do Use this control to identify commands or have Excel issue a command automatically. User name The name (and associated image) of the person logged in. Ribbon Display Options A drop-down control that offers three options related to displaying the Ribbon. Row numbers Numbers range from 1 to 1,048,576 — one for each row in the worksheet. You can click a row number to select an entire row of cells. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 7 Chapter 1: Introducing Excel Name Description Sheet tabs Each of these notebook-like tabs represents a different sheet in the workbook. A workbook can have any number of sheets, and each sheet has its name displayed in a sheet tab. Sheet tab scroll buttons Use these buttons to scroll the sheet tabs to display tabs that aren’t visible. You can also right-click to get a list of sheets. Status bar This bar displays various messages as well as the status of the Num Lock, Caps Lock, and Scroll Lock keys on your keyboard. It also shows summary information about the range of cells selected. Right-click the status bar to change the information displayed. Tab list Use these commands to display a different Ribbon, similar to a menu. Title bar This displays the name of the program and the name of the current workbook. It also holds the Quick Access toolbar (on the left) and some control buttons that you can use to modify the window (on the right). Vertical scrollbar Use this to scroll the sheet vertically. Window Close button Click this button to close the active workbook window. Window Maximize/Restore button Click this button to increase the workbook window’s size to fill the entire screen. If the window is already maximized, clicking this button “unmaximizes” Excel’s window so that it no longer fills the entire screen. Window Minimize button Click this button to minimize the workbook window. The window displays as an icon in the Windows taskbar. Zoom control Use this to zoom your worksheet in and out. 1 Moving Around a Worksheet This section describes various ways to navigate the cells in a worksheet. Every worksheet consists of rows (numbered 1 through 1,048,576) and columns (labeled A through XFD). Column labeling works like this: After column Z comes column AA, which is followed by AB, AC, and so on. After column AZ comes BA, BB, and so on. After column ZZ is AAA, AAB, and so on. The intersection of a row and a column is a single cell, and each cell has a unique address made up of its column letter and row number. For example, the address of the upper-left cell is A1. The address of the cell at the lower right of a worksheet is XFD1048576. At any given time, one cell is the active cell. The active cell is the cell that accepts keyboard input, and its contents can be edited. You can identify the active cell by its darker border, WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 7 c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 8 Part I: Getting Started with Excel as shown in Figure 1.2. Its address appears in the Name box. Depending on the technique that you use to navigate through a workbook, you may or may not change the active cell when you navigate. FIGURE 1.2 The active cell is the cell with the dark border — in this case, cell C8. Notice that the row and column headings of the active cell appear in a different color to make it easier to identify the row and column of the active cell. Excel 2016 is also available for devices that use a touch interface. This book assumes the reader has a traditional keyboard and mouse — it doesn’t cover the touch-related commands. Note that the drop-down control in the Quick Access toolbar has a command labeled Touch/Mouse Mode. In Touch mode, the Ribbon and Quick Access toolbar icons are placed farther apart. Navigating with your keyboard Not surprisingly, you can use the standard navigational keys on your keyboard to move around a worksheet. These keys work just as you’d expect: the down arrow moves the active cell down one row, the right arrow moves it one column to the right, and so on. PgUp and PgDn move the active cell up or down one full window. (The actual number of rows moved depends on the number of rows displayed in the window.) You can use the keyboard to scroll through the worksheet without changing the active cell by turning on Scroll Lock, which is useful if you need to view another area of your worksheet and then quickly return to your original location. Just press Scroll Lock and use the navigation keys to scroll through the worksheet. When you want to return to the original position (the active cell), press Ctrl+Backspace. Then press Scroll Lock again to turn it off. When Scroll Lock is turned on, Excel displays Scroll Lock in the status bar at the bottom of the window. 8 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 9 Chapter 1: Introducing Excel The Num Lock key on your keyboard controls the way the keys on the numeric keypad behave. When Num Lock is on, the keys on your numeric keypad generate numbers. Many keyboards have a separate set of navigation (arrow) keys located to the left of the numeric keypad. The state of the Num Lock key doesn’t affect these keys. 1 Table 1.2 summarizes all the worksheet movement keys available in Excel. TABLE 1.2 Excel Worksheet Movement Keys Key Action Up arrow (↑) Moves the active cell up one row Down arrow (↓) Moves the active cell down one row Left arrow (←) or Shift+Tab Moves the active cell one column to the left Right arrow (→) or Tab Moves the active cell one column to the right PgUp Moves the active cell up one screen PgDn Moves the active cell down one screen Alt+PgDn Moves the active cell right one screen Alt+PgUp Moves the active cell left one screen Ctrl+Backspace Scrolls the screen so that the active cell is visible ↑ ∗ ↓ ∗ Scrolls the screen up one row (active cell does not change) Scrolls the screen down one row (active cell does not change) ← ∗ → ∗ Scrolls the screen left one column (active cell does not change) Scrolls the screen right one column (active cell does not change) * With Scroll Lock on Navigating with your mouse To change the active cell by using the mouse, just click another cell, and it becomes the active cell. If the cell that you want to activate isn’t visible in the workbook window, you can use the scrollbars to scroll the window in any direction. To scroll one cell, click either of the arrows on the scrollbar. To scroll by a complete screen, click either side of the scrollbar’s scroll box. You can also drag the scroll box for faster scrolling. If your mouse has a wheel, you can use it to scroll vertically. Also, if you click the wheel and move the mouse in any direction, the worksheet scrolls automatically in that direction. The more you move the mouse, the faster you scroll. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 9 c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 10 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Press Ctrl while you use the mouse wheel to zoom the worksheet. If you prefer to use the mouse wheel to zoom the worksheet without pressing Ctrl, choose File ➪ Options and select the Advanced section. Place a check mark next to the Zoom on Roll with IntelliMouse check box. Using the scrollbars or scrolling with your mouse doesn’t change the active cell. It simply scrolls the worksheet. To change the active cell, you must click a new cell after scrolling. Using the Ribbon In Ofﬁce 2007, Microsoft made a dramatic change to the user interface. Traditional menus and toolbars were replaced with the Ribbon, a collection of icons at the top of the screen. The words above the icons are known as tabs: the Home tab, the Insert tab, and so on. Most users ﬁ nd that the Ribbon is easier to use than the old menu system; it can also be customized to make it even easier to use. (See Chapter 24, “Customizing the Excel User Interface.”) The Ribbon can be either hidden or visible. (It’s your choice.) To toggle the Ribbon’s visibility, press Ctrl+F1 (or double-click a tab at the top). If the Ribbon is hidden, it temporarily appears when you click a tab and hides itself when you click in the worksheet. The title bar has a control named Ribbon Display Options (next to the Help button). Click the control and choose one of three Ribbon options: Auto-Hide Ribbon, Show Tabs, or Show Tabs and Commands. Ribbon tabs The commands available in the Ribbon vary, depending upon which tab is selected. The Ribbon is arranged into groups of related commands. Here’s a quick overview of Excel’s tabs: 10 ■ Home: You’ll probably spend most of your time with the Home tab selected. This tab contains the basic Clipboard commands, formatting commands, style commands, commands to insert and delete rows or columns, plus an assortment of worksheet editing commands. ■ Insert: Select this tab when you need to insert something into a worksheet — a table, a diagram, a chart, a symbol, and so on. ■ Page Layout: This tab contains commands that affect the overall appearance of your worksheet, including some settings that deal with printing. ■ Formulas: Use this tab to insert a formula, name a cell or a range, access the formula auditing tools, or control the way Excel performs calculations. ■ Data: Excel’s data-related commands are on this tab, including data validation commands. ■ Review: This tab contains tools to check spelling, translate words, add comments, or protect sheets. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 11 Chapter 1: Introducing Excel ■ View: The View tab contains commands that control various aspects of how a sheet is viewed. Some commands on this tab are also available in the status bar. ■ Developer: This tab isn’t visible by default. It contains commands that are useful for programmers. To display the Developer tab, choose File ➪ Options and then select Customize Ribbon. In the Customize the Ribbon section on the right, make sure Main Tabs is selected in the drop-down control, and place a check mark next to Developer. ■ Add-Ins: This tab is visible only if you loaded an older workbook or add-in that customizes the menu or toolbars. Because menus and toolbars are no longer available in Excel 2016, these user interface customizations appear on the Add-Ins tab. The preceding list contains the standard Ribbon tabs. Excel may display additional Ribbon tabs, resulting from add-ins that are installed. Although the File button shares space with the tabs, it’s not actually a tab. Clicking the File button displays a different screen (known as Backstage view), where you perform actions with your documents. This screen has commands along the left side. To exit the Backstage view, click the back arrow button in the upper-left corner. The appearance of the commands on the Ribbon varies, depending on the width of the Excel window. When the Excel window is too narrow to display everything, the commands adapt; some of them might seem to be missing, but the commands are still available. Figure 1.3 shows the Home tab of the Ribbon with all controls fully visible. Figure 1.4 shows the Ribbon when Excel’s window is made more narrow. Notice that some of the descriptive text is gone, but the icons remain. Figure 1.5 shows the extreme case when the window is made very narrow. Some groups display a single icon; however, if you click the icon, all the group commands are available to you. FIGURE 1.3 The Home tab of the Ribbon. FIGURE 1.4 The Home tab when Excel’s window is made narrower. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 11 1 c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 12 Part I: Getting Started with Excel FIGURE 1.5 The Home tab when Excel’s window is made very narrow. Contextual tabs In addition to the standard tabs, Excel includes contextual tabs. Whenever an object (such as a chart, a table, or a SmartArt diagram) is selected, speciﬁc tools for working with that object are made available in the Ribbon. Figure 1.6 shows the contextual tabs that appear when a chart is selected. In this case, it has two contextual tabs: Design and Format. Notice that the contextual tabs contain a description (Chart Tools) in Excel’s title bar. When contextual tabs appear, you can, of course, continue to use all the other tabs. FIGURE 1.6 When you select an object, contextual tabs contain tools for working with that object. Types of commands on the Ribbon When you hover your mouse pointer over a Ribbon command, you’ll see a pop-up box that contains the command’s name and a brief description. For the most part, the commands in 12 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 13 Chapter 1: Introducing Excel the Ribbon work just as you would expect them to. You’ll ﬁ nd several different styles of commands on the Ribbon: ■ Simple buttons: Click the button, and it does its thing. An example of a simple button is the Increase Font Size button in the Font group of the Home tab. Some buttons perform the action immediately; others display a dialog box so that you can enter additional information. Button controls may or may not be accompanied by a descriptive label. ■ Toggle buttons: A toggle button is clickable and conveys some type of information by displaying two different colors. An example is the Bold button in the Font group of the Home tab. If the active cell isn’t bold, the Bold button displays in its normal color. If the active cell is already bold, the Bold button displays a different background color. If you click the Bold button, it toggles the Bold attribute for the selection. ■ Simple drop-downs: If the Ribbon command has a small down arrow, the command is a drop-down. Click it, and additional commands appear below it. An example of a simple drop-down is the Conditional Formatting command in the Styles group of the Home tab. When you click this control, you see several options related to conditional formatting. ■ Split buttons: A split button control combines a one-click button with a drop-down. If you click the button part, the command is executed. If you click the drop-down part (a down arrow), you choose from a list of related commands. An example of a split button is the Merge & Center command in the Alignment group of the Home tab (see Figure 1.7). Clicking the left part of this control merges and centers text in the selected cells. If you click the arrow part of the control (on the right), you get a list of commands related to merging cells. FIGURE 1.7 The Merge & Center command is a split button control. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 13 1 c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 14 Part I: Getting Started with Excel ■ Check boxes: A check box control turns something on or off. An example is the Gridlines control in the Show group of the View tab. When the Gridlines check box is checked, the sheet displays gridlines. When the control isn’t checked, the gridlines don’t appear. ■ Spinners: Excel’s Ribbon has only one spinner control: the Scale to Fit group of the Page Layout tab. Click the top part of the spinner to increase the value; click the bottom part of the spinner to decrease the value. Some of the Ribbon groups contain a small icon in the bottom-right corner, known as a dialog box launcher. For example, if you examine the groups in the Home tab, you ﬁ nd dialog box launchers for the Clipboard, Font, Alignment, and Number groups — but not the Styles, Cells, and Editing groups. Click the icon, and Excel displays a dialog box. The dialog launchers often provide options that aren’t available in the Ribbon. Accessing the Ribbon by using your keyboard At ﬁ rst glance, you may think that the Ribbon is completely mouse centric. After all, the commands don’t display the traditional underlined letter to indicate the Alt+keystrokes. But in fact, the Ribbon is very keyboard friendly. The trick is to press the Alt key to display the pop-up keytips. Each Ribbon control has a letter (or series of letters) that you type to issue the command. You don’t need to hold down the Alt key while you type keytip letters. Figure 1.8 shows how the Home tab looks after I press the Alt key to display the keytips and then the H key to display the keytips for the Home tab. If you press one of the keytips, the screen then displays more keytips. For example, to use the keyboard to align the cell contents to the left, press Alt, followed by H (for Home), and then AL (for Align Left). FIGURE 1.8 Pressing Alt displays the keytips. 14 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 15 Chapter 1: Introducing Excel Nobody will memorize all these keys, but if you’re a keyboard fan (like me), it takes just a few times before you memorize the keystrokes required for commands that you use frequently. After you press Alt, you can also use the left- and right-arrow keys to scroll through the tabs. When you reach the proper tab, press the down arrow to enter the Ribbon. Then use left- and right-arrow keys to scroll through the Ribbon commands. When you reach the command you need, press Enter to execute it. This method isn’t as efﬁcient as using the keytips, but it’s a quick way to take a look at the commands available. Often, you’ll want to repeat a particular command. Excel provides a way to simplify that. For example, if you apply a particular style to a cell (by choosing Home ➪ Styles ➪ Cell Styles), you can activate another cell and press Ctrl+Y (or F4) to repeat the command. A New Way to Issue Commands Excel 2016 offers yet another way to issue commands: the Tell Me What You Want to Do box. This box is situated to the right of the Ribbon tabs. If you’re unsure of where to find a command, try typing it in the box. For example, if you want to protect the current worksheet, activate the box and type protect. Excel displays a list of possibly relevant commands. If you see the command you want, click it (or use the arrow keys and press Enter). The command is executed. In this example, the Protect Sheet dialog box appears, which is exactly what would happen if you chose Review ➪ Changes ➪ Protect Sheet. Photo courtesy of AmeriTech © 2006 This feature may be helpful for newcomers who are still getting familiar with the Ribbon commands. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 15 1 c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 16 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Using Shortcut Menus In addition to the Ribbon, Excel features many shortcut menus, which you access by rightclicking just about anything within Excel. Shortcut menus don’t contain every relevant command, just those that are most commonly used for whatever is selected. As an example, Figure 1.9 shows the shortcut menu that appears when you right-click a cell. The shortcut menu appears at the mouse-pointer position, which makes selecting a command fast and efﬁcient. The shortcut menu that appears depends on what you’re doing at the time. For example, if you’re working with a chart, the shortcut menu contains commands that are pertinent to the selected chart element. FIGURE 1.9 Click the right mouse button to display a shortcut menu of commands you’re most likely to use. 16 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 17 Chapter 1: Introducing Excel The box above the shortcut menu — the Mini toolbar — contains commonly used tools from the Home tab. The Mini toolbar was designed to reduce the distance your mouse has to travel around the screen. Just right-click, and common formatting tools are within an inch of your mouse pointer. The Mini toolbar is particularly useful when a tab other than Home is displayed. If you use a tool on the Mini toolbar, the toolbar remains displayed in case you want to perform other formatting on the selection. Customizing Your Quick Access Toolbar The Ribbon is fairly efﬁcient, but many users prefer to have certain commands available at all times, without having to click a tab. The solution is to customize your Quick Access toolbar. Typically, the Quick Access toolbar appears on the left side of the title bar, above the Ribbon. Alternatively, you can display the Quick Access toolbar below the Ribbon; just right-click the Quick Access toolbar and choose Show Quick Access Toolbar Below the Ribbon. Displaying the Quick Access toolbar below the Ribbon provides a bit more room for icons, but it also means that you see one less row of your worksheet. By default, the Quick Access toolbar contains three tools: Save, Undo, and Redo. You can customize the Quick Access toolbar by adding other commands that you use often. To add a command from the Ribbon to your Quick Access toolbar, right-click the command and choose Add to Quick Access Toolbar. If you click the down arrow to the right of the Quick Access toolbar, you see a drop-down menu with some additional commands that you might want to place in your Quick Access toolbar. Excel has quite a few commands (mostly obscure ones) that aren’t available on the Ribbon. In most cases, the only way to access these commands is to add them to your Quick Access toolbar. Right-click the Quick Access toolbar and choose Customize the Quick Access Toolbar. You see the Excel Options dialog box, shown in Figure 1.10. This section of the Excel Options dialog box is your one-stop shop for Quick Access toolbar customization. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 17 1 c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 18 Part I: Getting Started with Excel FIGURE 1.10 Add new icons to your Quick Access toolbar by using the Quick Access Toolbar section of the Excel Options dialog box. See Chapter 24 for more information about customizing your Quick Access toolbar. Changing Your Mind You can reverse almost every action in Excel by using the Undo command, located on the Quick Access toolbar. Click Undo (or press Ctrl+Z) after issuing a command in error, and it’s as if you never issued the command. You can reverse the effects of the past 100 actions that you performed. If you click the arrow on the right side of the Undo button, you see a list of the actions that you can reverse. Click an item in that list to undo that action and all the subsequent actions you performed. The Redo button, also on the Quick Access toolbar, performs the opposite of the Undo button: Redo reissues commands that have been undone. If nothing has been undone, this command is not available. 18 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 19 Chapter 1: Introducing Excel You can’t reverse every action, however. Generally, anything that you do using the File button can’t be undone. For example, if you save a file and realize that you’ve overwritten a good copy with a bad one, Undo can’t save the day. You’re just out of luck unless you have a backup of the file. Also, changes made by a macro can’t be undone. In fact, executing a macro that changes the workbook clears the Undo list. Working with Dialog Boxes Many Excel commands display a dialog box, which is simply a way of getting more information from you. For example, if you choose Review ➪ Changes ➪ Protect Sheet, Excel can’t carry out the command until you tell it what parts of the sheet you want to protect. Therefore, it displays the Protect Sheet dialog box, shown in Figure 1.11. FIGURE 1.11 Excel uses a dialog box to get additional information about a command. Excel dialog boxes vary in the way they work. You’ll ﬁ nd two types of dialog boxes: ■ Typical dialog box: A modal dialog box takes the focus away from the spreadsheet. When this type of dialog box is displayed, you can’t do anything in the worksheet until you dismiss the dialog box. Clicking OK performs the speciﬁed actions, and clicking Cancel (or pressing Esc) closes the dialog box without taking any action. Most Excel dialog boxes are this type. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 19 1 c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 20 Part I: Getting Started with Excel ■ Stay-on-top dialog box: A modeless dialog box works in a manner similar to a toolbar. When a modeless dialog box is displayed, you can continue working in Excel, and the dialog box remains open. Changes made in a modeless dialog box take effect immediately. An example of a modeless dialog box is the Find and Replace dialog box. You can leave this dialog box open while you continue to use your worksheet. A modeless dialog box has a Close button but no OK button. Most people ﬁ nd working with dialog boxes to be quite straightforward and natural. If you’ve used other programs, you’ll feel right at home. You can manipulate the controls either with your mouse or directly from the keyboard. Navigating dialog boxes Navigating dialog boxes is generally very easy — you simply click the control you want to activate. Although dialog boxes were designed with mouse users in mind, you can also use the keyboard. Every dialog box control has text associated with it, and this text always has one underlined letter (a hot key or an accelerator key). You can access the control from the keyboard by pressing Alt and then the underlined letter. You can also press Tab to cycle through all the controls on a dialog box. Pressing Shift+Tab cycles through the controls in reverse order. When a control is selected, it appears with a dotted outline. You can use the spacebar to activate a selected control. Using tabbed dialog boxes Several Excel dialog boxes are “tabbed” dialog boxes; that is, they include notebook-like tabs, each of which is associated with a different panel. When you select a tab, the dialog box changes to display a new panel containing a new set of controls. The Format Cells dialog box, shown in Figure 1.12, is a good example. It has six tabs, which makes it functionally equivalent to six different dialog boxes. 20 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 21 Chapter 1: Introducing Excel FIGURE 1.12 Use the dialog box tabs to select different functional areas of the dialog box. 1 Tabbed dialog boxes are quite convenient because you can make several changes in a single dialog box. After you make all your setting changes, click OK or press Enter. To select a tab by using the keyboard, press Ctrl+PgUp or Ctrl+PgDn, or simply press the first letter of the tab that you want to activate. Using Task Panes Yet another user interface element is the task pane. Task panes appear automatically in response to several commands. For example, to work with a picture that you’ve inserted, right-click the image and choose Format Picture. Excel responds by displaying the Format Picture task pane, shown in Figure 1.13. The task pane is similar to a dialog box except that you can keep it visible as long as you like. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 21 c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 22 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Many of the task panes are complex. The Format Picture task pane has four icons along the top. Clicking an icon changes the command lists displayed next. Click an item in a command list, and it expands to show the options. There’s no OK button in a task pane. When you’re ﬁ nished using a task pane, click the Close button (X) in the upper-right corner. By default, a task pane is docked on the right side of the Excel window, but you can move it anywhere you like by clicking its title bar and dragging. Excel remembers the last position, so the next time you use that task pane, it will be right where you left it. If you prefer to use your keyboard to work within a task pane, you may find that common dialog box keys such as Tab, Space, the arrow keys, and Alt key combinations don’t seem to work. The trick is to press F6. After doing so, you’ll find that the task pane works well using only a keyboard. For example, use the Tab key to activate a section title, and then press Enter to expand the section. FIGURE 1.13 The Format Picture task pane, docked on the right side of the window. 22 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 23 Chapter 1: Introducing Excel Creating Your First Excel Workbook This section presents an introductory hands-on session with Excel. If you haven’t used Excel, you may want to follow along on your computer to get a feel for how this software works. In this example, you create a simple monthly sales projection table, plus a chart that depicts the data. Getting started on your worksheet Start Excel and make sure that you have an empty workbook displayed. To create a new, blank workbook, press Ctrl+N (the shortcut key for File ➪ New ➪ Blank Workbook). The sales projection will consist of two columns of information. Column A will contain the month names, and column B will store the projected sales numbers. You start by entering some descriptive titles into the worksheet. Here’s how to begin: 1. Move the cell pointer to cell A1 (the upper-left cell in the worksheet) by using the navigation (arrow) keys. The Name box displays the cell’s address. 2. Type Month into cell A1 and press Enter. Depending on your setup, either Excel moves the cell pointer to a different cell or the pointer remains in cell A1. 3. Move the cell pointer to B1, type Projected Sales, and press Enter. The text extends beyond the cell width, but don’t worry about that for now. Filling in the month names In this step, you enter the month names in column A. 1. Move the cell pointer to A2 and type Jan (an abbreviation for January). At this point, you can enter the other month name abbreviations manually or you can let Excel do some of the work by taking advantage of the AutoFill feature. 2. Make sure that cell A2 is selected. Notice that the active cell is displayed with a heavy outline. At the bottom-right corner of the outline, you’ll see a small square known as the fill handle. Move your mouse pointer over the ﬁll handle, click, and drag down until you’ve highlighted from cell A2 down to cell A13. 3. Release the mouse button, and Excel automatically fills in the month names. Your worksheet should resemble the one shown in Figure 1.14. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 23 1 c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 24 Part I: Getting Started with Excel FIGURE 1.14 Your worksheet after you’ve entered the column headings and month names. Entering the sales data Next, you provide the sales projection numbers in column B. Assume that January’s sales are projected to be $50,000 and that sales will increase by 3.5 percent in each subsequent month. 1. Move the cell pointer to B2 and type 50000, the projected sales for January. You could type a dollar sign and comma to make the number more legible, but you do the number formatting a bit later. 2. To enter a formula to calculate the projected sales for February, move to cell B3 and type the following: =B2*103.5% When you press Enter, the cell displays 51750. The formula returns the contents of cell B2, multiplied by 103.5%. In other words, February sales are projected to be 103.5% of the January sales — a 3.5% increase. 3. The projected sales for subsequent months use a similar formula, but rather than retype the formula for each cell in column B, take advantage of the AutoFill feature. Make sure that cell B3 is selected. Click the cell’s ﬁll handle, drag down to cell B13, and release the mouse button. At this point, your worksheet should resemble the one shown in Figure 1.15. Keep in mind that, except for cell B2, the values in column B are calculated with formulas. To demonstrate, try changing the projected sales value for the initial month, January (in cell B2). You’ll ﬁ nd that the formulas recalculate and return different values. All these formulas depend on the initial value in cell B2, though. 24 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 25 Chapter 1: Introducing Excel FIGURE 1.15 Your worksheet after you’ve created the formulas. 1 Formatting the numbers The values in the worksheet are difﬁcult to read because they aren’t formatted. In this step, you apply a number format to make the numbers easier to read and more consistent in appearance: 1. Select the numbers by clicking cell B2 and dragging down to cell B13. Don’t drag the ﬁll handle this time, though, because you’re selecting cells, not ﬁlling a range. 2. Access the Ribbon and choose Home. In the Number group, click the drop-down Number Format control (it initially displays General), and select Currency from the list. The numbers now display with a currency symbol and two decimal places. That’s much better, but the decimal places aren’t necessary for this type of projection. 3. Make sure the range B2:B13 is selected, choose Home ➪ Number, and click the Decrease Decimal button. One of the decimal places disappears. Click that button a second time, and the values are displayed with no decimal places. Making your worksheet look a bit fancier At this point, you have a functional worksheet, but it could use some help in the appearance department. Converting this range to an “ofﬁcial” (and attractive) Excel table is a snap: 1. Activate any cell within the range A1:B13. 2. Choose Insert ➪ Tables ➪ Table. Excel displays the Create Table dialog box to make sure that it guessed the range properly. 3. Click OK to close the Create Table dialog box. Excel applies its default table formatting and displays its Table Tools ➪ Design contextual tab. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 25 c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 26 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Your worksheet should look like Figure 1.16. FIGURE 1.16 Your worksheet after you’ve converted the range to a table. If you don’t like the default table style, just select another one from the Table Tools ➪ Design ➪ Table Styles group. Notice that you can get a preview of different table styles by moving your mouse over the Ribbon. When you ﬁ nd one you like, click it, and the style will be applied to your table. Summing the values The worksheet displays the monthly projected sales, but what about the total projected sales for the year? Because this range is a table, it’s simple: 1. Activate any cell in the table. 2. Choose Table Tools ➪ Design ➪ Table Style Options ➪ Total Row. Excel automatically adds a new row to the bottom of your table, including a formula that calculates the total of the Projected Sales column. 3. If you’d prefer to see a different summary formula (for example, average), click cell B14 and choose a different summary formula from the drop-down list. Creating a chart How about a chart that shows the projected sales for each month? 1. Activate any cell in the table. 2. Choose Insert ➪ Charts ➪ Recommended Charts. Excel displays some suggested chart type options. 26 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 27 Chapter 1: Introducing Excel 3. In the Insert Chart dialog box, click the second recommended chart (a column chart), and click OK. Excel inserts the chart in the center of the window. To move the chart to another location, click its border and drag it. 4. Click the chart and choose a style using the Chart Tools ➪ Design ➪ Chart Styles options. 1 Figure 1.17 shows the worksheet with a column chart. Your chart may look different, depending on the chart style you selected. FIGURE 1.17 The table and chart. This workbook is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The filename is table and chart.xlsx. Printing your worksheet Printing your worksheet is easy (assuming that you have a printer attached and that it works properly). 1. Make sure that the chart isn’t selected. If a chart is selected, the chart will print on a page by itself. To deselect the chart, just press Esc or click any cell. 2. To make use of Excel’s handy Page Layout view, click the Page Layout button on the right side of the status bar. Excel displays the worksheet page by page so that you can easily see how your printed output will look. In Page Layout view, you can tell immediately whether the chart is too wide to ﬁt on one page. If the chart is too wide, click and drag a corner of the chart to resize it or just move the chart below the table of numbers. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 27 c01.indd 09/29/2015 Page 28 Part I: Getting Started with Excel 3. When you’re ready to print, choose File ➪ Print. At this point, you can change some print settings. For example, you can choose to print in landscape rather than portrait orientation. Make the change, and you see the result in the preview window. 4. When you’re satisfied, click the large Print button in the upper-left corner. The page is printed, and you’re returned to your workbook. Saving your workbook Until now, everything that you’ve done has occurred in your computer’s memory. If the power should fail, all may be lost — unless Excel’s AutoRecover feature happened to kick in. It’s time to save your work to a ﬁle on your hard drive. 1. Click the Save button on the Quick Access toolbar. (This button looks like an old-fashioned ﬂoppy disk, popular in the previous century.) Because the workbook hasn’t been saved yet and still has its default name, Excel responds with a Backstage screen that lets you choose the location for the workbook ﬁle. The Backstage screen lets you save the ﬁle to an online location or to your local computer. 2. Click Browse. Excel displays the Save As dialog box. 3. In the File Name field, enter a name (such as Monthly Sales Projection). If you like, you can specify a different location. 4. Click Save or press Enter. Excel saves the workbook as a ﬁle. The workbook remains open so that you can work with it some more. By default, Excel saves a backup copy of your work automatically every ten minutes. To adjust the AutoRecover setting (or turn if off), choose File ➪ Options and click the Save tab of the Excel Options dialog box. However, you should never rely on Excel’s AutoRecover feature. Saving your work frequently is a good idea. If you’ve followed along, you may have realized that creating this workbook was not difﬁcult. But, of course, you’ve barely scratched the surface of Excel. The remainder of this book covers these tasks (and many, many more) in much greater detail. 28 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c02.indd 08/13/2015 Page 29 CHAPTER Entering and Editing Worksheet Data 2 IN THIS CHAPTER Understanding the types of data you can use Entering text and values into your worksheets Entering dates and times into your worksheets Modifying and editing information Using built-in number formats T his chapter describes what you need to know about entering and modifying data in your worksheets. As you see, Excel doesn’t treat all data equally. Therefore, you need to learn about the various types of data that you can use in an Excel worksheet. Exploring Data Types An Excel workbook ﬁle can hold any number of worksheets, and each worksheet is made up of more than 17 billion cells. A cell can hold any of three basic types of data: ■ A numeric value ■ Text ■ A formula A worksheet can also hold charts, diagrams, pictures, buttons, and other objects. These objects aren’t contained in cells. Instead, they reside on the worksheet’s draw layer, which is an invisible layer on top of each worksheet. Chapter 23, “Enhancing Your Work with Pictures and Drawings,” discusses some of the items you can place on the draw layer. 29 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c02.indd 08/13/2015 Page 30 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Numeric values Numeric values represent a quantity of some type: sales amounts, number of employees, atomic weights, test scores, and so on. Values also can be dates (Feb 26, 2015) or times (such as 3:24 a.m.). Excel can display values in many different formats. In the “Applying Number Formatting” section, later in this chapter, you see how different format options can affect the display of numeric values. Excel’s Numeric Limitations You may be curious about the types of values that Excel can handle. In other words, how large can a number be? And how accurate are large numbers? Excel’s numbers are precise up to 15 digits. For example, if you enter a large value, such as 123,456,789,123,456,789 (18 digits), Excel actually stores it with only 15 digits of precision. This 18-digit number displays as 123,456,789,123,456,000. This precision may seem quite limiting, but in practice, it rarely causes any problems. One situation in which the 15-digit accuracy can cause a problem is when entering credit card numbers. Most credit card numbers are 16 digits, but Excel can handle only 15 digits, so it substitutes a zero for the last credit card digit. Even worse, you may not even realize that Excel made the card number invalid. The solution? Enter the credit card numbers as text. The easiest way is to preformat the cell as Text. (Choose Home ➪ Number, and choose Text from the Number Format drop-down list.) Or you can precede the credit card number with an apostrophe. Either method prevents Excel from interpreting the entry as a number. Here are some of Excel’s other numeric limits: ■ Largest positive number: 9.9E+307 ■ Smallest negative number: –9.9E+307 ■ Smallest positive number: 1E–307 ■ Largest negative number: –1E–307 These numbers are expressed in scientific notation. For example, the largest positive number is “9.9 times 10 to the 307th power” — in other words, 99 followed by 306 zeros. Keep in mind, though, that this number has only 15 digits of precision. Text entries Most worksheets also include text in some of the cells. Text can serve as data (for example, a list of employee names), labels for values, headings for columns, or instructions about the worksheet. Text is often used to clarify what the values in a worksheet mean or where the numbers came from. 30 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c02.indd 08/13/2015 Page 31 Chapter 2: Entering and Editing Worksheet Data Text that begins with a number is still considered text. For example, if you type 12 Employees into a cell, Excel considers the entry to be text rather than a numeric value. Consequently, you can’t use this cell for numeric calculations. If you need to indicate that the number 12 refers to employees, enter 12 into a cell and then type Employees into the cell to the right. Formulas Formulas are what make a spreadsheet a spreadsheet. Excel enables you to enter ﬂexible formulas that use the values (or even text) in cells to calculate a result. When you enter a formula into a cell, the formula’s result appears in the cell. If you change any of the cells used by a formula, the formula recalculates and shows the new result. Formulas can be simple mathematical expressions, or they can use some of the powerful functions that are built into Excel. Figure 2.1 shows an Excel worksheet set up to calculate a monthly loan payment. The worksheet contains values, text, and formulas. The cells in column A contain text. Column B contains four values and two formulas. The formulas are in cells B6 and B10. Column D, for reference, shows the actual contents of the cells in column B. FIGURE 2.1 You can use values, text, and formulas to create useful Excel worksheets. This workbook, named loan payment calculator.xlsx, is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. You can find out much more about formulas in Part II, “Working with Formulas and Functions.” WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 31 2 c02.indd 08/13/2015 Page 32 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Entering Text and Values into Your Worksheets To enter a numeric value into a cell, move the cell pointer to the appropriate cell, type the value, and then press Enter or one of the arrow navigation keys. The value is displayed in the cell and appears in the Formula bar when the cell is selected. You can include decimal points and currency symbols when entering values, along with plus signs, minus signs, and commas (to separate thousands). If you precede a value with a minus sign or enclose it in parentheses, Excel considers it to be a negative number. Entering text into a cell is just as easy as entering a value: activate the cell, type the text, and then press Enter or a navigation key. A cell can contain a maximum of about 32,000 characters — more than enough to store a typical chapter in this book. Even though a cell can hold a huge number of characters, you’ll ﬁ nd that it’s not possible to actually display all these characters. If you type an exceptionally long text entry into a cell, the Formula bar may not show all the text. To display more of the text in the Formula bar, click the bottom of the Formula bar and drag down to increase the height (see Figure 2.2). Also useful is the Ctrl+Shift+U keyboard shortcut. Pressing this key combination toggles the height of the Formula bar to show either one row or the previous size. FIGURE 2.2 The Formula bar, expanded in height to show more information in the cell. 32 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c02.indd 08/13/2015 Page 33 Chapter 2: Entering and Editing Worksheet Data What happens when you enter text that’s longer than its column’s current width? If the cells to the immediate right are blank, Excel displays the text in its entirety, appearing to spill the entry into adjacent cells. If an adjacent cell isn’t blank, Excel displays as much of the text as possible. (The full text is contained in the cell; it’s just not displayed.) If you need to display a long text string in a cell that’s adjacent to a nonblank cell, you have a few choices: ■ Edit your text to make it shorter. ■ Increase the width of the column (drag the border in the column letter display). ■ Use a smaller font. ■ Wrap the text within the cell so that it occupies more than one line. Choose Home ➪ Alignment ➪ Wrap Text to toggle wrapping on and off for the selected cell or range. 2 Entering Dates and Times into Your Worksheets Excel treats dates and times as special types of numeric values. Dates and times are values that are formatted so that they appear as dates or times. If you work with dates and times, you need to understand Excel’s date and time system. Entering date values Excel handles dates by using a serial number system. The earliest date that Excel understands is January 1, 1900. This date has a serial number of 1. January 2, 1900, has a serial number of 2, and so on. This system makes it easy to deal with dates in formulas. For example, you can enter a formula to calculate the number of days between two dates. Most of the time, you don’t have to be concerned with Excel’s serial number date system. You can simply enter a date in a common date format, and Excel takes care of the details behind the scenes. For example, if you need to enter June 1, 2016, you can enter the date by typing June 1, 2016 (or use any of several different date formats). Excel interprets your entry and stores the value 42522, which is the serial number for that date. The date examples in this book use the U.S. English system. Your Windows regional settings will affect the way Excel interprets a date you’ve entered. For example, depending on your regional date settings, June 1, 2016 may be interpreted as text rather than a date. In such a case, you need to enter the date in a format that corresponds to your regional date settings — for example, 1 June, 2016. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 33 c02.indd 08/13/2015 Page 34 Part I: Getting Started with Excel For more information about working with dates, see Chapter 12, “Working with Dates and Times.” Entering time values When you work with times, you extend Excel’s date serial number system to include decimals. In other words, Excel works with times by using fractional days. For example, the date serial number for June 1, 2016, is 42522. Noon on June 1, 2016 (halfway through the day), is represented internally as 42522.5 because the time fraction is added to the date serial number to get the full date/time serial number. Again, you normally don’t have to be concerned with these serial numbers or fractional serial numbers for times. Just enter the time into a cell in a recognized format. In this case, type June 1, 2016 12:00. See Chapter 12 for more information about working with time values. Modifying Cell Contents After you enter a value or text into a cell, you can modify it in several ways: ■ Delete the cell’s contents. ■ Replace the cell’s contents with something else. ■ Edit the cell’s contents. You can also modify a cell by changing its formatting. However, formatting a cell affects only a cell’s appearance. Formatting doesn’t affect the cell’s contents. Later sections in this chapter cover formatting. Deleting the contents of a cell To delete the contents of a cell, just click the cell and press the Delete key. To delete more than one cell, select all the cells that you want to delete and then press Delete. Pressing Delete removes the cell’s contents but doesn’t remove any formatting (such as bold, italic, or a different number format) that you may have applied to the cell. For more control over what gets deleted, you can choose Home ➪ Editing ➪ Clear. This command’s drop-down list has ﬁve choices: ■ 34 Clear All: Clears everything from the cell — its contents, its formatting, and its cell comment (if it has one). WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c02.indd 08/13/2015 Page 35 Chapter 2: Entering and Editing Worksheet Data ■ Clear Formats: Clears only the formatting and leaves the value, text, or formula. ■ Clear Contents: Clears only the cell’s contents and leaves the formatting. This has the same effect as pressing Delete. ■ Clear Comments: Clears the comment (if one exists) attached to the cell. ■ Clear Hyperlinks: Removes hyperlinks contained in the selected cells. The text and formatting remain, so the cell still looks like it has a hyperlink, but it no longer functions as a hyperlink. ■ Remove Hyperlinks: Removes hyperlinks in the selected cells, including the cell formatting. 2 Clearing formats doesn’t clear the background colors in a range that has been designated as a table unless you’ve replaced the table style background colors manually. See Chapter 5, “Introducing Tables,” for more about tables. Replacing the contents of a cell To replace the contents of a cell with something else, just activate the cell and type your new entry, which replaces the previous contents. Any formatting applied to the cell remains in place and is applied to the new content. You can also replace cell contents by dragging and dropping or by pasting data from the Clipboard. In both cases, the cell formatting will be replaced by the format of the new data. To avoid pasting formatting, choose Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Paste ➪ Values (V), or Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Paste ➪ Formulas (F). Editing the contents of a cell If the cell contains only a few characters, replacing its contents by typing new data usually is easiest. However, if the cell contains lengthy text or a complex formula and you need to make only a slight modiﬁcation, you probably want to edit the cell rather than re-enter information. When you want to edit the contents of a cell, you can use one of the following ways to enter cell-edit mode: ■ Double-click the cell to edit the cell contents directly in the cell. ■ Select the cell and press F2 to edit the cell contents directly in the cell. ■ Select the cell that you want to edit and then click inside the Formula bar to edit the cell contents in the Formula bar. You can use whichever method you prefer. Some people ﬁ nd editing directly in the cell easier; others prefer to use the Formula bar to edit a cell. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 35 c02.indd 08/13/2015 Page 36 Part I: Getting Started with Excel The Advanced tab of the Excel Options dialog box contains a section called Editing Options. These settings affect how editing works. (To access this dialog box, choose File ➪ Options.) If the Allow Editing Directly in Cells option isn’t enabled, you can’t edit a cell by double-clicking. In addition, pressing F2 allows you to edit the cell in the Formula bar (not directly in the cell). All these methods cause Excel to go into edit mode. (The word Edit appears at the left side of the status bar at the bottom of the window.) When Excel is in edit mode, the Formula bar enables two icons: Cancel (the X) and Enter (the check mark). Figure 2.3 shows these two icons. Clicking the Cancel icon cancels editing without changing the cell’s contents. (Pressing Esc has the same effect.) Clicking the Enter icon completes the editing and enters the modiﬁed contents into the cell. (Pressing Enter has the same effect.) FIGURE 2.3 When you’re editing a cell, the Formula bar enables two new icons: Cancel (X) and Enter (check mark). When you begin editing a cell, the insertion point appears as a vertical bar, and you can perform the following tasks: ■ 36 Add new characters at the location of the insertion point. Move the insertion point by ■ Using the navigation keys to move within the cell ■ Pressing Home to move the insertion point to the beginning of the cell ■ Pressing End to move the insertion point to the end of the cell ■ Select multiple characters. Press Shift while you use the navigation keys. ■ Select characters while you’re editing a cell. Use the mouse. Just click and drag the mouse pointer over the characters that you want to select. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c02.indd 08/13/2015 Page 37 Chapter 2: Entering and Editing Worksheet Data Learning some handy data-entry techniques You can simplify the process of entering information into your Excel worksheets and make your work go quite a bit faster by using a number of useful tricks, described in the following sections. Automatically moving the cell pointer after entering data By default, Excel automatically moves the cell pointer to the next cell down when you press the Enter key after entering data into a cell. To change this setting, choose File ➪ Options and click the Advanced tab (see Figure 2.4). The check box that controls this behavior is labeled After Pressing Enter, Move Selection. If you enable this option, you can choose the direction in which the cell pointer moves (down, left, up, or right). 2 FIGURE 2.4 You can use the Advanced tab in Excel Options to select a number of helpful input option settings. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 37 c02.indd 08/13/2015 Page 38 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Your choice is completely a matter of personal preference. I prefer to keep this option turned off. When entering data, I use the navigation keys rather than the Enter key. (See the next section.) Using navigation keys instead of pressing Enter Instead of pressing the Enter key when you’re ﬁ nished making a cell entry, you can use any of the navigation keys to complete the entry. Not surprisingly, these navigation keys send you in the direction that you indicate. For example, if you’re entering data in a row, press the right-arrow (→) key rather than Enter. The other arrow keys work as expected, and you can even use PgUp and PgDn. Selecting a range of input cells before entering data When a range of cells is selected, Excel automatically moves the cell pointer to the next cell in the range when you press Enter. If the selection consists of multiple rows, Excel moves down the column; when it reaches the end of the selection in the column, it moves to the ﬁ rst selected cell in the next column. To skip a cell, just press Enter without entering anything. To go backward, press Shift+Enter. If you prefer to enter the data by rows rather than by columns, press Tab rather than Enter. Excel continues to cycle through the selected range until you select a cell outside the range. Using Ctrl+Enter to place information into multiple cells simultaneously If you need to enter the same data into multiple cells, Excel offers a handy shortcut. Select all the cells that you want to contain the data, enter the value, text, or formula, and then press Ctrl+Enter. The same information is inserted into each cell in the selection. Entering decimal points automatically If you need to enter lots of numbers with a ﬁ xed number of decimal places, Excel has a useful tool that works like some old adding machines. Access the Excel Options dialog box and click the Advanced tab. Select the Automatically Insert a Decimal Point check box and make sure that the Places box is set for the correct number of decimal places for the data you need to enter. When this option is set, Excel supplies the decimal points for you automatically. For example, if you specify two decimal places, entering 12345 into a cell is interpreted as 123.45. To restore things to normal, just clear the Automatically Insert a Decimal Point check box in the Excel Options dialog box. Changing this setting doesn’t affect any values that you already entered. 38 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c02.indd 08/13/2015 Page 39 Chapter 2: Entering and Editing Worksheet Data The fixed decimal places option is a global setting and applies to all workbooks (not just the active workbook). If you forget that this option is turned on, you can easily end up entering incorrect values — or cause some major confusion if someone else uses your computer. Using AutoFill to enter a series of values The Excel AutoFill feature makes inserting a series of values or text items in a range of cells easy. It uses the AutoFill handle (the small box at the lower right of the active cell). You can drag the AutoFill handle to copy the cell or automatically complete a series. Figure 2.5 shows an example. I entered 1 into cell A1 and 3 into cell A2. Then I selected both cells and dragged down the ﬁll handle to create a linear series of odd numbers. The ﬁgure also shows an icon that, when clicked, displays some additional AutoFill options. This icon appears only if the Show Paste Option Button When Content Is Pasted option is selected in the Advanced table of the Excel Options dialog box. 2 FIGURE 2.5 This series was created by using AutoFill. If you drag the AutoFill handle while you press and hold the right mouse button, Excel displays a shortcut menu with additional fill options. You can also use Home ➪ Editing ➪ Fill for even more control over automatically filling a range. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 39 c02.indd 08/13/2015 Page 40 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Using AutoComplete to automate data entry The Excel AutoComplete feature makes entering the same text into multiple cells easy. With AutoComplete, you type the ﬁ rst few letters of a text entry into a cell, and Excel automatically completes the entry based on other entries that you already made in the column. Besides reducing typing, this feature ensures that your entries are spelled correctly and are consistent. Here’s how it works. Suppose that you’re entering product information into a column. One of your products is named Widgets. The ﬁ rst time that you enter Widgets into a cell, Excel remembers it. Later, when you start typing Widgets in that same column, Excel recognizes it by the ﬁ rst few letters and ﬁ nishes typing it for you. Just press Enter, and you’re done. To override the suggestion, just keep typing. AutoComplete also changes the case of letters for you automatically. If you start entering widgets (with a lowercase w) in the second entry, Excel makes the w uppercase to be consistent with the previous entry in the column. You also can access a mouse-oriented version of AutoComplete by right-clicking the cell and choosing Pick from Drop-Down List from the shortcut menu. Excel then displays a drop-down box that has all the text entries in the current column, and you just click the one that you want. Keep in mind that AutoComplete works only within a contiguous column of cells. If you have a blank row, for example, AutoComplete identiﬁes only the cell contents below the blank row. If you ﬁ nd the AutoComplete feature distracting, you can turn it off by using the Advanced tab of the Excel Options dialog box. Remove the check mark from the check box labeled Enable AutoComplete for Cell Values. Forcing text to appear on a new line within a cell If you have lengthy text in a cell, you can force Excel to display it in multiple lines within the cell: press Alt+Enter to start a new line in a cell. When you add a line break, Excel automatically changes the cell’s format to Wrap Text. But unlike normal text wrap, your manual line break forces Excel to break the text at a speciﬁc place within the text, which gives you more precise control over the appearance of the text than if you rely on automatic text wrapping. 40 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c02.indd 08/13/2015 Page 41 Chapter 2: Entering and Editing Worksheet Data To remove a manual line break, edit the cell and press Delete when the insertion point is located at the end of the line that contains the manual line break. You won’t see any symbol to indicate the position of the manual line break, but the text that follows it will move up when the line break is deleted. Using AutoCorrect for shorthand data entry You can use the AutoCorrect feature to create shortcuts for commonly used words or phrases. For example, if you work for a company named Consolidated Data Processing Corporation, you can create an AutoCorrect entry for an abbreviation, such as cdp. Then, whenever you type cdp, Excel automatically changes the text to Consolidated Data Processing Corporation. Excel includes quite a few built-in AutoCorrect terms (mostly to correct common misspellings), and you can add your own. To set up your custom AutoCorrect entries, access the Excel Options dialog box (choose File ➪ Options) and click the Prooﬁ ng tab. Then click the AutoCorrect Options button to display the AutoCorrect dialog box. In the dialog box, click the AutoCorrect tab, check the option labeled Replace Text as You Type, and then enter your custom entries. (Figure 2.6 shows an example.) You can set up as many custom entries as you like. Just be careful not to use an abbreviation that might appear normally in your text. FIGURE 2.6 AutoCorrect allows you to create shorthand abbreviations for text you enter often. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 41 2 c02.indd 08/13/2015 Page 42 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Excel shares your AutoCorrect list with other Microsoft Office applications. For example, any AutoCorrect entries you created in Word also work in Excel. Entering numbers with fractions Most of the time, you’ll want noninteger values to be displayed with decimal points. But Excel can also display values with fractions. To enter a fractional value into a cell, leave a space between the whole number and the fraction. For example, to enter 6 7/8, enter 6 7/8 and then press Enter. When you select the cell, 6.875 appears in the Formula bar, and the cell entry appears as a fraction. If you have a fraction only (for example, 1/8), you must enter a zero ﬁrst, like this — 0 1/8 — or Excel will likely assume that you’re entering a date. When you select the cell and look at the Formula bar, you see 0.125. In the cell, you see 1/8. Using a form for data entry Many people use Excel to manage lists in which the information is arranged in rows. Excel offers a simple way to work with this type of data through the use of a data entry form that Excel can create automatically. This data form works with either a normal range of data or with a range that has been designated as a table. (Choose Insert ➪ Tables ➪ Table.) Figure 2.7 shows an example. FIGURE 2.7 Excel’s built-in data form can simplify many data-entry tasks. 42 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c02.indd 08/13/2015 Page 43 Chapter 2: Entering and Editing Worksheet Data Unfortunately, the command to access the data form is not on the Ribbon. To use the data form, you must add it to your Quick Access toolbar or add it to the Ribbon. Here’s how to add this command to your Quick Access toolbar: 1. Right-click the Quick Access toolbar and choose Customize Quick Access Toolbar. The Quick Access Toolbar panel of the Excel Options dialog box appears. 2. In the Choose Commands From drop-down list, choose Commands Not in the Ribbon. 3. In the list box on the left, select Form. 4. Click the Add button to add the selected command to your Quick Access toolbar. 5. Click OK to close the Excel Options dialog box. 2 After you perform these steps, a new icon appears on your Quick Access toolbar. To use a data entry form, follow these steps: 1. Arrange your data so that Excel can recognize it as a table by entering headings for the columns into the first row of your data entry range. 2. Select any cell in the table and click the Form button on your Quick Access toolbar. Excel displays a dialog box customized to your data (refer to Figure 2.7). 3. Fill in the information. Press Tab to move between the text boxes. If a cell contains a formula, the formula result appears as text (not as an edit box). In other words, you can’t modify formulas using the data entry form. 4. When you complete the data form, click the New button. Excel enters the data into a row in the worksheet and clears the dialog box for the next row of data. You can also use the form to edit existing data. Entering the current date or time into a cell If you need to date-stamp or time-stamp your worksheet, Excel provides two shortcut keys that do this task for you: ■ Current date: Ctrl+; (semicolon) ■ Current time: Ctrl+Shift+; (semicolon) The date and time are from the system time in your computer. If the date or time isn’t correct in Excel, use the Windows Control Panel to make the adjustment. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 43 c02.indd 08/13/2015 Page 44 Part I: Getting Started with Excel When you use either of these shortcuts to enter a date or time into your worksheet, Excel enters a static value into the worksheet. In other words, the date or time entered doesn’t change when the worksheet is recalculated. In most cases, this setup is probably what you want, but you should be aware of this limitation. If you want the date or time display to update, use one of these formulas: =TODAY() =NOW() Applying Number Formatting Number formatting refers to the process of changing the appearance of values contained in cells. Excel provides a variety of number formatting options. In the following sections, you see how to use many of Excel’s formatting options to quickly improve the appearance and readability of your worksheets. The formatting that you apply works with the selected cell or cells. Therefore, you need to select the cell (or range of cells) before applying the formatting. Also remember that changing the number format does not affect the underlying value. Number formatting affects only the appearance. Values that you enter into cells normally are unformatted. In other words, they simply consist of a string of numerals. Typically, you want to format the numbers so that they’re easier to read or are more consistent in terms of the number of decimal places shown. Figure 2.8 shows a worksheet that has two columns of values. The ﬁ rst column consists of unformatted values. The cells in the second column are formatted to make the values easier to read. The third column describes the type of formatting applied. 44 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c02.indd 08/13/2015 Page 45 Chapter 2: Entering and Editing Worksheet Data FIGURE 2.8 Use numeric formatting to make it easier to understand what the values in the worksheet represent. 2 This workbook is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named number formatting.xlsx. If you move the cell pointer to a cell that has a formatted value, the Formula bar displays the value in its unformatted state because the formatting affects only the way the value appears in the cell — not the actual value contained in the cell. There are a few exceptions, however. When you enter a date or a time, Excel always displays the value as a date or a time, even though it’s stored internally as a value. Also, values that use the Percentage format display with a percent sign in the Formula bar. Using automatic number formatting Excel is able to perform some formatting for you automatically. For example, if you enter 12.2% into a cell, Excel knows that you want to use a percentage format and applies it for you automatically. If you use commas to separate thousands (such as 123,456), Excel applies comma formatting for you. And if you precede your value with a dollar sign, the cell is formatted for currency (assuming that the dollar sign is your system currency symbol). WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 45 c02.indd 08/13/2015 Page 46 Part I: Getting Started with Excel A handy default feature in Excel makes entering percentage values into cells easier. If a cell is formatted to display as a percent, you can simply enter a normal value (for example, 12.5 for 12.5%). To enter values less than 1%, precede the value with a zero (for example, 0.52 for 0.52%). If this automatic percent entry feature isn’t working (or if you prefer to enter the actual value for percents), access the Excel Options dialog box and click the Advanced tab. In the Editing Options section, locate the Enable Automatic Percent Entry check box and add or remove the check mark. Formatting numbers by using the Ribbon The Home ➪ Number group in the Ribbon contains controls that let you quickly apply common number formats. The Number Format drop-down list contains 11 common number formats (see Figure 2.9). Additional options in the Home ➪ Number group include an Accounting Number Format drop-down list (to select a currency format), a Percent Style button, and a Comma Style button. The group also contains a button to increase the number of decimal places and another to decrease the number of decimal places. FIGURE 2.9 You can find number formatting commands in the Number group of the Home tab. 46 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c02.indd 08/13/2015 Page 47 Chapter 2: Entering and Editing Worksheet Data When you select one of these controls, the active cell takes on the speciﬁed number format. You also can select a range of cells (or even entire rows or columns) before clicking these buttons. If you select more than one cell, Excel applies the number format to all the selected cells. Using shortcut keys to format numbers Another way to apply number formatting is to use shortcut keys. Table 2.1 summarizes the shortcut-key combinations that you can use to apply common number formatting to the selected cells or range. Notice that these Ctrl+Shift characters are located together, in the upper left of your keyboard. TABLE 2.1 2 Number Formatting Keyboard Shortcuts Key Combination Formatting Applied Ctrl+Shift+~ General number format (that is, unformatted values) Ctrl+Shift+$ Currency format with two decimal places (negative numbers appear in parentheses) Ctrl+Shift+% Percentage format, with no decimal places Ctrl+Shift+^ Scientific notation number format, with two decimal places Ctrl+Shift+# Date format with the day, month, and year Ctrl+Shift+@ Time format with the hour, minute, and AM or PM Ctrl+Shift+! Two decimal places, thousands separator, and a hyphen for negative values Formatting numbers by using the Format Cells dialog box In most cases, the number formats that are accessible from the Number group on the Home tab are just ﬁ ne. Sometimes, however, you want more control over how your values appear. Excel offers a great deal of control over number formats through the use of the Format Cells dialog box, shown in Figure 2.10. For formatting numbers, you need to use the Number tab. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 47 c02.indd 08/13/2015 Page 48 Part I: Getting Started with Excel FIGURE 2.10 When you need more control over number formats, use the Number tab of the Format Cells dialog box. You can bring up the Format Cells dialog box in several ways. Start by selecting the cell or cells that you want to format and then do one of the following: ■ Choose Home ➪ Number and click the small dialog box launcher icon (in the lowerright corner of the Number group). ■ Choose Home ➪ Number, click the Number Format drop-down list, and choose More Number Formats from the drop-down list. ■ Right-click the cell and choose Format Cells from the shortcut menu. ■ Press Ctrl+1. The Number tab of the Format Cells dialog box displays 12 categories of number formats. When you select a category from the list box, the right side of the tab changes to display options appropriate to that category. The Number category has three options that you can control: the number of decimal places displayed, whether to use a thousands separator, and how you want negative numbers displayed. The Negative Numbers list box has four choices (two of which display negative values in red), and the choices change depending on the number of decimal places and whether you choose to separate thousands. 48 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c02.indd 08/13/2015 Page 49 Chapter 2: Entering and Editing Worksheet Data The top of the tab displays a sample of how the active cell will appear with the selected number format (visible only if a cell with a value is selected). After you make your choices, click OK to apply the number format to all the selected cells. When Numbers Appear to Add Incorrectly Applying a number format to a cell doesn’t change the value — it only changes how the value appears in the worksheet. For example, if a cell contains 0.874543, you may format it to appear as 87%. If that cell is used in a formula, the formula uses the full value (0.874543), not the displayed value (87%). In some situations, formatting may cause Excel to display calculation results that appear incorrect, such as when totaling numbers with decimal places. For example, if values are formatted to display two decimal places, you may not see the actual numbers used in the calculations. But because Excel uses the full precision of the values in its formula, the sum of the two values may appear to be incorrect. Several solutions to this problem are available. You can format the cells to display more decimal places. You can use the ROUND function on individual numbers and specify the number of decimal places Excel should round to. Or you can instruct Excel to change the worksheet values to match their displayed format. To do so, access the Excel Options dialog box and click the Advanced tab. Check the Set Precision as Displayed check box (located in the When Calculating This Workbook section). Selecting the Precision as Displayed option changes the numbers in your worksheets to permanently match their appearance onscreen. This setting applies to all sheets in the active workbook. Most of the time, this option is not what you want. Make sure that you understand the consequences of using the Set Precision as Displayed option. Chapter 10, “Introducing Formulas and Functions,” discusses ROUND and other built-in functions. The following are the number format categories, along with some general comments: ■ General: The default format; it displays numbers as integers, as decimals, or in scientiﬁc notation if the value is too wide to ﬁt in the cell. ■ Number: Enables you to specify the number of decimal places, whether to use a comma to separate thousands, and how to display negative numbers (with a minus sign, in red, in parentheses, or in red and in parentheses). ■ Currency: Enables you to specify the number of decimal places, choose a currency symbol, and specify how to display negative numbers (with a minus sign, in red, WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 49 2 c02.indd 08/13/2015 Page 50 Part I: Getting Started with Excel in parentheses, or in red and in parentheses). This format always uses a comma to separate thousands. ■ Accounting: Differs from the Currency format in that the currency symbols always align vertically. ■ Date: Enables you to choose from several different date formats. ■ Time: Enables you to choose from several different time formats. ■ Percentage: Enables you to choose the number of decimal places and always displays a percent sign. ■ Fraction: Enables you to choose from among nine fraction formats. ■ Scientific: Displays numbers in exponential notation (with an E): 2.00E+05 = 200,000; 2.05E+05 = 205,000. You can choose the number of decimal places to display to the left of E. The second example can be read as “2.05 times 10 to the ﬁ fth.” ■ Text: When applied to a value, causes Excel to treat the value as text (even if it looks like a number). This feature is useful for such items as part numbers and credit card numbers. ■ Special: Contains additional number formats. In the U.S. version of Excel, the additional number formats are Zip Code, Zip Code +4, Phone Number, and Social Security Number. ■ Custom: Enables you to deﬁ ne custom number formats that aren’t included in any other category. If a cell displays a series of hash marks (such as #########), it usually means that the column isn’t wide enough to display the value in the number format that you selected. Either make the column wider or change the number format. Hashmarks also indicate a negative time value or an invalid date (that is, a date prior to January 1, 1900). Adding your own custom number formats Sometimes you may want to display numerical values in a format that isn’t included in any of the other categories. If so, the answer is to create your own custom format. Excel provides you with a great deal of flexibility in creating number formats — so much so that I’ve devoted an entire chapter (Chapter 25, “Using Custom Number Formats”) to this topic. 50 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c03.indd 08/26/2015 Page 51 CHAPTER 3 Essential Worksheet Operations IN THIS CHAPTER Understanding Excel worksheet essentials Controlling your views Manipulating the rows and columns T his chapter covers some basic information regarding workbooks, worksheets, and windows. You’ll discover tips and techniques to help you take control of your worksheets and help you work more efﬁciently. Learning the Fundamentals of Excel Worksheets In Excel, each ﬁle is called a workbook, and each workbook can contain one or more worksheets. You may ﬁ nd it helpful to think of an Excel workbook as a notebook and worksheets as pages in the notebook. As with a notebook, you can view a particular sheet, add new sheets, remove sheets, rearrange sheets, and copy sheets. The following sections describe the operations that you can perform with worksheets. Working with Excel windows Each Excel workbook ﬁle that you open is displayed in a window. A workbook can hold any number of sheets, and these sheets can be either worksheets (sheets consisting of rows and columns) or chart sheets (sheets that hold a single chart). A worksheet is what people usually think of when they think of a spreadsheet. You can open as many Excel workbooks as necessary at the same time. In previous versions of Excel, you could open multiple workbooks and have them displayed in a single Excel window. Beginning with Excel 2013, you no longer have that option. Now, a window holds only one workbook. If you create or open a second workbook, it appears in a separate window. 51 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c03.indd 08/26/2015 Page 52 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Each Excel window has four buttons (which appear as icons) at the right side of its title bar. From left to right, they are Ribbon Display Options, Minimize, Maximize (or Restore Down), and Close. An Excel window can be in one of the following states: ■ Maximized: Fills the entire screen. To maximize a window, click its Maximize button. ■ Minimized: Hidden but still open. To minimize a window, clicks its Minimize button. ■ Restored: A nonmaximized size. To restore a maximized window, click its Restore Down button. To restore a minimized window, click its icon in the Windows taskbar. A window in this state can be resized and moved. To increase the amount of information you can see, click the Ribbon Display Options button and choose Auto-Hide Ribbon. This maximizes the window and hides the Ribbon and status bar. In this mode, you can get temporary access to the Ribbon commands by clicking the title bar. To return to the default Ribbon view, click the Ribbon Display Options button and choose Show Tabs and Commands. If you work with more than one workbook simultaneously (which is quite common), you need to know how to move, resize, and switch among the workbook windows. Moving and resizing windows To move or resize a window, make sure that it’s not maximized. (Click the Restore Down button.) Then click and drag its title bar with your mouse. To resize a window, click and drag any of its borders until it’s the size that you want it to be. When you position the mouse pointer on a window’s border, the mouse pointer changes to a double arrow, which lets you know that you can now click and drag to resize the window. To resize a window horizontally and vertically at the same time, click and drag any of its corners. If you want all your workbook windows to be visible (that is, not obscured by another window), you can move and resize the windows manually, or you can let Excel do it for you. Choosing View ➪ Window ➪ Arrange All displays the Arrange Windows dialog box, shown in Figure 3.1. This dialog box has four window arrangement options. Just select the one that you want and click OK. Windows that are minimized aren’t affected by this command. 52 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c03.indd 08/26/2015 Page 53 Chapter 3: Essential Worksheet Operations FIGURE 3.1 Use the Arrange Windows dialog box to quickly arrange all open nonminimized workbook windows. Switching among windows At any given time, one (and only one) workbook window is the active window. The active window accepts your input and is the window on which your commands work. The active window appears at the top of the stack of windows. To work in a workbook in a different window, you need to make that window active. You can make a different window the active window in several ways: ■ Click another window if it’s visible. The window you click moves to the top and becomes the active window. This method isn’t possible if the current window is maximized. ■ Press Ctrl+F6 to cycle through all open windows until the window that you want to work with appears on top as the active window. Pressing Shift+Ctrl+F6 cycles through the windows in the opposite direction. ■ Choose View ➪ Window ➪ Switch Windows and select the window that you want from the drop-down list (the active window has a check mark next to it). This menu can display as many as nine windows. If you have more than nine workbook windows open, choose More Windows (which appears below the nine window names). ■ Click the corresponding Excel icon in the Windows taskbar. You might be one of the many people who prefer to do most work with maximized workbook windows, which enables you to see more cells and eliminates the distraction of other workbook windows getting in the way. At times, however, viewing multiple windows is preferred. For example, displaying two windows is more efﬁcient if you need to compare information in two workbooks or if you need to copy data from one workbook to another. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 53 3 c03.indd 08/26/2015 Page 54 Part I: Getting Started with Excel You also can display a single workbook in more than one window. For example, if you have a workbook with two worksheets, you may want to display each worksheet in a separate window to compare the two sheets. All the window manipulation procedures described previously still apply. See “Viewing a worksheet in multiple windows,” later in this chapter. Closing windows If you have multiple windows open, you may want to close those windows that you no longer need. Excel offers several ways to close the active window: ■ Choose File ➪ Close. ■ Click the Close button (the X icon) on the right side of the workbook window’s title bar. ■ Press Alt+F4. ■ Press Ctrl+W. When you close a workbook window, Excel checks whether you have made any changes since the last time you saved the ﬁle. If you have made changes, Excel prompts you to save the ﬁle before it closes the window. If you haven’t, the window closes without a prompt from Excel. Oddly, Excel provides no way to tell you if a workbook has been changed since it was last saved. Sometimes you will be prompted to save a workbook even if you’ve made no changes to it. This occurs if your workbook contains any “volatile” functions. For example, if a cell contains =NOW(), you will be prompted to save the workbook because the NOW function updated the cell with the current date and time. Activating a worksheet At any given time, one workbook is the active workbook, and one sheet is the active sheet in the active workbook. To activate a different sheet, just click its sheet tab, located at the bottom of the workbook window. You also can use the following shortcut keys to activate a different sheet: ■ Ctrl+PgUp: Activates the previous sheet, if one exists ■ Ctrl+PgDn: Activates the next sheet, if one exists If your workbook has many sheets, all its tabs may not be visible. Use the tab scrolling controls (see Figure 3.2) to scroll the sheet tabs. The sheet tabs share space with the worksheet’s horizontal scrollbar. You also can drag the tab split control (to the left of the horizontal scrollbar) to display more or fewer tabs. Dragging the tab split control simultaneously changes the number of tabs and the size of the horizontal scrollbar. 54 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c03.indd 08/26/2015 Page 55 Chapter 3: Essential Worksheet Operations FIGURE 3.2 Use the tab scrolling controls to activate a different worksheet or to see additional worksheet tabs. Tab scrolling controls When you right-click any of the tab scrolling controls, Excel displays a list of all sheets in the workbook. You can quickly activate a sheet by selecting it from the list. Adding a new worksheet to your workbook Worksheets can be an excellent organizational tool. Instead of placing everything on a single worksheet, you can use additional worksheets in a workbook to separate various workbook elements logically. For example, if you have several products whose sales you track individually, you may want to assign each product to its own worksheet and then use another worksheet to consolidate your results. Here are three ways to add a new worksheet to a workbook: ■ Click the New Sheet control, which is the plus sign icon located to the right of the last visible sheet tab. A new sheet is added after the active sheet. ■ Press Shift+F11. A new sheet is added before the active sheet. ■ Right-click a sheet tab, choose Insert from the shortcut menu, and select the General tab of the Insert dialog box that appears. Then select the Worksheet icon and click OK. A new sheet is added before the active sheet. Deleting a worksheet you no longer need If you no longer need a worksheet or if you want to get rid of an empty worksheet in a workbook, you can delete it in either of two ways: ■ Right-click its sheet tab and choose Delete from the shortcut menu. ■ Activate the unwanted worksheet and choose Home ➪ Cells ➪ Delete ➪ Delete Sheet. If the worksheet is not empty, Excel asks you to conﬁ rm that you want to delete the sheet (see Figure 3.3). WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 55 3 c03.indd 08/26/2015 Page 56 Part I: Getting Started with Excel FIGURE 3.3 Excel’s warning that you might be losing some data. You can delete multiple sheets with a single command by selecting the sheets that you want to delete. To select multiple sheets, press Ctrl while you click the sheet tabs that you want to delete. To select a group of contiguous sheets, click the first sheet tab, press Shift, and then click the last sheet tab (Excel displays the selected sheet names bold and underlined). Then use either method to delete the selected sheets. When you delete a worksheet, it’s gone for good. Deleting a worksheet is one of the few operations in Excel that can’t be undone. Changing the name of a worksheet The default names that Excel uses for worksheets — Sheet1, Sheet2, and so on — are generic and nondescriptive. To make it easier to locate data in a multisheet workbook, you’ll want to make the sheet names more descriptive. To change a sheet’s name, double-click the sheet tab. Excel highlights the name on the sheet tab so that you can edit the name or replace it with a new name. Sheet names can contain as many as 31 characters, and spaces are allowed. However, you can’t use the following characters in sheet names: 56 : colon / slash \ backslash [] square brackets ? question mark * asterisk WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c03.indd 08/26/2015 Page 57 Chapter 3: Essential Worksheet Operations Keep in mind that a longer worksheet name results in a wider tab, which takes up more space onscreen. Therefore, if you use lengthy sheet names, you won’t be able to see as many sheet tabs without scrolling the tab list. Changing a sheet tab color Excel allows you to change the background color of your worksheet tabs. For example, you may prefer to color-code the sheet tabs to make identifying the worksheet’s contents easier. To change the color of a sheet tab, right-click the tab and choose Tab Color from the shortcut menu. Then select the color from the color selector box. You can’t change the text color, but Excel will choose a contrasting color to make the text visible. For example, if you make a sheet tab black, Excel will display white text. If you change a sheet tab’s color, the color is visible only when the sheet is not the active sheet. Rearranging your worksheets You may want to rearrange the order of worksheets in a workbook. If you have a separate worksheet for each sales region, for example, arranging the worksheets in alphabetical order might be helpful. You can also move a worksheet from one workbook to another and create copies of worksheets, either in the same workbook or in a different workbook. You can move or copy a worksheet in the following ways: ■ Right-click the sheet tab and choose Move or Copy to display the Move or Copy dialog box (see Figure 3.4). Use this dialog box to specify the operation and the location for the sheet. FIGURE 3.4 Use the Move or Copy dialog box to move or copy worksheets in the same or another workbook. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 57 3 c03.indd 08/26/2015 Page 58 Part I: Getting Started with Excel ■ To move a worksheet, click the worksheet tab and drag it to its desired location. When you drag, the mouse pointer changes to a small sheet, and a small arrow guides you. To move a worksheet to a different workbook, the second workbook must be open and not maximized. ■ To copy a worksheet, click the worksheet tab, and press Ctrl while dragging the tab to its desired location. When you drag, the mouse pointer changes to a small sheet with a plus sign on it. To copy a worksheet to a different workbook, the second workbook must be open and not maximized. You can move or copy multiple sheets simultaneously. First, select the sheets by clicking their sheet tabs while holding down the Ctrl key. Then, you can move or copy the set of sheets by using the preceding methods. If you move or copy a worksheet to a workbook that already has a sheet with the same name, Excel changes the name to make it unique. For example, Sheet1 becomes Sheet1 (2). You probably want to rename the copied sheet to give it a more meaningful name. (See “Changing the name of a worksheet,” earlier in this chapter.) When you move or copy a worksheet to a different workbook, any defined names and custom formats also are copied to the new workbook. Hiding and unhiding a worksheet In some situations, you may want to hide one or more worksheets. Hiding a sheet may be useful if you don’t want others to see it or if you just want to get it out of the way. When a sheet is hidden, its sheet tab is also hidden. You can’t hide all the sheets in a workbook; at least one sheet must remain visible. To hide a worksheet, right-click its sheet tab and choose Hide Sheet. The active worksheet (or selected worksheets) will be hidden from view. To unhide a hidden worksheet, right-click any sheet tab and choose Unhide Sheet. Excel opens the Unhide dialog box, which lists all hidden sheets. Choose the sheet that you want to redisplay, and click OK. For reasons known only to a Microsoft programmer who is probably retired by now, you can’t select multiple sheets from this dialog box, so you need to repeat the command for each sheet that you want to unhide. When you unhide a sheet, it appears in its previous position among the sheet tabs. 58 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c03.indd 08/26/2015 Page 59 Chapter 3: Essential Worksheet Operations Preventing Sheet Actions To prevent others from unhiding hidden sheets, inserting new sheets, renaming sheets, copying sheets, or deleting sheets, protect the workbook’s structure: 1. Choose Review ➪ Changes ➪ Protect Workbook. 2. In the Protect Workbook dialog box, select the Structure option. 3. Provide a password (optional). After performing these steps, several commands will no longer be available when you right-click a sheet tab: Insert, Delete Sheet, Rename Sheet, Move or Copy Sheet, Tab Color, Hide Sheet, and Unhide Sheet. Be aware, however, that this is a weak security measure. Cracking this particular protection feature is relatively easy. Controlling the Worksheet View As you add more information to a worksheet, you may ﬁ nd that navigating and locating what you want gets more difﬁcult. Excel includes a few options that enable you to view your sheet, and sometimes multiple sheets, more efﬁciently. This section discusses a few additional worksheet options at your disposal. 3 Zooming in or out for a better view Normally, everything you see onscreen is displayed at 100%. You can change the zoom percentage from 10% (very tiny) to 400% (huge). Using a small zoom percentage can help you get a bird’s-eye view of your worksheet to see how it’s laid out. Zooming in is useful if you have trouble deciphering tiny type. Zooming doesn’t change the font size speciﬁed for the cells, so it has no effect on printed output. Excel contains separate options for changing the size of your printed output. (Use the controls in the Page Layout ➪ Scale to Fit group in the Ribbon.) See Chapter 9, “Printing Your Work,” for details. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 59 c03.indd 08/26/2015 Page 60 Part I: Getting Started with Excel You can change the zoom factor of the active worksheet window by using any of three methods: ■ Use the Zoom slider located on the right side of the status bar. Click and drag the slider, and your screen transforms instantly. ■ Press Ctrl and use the wheel button on your mouse to zoom in or out. ■ Choose View ➪ Zoom ➪ Zoom, which displays a dialog box with some zoom options. ■ Select a range of cells, and choose View ➪ Zoom ➪ Zoom to Selection. The selected range will be enlarged as much as possible, but it still ﬁts entirely in the window. Zooming affects only the active worksheet window, so you can use different zoom factors for different worksheets. Also, if you have a worksheet displayed in two different windows, you can set a different zoom factor for each of the windows. If your worksheet uses named ranges (see Chapter 4, “Working with Cells and Ranges”), zooming your worksheet to 39% or less displays the name of the range overlaid on the cells. Viewing named ranges in this manner is useful for getting an overview of how a worksheet is laid out. Viewing a worksheet in multiple windows Sometimes, you may want to view two different parts of a worksheet simultaneously — perhaps to make referencing a distant cell in a formula easier. Or you may want to examine more than one sheet in the same workbook simultaneously. You can accomplish either of these actions by opening a new view to the workbook, using one or more additional windows. To create and display a new view of the active workbook, choose View ➪ Window ➪ New Window. Excel displays a new window for the active workbook, similar to the one shown in Figure 3.5. In this case, each window shows a different worksheet in the workbook. Notice the text in the windows’ title bars: climate data.xlsx:1 and climate data.xlsx:2. To help you keep track of the windows, Excel appends a colon and a number to each window. 60 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c03.indd 08/26/2015 Page 61 Chapter 3: Essential Worksheet Operations FIGURE 3.5 Use multiple windows to view different sections of a workbook at the same time. 3 If the workbook is maximized when you create a new window, you may not even notice that Excel created the new window. If you look at the Excel title bar, though, you’ll see that the workbook title now has :2 appended to the name. Choose View ➪ Window ➪ Arrange All, and then choose one of the Arrange options in the Arrange Windows dialog box to display the open windows. If you select the Windows of Active Workbook check box, only the windows of the active workbook are arranged. A single workbook can have as many views (that is, separate windows) as you want. Each window is independent. In other words, scrolling to a new location in one window doesn’t cause scrolling in the other window(s). However, if you make changes to the worksheet shown in a particular window, those changes are also made in all views of that worksheet. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 61 c03.indd 08/26/2015 Page 62 Part I: Getting Started with Excel You can close these additional windows when you no longer need them. For example, clicking the Close button on the active window’s title bar closes the active window but doesn’t close the other windows for the workbook. Multiple windows make copying or moving information from one worksheet to another easier. You can use Excel’s drag-and-drop procedures to copy or move ranges. Comparing sheets side by side In some situations, you may want to compare two worksheets that are in different windows. The View Side by Side feature makes this task a bit easier. First, make sure that the two sheets are displayed in separate windows. (The sheets can be in the same workbook or in different workbooks.) If you want to compare two sheets in the same workbook, choose View ➪ Window ➪ New Window to create a new window for the active workbook. Activate the ﬁ rst window; then choose View ➪ Window ➪ View Side by Side. If more than two windows are open, you see a dialog box that lets you select the window for the comparison. The two windows are tiled to ﬁll the entire screen. When using the Compare Side by Side feature, scrolling in one of the windows also scrolls the other window. If you don’t want this simultaneous scrolling, choose View ➪ Window ➪ Synchronous Scrolling (which is a toggle). If you have rearranged or moved the windows, choose View ➪ Window ➪ Reset Window Position to restore the windows to the initial sideby-side arrangement. To turn off the side-by-side viewing, choose View ➪ Window ➪ View Side by Side again. Keep in mind that this feature is for manual comparison only. Unfortunately, Excel doesn’t provide a way to automatically identify the differences between two sheets. Splitting the worksheet window into panes If you prefer not to clutter your screen with additional windows, Excel provides another option for viewing multiple parts of the same worksheet. Choosing View ➪ Window ➪ Split splits the active worksheet into two or four separate panes. The split occurs at the location of the cell pointer. If the cell pointer is in row 1 or column A, this command results in a two-pane split; otherwise, it gives you four panes. You can use the mouse to drag the individual panes to resize them. Figure 3.6 shows a worksheet split into two panes. Notice that row numbers aren’t continuous. The top pane shows rows 13 through 23, and the bottom pane shows rows 247 through 256. In other words, splitting panes enables you to display in a single window widely separated areas of a worksheet. To remove the split panes, choose View ➪ Window ➪ Split again. 62 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c03.indd 08/26/2015 Page 63 Chapter 3: Essential Worksheet Operations FIGURE 3.6 You can split the worksheet window into two or four panes to view different areas of the worksheet at the same time. Keeping the titles in view by freezing panes 3 If you set up a worksheet with column headings or descriptive text in the ﬁ rst column, this identifying information won’t be visible when you scroll down or to the right. Excel provides a handy solution to this problem: freezing panes. Freezing panes keeps the column or row headings visible while you’re scrolling through the worksheet. To freeze panes, start by moving the cell pointer to the cell below the row that you want to remain visible while you scroll vertically and to the right of the column that you want to remain visible while you scroll horizontally. Then choose View ➪ Window ➪ Freeze Panes and select the Freeze Panes option from the drop-down list. Excel inserts dark lines to indicate the frozen rows and columns. The frozen row and column remain visible while you scroll throughout the worksheet. To remove the frozen panes, choose View ➪ Window ➪ Freeze Panes, and select the Unfreeze Panes option from the drop-down list. Figure 3.7 shows a worksheet with frozen panes. In this case, rows 1:4 and column A are frozen in place. (Cell B5 was the active cell when I used the View ➪ Window ➪ Freeze Panes command.) This technique allows you to scroll down and to the right to locate some information while keeping the column titles and the column A entries visible. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 63 c03.indd 08/26/2015 Page 64 Part I: Getting Started with Excel FIGURE 3.7 Freeze certain columns and rows to make them remain visible while you scroll the worksheet. Most of the time, you’ll want to freeze either the ﬁ rst row or the ﬁ rst column. The View ➪ Window ➪ Freeze Panes drop-down list has two additional options: Freeze Top Row and Freeze First Column. Using these commands eliminates the need to position the cell pointer before freezing panes. If you designated a range to be a table (by choosing Insert ➪ Tables ➪ Table), you may not even need to freeze panes. When you scroll down, Excel displays the table column headings in place of the column letters. Figure 3.8 shows an example. The table headings replace the column letters only when a cell within the table is selected. 64 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c03.indd 08/26/2015 Page 65 Chapter 3: Essential Worksheet Operations FIGURE 3.8 When using a table, scrolling down displays the table headings where the column letters normally appear. Monitoring cells with a Watch Window 3 In some situations, you may want to monitor the value in a particular cell as you work. As you scroll throughout the worksheet, that cell may disappear from view. A feature known as Watch Window can help. A Watch Window displays the value of any number of cells in a handy window that’s always visible. To display the Watch Window, choose Formulas ➪ Formula Auditing ➪ Watch Window. The Watch Window is actually a task pane, and you can dock it to the side of the window or drag it and make it ﬂoat over the worksheet. To add a cell to watch, click Add Watch and specify the cell that you want to watch. The Watch Window displays the value in that cell. You can add any number of cells to the Watch Window. Figure 3.9 shows the Watch Window monitoring four cells in different worksheets. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 65 c03.indd 08/26/2015 Page 66 Part I: Getting Started with Excel FIGURE 3.9 Use the Watch Window to monitor the value in one or more cells. Double-click a cell in the Watch Window to immediately select that cell. This works only if the watched cell is in the active workbook. Working with Rows and Columns This section discusses worksheet operations that involve complete rows and columns (rather than individual cells). Every worksheet has exactly 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns, and these values can’t be changed. If you open a workbook that was created in a version of Excel prior to Excel 2007, the workbook is opened in Compatibility Mode. These workbooks have 65,536 rows and 256 columns. If you would like to increase the number of rows and columns, save the workbook as an Excel .xlsx or .xlsm file and then reopen it. Inserting rows and columns Although the number of rows and columns in a worksheet is ﬁ xed, you can still insert and delete rows and columns if you need to make room for additional information. These operations don’t change the number of rows or columns. Instead, inserting a new row moves down the other rows to accommodate the new row. The last row is simply removed from the worksheet if it’s empty. Inserting a new column shifts the columns to the right, and the last column is removed if it’s empty. 66 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c03.indd 08/26/2015 Page 67 Chapter 3: Essential Worksheet Operations If the last row isn’t empty, you can’t insert a new row. Similarly, if the last column contains information, Excel doesn’t let you insert a new column. In either case, attempting to add a row or column displays the dialog box shown in Figure 3.10. FIGURE 3.10 You can’t add a new row or column if it causes nonblank cells to move off the worksheet. To insert a new row or rows, use either of these methods: ■ Select an entire row or multiple rows by clicking the row numbers in the worksheet border. Right-click and choose Insert from the shortcut menu. ■ Move the cell pointer to the row that you want to insert, and then choose Home ➪ Cells ➪ Insert ➪ Insert Sheet Rows. If you select multiple cells in the column, Excel inserts additional rows that correspond to the number of cells selected in the column and moves the rows below the insertion down. To insert a new column or columns, use either of these methods: ■ Select an entire column or columns by clicking the column letters in the worksheet border. Right-click and choose Insert from the shortcut menu. ■ Move the cell pointer to the column that you want to insert, and then choose Home ➪ Cells ➪ Insert ➪ Insert Sheet Columns. If you select multiple cells in the row, Excel inserts additional columns that correspond to the number of cells selected in the row. You can also insert cells rather than just rows or columns. Select the range into which you want to add new cells and then choose Home ➪ Cells ➪ Insert ➪ Insert Cells (or right-click the selection and choose Insert). To insert cells, you must shift the existing cells to the right or down. Therefore, Excel displays the Insert dialog box shown in Figure 3.11 so that you can specify the direction in which you want to shift the cells. Notice that this dialog box also enables you to insert entire rows or columns. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 67 3 c03.indd 08/26/2015 Page 68 Part I: Getting Started with Excel FIGURE 3.11 You can insert partial rows or columns by using the Insert dialog box. Deleting rows and columns You may also want to delete rows or columns in a worksheet. For example, your sheet may contain old data that is no longer needed, or you may want to remove empty rows or columns. To delete a row or rows, use either of these methods: ■ Select an entire row or multiple rows by clicking the row numbers in the worksheet border. Right-click and choose Delete from the shortcut menu. ■ Move the cell pointer to the row that you want to delete, and then choose Home ➪ Cells ➪ Delete Sheet Rows. If you select multiple cells in the column, Excel deletes all rows in the selection. Deleting columns works in a similar way. If you discover that you accidentally deleted a row or column, select Undo from the Quick Access toolbar (or press Ctrl+Z) to undo the action. Changing column widths and row heights Often, you’ll want to change the width of a column or the height of a row. For example, you can make columns narrower to show more information on a printed page. Or you may want to increase row height to create a “double-spaced” effect. Excel provides several ways to change the widths of columns and the height of rows. Changing column widths Column width is measured in terms of the number of characters of a monospaced font that will ﬁt into the cell’s width. By default, each column’s width is 8.43 units, which equates to 64 pixels (px). 68 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c03.indd 08/26/2015 Page 69 Chapter 3: Essential Worksheet Operations If hash symbols (#) fill a cell that contains a numerical value, the column isn’t wide enough to accommodate the information in the cell. Widen the column to solve the problem. Before you change the column width, you can select multiple columns so that the width will be the same for all selected columns. To select multiple columns, either click and drag in the column border or press Ctrl while you select individual columns. To select all columns, click the button where the row and column headers intersect. You can change columns widths by using any of the following techniques: ■ Drag the right-column border with the mouse until the column is the desired width. ■ Choose Home ➪ Cells ➪ Format ➪ Column Width and enter a value in the Column Width dialog box. ■ Choose Home ➪ Cells ➪ Format ➪ AutoFit Column Width to adjust the width of the selected column so that the widest entry in the column ﬁts. Instead of selecting an entire column, you can just select cells in the column, and the column is adjusted based on the widest entry in your selection. ■ Double-click the right border of a column header to set the column width automatically to the widest entry in the column. 3 To change the default width of all columns, choose Home ➪ Cells ➪ Format ➪ Default Width. This command displays a dialog box into which you enter the new default column width. All columns that haven’t been previously adjusted take on the new column width. After you manually adjust a column’s width, Excel will no longer automatically adjust the column to accommodate longer numerical entries. If you enter a long number that displays as hash symbols (#), you need to change the column width manually. Changing row heights Row height is measured in points (a standard unit of measurement in the printing trade — 72 pt is equal to 1 inch). The default row height using the default font is 15 pt, or 20 px. The default row height can vary, depending on the font deﬁned in the Normal style. In addition, Excel automatically adjusts row heights to accommodate the tallest font in the row. So, if you change the font size of a cell to 20 pt, for example, Excel makes the row taller so that the entire text is visible. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 69 c03.indd 08/26/2015 Page 70 Part I: Getting Started with Excel You can set the row height manually, however, by using any of the following techniques. As with columns, you can select multiple rows: ■ Drag the lower row border with the mouse until the row is the desired height. ■ Choose Home ➪ Cells ➪ Format ➪ Row Height and enter a value (in points) in the Row Height dialog box. ■ Double-click the bottom border of a row to set the row height automatically to the tallest entry in the row. You can also choose Home ➪ Cells ➪ Format ➪ Autoﬁt Row Height for this task. Changing the row height is useful for spacing out rows and is almost always preferable to inserting empty rows between lines of data. Hiding rows and columns In some cases, you may want to hide particular rows or columns. Hiding rows and columns may be useful if you don’t want users to see particular information or if you need to print a report that summarizes the information in the worksheet without showing all the details. Chapter 27, “Creating and Using Worksheet Outlines,” discusses another way to summarize worksheet data without showing all the details — worksheet outlining. To hide rows in your worksheet, select the row or rows that you want to hide by clicking in the row header on the left. Then right-click and choose Hide from the shortcut menu. Or you can use the commands on the Home ➪ Cells ➪ Format ➪ Hide & Unhide drop-down list. To hide columns, use the same technique, but start by selecting columns rather than rows. You can also drag the row or column’s border to hide the row or column. You must drag the border in the row or column heading. Drag the bottom border of a row upward or the right border of a column to the left. A hidden row is actually a row with its height set to zero. Similarly, a hidden column has a column width of zero. When you use the navigation keys to move the cell pointer, cells in hidden rows or columns are skipped. In other words, you can’t use the navigation keys to move to a cell in a hidden row or column. Notice, however, that Excel displays a narrow column heading for hidden columns and a narrow row heading for hidden rows. You can click and drag the column heading to make the column wider — and make it visible again. For a hidden row, click and drag the small row heading to make the column visible. 70 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c03.indd 08/26/2015 Page 71 Chapter 3: Essential Worksheet Operations Another way to unhide a row or column is to choose Home ➪ Find & Select ➪ Go To (or its F5 equivalent) to select a cell in a hidden row or column. For example, if column A is hidden, you can press F5 and specify cell A1 (or any other cell in column A) to move the cell pointer to the hidden column. Then you can choose Home ➪ Cells ➪ Format ➪ Hide & Unhide ➪ Unhide Columns. 3 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 71 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 73 CHAPTER 4 Working with Cells and Ranges IN THIS CHAPTER Understanding Excel cells and ranges Selecting cells and ranges Copying or moving ranges Using names to work with ranges Adding comments to cells M ost of the work you do in Excel involves cells and ranges. Understanding how best to manipulate cells and ranges will save you time and effort. This chapter discusses a variety of techniques that are essential for Excel users. Understanding Cells and Ranges A cell is a single element in a worksheet that can hold a value, some text, or a formula. A cell is identiﬁed by its address, which consists of its column letter and row number. For example, cell D9 is the cell in the fourth column and the ninth row. A group of cells is called a range. You designate a range address by specifying its upper-left cell address and its lower-right cell address, separated by a colon. 73 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 74 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Here are some examples of range addresses: C24 A range that consists of a single cell. A1:B1 Two cells that occupy one row and two columns. A1:A100 100 cells in column A. A1:D4 16 cells (four rows by four columns). C1:C1048576 An entire column of cells; this range also can be expressed as C:C. A6:XFD6 An entire row of cells; this range also can be expressed as 6:6. A1:XFD1048576 All cells in a worksheet. This range also can be expressed as either A:XFD or 1:1048576. Selecting ranges To perform an operation on a range of cells in a worksheet, you must ﬁ rst select the range. For example, if you want to make the text bold for a range of cells, you must select the range and then choose Home ➪ Font ➪ Bold (or press Ctrl+B). When you select a range, the cells appear highlighted. The exception is the active cell, which remains its normal color. Figure 4.1 shows an example of a selected range (A5:D7) in a worksheet. Cell A5, the active cell, is selected but not highlighted. FIGURE 4.1 When you select a range, it appears highlighted, but the active cell within the range is not highlighted. You can select a range in several ways: 74 ■ Press the left mouse button and drag, highlighting the range. Then release the mouse button. If you drag to the end of the window, the worksheet will scroll. ■ Press the Shift key while you use the navigation keys to select a range. ■ Press F8 and then move the cell pointer with the navigation keys to highlight the range. Press F8 again to return the navigation keys to normal movement. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 75 Chapter 4: Working with Cells and Ranges ■ Type the cell or range address into the Name box (located to the left of the Formula bar) and press Enter. Excel selects the cell or range that you speciﬁed. ■ Choose Home ➪ Editing ➪ Find & Select ➪ Go To (or press F5) and enter a range’s address manually in the Go To dialog box. When you click OK, Excel selects the cells in the range that you speciﬁed. While you’re selecting a range that contains more than one cell, Excel displays the number of rows and columns in your selection in the Name box (which is to the left of the Formula bar). When you finish making the selection, the Name box reverts to showing the address of the active cell. Quick Analysis? When you select a range of data, Excel may display a Quick Analysis icon at the lower right of your selection. Click the icon, and you’ll see a list of analysis options that you can quickly apply to the selected data. You can add conditional formatting, create a chart, add formulas, create a pivot table, and generate Sparkline graphics. The exact options vary, depending on the data in the range. 4 These options provide nothing that you can’t do using standard commands, and all these options are discussed elsewhere in this book. If you find the Quick Analysis icon annoying, choose File ➪ Options to display the Excel Options dialog box, select the General tab, and deselect Show Quick Analysis Options on Selection. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 75 c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 76 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Selecting complete rows and columns Often, you’ll need to select an entire row or column. For example, you may want to apply the same numeric format or the same alignment options to an entire row or column. You can select entire rows and columns in much the same manner as you select ranges: ■ Click the row or column border to select a single row or column. ■ To select multiple adjacent rows or columns, click a row or column border and drag to highlight additional rows or columns. ■ To select multiple (nonadjacent) rows or columns, press Ctrl while you click the row or column borders that you want. ■ Press Ctrl+spacebar to select a column. The column of the active cell (or columns of the selected cells) is highlighted. ■ Press Shift+spacebar to select a row. The row of the active cell (or rows of the selected cells) is highlighted. Press Ctrl+A to select all cells in the worksheet, which is the same as selecting all rows and all columns. If the active cell is within a table (created by choosing Insert ➪ Tables ➪ Table), you may need to press Ctrl+A two or even three times to select all cells in the worksheet. You can also click the area at the intersection of the row and column borders to select all cells. Selecting noncontiguous ranges Most of the time, the ranges that you select are contiguous — a single rectangle of cells. Excel also enables you to work with noncontiguous ranges, which consist of two or more ranges (or single cells) that aren’t necessarily adjacent to each other. Selecting noncontiguous ranges is also known as a multiple selection. If you want to apply the same formatting to cells in different areas of your worksheet, one approach is to make a multiple selection. When the appropriate cells or ranges are selected, the formatting that you select is applied to them all. Figure 4.2 shows a noncontiguous range selected in a worksheet. Three ranges are selected: A6:F6. A13:F14, and A17:F19. 76 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 77 Chapter 4: Working with Cells and Ranges FIGURE 4.2 Excel enables you to select noncontiguous ranges. You can select a noncontiguous range in several ways: ■ Select the ﬁ rst range (or cell). Then press and hold Ctrl as you click and drag the mouse to highlight additional cells or ranges. ■ From the keyboard, select a range as described previously (using F8 or the Shift key). Then press Shift+F8 to select another range without canceling the previous range selections. ■ Enter the range (or cell) address in the Name box and press Enter. Separate each range address with a comma. ■ Choose Home ➪ Editing ➪ Find & Select ➪ Go To (or press F5) to display the Go To dialog box. Enter the range (or cell) address in the Reference box, and separate each range address with a comma. Click OK, and Excel selects the ranges. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 77 4 c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 78 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Noncontiguous ranges differ from contiguous ranges in several important ways. One major difference is that you can’t use drag-and-drop methods (described later) to move or copy noncontiguous ranges. Selecting multisheet ranges In addition to two-dimensional ranges on a single worksheet, ranges can extend across multiple worksheets to be three-dimensional ranges. Suppose that you have a workbook set up to track budgets. One approach is to use a separate worksheet for each department, making it easy to organize the data. You can click a sheet tab to view the information for a particular department. Figure 4.3 shows a simpliﬁed example. The workbook has four sheets: Totals, Operations, Marketing, and Manufacturing. The sheets are laid out identically. The only difference is the values. The Totals sheet contains formulas that compute the sum of the corresponding items in the three departmental worksheets. FIGURE 4.3 The worksheets in this workbook are laid out identically. This workbook, named budget.xlsx, is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/ excel2016bible. Assume that you want to apply formatting to the sheets — for example, make the column headings bold with background shading. One (albeit not-so-efﬁcient) approach is to format the cells in each worksheet separately. A better technique is to select a multisheet range and format the cells in all the sheets simultaneously. The following is a step-by-step example of multisheet formatting using the workbook shown in Figure 4.3: 1. Activate the Totals worksheet by clicking its tab. 2. Select the range B3:F3. 78 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 79 Chapter 4: Working with Cells and Ranges 3. Press Shift and click the Manufacturing sheet tab. This step selects all worksheets between the active worksheet (Totals) and the sheet tab that you click — in essence, a three-dimensional range of cells (see Figure 4.4). When multiple sheets are selected, the workbook window’s title bar displays [Group] to remind you that you’ve selected a group of sheets and that you’re in Group mode. FIGURE 4.4 In Group mode, you can work with a three-dimensional range of cells that extend across multiple worksheets. 4. Choose Home ➪ Font ➪ Bold and then choose Home ➪ Font ➪ Fill Color to apply a colored background. Excel applies the formatting to the selected range across the selected sheets. 5. Click one of the other sheet tabs. This step selects the sheet and cancels Group mode; [Group] is no longer displayed in the title bar. When a workbook is in Group mode, any changes that you make to cells in one worksheet also apply to the corresponding cells in all the other grouped worksheets. You can use this to your advantage when you want to set up a group of identical worksheets because any labels, data, formatting, or formulas you enter are automatically added to the same cells in all the grouped worksheets. When Excel is in Group mode, some commands are disabled and can’t be used. For example, in the preceding example, you can’t convert all these ranges to tables by choosing Insert ➪ Tables ➪ Table. In general, selecting a multisheet range is a simple two-step process: select the range in one sheet, and then select the worksheets to include in the range. To select a group of contiguous worksheets, you can press Shift and click the sheet tab of the last worksheet that you want to include in the selection. To select individual worksheets, press Ctrl and click the sheet tab of each worksheet that you want to select. If all the worksheets in a WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 79 4 c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 80 Part I: Getting Started with Excel workbook aren’t laid out the same, you can skip the sheets that you don’t want to format. When you make the selection, the sheet tabs of the selected sheets display in bold with underlined text, and Excel displays [Group] in the title bar. To select all sheets in a workbook, right-click any sheet tab and choose Select All Sheets from the shortcut menu. Selecting special types of cells As you use Excel, you may need to locate speciﬁc types of cells in your worksheets. For example, wouldn’t it be handy to be able to locate every cell that contains a formula — or perhaps all the formula cells that depend on the active cell? Excel provides an easy way to locate these and many other special types of cells: select a range, and choose Home ➪ Editing ➪ Find & Select ➪ Go to Special to display the Go to Special dialog box, shown in Figure 4.5. FIGURE 4.5 Use the Go to Special dialog box to select specific types of cells. After you make your choice in the dialog box, Excel selects the qualifying subset of cells in the current selection. Often, this subset of cells is a multiple selection. If no cells qualify, Excel lets you know with the message No cells were found. If you bring up the Go to Special dialog box with only one cell selected, Excel bases its selection on the entire used area of the worksheet. Otherwise, the selection is based on the selected range. 80 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 81 Chapter 4: Working with Cells and Ranges Table 4.1 offers a description of the options available in the Go to Special dialog box. Some of the options are very useful. TABLE 4.1 Go to Special Options Option What it does Comments Selects the cells that contain a cell comment. Constants Selects all nonempty cells that don’t contain formulas. Use the check boxes under the Formulas option to choose which types of nonformula cells to include. Formulas Selects cells that contain formulas. Qualify this by selecting the type of result: numbers, text, logical values (TRUE or FALSE), or errors. Blanks Selects all empty cells. If a single cell is selected when the dialog box displays, this option selects the empty cells in the used area of the worksheet. Current Region Selects a rectangular range of cells around the active cell. This range is determined by surrounding blank rows and columns. You can also press Ctrl+Shift+*. Current Array Selects the entire array. (See Chapter 17, “Introducing Array Formulas,” for more on arrays.) Objects Selects all embedded objects on the worksheet, including charts and graphics. Row Differences Analyzes the selection and selects cells that are different from other cells in each row. Column Differences Analyzes the selection and selects the cells that are different from other cells in each column. Precedents Selects cells that are referred to in the formulas in the active cell or selection (limited to the active sheet). You can select either direct precedents or precedents at any level. (See Chapter 31, “Making Your Worksheets Error Free,” for more information.) Dependents Selects cells with formulas that refer to the active cell or selection (limited to the active sheet). You can select either direct dependents or dependents at any level. (See Chapter 31 for more information.) Last Cell Selects the bottom-right cell in the worksheet that contains data or formatting. For this option, the entire worksheet is examined, even if a range is selected when the dialog box displays. Visible Cells Only Selects only visible cells in the selection. This option is useful when dealing with a filtered list or a table. Conditional Formats Selects cells that have a conditional format applied (by choosing Home ➪ Styles ➪ Conditional Formatting). The All option selects all such cells. The Same option 4 selects only the cells that have the same conditional formatting as the active cell. Data Validation Selects cells that are set up for data entry validation (by choosing Data ➪ Date Tools ➪ Data Validation). The All option selects all such cells. The Same option selects only the cells that have the same validation rules as the active cell. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 81 c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 82 Part I: Getting Started with Excel When you select an option in the Go to Special dialog box, be sure to note which suboptions become available. The placement of these suboptions can be misleading. For example, when you select Constants, the suboptions under Formulas become available to help you further refine the results. Likewise, the suboptions under Dependents also apply to Precedents, and those under Data Validation also apply to Conditional Formats. Selecting cells by searching Another way to select cells is to choose Home ➪ Editing ➪ Find & Select ➪ Find (or press Ctrl+F), which allows you to select cells by their contents. The Find and Replace dialog box is shown in Figure 4.6. This ﬁgure illustrates additional options that are available when you click the Options button. FIGURE 4.6 The Find and Replace dialog box, with its options displayed. Enter the text that you’re looking for; then click Find All. The dialog box expands to display all the cells that match your search criteria. For example, Figure 4.7 shows the dialog box after Excel has located all cells that contain the text widget. You can click an item in the list, and the screen will scroll so that you can view the cell in context. To select all the cells in the list, ﬁ rst select any single item in the list. Then press Ctrl+A to select them all. 82 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 83 Chapter 4: Working with Cells and Ranges FIGURE 4.7 The Find and Replace dialog box, with its results listed. The Find and Replace dialog box allows you to return to the worksheet without dismissing the dialog box. The Find and Replace dialog box supports two wildcard characters: ? Matches any single character * Matches any number of characters Wildcard characters also work with values when the Match Entire Cell Contents option is selected. For example, searching for 3* locates all cells that contain a value that begins with 3. Searching for 1?9 locates all three-digit entries that begin with 1 and end with 9. Searching for *00 locates values that end with two zeros. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 83 4 c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 84 Part I: Getting Started with Excel To search for a question mark or an asterisk, precede the character with a tilde (~). For example, the following search string finds the text *NONE*: ~*NONE~* If you need to search for the tilde character, use two tildes. If your searches don’t seem to be working correctly, double-check these three options (which sometimes have a way of changing on their own): ■ Match Case: If this check box is selected, the case of the text must match exactly. For example, searching for smith does not locate Smith. ■ Match Entire Cell Contents: If this check box is selected, a match occurs if the cell contains only the search string (and nothing else). For example, searching for Excel doesn’t locate a cell that contains Microsoft Excel. When using wildcard characters, an exact match is not required. ■ Look In: This drop-down list has three options: Values, Formulas, and Comments. If, for example, Values is selected, searching for 900 doesn’t ﬁnd a cell that contains 900 if that value is generated by a formula (unless the formula itself contains 900). Copying or Moving Ranges As you create a worksheet, you may ﬁ nd it necessary to copy or move information from one location to another. Excel makes copying or moving ranges of cells easy. Here are some common things you might do: ■ Copy a cell to another location. ■ Copy a cell to a range of cells. The source cell is copied to every cell in the destination range. ■ Copy a range to another range. ■ Move a range of cells to another location. The primary difference between copying and moving a range is the effect of the operation on the source range. When you copy a range, the source range is unaffected. When you move a range, the contents are removed from the source range. Copying a cell normally copies the cell’s contents, any formatting that is applied to the original cell (including conditional formatting and data validation), and the cell comment (if it has one). When you copy a cell that contains a formula, the cell references in the copied formulas are changed automatically to be relative to their new destination. 84 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 85 Chapter 4: Working with Cells and Ranges Copying or moving consists of two steps (although shortcut methods are available): 1. Select the cell or range to copy (the source range), and copy it to the Clipboard. To move the range instead of copying it, cut the range instead of copying it. 2. Move the cell pointer to the range that will hold the copy (the destination range), and paste the Clipboard contents. When you paste information, Excel overwrites any cells that get in the way without warning you. If you find that pasting overwrote some essential cells, choose Undo from the Quick Access toolbar (or press Ctrl+Z). When you copy a cell or range, Excel surrounds the copied area with a thick-dashed border. As long as that border remains visible, the copied information is available for pasting. If you press Esc to cancel the border, Excel removes the information from the Clipboard. Because copying (or moving) is used so often, Excel provides many different methods. I discuss each method in the following sections. Copying and moving are similar operations, so I point out only important differences between the two. Copying by using Ribbon commands Choosing Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Copy transfers a copy of the selected cell or range to the Windows Clipboard and the Ofﬁce Clipboard. After performing the copy part of this operation, select the cell that will hold the copy and choose Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Paste. Instead of choosing Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Paste, you can just activate the destination cell and press Enter. If you use this technique, Excel removes the copied information from the Clipboard so that it can’t be pasted again. If you’re copying a range, you don’t need to select an entire same-sized range before you click the Paste button. You only need to activate the upper-left cell in the destination range. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 85 4 c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 86 Part I: Getting Started with Excel The Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Paste control contains a drop-down arrow that, when clicked, gives you additional paste option icons. The paste preview icons are explained later in this chapter (see “Pasting in special ways”). About the Office Clipboard Whenever you cut or copy information from a Windows program, Windows stores the information on the Windows Clipboard, which is an area of your computer’s memory. Each time that you cut or copy information, Windows replaces the information previously stored on the Clipboard with the new information that you cut or copied. The Windows Clipboard can store data in a variety of formats. Because Windows manages information on the Clipboard, it can be pasted to other Windows applications, regardless of where it originated. Microsoft Office has its own Clipboard (the Office Clipboard), which is available only in Office programs. To view or hide the Office Clipboard, click the dialog launcher icon in the bottom-right corner of the Home ➪ Clipboard group. Whenever you cut or copy information in an Office program, such as Excel or Word, the program places the information on both the Windows Clipboard and the Office Clipboard. However, the program treats information on the Office Clipboard differently from the way it treats information on the Windows Clipboard. Instead of replacing information on the Office Clipboard, the program appends the information to the Office Clipboard. With multiple items stored on the Clipboard, you can then paste the items either individually or as a group. You can find out more about this feature (including an important limitation) in “Using the Office Clipboard to paste,” later in this chapter. Copying by using shortcut menu commands If you prefer, you can use the following shortcut menu commands for copying and pasting: ■ Right-click the range and choose Copy (or Cut) from the shortcut menu to copy the selected cells to the Clipboard. ■ Right-click and choose Paste from the shortcut menu that appears to paste the Clipboard contents to the selected cell or range. For more control over how the pasted information appears, right-click the destination cell and use one of the paste icons in the shortcut menu (see Figure 4.8). 86 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 87 Chapter 4: Working with Cells and Ranges FIGURE 4.8 The paste icons on the shortcut menu provide more control over how the pasted information appears. Instead of using Paste, you can just activate the destination cell and press Enter. If you use this technique, Excel removes the copied information from the Clipboard so that it can’t be pasted again. Copying by using shortcut keys The copy and paste operations also have shortcut keys associated with them: ■ Ctrl+C copies the selected cells to both the Windows Clipboard and the Ofﬁce Clipboard. ■ Ctrl+X cuts the selected cells to both the Windows Clipboard and the Ofﬁce Clipboard. ■ Ctrl+V pastes the Windows Clipboard contents to the selected cell or range. 4 These are standard key combinations, used by many other Windows applications. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 87 c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 88 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Using Paste Options Buttons When Inserting and Pasting Some cell and range operations — specifically inserting, pasting, and filling cells by dragging — result in the display of paste option buttons. For example, if you copy a range and then paste it to a different location using Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Paste, a drop-down options list appears at the lower right of the pasted range. Click the list (or press Ctrl), and you see the options shown in the figure here. These options enable you to specify how the data should be pasted, such as values only or formatting only. In this case, using the paste option buttons is an alternative to using options in the Paste Special dialog box. (Read more about Paste Special in the upcoming section “Using the Paste Special dialog box.”) Some users find these paste options buttons helpful, and others think that they’re annoying. (Count me in the latter group.) To disable this feature, choose File ➪ Options and click the Advanced tab. Remove the check mark from the two options labeled Show Paste Options Buttons When Content Is Pasted and Show Insert Options Buttons. Copying or moving by using drag-and-drop Excel also enables you to copy or move a cell or range by dragging. Unlike other methods of copying and moving, dragging and dropping does not place any information on either the Windows Clipboard or the Ofﬁce Clipboard. 88 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 89 Chapter 4: Working with Cells and Ranges The drag-and-drop method of moving does offer one advantage over the cut-and-paste method: Excel warns you if a drag-and-drop move operation will overwrite existing cell contents. Oddly, you do not get a warning if a drag-anddrop copy operation will overwrite existing cell contents. To copy using drag-and-drop, select the cell or range that you want to copy and then press Ctrl and move the mouse to one of the selection’s borders. (The mouse pointer is augmented with a small plus sign.) Then drag the selection to its new location while you continue to press the Ctrl key. The original selection remains behind, and Excel makes a new copy when you release the mouse button. To move a range using drag-and-drop, don’t press Ctrl while dragging the border. If the mouse pointer doesn’t turn into an arrow when you point to the border of a cell or range, you need to make a change to your settings. Choose File ➪ Options to display the Excel Options dialog box, select the Advanced tab, and place a check mark on the option labeled Enable Fill Handle and Cell Drag-and-Drop. Copying to adjacent cells Often, you need to copy a cell to an adjacent cell or range. This type of copying is quite common when you’re working with formulas. For example, if you’re working on a budget, you might create a formula to add the values in column B. You can use the same formula to add the values in the other columns. Rather than re-enter the formula, you can copy it to the adjacent cells. Excel provides additional options for copying to adjacent cells. To use these commands, activate the cell that you’re copying and extend the cell selection to include the cells that you’re copying to. Then issue the appropriate command from the following list for one-step copying: ■ Home ➪ Editing ➪ Fill ➪ Down (or Ctrl+D) copies the cell to the selected range below. ■ Home ➪ Editing ➪ Fill ➪ Right (or Ctrl+R) copies the cell to the selected range to the right. ■ Home ➪ Editing ➪ Fill ➪ Up copies the cell to the selected range above. ■ Home ➪ Editing ➪ Fill ➪ Left copies the cell to the selected range to the left. None of these commands places information on either the Windows Clipboard or the Ofﬁce Clipboard. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 89 4 c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 90 Part I: Getting Started with Excel You also can use AutoFill to copy to adjacent cells by dragging the selection’s fill handle (the small square in the bottom-right corner of the selected cell or range). Excel copies the original selection to the cells that you highlight while dragging. For more control over the AutoFill operation, drag the fill handle with the right mouse button, and you’ll get a shortcut menu with additional options. Copying a range to other sheets You can use the copy procedures described previously to copy a cell or range to another worksheet, even if the worksheet is in a different workbook. You must, of course, activate the other worksheet before you select the location to which you want to copy. Excel offers a quicker way to copy a cell or range and paste it to other worksheets in the same workbook: 1. Select the range to copy. 2. Press Ctrl and click the sheet tabs for the worksheets to which you want to copy the information. Excel displays [Group] in the workbook’s title bar. 3. Choose Home ➪ Editing ➪ Fill ➪ Across Worksheets. A dialog box appears to ask you what you want to copy (All, Contents, or Formats). 4. Make your choice and then click OK. Excel copies the selected range to the selected worksheets; the new copy occupies the same cells in the selected worksheets as the original occupies in the initial worksheet. Be careful with the Home ➪ Editing ➪ Fill ➪ Across Worksheets command because Excel doesn’t warn you when the destination cells contain information. You can quickly overwrite lots of cells with this command and not even realize it. So make sure you check your work, and use Undo if the result isn’t what you expected. Using the Office Clipboard to paste Whenever you cut or copy information in an Ofﬁce program, such as Excel, you can place the data on both the Windows Clipboard and the Ofﬁce Clipboard. When you copy information to the Ofﬁce Clipboard, you append the information to the Ofﬁce Clipboard instead of replacing what is already there. With multiple items stored on the Ofﬁce Clipboard, you can then paste the items either individually or as a group. 90 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 91 Chapter 4: Working with Cells and Ranges To use the Ofﬁce Clipboard, you ﬁ rst need to open it. Use the dialog launcher on the bottom right of the Home ➪ Clipboard group to toggle the Clipboard task pane on and off. To make the Clipboard task pane open automatically, click the Options button near the bottom of the task pane and choose the Show Office Clipboard Automatically option. After you open the Clipboard task pane, select the ﬁ rst cell or range that you want to copy to the Ofﬁce Clipboard and copy it by using any of the preceding techniques. Repeat this process, selecting the next cell or range that you want to copy. As soon as you copy the information, the Ofﬁce Clipboard task pane shows you the number of items that you’ve copied and a brief description (it will hold up to 24 items). Figure 4.9 shows the Ofﬁce Clipboard with ﬁve copied items (four from Excel and one from Word). FIGURE 4.9 Use the Clipboard task pane to copy and paste multiple items. 4 When you’re ready to paste information, select the cell into which you want to paste information. To paste an individual item, click it in the Clipboard task pane. To paste all the items that you’ve copied, click the Paste All button (which is at the top of the Clipboard task WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 91 c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 92 Part I: Getting Started with Excel pane). The items are pasted, one after the other. The Paste All button is probably more useful in Word, for situations in which you copy text from various sources and then paste it all at once. You can clear the contents of the Ofﬁce Clipboard by clicking the Clear All button. The following items about the Ofﬁce Clipboard and how it functions are worth noting: ■ Excel pastes the contents of the Windows Clipboard (the last item you copied to the Ofﬁce Clipboard) when you paste by choosing Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Paste, by pressing Ctrl+V, or by right-clicking and choosing Paste from the shortcut menu. ■ The last item that you cut or copied appears on both the Ofﬁce Clipboard and the Windows Clipboard. ■ Pasting from the Ofﬁce Clipboard also places that item on the Windows Clipboard. If you choose Paste All from the Ofﬁce Clipboard toolbar, you paste all items stored on the Ofﬁce Clipboard onto the Windows Clipboard as a single item. ■ Clearing the Ofﬁce Clipboard also clears the Windows Clipboard. The Office Clipboard has a serious problem that limits its usefulness for Excel users: if you copy a range that contains formulas, the formulas are not transferred when you paste to a different range. Only the values are pasted. Furthermore, Excel doesn’t even warn you about this fact. Pasting in special ways You may not always want to copy everything from the source range to the destination range. For example, you may want to copy only the formula results rather than the formulas themselves. Or you may want to copy the number formats from one range to another without overwriting any existing data or formulas. To control what is copied into the destination range, choose Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Paste and use the drop-down menu shown in Figure 4.10. When you hover your mouse pointer over an icon, you’ll see a preview of the pasted information in the destination range. Click the icon to use the selected paste option. 92 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 93 Chapter 4: Working with Cells and Ranges FIGURE 4.10 Excel offers several pasting options, with preview. Here, the information is copied from E4:G7 and is being pasted beginning at cell F11 using the Transpose option. The paste options are ■ Paste (P): Pastes the cell’s contents, formats, and data validation from the Windows Clipboard. ■ Formulas (F): Pastes formulas but not formatting. ■ Formulas & Number Formatting (O): Pastes formulas and number formatting only. ■ Keep Source Formatting (K): Pastes formulas and all formatting. ■ No Borders (B): Pastes everything except borders that appear in the source range. ■ Keep Source Column Width (W): Pastes formulas and duplicates the column width of the copied cells. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 93 4 c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 94 Part I: Getting Started with Excel ■ Transpose (T): Changes the orientation of the copied range. Rows become columns, and columns become rows. Any formulas in the copied range are adjusted so that they work properly when transposed. ■ Merge Conditional Formatting (G): This icon is displayed only when the copied cells contain conditional formatting. When clicked, it merges the copied conditional formatting with any conditional formatting in the destination range. ■ Values (V): Pastes the results of formulas. The destination for the copy can be a new range or the original range. In the latter case, Excel replaces the original formulas with their current values. ■ Values & Number Formatting (A): Pastes the results of formulas plus the number formatting. ■ Values & Source Formatting (E): Pastes the results of formulas plus all formatting. ■ Formatting (R): Pastes only the formatting of the source range. ■ Paste Link (N): Creates formulas in the destination range that refer to the cells in the copied range. ■ Picture (U): Pastes the copied information as a picture. ■ Linked Picture (I): Pastes the copied information as a “live” picture that is updated if the source range is changed. ■ Paste Special: Displays the Paste Special dialog box (described in the next section). After you paste, you’re offered another chance to change your mind. A Paste Options drop-down appears at the lower right of the pasted range. Click it (or press Ctrl), and you see the paste option icons again. Using the Paste Special dialog box For yet another pasting method, choose Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Paste ➪ Paste Special to display the Paste Special dialog box (see Figure 4.11). You can also right-click and choose Paste Special from the shortcut menu to display this dialog box. This dialog box has several options, which I explain in the following list. 94 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 95 Chapter 4: Working with Cells and Ranges FIGURE 4.11 The Paste Special dialog box. Excel actually has several different Paste Special dialog boxes, each with different options. The one displayed depends on what’s copied. This section describes the Paste Special dialog box that appears when a range or cell has been copied. For the Paste Special command to be available, you need to copy a cell or range. (Choosing Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Cut doesn’t work.) ■ All: Pastes the cell’s contents, formats, and data validation from the Windows Clipboard. ■ Formulas: Pastes values and formulas, with no formatting. ■ Values: Pastes values and the results of formulas (no formatting). The destination for the copy can be a new range or the original range. In the latter case, Excel replaces the original formulas with their current values. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 4 95 c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 96 Part I: Getting Started with Excel ■ Formats: Copies only the formatting. ■ Comments: Copies only the cell comments from a cell or range. This option doesn’t copy cell contents or formatting. ■ Validation: Copies the validation criteria so the same data validation will apply. Data validation is applied by choosing Data ➪ Data Tools ➪ Data Validation. ■ All Using Source Theme: Pastes everything but uses the formatting from the document theme of the source. This option is relevant only if you’re pasting information from a different workbook, and the workbook uses a different document theme than the active workbook. ■ All Except Borders: Pastes everything except borders that appear in the source range. ■ Column Widths: Pastes only column width information. ■ Formulas and Number Formats: Pastes all values, formulas, and number formats (but no other formatting). ■ Values and Number Formats: Pastes all values and numeric formats but not the formulas themselves. ■ All merging conditional formats: Merges the copied conditional formatting with any conditional formatting in the destination range. This option is enabled only when you’re copying a range that contains conditional formatting. In addition, the Paste Special dialog box enables you to perform other operations, described in the following sections. Performing mathematical operations without formulas The option buttons in the Operation section of the Paste Special dialog box let you perform an arithmetic operation on values and formulas in the destination range. For example, you can copy a range to another range and select the Multiply operation. Excel multiplies the corresponding values in the source range and the destination range and replaces the destination range with the new values. This feature also works with a single copied cell, pasted to a multicell range. Assume that you have a range of values, and you want to increase each value by 5 percent. Enter 105% into any blank cell and copy that cell to the Clipboard. Then select the range of values and bring up the Paste Special dialog box. Select the Multiply option, and each value in the range is multiplied by 105%. If the destination range contains formulas, the formulas are also modified. In many cases, this is not what you want. 96 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 97 Chapter 4: Working with Cells and Ranges Skipping blanks when pasting The Skip Blanks option in the Paste Special dialog box prevents Excel from overwriting cell contents in your paste area with blank cells from the copied range. This option is useful if you’re copying a range to another area but don’t want the blank cells in the copied range to overwrite existing data. Transposing a range The Transpose option in the Paste Special dialog box changes the orientation of the copied range. Rows become columns, and columns become rows. Any formulas in the copied range are adjusted so that they work properly when transposed. Note that you can use this check box with the other options in the Paste Special dialog box. Figure 4.12 shows an example of a horizontal range (A1:D5) that was transposed to a different range (A9:E12). FIGURE 4.12 Transposing a range changes the orientation as the information is pasted into the worksheet. 4 If you click the Paste Link button in the Paste Special dialog box, you create formulas that link to the source range. As a result, the destination range automatically reflects changes in the source range. Using Names to Work with Ranges Dealing with cryptic cell and range addresses can sometimes be confusing, especially when you work with formulas, which I cover in Chapter 10, “Introducing Formulas and Functions.” Fortunately, Excel allows you to assign descriptive names to cells and ranges. For example, WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 97 c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 98 Part I: Getting Started with Excel you can give a cell a name such as Interest_Rate, or you can name a range JulySales. Working with these names (rather than cell or range addresses) has several advantages: ■ A meaningful range name (such as Total_Income) is much easier to remember than a cell address (such as AC21). ■ Entering a name is less error prone than entering a cell or range address, and if you type a name incorrectly in a formula, Excel will display a #NAME? error. ■ You can quickly move to areas of your worksheet either by using the Name box, located at the left side of the Formula bar (click the arrow to drop down a list of deﬁ ned names), or by choosing Home ➪ Editing ➪ Find & Select ➪ Go To (or pressing F5) and specifying the range name. ■ Creating formulas is easier. You can paste a cell or range name into a formula by using Formula Autocomplete. See Chapter 10 for information on Formula Autocomplete. ■ Names make your formulas more understandable and easier to use. A formula such as =Income—Taxes is certainly more intuitive than =D20—D40. Creating range names in your workbooks Excel provides several methods you can use to create range names. Before you begin, however, you should be aware of a few rules: ■ Names can’t contain spaces. You may want to use an underscore character to simulate a space (such as Annual_Total). ■ You can use any combination of letters and numbers, but the name must begin with a letter, underscore, or backslash. A name can’t begin with a number (such as 3rdQuarter) or look like a cell address (such as QTR3). If these are desirable names, though, you can precede the name with an underscore or a backslash: for example, _3rd Quarter and \QTR3. ■ Symbols — except for underscores, backslashes, and periods — aren’t allowed. ■ Names are limited to 255 characters, but it’s a good practice to keep names as short as possible yet still meaningful. Excel also uses a few names internally for its own use. Although you can create names that override Excel’s internal names, you should avoid doing so. To be on the safe side, avoid using the following for names: Print_Area, Print_ Titles, Consolidate_Area, and Sheet_Title. To delete a range name or rename a range, see “Managing names,” later in this chapter. Using the Name box The fastest way to create a name is to use the Name box (to the left of the Formula bar). Select the cell or range to name, click the Name box, and type the name. Press Enter to 98 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 99 Chapter 4: Working with Cells and Ranges create the name. (You must press Enter to actually record the name; if you type a name and then click in the worksheet, Excel doesn’t create the name.) If you type an invalid name (such as May21, which happens to be a cell address, MAY21), Excel activates that address and doesn’t warn you that the name is not valid. If the name you type includes an invalid character, Excel displays an error message. If a name already exists, you can’t use the Name box to change the range to which that name refers. Attempting to do so simply selects the range. The Name box is a drop-down list and shows all names in the workbook. To choose a named cell or range, click the Name box and choose the name. The name appears in the Name box, and Excel selects the named cell or range in the worksheet. Using the New Name dialog box For more control over naming cells and ranges, use the New Name dialog box. Start by selecting the cell or range that you want to name. Then choose Formulas ➪ Deﬁ ned Names ➪ Deﬁ ne Name. Excel displays the New Name dialog box, shown in Figure 4.13. Note that this is a resizable dialog box. Click and drag a border to change the dimensions. FIGURE 4.13 Create names for cells or ranges by using the New Name dialog box. 4 Type a name in the Name text ﬁeld (or use the name that Excel proposes, if any). The selected cell or range address appears in the Refers To text ﬁeld. Use the Scope drop-down list to indicate the scope for the name. The scope indicates where the name will be valid, and it’s either the entire workbook or the worksheet in which the name is deﬁ ned. If you like, you can add a comment that describes the named range or cell. Click OK to add the name to your workbook and close the dialog box. Using the Create Names from Selection dialog box You may have a worksheet that contains text that you want to use for names for adjacent cells or ranges. For example, you may want to use the text in column A to create names for the corresponding values in column B. Excel makes this task easy. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 99 c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 100 Part I: Getting Started with Excel To create names by using adjacent text, start by selecting the name text and the cells that you want to name. (These items can be individual cells or ranges of cells.) The names must be adjacent to the cells that you’re naming. (A multiple selection is allowed.) Then choose Formulas ➪ Deﬁ ned Names ➪ Create from Selection. Excel displays the Create Names from Selection dialog box, shown in Figure 4.14. The check marks in the Create Names from Selection dialog box are based on Excel’s analysis of the selected range. For example, if Excel ﬁnds text in the ﬁrst row of the selection, it proposes that you create names based on the top row. If Excel didn’t guess correctly, you can change the check boxes. Click OK, and Excel creates the names. Using the data in Figure 4.14, Excel creates twelve names: January for cell B1, February for cell B2, and so on. FIGURE 4.14 Use the Create Names from Selection dialog box to name cells using labels that appear in the worksheet. If the text contained in a cell would result in an invalid name, Excel modifies the name to make it valid. For example, if a cell contains the text Net Income (which is invalid for a name because it contains a space), Excel converts the space to an underscore character. If Excel encounters a value or a numeric formula where text should be, however, it doesn’t convert it to a valid name. It simply doesn’t create a name — and does not inform you of that fact. If the upper-left cell of the selection contains text and you choose the Top Row and Left Column options, Excel uses that text for the name of the entire range, excluding the top row and left column. So, after Excel creates the names, take a minute to make sure that they refer to the correct ranges. If Excel creates a name that is incorrect, you can delete or modify it by using the Name Manager (described next). 100 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 101 Chapter 4: Working with Cells and Ranges Managing names A workbook can have any number of named cells and ranges. If your workbook has many names, you should know about the Name Manager, shown in Figure 4.15. FIGURE 4.15 Use the Name Manager to work with range names. The Name Manager appears when you choose Formulas ➪ Deﬁ ned Names ➪ Name Manager (or press Ctrl+F3). The Name Manager has the following features: ■ Displays information about each name in the workbook: You can resize the Name Manager dialog box, widen the columns to show more information, and even rearrange the order of the columns. You can also click a column heading to sort the information by the column. ■ Allows you to filter the displayed names: Clicking the Filter button lets you show only those names that meet certain criteria. For example, you can view only the worksheet-level names. ■ Provides quick access to the New Name dialog box: Click the New button to create a new name without closing the Name Manager. ■ Lets you edit names: To edit a name, select it in the list and then click the Edit button. You can change the name itself, modify the Refers To range, or edit the comment. ■ Lets you quickly delete unneeded names: To delete a name, select it in the list and click Delete. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 101 4 c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 102 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Be extra careful when deleting names. If the name is used in a formula, deleting the name causes the formula to become invalid. (It displays #NAME?.) It seems logical that Excel would replace the name with its actual address — but that doesn’t happen. However, deleting a name can be undone, so if you find that formulas return #NAME? after you delete a name, choose Undo from the Quick Access toolbar (or press Ctrl+Z) to get the name back. If you delete the rows or columns that contain named cells or ranges, the names contain an invalid reference. For example, if cell A1 on Sheet1 is named Interest and you delete row 1 or column A, the name Interest then refers to =Sheet1!#REF! (that is, to an erroneous reference). If you use the name Interest in a formula, the formula displays #REF. The Name Manager is useful, but it has a shortcoming: it doesn’t let you display the list of names in a worksheet range so you can view or print them. Such a feat is possible, but you need to look beyond the Name Manager. To create a list of names in a worksheet, first move the cell pointer to an empty area of your worksheet. The list is created at the active cell position and overwrites any information at that location. Press F3 to display the Paste Name dialog box, which lists all the defined names. Then click the Paste List button. Excel creates a list of all names in the workbook and their corresponding addresses. Adding Comments to Cells Documentation that explains certain elements in the worksheet can often be helpful. One way to document your work is to add comments to cells. This feature is useful when you need to describe a particular value or explain how a formula works. To add a comment to a cell, select the cell and use any of these actions: ■ Choose Review ➪ Comments ➪ New Comment. ■ Right-click the cell and choose Insert Comment from the shortcut menu. ■ Press Shift+F2. Excel inserts a comment that points to the active cell. Initially, the comment consists of your name, as speciﬁed in the General tab of the Excel Options dialog box (choose File ➪ Options to display this dialog box). You can delete your name from the comment, if you like. Enter the text for the cell comment and then click anywhere in the worksheet to hide the comment. You can change the size of the comment by clicking and dragging any of its borders. Figure 4.16 shows a cell with a comment. 102 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 103 Chapter 4: Working with Cells and Ranges FIGURE 4.16 You can add comments to cells to help point out specific items in your worksheets. Cells that have a comment display a small red triangle in the upper-right corner. When you move the mouse pointer over a cell that contains a comment (or activate the cell), the comment becomes visible. You can force a comment to be displayed even when its cell is not activated. Right-click the cell and choose Show/Hide Comments. Although this command refers to “comments” (plural), it affects only the comment in the active cell. To return to normal (make the comment appear only when its cell is activated or the mouse point hovers over it), right-click the cell and choose Hide Comment. You can control the way comments are displayed. Choose File ➪ Options and then select the Advanced tab of the Excel Options dialog box. In the Display section, select the No Comments or Indicators option from the For Cells with Comments, Show list. 4 Formatting comments If you don’t like the default look of cell comments, you can make some changes. Right-click the cell and choose Edit Comment. Select the text in the comment and use the commands of the Font and the Alignment groups (on the Home tab) to make changes to the comment’s appearance. For even more formatting options, right-click the comment’s border and choose Format Comment from the shortcut menu. Excel responds by displaying the Format Comment dialog box, which allows you to change many aspects of its appearance, including color, border, and margins. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 103 c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 104 Part I: Getting Started with Excel You can also display an image inside a comment. Right-click the cell and choose Edit Comment. Then right-click the comment’s border (not the comment itself) and choose Format Comment. Select the Colors and Lines tab in the Format Comment dialog box. Click the Color drop-down list and select Fill Effects. In the Fill Effects dialog box, click the Picture tab and then click the Select Picture button to specify a graphics file. Figure 4.17 shows a comment that contains a picture. FIGURE 4.17 This comment contains a graphics image. An Alternative to Cell Comments You can make use of Excel’s Data Validation (see Chapter 25, “Using Custom Number Formats”) feature to add a different type of comment to a cell. This type of comment appears automatically when the cell is selected. Follow these steps: 1. Select the cell that will contain the comment. 2. Choose Data ➪ Data Tools ➪ Data Validation. The Data Validation dialog box appears. 3. Click the Input Message tab. 4. Make sure that the Show Input Message When Cell Is Selected check box is selected. 5. Type your comment in the Input Message box. 6. (Optional) Type a title in the Title box. This text will appear in bold at the top of the message. 7. Click OK to close the Data Validation dialog box. After you perform these steps, the message appears when the cell is activated, and it disappears when any other cell is activated. Note that this message isn’t a “real” comment. For example, a cell that contains this type of message doesn’t display a comment indicator, and it’s not affected by any of the commands used to work with cell comments. In addition, you can’t format these messages in any way, and you can’t print them. 104 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 105 Chapter 4: Working with Cells and Ranges Note that this message isn’t a “real” comment. For example, a cell that contains this type of message doesn’t display a comment indicator, and it’s not affected by any of the commands used to work with cell comments. In addition, you can’t format these messages in any way, and you can’t print them. Note that this message isn’t a “real” comment. For example, a cell that contains this type of message doesn’t display a comment indicator, and it’s not affected by any of the commands used to work with cell comments. In addition, you can’t format these messages in any way, and you can’t print them. Changing a comment’s shape Cell comments are rectangular, but they don’t have to be. To change the shape of a cell comment, add a command to your Quick Access toolbar: 1. Right-click the Quick Access toolbar and choose Customize Quick Access Toolbar. The Quick Access Toolbar section of the Excel Options dialog box appears. 2. From the Choose Commands From drop-down list, select Drawing Tools | Format Tab. 3. From the list on the left, select Change Shape, and then click Add. 4. Click OK to close the Excel Options dialog box. After you perform these steps, your Quick Access toolbar has a new Change Shape icon. To change the shape of a comment, make sure that it’s visible (right-click the cell and select Edit Comment). Then click the comment’s border to select it as a Shape (or Ctrl+click the comment to select it as a Shape). Click the Change Shape button on the Quick Access toolbar and choose a new shape for the comment. Figure 4.18 shows a cell comment with a nonstandard shape. FIGURE 4.18 4 Cell comments don’t have to be rectangles. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 105 c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 106 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Reading comments To read all comments in a workbook, choose Review ➪ Comments ➪ Next. Keep clicking Next to cycle through all the comments in a workbook. Choose Review ➪ Comments ➪ Previous to view the comments in reverse order. Printing comments Normally, when you print a worksheet that contains cell comments, the comments are not printed. If you would like to print the comments, though, here’s how: 1. Click the dialog box launcher in the Page Layout ➪ Page Setup group. This is the small icon to the right of the Page Setup group name. Clicking this icon displays the Page Setup dialog box. 2. In the Page Setup dialog box, click the Sheet tab. 3. Make your choice from the Comments drop-down control: At End of Sheet or As Displayed on Sheet (see Figure 4.19). FIGURE 4.19 Specifying how to print cell comments. 4. Click OK to close the Page Setup dialog box or click the Print button to print the worksheet. 106 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c04.indd 08/26/2015 Page 107 Chapter 4: Working with Cells and Ranges You can also access the Page Setup box from the Print panel of Backstage view. Hiding and showing comments If you want all cell comments to be visible (regardless of the location of the cell pointer), choose Review ➪ Comments ➪ Show All Comments. This command is a toggle; select it again to hide all cell comments. To toggle the display of an individual comment, select its cell and then choose Review ➪ Comments ➪ Show/Hide Comment. Selecting comments To quickly select all cells in a worksheet that contain a comment, choose Home ➪ Editing ➪ Find & Select ➪ Go to Special. Then choose the Comments option and click OK. Editing comments To edit the text in a comment, activate the cell, right-click, and then choose Edit Comment from the shortcut menu. Or select the cell and press Shift+F2. After you make your changes, click any cell. Deleting comments To delete a cell comment, activate the cell that contains the comment and then choose Review ➪ Comments ➪ Delete. Or right-click and then choose Delete Comment from the shortcut menu. 4 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 107 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c05.indd 08/26/2015 Page 109 CHAPTER Introducing Tables 5 IN THIS CHAPTER Understanding how a table differs from a normal range Working with tables Using the Total Row Removing duplicate rows from a table Sorting and filtering a table A common type of spreadsheet contains information in a structured list, also known as a table. A table is a rectangular range of data that usually has a row of text headings to describe the contents of each column. Excel’s table feature makes common tasks much easier — and a lot better looking. More importantly, the table features may help eliminate some common errors. This chapter is a basic introduction to Excel tables. As always, I urge you to just dig in and experiment with the various table-related commands. You may be surprised by what you can accomplish with just a few mouse clicks. What Is a Table? A table is a rectangular range of structured data. Each row in the table corresponds to a single entity. For example, a row can contain information about a customer, a bank transaction, an employee, a product, and so on. Each column contains a speciﬁc piece of information. For example, if each row contains information about an employee, the columns can contain data such as name, employee number, hire date, salary, department, and so on. Tables typically have a header row at the top that describes the information contained in each column. Setting up data like this in a range of cells is straightforward. The magic happens when you tell Excel to convert a range of data into an “ofﬁcial” table. You do this by selecting any cell within the range and then choosing Insert ➪ Tables ➪ Table. When you explicitly identify a range as a table, Excel can respond more intelligently to the actions you perform with that range. For example, if you create a chart from a table, the chart will expand 109 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c05.indd 08/26/2015 Page 110 Part I: Getting Started with Excel automatically as you add new rows to the table. And if you enter a formula into a cell, Excel will propagate the formula to other rows in the table. Figure 5.1 shows a range of data that has not yet been converted to a table. Notice that this range corresponds to the description I provided earlier: it’s a range of structured data with column headers. In this example, each row contains information about a single real estate listing. The range has 10 columns and 125 rows of data. FIGURE 5.1 This range of data is a good candidate for a table. Figure 5.2 shows the range after I converted it to a table by choosing Insert ➪ Tables ➪ Table. Excel tables have many advantages and only one disadvantage. For some reason, Excel’s custom views feature is disabled if your workbook contains at least one table. No one has ever provided a logical reason why tables are not compatible with custom views. I discuss custom views in Chapter 9, “Printing Your Work.” 110 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c05.indd 08/26/2015 Page 111 Chapter 5: Introducing Tables FIGURE 5.2 An Excel table. If you’d like to practice working with tables, the workbook shown here is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named real estate table.xlsx. What’s the difference between a standard range and a table? With a table ■ Activating any cell in the table gives you access to the Table Tools contextual tab on the Ribbon (see Figure 5.3). FIGURE 5.3 When you select a cell in a table, you can use the commands located on the Table Tools ➪ Design tab. 5 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 111 c05.indd 08/26/2015 Page 112 Part I: Getting Started with Excel ■ The cells contain background color and text color formatting. This formatting is optional. ■ Each column header contains a Filter Button — a drop-down list that you can use to sort the data or ﬁlter the table to display only rows that meet certain criteria. Displaying the Filter Button is optional. ■ You can create easy-to-use slicers to simplify ﬁltering data. ■ If the active cell is within the table, when you scroll down the sheet so that the header row disappears, the table headers replace the column letters in the worksheet header. ■ Tables support calculated columns. A single formula in a column is automatically propagated to all cells in the column. ■ Tables support structured references. Instead of using cell references, formulas can use table names and column headers. ■ The lower-right corner of the lower-right cell contains a small control that you can click and drag to extend the table’s size, either horizontally (add more columns) or vertically (add more rows). ■ Selecting rows and columns within the table is simpliﬁed. All these concepts will become clearer later on. Creating a Table Most of the time, you’ll create a table from an existing range of data. However, Excel also allows you to create a table from an empty range so that you can ﬁll in the data later. The following instructions assume that you already have a range of data that’s suitable for a table. 1. Make sure that the range doesn’t contain any completely blank rows or columns; otherwise, Excel will not guess the table range correctly. 2. Select any cell within the range. 3. Choose Insert ➪ Tables ➪ Table (or press Ctrl+T). Excel responds with its Create Table dialog box, shown in Figure 5.4. Excel tries to guess the range, as well as whether the table has a header row. Most of the time, it guesses correctly. If not, make your corrections before you click OK. 112 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c05.indd 08/26/2015 Page 113 Chapter 5: Introducing Tables FIGURE 5.4 Use the Create Table dialog box to verify that Excel guessed the table dimensions correctly. The range is converted to a table (using the default table style), and the Table Tools ➪ Design tab of the Ribbon appears. Excel may not guess the table’s dimensions correctly if the table isn’t separated from other information by at least one empty row or column. If Excel guesses incorrectly, just specify the exact range for the table in the Create Table dialog box. Better yet, click Cancel and rearrange your worksheet such that the table is separated from your other data by at least one blank row or column. To create a table from an empty range, select the range and choose Insert ➪ Tables ➪ Table. Excel creates the table, adds generic column headers (such as Column1 and Column2), and applies table formatting to the range. Almost always, you’ll want to replace the generic column headers with more meaningful text. Changing the Look of a Table When you create a table, Excel applies the default table style. The actual appearance depends on which document theme is used in the workbook (see Chapter 6, “Worksheet Formatting”). If you prefer a different look, you can easily apply a different table style. 5 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 113 c05.indd 08/26/2015 Page 114 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Select any cell in the table and choose Table Tools ➪ Design ➪ Table Styles. The Ribbon shows one row of styles, but if you click the bottom of the scrollbar to the right, the Table Styles group expands, as shown in Figure 5.5. The styles are grouped into three categories: Light, Medium, and Dark. Notice that you get a “live” preview as you move your mouse among the styles. When you see one you like, just click to make it permanent. And yes, some are really ugly and practically illegible. To change the default table style for the workbook, right-click the style in the Table Styles group and choose Set As Default from the shortcut menu. Subsequent tables that you create in that workbook will use that style. FIGURE 5.5 Excel offers many different table styles. 114 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c05.indd 08/26/2015 Page 115 Chapter 5: Introducing Tables For a different set of color choices, choose Page Layout ➪ Themes ➪ Themes to select a different document theme. For more information about themes, see Chapter 6. You can change some elements of the style by using the check box controls in the Table Tools ➪ Design ➪ Table Style Options group. These controls determine whether various elements of the table are displayed and whether some formatting options are in effect: ■ Header Row: Toggles the display of the header row. ■ Total Row: Toggles the display of the total row. ■ First Column: Toggles special formatting for the ﬁ rst column. Depending on the table style used, this command might have no effect. ■ Last Column: Toggles special formatting for the last column. Depending on the table style used, this command might have no effect. ■ Banded Rows: Toggles the display of banded (alternating color) rows. ■ Banded Columns: Toggles the display of banded columns. ■ Filter Button: Toggles the display of the drop-down buttons in the table’s header row. If applying table styles isn’t working, it’s probably because the range was already formatted before you converted it to a table. Table formatting doesn’t override normal formatting. To clear existing background fill colors, select the entire table and choose Home ➪ Font ➪ Fill Color ➪ No Fill. To clear existing font colors, choose Home ➪ Font ➪ Font Color ➪ Automatic. To clear existing borders, choose Home ➪ Font ➪ Borders ➪ No Borders. After you issue these commands, the table styles should work as expected. If you’d like to create a custom table style, choose Table Tools ➪ Design ➪ Table Styles ➪ New Table Style to display the New Table Quick Style dialog box shown in Figure 5.6. You can customize any or all of the 12 table elements. Select an element from the list, click Format, and specify the formatting for that element. When you’re ﬁ nished, give the new style a name and click OK. Your custom table style will appear in the Table Styles gallery in the Custom category. 5 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 115 c05.indd 08/26/2015 Page 116 Part I: Getting Started with Excel FIGURE 5.6 Use this dialog box to create a new table style. Custom table styles are available only in the workbook in which they were created. However, if you copy a table that uses a custom style to a different workbook, the custom style will be available in the other workbook. If you want to make changes to an existing table style, locate it in the Ribbon and right-click. Then choose Duplicate from the shortcut menu. Excel displays the Modify Table Quick Style dialog box with all the settings from the specified table style. Make your changes, give the style a new name, and click OK to save it as a custom table style. Working with Tables This section describes some common actions you’ll take with tables. Navigating in a table Selecting cells in a table works just like selecting cells in a normal range. One difference is when you use the Tab key. Pressing Tab moves to the cell to the right, but when you reach the last column, pressing Tab again moves to the ﬁ rst cell in the next row of the table. 116 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c05.indd 08/26/2015 Page 117 Chapter 5: Introducing Tables Selecting parts of a table When you move around your mouse in a table, you may notice that the pointer changes shapes. These shapes help you select various parts of the table: ■ To select an entire column: Move the mouse to the top of a cell in the header row, and the mouse pointer changes to a down-pointing arrow. Click to select the data in the column. Click a second time to select the entire table column (including the Header Row and the Total Row, if it has one). You can also press Ctrl+spacebar (once or twice) to select a column. ■ To select an entire row: Move the mouse to the left of a cell in the ﬁ rst column, and the mouse pointer changes to a right-pointing arrow. Click to select the entire table row. You can also press Shift+spacebar to select a table row. ■ To select the entire table: Move the mouse to the upper-left part of the upperleft cell. When the mouse pointer turns into a diagonal arrow, click to select the data area of the table. Click a second time to select the entire table (including the Header Row and the Total Row). You can also press Ctrl+A (once or twice) to select the entire table. Right-clicking a cell in a table displays several selection options in the shortcut menu. Adding new rows or columns To add a new column to the end of a table, select a cell in the column to the right of the table and start entering the data. Excel automatically extends the table horizontally and adds a generic column name for the new column. Similarly, if you enter data into the row below a table, Excel extends the table vertically to include the new row. An exception to automatically extending tables is when the table is displaying a total row. If you enter data below the total row, the table won’t be extended and the data won’t be part of the table. To add rows or columns within the table, right-click and choose Insert from the shortcut menu. The Insert shortcut menu command displays additional menu items: ■ Table Columns to the Left ■ Table Columns to the Right ■ Table Rows Above ■ Table Rows Below WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 117 5 c05.indd 08/26/2015 Page 118 Part I: Getting Started with Excel When the cell pointer is in the bottom-right cell of a table, pressing Tab inserts a new row at the bottom of the table, above the total row (if the table has one). When you move your mouse to the resize handle at the bottom-right cell of a table, the mouse pointer turns into a diagonal line with two arrowheads. Click and drag down to add more rows to the table. Click and drag to the right to add more columns. When you insert a new column, the header row displays a generic description, such as Column1, Column2, and so on. Typically, you’ll want to change these names to more descriptive labels. Just select the cell and overwrite the generic text with your new text. Deleting rows or columns To delete a row (or column) in a table, select any cell in the row (or column) to be deleted. To delete multiple rows or columns, select a range of cells. Then right-click and choose Delete ➪ Table Rows (or Delete ➪ Table Columns). Moving a table To move a table to a new location in the same worksheet, move the mouse pointer to any of its borders. When the mouse pointer turns into a cross with four arrows, click and drag the table to its new location. To move a table to a different worksheet (which could be in a different workbook), you can drag and drop it as well — as long as the destination worksheet is visible onscreen. Or, you can use these steps to move a table to different worksheet or workbook: 1. Press Ctrl+A twice to select the entire table. 2. Press Ctrl+X to cut the selected cells. 3. Activate the new worksheet and select the upper-left cell for the table. 4. Press Ctrl+V to paste the table. Excel Remembers When you do something with a complete column in a table, Excel remembers that and extends that “something” to all new entries added to that column. For example, if you apply currency formatting to a column and then add a new row, Excel applies currency formatting to the new value in that column. The same thing applies to other operations, such as conditional formatting, cell protection, data validation, and so on. And if you create a chart using the data in a table, the chart will be extended automatically if you add new data to the table. 118 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c05.indd 08/26/2015 Page 119 Chapter 5: Introducing Tables Working with the Total Row The total row in a table contains formulas that summarize the information in the columns. When you create a table, the total row isn’t turned on. To display the total row, choose Table Tools ➪ Design ➪ Table Style Options and put a check mark next to Total Row. By default, a total row displays the sum of the values in a column of numbers. In some cases, you’ll want a different type of summary formula. When you select a cell in the total row, a drop-down arrow appears in the cell. Click the arrow, and you can select from a number of other summary formulas (see Figure 5.7): ■ None: No formula. ■ Average: Displays the average of the numbers in the column. ■ Count: Displays the number of entries in the column. (Blank cells are not counted.) ■ Count Numbers: Displays the number of numeric values in the column. (Blank cells, text cells, and error cells are not counted.) ■ Max: Displays the maximum value in the column. ■ Min: Displays the minimum value in the column. ■ Sum: Displays the sum of the values in the column. ■ StdDev: Displays the standard deviation of the values in the column. (Standard deviation is a statistical measure of how “spread out” the values are.) ■ Var: Displays the variance of the values in the column. (Variance is another statistical measure of how “spread out” the values are.) ■ More Functions: Displays the Insert Function dialog box so that you can select a function that isn’t in the list. FIGURE 5.7 Several types of summary formulas are available for the Total Row. 5 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 119 c05.indd 08/26/2015 Page 120 Part I: Getting Started with Excel If you have a formula that refers to a value in the total row of a table, the formula returns an error if you hide the total row. But if you make the total row visible again, the formula works as it should. For more information about formulas, including the use of formulas in a table column, see Chapter 10, “Introducing Formulas and Functions.” Removing duplicate rows from a table If data in a table was compiled from multiple sources, the table may contain duplicate items. Often, you want to eliminate the duplicates. In the past, removing duplicate data was essentially a manual task, but removal is easy if the data is in a table. Start by selecting any cell in your table. Then choose Table Tools ➪ Design ➪ Tools ➪ Remove Duplicates. Excel responds with the Remove Duplicates dialog box shown in Figure 5.8. The dialog box lists all the columns in your table. Place a check mark next to the columns that you want to be included in the duplicate search. Most of the time, you’ll want to select all the columns, which is the default. Click OK, and Excel weeds out the duplicate rows and displays a message that tells you how many duplicates it removed. FIGURE 5.8 Removing duplicate rows from a table is easy. When you select all columns in the Remove Duplicates dialog box, Excel will delete a row only if the content of every column is duplicated. In some situations, you may not care about matching some columns, so you would deselect those columns in the Remove Duplicates dialog box. When duplicate rows are found, the ﬁ rst row is kept and subsequent duplicate rows are deleted. 120 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c05.indd 08/26/2015 Page 121 Chapter 5: Introducing Tables Data does not have to be in the form of a designated table to remove duplicates. To remove duplicate rows from a normal range, choose Data ➪ Data Tools ➪ Remove Duplicates. It’s important to understand that duplicate values are determined by the value displayed in the cell — not necessarily the value stored in the cell. For example, assume that two cells contain the same date. One of the dates is formatted to display as 5/15/2016, and the other is formatted to display as May 15, 2016. When removing duplicates, Excel considers these dates to be different. You can avoid such a problem by applying consistent formatting for all data in a column. Sorting and filtering a table Each item in the Header Row of a table contains a drop-down arrow known as a Filter Button. When clicked, the Filter Button displays sorting and ﬁltering options (see Figure 5.9). FIGURE 5.9 Each column in a table has sorting and filtering options. 5 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 121 c05.indd 08/26/2015 Page 122 Part I: Getting Started with Excel If you don’t plan to sort or filter the data in a table, you can turn off the display of Filter Buttons in a table’s Header Row. Choose Table Tools ➪ Design ➪ Table Style Options ➪ Filter Button to display or hide the drop-down arrows. Sorting a table Sorting a table rearranges the rows based on the contents of a particular column. You may want to sort a table to put names in alphabetical order. Or, maybe you want to sort your sales staff by the total sales made. To sort a table by a particular column, click the Filter Button in the column header and choose one of the sort commands. The exact command varies, depending on the type of data in the column. You can also select Sort by Color to sort the rows based on the background or text color of the data. This option is relevant only if you’ve overridden the table style colors with custom formatting. You can sort on any number of columns. The trick is to sort the least signiﬁcant column ﬁ rst and then proceed until the most signiﬁcant column is sorted last. For example, in the real estate table, you may want to sort the list by agent. And within each agent’s group, sort the rows by area. And within each area, sort the rows by list price. For this type of sort, ﬁ rst sort by the List Price column, then sort by the Area column, and then sort by the Agent column. Figure 5.10 shows the table sorted in this manner. FIGURE 5.10 A table after performing a three-column sort. 122 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c05.indd 08/26/2015 Page 123 Chapter 5: Introducing Tables When a column is sorted, the Filter Button in the header row displays a different graphic to remind you that the table is sorted by that column. Another way of performing a multiple-column sort is to use the Sort dialog box (choose Home ➪ Editing ➪ Sort & Filter ➪ Custom Sort). Or right-click any cell in the table and choose Sort ➪ Custom Sort from the shortcut menu. In the Sort dialog box, use the drop-down lists to specify the sort speciﬁcations. In this example, you start with Agent. Then click the Add Level button to insert another set of search controls. In this new set of controls, specify the sort speciﬁcations for the Area column. Then add another level and enter the speciﬁcations for the List Price column. Figure 5.11 shows the dialog box after entering the speciﬁcations for the three-column sort. This technique produces the same sort as described in the previous paragraph. FIGURE 5.11 Using the Sort dialog box to specify a three-column sort. Filtering a table Filtering a table refers to displaying only the rows that meet certain conditions. (The other rows are hidden.) Note that entire worksheet rows are hidden. Therefore, if you have other data to the left or right of your table, that information may also be hidden when you ﬁlter the table. If you plan to ﬁlter your list, don’t include any other data to the left or right of your table. Using the real estate table, assume that you’re interested only in the data for the N. County area. Click the Filter Button in the Area Row Header and remove the check mark from Select All, which unselects everything. Then place a check mark next to N. County and click OK. The table, shown in Figure 5.12, is now ﬁltered to display only the listings in the N. County area. Notice that some of the row numbers are missing. These rows are hidden and contain data that does not meet the speciﬁed criteria. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 123 5 c05.indd 08/26/2015 Page 124 Part I: Getting Started with Excel FIGURE 5.12 This table is filtered to show only the information for N. County. Also notice that the Filter Button in the Area column now shows a different graphic — an icon that indicates the column is ﬁltered. You can ﬁlter by multiple values in a column using multiple check marks. For example, to ﬁlter the table to show only N. County and Central, place a check mark next to both values in the drop-down list in the Area Row Header. You can ﬁlter a table using any number of columns. For example, you may want to see only the N. County listings in which the Type is Single Family. Just repeat the operation using the Type column. All tables then display only the rows in which the Area is N. County and the Type is Single Family. For additional ﬁltering options, select Text Filters (or Number Filters, if the column contains values). The options are fairly self-explanatory, and you have a great deal of ﬂexibility in displaying only the rows that you’re interested in. For example, you can display rows in which the List Price is greater than or equal to $200,000 but less than $300,000 (see Figure 5.13). 124 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c05.indd 08/26/2015 Page 125 Chapter 5: Introducing Tables FIGURE 5.13 Specifying a more complex numeric filter. Also, you can right-click a cell and use the Filter command on the shortcut menu. This menu item leads to several additional ﬁltering options that enable you to ﬁlter data based on the contents of the selected cell. You can also ﬁlter by formatting. This is useful if you’ve applied conditional formatting to cells in the table. See Chapter 21, “Visualizing Data Using Conditional Formatting.” As you may expect, when you use filtering, the total row is updated to show the total only for the visible rows. When you copy data from a ﬁltered table, only the visible data is copied. In other words, rows that are hidden by ﬁltering aren’t copied. This ﬁltering makes it easy to copy a subset of a larger table and paste it to another area of your worksheet. Keep in mind, though, that the pasted data is not a table — it’s just a normal range. You can, however, convert the copied range to a table. To remove ﬁltering for a column, click the drop-down in the Row Header and select Clear Filter. If you’ve ﬁltered using multiple columns, it may be faster to remove all ﬁlters by choosing Home ➪ Editing ➪ Sort & Filter ➪ Clear. Filtering a table with slicers Another way to ﬁlter a table is to use one or more slicers. This method is less ﬂexible but more visually appealing. Slicers are particularly useful when the table will be viewed by novices or those who ﬁ nd the normal ﬁltering techniques too complicated. Slicers are very visual, and it’s easy to see exactly what type of ﬁltering is in effect. A disadvantage of slicers is that they take up a lot of room on the screen. To add one or more slicers, activate any cell in the table and choose Table Tools ➪ Design ➪ Tools ➪ Insert Slicer. Excel responds with a dialog box that displays each header in the table (see Figure 5.14). WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 125 5 c05.indd 08/26/2015 Page 126 Part I: Getting Started with Excel FIGURE 5.14 Use the Insert Slicers dialog box to specify which slicers to create. Place a check mark next to the ﬁeld(s) that you want to ﬁlter. You can create a slicer for each column, but that’s rarely needed. In most cases, you’ll want to be able to ﬁlter the table by only a few ﬁelds. Click OK, and Excel creates a slicer for each ﬁeld you speciﬁed. A slicer contains a button for every unique item in the ﬁeld. In the real estate listing example, the slicer for the Agent ﬁeld contains 14 buttons because the table has records for 14 different agents. Slicers may not be appropriate for columns that contain numeric data. For example, the real estate listing table has 78 different values in the List Price column. Therefore, a slicer for this column would have 78 buttons (and there’s no way to group the values into numeric ranges). This is an example of how a slicer is not as flexible as normal filtering using Filter Buttons. To use a slicer, just click one of the buttons. The table displays only the rows that have a value that corresponds to the button. You can also press Ctrl to select multiple buttons and press Shift to select a continuous group of buttons — which would be useful for selecting a range of List Price values. If your table has more than one slicer, it’s ﬁltered by the selected buttons in each slicer. To remove ﬁltering for a particular slicer, click the Clear Filter icon in the upper-right corner of the slicer. 126 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c05.indd 08/26/2015 Page 127 Chapter 5: Introducing Tables New Excel 2016 displays a new icon in slicers: Multi-Select. If you click this icon, you can select multiple items without pressing Ctrl. This makes it easier for people who use touch screens. Use the tools in the Slicer Tools ➪ Options context menu to change the appearance or layout of a slicer. You have quite a bit of ﬂexibility. Figure 5.15 shows a table with two slicers. The table is ﬁltered to show only the records for Adams, Barnes, Lang, and Robinson in the N. County area. FIGURE 5.15 The table is filtered by two slicers. 5 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 127 c05.indd 08/26/2015 Page 128 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Converting a table back to a range If you need to convert a table back to a normal range, just select a cell in the table and choose Table Tools ➪ Design ➪ Tools ➪ Convert to Range. The table style formatting remains intact, but the range no longer functions as a table. In addition, any ﬁltering you applied is canceled, and all hidden rows are displayed. 128 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 129 CHAPTER Worksheet Formatting 6 IN THIS CHAPTER Understanding how formatting can improve your worksheets Getting to know the formatting tools Using formatting in your worksheets Using named styles for easier formatting Understanding document themes F ormatting your worksheet is like the icing on a cake — it may not be absolutely necessary, but it can make the end product a lot more attractive. In an Excel worksheet, formatting can also make it easier for others to understand the worksheet’s purpose. Stylistic formatting isn’t essential for every workbook that you develop — especially if it’s for your own use only. On the other hand, it takes only a few moments to apply some simple formatting, and, after you apply it, the formatting will remain in place without further effort on your part. In Chapter 5, “Introducing Tables,” I showed how easy it is to apply formatting to a table. The information in this chapter applies to normal ranges. I show you how to work with the Excel formatting tools: fonts, colors, and styles such as bold and italic. I also cover custom styles that you can create to make formatting large amounts of material in a similar way easier. Getting to Know the Formatting Tools Figure 6.1 shows how even simple formatting can signiﬁcantly improve a worksheet’s readability. The unformatted worksheet (on the left) is perfectly functional but not very readable compared to the formatted worksheet (on the right). 129 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 130 Part I: Getting Started with Excel This workbook is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named loan payments.xlsx. FIGURE 6.1 In just a few minutes, some simple formatting can greatly improve the appearance of your worksheet. The Excel cell formatting tools are available in three locations: ■ On the Home tab of the Ribbon ■ On the Mini toolbar that appears when you right-click a selected range or a cell ■ From the Format Cells dialog box In addition, many common formatting commands have keyboard shortcuts. Excel also enables you to format cells based on the cell’s contents. Chapter 21, “Visualizing Data Using Conditional Formatting,” discusses conditional formatting. 130 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 131 Chapter 6: Worksheet Formatting Using the formatting tools on the Home tab The Home tab of the Ribbon provides quick access to the most commonly used formatting options. Start by selecting the cell or range. Then, use the appropriate tool in the Font, Alignment, or Number groups. Using these tools is intuitive, and the best way to familiarize yourself with them is to experiment. Enter some data, select some cells, and then click the controls to change the appearance. Note that some of these controls are actually drop-down lists. Click the small arrow on the button, and the button expands to display your choices. Using the Mini toolbar When you right-click a cell or a range selection, you get a shortcut menu. In addition, the Mini toolbar appears above or below the shortcut menu. Figure 6.2 shows how this toolbar looks. The Mini toolbar for cell formatting contains the most commonly used controls from the Home tab of the Ribbon. FIGURE 6.2 The Mini toolbar appears above or below the right-click shortcut menu. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 131 6 c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 132 Part I: Getting Started with Excel If you use a tool on the Mini toolbar, the shortcut menu disappears, but the toolbar remains visible so you can apply other formatting to the selected cells. To hide the Mini toolbar, just click in any cell or press Escape. Some people ﬁ nd the Mini toolbar distracting. Unfortunately, Excel doesn’t provide a direct way to turn it off. If you really want to get rid of the Mini Toolbar, see the following sidebar, “Mini Toolbar Be Gone.” Mini Toolbar Be Gone If you find the Mini toolbar annoying, you can search all day and not find an option to turn it off. The General tab of the Excel Options dialog box has an option labeled Show Mini Toolbar on Selection, but this option applies to selecting characters while editing a cell. The only way to turn off the Mini toolbar when you right-click is to execute a VBA macro: Sub ZapMiniToolbar() Application.ShowMenuFloaties = True End Sub If you execute this VBA macro, the result is persistent. In other words, the Mini toolbar will not appear, even if you close and restart Excel. The only way to get the Mini toolbar back is to execute another VBA statement that sets the ShowMenuFloaties property to False. By the way, the statement might seem wrong, but it works. Contrary to what you would think, setting that property to True turns off the Mini toolbar. It’s a bug that appeared in Excel 2007 and was not fixed in subsequent versions because correcting it would cause many macros to fail. (See Part VI, “Programming Excel with VBA,” for more information about VBA macros.) Using the Format Cells dialog box The formatting controls available on the Home tab of the Ribbon are sufﬁcient most of the time, but some types of formatting require that you use the Format Cells dialog box. This tabbed dialog box lets you apply nearly any type of stylistic formatting and number formatting. The formats that you choose in the Format Cells dialog box apply to the cells that you have selected at the time. Later sections in this chapter cover the tabs of the Format Cells dialog box. When you use the Format Cells dialog box, you don’t see the effects of your formatting choices until you click OK. With every new release of Excel, I expect to see the Format Cells dialog box implemented as a more convenient task pane. But I’m always disappointed. Maybe next time. 132 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 133 Chapter 6: Worksheet Formatting After selecting the cell or range to format, you can display the Format Cells dialog box by using any of the following methods: ■ Press Ctrl+1. ■ Click the dialog box launcher in Home ➪ Font, Home ➪ Alignment, or Home ➪ Number. (The dialog box launcher is the small downward-pointing arrow icon displayed to the right of the group name in the Ribbon.) When you display the Format Cells dialog box using a dialog box launcher, the dialog box is displayed with the appropriate tab visible. ■ Right-click the selected cell or range and choose Format Cells from the shortcut menu. ■ Click the More command in some of the drop-down controls in the Ribbon. For example, the Home ➪ Font ➪ Border ➪ More Borders drop-down includes an item named More Borders. The Format Cells dialog box contains six tabs: Number, Alignment, Font, Border, Fill, and Protection. The following sections contain more information about the formatting options available in this dialog box. Using Different Fonts to Format Your Worksheet You can use different fonts, sizes, or text attributes in your worksheets to make various parts — such as the headers for a table — stand out. You also can adjust the font size. For example, using a smaller font allows for more information on a single screen or printed page. By default, Excel uses 11-point (pt) Calibri font. A font is described by its typeface (Calibri, Cambria, Arial, Times New Roman, Courier New, and so on) as well as by its size, measured in points. (Seventy-two points equal one inch.) Excel’s row height, by default, is 15 pt. Therefore, 11-pt type entered into 15-pt rows leaves a small amount of blank space between the characters in vertically adjacent rows. If you haven’t manually changed a row’s height, Excel automatically adjusts the row height based on the tallest text that you enter into the row. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 133 6 c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 134 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Updating Old Fonts Office 2007 introduced several new fonts, and the default font has been changed for all the Office applications in subsequent releases. In versions prior to Excel 2007, the default font was 10 pt Arial. In Excel 2007 and later, the default font for the Office theme is 11 pt Calibri. Most people will agree that Calibri is much easier to read, and it gives the worksheet a more modern appearance. If you open a workbook created in a pre-2007 version of Excel, the default font will not be changed, even if you apply a document style (by choosing Page Layout ➪ Themes ➪ Themes). But here’s an easy way to update the fonts in a workbook that was created using an older version of Excel: 1. Press Ctrl+N to open a new, empty workbook. The new workbook will use the default document theme. 2. Open your old workbook ﬁle. 3. Choose Home ➪ Styles ➪ Cell Styles ➪ Merge Styles. Excel displays its Merge Styles dialog box. 4. In the Merge Styles dialog box, select the new workbook that you created in step 1. 5. Click OK. 6. Click Yes in response to Excel’s question regarding merging styles that have the same name. This technique changes the font and size for all unformatted cells. If you’ve applied font formatting to some cells (for example, made them bold), the font for those cells will not be changed (but you can change the font manually for those cells). If you don’t like the new look of your workbook, just close the workbook without saving the changes. If you plan to distribute a workbook to other users, remember that Excel does not embed fonts. Therefore, you should stick with the standard fonts that are included with Windows or Microsoft Office. If you open a workbook and your system doesn’t have the font used in the workbook, Windows attempts to use a similar font. Sometimes this attempt works okay, and sometimes it doesn’t. Use the Font and Font Size tools on the Home tab of the Ribbon (or on the Mini toolbar) to change the font or size for selected cells. You also can use the Font tab in the Format Cells dialog box to choose fonts, as shown in Figure 6.3. This tab enables you to control several other font attributes that aren’t available elsewhere. Besides choosing the font, you can change the font style (bold, italic), underlining, color, and effects (strikethrough, superscript, or subscript). If you select the Normal Font check box, Excel displays the selections for the font deﬁned for the Normal style. I discuss styles later in this chapter (see “Using Named Styles for Easier Formatting”). 134 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 135 Chapter 6: Worksheet Formatting FIGURE 6.3 The Font tab of the Format Cells dialog box gives you many additional font attribute options. 6 Figure 6.4 shows several examples of font formatting. In this ﬁgure, gridlines were turned off to make the underlining more visible. Notice, in the ﬁgure, that Excel provides four different underlining styles. In the two nonaccounting underline styles, only the cell contents are underlined. In the two accounting underline styles, the entire width of the cells is always underlined. FIGURE 6.4 You can choose many different font formatting options for your worksheets. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 135 c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 136 Part I: Getting Started with Excel If you prefer to keep both hands on the keyboard, you can use the following shortcut keys to format a selected range quickly: ■ Ctrl+B: Bold ■ Ctrl+I: Italic ■ Ctrl+U: Underline ■ Ctrl+5: Strikethrough These shortcut keys act as a toggle. For example, you can turn bold on and off by repeatedly pressing Ctrl+B. Using Multiple Formatting Styles in a Single Cell If a cell contains text (as opposed to a value or a formula), you can apply formatting to individual characters in the cell. To do so, switch to Edit mode (press F2, or double-click the cell) and then select the characters that you want to format. You can select characters either by dragging the mouse over them or by pressing the Shift key as you press the left or right arrow key. This technique is useful if you need to apply superscript or subscript formatting to a few characters in the cell (refer to Figure 6.4 for examples). After you select the characters to format, use any of the standard formatting techniques, including options in the Format Cells dialog box. To display the Format Cells dialog box when editing a cell, press Ctrl+1. The changes apply only to the selected characters in the cell. This technique doesn’t work with cells that contain values or formulas. Changing Text Alignment The contents of a cell can be aligned horizontally and vertically. By default, Excel aligns numbers to the right and text to the left. All cells use bottom alignment by default. Overriding these defaults is a simple matter. The most commonly used alignment commands are in the Alignment group on the Home tab of the Ribbon. Use the Alignment tab of the Format Cells dialog box for even more options (see Figure 6.5). 136 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 137 Chapter 6: Worksheet Formatting FIGURE 6.5 The full range of alignment options is available on the Alignment tab of the Format Cells dialog box. 6 Choosing horizontal alignment options Horizontal alignment options, which control how cell contents are distributed across the width of the cell (or cells), are available from the Format Cells dialog box: ■ General: Aligns numbers to the right, aligns text to the left, and centers logical and error values. This option is the default alignment. ■ Left: Aligns the cell contents to the left side of the cell. If the text is wider than the cell, the text spills over to the cell on the right. If the cell on the right isn’t empty, the text is truncated and not completely visible. Also available on the Ribbon. ■ Center: Centers the cell contents in the cell. If the text is wider than the cell, the text spills over to cells on either side if they’re empty. If the adjacent cells aren’t empty, the text is truncated and not completely visible. Also available on the Ribbon. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 137 c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 138 Part I: Getting Started with Excel ■ Right: Aligns the cell contents to the right side of the cell. If the text is wider than the cell, the text spills over to the cell on the left. If the cell on the left isn’t empty, the text is truncated and not completely visible. Also available on the Ribbon. ■ Fill: Repeats the contents of the cell until the cell’s width is ﬁlled. If cells to the right also are formatted with Fill alignment, they also are ﬁlled. ■ Justify: Justiﬁes the text to the left and right of the cell. This option is applicable only if the cell is formatted as wrapped text and uses more than one line. ■ Center across Selection: Centers the text over the selected columns. This option is useful for centering a heading over a number of columns. ■ Distributed: Distributes the text evenly across the selected column. If you choose Left, Right, or Distributed, you can also adjust the Indent setting, which adds horizontal space between the cell border and the text. Figure 6.6 shows examples of text that uses three types of horizontal alignment: Left, Justify, and Distributed (with an indent). FIGURE 6.6 The same text, displayed with three types of horizontal alignment. 138 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 139 Chapter 6: Worksheet Formatting If you want to experiment with text alignment settings, this workbook is available at this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named text alignment.xlsx. 6 Choosing vertical alignment options Vertical alignment options typically aren’t used as often as horizontal alignment options. In fact, these settings are useful only if you’ve adjusted row heights so that they’re considerably taller than normal. Here are the vertical alignment options available in the Format Cells dialog box: ■ Top: Aligns the cell contents to the top of the cell. Also available on the Ribbon. ■ Center: Centers the cell contents vertically in the cell. Also available on the Ribbon. ■ Bottom: Aligns the cell contents to the bottom of the cell. Also available on the Ribbon. ■ Justify: Justiﬁes the text vertically in the cell; this option is applicable only if the cell is formatted as wrapped text and uses more than one line. This setting can be used to increase the line spacing. ■ Distributed: Distributes the text evenly vertically in the cell. Wrapping or shrinking text to fit the cell If you have text too wide to ﬁt the column width but you don’t want that text to spill over into adjacent cells, you can use either the Wrap Text option or the Shrink to Fit option to accommodate that text. The Wrap Text option is also available on the Ribbon. The Wrap Text option displays the text on multiple lines in the cell, if necessary. Use this option to display lengthy headings without having to make the columns too wide and without reducing the size of the text. The Shrink to Fit option reduces the size of the text so that it ﬁts into the cell without spilling over to the next cell. I’ve never had much luck with this command. Unless the text is just slightly too long, the result is almost always illegible. If you apply Wrap Text formatting to a cell, you can’t use the Shrink to Fit formatting. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 139 c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 140 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Merging worksheet cells to create additional text space A handy formatting option is the ability to merge two or more cells. When you merge cells, you don’t combine the contents of cells. Rather, you combine a group of cells into a single cell that occupies the same space. The worksheet shown in Figure 6.7 contains four sets of merged cells. Range C2:I2 has been merged into a single cell, and so have ranges J2:P2, B4:B8, and B9:B13. In the latter two cases, the text direction has also been changed (see “Displaying text at an angle,” later in this chapter). FIGURE 6.7 Merge worksheet cells to make them act as if they were a single cell. You can merge any number of cells occupying any number of rows and columns. In fact, you can merge all 17,179,869,184 cells in a worksheet into a single cell — although I can’t think of any good reason to do so, except maybe to play a trick on a coworker. The range that you intend to merge should be empty, except for the upper-left cell. If any of the other cells that you intend to merge are not empty, Excel displays a warning. If you continue, all the data (except in the upper-left cell) will be deleted. You can use the Alignment tab of the Format Cells dialog box to merge cells, but using the Merge & Center control on the Ribbon (or on the Mini toolbar) is simpler. To merge cells, select the cells that you want to merge and then click the Merge & Center button. The cells will be merged, and the content in the upper-left cells will be centered horizontally. The Merge & Center button acts as a toggle. To unmerge cells, select the merged cells and click the Merge & Center button again. After you merge cells, you can change the alignment to something other than Center by using the controls in the Home ➪ Alignment group. 140 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 141 Chapter 6: Worksheet Formatting The Home ➪ Alignment ➪ Merge & Center control contains a drop-down list with these additional options: ■ Merge Across: When a multirow range is selected, this command creates multiple merged cells — one for each row. ■ Merge Cells: Merges the selected cells without applying the Center attribute. ■ Unmerge Cells: Unmerges the selected cells. Displaying text at an angle In some cases, you may want to create more visual impact by displaying text at an angle within a cell. You can display text horizontally, vertically, or at any angle between 90 degrees up and 90 degrees down. From the Home ➪ Alignment ➪ Orientation drop-down list, you can apply the most common text angles. For more control, use the Alignment tab of the Format Cells dialog box. In the Format Cells dialog box (refer to Figure 6.5), use the Degrees spinner control — or just drag the pointer in the gauge. You can specify a text angle between –90 and +90 degrees. Figure 6.8 shows an example of text displayed at a 45-degree angle. FIGURE 6.8 Rotate text for additional visual impact. Rotated text may look a bit distorted onscreen, but the printed output is usually of much better quality. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 141 6 c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 142 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Controlling the text direction Not all languages use the same character direction. Although most Western languages are read left to right, other languages are read right to left. You can use the Text Direction option to select the appropriate setting for the language you use. This command is available only in the Alignment tab of the Format Cells dialog box. Don’t confuse the Text Direction setting with the Orientation setting (discussed in the previous section). Changing the text orientation is common. Changing the text direction is used only in speciﬁc situations. Changing the Text Direction setting won’t have any effect unless you have the proper language drivers installed on your system. For example, you must install Japanese language support to use right-to-left text direction Japanese characters. Use the Language tab of the Excel Options dialog box to determine which languages are installed. Using Colors and Shading Excel provides the tools to create some colorful worksheets. You can change the color of the text or add colors to the backgrounds of the worksheet cells. Prior to Excel 2007, workbooks were limited to a palette of 56 colors. Subsequent versions allow a virtually unlimited number of colors. You control the color of the cell’s text by choosing Home ➪ Font ➪ Font Color. Control the cell’s background color by choosing Home ➪ Font ➪ Fill Color. Both of these color controls are also available on the Mini toolbar, which appears when you right-click a cell or range. To hide the contents of a cell, make the background color the same as the font text color. The cell contents are still visible in the Formula bar when you select the cell. Keep in mind, however, that some printers may override this setting, and the text may be visible when printed. 142 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 143 Chapter 6: Worksheet Formatting Even though you have access to an unlimited number of colors, you might want to stick with the ten theme colors (and their light/dark variations) displayed in the various color selection controls. In other words, avoid using the More Color option, which lets you select a color. Why? First of all, those ten colors were chosen because they “go together.” (Well, at least somebody thought they did.) Another reason involves document themes. If you switch to a different document theme for your workbook, nontheme colors aren’t changed. In some cases, the result may be less than pleasing, aesthetically. (See “Understanding Document Themes,” later in this chapter, for more information about themes.) Using Colors with Table Styles In Chapter 5, I discuss the handy Table feature. One advantage to using tables is that it’s easy to apply table styles. You can change the look of your table with a single mouse click. It’s important to understand how table styles work with existing formatting. A simple rule is that applying a style to a table doesn’t override existing formatting. For example, assume that you have a range of data that uses yellow as the background color for the cells. When you convert that range to a table (by choosing Insert ➪ Tables ➪ Table), the default table style (alternating row colors) isn’t visible. Instead, the table will display the previously applied yellow background. To make table styles visible with this table, you need to remove the manually applied background cell colors. Select the entire table and then choose Home ➪ Font ➪ Fill Color ➪ No Fill. You can apply any type of formatting to a table, and that formatting will override the table style formatting. For example, you may want to make a particular cell stand out by using a different fill color. Adding Borders and Lines Borders (and lines within the borders) are another visual enhancement that you can add around groups of cells. Borders are often used to group a range of similar cells or to delineate rows or columns. Excel offers 13 preset styles of borders, as you can see in the Home ➪ Font ➪ Borders drop-down list shown in Figure 6.9. This control works with the selected cell or range and enables you to specify which, if any, border style to use for each border of the selection. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 143 6 c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 144 Part I: Getting Started with Excel FIGURE 6.9 Use the Borders drop-down list to add lines around worksheet cells. You may prefer to draw borders rather than select a preset border style. To do so, use the Draw Border or Draw Border Grid command from the Home ➪ Font ➪ Borders drop-down list. Selecting either command lets you create borders by dragging your mouse. Use the Line Color or Line Style command to change the color or style. When you’re ﬁ nished drawing borders, press Esc to cancel the border-drawing mode. Another way to apply borders is to use the Border tab of the Format Cells dialog box, which is shown in Figure 6.10. One way to display this dialog box is to select More Borders from the Borders drop-down list. 144 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 145 Chapter 6: Worksheet Formatting FIGURE 6.10 Use the Border tab of the Format Cells dialog box for more control over cell borders. 6 Before you display the Format Cells dialog box, select the cell or range to which you want to add borders. First choose a line style, and then choose the border position for the line style by clicking one of the Border icons. (These icons are toggles.) Notice that the Border tab has three preset icons, which can save you some clicking. If you want to remove all borders from the selection, click None. To put an outline around the selection, click Outline. To put borders inside the selection, click Inside. Excel displays the selected border style in the dialog box; there is no live preview. You can choose different styles for different border positions; you can also choose a color for the border. Using this dialog box may require some experimentation, but you’ll get the hang of it. When you apply two diagonal lines, the cells look like they’ve been crossed out. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 145 c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 146 Part I: Getting Started with Excel If you use border formatting in your worksheet, you may want to turn off the grid display to make the borders more pronounced. Choose View ➪ Show ➪ Gridlines to toggle the gridline display. Adding a Background Image to a Worksheet In some situations, you might want to use a graphics ﬁle to serve as a background for a worksheet. This effect is similar to the wallpaper that you may display on your Windows desktop or as a background for a web page. To add a background to a worksheet, choose Page Layout ➪ Page Setup ➪ Background. Excel displays a dialog box that enables you to select a graphics ﬁle. All common graphics ﬁle formats are supported, but animated GIFs display as static images. When you locate a ﬁle, click Insert. Excel tiles the graphic across your worksheet. Some images are speciﬁcally designed to be tiled, such as the one shown in Figure 6.11. This type of image is often used for web pages, and it creates a seamless background. FIGURE 6.11 You can add almost any image file as a worksheet background image. 146 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 147 Chapter 6: Worksheet Formatting This workbook, named background image.xlsx, is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/ go/excel2016bible. 6 When you use a background image, you’ll probably want to turn off the gridline display because the gridlines show through the graphic. Some backgrounds make viewing text difﬁcult, so you may want to use a solid background color for cells that contain text. Keep in mind that using a background image will increase the size of your workbook because the image is stored in the workbook ﬁle. The graphics background on a worksheet is for onscreen display only — it isn’t printed when you print the worksheet. Copying Formats by Painting Perhaps the quickest way to copy the formats from one cell to another cell or range is to use the Format Painter button (the button with the paintbrush image) of the Home ➪ Clipboard group. 1. Select the cell or range that has the formatting attributes you want to copy. 2. Click the Format Painter button. The mouse pointer changes to include a paintbrush. 3. Select the cells to which you want to apply the formats. 4. Release the mouse button, and Excel applies the same set of formatting options that were in the original range. If you double-click the Format Painter button, you can paint multiple areas of the worksheet with the same formats. Excel applies the formats that you copy to each cell or range that you select. To get out of Paint mode, click the Format Painter button again (or press Esc). Using Named Styles for Easier Formatting One of the most underutilized features in Excel is named styles. Named styles make it easy to apply a set of predeﬁ ned formatting options to a cell or range. In addition to saving time, using named styles helps to ensure a consistent look. A style can consist of settings for up to six attributes: ■ Number format ■ Alignment (vertical and horizontal) WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 147 c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 148 Part I: Getting Started with Excel ■ Font (type, size, and color) ■ Borders ■ Fill ■ Cell protection (locked and hidden) The real power of styles is apparent when you change a component of a style. All cells that use that named style automatically incorporate the change. Suppose that you apply a particular style to a dozen cells scattered throughout your worksheet. Later, you realize that these cells should have a font size of 14 pt rather than 12 pt. Rather than change each cell, simply edit the style. All cells with that particular style change automatically. Applying styles Excel includes a good selection of predeﬁ ned named styles that work in conjunction with document themes. Figure 6.12 shows the effect of choosing Home ➪ Styles ➪ Cell Styles. Note that this display is a live preview — as you move your mouse over the style choices, the selected cell or range temporarily displays the style. When you see a style you like, click it to apply the style to the selection. FIGURE 6.12 Excel displays samples of predefined cell styles. If Excel’s window is wide enough, you won’t see the Cell Styles command in the Ribbon. Instead, you’ll see four or more formatted style boxes. Click the drop-down arrow to the right of these boxes to display all the defined styles. 148 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 149 Chapter 6: Worksheet Formatting By default, all cells use the Normal style. If you modify the Normal style, all cells that haven’t been assigned a different style will reflect the new formatting. After you apply a style to a cell, you can apply additional formatting to it by using any formatting method discussed in this chapter. Formatting modiﬁcations that you make to the cell don’t affect other cells that use the same style. You have quite a bit of control over styles. In fact, you can do any of the following: ■ Modify an existing style. ■ Create a new style. ■ Merge styles from another workbook into the active workbook. The following sections describe these procedures. Modifying an existing style To change an existing style, choose Home ➪ Styles ➪ Cell Styles. Right-click the style you want to modify and choose Modify from the shortcut menu. Excel displays the Style dialog box, shown in Figure 6.13. In this example, the Style dialog box shows the settings for the Ofﬁce theme Normal style — which is the default style for all cells. The style deﬁ nitions vary, depending on which document theme is active. FIGURE 6.13 Use the Style dialog box to modify named styles. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 149 6 c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 150 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Here’s a quick example of how you can use styles to change the default font used throughout your workbook: 1. Choose Home ➪ Styles ➪ Cell Styles. Excels displays the list of styles for the active workbook. 2. Right-click Normal and choose Modify. Excel displays the Style dialog box (refer to Figure 6.13), with the current settings for the Normal style. 3. Click the Format button. Excel displays the Format Cells dialog box. 4. Click the Font tab and choose the font and size that you want as the default. 5. Click OK to return to the Style dialog box. Notice that the Font item displays the font choice you made. 6. Click OK again to close the Style dialog box. The font for all cells that use the Normal style changes to the font that you speciﬁed. You can change any formatting attributes for any style. Creating new styles In addition to using Excel’s built-in styles, you can create your own styles. This feature can be quite handy because it enables you to apply your favorite formatting options quickly and consistently. To create a new style, follow these steps: 1. Select a cell and apply all the formatting that you want to include in the new style. You can use any of the formatting that is available in the Format Cells dialog box (refer to Figures 6.3 and 6.5). 2. After you format the cell to your liking, choose Home ➪ Styles ➪ Cell Styles, and choose New Cell Style. Excel displays its Style dialog box (refer to Figure 6.13), along with a proposed generic name for the style. Note that Excel displays the words By Example to indicate that it’s basing the style on the current cell. 3. Enter a new style name in the Style Name field. The check boxes display the current formats for the cell. By default, all check boxes are selected. 4. (Optional) If you don’t want the style to include one or more format categories, remove the check(s) from the appropriate check box(es). 5. Click OK to create the style and to close the dialog box. After you perform these steps, the new custom style is available when you choose Home ➪ Styles ➪ Cell Styles. Custom styles are available only in the workbook in which they were created. To copy your custom styles to another workbook, see the section that follows. 150 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 151 Chapter 6: Worksheet Formatting The Protection option in the Style dialog box controls whether users will be able to modify cells for the selected style. This option is effective only if you’ve also turned on worksheet protection by choosing Review ➪ Changes ➪ Protect Sheet. Merging styles from other workbooks Custom styles are stored with the workbook in which they were created. If you’ve created some custom styles, you probably don’t want to go through all the work to create copies of those styles in each new Excel workbook. A better approach is to merge the styles from a workbook in which you previously created them. To merge styles from another workbook, open both the workbook that contains the styles that you want to merge and the workbook that will contain the merged styles. Activate the second workbook, choose Home ➪ Styles ➪ Cell Styles, and then choose Merge Styles. Excel displays the Merge Styles dialog box that shows a list of all open workbooks. Select the workbook that contains the styles you want to merge and click OK. Excel copies styles from the workbook that you selected into the active workbook. Controlling styles with templates When you start Excel, it loads with several default settings, including the settings for stylistic formatting. If you spend a lot of time changing the default elements for every new workbook, you should know about templates. Here’s an example. You may prefer that gridlines aren’t displayed in worksheets. And maybe you prefer Wrap Text to be the default setting for alignment. Templates provide an easy way to change defaults. The trick is to create a workbook with the Normal style modiﬁed in the way that you want it. Then save the workbook as a template (with an .xltx extension). After doing so, you can choose this template as the basis for a new workbook. Refer to Chapter 8, “Using and Creating Templates,” for more information about templates. Understanding Document Themes In an attempt to help users create more professional-looking documents, the Ofﬁce designers incorporated a feature known as document themes. Using themes is an easy (and almost foolproof) way to specify the colors, fonts, and a variety of graphic effects in a document. And WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 151 6 c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 152 Part I: Getting Started with Excel best of all, changing the entire look of your document is a breeze. A few mouse clicks is all it takes to apply a different theme and change the look of your workbook. Importantly, the concept of themes is incorporated into other Ofﬁce applications. Therefore, a company can easily create a standard and consistent look for all its documents. Themes don’t override specific formatting that you apply. For example, assume that you apply the Accent 1 named style to a range. Then you change the font color for a few cells in that range. If you change to a different theme, the manually applied fonts won’t be modified to use the new theme fonts. Bottom line: if you plan to take advantage of themes, stick with default formatting choices. Figure 6.14 shows a worksheet that contains a SmartArt diagram, a table, a chart, a range formatted with the Title named style, and a range formatted with the Explanatory Text named style. These items all use the default theme, which is the Ofﬁce Theme. FIGURE 6.14 The elements in this worksheet use the default theme. 152 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 153 Chapter 6: Worksheet Formatting Figure 6.15 shows the same worksheet after applying a different document theme. The different theme changed the fonts, colors (which may not be apparent in the ﬁgure), and the graphics effects for the SmartArt diagram. 6 FIGURE 6.15 The worksheet after applying a different theme. If you’d like to experiment with using various themes, the workbook shown in Figure 6.14 and Figure 6.15 is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named theme examples.xlsx. Applying a theme Figure 6.16 shows the theme choices that appear when you choose Page ➪ Layout ➪ Themes ➪ Themes. This display is a live preview. As you move your mouse over the theme choices, the active worksheet displays the theme. When you see a theme you like, click it to apply the theme to all worksheets in the workbook. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 153 c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 154 Part I: Getting Started with Excel A theme applies to the entire workbook. You can’t use different themes on different worksheets within a workbook. FIGURE 6.16 Built-in Excel theme choices. When you specify a particular theme, the gallery choices for various elements reﬂect the new theme. For example, the chart styles that you can choose from vary, depending on which theme is active. Because themes use different fonts (which can vary in size), changing to a different theme may affect the layout of your worksheet. For example, after you apply a new theme, a worksheet that printed on a single page may spill over to a second page. Therefore, you may need to make some adjustments after you apply a new theme. 154 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 155 Chapter 6: Worksheet Formatting Customizing a theme Notice that the Themes group on the Page Layout tab contains three other controls: Colors, Fonts, and Effects. You can use these controls to change just one of the three components of a theme. For example, you might like the colors and effects in the Ofﬁce theme but would prefer different fonts. To change the font set, apply the Ofﬁce theme and then specify your preferred font set by choosing Page Layout ➪ Themes ➪ Font. Each theme uses two fonts (one for headers, and one for the body), and in some cases, these two fonts are the same. If none of the theme choices is suitable, choose Page Layout ➪ Themes ➪ Font ➪ Customize Fonts to specify the two fonts you prefer (see Figure 6.17). FIGURE 6.17 Use this dialog box to specify two fonts for a theme. When you choose Home ➪ Font ➪ Font, the two fonts for the current theme are listed first in the drop-down list. Choose Page Layout ➪ Themes ➪ Colors to select a different set of colors. And, if you’re so inclined, you can even create a custom set of colors by choosing Page Layout ➪ Themes ➪ Colors ➪ Customize Colors. This command displays the Create New Theme Colors dialog box, shown in Figure 6.18. Note that each theme consists of twelve colors. Four of the colors are for text and backgrounds, six are for accents, and two are for hyperlinks. As you specify different colors, the preview panel in the dialog box updates. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 155 6 c06.indd 09/29/2015 Page 156 Part I: Getting Started with Excel FIGURE 6.18 If you’re feeling creative, you can specify a set of custom colors for a theme. Theme effects operate on graphics elements, such as SmartArt, Shapes, and charts. You can choose a different set of theme effects, but you can’t customize theme effects. If you’ve customized a theme using different fonts or colors, you can save the new theme by choosing Page Layout ➪ Themes ➪ Save Current Theme. Your customized themes appear in the theme list in the Custom category. Other Ofﬁce applications, such as Word and PowerPoint, can use these theme ﬁles. 156 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c07.indd 09/29/2015 Page 157 CHAPTER Understanding Excel Files 7 IN THIS CHAPTER Creating a new workbook Opening an existing workbook Saving and closing workbooks Sharing workbooks with people who use an older version of Excel T his chapter describes the operations that you perform with workbook ﬁles: opening, saving, closing, and so on. It discusses how Excel uses ﬁles and provides an overview of the various types of ﬁles. Most of the ﬁle operations discussed here occur in the Backstage view, the screen that you see when you click the File button above the Excel Ribbon. Creating a New Workbook When you start Excel 2016, it displays a Start Screen that lists recently used ﬁles and shows templates that you can use as the basis for a new workbook. One of the template options is Blank Workbook, which gives you an empty workbook. If you prefer to skip the Start Screen and always start with an empty workbook, choose File ➪ Options. In the Excel Options dialog box, click the General tab and remove the check mark from the option labeled Show the Start Screen When This Application Starts. After you start Excel, the empty workbook is called Book1. This workbook exists only in memory and hasn’t been saved to disk. By default, this workbook contains three worksheets named Sheet1, Sheet2, and Sheet3. If you’re starting a project from scratch, yovu can use this blank workbook. By the way, you can change the default number of sheets in a new workbook by using the General tab of the Excel Options dialog box. 157 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c07.indd 09/29/2015 Page 158 Part I: Getting Started with Excel While you’re working in Excel, you can create a new (empty) workbook at any time. Excel provides two ways to create a new workbook: ■ Choose File ➪ New, which displays a screen that lets you create a blank workbook or a workbook based on a template. To create a new blank workbook, click Blank Workbook. ■ Press Ctrl+N. This shortcut is the fastest way to start a new workbook if you’re not using a template. See Chapter 8, “Using and Creating Templates,” for more information on using and creating templates. Opening an Existing Workbook Here are some of the ways to open a workbook that’s already been saved: ■ Choose File ➪ Open ➪ Recent and then select the ﬁle you want from the list on the right. Only the most recently used ﬁles are listed. You can specify the number of ﬁles to display (maximum of 50) in the Advanced section of the Excel Options dialog box. ■ Choose File ➪ Open and choose a location from the list on the left. The locations will vary depending on which “places” you’ve set up. You may see cloud-based options. One of the options is always This PC. You can navigate your ﬁles directly using the list, or you can click Browse to display the Open dialog box, which gives you many more options. Locate the Excel workbook ﬁle via a Windows Explorer ﬁle list. Just double-click the ﬁlename (or icon), and the workbook opens in Excel. If Excel isn’t running, Windows automatically starts Excel and loads the workbook ﬁle. When you choose File ➪ Open ➪ Recent, each file in the recent workbooks list displays a pushpin icon on the right when you hover the mouse pointer over the filename. Click the pushpin icon, and that file becomes “pinned” to the list and will always appear at the top of the list. This handy feature ensures that important files always appear on the recent workbooks list — even if you haven’t opened the file recently. Also, notice that you can right-click a workbook in the list and choose Remove from List. Choose Clear Unpinned Workbooks to clear the list and start fresh. To open a workbook from the Open dialog box, use the folder tree display on the left to locate the folder that contains the ﬁle, and then select the workbook ﬁle from the list on the right. You can resize the Open dialog box by using the control in the lower-right corner. After you locate and select the ﬁle, click Open, and the ﬁle opens. Or just double-click the ﬁlename to open it. 158 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c07.indd 09/29/2015 Page 159 Chapter 7: Understanding Excel Files Notice that the Open button is actually a drop-down list. Click the arrow, and you see these additional options: ■ Open: Opens the ﬁle normally. ■ Open Read-Only: Opens the selected ﬁle in read-only mode. When a ﬁle is opened in this mode, you can’t save changes with the original ﬁlename. ■ Open as Copy: Opens a copy of the selected ﬁle. If the ﬁle is named budget.xlsx, the workbook that opens is named Copy(1)budget.xlsx. ■ Open in Browser: Opens the ﬁle in your default web browser. If the ﬁle can’t be opened in a browser, this option is disabled. ■ Open in Protected View: Opens the ﬁle in a special mode that doesn’t allow editing. In this view, most of the Excel Ribbon commands are disabled. Read more about this new feature in the nearby sidebar “About Protected View.” ■ Open and Repair: Attempts to open a ﬁle that may be damaged and recover information contained in it. In the Open dialog box, you can hold down the Ctrl key and select multiple workbooks. When you click Open, all the selected workbook files open. Right-clicking a filename in the Open dialog box displays a shortcut menu with many extra Windows commands. For example, you can copy, delete, or rename the file; modify its properties; and so on. About Protected View Excel 2010 introduced a security feature known as Protected View. Although it might seem like Excel is trying to keep you from opening your own files, Protected View is all about protecting you from malware. Malware refers to something that can harm your system. Hackers have figured out several ways to manipulate Excel files in a way that harmful code can be executed. Protected View essentially prevents these types of attacks by opening a file in a protected environment (a “sandbox”). If you open an Excel workbook that you downloaded from the Web, you’ll see a colorful message above the Formula bar. In addition, the Excel title bar displays [Protected View]. Choose File ➪ Info to find out why Excel opened the file in Protected View. If you’re certain that the file is safe, click Enable Editing. If you don’t enable editing, you’ll be able to view the contents of the workbook, but you won’t be able to make any changes to it. If the workbook contains macros, you’ll see another message after you enable editing: Security Warning. Macros have been disabled. If you’re sure that the macros are harmless, click Enable Content. Continues WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 159 7 c07.indd 09/29/2015 Page 160 Part I: Getting Started with Excel continued Protected View, by default, kicks in for the following: ■ Files downloaded from the Internet ■ Attachments opened from Outlook ■ Files open from potentially unsafe locations, such as your Temporary Internet Files folder ■ File that are blocked by File Block Policy (a Windows feature that allows administrators to define potentially dangerous files) ■ Files that have a digital signature that has expired In some situations, you don’t care about working with the document. You just want to print it. In that case, choose File ➪ Print, and then click the Enable Printing button. Also, note that you can copy a range of cells from a workbook in Protected View and paste it into a different workbook. You have some control over the types of files that trigger Protected View. To change the settings, choose File ➪ Options, and click Trust Center. Then click the Trust Center Settings button and click the Protected View tab in the Trust Center dialog box. Filtering filenames At the bottom of the Open dialog box is a button with a drop-down list. When the Open dialog box is displayed, this button shows All Excel Files (and a long list of ﬁle extensions). The Open dialog box displays only those ﬁles that match the extensions. In other words, you see only standard Excel ﬁles. If you want to open a ﬁle of a different type, click the arrow in the drop-down list and select the ﬁle type that you want to open. This changes the ﬁltering and displays only ﬁles of the type that you specify. You can also type a ﬁlter directly in the File Name box. For example, typing the following will display only ﬁles that have an .xlsx extension (press Enter after typing the ﬁlter): *.xlsx. Choosing your file display preferences The Open dialog box can display your workbook ﬁlenames in several styles: as a list, with complete details, as icons, and so on. You control the style by clicking the More Options icon (in the upper-right corner) and then selecting a display style from the drop-down list. 160 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c07.indd 09/29/2015 Page 161 Chapter 7: Understanding Excel Files Opening Workbooks Automatically Many people work on the same workbooks each day. If this describes you, you’ll be happy to know that Excel can open specific workbook files automatically whenever you start Excel. Any workbooks placed in the XLStart folder open automatically. The location of the XLStart folder varies, depending on your Windows version. To determine the location of the XLStart folder on your system, follow these steps: 1. Choose File ➪ Options, and select the Trust Center tab. 2. Click the Trust Center Settings button. The Trust Center dialog box appears. 3. In the Trust Center dialog box, select the Trusted Locations tab. You’ll see a list of trusted locations. 4. Look in the path for the location described as User Startup. The path might look something like this: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART\ Another XLStart folder may be located here: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office16\Root\Office16\XLStart\ Any workbook files (excluding template files) stored in either of these XLStart folders open automatically when Excel starts. If one or more files open automatically from an XLStart folder, Excel won’t start with a blank workbook. You can specify an alternate startup folder in addition to the XLStart folder. Choose File ➪ Options and select the Advanced tab. Scroll down to the General section and enter a new folder name in the At Startup, Open All Files In field. Then when you start Excel, it automatically opens all workbook files in both the XLStart folders and the alternate folder that you specified. Saving a Workbook When you’re working in Excel, your workbook is vulnerable to day-ruining events such as power failures and system crashes. Therefore, you should save your work often. Saving a ﬁle takes only a few seconds, but re-creating hours of lost work takes many hours. Excel provides four ways to save your workbook: ■ Click the Save icon on the Quick Access toolbar. (It looks like an old-fashioned ﬂoppy disk.) ■ Press Ctrl+S. ■ Press Shift+F12. ■ Choose File ➪ Save. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 161 7 c07.indd 09/29/2015 Page 162 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Saving a file overwrites the previous version of the file on your hard drive. If you open a workbook and then completely mess it up, don’t save the file. Instead, close the workbook without saving it and then reopen the good copy. If your workbook has already been saved, it’s saved again using the same ﬁlename in the same location. If you want to save the workbook to a new ﬁle or to a different location, choose File ➪ Save As (or press F12). If your workbook has never been saved, you’ll be taken to the Save As pane in the Backstage view. Here you can specify a location, and you’ll be prompted for a ﬁlename, which you specify in the Save As dialog box. A new (unsaved) workbook has a default name, such as Book1 or Book2. Although Excel allows you to use these generic workbook names for ﬁlenames, you’ll almost always want to specify a more descriptive ﬁlename in the Save As dialog box. The Save As dialog box is similar to the Open dialog box. Select the desired folder in the folder list on the left. After you select the folder, enter the ﬁlename in the File Name ﬁeld. You don’t need to specify a ﬁle extension — Excel adds it automatically, based on the ﬁle type speciﬁed in the Save as Type ﬁeld. By default, ﬁles are saved in the standard Excel ﬁle format, which uses an .xlsx ﬁle extension. To change the default file format for saving files, choose File ➪ Options to access the Excel Options dialog box. Click the Save tab and change the setting for the Save Files in This Format option. For example, if your workbooks must be compatible with older versions of Excel (versions before Excel 2007), you can change the default format to Excel 97–2003 Workbook (*.xls). Doing so eliminates the need to select the older file type every time you save a new workbook. If your workbook contains VBA macros, saving it with an .xlsx file extension will erase all the macros. It must be saved with an .xlsm extension (or saved in the XLS or XLSB format). If your workbook has macros, Excel will still propose to save it as an XLSX file. It other words, Excel suggests a file format that will destroy your macros! It will, however, warn you that the macros will be lost. If a ﬁle with the same name already exists in the location that you specify, Excel asks whether you want to overwrite that ﬁle with the new ﬁle. Be careful! You can’t recover the previous ﬁle after you overwrite it. 162 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c07.indd 09/29/2015 Page 163 Chapter 7: Understanding Excel Files Using AutoRecover If you’ve used computers for any length of time, you’ve probably lost some work. You forgot to save a ﬁle, or maybe the power went out and your unsaved work was lost. Or maybe you were working on something and didn’t think it was important, so you closed it without saving — and later realized that it was important. Excel’s AutoRecover feature might make these types of “d’oh!” moments less frequent. As you work in Excel, your work is periodically saved, automatically. It happens in the background so you don’t even know that it’s happening. If necessary, you can access these autosaved versions of your work. This even applies to workbooks that you never explicitly saved. The AutoRecover feature consists of two components: ■ Versions of a workbook are saved automatically, and you can view them. ■ Workbooks that you closed without saving are saved as draft versions. 7 Recovering versions of the current workbook To see whether any previous versions of the active workbook are available, choose File ➪ Info. The Versions section lists the available old versions (if any) of the current workbook. In some cases, more than one autosaved version will be listed. In other cases, no autosaved versions will be available. You can open an autosaved version by clicking its name. Remember that opening an autosaved version won’t automatically replace the current version of your workbook. Therefore, you can decide whether the autosaved version is preferable to the current version. Or you can just copy some information that may have been accidentally deleted and paste it to your current workbook. When you close the workbook, the autosaved versions are deleted. Recovering unsaved work When you close a workbook without saving your changes, Excel asks whether you’re sure. If that unsaved workbook has an autosaved version, the Are You Sure dialog box informs you of that fact. To recover a workbook that you closed without saving, choose File ➪ Info ➪ Manage Versions ➪ Recover Unsaved Workbooks. You’ll see a list of all draft versions of your workbooks. You can open them and (if you’re lucky) recover something that you needed. Note that the unsaved workbooks are stored in the XLSB ﬁle format and are read-only ﬁles. If you want to save one of these ﬁles, you need to provide a new name. Draft versions are deleted after four days or when you edit the ﬁle. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 163 c07.indd 09/29/2015 Page 164 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Configuring AutoRecover Normally, AutoRecover ﬁles are saved every ten minutes. You can adjust the AutoRecover save time in the Save tab of the Excel Options dialog box. You can specify a save interval between 1 and 120 minutes. If you work with sensitive documents, you might prefer that previous versions aren’t saved automatically on your computer. The Save tab of the Excel Options dialog box lets you disable this feature completely or disable it just for a speciﬁc workbook. File-Naming Rules Excel workbook files are subject to the same rules that apply to other Windows files. A filename can be up to 255 characters, including spaces. This length enables you to give meaningful names to your files. You can’t, however, use any of the following characters in your filenames: ■ \ (slash) ■ ? (question mark) ■ : (colon) ■ * (asterisk) ■ “ (quote) ■ < (less than) ■ > (greater than) ■ | (vertical bar) You can use uppercase and lowercase letters in your names to improve readability, but the filenames aren’t case sensitive. For example, My 2016 Budget.xlsx and MY 2016 BUDGET.xlsx are equivalent names. Password-Protecting a Workbook In some cases, you may want to specify a password for your workbook. When a user attempts to open a password-protected workbook, a password must be entered before the ﬁle is opened. To set a password for a workbook, follow these steps: 1. Choose File ➪ Info, and click the Protect Workbook button. This button displays some additional options in a drop-down list. 2. Choose Encrypt with Password from the list. Excel displays the Encrypt Document dialog box, shown in Figure 7.1. 164 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c07.indd 09/29/2015 Page 165 Chapter 7: Understanding Excel Files FIGURE 7.1 The Encrypt Document dialog box is where you specify a password for your workbook. 7 3. Enter the password, and then enter it again. 4. Click OK, and save the workbook. When you reopen the workbook, you’ll be prompted for a password. Passwords are case sensitive. Be careful when using password protection because it’s impossible to open the workbook (using normal methods) if you forget the password. Also, remember that Excel passwords can be cracked, so it’s not a perfect security measure. Organizing Your Files If you have hundreds of Excel ﬁles, you might have a problem locating the workbook that you need. Using descriptive ﬁlenames can help. Using folders and subfolders (with descriptive names) also makes it easier to ﬁ nd the particular ﬁle you need. In some cases, though, that’s not enough. Fortunately, Excel lets you assign a variety of descriptive information (sometimes known as metadata) to a workbook. These are known as document properties. This information includes such items as the author, tags, and categories. When you choose File ➪ Info, you can view (or modify) the document properties for the active workbook. This information is shown on the right side of the screen. To access even more properties for your workbook, click the down arrow on Properties and choose Advanced Properties. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 165 c07.indd 09/29/2015 Page 166 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Other Workbook Info Options The Info pane of Backstage view displays more ﬁle-related options. To display this pane, choose File ➪ Info. These options, described in the following sections, may be useful if you plan to distribute your workbook to others. Note that not all workbooks display all the options described in the following sections. Only the relevant options are shown. Protect Workbook options The File ➪ Info ➪ Protect Workbook drop-down list contains the following options: ■ Mark as Final: Use this option to designate the workbook as “ﬁ nal.” The document is saved as a read-only ﬁle to prevent changes. This isn’t a security feature. Rather, the Mark as Final command is useful to let others know that you’re sharing a completed version of a workbook. ■ Encrypt with Password: Use this command to specify a password that is required to open the workbook. (See “Password-Protecting a Workbook,” earlier in this chapter.) ■ Protect Current Sheet: This command lets you protect various elements of a worksheet. It displays the same dialog box as the Review ➪ Changes ➪ Protect Sheet command. ■ Protect Workbook Structure: This command lets you protect the structure of a workbook. It displays the same dialog box as Review ➪ Changes ➪ Protect Workbook. ■ Add a Digital Signature: This command allows you to “sign” a workbook digitally. See Chapter 30, “Protecting Your Work,” for more information about protecting worksheets, protecting workbooks, and using digital signatures. Check for Issues options The File ➪ Info ➪ Check for Issues drop-down list contains the following options: 166 ■ Inspect Document: This command displays the Document Inspector dialog box. The Document Inspector can alert you to some potentially private information that may be contained in your workbook — perhaps information that’s contained in hidden rows or columns or hidden worksheets. If you plan to make a workbook available to a large audience, it’s an excellent idea to use the Document Inspector for a ﬁ nal check. ■ Check Accessibility: This command checks the workbook for potential problems that might occur for people with disabilities. The results of the check are displayed in a task pane in the workbook. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c07.indd 09/29/2015 Page 167 Chapter 7: Understanding Excel Files ■ Check Compatibility: This command is useful if you need to save your workbook in an older ﬁle format. It displays a helpful Compatibility Checker dialog box that lists potential compatibility problems. This dialog box also appears when you save a workbook using an older ﬁle format. (For more information, see “Excel File Compatibility,” later in this chapter.) Manage Versions options If Excel automatically saved previous versions of your workbook, you can recover one of the earlier versions. Browser View options If your workbook will be viewed in a web browser, you can specify which sheets will be viewable. 7 Compatibility Mode section If the active workbook is an old workbook opened in compatibility mode, you’ll see the Compatibility Mode section in the Info pane. To convert the workbook to the current Excel ﬁle format, click the Convert button. Be aware that this command deletes the original version of the file, which seems like a rather drastic measure. It’s probably wise to make a copy of your workbook before you use this command. Closing Workbooks After you’re ﬁnished with a workbook, you can close it to free the memory that it uses. Other workbooks will remain open. When you close the last open workbook, you also close Excel. You can close a workbook by using any of the following methods: ■ Choose File ➪ Close. ■ Click the Close button (the X) in the right corner of the window’s title bar. ■ Double-click the Excel icon on the left side of the workbook’s title bar. ■ Press Ctrl+F4. ■ Press Ctrl+W. If you’ve made any changes to your workbook since it was last saved, Excel asks whether you want to save the changes to the workbook before closing it. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 167 c07.indd 09/29/2015 Page 168 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Safeguarding Your Work Nothing is more frustrating than spending hours creating a complicated Excel workbook only to have it destroyed by a power failure, a hard drive crash, or even human error. Fortunately, protecting yourself from these disasters is not a difﬁcult task. Earlier in the chapter, I discussed the AutoRecover feature that makes Excel save a backup copy of your workbook at regular intervals (see “Using AutoRecover”). AutoRecover is a good idea, but it certainly isn’t the only backup protection you should use. If a workbook is important, you need to take extra steps to ensure its safety. The following backup options help ensure the safety of individual ﬁles: ■ Keep a backup copy of the ﬁle on the same drive. Although this option offers some protection if you make a mess of the workbook, it won’t do you any good if the entire hard drive crashes. ■ Keep a backup copy on a different hard drive. This method assumes, of course, that your system has more than one hard drive. This option offers more protection than the preceding method because the likelihood that both hard drives will fail is remote. If the entire system is destroyed or stolen, however, you’re out of luck. ■ Keep a backup copy on a network server. This method assumes that your system is connected to a server on which you can write ﬁles. This method is fairly safe. If the network server is located in the same building, however, you’re at risk if the entire building burns down or is otherwise destroyed. ■ Keep a backup copy on an Internet backup site. Several websites specialize in storing backup ﬁles. ■ Keep a backup copy on a removable medium. This is probably the safest method. Using a removable medium, such as a USB drive, enables you to physically take the backup to another location. So if your system (or the entire building) is damaged, your backup copy remains intact. Excel File Compatibility It’s important to understand the limitations regarding version compatibility. Even though your colleague is able to open your ﬁle, there is no guarantee that everything will function correctly or look the same. Checking compatibility If you save your workbook to an older ﬁle format (such as .xls, for versions prior to Excel 2007), Excel automatically runs the Compatibility Checker. The Compatibility Checker identiﬁes the elements of your workbook that will result in loss of functionality or ﬁdelity (cosmetics). 168 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c07.indd 09/29/2015 Page 169 Chapter 7: Understanding Excel Files Figure 7.2 shows the Compatibility Checker dialog box. Click the Select Versions to Show button to limit the compatibility checking to a speciﬁc version of Excel. FIGURE 7.2 The Compatibility Checker is a useful tool for those who share workbooks with other people. 7 The bottom part of the Compatibility Checker lists the potential compatibility problems. To display the results in a more readable format, click the Copy to New Sheet button. Keep in mind that compatibility problems also can occur with Excel 2007, Excel 2010, and Excel 2013, even though these versions use the same ﬁle format as Excel 2016. You can’t expect features that are new to a particular version of Excel to work in earlier versions. For example, if you use the new forecasting functions (a feature introduced in Excel 2016) and send it to a colleague who uses Excel 2013, functions will not be recognized. The Compatibility Checker identiﬁes these types of problems. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 169 c07.indd 09/29/2015 Page 170 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Excel 2016 can open all files created with earlier versions of Excel. Recognizing the Excel 2016 file formats The Excel ﬁle formats (all of which were introduced in Excel 2007) are ■ XLSX: A workbook ﬁle that does not contain macros ■ XLSM: A workbook ﬁle that contains macros ■ XLTX: A workbook template ﬁle that does not contain macros ■ XLTM: A workbook template ﬁle that contains macros ■ XLSA: An add-in ﬁle ■ XLSB: A binary ﬁle similar to the old XLS format but able to accommodate the new features ■ XLSK: A backup ﬁle With the exception of XLSB, these are all “open” XML ﬁles, which means that the ﬁle format is not proprietary and other applications can read and write these types of ﬁles. XML files are actually zip-compressed text files. If you rename one of these files to have a .zip extension, you’ll be able to examine the contents using any of several zip file utilities — including the zip file support built into Windows. An exception is if the workbook requires a password to open. Taking a look at the innards of an Excel workbook is an interesting exercise for curious-minded users. Saving a file for use with an older version of Excel To save a ﬁle for use with an older version of Excel, choose File ➪ Save As. In the Save As dialog box, select one of the following from the Save as Type drop-down list: ■ Excel 97–2003 Workbook (*.xls): If the ﬁle will be used by someone who has Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003 ■ Microsoft Excel 5.0/95 Workbook (*.xls): If the ﬁle will be used by someone who has Excel 5 or Excel 95 Make sure you run the Compatibility Checker ﬁ rst to ensure that nothing critical will be lost. 170 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c08.indd 09/29/2015 Page 171 CHAPTER 8 Using and Creating Templates IN THIS CHAPTER Understanding Excel templates Working with the default templates Creating custom templates A template is essentially a model that serves as the basis for something else. An Excel template is a special type of workbook that’s used as the basis to create other workbooks. This chapter discusses some of the templates available from Microsoft and describes how to create your own template ﬁles. Creating a template takes some time, but in the long run, doing so may save you a lot of work. Exploring Excel Templates The best way to become familiar with Excel template ﬁles is to jump in and try a few. Excel 2016 gives you quick access to hundreds of template ﬁles. Examining templates is also a good way to learn about Excel. You may discover some techniques that you can incorporate into your own work. Viewing templates To explore the Excel templates, choose File ➪ New. The template thumbnails displayed on the screen that appears are just a small sampling of those that are available. Click one of the suggested search terms, or enter a descriptive word and search for more. The searching is done at Microsoft Office Online, so you must be connected to the Internet to search for templates. For example, enter invoice and click the Search button. Excel displays many more thumbnails, and you can narrow the search by using the category ﬁlters on the right. 171 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c08.indd 09/29/2015 Page 172 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Figure 8.1 shows the results of a template search for invoice. FIGURE 8.1 The New page in Backstage view allows you to search for templates. Microsoft Office Online has a variety of templates. Some are better than others, so if you download a few duds, don’t give up. Even though a template may not be perfect, you may be able to modify it to meet your needs. Modifying an existing template is often easier than creating a workbook from scratch. Creating a workbook from a template To create a workbook based on a template, just locate a template that looks like it might do the job, and click the thumbnail. Excel displays a box with a larger image, the source for the template, and some additional information. If it still looks good, click the Create button. Otherwise, click one of the arrows to view details for the next (or previous) template in the list. When you click the Create button, Excel downloads the template and then creates a new workbook based on that template. 172 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c08.indd 09/29/2015 Page 173 Chapter 8: Using and Creating Templates What you do next depends on the template. Every template is different, but most are selfexplanatory. Some workbooks require customization. Just replace the generic information with your own information. It’s important to understand that you’re not working with the template file. Instead, you’re working with a workbook that was created from the template file. If you make any changes, you’re not changing the template — you’re changing the workbook that’s based on the template. After you download a template from Microsoft Office Online, that template is saved for future use. (You won’t have to download it again.) Downloaded templates appear as thumbnails when you choose File ➪ New. Figure 8.2 shows a workbook created from a template. This workbook needs to be customized in several areas. But if this template will be used again, it’s more efﬁcient to customize the template rather than every workbook created from the template. If you want to save the newly created workbook, click the Save button. Excel proposes a ﬁlename based on the template’s name, but you can use any ﬁlename you like. FIGURE 8.2 A workbook created from a template. 8 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 173 c08.indd 09/29/2015 Page 174 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Modifying a template A template ﬁle that you download is just like a workbook ﬁle. You can open a template ﬁle, make changes to it, and then resave it. For example, with the invoice template shown in Figure 8.2, you may want to modify the template so that it shows your company information and logo and uses your actual sales tax rate. Then, when you use that template in the future, the workbook created from it will already be customized. To open a template for editing, choose File ➪ Open (not File ➪ New) and locate the template ﬁle (it will have an .xltx, .xltm, or .xlt extension). When you open a template ﬁle by choosing File ➪ Open, you’re opening the actual template ﬁle — you are not creating a workbook from the template ﬁle. One way to ﬁ nd the location of your downloaded template ﬁles is to look at your trusted locations list: 1. Choose File ➪ Options. The Excel Options dialog box appears. 2. Choose Trust Center, and click the Trust Center Settings button. The Trust Center dialog box appears. 3. In the Trust Center dialog box, choose Trusted Locations. You’ll see a list of trusted locations. Downloaded templates are stored in the location described as User Templates. If you want to modify (or delete) a downloaded template, this is where you’ll ﬁ nd it. On my system, downloaded templates are stored here: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates\ After you’ve made changes to the template, use File ➪ Save to save the template ﬁle. Future workbooks that you create from this template will use the modiﬁed version of the template. Understanding Custom Excel Templates So far, this chapter has focused on templates that were created by others and downloaded to your computer. The remainder of the chapter deals with custom templates — templates that you create. Why create custom templates? The main reason is to make your job easier. For example, you may always like to use a particular header or footer on your printouts. Consequently, the ﬁ rst time that you print a worksheet, you need to spend time entering the header and footer information. Although entering the header and footer doesn’t take much time, wouldn’t it be easier if Excel simply remembered your favorite page settings and used them automatically? 174 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c08.indd 09/29/2015 Page 175 Chapter 8: Using and Creating Templates The solution is to modify the template that Excel uses to create new workbooks. In this case, the modiﬁcation consists of inserting your header into the template. Save the template ﬁle using a special name, and then every new workbook that you create (including the workbook created when Excel starts) has your customized page settings. Excel supports three types of templates, which I discuss in the following sections: ■ The default workbook template: Used as the basis for new workbooks. ■ The default worksheet template: Used as the basis for new worksheets inserted into a workbook. ■ Custom workbook templates: Usually, these ready-to-run workbooks include formulas, but they can be as simple or as complex as you like. Typically, these templates are set up so that a user can simply plug in values and get immediate results. The Microsoft Ofﬁce Online templates (discussed earlier in this chapter) are examples of this type of template. Working with the default templates The term default template may be a little misleading. If you haven’t created your own template ﬁles to control the default settings, Excel uses its own internal settings — not an actual template ﬁle. In other words, Excel uses your template ﬁles to set the defaults for new workbooks or worksheets, if these ﬁles exist. But if you haven’t created these ﬁles, Excel is perfectly happy to use its own settings. Using the workbook template to change workbook defaults Every new workbook that you create starts out with some default settings. For example, the workbook has three worksheets, the worksheet has gridlines, the page header and footer are blank, text appears in the font deﬁ ned in the default Normal style, columns are 8.43 units wide, and so on. If you’re not happy with any of the default workbook settings, you can change them by creating a workbook template. Making changes to Excel’s default workbook is fairly easy to do and can save you lots of time in the long run. Here’s how to change Excel’s workbook defaults: 1. Open a new workbook. 2. Add or delete sheets to give the workbook the number of worksheets that you want. 3. Make any other changes that you want to make, which can include column widths, named styles, page setup options, and many of the settings that are available in the Excel Options dialog box. To change the default formatting for cells, choose Home ➪ Styles ➪ Cell Styles and then modify the settings for the Normal style. For example, you can change the default font, size, or number format. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 175 8 c08.indd 09/29/2015 Page 176 Part I: Getting Started with Excel 4. When your workbook is set up to your liking, choose File ➪ Save As ➪ Browse. The Save As dialog box appears. 5. Select Excel Template (*.xltx) from the Save As Type list. If your template contains VBA macros, select Excel Macro-Enabled Template (*.xltm). 6. Enter book for the ﬁlename. Excel will offer a name, such as Book1.xltx. You must change this name to book.xltx (or book.xltm) if you want Excel to use your template to set the workbook defaults. 7. Save the ﬁle in your XLStart folder (not in the Templates folder that Excel proposes). One way to find the location of your XLStart folder is to look at your trusted locations list. Choose File ➪ Options to display the Excel Options dialog box. Then choose Trust Center, and click the Trust Center Settings button. In the Trust Center dialog box, choose Trusted Locations, and you’ll see a list of trusted locations. The location for your book.xltx file is the location described as User StartUp. On my system, the folder is C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART\ 8. Close the template ﬁle. After you perform the preceding steps, the new default workbook is based on the book .xltx (or book.xltm) workbook template. You can create a workbook based on your template by using any of these methods: ■ Press Ctrl+N. ■ Open Excel without ﬁ rst selecting a workbook to open. This option works only if you disable the option to show the Start screen when Excel starts. This option is speciﬁed in the General tab of the Excel Options dialog box. (Choose File ➪ Options to display the Excel Options dialog box.) The book.xltx template is not used if you choose File ➪ New and choose Blank Workbook from the list of templates. That command results in a default workbook and provides a way to override the custom book.xltx template if you need to. Creating a worksheet template You can also create a single sheet template named sheet.xltx. Use the same procedure described for book.xltx. The sheet.xltx template is used when you insert a new worksheet. 176 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c08.indd 09/29/2015 Page 177 Chapter 8: Using and Creating Templates Editing your template After you create your book.xltx template, you may discover that you need to change it. You can open the template ﬁle and edit it just like any other workbook. After you make your changes, save the ﬁle to its original location and close it. Resetting the default workbook If you create a book.xltx ﬁle and then decide that you’d rather use the standard default settings, simply delete (or rename) the book.xltx template ﬁle. Excel then uses its built-in default settings for new workbooks. Creating custom templates The book.xltx template discussed in the preceding section is a special type of template that determines default settings for new workbooks. This section discusses other types of templates, referred to as custom workbook templates, which are simply workbooks that you set up as the basis for new speciﬁc types of workbooks. Creating a custom workbook template can eliminate repeating work. Assume that you create a monthly sales report that consists of your company’s sales by region, plus several summary calculations and charts. You can create a template ﬁle that consists of everything except the input values. Then when it’s time to create your report, you can open a workbook based on the template, ﬁll in the blanks, and be ﬁ nished. You could, of course, just use the previous month’s workbook and save it with a different name. This is prone to errors, however, because you easily can forget to use the Save As command and accidentally overwrite the previous month’s file. Another option is to choose File ➪ Open and choose Open as Copy in the Open dialog box. (This command appears when you click the arrow on the Open button.) Opening a file as a copy creates a new workbook from an existing one, but it uses a different name to ensure that the old file is not overwritten. When you create a workbook that’s based on a template, the default workbook name is the template name with a number appended. For example, if you create a new workbook based on a template named Sales Report.xltx, the workbook’s default name is Sales Report1.xlsx. The ﬁ rst time that you save a workbook created from a template, Excel displays the Save As dialog box so that you can give the workbook a different name if you want to. A custom template is essentially a normal workbook. It can use any Excel feature, such as charts, formulas, and macros. Usually, a template is set up so that the user can enter values and get immediate results. In other words, most templates include everything but the data, which the user enters. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 177 8 c08.indd 09/29/2015 Page 178 Part I: Getting Started with Excel If your template contains macros, it must be saved as an Excel Macro-Enabled Template, with an .xltm extension. Locking Formula Cells in a Template File If novices will use the template, you might consider locking all the formula cells to make sure that the formulas aren’t deleted or modified. By default, all cells are locked and can’t be changed when the worksheet is protected. The following steps describe how to unlock the nonformula cells: 1. Choose Home ➪ Editing ➪ Find & Select ➪ Go to Special. The Go to Special dialog box appears. 2. Select Constants and click OK. This step selects all nonformula cells. 3. Press Ctrl+1. The Format Cells dialog box appears. 4. Select the Protection tab. 5. Remove the check mark from the Locked check box. 6. Click OK to close the Format Cells dialog box. 7. Choose Review ➪ Changes ➪ Protect Sheet. The Protect Sheet dialog box appears. 8. Specify a password (optional), and click OK. After you perform these steps, you can’t modify the formula cells unless the sheet is unprotected. Saving your custom templates To save a workbook as a template, choose File ➪ Save As ➪ Browse and select Template (*.xltx) from the Save as Type drop-down list. If the workbook contains any VBA macros, select Excel Macro-Enabled Template (*.xltm). Save the template in your Templates folder — which Excel automatically suggests — or a folder within that Templates folder. If you later discover that you want to modify the template, choose File ➪ Open to open and edit the template. Using custom templates To create a workbook based on a custom template, choose File ➪ New, and then click Personal (below the search box). You’ll see thumbnails of all your custom worksheet templates (plus others). Double-click a template, and Excel creates a workbook based on the template. 178 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c08.indd 09/29/2015 Page 179 Chapter 8: Using and Creating Templates Getting ideas for creating templates This section provides a few ideas that may spark your imagination for creating templates. The following is a partial list of the settings that you can adjust and use in your custom templates: ■ Multiple formatted worksheets: You can, for example, create a workbook template that has two worksheets — one formatted to print in landscape mode and one formatted to print in portrait mode. ■ Style: The best approach is to choose Home ➪ Styles ➪ Cell Styles and modify the attributes of the Normal style. For example, you can change the font, font size, and alignment. ■ Custom number formats: If you create number formats that you use frequently, you can store them in a template. ■ Column widths and row heights: You may prefer that columns be wider or narrower, or you may want the rows to be taller. ■ Print settings: Change these settings in the Page Layout tab. You can adjust the page orientation, paper size, margins, and several other attributes. ■ Header and footer: You enter custom headers or footers in Page Layout view. (Choose View ➪ Workbook Views ➪ Page Layout.) ■ Sheet settings: These options are in the Show group on the View tab and on the Advanced tab of the Excel Options dialog box (in the Display Options for This Worksheet section). Options include row and column header, page break display, gridlines, and more. Of course, you can also create complete workbooks and save them as templates. For example, if you frequently need to produce a speciﬁc report, you may want to create a template that has everything for the report except for the data you need to enter. By saving your master copy as a template, you’re less likely to overwrite the original ﬁle when you save the ﬁle after enter ing your data. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 179 8 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c09.indd 08/13/2015 Page 181 CHAPTER Printing Your Work 9 IN THIS CHAPTER Changing your worksheet view Adjusting your print settings for better results Preventing some cells from being printed Using the Custom Views feature Creating PDF files D espite predictions of the “paperless ofﬁce,” reports printed on paper remain commonplace, and ofﬁce printers will be around for a long time. Many worksheets that you develop with Excel will eventually end up as hard-copy reports. You’ll ﬁ nd that printing from Excel is quite easy and that you can generate attractive, well-formatted reports with minimal effort. In addition, Excel has many options that give you a great deal of control over the printed page. These options are explained in this chapter. Basic Printing If you want to print a copy of a worksheet with no fuss and bother, use the Quick Print option. One way to access this command is to choose File ➪ Print (which displays the Print pane of Backstage view) and then click the Print button. If you like the idea of one-click printing, take a few seconds to add a new button to your Quick Access toolbar. Click the downward-pointing arrow on the right of the Quick Access toolbar and then choose Quick Print from the drop-down list. Excel adds the Quick Print icon to your Quick Access toolbar. 181 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c09.indd 08/13/2015 Page 182 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Clicking the Quick Print button prints the current worksheet on the currently selected printer, using the default print settings. If you’ve changed any of the default print settings (by using the Page Layout tab), Excel uses the new settings; otherwise, it uses the following default settings: ■ Prints the active worksheet (or all selected worksheets), including any embedded charts or objects ■ Prints one copy ■ Prints the entire active worksheet ■ Prints in portrait mode ■ Doesn’t scale the printed output ■ Uses letter-size paper with 0.75-inch margins for the top and bottom and 0.70-inch margins for the left and right margins (for the U.S. version) ■ Prints with no headers or footers ■ Doesn’t print cell comments ■ Prints with no cell gridlines ■ For wide worksheets that span multiple pages, prints down and then over When you print a worksheet, Excel prints only the active area of the worksheet. In other words, it won’t print all 17 billion cells — just those that have data in them. If the worksheet contains any embedded charts or other graphic objects (such as SmartArt or Shapes), they’re also printed. Using Print Preview When you choose File ➪ Print (or press Ctrl+P), Backstage view displays a preview of your printed output, exactly as it will be printed. Initially, Excel displays the first page of your printed output. To view subsequent pages, use the page controls along the bottom of the preview pane (or use the vertical scrollbar along the right side of the screen). The Print Preview window has a few other commands (at the bottom) that you can use while previewing your output. For multipage printout, use the page number controls to quickly jump to a particular page. The Show Margins button toggles the display of margins, and Zoom to Page ensures that a complete page is displayed. When the Show Margins option is in effect, Excel adds markers to the preview that indicate column borders and margins. You can drag the column or margin markers to make changes that appear onscreen. Changes that you make to column widths in preview mode are also made in the actual worksheet. Print Preview is certainly useful, but you may prefer to use Page Layout view to preview your output (see “Changing Your Page View”). 182 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c09.indd 08/13/2015 Page 183 Chapter 9: Printing Your Work Changing Your Page View Page Layout view shows your worksheet divided into pages. In other words, you can visualize your printed output while you work. Page Layout view is one of three worksheet views, which are controlled by the three icons on the right side of the status bar. You could also use the commands in the View ➪ Workbook Views group on the Ribbon to switch views. The three view options are ■ Normal: The default view of the worksheet. This view may or may not show page breaks. ■ Page Layout: Shows individual pages. ■ Page Break Preview: Allows you to manually adjust page breaks. Just click one of the icons to change the view. You can also use the Zoom slider to change the magniﬁcation from 10% (a very tiny, bird’s-eye view) to 400% (very large, for showing ﬁ ne detail). The following sections describe how these views can help with printing. Normal view Most of the time when you work in Excel, you use Normal view. Normal view can display page breaks in the worksheet. The page breaks are indicated by horizontal and vertical dotted lines. These page break lines adjust automatically if you change the page orientation, add or delete rows or columns, change row heights, change column widths, and so on. For example, if you ﬁ nd that your printed output is too wide to ﬁt on a single page, you can adjust the column widths (keeping an eye on the page break display) until the columns are narrow enough to print on one page. 9 Page breaks aren’t displayed until you print (or preview) the worksheet at least one time. Page breaks are also displayed if you set a print area by choosing Page Layout ➪ Page Setup ➪ Print Area. If you’d prefer not to see the page break display in Normal view, choose File ➪ Options and select the Advanced tab. Scroll down to the Display Options for This Worksheet section and remove the check mark from Show Page Breaks. This setting applies only to the active worksheet. Unfortunately, the option to turn off page break display is not on the Ribbon, and it’s not even available for inclusion on the Quick Access toolbar. This is another one of those little annoyances that I expect Microsoft to fix one of these times. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 183 c09.indd 08/13/2015 Page 184 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Figure 9.1 shows a worksheet in Normal view, zoomed out to show multiple pages. Notice the dotted lines that indicate page breaks. FIGURE 9.1 In Normal view, dotted lines indicate page breaks. Page Layout view Page Layout view is the ultimate print preview. Unlike the preview in Backstage view (choose File ➪ Print), this mode is not a view-only mode. You have complete access to all Excel commands. In fact, you can use Page Layout view all the time if you like. 184 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c09.indd 08/13/2015 Page 185 Chapter 9: Printing Your Work Figure 9.2 shows a worksheet in Page Layout view, zoomed out to show multiple pages. Notice that the page header and footer (if any) appear on each page. If you’ve speciﬁed any repeated rows and columns, they also display — giving you a true preview of the printed output. FIGURE 9.2 In Page Layout view, the worksheet resembles printed pages. 9 If you move the mouse to the corner of a page while in Page Layout view, you can click to hide the white space in the margins. Doing so gives you all the advantages of Page Layout view, but you can see more information onscreen because the unused margin space is hidden. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 185 c09.indd 08/13/2015 Page 186 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Page Break Preview Page Break Preview displays the worksheet and the page breaks. Figure 9.3 shows an example. This view mode is different from Normal view mode with page breaks turned on. The key difference is that you can drag the page breaks. Unlike Page Layout view, Page Break Preview does not display headers and footers. FIGURE 9.3 Page Break Preview mode gives you a bird’s-eye view of your worksheet and shows exactly where the page breaks occur. 186 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c09.indd 08/13/2015 Page 187 Chapter 9: Printing Your Work When you enter Page Break Preview, Excel performs the following: ■ Changes the zoom factor so that you can see more of the worksheet. ■ Displays the page numbers overlaid on the pages. ■ Displays the current print range with a white background; nonprinting data appears with a gray background. ■ Displays all page breaks as draggable dashed lines. When you change the page breaks by dragging, Excel automatically adjusts the scaling so that the information ﬁts on the pages, per your speciﬁcations. In Page Break Preview, you still have access to all Excel commands. You can change the zoom factor if you find the text to be too small. To exit Page Break Preview, just click one of the other View icons on the right side of the status bar. Adjusting Common Page Setup Settings Clicking the Quick Print button (or choosing File ➪ Print ➪ Print) may produce acceptable results in many cases, but a little tweaking of the print settings can often improve your printed reports. You can adjust print settings in three places: ■ The Print settings screen in Backstage view, displayed when you choose File ➪ Print. ■ The Page Layout tab of the Ribbon. ■ The Page Setup dialog box, displayed when you click the dialog launcher in the lower-right corner of the Page Layout ➪ Page Setup group on the Ribbon. You can also access the Page Setup dialog box from the Print settings screen in Backstage view. Table 9.1 summarizes the locations where you can make various types of print-related adjustments in Excel 2016. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 187 9 c09.indd 08/13/2015 Page 188 Part I: Getting Started with Excel TABLE 9.1 Where to Change Printer Settings Print Settings Screen Setting Number of copies X Printer to use X What to print X Specify worksheet print area Page Layout Tab of Ribbon Page Setup Dialog Box X X X X X X X X X X 1-sided or 2-sided X Collated X Orientation Paper size Adjust margins X Specify manual page breaks X Specify repeating rows or columns X Set print scaling X X Print or hide gridlines X X Print or hide row and column headings X X Specify the first page number X Center output on page X Specify header/footers and options X Specify how to print cell comments X Specify page order X Specify black-and-white output X Specify how to print error cells X Launch dialog box for printer-specific settings X X Table 9.1 might make printing seem more complicated than it really is. The key point to remember is this: if you can’t ﬁnd a way to make a particular adjustment, it’s probably available from the Page Setup dialog box. Choosing your printer To switch to a different printer or output device, choose File ➪ Print, and use the dropdown control in the Printer section to select a different installed printer. 188 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c09.indd 08/13/2015 Page 189 Chapter 9: Printing Your Work To adjust printer settings, click the Printer Properties link to display a property box for the selected printer. The exact dialog box that you see depends on the printer. The Properties dialog box lets you adjust printer-specific settings, such as the print quality and the paper source. In most cases, you won’t have to change any of these settings, but if you’re having print-related problems, you may want to check the settings. Specifying what you want to print Sometimes you may want to print only a part of the worksheet rather than the entire active area. Or you may want to reprint selected pages of a report without printing all the pages. Choose File ➪ Print, and use the controls in the Settings section to specify what to print. You have several options: ■ Print Active Sheets: Prints the active sheet or sheets that you selected. (This option is the default.) You can select multiple sheets to print by pressing Ctrl and clicking the sheet tabs. If you select multiple sheets, Excel begins printing each sheet on a new page. ■ Print Entire Workbook: Prints the entire workbook, including chart sheets. ■ Print Selection: Prints only the range that you selected before choosing File ➪ Print. ■ Print Selected Chart: Appears only if a chart is selected. If this option is chosen, only the chart will be printed. ■ Print Selected Table: Appears only if the cell pointer is within a table (created by choosing Insert ➪ Tables ➪ Table) when the Print Setting screen is displayed. If this option is chosen, only the table will be printed. 9 You can also choose Page Layout ➪ Page Setup ➪ Print Area ➪ Set Print Area to specify the range(s) to print. Before you choose this command, select the range(s) that you want to print. To clear the print area, choose Page Layout ➪ Page Setup ➪ Print Area ➪ Clear Print Area. To override the print area, select the Ignore Print Area check box in the list of Print What options. The print area does not have to be a single range. You make a multiple selection before you set the print area. Each area will print on a separate page. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 189 c09.indd 08/13/2015 Page 190 Part I: Getting Started with Excel If your printed output uses multiple pages, you can select which pages to print by indicating the number of the ﬁ rst and last pages to print by using Pages controls in the Settings section. You can either use the spinner controls or type the page numbers in the edit boxes. Changing page orientation Page orientation refers to the way output is printed on the page. Choose Page Layout ➪ Page Setup ➪ Orientation ➪ Portrait to print tall pages (the default) or Page Layout ➪ Page Setup ➪ Orientation ➪ Landscape to print wide pages. Landscape orientation is useful when you have a wide range that doesn’t ﬁt on a vertically oriented page. If you change the orientation, the onscreen page breaks adjust automatically to accommodate the new paper orientation. Page orientation settings are also available when you choose File ➪ Print. Specifying paper size Choose Page Layout ➪ Page Setup ➪ Size to specify the paper size you’re using. The paper size settings are also available when you choose File ➪ Print. Even though Excel displays a variety of paper sizes, your printer may not be capable of using all of them. Printing multiple copies of a report Use the Copies control at the top of the Print tab in Backstage View to specify the number of copies to print. Just enter the number of copies you want and then click Print. If you’re printing multiple copies of a report, make sure that the Collated option is selected so that Excel prints the pages in order for each set of output. If you’re printing only one page, Excel ignores the Collated setting. Adjusting the page margins Margins are the unprinted areas along the sides, top, and bottom of a printed page. Excel provides four “quick margin” settings; you can also specify the exact margin size you require. All printed pages have the same margins. You can’t specify different margins for different pages. 190 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c09.indd 08/13/2015 Page 191 Chapter 9: Printing Your Work In Page Layout view, a ruler is displayed above the column header and to the left of the row header. Use your mouse to drag the margins in the ruler. Excel adjusts the page display immediately. Use the horizontal ruler to adjust the left and right margins, and use the vertical ruler to adjust the top and bottom margins. From the Page Layout ➪ Page Setup ➪ Margins drop-down list, you can select Normal, Wide, Narrow, or the Last Custom Setting. These options are also available when you choose File ➪ Print. If none of these settings does the job, choose Custom Margins to display the Margins tab of the Page Setup dialog box, shown in Figure 9.4. FIGURE 9.4 The Margins tab of the Page Setup dialog box. 9 To change a margin, click the appropriate spinner (or you can enter a value directly). The margin settings that you specify in the Page Setup dialog box will then be available in the Page Layout ➪ Page Setup ➪ Margins drop-down list, referred to as Last Custom Setting. The Preview box in the center of the Page Setup dialog box is a bit deceiving because it doesn’t really show you how your changes look in relation to the page; instead, it displays a darker line to let you know which margin you’re adjusting. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 191 c09.indd 08/13/2015 Page 192 Part I: Getting Started with Excel You can also adjust margins in the preview window in Backstage view (choose File ➪ Print). Click the Show Margins button in the bottom-right corner to display the margins in the preview pane. Then drag the margin indicators to adjust the margins. In addition to the page margins, you can adjust the distance of the header from the top of the page and the distance of the footer from the bottom of the page. These settings should be less than the corresponding margin; otherwise, the header or footer may overlap with the printed output. By default, Excel aligns the printed page at the top and left margins. If you want the output to be centered vertically or horizontally, select the appropriate check box in the Center on Page section of the Margins tab. Understanding page breaks When printing lengthy reports, controlling where pages break is often important. For example, you probably don’t want a row to print on a page by itself, nor do you want a table header row to be the last line on a page. Fortunately, Excel gives you precise control over page breaks. Excel handles page breaks automatically, but sometimes you may want to force a page break — either a vertical or a horizontal one — so that the report prints the way you want. For example, if your worksheet consists of several distinct sections, you may want to print each section on a separate sheet of paper. Inserting a page break To insert a horizontal page break line, move the cell pointer to the cell that will begin the new page. Make sure that you place the pointer in column A, though; otherwise, you’ll insert a vertical page break and a horizontal page break. For example, if you want row 14 to be the ﬁ rst row of a new page, select cell A14. Then choose Page Layout ➪ Page Setup ➪ Breaks ➪ Insert Page Break. Page breaks are visualized differently, depending on which view mode you’re using. (See “Changing Your Page View,” earlier in this chapter.) 192 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c09.indd 08/13/2015 Page 193 Chapter 9: Printing Your Work To insert a vertical page break line, move the cell pointer to the cell that will begin the new page. In this case, though, make sure to place the pointer in row 1. Choose Page Layout ➪ Page Setup ➪ Breaks ➪ Insert Page Break to create the page break. Removing manual page breaks To remove a page break you’ve added, move the cell pointer to the ﬁ rst row beneath (or the ﬁ rst column to the right of) the manual page break and then choose Page Layout ➪ Page Setup ➪ Breaks ➪ Remove Page Break. To remove all manual page breaks in the worksheet, choose Page Layout ➪ Page Setup ➪ Breaks ➪ Reset All Page Breaks. Printing row and column titles If your worksheet is set up with titles in the ﬁ rst row and descriptive names in the ﬁ rst column, it can be difﬁcult to identify data that appears on printed pages where those titles don’t appear. To resolve this problem, you can choose to print selected rows or columns as titles on each page of the printout. Row and column titles serve pretty much the same purpose on a printout as frozen panes do in navigating within a worksheet. Keep in mind, however, that these features are independent of each other. In other words, freezing panes doesn’t affect the printed output. See Chapter 3, “Essential Worksheet Operations,” for more information on freezing panes. Don’t confuse print titles with headers; these are two different concepts. Headers appear at the top of each page and contain information, such as the worksheet name, date, or page number. Row and column titles describe the data being printed, such as field names in a database table or list. You can specify particular rows to repeat at the top of every printed page or particular columns to repeat at the left of every printed page. To do so, choose Page Layout ➪ Page Setup ➪ Print Titles. Excel displays the Sheet tab of the Page Setup dialog box, shown in Figure 9.5. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 193 9 c09.indd 08/13/2015 Page 194 Part I: Getting Started with Excel FIGURE 9.5 Use the Sheet tab of the Page Setup dialog box to specify rows or columns that will appear on each printed page. Activate the appropriate box (either Rows to Repeat at Top or Columns to Repeat at Left) and then select the rows or columns in the worksheet. Or you can enter these references manually. For example, to specify rows 1 and 2 as repeating rows, enter 1:2. When you specify row and column titles and use Page Layout view, these titles will repeat on every page (just as when the document is printed). However, the cells used in the title can be selected only on the page in which they first appear. Scaling printed output In some cases, you may need to force your printed output to ﬁt on a speciﬁc number of pages. You can do so by enlarging or reducing the size. To enter a scaling factor, choose Page Layout ➪ Scale to Fit ➪ Scale. You can scale the output from 10% up to 400%. To return to normal scaling, enter 100%. To force Excel to print using a speciﬁc number of pages, choose Page Layout ➪ Scale to Fit ➪ Width and Page Layout ➪ Scale to Fit ➪ Height. When you change either one of these settings, the corresponding scale factor is displayed in the Scale control. 194 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c09.indd 08/13/2015 Page 195 Chapter 9: Printing Your Work Excel doesn’t ensure legibility. It will gladly scale your output to be so small that no one can read it. Printing cell gridlines Typically, cell gridlines aren’t printed. If you want your printout to include the gridlines, choose Page Layout ➪ Sheet Options ➪ Gridlines ➪ Print. Alternatively, you can insert borders around some cells to simulate gridlines. See Chapter 6, “Worksheet Formatting,” for information about borders. Printing row and column headers By default, row and column headers for a worksheet are not printed. If you want your printout to include these items, choose Page Layout ➪ Sheet Options ➪ Headings ➪ Print. Using a background image Would you like to have a background image on your printouts? Unfortunately, you can’t. You may have noticed the Page Layout ➪ Page Setup ➪ Background command. This button displays a dialog box that lets you select an image to display as a background. Placing this control among the other print-related commands is misleading. Background images placed on a worksheet are never printed. In lieu of a true background image, you can insert WordArt, a Shape, or a picture on your worksheet and then adjust its transparency. Then copy the image to all printed pages. Alternatively, you can insert an object in a page header or footer. (See the next sidebar, “Inserting a Watermark.”) Inserting a Watermark A watermark is an image (or text) that appears on each printed page. A watermark can be a faint company logo or a word such as DRAFT. Excel doesn’t have an official command to print a watermark, but you can add a watermark by inserting a picture in the page header or footer. Here’s how: 1. Locate an image on your hard drive that you want to use for the watermark. 2. Choose View ➪ Workbook Views ➪ Page Layout View. Continues WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 195 9 c09.indd 08/13/2015 Page 196 Part I: Getting Started with Excel continued 3. Click the center section of the header. 4. Choose Header & Footer Tools ➪ Design ➪ Header & Footer Elements ➪ Picture. The Insert Pictures dialog box appears. 5. Click Browse and locate the image from step 1 (or locate a suitable image from other sources listed). 6. Click outside the header to see your image. 7. To center the image in the middle of the page, click the center section of the header and add some carriage returns before the &[Picture] code. You’ll need to experiment to determine the number of carriage returns required to push the image into the body of the document. 8. If you need to adjust the image (for example, make it lighter), click the center section of the header and then choose Header & Footer Tools ➪ Design ➪ Header & Footer Elements ➪ Format Picture. Use the Image controls in the Picture tab of the Format Picture dialog box to adjust the image. You may need to experiment with the settings to make sure that the worksheet text is legible. The accompanying figure shows an example of a header image (a copyright symbol) used as a watermark. You can do a similar thing with text, of course. 196 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c09.indd 08/13/2015 Page 197 Chapter 9: Printing Your Work Adding a Header or a Footer to Your Reports A header is information that appears at the top of each printed page. A footer is information that appears at the bottom of each printed page. By default, new workbooks do not have headers or footers. You can specify headers and footers by using the Header/Footer tab of the Page Setup dialog box. Or simplify the task by switching to Page Layout view, where you can click the section labeled Click to Add Header or Click to Add Footer. If you’re working in Normal view, you can choose Insert ➪ Text ➪ Header & Footer. Excel switches to Page Layout view and activates the center section of the page header. You can then type the information and apply any type of formatting you like. Note that headers and footers consist of three sections: left, center, and right. For example, you can create a header that prints your name at the left margin, the worksheet name centered in the header, and the page number at the right margin. If you want a consistent header or footer for all your documents, create a book.xltx template with your headers or footers specified. A book.xltx template is used as the basis for new workbooks. See Chapter 8, “Using and Creating Templates,” for details on creating a template. When you activate the header or footer section in Page Layout view, the Ribbon displays a new contextual tab: Header & Footer Tools ➪ Design. Use the controls on this tab to work with headers and footers. Selecting a predefined header or footer You can choose from a number of predeﬁ ned headers or footers by using either of the two drop-down lists in the Header & Footer Tools ➪ Design ➪ Header & Footer group. Notice that some items in these lists consist of multiple parts, separated by a comma. Each part goes into one of the three header or footer sections (left, center, or right). Figure 9.6 shows an example of a header that uses all three sections. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 197 9 c09.indd 08/13/2015 Page 198 Part I: Getting Started with Excel FIGURE 9.6 This three-part header is one of Excel’s predefined headers. Understanding header and footer element codes When a header or footer section is activated, you can type whatever text you like into the section. Or to insert variable information, you can insert any of several element codes by clicking a button in the Header & Footer Tools ➪ Design ➪ Header & Footer Elements group. Each button inserts a code into the selected section. For example, to insert the current date, click the Current Date button. Table 9.2 lists the buttons and their functions. TABLE 9.2 198 Header and Footer Buttons and Their Functions Button Code Function Page Number &[Page] Displays the page number Number of Pages &[Pages] Displays the total number of pages to be printed Current Date &[Date] Displays the current date WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c09.indd 08/13/2015 Page 199 Chapter 9: Printing Your Work Button Code Function Current Time &[Time] Displays the current time File Path &[Path]&[File] Displays the workbook’s complete path and filename File Name &[File] Displays the workbook name Sheet Name &[Tab] Displays the sheet’s name Picture Not applicable Enables you to add a picture Format Picture Not applicable Enables you to change an added picture’s settings You can combine text and codes and insert as many codes as you like into each section. If the text that you enter uses an ampersand (&), you must enter the ampersand twice (because Excel uses an ampersand to signal a code). For example, to enter the text Research & Development into a section of a header or footer, type Research && Development. You can also use different fonts and sizes in your headers and footers. Just select the text that you want to change and then use the formatting tools in the Home ➪ Font group. Or use the controls on the Mini toolbar, which appears automatically when you select the text. If you don’t change the font, Excel uses the font deﬁ ned for the Normal style. You can use as many lines as you like. Press Enter to force a line break for multiline headers or footers. If you use multiline headers or footers, you may need to adjust the top or bottom margin so the text won’t overlap with the worksheet data. (See “Adjusting the page margins,” earlier in this chapter.) Unfortunately, you can’t print the contents of a speciﬁc cell in a header or footer. For example, you may want Excel to use the contents of cell A1 as part of a header. To do so, you need to enter the cell’s contents manually — or write a VBA macro to perform this operation before the sheet is printed. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 199 9 c09.indd 08/13/2015 Page 200 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Other header and footer options When a header or footer is selected in Page Layout view, the Header & Footer ➪ Design ➪ Options group contains controls that let you specify other options: ■ Different First Page: If checked, you can specify a different header/footer for the ﬁ rst printed page. ■ Different Odd & Even Pages: If checked, you can specify a different header/footer for odd and even pages. ■ Scale with Document: If checked, the font size in the header and footer will be sized accordingly if the document is scaled when printed. This option is enabled by default. ■ Align with Page Margins: If checked, the left header and footer will be aligned with the left margin, and the right header and footer will be aligned with the right margin. This option is enabled by default. Other Print-Related Topics The following sections cover some additional topics related to printing from Excel. Copying Page Setup settings across Sheets Each Excel worksheet has its own print setup options (orientation, margins, headers and footers, and so on). These options are speciﬁed in the Page Setup group of the Page Layout tab. When you add a new sheet to a workbook, it contains the default page setup settings. Here’s an easy way to transfer the settings from one worksheet to additional worksheets: 1. Activate the sheet that contains the desired setup information. This is the source sheet. 2. Select the target sheets. Ctrl+click the sheet tabs of the sheets you want to update with the settings from the source sheet. 3. Click the dialog box launcher in the lower-right corner of the Page Layout ➪ Page Setup group. 200 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c09.indd 08/13/2015 Page 201 Chapter 9: Printing Your Work 4. When the Page Setup dialog box appears, click OK to close it. 5. Ungroup the sheets by right-clicking any selected sheet and choosing Ungroup Sheets from the shortcut menu. Because multiple sheets are selected when you close the Page Setup dialog box, the settings of the source sheet will be transferred to all target sheets. Two settings located on the Sheet tab of the Page Setup dialog box are not transferred: Print Area and Print Titles. In addition, pictures in the header or footer are not transferred. Preventing certain cells from being printed If your worksheet contains conﬁdential information, you may want to print the worksheet but not the conﬁdential parts. You can use several techniques to prevent certain parts of a worksheet from printing: ■ Hide rows or columns. When you hide rows or columns, the hidden rows or columns aren’t printed. Choose Home ➪ Cells ➪ Format drop-down list to hide the selected rows or columns. ■ Hide cells or ranges. ■ ■ You can hide cells or ranges by making the text color the same color as the background color. Be aware, however, that this method may not work for all printers. ■ You can hide cells by using a custom number format that consists of three semicolons (;;;). See Chapter 25, “Using Custom Number Formats,” for more information about using custom number formats. Mask an area. You can mask a conﬁdential area of a worksheet by covering it with a rectangle Shape. Choose Insert ➪ Illustrations ➪ Shapes and click the Rectangle Shape. You’ll probably want to adjust the ﬁll color to match the cell background and remove the border. If you ﬁ nd that you must regularly hide data before you print certain reports, consider using the Custom Views feature, discussed later in this chapter. (See “Creating custom views of your worksheet.”) This feature allows you to create a named view that doesn’t show the conﬁdential information. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 201 9 c09.indd 08/13/2015 Page 202 Part I: Getting Started with Excel Preventing objects from being printed To prevent objects on the worksheet (such as charts, Shapes, and SmartArt) from being printed, you need to access the Properties tab of the object’s Format dialog box (see Figure 9.7): 1. Right-click the object and choose Format xxxx from the shortcut menu. (xxxx varies, depending on the object.) 2. In the Format dialog box that opens for the object, click the Size & Properties icon. 3. Expand the Properties section of the dialog box. 4. Remove the check mark for Print Object. FIGURE 9.7 Use the Properties tab of the object’s Format dialog box to prevent objects from printing. For a chart, you must right-click the chart’s Chart Area (the background of the chart). Or double-click the chart’s border to display the Format Chart Area dialog box. Then expand the Properties section and remove the check mark from Print Object. 202 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c09.indd 08/13/2015 Page 203 Chapter 9: Printing Your Work Creating custom views of your worksheet If you need to create several different printed reports from the same Excel workbook, setting up the speciﬁc settings for each report can be a tedious job. For example, you may need to print a full report in landscape mode for your boss. Another department may require a simpliﬁed report using the same data, but with some hidden columns in portrait mode. You can simplify the process by creating custom named views of your worksheets that include the proper settings for each report. The Custom Views feature enables you to give names to various views of your worksheet. You can quickly switch among these named views. A view includes settings for the following: ■ Print settings, as speciﬁed in the Page Layout ➪ Page Setup, Page Layout ➪ Scale to Fit, and Page ➪ Page Setup ➪ Sheet Options groups ■ Hidden rows and columns ■ The worksheet view (Normal, Page Layout, Page Break preview) ■ Selected cells and ranges ■ The active cell ■ The zoom factor ■ Window sizes and positions ■ Frozen panes If you ﬁ nd that you’re constantly ﬁddling with these settings before printing and then changing them back, using named views can save you some work. Unfortunately, the Custom Views feature doesn’t work if the workbook (not just the worksheet) contains at least one table — created using Insert ➪ Tables ➪ Table. When a workbook that contains a table is active, the Custom View command is disabled. This limitation severely limits the usefulness of the Custom Views feature. To create a named view, follow these steps: 1. Set up the view settings the way you want them. For example, hide some columns. 2. Choose View ➪ Workbook Views ➪ Custom Views. The Custom Views dialog box appears. 3. Click the Add button. The Add View dialog box (shown in Figure 9.8) appears. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 203 9 c09.indd 08/13/2015 Page 204 Part I: Getting Started with Excel FIGURE 9.8 Use the Add View dialog box to create a named view. 4. Provide a descriptive name. You can also specify what to include in the view by using the two check boxes. For example, if you don’t want the view to include print settings, remove the check mark from Print Settings. 5. Click OK to save the named view. Then when you’re ready to print, open the Custom Views dialog box to see all named views. To select a particular view, just select it from the list and click the Show button. To delete a named view from the list, click the Delete button. Creating PDF files The PDF ﬁle format is widely used as a way to present information in a read-only manner, with precise control over the layout. If you need to share your work with someone who doesn’t have Excel, creating a PDF is often a good solution. Free software to display PDFs is available from a number of sources. Excel can create PDFs, but it can’t open them. Word 2016 can create and open PDFs. XPS is another “electronic paper” format, developed by Microsoft as an alternative to the PDF format. At this time, there is little third-party support for the XPS format. To save a worksheet in PDF or XPS format, choose File ➪ Export ➪ Create PDF/XPS Document ➪ Create a PDF/XPS. Excel displays its Publish as PDF or XPS dialog box, in which you can specify a ﬁlename and location and set some other options. 204 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 205 Part II Working with Formulas and Functions F ormulas and worksheet functions are essential to manipulating data and obtaining useful information from your Excel workbooks. The chapters in this part present a wide variety of formula examples that use many Excel functions. Two of the chapters are devoted to array formulas. These chapters are intended primarily for advanced users who need to perform calculations that may otherwise be impossible. IN THIS PART Chapter 10 Introducing Formulas and Functions Chapter 11 Creating Formulas That Manipulate Text Chapter 12 Working with Dates and Times Chapter 13 Creating Formulas That Count and Sum Chapter 14 Creating Formulas That Look Up Values Chapter 15 Creating Formulas for Financial Applications Chapter 16 Miscellaneous Calculations Chapter 17 Introducing Array Formulas Chapter 18 Performing Magic with Array Formulas WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 207 CHAPTER Introducing Formulas and Functions 10 IN THIS CHAPTER Understanding formula basics Entering formulas and functions into your worksheets Understanding how to use references in formulas Correcting common formula errors Using advanced naming techniques Getting tips for working with formulas F ormulas are what make a spreadsheet program so useful. If it weren’t for formulas, a spreadsheet would simply be a fancy word processing document that has great support for tabular information. You use formulas in your Excel worksheets to calculate results from the data stored in the worksheet. When data changes, the formulas calculate updated results with no extra effort on your part. This chapter introduces formulas and functions and helps you get up to speed with this important element. Understanding Formula Basics A formula consists of special code entered into a cell. It performs a calculation of some type and returns a result that is displayed in the cell. Formulas use a variety of operators and worksheet functions to work with values and text. The values and text used in formulas can be located in other cells, which makes changing data easy and gives worksheets their dynamic nature. For example, you can see multiple scenarios quickly by changing the data in a worksheet and letting your formulas do the work. 207 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 208 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions A formula always begins with an equal sign and can contain any of these elements: ■ Mathematical operators, such as + (for addition) and * (for multiplication) ■ Cell references (including named cells and ranges) ■ Values or text ■ Worksheet functions (such as SUM and AVERAGE) After you enter a formula, the cell displays the calculated result of the formula. The formula itself appears in the Formula bar when you select the cell, however. Here are a few examples of formulas: =150*.05 Multiplies 150 times 0.05. This formula uses only values, and it always returns the same result. You could just enter the value 7.5 into the cell, but using a formula provides information on how the value was calculated. =A3 Displays the value in cell A3. No calculation is performed. =A1+A2 Adds the values in cells A1 and A2. =Income–Expenses Subtracts the value in the cell named Expenses from the value in the cell named Income. =SUM(A1:A12) Adds the values in the range A1:A12, using the SUM function. =A1=C12 Compares cell A1 with cell C12. If the cells are identical, the formula returns TRUE; otherwise, it returns FALSE. Note that every formula begins with an equal sign (=). The initial equal sign allows Excel to distinguish a formula from plain text. Using operators in formulas Excel formulas support a variety of operators. Operators are symbols that indicate what mathematical (or logical) operation you want the formula to perform. Table 10.1 lists the operators that Excel recognizes. In addition to these, Excel has many built-in functions that enable you to perform additional calculations. 208 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 209 Chapter 10: Introducing Formulas and Functions TABLE 10.1 Operators Used in Formulas Operator Name + Addition – Subtraction * Multiplication / Division ^ Exponentiation & Concatenation = Logical comparison (equal to) > Logical comparison (greater than) < Logical comparison (less than) >= Logical comparison (greater than or equal to) <= Logical comparison (less than or equal to) <> Logical comparison (not equal to) You can, of course, use as many operators as you need to perform the desired calculation. Here are some examples of formulas that use various operators: Formula What It Does ="Part-"&"23A" Joins (concatenates) the two text strings to produce Part-23A. =A1&A2 Concatenates the contents of cell A1 with cell A2. Concatenation works with values as well as text. If cell A1 contains 123 and cell A2 contains 456, this formula would return the text 123456. =6^3 Raises 6 to the third power (216). =216^(1/3) Raises 216 to the 31 power. This is mathematically equivalent to calculating the cube root of 216, which is 6. =A1<A2 Returns TRUE if the value in cell A1 is less than the value in cell A2. Otherwise, it returns FALSE. Logical comparison operators also work with text. If A1 contains Bill and A2 contains Julia, the formula would return TRUE because Bill comes before Julia in alphabetical order. =A1<=A2 Returns TRUE if the value in cell A1 is less than or equal to the value in cell A2. Otherwise, it returns FALSE. =A1<=A2 Returns TRUE if the value in cell A1 is less than or equal to the value in cell A2. Otherwise, it returns FALSE. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 209 10 c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 210 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Understanding operator precedence in formulas When Excel calculates the value of a formula, it uses certain rules to determine the order in which the various parts of the formula are calculated. You need to understand these rules so your formulas produce accurate results. Table 10.2 lists the Excel operator precedence. This table shows that exponentiation has the highest precedence (performed ﬁ rst) and logical comparisons have the lowest precedence (performed last). TABLE 10.2 Operator Precedence in Excel Formulas Symbol Operator Precedence ^ Exponentiation 1 * Multiplication 2 / Division 2 + Addition 3 – Subtraction 3 & Concatenation 4 = Equal to 5 < Less than 5 > Greater than 5 You can use parentheses to override Excel’s built-in order of precedence. Expressions within parentheses are always evaluated ﬁ rst. For example, the following formula uses parentheses to control the order in which the calculations occur. In this case, cell B3 is subtracted from cell B2, and the result is multiplied by cell B4: =(B2-B3)*B4 If you enter the formula without the parentheses, Excel computes a different answer. Because multiplication has a higher precedence, cell B3 is multiplied by cell B4. Then this result is subtracted from cell B2, which isn’t what was intended. The formula without parentheses looks like this: =B2-B3*B4 It’s good practice to use parentheses even when they aren’t strictly necessary. Doing so helps to clarify what the formula is intended to do. For example, the following formula 210 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 211 Chapter 10: Introducing Formulas and Functions makes it perfectly clear that B3 should be multiplied by B4 and the result subtracted from cell B2. Without the parentheses, you would need to remember Excel’s order of precedence. =B2-(B3*B4) You can also nest parentheses within formulas — that is, put them inside other parentheses. If you do so, Excel evaluates the most deeply nested expressions ﬁ rst — and then works its way out. Here’s an example of a formula that uses nested parentheses: =((B2*C2)+(B3*C3)+(B4*C4))*B6 This formula has four sets of parentheses — three sets are nested inside the fourth set. Excel evaluates each nested set of parentheses and then sums the three results. This result is then multiplied by the value in cell B6. Although the preceding formula uses four sets of parentheses, only the outer set is really necessary. If you understand operator precedence, it should be clear that you can rewrite this formula as follows: =(B2*C2+B3*C3+B4*C4)*B6 But most would agree that using the extra parentheses makes the calculation much clearer. Every left parenthesis, of course, must have a matching right parenthesis. If you have many levels of nested parentheses, keeping them straight can sometimes be difﬁcult. If the parentheses don’t match, Excel displays a message explaining the problem — and won’t let you enter the formula. In some cases, if your formula contains mismatched parentheses, Excel may propose a correction to your formula. Figure 10.1 shows an example of a proposed correction. You may be tempted simply to accept Excel’s suggestion, but be careful — in many cases, the proposed formula, although syntactically correct, isn’t the formula you intended, and it will produce an incorrect result. FIGURE 10.1 Excel sometimes suggests a syntactically correct formula, but not the formula you had in mind. 10 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 211 c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 212 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions When you’re editing a formula, Excel lends a hand in helping you match parentheses by displaying matching parentheses in the same color. Using functions in your formulas Many formulas you create use worksheet functions. These functions enable you to greatly enhance the power of your formulas and perform calculations that are difﬁcult (or even impossible) if you use only the operators discussed previously. For example, you can use the TAN function to calculate the tangent of an angle. You can’t do this complicated calculation by using the mathematical operators alone. Examples of formulas that use functions A worksheet function can simplify a formula signiﬁcantly. Here’s an example. To calculate the average of the values in ten cells (A1:A10) without using a function, you’d have to construct a formula like this: =(A1+A2+A3+A4+A5+A6+A7+A8+A9+A10)/10 Not very pretty, is it? Even worse, you would need to edit this formula if you added another cell to the range. Fortunately, you can replace this formula with a much simpler one that uses one of Excel’s built-in worksheet functions, AVERAGE: =AVERAGE(A1:A10) The following formula demonstrates how using a function can enable you to perform calculations that are not otherwise possible. Say you need to determine the largest value in a range. A formula can’t tell you the answer without using a function. Here’s a formula that uses the MAX function to return the largest value in the range A1:D100: =MAX(A1:D100) Functions also can sometimes eliminate manual editing. Assume that you have a worksheet that contains 1,000 names in cells A1:A1000 and the names appear in all-capital letters. Your boss sees the listing and informs you that the names will be mail-merged with a form letter. Use of all-uppercase letters is not acceptable; for example, JOHN F. SMITH must now appear as John F. Smith. You could spend the next several hours re-entering the list (ugh), or you could use a formula, such as the following, which uses the PROPER function to convert the text in cell A1 to the proper case: =PROPER(A1) Enter this formula once in cell B1 and then copy it down to the next 999 rows. Then select B1:B1000 and choose Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Copy to copy the range. Next, with B1:B1000 still 212 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 213 Chapter 10: Introducing Formulas and Functions selected, choose Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Paste Values (V) to convert the formulas to values. Delete the original column, and you’ve just accomplished several hours of work in less than a minute. You can also use Excel’s Flash Fill feature to make this type of transformation, without formulas. See Chapter 32, “Importing and Cleaning Data,” for more about Flash Fill. One last example should convince you of the power of functions. Suppose you have a worksheet that calculates sales commissions. If the salesperson sold more than $100,000 of product, the commission rate is 7.5 percent; otherwise, the commission rate is 5.0 percent. Without using a function, you would have to create two different formulas and make sure that you use the correct formula for each sales amount. A better solution is to write a formula that uses the IF function to ensure that you calculate the correct commission, regardless of sales amount: =IF(A1<100000,A1*5%,A1*7.5%) This formula performs some simple decision making. The formula checks the value of cell A1, which contains the sales amount. If this value is less than 100,000, the formula returns cell A1 multiplied by 5 percent. Otherwise, it returns what’s in cell A1 multiplied by 7.5 percent. This example uses three arguments, separated by commas. I discuss this in the next section, “Function arguments.” Function arguments In the preceding examples, you may have noticed that all the functions used parentheses. The information inside the parentheses is the list of arguments. Functions vary in the way they use arguments. Depending on what it has to do, a function may use ■ No arguments ■ One argument ■ A ﬁ xed number of arguments ■ An indeterminate number of arguments ■ Optional arguments An example of a function that doesn’t use an argument is the NOW function, which returns the current date and time. Even if a function doesn’t use an argument, you must still provide a set of empty parentheses, like this: =NOW() WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 213 10 c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 214 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions If a function uses more than one argument, separate each argument with a comma. The examples at the beginning of the chapter used cell references for arguments. Excel is quite ﬂexible when it comes to function arguments, however. An argument can consist of a cell reference, literal values, literal text strings, expressions, and even other functions. Here are some examples of functions that use various types of arguments: ■ Cell reference: =SUM(A1:A24) ■ Literal value: =SQRT(121) ■ Literal text string: =PROPER("john f. smith") ■ Expression: =SQRT(183+12) ■ Other functions: =SQRT(SUM(A1:A24)) A comma is the list separator character for the U.S. version of Excel. Some other language versions may use a semicolon. The list separator is a Windows setting that can be adjusted in the Windows Control Panel (the Regional and Language Options dialog box). More about functions All told, Excel includes more than 450 built-in functions. And if that’s not enough, you can download or purchase additional specialized functions from third-party suppliers — and even create your own custom functions (by using VBA) if you’re so inclined. Some users feel a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of functions, but you’ll probably ﬁ nd that you use only a dozen or so on a regular basis. And as you’ll see, the Excel Insert Function dialog box (described later in this chapter) makes it easy to locate and insert a function, even if it’s not one that you use frequently. You’ll find many examples of Excel’s built-in functions in Part II, “Working with Formulas and Functions.” Appendix A, “Worksheet Function Reference,” contains a complete listing of Excel’s worksheet functions, with a brief description of each. Chapter 40, “Creating Custom Worksheet Functions,” covers the basics of creating custom functions with VBA. Entering Formulas into Your Worksheets Every formula must begin with an equal sign to inform Excel that the cell contains a formula rather than text. Excel provides two ways to enter a formula into a cell: manually or by pointing to cell references. The following sections discuss each method in detail. 214 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 215 Chapter 10: Introducing Formulas and Functions Excel provides additional assistance when you create formulas by displaying a drop-down list that contains function names and range names. The items displayed in the list are determined by what you’ve already typed. For example, if you’re entering a formula and then type the letters SU, you’ll see the drop-down list shown in Figure 10.2. If you type an additional letter, the list is shortened to show only the matching functions. To have Excel autocomplete an entry in that list, use the navigation keys to highlight the entry, and then press Tab. Notice that highlighting a function in the list also displays a brief description of the function. See the next sidebar, “Using Formula AutoComplete,” for an example of how this feature works. FIGURE 10.2 Excel displays a drop-down list when you enter a formula. Using Formula AutoComplete The Formula AutoComplete feature makes entering formulas easier than ever. Here’s a quick walkthrough that demonstrates how it works. The goal is to create a formula that uses the AGGREGATE function to calculate the average value in a range that I named TestScores. The AVERAGE function will not work in this situation because the range contains an error value. 1. Select the cell that will hold the formula, and type an equal sign (=) to signal the start of a formula. 2. Type the letter A. You get a list of functions and names that begin with A (see the ﬁgure). This feature is not case sensitive, so you can use either uppercase or lowercase characters. Continues WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 215 10 c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 216 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions continued 3. Scroll through the list, or type another letter to narrow down the choices. 4. When AGGREGATE is highlighted, press Tab to select it. Excel adds the opening parenthesis and displays another list that contains options for the first argument for AGGREGATE, as shown in the figure. 5. Select 1 - AVERAGE and then press Tab. Excel inserts 1, which is the code for calculating the average. 6. Type a comma to separate the next argument. 7. When Excel displays a list of items for the AGGREGATE function’s second argument, select 2 - Ignore Error Values and then press Tab. 216 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 217 Chapter 10: Introducing Formulas and Functions 8. Type a comma to separate the third argument (the range of test scores). 9. Type a T to get a list of functions and names that begin with T; you’re looking for TestScores, so narrow it down a bit by typing the second character, E. 10. Highlight TestScores, and then press Tab. 11. Type a closing parenthesis and then press Enter. The completed formula follows: =AGGREGATE(1,2,TestScores) Formula AutoComplete includes the following items (and each type is identified by an icon): ■ Excel built-in functions. ■ User-defined functions (functions defined by the user through VBA or other methods). ■ Defined names (cells or range named using the Formulas ➪ Defined Names ➪ Define Name command). ■ Enumerated arguments that use a value to represent an option. (Only a few functions use such arguments, and AGGREGATE is one of them.) ■ Table structure references (used to identify portions of a table). Entering formulas manually Entering a formula manually involves, well, entering a formula manually. In a selected cell, you type an equal sign (=) followed by the formula. As you type, the characters appear in the cell and in the Formula bar. You can, of course, use all the normal editing keys when entering a formula. Entering formulas by pointing Even though you can enter formulas by typing in the entire formula, Excel provides another method of entering formulas that is generally easier, faster, and less error prone. This method still involves some manual typing, but you can simply point to the cell references instead of typing their values manually. For example, to enter the formula =A1+A2 into cell A3, follow these steps: 1. Move the cell pointer to cell A3. 2. Type an equal sign (=) to begin the formula. Notice that Excel displays Enter in the status bar (lower left of your screen). 3. Press the up arrow twice. As you press this key, Excel displays a dashed border around cell A1, and the cell reference appears in cell A3 and in the Formula bar. In addition, Excel displays Point in the status bar. 4. Type a plus sign (+). A solid color border replaces the dashed border of A1, and Enter reappears in the status bar. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 217 10 c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 218 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions 5. Press the up arrow again. The dashed border encompasses cell A2 and adds that cell address to the formula. 6. Press Enter to end the formula. When creating a formula by pointing, you can also point to the data cells by using your mouse. Pasting range names into formulas If your formula uses named cells or ranges, you can either type the name in place of the address or choose the name from a list and have Excel insert the name for you automatically. Two ways to insert a name into a formula are available: ■ Select the name from the drop-down list. To use this method, you must know at least the ﬁ rst character of the name. When you’re entering the formula, type the ﬁ rst character and then select the name from the drop-down list. ■ Press F3. The Paste Name dialog box appears. Select the name from the list and then click OK (or just double-click the name). Excel enters the name into your formula. If no names are deﬁ ned, pressing F3 has no effect. Figure 10.3 shows an example. The worksheet contains two deﬁ ned names: Expenses and Sales. The Paste Name dialog box is being used to insert a name (Sales) into the formula being entered in cell B9. FIGURE 10.3 Use the Paste Name dialog box to quickly enter a defined name into a formula. 218 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 219 Chapter 10: Introducing Formulas and Functions See Chapter 4, “Working with Cells and Ranges,” for information about creating names for cells and ranges. Inserting functions into formulas The easiest way to enter a function into a formula is to use Formula AutoComplete (the drop-down list that Excel displays while you type a formula). To use this method, however, you must know at least the ﬁ rst character of the function’s name. Another way to insert a function is to use tools in the Function Library group on the Formulas tab on the Ribbon (see Figure 10.4). This method is especially useful if you can’t remember which function you need. When entering a formula, click the function category (Financial, Logical, Text, and so on) to get a list of the functions in that category. Click the function you want, and Excel displays its Function Arguments dialog box. This is where you enter the function’s arguments. In addition, you can click the Help on This Function link to learn more about the selected function. FIGURE 10.4 You can insert a function by selecting it from one of the function categories. Yet another way to insert a function into a formula is to use the Insert Function dialog box (see Figure 10.5). You can access this dialog box in several ways: FIGURE 10.5 The Insert Function dialog box. 10 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 219 c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 220 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions ■ Choose Formulas ➪ Function Library ➪ Insert Function. ■ Use the Insert Function command, which appears at the bottom of each drop-down list in the Formulas ➪ Function Library group. ■ Click the Insert Function icon, which is directly to the left of the Formula bar. This button displays fx. ■ Press Shift+F3. The Insert Function dialog box shows a drop-down list of function categories. Select a category, and the functions in that category are displayed in the list box. To access a function that you recently used, select Most Recently Used from the drop-down list. If you’re not sure which function you need, you can search for the appropriate function by using the Search for a Function ﬁeld at the top of the dialog box. 1. Enter your search terms and click Go. You get a list of relevant functions. When you select a function from the Select a Function list, Excel displays the function (and its argument names) in the dialog box along with a brief description of what the function does. 2. When you locate the function you want to use, highlight it and click OK. Excel then displays its Function Arguments dialog box, as shown in Figure 10.6. FIGURE 10.6 The Function Arguments dialog box. 3. Specify the arguments for the function. The Function Arguments dialog box will vary, depending on the function you’re inserting, and it will show one text box for each of the function’s arguments. To use a cell or range reference as an argument, you can enter the address manually or click inside the argument box and then select (that is, point to) the cell or range in the sheet. 4. After you specify all the function arguments, click OK. 220 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 221 Chapter 10: Introducing Formulas and Functions Yet another way to insert a function while you’re entering a formula is to use the Function List to the left of the Formula bar. When you’re entering or editing a formula, the space typically occupied by the Name box displays a list of the functions you’ve used most recently (if any). After you select a function from this list, Excel displays the Function Arguments dialog box. Function entry tips Here are some additional tips to keep in mind when you use the Insert Function dialog box to enter functions: ■ You can use the Insert Function dialog box to insert a function into an existing formula. Just edit the formula and move the insertion point to the location at which you want to insert the function. Then open the Insert Function dialog box (using any of the methods described earlier) and select the function. ■ You can also use the Function Arguments dialog box to modify the arguments for a function in an existing formula. Click the function in the Formula bar and then click the Insert Function button (the fx button, to the left of the Formula bar). ■ If you change your mind about entering a function, click the Cancel button. ■ The number of boxes you see in the Function Arguments dialog box depends on the number of arguments used in the function you selected. If a function uses no arguments, you won’t see any boxes. If the function uses a variable number of arguments (such as the AVERAGE function), Excel adds a new box every time you enter an optional argument. ■ As you provide arguments in the Function Arguments dialog box, the value of each argument is displayed to the right of each box. ■ A few functions, such as INDEX, have more than one form. If you choose such a function, Excel displays another dialog box that lets you choose which form you want to use. ■ As you become familiar with the functions, you can bypass the Insert Function dialog box and type the function name directly. Excel prompts you with argument names as you enter the function. Editing Formulas After you enter a formula, you can (of course) edit it. You may need to edit a formula if you make some changes to your worksheet and then have to adjust the formula to accommodate the changes. Or the formula may return an error value, in which case you need to edit the formula to correct the error. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 221 10 c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 222 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Notice that Excel color-codes the range addresses and ranges when you’re entering or editing a formula. This helps you quickly spot the cells that are used in a formula. Here are some of the ways to get into cell edit mode: ■ Double-click the cell, which enables you to edit the cell contents directly in the cell. ■ Press F2, which enables you to edit the cell contents directly in the cell. ■ Select the cell that you want to edit, and then click in the Formula bar. This enables you to edit the cell contents in the Formula bar. ■ If the cell contains a formula that returns an error, Excel will display a small triangle in the upper-left corner of the cell. Activate the cell, and you’ll see a Smart Tag. Click the Smart Tag, and you can choose one of the options for correcting the error. (The options will vary according to the type of error in the cell.) You can control whether Excel displays these formula-error-checking Smart Tags in the Formulas section of the Excel Options dialog box. To display this dialog box, choose File ➪ Options. If you remove the check mark from Enable Background Error Checking, Excel no longer displays these Smart Tags. While you’re editing a formula, you can select multiple characters either by dragging the mouse cursor over them or by pressing Shift while you use the navigation keys. If you have a formula that you can’t seem to edit correctly, you can convert the formula to text and tackle it again later. To convert a formula to text, just remove the initial equal sign (=). When you’re ready to try again, type the initial equal sign to convert the cell contents back to a formula. Using Cell References in Formulas Most formulas you create include references to cells or ranges. These references enable your formulas to work dynamically with the data contained in those cells or ranges. For example, if your formula refers to cell A1 and you change the value contained in A1, the formula result changes to reﬂect the new value. If you didn’t use references in your formulas, you would need to edit the formulas themselves to change the values used in the formulas. 222 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 223 Chapter 10: Introducing Formulas and Functions Using relative, absolute, and mixed references When you use a cell (or range) reference in a formula, you can use three types of references: ■ Relative: The row and column references can change when you copy the formula to another cell because the references are actually offsets from the current row and column. By default, Excel creates relative cell references in formulas. ■ Absolute: The row and column references don’t change when you copy the formula because the reference is to an actual cell address. An absolute reference uses two dollar signs in its address: one for the column letter and one for the row number (for example, $A$5). ■ Mixed: Either the row or the column reference is relative, and the other is absolute. Only one of the address parts is absolute (for example, $A4 or A$4). The type of cell reference is important only if you plan to copy the formula to other cells. The following examples illustrate this point. Figure 10.7 shows a simple worksheet. The formula in cell D2, which multiplies the quantity by the price, is =B2*C2 FIGURE 10.7 Copying a formula that contains relative references. This formula uses relative cell references. Therefore, when the formula is copied to the cells below it, the references adjust in a relative manner. For example, the formula in cell D3 is =B3*C3 But what if the cell references in D2 contained absolute references, like this? 10 =$B$2*$C$2 In this case, copying the formula to the cells below would produce incorrect results. The formula in cell D3 would be the same as the formula in cell D2. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 223 c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 224 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Now I’ll extend the example to calculate sales tax, which is stored in cell B7 (see Figure 10.8). In this situation, the formula in cell D2 is =(B2*C2)*$B$7 FIGURE 10.8 Formula references to the sales tax cell should be absolute. The quantity is multiplied by the price, and the result is multiplied by the sales tax rate stored in cell B7. Notice that the reference to B7 is an absolute reference. When the formula in D2 is copied to the cells below it, cell D3 will contain this formula: =(B3*C3)*$B$7 Here, the references to cells B2 and C2 were adjusted, but the reference to cell B7 was not — which is exactly what I want because the address of the cell that contains the sales tax never changes. Figure 10.9 demonstrates the use of mixed references. The formulas in the C3:F7 range calculate the area for various lengths and widths. Here’s the formula in cell C3: =$B3*C$2 FIGURE 10.9 Using mixed cell references. 224 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 225 Chapter 10: Introducing Formulas and Functions Notice that both cell references are mixed. The reference to cell B3 uses an absolute reference for the column ($B), and the reference to cell C2 uses an absolute reference for the row ($2). As a result, this formula can be copied down and across, and the calculations will be correct. For example, the formula in cell F7 is =$B7*F$2 If C3 used either absolute or relative references, copying the formula would produce incorrect results. A workbook that demonstrates the various types of references is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named cell references.xlsx. When you cut and paste a formula (move it to another location), the cell references in the formula aren’t adjusted. Again, this is usually what you want to happen. When you move a formula, you generally want it to continue to refer to the original cells. Changing the types of your references You can enter nonrelative references (that is, absolute or mixed) manually by inserting dollar signs in the appropriate positions of the cell address. Or you can use a handy shortcut: the F4 key. When you’ve entered a cell reference (by typing it or by pointing), you can press F4 repeatedly to have Excel cycle through all four reference types. For example, if you enter =A1 to start a formula, pressing F4 converts the cell reference to =$A$1. Pressing F4 again converts it to =A$1. Pressing it again displays =$A1. Pressing it one more time returns to the original =A1. Keep pressing F4 until Excel displays the type of reference that you want. When you name a cell or range, Excel (by default) uses an absolute reference for the name. For example, if you give the name SalesForecast to B1:B12, the Refers To box in the New Name dialog box lists the reference as $B$1:$B$12. This is almost always what you want. If you copy a cell that has a named reference in its formula, the copied formula contains a reference to the original name. Referencing cells outside the worksheet Formulas can also refer to cells in other worksheets — and the worksheets don’t even have to be in the same workbook. Excel uses a special type of notation to handle these types of references. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 225 10 c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 226 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Referencing cells in other worksheets To use a reference to a cell in another worksheet in the same workbook, use this format: SheetName!CellAddress In other words, precede the cell address with the worksheet name, followed by an exclamation point. Here’s an example of a formula that uses a cell on the Sheet2 worksheet: =A1*Sheet2!A1 This formula multiplies the value in cell A1 on the current worksheet by the value in cell A1 on Sheet2. If the worksheet name in the reference includes one or more spaces, you must enclose it in single quotation marks. (Excel does that automatically if you use the point-and-click method when creating the formula.) For example, here’s a formula that refers to a cell on a sheet named All Depts: =A1*'All Depts'!A1 Referencing cells in other workbooks To refer to a cell in a different workbook, use this format: =[WorkbookName]SheetName!CellAddress In this case, the workbook name (in square brackets), the worksheet name, and an exclamation point precede the cell address. The following is an example of a formula that uses a cell reference in the Sheet1 worksheet in a workbook named Budget: =[Budget.xlsx]Sheet1!A1 If the workbook name in the reference includes one or more spaces, you must enclose it (and the sheet name and square brackets) in single quotation marks. For example, here’s a formula that refers to a cell on Sheet1 in a workbook named Budget For 2016: =A1*'[Budget For 2016.xlsx]Sheet1'!A1 When a formula refers to cells in a different workbook, the other workbook doesn’t have to be open. If the workbook is closed, however, you must add the complete path to the reference so that Excel can ﬁ nd it. Here’s an example: =A1*'C:\My Documents\[Budget For 2016.xlsx]Sheet1'!A1 A linked ﬁle can also reside on another system that’s accessible on your corporate network. The following formula refers to a cell in a workbook in the files directory of a computer named DataServer: ='\\DataServer\files\[budget.xlsx]Sheet1'!$D$7 226 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 227 Chapter 10: Introducing Formulas and Functions See Chapter 28, “Linking and Consolidating Worksheets,” for more information about linking workbooks. To create formulas that refer to cells in a different worksheet, point to the cells rather instead of entering their references manually. Excel takes care of the details regarding the workbook and worksheet references. The workbook you’re referencing in your formula must be open if you’re going to use the pointing method. If you point to a different worksheet or workbook when creating a formula, you’ll notice that Excel always inserts absolute cell references. Therefore, if you plan to copy the formula to other cells, make sure that you change the cell references to relative before you copy. Using Formulas in Tables A table is a specially designated range of cells, set up with column headers. In this section, I describe how formulas work with tables. See Chapter 5, “Introducing Tables,” for an introduction to the Excel table features. Summarizing data in a table Figure 10.10 shows a simple table with three columns. I entered the data and then converted the range to a table by choosing Insert ➪ Tables ➪ Table. Note that I didn’t deﬁ ne any names, but the table is named Table1 by default. This workbook is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. It is named table formulas.xlsx. If you’d like to calculate the total projected and total actual sales, you don’t even need to write a formula. Simply click a button to add a row of summary formulas to the table: 1. Activate any cell in the table. 2. Place a check mark next to Table Tools ➪ Design ➪ Table Style Options ➪ Total Row. Excel adds a total row to the table and displays the sum of each numeric column. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 227 10 c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 228 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions FIGURE 10.10 A simple table with three columns of information. 3. To change the type of summary formula, activate a cell in the total row and use the drop-down list to change the type of summary formula to use (see Figure 10.11). For example, to calculate the average of the Actual column, select AVERAGE from the drop-down list in cell D15. Excel creates this formula: =SUBTOTAL(101,[Actual]) FIGURE 10.11 A drop-down list enables you to select a summary formula for a table column. 228 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 229 Chapter 10: Introducing Formulas and Functions For the SUBTOTAL function, 101 is an enumerated argument that represents AVERAGE. The second argument for the SUBTOTAL function is the column name, in square brackets. Using the column name within brackets creates “structured” references within a table. (I discuss this further in the upcoming section “Referencing data in a table.”) You can toggle the total row display via Table Tools ➪ Design ➪ Table Style Options ➪ Total Row. If you turn it off, the summary options you selected will be displayed again when you turn it back on. Using formulas within a table In many cases, you’ll want to use formulas within a table to perform calculations that use other columns in the table. For example, in the table shown in Figure 10.11, you may want a column that shows the difference between the Actual and Projected amounts. To add this formula, follow these steps: 1. Activate cell E2 and type Difference for the column header. Excel automatically expands the table for you to include the new column. 2. Move to cell E3 and type an equal sign to signify the beginning of a formula. 3. Press the left arrow key. Excel displays [@Actual], which is the column heading, in the Formula bar. 4. Type a minus sign and then press the left arrow key twice. Excel displays [@ Projected] in your formula. 5. Press Enter to end the formula. Excel copies the formula to all rows in the table. Figure 10.12 shows the table with the new column. Examine the table, and you ﬁ nd this formula for all cells in the Difference column: =[@Actual]-[@Projected] Although the formula was entered into the ﬁ rst row of the table, that’s not necessary. Any time a formula is entered into an empty table column, it will automatically ﬁll all the cells in that column. And if you need to edit the formula, Excel will automatically copy the edited formula to the other cells in the column. The at symbol (@) that precedes the column header represents “this row.” So [@Actual] means “the value in the Actual column in this row.” WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 229 10 c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 230 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions FIGURE 10.12 The Difference column contains a formula. These steps use the pointing technique to create the formula. Alternatively, you could have entered the formula manually using standard cell references rather than column headers. For example, you could have entered the following formula in cell E3: =D3-C3 If you type the cell references, Excel will still copy the formula to the other cells automatically. One thing should be clear, however, about formulas that use the column headers instead of cell references: they’re much easier to understand. To override the automatic column formulas, access the Proofing tab of the Excel Options dialog box. Click AutoCorrect Options and then select the AutoFormat As You Type tab in the AutoCorrect dialog box. Remove the checkmark from Fill Formulas in Tables to Create Calculated Columns. Referencing data in a table Excel offers some other ways to refer to data that’s contained in a table by using the table name and column headers. 230 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 231 Chapter 10: Introducing Formulas and Functions Remember that you don’t need to create names for tables and columns. The data in the table itself has a range name, which is created automatically when you create the table (for example, Table1), and you can refer to data within the table by using the column headers — which are not range names. You can, of course, use standard cell references to refer to data in a table, but using the table name and column headers has a distinct advantage: the names adjust automatically if the table size changes by adding or deleting rows. In addition, formulas that use table names and column headers will adjust automatically if you change the name of the table or give a new name to a column. Refer to the table shown in Figure 10.11. This table is named Table1. To calculate the sum of all the data in the table, enter this formula into a cell outside the table: =SUM(Table1) This formula will return the sum of all the data (excluding calculated total row values, if any), even if rows or columns are added or deleted. And if you change the name of Table1, Excel will adjust formulas that refer to that table automatically. For example, if you renamed Table1 to AnnualData (by using the Name Manager or by choosing Table Tools ➪ Design ➪ Properties ➪ Table Name), the preceding formula would change to =SUM(AnnualData) Most of the time, a formula will refer to a speciﬁc column in the table. The following formula returns the sum of the data in the Actual column: =SUM(Table1[Actual]) Notice that the column name is enclosed in square brackets. Again, the formula adjusts automatically if you change the text in the column heading. Even better, Excel provides some helpful assistance when you create a formula that refers to data within a table. Figure 10.13 shows the formula AutoComplete helping to create a formula by showing a list of the elements in the table. Notice that, in addition to the column headers in the table, Excel lists other table elements that you can reference: #All, #Data, #Headers, #Totals, and @ - This Row. 10 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 231 c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 232 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions FIGURE 10.13 The formula AutoComplete feature is useful when creating a formula that refers to data in a table. Correcting Common Formula Errors Sometimes when you enter a formula, Excel displays a value that begins with a hash mark (#). This is a signal that the formula is returning an error value. You have to correct the formula (or correct a cell that the formula references) to get rid of the error display. If the entire cell is filled with hash-mark characters, the column isn’t wide enough to display the value. You can either widen the column or change the number format of the cell. In some cases, Excel won’t even let you enter an erroneous formula. For example, the following formula is missing the closing parenthesis: =A1*(B1+C2 If you attempt to enter this formula, Excel informs you that you have unmatched parentheses, and it proposes a correction. Often, the proposed correction is accurate, but you can’t count on it. Table 10.3 lists the types of error values that may appear in a cell that has a formula. Formulas may return an error value if a cell to which they refer has an error value. This is known as the ripple effect — a single error value can make its way into lots of other cells that contain formulas that depend on that one cell. 232 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 233 Chapter 10: Introducing Formulas and Functions Excel Error Values TABLE 10.3 Error Value Explanation #DIV/0! The formula is trying to divide by zero. This also occurs when the formula attempts to divide by what’s in a cell that is empty (that is, by nothing). #NAME? The formula uses a name that Excel doesn’t recognize. This can happen if you delete a name that’s used in the formula or if you have unmatched quotes when using text. #N/A The formula is referring (directly or indirectly) to a cell that uses the NA function to signal that data is not available. Some functions (for example, VLOOKUP) can also return #N/A. #NULL! The formula uses an intersection of two ranges that don’t intersect. (This concept is described later in the chapter.) #NUM! A problem with a value exists; for example, you specified a negative number where a positive number is expected. #REF! The formula refers to a cell that isn’t valid. This can happen if the cell has been deleted from the worksheet. #VALUE! The formula includes an argument or operand of the wrong type. (An operand is a value or cell reference that a formula uses to calculate a result.) Handling circular references When you’re entering formulas, you may occasionally see a warning message like the one shown in Figure 10.14, indicating that the formula you just entered will result in a circular reference. A circular reference occurs when a formula refers to its own cell — either directly or indirectly. For example, you create a circular reference if you enter =A1+A2+A3 into cell A3 because the formula in cell A3 refers to cell A3. Every time the formula in A3 is calculated, it must be calculated again because A3 has changed. The calculation could go on forever. FIGURE 10.14 If you see this warning, you know that the formula you entered will result in a circular reference. 10 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 233 c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 234 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions When you get the circular reference message after entering a formula, Excel gives you two options: ■ Click OK to enter the formula as is. ■ Click Help to see a Help screen about circular references. Regardless of which option you choose, Excel displays a message in the left side of the status bar to remind you that a circular reference exists. Excel won’t tell you about a circular reference if the Enable Iterative Calculation setting is in effect. You can check this setting in the Formulas section of the Excel Options dialog box. If Enable Iterative Calculation is turned on, Excel performs the circular calculation exactly the number of times specified in the Maximum Iterations field (or until the value changes by less than 0.001 or whatever value is in the Maximum Change field). In a few situations, you may use a circular reference intentionally. In these cases, the Enable Iterative Calculation setting must be on. However, it’s best to keep this setting turned off so that you’re warned of circular references. Usually, a circular reference indicates an error that you must correct. Often, a circular reference is quite obvious and easy to identify and correct. But when a circular reference is indirect (as when a formula refers to another formula that refers to yet another formula that refers to the original formula), it may require a bit of detective work to get to the problem. Specifying when formulas are calculated You’ve probably noticed that Excel calculates the formulas in your worksheet immediately. If you change any cells that the formula uses, Excel displays the formula’s new result with no effort on your part. All this happens when Excel’s Calculation mode is set to Automatic. In Automatic Calculation mode (which is the default mode), Excel follows these rules when it calculates your worksheet: ■ When you make a change — enter or edit data or formulas, for example — Excel calculates immediately those formulas that depend on new or edited data. ■ If Excel is in the middle of a lengthy calculation, it temporarily suspends the calculation when you need to perform other worksheet tasks; it resumes calculating when you’re ﬁ nished with your other worksheet tasks. ■ Formulas are evaluated in a natural sequence. In other words, if a formula in cell D12 depends on the result of a formula in cell D24, Excel calculates cell D24 before calculating cell D12. Sometimes, however, you may want to control when Excel calculates formulas. For example, if you create a worksheet with thousands of complex formulas, you may ﬁnd 234 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 235 Chapter 10: Introducing Formulas and Functions that processing can slow to a snail’s pace while Excel does its thing. In such a case, set Excel’s calculation mode to Manual — which you can do by choosing Formulas ➪ Calculation ➪ Calculation Options ➪ Manual (see Figure 10.15). FIGURE 10.15 You can control when Excel calculates formulas. If your worksheet uses any large data tables, you may want to select the Automatic Except for Data Tables option. Large data tables calculate notoriously slowly. A data table is not the same as a table created by choosing Insert ➪ Tables ➪ Table. See Chapter 35, “Performing Spreadsheet What-If Analysis,” for more on data tables. When you’re working in Manual Calculation mode, Excel displays Calculate in the status bar when you have any uncalculated formulas. You can use the following shortcut keys to recalculate the formulas: ■ F9: Calculates the formulas in all open workbooks. ■ Shift+F9: Calculates only the formulas in the active worksheet. Other worksheets in the same workbook aren’t calculated. ■ Ctrl+Alt+F9: Forces a complete recalculation of all formulas. ■ Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F9: Rebuilds the calculation dependency tree and performs a complete recalculation. 10 Excel’s Calculation mode isn’t specific to a particular worksheet. When you change the Calculation mode, it affects all open workbooks, not just the active workbook. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 235 c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 236 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Using Advanced Naming Techniques Using range names can make your formulas easier to understand and modify and even help prevent errors. Dealing with a meaningful name such as AnnualSales is much easier than dealing with a range reference, such as AB12:AB68. See Chapter 4 for basic information regarding working with names. Excel offers a number of advanced techniques that make using names even more useful. I discuss these techniques in the sections that follow. This information is for those who are interested in exploring some of the aspects of Excel that most users don’t even know about. Using names for constants Many Excel users don’t realize that you can give a name to an item that doesn’t appear in a cell. For example, if formulas in your worksheet use a sales tax rate, you would probably insert the tax rate value into a cell and use this cell reference in your formulas. To make things easier, you would probably also name this cell something similar to SalesTax. Here’s how to provide a name for a value that doesn’t appear in a cell: 1. Choose Formulas ➪ Deﬁned Names ➪ Deﬁne Name. The New Name dialog box appears. 2. Enter the name (in this case, SalesTax) into the Name ﬁeld. 3. Select a scope in which the name will be valid (either the entire workbook or a speciﬁc worksheet). 4. Click the Refers To text box, delete its contents, and replace the old contents with a value (such as .075). 5. (Optional) Use the Comment box to provide a comment about the name. 6. Click OK to close the New Name dialog box and create the name. You just created a name that refers to a constant rather than a cell or range. Now if you type =SalesTax into a cell that’s within the scope of the name, this simple formula returns 0.075 — the constant that you deﬁ ned. You can also use this constant in a formula, such as =A1*SalesTax. A constant also can be text. For example, you can define a constant for your company’s name. 236 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 237 Chapter 10: Introducing Formulas and Functions Named constants don’t appear in the Name box or in the Go To dialog box. This makes sense because these constants don’t reside anywhere tangible. They do appear in the drop-down list that’s displayed when you enter a formula — which is handy because you use these names in formulas. Using names for formulas In addition to creating named constants, you can create named formulas. Like a named constant, a named formula doesn’t reside in a cell. You create named formulas the same way you create named constants — by using the New Name dialog box. For example, you might create a named formula that calculates the monthly interest rate from an annual rate; Figure 10.16 shows an example. In this case, the name MonthlyRate refers to the following formula: =Sheet3!$B$1/12 FIGURE 10.16 Excel allows you to name a formula that doesn’t exist in a worksheet cell. When you use the name MonthlyRate in a formula, it uses the value in B1 divided by 12. Notice that the cell reference is an absolute reference. Naming formulas gets more interesting when you use relative references rather than absolute references. When you use the pointing technique to create a formula in the Refers To ﬁeld of the New Name dialog box, Excel always uses absolute cell references — which is unlike its behavior when you create a formula in a cell. For example, activate cell B1 on Sheet1 and create the name Cubed for the following formula: =Sheet1!A1^3 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 237 10 c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 238 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions In this example, the relative reference points to the cell to the left of the cell in which the name is used. Therefore, make certain that cell B1 is the active cell before you open the New Name dialog box; this is important. The formula contains a relative reference. When you use this named formula in a worksheet, the cell reference is always relative to the cell that contains the formula. For example, if you enter =Cubed into cell D12, cell D12 displays the contents of cell C12 raised to the third power. (C12 is the cell directly to the left of cell D12.) Using range intersections This section describes a concept known as range intersections (individual cells that two ranges have in common). Excel uses an intersection operator — a space character — to determine the overlapping references in two ranges. Figure 10.17 shows a simple example. FIGURE 10.17 You can use a range intersection formula to determine values. The formula in cell B9 is =C1:C6 A3:E3 This formula returns 107, the value in cell C3 — that is, the value at the intersection of the two ranges. The intersection operator is one of three reference operators used with ranges. Table 10.4 lists these operators. 238 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 239 Chapter 10: Introducing Formulas and Functions Reference Operators for Ranges TABLE 10.4 Operator What It Does : (colon) Specifies a range. , (comma) Specifies the union of two ranges. This operator combines multiple range references into a single reference. Space Specifies the intersection of two ranges. This operator produces cells that are common to two ranges. The real value of knowing about range intersections is apparent when you use names. Examine Figure 10.18, which shows a table of values. I selected the entire table and then chose Formulas ➪ Deﬁ ned Names ➪ Create from Selection to create names automatically by using the top row and the left column. FIGURE 10.18 With names, using a range intersection formula to determine values is even more helpful. Excel created the following eight names: North =Sheet1!$B$2:$E$2 Quarter1 =Sheet1!$B$2:$B$5 South =Sheet1!$B$3:$E$3 Quarter2 =Sheet1!$C$2:$C$5 West =Sheet1!$B$4:$E$4 Quarter3 =Sheet1!$D$2:$D$5 East =Sheet1!$B$5:$E$5 Quarter4 =Sheet1!$E$2:$E$5 With these names deﬁ ned, you can create formulas that are easy to read and use. For example, to calculate the total for Quarter 4, just use this formula: =SUM(Quarter4) 10 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 239 c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 240 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions To refer to a single cell, use the intersection operator. Move to any blank cell and enter the following formula: =Quarter1 West This formula returns the value for the ﬁ rst quarter for the West region. In other words, it returns the value that exists where the Quarter1 range intersects with the West range. Naming ranges in this manner can help you create very readable formulas. Applying names to existing references When you create a name for a cell or a range, Excel doesn’t automatically use the name in place of existing references in your formulas. For example, suppose you have the following formula in cell F10: =A1–A2 If you later deﬁ ne a name Income for A1 and Expenses for A2, Excel won’t automatically change your formula to =Income–Expenses. Replacing cell or range references with their corresponding names is fairly easy, however. To apply names to cell references in formulas after the fact, start by selecting the range that you want to modify. Then choose Formulas ➪ Deﬁ ned Names ➪ Deﬁ ne Name ➪ Apply Names. The Apply Names dialog box (shown in Figure 10.19) appears. Select the names that you want to apply by clicking them, and then click OK. Excel replaces the range references with the names in the selected cells. FIGURE 10.19 Use the Apply Names dialog box to replace cell or range references with defined names. 240 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 241 Chapter 10: Introducing Formulas and Functions Working with Formulas In this section, I offer a few additional tips and pointers relevant to formulas. Not hard-coding values When you create a formula, think twice before you use any speciﬁc value in the formula. For example, if your formula calculates sales tax (which is 6.5%), you may be tempted to enter a formula, such as the following: =A1*.065 A better approach is to insert the sales tax rate in a cell — and use the cell reference. Or you can deﬁ ne the tax rate as a named constant, using the technique presented earlier in this chapter. Doing so makes modifying and maintaining your worksheet easier. For example, if the sales tax rate changed to 6.75%, you would have to modify every formula that used the old value. If you store the tax rate in a cell, however, you simply change that one cell, and Excel updates all the formulas. Using the Formula bar as a calculator If you need to perform a quick calculation, you can use the Formula bar as a calculator. For example, enter the following formula — but don’t press Enter: =(145*1.05)/12 If you press Enter, Excel enters the formula into the cell. But because this formula always returns the same result, you may prefer to store the formula’s result rather than the formula itself. To do so, press F9 and watch the result appear in the Formula bar. Press Enter to store the result in the active cell. (This technique also works if the formula uses cell references or worksheet functions.) Making an exact copy of a formula When you copy a formula, Excel adjusts its cell references when you paste the formula to a different location. Sometimes you may want to make an exact copy of the formula. One way to do this is to convert the cell references to absolute values, but this isn’t always desirable. A better approach is to select the formula in Edit mode and then copy it to the Clipboard as text. You can do this in several ways. Here’s a step-by-step example of how to make an exact copy of the formula in A1 and copy it to A2: 1. Double-click A1 (or press F2) to get into Edit mode. 10 2. Drag the mouse to select the entire formula. You can drag from left to right or from right to left. To select the entire formula with the keyboard, press End, followed by Shift+Home. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 241 c10.indd 09/28/2015 Page 242 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions 3. Choose Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Copy (or press Ctrl+C). This copies the selected text (which will become the copied formula) to the Clipboard. 4. Press Esc to leave Edit mode. 5. Select cell A2. 6. Choose Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Paste (or press Ctrl+V) to paste the text into cell A2. You can also use this technique to copy just part of a formula, if you want to use that part in another formula. Just select the part of the formula that you want to copy by dragging the mouse, and then use any of the available techniques to copy the selection to the Clipboard. You can then paste the text to another cell. Formulas (or parts of formulas) copied in this manner won’t have their cell references adjusted when they’re pasted into a new cell. That’s because the formulas are being copied as text, not as actual formulas. You can also convert a formula to text by adding an apostrophe (') in front of the equal sign. Then copy the cell as usual, and paste it to its new location. Remove the apostrophe from the pasted formula, and it will be identical to the original formula. And don’t forget to remove the apostrophe from the original formula. Converting formulas to values If you have a range of formulas that will always produce the same result (that is, dead formulas), you may want to convert them to values. Say that range A1:A20 contains formulas that have calculated results that will never change — or that you don’t want to change. For example, if you use the RANDBETWEEN function to create a set of random numbers and you don’t want Excel to recalculate those random numbers each time you press Enter, you can convert the formulas to values. Just follow these steps: 1. Select A1:A20. 2. Choose Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Copy (or press Ctrl+C). 3. Choose Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Paste Values (V). 4. Press Esc to cancel Copy mode. 242 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c11.indd 08/13/2015 Page 243 CHAPTER Creating Formulas That Manipulate Text 11 IN THIS CHAPTER Seeing how Excel handles text entered into cells Looking at Excel worksheet functions that handle text Getting examples of advanced text formulas E xcel is, of course, best known for its ability to crunch numbers. It’s also quite versatile, however, with handling text. As you know, you can enter text for such things as row and column headings, customer names and addresses, part numbers, and just about anything else. In addition (as you may expect), you can use formulas to manipulate the text contained in cells. This chapter contains many examples of formulas that use a variety of functions to manipulate text. Some of these formulas perform feats that you may not have thought possible. A Few Words About Text When you enter data into a cell, Excel immediately goes to work and determines whether you’re entering a formula, a number (including a date or time), or anything else. That “anything else” is considered text. You may hear the term string used instead of text. You can use these terms interchangeably. Sometimes they even appear together, as in text string. A single cell can hold up to 32,000 characters — roughly equivalent to the number of characters in this chapter. But Excel is not a word processor, and I can’t think of a reason why anyone would need to even come close to that number. If you need to display lots of text in a worksheet, consider using a text box. Choose Insert ➪ Text ➪ Text Box, click the worksheet to create the text box, and then start typing. Working with large 243 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c11.indd 08/13/2015 Page 244 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions amounts of text in a text box is easier than editing cells. In addition, you can easily move, resize, or change the dimensions of a text box. However, if you need to work with the text using formulas and functions, the text must reside in cells. When a Number Isn’t Treated as a Number If you import data into Excel, you may be aware of a common problem: sometimes the imported values are treated as text. Depending on your error-checking settings, Excel may display error indicators to identify numbers stored as text. An error indicator appears as a small rectangle in the upper-left corner of the cells. Activate the cell and click the icon, which expands to show a list of options. To force the number to be treated as an actual number, select Convert to Number from the list of options. To control which error-checking rules are in effect, choose File ➪ Options, and then select the Formulas tab. You can enable any or all of the nine error types. Here’s another way to convert these nonnumbers to actual values. Activate any empty cell and choose Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Copy (or press Ctrl+C). Then select the range that contains the values you need to fix. Choose Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Paste Special. In the Paste Special dialog box, select the Add operation and then click OK. This procedure essentially adds zero to each cell — and, in the process, forces Excel to treat the nonnumbers as actual values. Text Functions Excel has an excellent assortment of worksheet functions that can handle text. You can access these functions just where you’d expect: from the Text control in the Function Library group of the Formulas tab. A few other functions that are relevant to text manipulation appear in other function categories. 244 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c11.indd 08/13/2015 Page 245 Chapter 11: Creating Formulas That Manipulate Text See Appendix A, “Worksheet Function Reference,” for a listing of the functions in the Text category. Or you can peruse these functions in the Insert Function dialog box. Activate an empty cell, and choose Formulas ➪ Function Library ➪ Insert Function. In the Insert Function dialog box, select the Text category and scroll through the list. To find out more about a particular function, click the Help on This Function link. Many of the text functions are not limited to text: They can also operate with cells that contain numeric values. You’ll ﬁ nd that Excel is very accommodating when it comes to treating numbers as text. The examples discussed in this section demonstrate some common (and useful) things you can do with text. You may need to adapt some of these examples for your own use. Working with character codes Every character you see on your screen has an associated code number. For Windows systems, Excel uses the standard ANSI character set. The ANSI character set consists of 255 characters, numbered (not surprisingly) from 1 through 255. An ANSI character requires one byte of storage. Excel also supports an extended character set known as Unicode, in which each character requires two bytes of storage. Figure 11.1 shows an Excel worksheet that displays all 255 ANSI characters. This example uses the Wingdings 3 font. (Other fonts may have different characters.) This book’s website, www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible, includes a copy of this workbook, which also includes some simple VBA macros that enable you to display the character set for any font installed on your system. The file is named character set.xlsm. Two functions come into play when dealing with character codes: CODE and CHAR. These functions may not be very useful by themselves, but they can prove quite useful in conjunction with other functions. I discuss these functions in the following sections. Excel 2013 introduced two new functions that are similar to CODE and CHAR but work with Unicode characters. The new functions are UNICODE and UNICHAR. The CODE function The Excel CODE function returns the character code for its argument. The formula that follows returns 65, the character code for uppercase A: =CODE("A") If the argument for CODE consists of more than one character, the function uses only the ﬁ rst character. Therefore, this formula also returns 65: =CODE("Abbey Road") WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 245 11 c11.indd 08/13/2015 Page 246 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions FIGURE 11.1 The ANSI character set (for the Wingdings 3 font). The CHAR function The CHAR function is essentially the opposite of the CODE function. Its argument should be a value between 1 and 255, and the function returns the corresponding character. The following formula, for example, returns the letter A: =CHAR(65) To demonstrate the opposing nature of the CODE and CHAR functions, try entering this formula: =CHAR(CODE("A")) 246 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c11.indd 08/13/2015 Page 247 Chapter 11: Creating Formulas That Manipulate Text This formula, which is illustrative rather than useful, returns the letter A. First, it converts the character to its code value (65), and then it converts this code back to the corresponding character. Assume that cell A1 contains the letter A (uppercase). The following formula returns the letter a (lowercase): =CHAR(CODE(A1)+32) This formula takes advantage of the fact that all the alphabetic characters appear in alphabetical order within the character set; lowercase letters follow uppercase letters (with a few other characters tossed in between). Each lowercase letter is exactly 32 character positions higher than its corresponding uppercase letter. Inserting Special Characters If you need to insert special characters not found on your keyboard, you can use the Symbol dialog box (choose Insert ➪ Symbols ➪ Symbol). This dialog box simplifies inserting special characters (including Unicode characters) into cells. For example, you may want to display the Greek letter pi (π) in your worksheet. From the Symbol dialog box, select the Symbol font (see the accompanying figure). Examine the characters, locate the pi character, and click Insert. You’ll see (in the Character Code area of the Symbol dialog box) that this character has a numerical code of 112. You can use this function to display the pi symbol (as long as the cell is formatted to use the Symbol font: =CHAR(112) In addition, Excel has several built-in AutoCorrect symbols. For example, if you type (c) followed by a space or the Enter key, Excel converts it to a copyright symbol (©). Continues WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 247 11 c11.indd 08/13/2015 Page 248 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions continued To see the other symbols that you can enter this way, display the AutoCorrect dialog box. To display this dialog box, choose File ➪ Options and select the Proofing tab in the Excel Options dialog box. Then click the AutoCorrect Options button. You can then scroll through the list to see which autocorrections are enabled (and delete those that aren’t useful to you). If you find that Excel makes an autocorrection that you don’t want, press Ctrl+Z immediately to undo the autocorrection. Determining whether two strings are identical You can create a simple logical formula to determine whether two cells contain the same entry. For example, use this formula to determine whether cell A1 has the same contents as cell A2: =A1=A2 This formula will return either TRUE or FALSE, depending on the contents of cells A1 and A2. However, Excel is a bit lax in its comparisons when text is involved. Consider the case in which A1 contains the word January (initial capitalization), and A2 contains JANUARY (all uppercase). You’ll ﬁnd that the previous formula returns TRUE even though the contents of the two cells are not really the same. In other words, the comparison is not case sensitive. Often, you don’t need to worry about the case of the text. If you need to make an exact, case-sensitive comparison, though, use the EXACT function. The following formula returns TRUE only if cells A1 and A2 contain exactly the same entry: =EXACT(A1,A2) When you compare text, be careful with trailing space characters, which are often difﬁcult to identify. The following formula returns FALSE because the ﬁrst string contains a trailing space: =EXACT("Canada ","Canada") When an extra space is at the end of text in a cell, it’s impossible to tell that it’s there just by looking at the cell. So if your text comparison formulas don’t seem to be working, a trailing space could be the problem. Joining two or more cells Excel uses an ampersand (&) as its concatenation operator. Concatenation is simply a fancy term that describes what happens when you join the contents of two or more cells. For example, if cell A1 contains the text Tucson and cell A2 contains the text Arizona, the following formula will return TucsonArizona: =A1&A2 248 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c11.indd 08/13/2015 Page 249 Chapter 11: Creating Formulas That Manipulate Text Notice that the two strings are joined without an intervening space. To add a space between the two entries (to get Tucson Arizona), use a formula like this one: =A1&" "&A2 11 Or, even better, use a comma and a space to produce Tucson, Arizona: =A1&", "&A2 If you’d like to force the second string to be on a new line, concatenate the strings using CHAR(10), which inserts a line break character. Also, make sure that you apply the Wrap Text format to the cell. The following example joins the text in cell A1 and the text in cell B1, with a line break in between: =A1&CHAR(10)&B1 To apply Wrap Text formatting, select the cells and then choose Home ➪ Alignment ➪ Wrap Text. You can also concatenate characters returned by the CHAR function. The following formula returns the string Stop by concatenating four characters returned by the CHAR function: =CHAR(83)&CHAR(116)&CHAR(111)&CHAR(112) Here’s a ﬁ nal example of using the & operator. In this case, the formula combines text with the result of an expression that returns the maximum value in column C: ="The largest value in Column C is " & MAX(C:C) Excel also has a CONCATENATE function, which takes up to 255 arguments. For example: =CONCATENATE(A1,B1,C1,D1) This function simply combines the arguments into a single string. You can use this function if you like, but using the & operator results in shorter formulas. Displaying formatted values as text The TEXT function enables you to display a numeric value in a speciﬁc number format. Figure 11.2 shows a simple worksheet. The formula in cell D3 is ="The net profit is " & B3 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 249 c11.indd 08/13/2015 Page 250 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions FIGURE 11.2 The formula in D3 doesn’t display the formatted number. This formula essentially combines a text string with the contents of cell B3 and displays the result. Note, however, that the formula displays the contents of B3 as a raw value (no formatting). To improve readability, you might want to display the contents of B3 by using a Currency number format. Contrary to what you might expect, applying a number format to the cell that contains the formula has no effect. This is because the formula returns a string, not a value. You can, however, use the TEXT function to apply formatting. The TEXT function supports most (but not all) of Excel’s standard custom number formatting strings. Here’s a revised formula that uses the TEXT function to apply formatting to the value in B3: ="The net profit is " & TEXT(B3," $#,##0") This formula displays the text along with a nicely formatted value: The net profit is $281,252 The second argument for the TEXT function consists of a standard Excel number format string. You can enter any valid number format code for this argument. The preceding example uses a simple cell reference (B3). Of course, you can use an expression instead. Here’s an example that combines text with a number resulting from a computation: ="Average Expenditure: "& TEXT(AVERAGE(A:A),"$#,##0.00") This formula might return a string, such as the following: Average Expenditure: $7,794.57 Here’s another example that uses the NOW function (which returns the current date and time). The TEXT function displays the date and time, nicely formatted: ="Report printed on "&TEXT(NOW(),"mmmm d, yyyy at h:mm AM/PM") 250 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c11.indd 08/13/2015 Page 251 Chapter 11: Creating Formulas That Manipulate Text The formula might display the following: Report printed on March 22, 2016 at 3:23 PM See Chapter 25, “Using Custom Number Formats,” for details on Excel number formats. 11 Displaying formatted currency values as text The DOLLAR function converts a number to text using the currency format. It takes two arguments: the number to convert and the number of decimal places to display. The DOLLAR function uses the regional currency symbol — for example, a dollar sign ($). You can sometimes use the DOLLAR function in place of the TEXT function. The TEXT function, however, is much more ﬂexible because it doesn’t limit you to a speciﬁc number format. The following formula returns Total: $1,287.37. (The second argument for the DOLLAR function speciﬁes the number of decimal places.) ="Total: "&DOLLAR(1287.367, 2) If you’re looking for a function that converts a number into spelled-out text (such as “One hundred twelve and 32/100”), you won’t find it. Well, Excel does have a BAHTTEXT function, but it converts the number into the Thai language. Why Excel doesn’t include an English language version of this function remains a mystery. Repeating a character or string The REPT function repeats a text string (ﬁ rst argument) any number of times you specify (second argument). For example, this seasonal formula returns HoHoHo: =REPT("Ho",3) You can also use this function to create crude horizontal dividers between cells. This example displays a squiggly line, 20 characters in length: =REPT("~",20) Creating a text histogram A clever use for the REPT function is to create a simple histogram (or frequency distribution chart) directly in a worksheet. Figure 11.3 shows an example of such a histogram. You’ll ﬁ nd this type of graphical display especially useful when you need a visual summary of many values and a standard chart is unwieldy. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 251 c11.indd 08/13/2015 Page 252 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions You can also use the Data Bars conditional formatting feature to display a simple histogram directly in cells. (See Chapter 21, “Visualizing Data Using Conditional Formatting,” for details.) FIGURE 11.3 Using the REPT function to create a histogram in a worksheet range. The formulas in column D graphically depict the sales numbers in column B by displaying a series of characters in the Wingdings 2 font. This example uses character code 162 (a solid rectangle). A formula using the REPT function determines the number of characters displayed. The formula in cell D2 follows: =REPT(CHAR(162),B2/100) Assign the Wingdings font to cell D2, and then copy the formulas down the column to accommodate all the data. Depending on the numerical range of your data, you may need to change the scaling. Experiment by replacing the 100 value in the formulas. You can substitute any character you like for the solid rectangle in the formula to produce a different character in the chart. The workbook shown in Figure 11.3 is available at this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/ excel2016bible. The file is named text histogram.xlsx; it also contains another example of this technique. Padding a number You’re probably familiar with a common security measure (frequently used on printed checks) in which numbers are padded with asterisks on the right. The following formula displays the value in cell A1, along with enough asterisks to make a total of 24 characters: =(A1 & REPT("*",24-LEN(A1))) 252 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c11.indd 08/13/2015 Page 253 Chapter 11: Creating Formulas That Manipulate Text If you’d prefer to pad the number with asterisks on the left instead, use this formula: =REPT("*",24-LEN(A1))&A1 The following formula displays 12 asterisks on both sides of the number: 11 =REPT("*",12)&A1&REPT("*",12) The preceding formulas are a bit deﬁcient because they don’t show any number formatting. This revised version displays the value in A1 (formatted), along with the asterisk padding on the right: =(TEXT(A1,"$#,##0.00")&REPT("*",24-LEN(TEXT(A1,"$#,##0.00")))) Figure 11.4 shows this formula in action. FIGURE 11.4 Using a formula to pad a number with asterisks. You can also pad a number by using a custom number format. To repeat the next character in that format until it ﬁlls the column width, include an asterisk (*) in the custom number format code. For example, use this number format to pad the number with dashes: $#,##0.00*- To pad the number with asterisks, use two asterisks in the number format code, like this: $#,##0.00** See Chapter 25 for more information about custom number formats, including additional examples using the asterisk format code. Removing excess spaces and nonprinting characters Often, data imported into an Excel worksheet contains excess spaces or strange (often unprintable) characters. Excel provides you with two functions to help whip your data into shape: ■ TRIM removes all leading and trailing spaces and replaces internal strings of multiple spaces with a single space. ■ CLEAN removes all nonprinting characters from a string. These “garbage” characters often appear when you import certain types of data. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 253 c11.indd 08/13/2015 Page 254 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions This example uses the TRIM function. The formula returns Fourth Quarter Earnings (with no excess spaces): =TRIM(" Fourth Quarter Earnings ") Counting characters in a string The LEN function takes one argument and returns the number of characters in the argument. For example, assume that the string September Sales is contained in cell A1. The following formula returns 15: =LEN(A1) Notice that space characters are included in the character count. The following formula returns the total number of characters in the range A1:A3: =LEN(A1)+LEN(A2)+LEN(A3) You see example formulas that demonstrate how to count the number of specific characters within a string later in this chapter. Chapter 13, “Creating Formulas That Count and Sum,” covers counting techniques in greater detail. Changing the case of text Excel provides three handy functions to change the case of text: ■ UPPER converts the text to ALL UPPERCASE. ■ LOWER converts the text to all lowercase. ■ PROPER converts the text to Proper Case (the ﬁ rst letter in each word is capitalized, as in a proper name). These functions are straightforward. The formula that follows, for example, converts the text in cell A1 to proper case: =PROPER(A1) If cell A1 contained the text MR. JOHN Q. PUBLIC, the formula would return Mr. John Q. Public. These functions operate only on alphabetic characters; they simply ignore all other characters and return them unchanged. These functions aren’t perfect, and they sometimes produce undesired results. For example, this formula returns Don'T: =PROPER("don't") 254 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c11.indd 08/13/2015 Page 255 Chapter 11: Creating Formulas That Manipulate Text Apparently, the PROPER function is programmed to always capitalize the letter following an apostrophe. If the argument is "o'reilly", the function works perfectly. 11 Transforming Data with Formulas Many of the examples in this chapter describe how to use functions to transform data in some way. For example, you can use the UPPER function to transform text into uppercase. Often, you’ll want to replace the original data with the transformed data. Specifically, follow these steps: 1. Insert a new temporary column for formulas to transform the original data. 2. Create your formulas in the temporary column. 3. Select the formula cells. 4. Choose Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Copy (or press Ctrl+C). 5. Select the original data cells. 6. Choose Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Paste ➪ Values (V). This procedure replaces the original data with the transformed data; then you can delete the temporary column that holds the formulas. Extracting characters from a string Excel users often need to extract characters from a string. For example, you may have a list of employee names (ﬁ rst and last names) and need to extract the last name from each cell. Excel provides several useful functions for extracting characters: ■ LEFT returns a speciﬁed number of characters from the beginning of a string. ■ RIGHT returns a speciﬁed number of characters from the end of a string. ■ MID returns a speciﬁed number of characters beginning at a speciﬁed position within a string. The following formula returns the last ten characters from cell A1; if A1 contains fewer than ten characters, the formula returns all text in the cell: =RIGHT(A1,10) This next formula uses the MID function to return ﬁve characters from cell A1, beginning at character position 2. In other words, it returns characters 2 through 6. =MID(A1,2,5) The following example returns the text in cell A1 with only the ﬁ rst letter in uppercase. It uses the LEFT function to extract the ﬁ rst character and convert it to uppercase. This WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 255 c11.indd 08/13/2015 Page 256 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions character then concatenates to another string that uses the RIGHT function to extract all but the ﬁ rst character (converted to lowercase). Here’s what it looks like: =UPPER(LEFT(A1))&RIGHT(LOWER(A1),LEN(A1)-1) If cell A1 contained the text FIRST QUARTER, the formula would return First quarter. This is different from the result obtained using the PROPER function. The PROPER function makes the first character in each word uppercase. Replacing text with other text In some situations, you may need a formula to replace a part of a text string with some other text. For example, you may import data that contains asterisks, and you need to convert the asterisks to some other character. You could use choose Home ➪ Editing ➪ Find & Select ➪ Replace to make the replacement. If you prefer a formula-based solution, you can take advantage of either of two functions: ■ SUBSTITUTE replaces speciﬁc text in a string. Use this function when you know the character(s) to be replaced but not the position. ■ REPLACE replaces text that occurs in a speciﬁc location within a string. Use this function when you know the position of the text to be replaced but not the actual text. The following formula uses the SUBSTITUTE function to replace 2015 with 2016 in the string 2015 Budget. The formula returns 2016 Budget: =SUBSTITUTE("2015 Budget","2015","2016") The following formula uses the SUBSTITUTE function to remove all spaces from a string. In other words, it replaces all space characters with an empty string. The formula returns 2015OperatingBudget: =SUBSTITUTE("2015 Operating Budget"," ","") The following formula uses the REPLACE function to replace one character beginning at position 5 with nothing. In other words, it removes the ﬁfth character (a hyphen) and returns Part544: =REPLACE("Part-544",5,1,"") 256 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c11.indd 08/13/2015 Page 257 Chapter 11: Creating Formulas That Manipulate Text Finding and searching within a string The FIND and SEARCH functions enable you to locate the starting position of a particular substring within a string: ■ FIND ﬁ nds a substring within another text string and returns the starting position of the substring. You can specify the character position at which to begin searching. Use this function for case-sensitive text comparisons. Wildcard comparisons are not supported. ■ SEARCH ﬁ nds a substring within another text string and returns the starting position of the substring. You can specify the character position at which to begin searching. Use this function for non-case-sensitive text or when you need to use wildcard characters. The following formula uses the FIND function and returns 7, the position of the ﬁ rst m in the string. Notice that this formula is case sensitive: =FIND("m","Big Mama Thornton",1) The formula that follows, which uses the SEARCH function, returns 5, the position of the ﬁ rst m (either uppercase or lowercase): =SEARCH("m","Big Mama Thornton",1) You can use the following wildcard characters within the ﬁ rst argument for the SEARCH function: ■ Question mark (?) matches any single character. ■ Asterisk (*) matches any sequence of characters. If you want to find an actual question mark or asterisk character, type a tilde (~) before the question mark or asterisk. The next formula examines the text in cell A1 and returns the position of the ﬁ rst threecharacter sequence that has a hyphen in the middle of it. In other words, it looks for any character followed by a hyphen and any other character. If cell A1 contains the text Part-A90, the formula returns 4: =SEARCH("?-?",A1,1) Searching and replacing within a string You can use the REPLACE function in conjunction with the SEARCH function to replace part of a text string with another string. In effect, you use the SEARCH function to ﬁ nd the starting location used by the REPLACE function. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 257 11 c11.indd 08/13/2015 Page 258 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions For example, assume that cell A1 contains the text Annual Profit Figures. The following formula searches for the six-letter word Profit and replaces it with the word Loss: =REPLACE(A1,SEARCH("Profit",A1),6,"Loss") This next formula uses the SUBSTITUTE function to accomplish the same effect in a more efﬁcient manner: =SUBSTITUTE(A1,"Profit","Loss") Advanced Text Formulas The examples in this section appear more complex than the examples in the preceding section. As you can see, though, these examples can perform some useful text manipulations. Space limitations prevent a detailed explanation of how these formulas work, but this section gives you a basic introduction. You can access all the examples in this section by downloading the file from this book’s website at www. wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named text formula examples.xlsx. Counting specific characters in a cell This formula counts the number of Bs (uppercase only) in the string in cell A1: =LEN(A1)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1,"B","")) This formula works by using the SUBSTITUTE function to create a new string (in memory) that has all the Bs removed. Then the length of this string is subtracted from the length of the original string. The result reveals the number of Bs in the original string. The following formula is a bit more versatile: it counts the number of Bs (both uppercase and lowercase) in the string in cell A1. Using the UPPER function to convert the string makes this formula work with both uppercase and lowercase characters: =LEN(A1)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(UPPER(A1),"B","")) Counting the occurrences of a substring in a cell The formulas in the preceding section count the number of occurrences of a particular character in a string. The following formula works with more than one character. It returns the number of occurrences of a particular substring (contained in cell B1) within a string (contained in cell A1). The substring can consist of any number of characters: =(LEN(A1)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1,B1,"")))/LEN(B1) For example, if cell A1 contains the text Blonde On Blonde and B1 contains the text Blonde, the formula returns 2. 258 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c11.indd 08/13/2015 Page 259 Chapter 11: Creating Formulas That Manipulate Text The comparison is case sensitive, so if B1 contains the text blonde, the formula returns 0. The following formula is a modiﬁed version that performs a case-insensitive comparison by converting the characters to uppercase: =(LEN(A1)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(UPPER(A1),UPPER(B1),"")))/LEN(B1) 11 Extracting the first word of a string To extract the ﬁ rst word of a string, a formula must locate the position of the ﬁ rst space character and then use this information as an argument for the LEFT function. The following formula does just that: =LEFT(A1,FIND(" ",A1)-1) This formula returns all the text prior to the ﬁ rst space in cell A1. However, the formula has a slight problem: it returns an error if cell A1 consists of a single word. A slightly more complex formula that checks for the error using the IFERROR function solves that problem: =IFERROR(LEFT(A1,FIND(" ",A1)-1),A1) The preceding formula uses the IFERROR function, which was introduced in Excel 2007. If your workbook will be used with previous versions of Excel, use this formula: =IF(ISERR(FIND(" ",A1)),A1,LEFT(A1,FIND(" ",A1)-1)) Extracting the last word of a string Extracting the last word of a string is more complicated because the FIND function only works from left to right. Therefore, the problem is locating the last space character. The formula that follows, however, solves this problem by returning the last word of a string (all text following the last space character): =RIGHT(A1,LEN(A1)-FIND("*",SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","*",LEN(A1)LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ",""))))) This formula, however, has the same problem as the ﬁ rst formula in the preceding section: it fails if the string does not contain at least one space character. The following modiﬁ ed formula uses the IFERROR function to test for an error (that is, no spaces). If the ﬁ rst argument returns an error, the formula returns the complete contents of cell A1: =IFERROR(RIGHT(A1,LEN(A1)-FIND("*",SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","*", LEN(A1)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ",""))))),A1) WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 259 c11.indd 08/13/2015 Page 260 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Following is a modiﬁcation that doesn’t use the IFERROR function. This formula works for all versions of Excel: =IF(ISERR(FIND(" ",A1)),A1,RIGHT(A1,LEN(A1)-FIND("*",SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","*",LEN(A1)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","")))))) Extracting all but the first word of a string The following formula returns the contents of cell A1, except for the ﬁ rst word: =RIGHT(A1,LEN(A1)-FIND(" ",A1,1)) If cell A1 contains 2016 Operating Budget, the formula returns Operating Budget. The following formula, which uses the IFERROR function, returns the entire contents of cell A1 if the cell doesn’t have a space character: =IFERROR(RIGHT(A1,LEN(A1)-FIND(" ",A1,1)),A1) Here’s a modiﬁcation that works in all versions of Excel: =IF(ISERR(FIND(" ",A1)),A1,RIGHT(A1,LEN(A1)-FIND(" ",A1,1))) Extracting first names, middle names, and last names Suppose you have a list consisting of people’s names in a single column. You have to separate these names into three columns: one for the ﬁ rst name, one for the middle name or initial, and one for the last name. This task is more complicated than you may think because it must handle the situation for a missing middle initial. However, you can still do it. The task becomes a lot more complicated if the list contains names with titles (such as Mr. or Dr.) or names followed by additional details (such as Jr. or III). In fact, the following formulas will not handle these complex cases. However, they still give you a significant head start if you’re willing to do a bit of manual editing to handle special cases. For a way to remove these titles, see the next section, “Removing titles from names.” The following formulas all assume that the name appears in cell A1. You can easily construct a formula to return the ﬁ rst name: =LEFT(A1,FIND(" ",A1)-1) This formula returns the last name: =RIGHT(A1,LEN(A1)-FIND("*",SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","*",LEN(A1)LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ",""))))) 260 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c11.indd 08/13/2015 Page 261 Chapter 11: Creating Formulas That Manipulate Text The next formula extracts the middle name and requires that you use the other formulas to extract the ﬁ rst name and the last name. It assumes that the ﬁ rst name is in B1 and the last name is in D1. Here’s what it looks like: =IF(LEN(B1&D1)+2>=LEN(A1),"",MID(A1,LEN(B1)+2,LEN(A1)-LEN(B1&D1)-2)) As you can see in Figure 11.5, the formulas work fairly well. There are a few problems, however, notably names that contain one word or four words. But, as I mentioned earlier, you can clean up these cases manually. FIGURE 11.5 This worksheet uses formulas to extract the first name, last name, and middle name (or initial) from a list of names in column A. This workbook, named extract names.xlsx, is available on this book’s website at www.wiley .com/go/excel2016bible. Excel provides two methods to extract text from strings without using formulas: the Text to Columns feature and the Flash Fill feature). Refer to Chapter 32, “Importing and Cleaning Data,” for more information about these features. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 261 11 c11.indd 08/13/2015 Page 262 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Removing titles from names You can use the following formula to remove three common titles (Mr., Ms., and Mrs.) from a name. For example, if cell A1 contains Mr. Fred Munster, the formula would return Fred Munster: =IF(OR(LEFT(A1,2)="Mr",LEFT(A1,3)="Mrs",LEFT(A1,2)="Ms"),RIGHT(A1,LE N(A1) -FIND(" ",A1)),A1) Creating an ordinal number An ordinal number is an adjective form of a number. Examples include 1st, 2nd, 5th, 23rd, and so on. The formula that follows displays the value in cell A1 as an ordinal number: =A1&IF(OR(VALUE(RIGHT(A1,2))={11,12,13}),"th", IF(OR(VALUE(RIGHT(A1))={1,2,3}),CHOOSE(RIGHT(A1), "st","nd","rd"),"th")) The formula is rather complex because it must determine whether the number will end in th, st, nd, or rd. This formula also uses literal arrays (enclosed in brackets). See Chapter 18, “Performing Magic with Array Formulas,” for more on literal arrays. Counting the number of words in a cell The following formula returns the number of words in cell A1: =LEN(TRIM(A1))-LEN(SUBSTITUTE( (A1)," ",""))+1 The formula uses the TRIM function to remove excess spaces. It then uses the SUBSTITUTE function to create a new string (in memory) that has all the space characters removed. The length of this string is subtracted from the length of the original (trimmed) string to get the number of spaces. This value is then incremented by 1 to get the number of words. Note that this formula will return 1 if the cell is empty. The following modiﬁcation solves that problem: =IF(LEN(A1)=0,0,LEN(TRIM(A1))-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(TRIM(A1)," ",""))+1) 262 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 263 CHAPTER Working with Dates and Times 12 IN THIS CHAPTER Getting an overview of dates and times in Excel Using Excel date-related functions Working with Excel time-related functions M any worksheets contain dates and times in cells. For example, you might track information by date or create a schedule based on time. Beginners often ﬁ nd that working with dates and times in Excel can be frustrating. To work with dates and times, you need a good understanding of how Excel handles time-based information. This chapter provides the information you need to create powerful formulas that manipulate dates and times. The dates in this chapter correspond to the U.S. English language date format: month/day/year. For example, the date 3/1/1952 refers to March 1, 1952, not January 3, 1952. I realize that this setup is illogical, but that’s the way Americans have been trained. I trust that the non-American readers of this book can make the adjustment. How Excel Handles Dates and Times This section presents a quick overview of how Excel deals with dates and times. It covers Excel’s date and time serial number system. It also provides some tips for entering and formatting dates and times. Understanding date serial numbers To Excel, a date is simply a number. More precisely, a date is a serial number that represents the number of days since the ﬁctitious date of January 0, 1900. A serial number of 1 corresponds to January 1, 1900; a serial number of 2 corresponds to January 2, 1900; and so on. This system makes 263 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 264 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions it possible to create formulas that perform calculations with dates. For example, you can create a formula to calculate the number of days between two dates (just subtract one from the other). Excel support dates from January 1, 1900, through December 31, 9999 (serial number = 2,958,465). You may wonder about January 0, 1900. This nondate (which corresponds to date serial number 0) is actually used to represent times that aren’t associated with a particular day. This concept becomes clear later in this chapter. (See “Entering times.”) To view a date serial number as a date, you must format the cell as a date. Choose Home ➪ Number ➪ Number Format. This drop-down control provides you with two date formats. To select from additional date formats, see “Formatting dates and times,” later in this chapter. Choose Your Date System: 1900 or 1904 Excel supports two date systems: the 1900 date system and the 1904 date system. Which system you use in a workbook determines what date serves as the basis for dates. The 1900 date system uses January 1, 1900, as the day assigned to date serial number 1. The 1904 date system uses January 1, 1904, as the base date. By default, Excel for Windows uses the 1900 date system, and pre-2011 versions of Excel for Mac use the 1904 date system. Excel for Windows supports the 1904 date system for compatibility with older Mac files. You can choose the date system for the active workbook in the Advanced section of the Excel Options dialog box. (It’s in the When Calculating This Workbook subsection.) Generally, you should use the default 1900 date system. And you should exercise caution if you use two different date systems in workbooks that are linked. For example, assume that Book1 uses the 1904 date system and contains the date 1/15/1999 in cell A1. Assume that Book2 uses the 1900 date system and contains a link to cell A1 in Book1. Book2 displays the date as 1/14/1995. Both workbooks use the same date serial number (34713), but they’re interpreted differently. One advantage to using the 1904 date system is that it enables you to display negative time values. With the 1900 date system, a calculation that results in a negative time (for example, 4:00 pm–5:30 pm) cannot be displayed. When using the 1904 date system, the negative time displays as –1:30 (that is, a difference of 1 hour and 30 minutes). Entering dates You can enter a date directly as a serial number (if you know the serial number) and then format it as a date. More often, you enter a date by using any of several recognized date formats. Excel automatically converts your entry into the corresponding date serial number (which it uses for calculations), and it applies the default date format to the cell so that it displays as an actual date rather than as a cryptic serial number. 264 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 265 Chapter 12: Working with Dates and Times For example, if you need to enter June 18, 2016, into a cell, you can enter the date by typing June 18, 2016 (or any of several different date formats). Excel interprets your entry and stores the value 42539, the date serial number for that date. It also applies the default date format, so the cell contents may not appear exactly as you typed them. Depending on your regional settings, entering a date in a format such as June 18, 2016, may be interpreted as a text string. In such a case, you need to enter the date in a format that corresponds to your regional settings, such as 18 June 2016. When you activate a cell that contains a date, the Formula bar shows the cell contents formatted by using the default date format — which corresponds to your system’s short date format. The Formula bar doesn’t display the date’s serial number. If you need to ﬁnd out the serial number for a particular date, format the cell with a nondate number format. To change the default date format, you need to change a systemwide setting. From the Windows Control Panel, select Regional and Language Options. The exact procedure varies, depending on the version of Windows you use. Look for the drop-down list that enables you to change the Short Date Format. The setting you choose determines the default date format that Excel uses to display dates in the Formula bar. Table 12.1 shows a sampling of the date formats that Excel recognizes (using the U.S. settings). Results will vary if you use a different regional setting. TABLE 12.1 Date Entry Formats Recognized by Excel Entry Excel Interpretation (U.S. Settings) 6-18-16 June 18, 2016 6-18-2016 June 18, 2016 6/18/116 June 18, 2016 6/18/2016 June 18, 2016 6-18/16 June 18, 2016 June 18, 2016 June 18, 2016 Jun 18 June 18 of the current year June 18 June 18 of the current year 6/18 June 18 of the current year 6-18 June 18 of the current year 18-Jun-2016 June 18, 2016 2016/6/18 June 18, 2016 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 265 12 c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 266 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions As you can see in Table 12.1, Excel is rather ﬂexible when it comes to recognizing dates entered into a cell. It’s not perfect, however. For example, Excel does not recognize any of the following entries as dates: ■ June 18 2016 ■ Jun-18 2016 ■ Jun-18/2016 Rather, it interprets these entries as text. If you plan to use dates in formulas, make sure that Excel can recognize the date you enter as a date; otherwise, the formulas that refer to these dates will produce incorrect results. If you attempt to enter a date that lies outside the supported date range, Excel interprets it as text. If you attempt to format a serial number that lies outside the supported range as a date, the value displays as a series of hash marks (#########). Searching for Dates If your worksheet uses many dates, you may need to search for a particular date by using the Find and Replace dialog box (Home ➪ Editing ➪ Find & Select ➪ Find, or Ctrl+F). Excel is rather picky when it comes to finding dates. You must enter the date as it appears in the Formula bar. For example, if a cell contains a date formatted to display as June 19, 2016, the date appears in the Formula bar using your system’s short date format (for example, 6/19/2016). Therefore, if you search for the date as it appears in the cell, Excel won’t find it. But it will find the cell if you search for the date in the format that appears in the Formula bar. Understanding time serial numbers When you need to work with time values, you extend the Excel date serial number system to include decimals. In other words, Excel works with times by using fractional days. For example, the date serial number for June 1, 2016, is 42522. Noon (halfway through the day) is represented internally as 42522.5. The serial number equivalent of one minute is approximately 0.00069444. The following formula calculates this number by multiplying 24 hours by 60 minutes and dividing the result into 1. The denominator consists of the number of minutes in a day (1,440). =1/(24*60) Similarly, the serial number equivalent of one second is approximately 0.00001157, obtained by the following formula: =1/(24*60*60) 266 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 267 Chapter 12: Working with Dates and Times In this case, the denominator represents the number of seconds in a day (86,400). In Excel, the smallest unit of time is one 1,000th of a second. The time serial number shown here represents 23:59:59.999 (one 1,000th of a second before midnight): 0.99999999 Table 12.2 shows various times of day along with each associated time serial number. TABLE 12.2 Times of Day and Their Corresponding Serial Numbers Time of Day Time Serial Number 12:00:00 am (midnight) 0.00000000 1:30:00 am 0.06250000 7:30:00 am 0.31250000 10:30:00 am 0.43750000 12:00:00 pm (noon) 0.50000000 1:30:00 pm 0.56250000 4:30:00 pm 0.68750000 6:00:00 pm 0.75000000 9:00:00 pm 0.87500000 10:30:00 pm 0.93750000 12 Entering times As with entering dates, you normally don’t have to worry about the actual time serial numbers. Just enter the time into a cell using a recognized format. Table 12.3 shows some examples of time formats that Excel recognizes. TABLE 12.3 Time Entry Formats Recognized by Excel Entry Excel Interpretation 11:30:00 am 11:30 am 11:30:00 am 11:30 am 11:30 pm 11:30 pm 11:30 11:30 am 13:30 1:30 pm WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 267 c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 268 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Because the preceding samples don’t have a speciﬁc day associated with them, Excel uses a date serial number of 0, which corresponds to the nonday January 0, 1900. Often, you’ll want to combine a date and time. Do so by using a recognized date entry format, followed by a space, and then a recognized time entry format. For example, if you enter 6/18/2016 11:30 into a cell, Excel interprets it as 11:30 a.m. on June 18, 2016. Its date/time serial number is 42539.4791666667. When you enter a time that exceeds 24 hours, the associated date for the time increments accordingly. For example, if you enter 25:00:00 into a cell, it’s interpreted as 1:00 a.m. on January 1, 1900. The day part of the entry increments because the time exceeds 24 hours. Keep in mind that a time value without a date uses January 0, 1900, as the date. Similarly, if you enter a date and a time (and the time exceeds 24 hours), the date that you entered is adjusted. If you enter 9/18/2016 25:00:00, for example, it’s interpreted as 9/19/2016 1:00:00 a.m. If you enter a time only (without an associated date) into an unformatted cell, the maximum time that you can enter into a cell is 9999:59:59 (just less than 10,000 hours). Excel adds the appropriate number of days. In this case, 9999:59:59 is interpreted as 3:59:59 p.m. on 02/19/1901. If you enter a time that exceeds 10,000 hours, the entry is interpreted as a text string rather than a time. Formatting dates and times You have a great deal of ﬂexibility in formatting cells that contain dates and times. For example, you can format the cell to display the date part only, the time part only, or both the date and time parts. You format dates and times by selecting the cells and then using the Number tab of the Format Cells dialog box, shown in Figure 12.1. To display this dialog box, click the dialog box launcher icon in the Number group of the Home tab, or click the Number Format control and choose More Number Formats from the list that appears. The Date category shows built-in date formats, and the Time category shows built-in time formats. Some formats include both date and time displays. Just select the desired format from the Type list, and then click OK. When you create a formula that refers to a cell containing a date or a time, Excel sometimes automatically formats the formula cell as a date or a time. Often, this automation is helpful; other times, it’s completely inappropriate and downright annoying. To return the number formatting to the default General format, choose Home ➪ Number ➪ Number Format and choose General from the drop-down list. Or just press Ctrl+Shift+~ (tilde). 268 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 269 Chapter 12: Working with Dates and Times FIGURE 12.1 Use the Number tab of the Format Cells dialog box to change the appearance of dates and times. 12 If none of the built-in formats meets your needs, you can create a custom number format. Select the Custom category and then type the custom format codes into the Type box. See Chapter 25, “Using Custom Number Formats,” for information on creating custom number formats. Problems with dates Excel has some problems when it comes to dates. Many of these problems stem from the fact that Excel was designed many years ago. Excel designers basically emulated the Lotus 1-2-3 program’s limited date and time features, which contain a nasty bug that was duplicated intentionally in Excel (described next). If Excel were being designed from scratch today, I’m sure it would be much more versatile in dealing with dates. Unfortunately, users are currently stuck with a product that leaves much to be desired in the area of dates. Excel’s leap year bug A leap year, which occurs every four years, contains an additional day (February 29). Speciﬁcally, years that are evenly divisible by 100 are not leap years, unless they are also evenly divisible by 400. Although the year 1900 was not a leap year, Excel treats it as such. In other words, when you type 2/29/1900 into a cell, Excel interprets it as a valid date and assigns a serial number of 60. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 269 c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 270 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions If you type 2/29/1901, however, Excel correctly interprets it as a mistake and doesn’t convert it to a date. Instead, it simply makes the cell entry a text string. How can a product used daily by millions of people contain such an obvious bug? The answer is historical. The original version of Lotus 1-2-3 contained a bug that caused it to treat 1900 as a leap year. When Excel was released some time later, the designers knew about this bug and chose to reproduce it in Excel to maintain compatibility with Lotus worksheet ﬁles. Why does this bug still exist in later versions of Excel? Microsoft asserts that the disadvantages of correcting this bug outweigh the advantages. If the bug were eliminated, it would mess up millions of existing workbooks. In addition, correcting this problem would possibly affect compatibility between Excel and other programs that use dates. As it stands, this bug really causes very few problems because most users don’t use dates prior to March 1, 1900. Pre-1900 dates The world, of course, didn’t begin on January 1, 1900. People who use Excel to work with historical information often need to work with dates before January 1, 1900. Unfortunately, the only way to work with pre-1900 dates is to enter the date into a cell as text. For example, you can enter July 4, 1776 into a cell, and Excel won’t complain. If you plan to sort information by old dates, you should enter your text dates with a four-digit year, followed by a twodigit month, and then a two-digit day — for example, 1776-07-04. You won’t be able to work with these text strings as dates, but this format will enable accurate sorting. Using text as dates works in some situations, but the main problem is that you can’t perform manipulation on a date that’s entered as text. For example, you can’t change its numeric formatting, you can’t determine which day of the week this date occurred on, and you can’t calculate the date that occurs seven days later. The website for this book, www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible, contains a workbook named XDATE demo.xlsm (plus a companion file named XDATE help.pdf). The workbook contains eight custom worksheet functions that I wrote in VBA. You will need to enable macros when you open this workbook. These functions enable you to work with any date in the years 0100 through 9999. Figure 12.2 shows a worksheet that uses these extended date functions in columns E through G to perform calculations that involve pre-1900 dates. Inconsistent date entries You need to be careful when entering dates by using two digits for the year. When you do so, Excel has some rules that determine which century to use. 270 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 271 Chapter 12: Working with Dates and Times FIGURE 12.2 My Extended Date Functions add-in enables you to work with pre-1900 dates. 12 Two-digit years between 00 and 29 are interpreted as 21st-century dates, and two-digit years between 30 and 99 are interpreted as 20th-century dates. For example, if you enter 12/15/28, Excel interprets your entry as December 15, 2028. But if you enter 12/15/30, Excel sees it as December 15, 1930, because Windows uses a default boundary year of 2029. You can keep the default as is or change it via the Windows Control Panel. From the Regional and Language Options dialog box, click the Customize button to display the Customize Regional Options dialog box. Select the Date tab and then specify a different year. The best way to avoid any surprises is to simply enter all years using all four digits for the year. Date-Related Worksheet Functions Excel has quite a few functions that work with dates. These functions are accessible by choosing Formulas ➪ Function Library ➪ Date & Time. Table 12.4 summarizes the date-related functions available in Excel. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 271 c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 272 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions TABLE 12.4 Date-Related Functions Function Description DATE Returns the serial number of a particular date. DATEVALUE Converts a date in the form of text to a serial number. DAY Converts a serial number to a day of the month. DAYS*** Returns the number of days between two dates. DAYS360 Calculates the number of days between two dates based on a 360-day year. EDATE* Returns the serial number of the date that represents the indicated number of months before or after the start date. EOMONTH* Returns the serial number of the last day of the month before or after a specified number of months. ISOWEEKNUM*** Returns the ISO week number for a date. MONTH Converts a serial number to a month. NETWORKDAYS* Returns the number of whole work days between two dates. NETWORKDAYS.INTL** Returns the number of whole work days between two dates. This is an international version of the NETWORKDAYS function that allows nonstandard weekend days. NOW Returns the serial number of the current date and time. TODAY Returns the serial number of today’s date. WEEKDAY Converts a serial number to a day of the week. WEEKNUM* Returns the week number in the year. WORKDAY* Returns the serial number of the date before or after a specified number of workdays. WORKDAY.INTL** Returns the serial number of the date before or after a specified number of workdays. This is an international version of the WORKDAY function that allows nonstandard weekend days. YEAR Converts a serial number to a year. YEARFRAC* Returns the number of years, including the fraction, between start_ date and end_date. * In versions prior to Excel 2007, these functions are available only when the Analysis ToolPak add-in is installed. ** Indicates a function introduced in Excel 2010. *** Indicates a function introduced in Excel 2013. Displaying the current date The following formula uses the TODAY function to display the current date in a cell: =TODAY() 272 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 273 Chapter 12: Working with Dates and Times You can also display the date combined with text. The formula that follows, for example, displays text, such as Today is Saturday, April 9, 2016: ="Today is "&TEXT(TODAY(),"dddd, mmmm d, yyyy") It’s important to understand that the TODAY function is not a date stamp. The function is updated whenever the worksheet is calculated. For example, if you enter either of the preceding formulas into a worksheet, the formulas display the current date. And when you open the workbook tomorrow, they will display the current date (not the date when you entered the formula). To enter a date stamp into a cell, press Ctrl+; (semicolon). This action enters the date directly into the cell and doesn’t use a formula. Therefore, the date won’t change. 12 Displaying any date You can easily enter a date into a cell by simply typing it while using any of the date formats that Excel recognizes. You can also create a date by using the DATE function, which takes three arguments: the year, the month, and the day. The following formula, for example, returns a date comprising the year in cell A1, the month in cell B1, and the day in cell C1: =DATE(A1,B1,C1) The DATE function accepts invalid arguments and adjusts the result accordingly. For example, the following formula uses 13 as the month argument and returns January 1, 2016. The month argument is automatically translated as month 1 of the following year: =DATE(2015,13,1) Often, you’ll use the DATE function with other functions as arguments. For example, the following formula uses the YEAR and TODAY functions to return the date for July 4 of the current year: =DATE(YEAR(TODAY()),7,4) The DATEVALUE function converts a text string that looks like a date into a date serial number. The following formula returns 42604, which is the date serial number for August 22, 2016: =DATEVALUE("8/22/2016") To view the result of this formula as a date, you need to apply a date number format to the cell. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 273 c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 274 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Be careful when using the DATEVALUE function. A text string that looks like a date in your country may not look like a date in another country. The preceding example works fine if your system is set for U.S. date formats, but it returns an error for other regional date formats because Excel is looking for the 8th day of the 22nd month! Generating a series of dates Often, you want to insert a series of dates into a worksheet. For example, in tracking weekly sales, you may want to enter a series of dates, each separated by seven days. These dates will serve to identify the sales ﬁgures. In some cases, you can use the Excel AutoFill feature to insert a series of dates. Enter the ﬁrst date and drag the cell’s ﬁll handle while holding down the right mouse button. Release the mouse button and select an option from the shortcut menu (see Figure 12.3) — Fill Days, Fill Weekdays, Fill Months, or Fill Years. Notice that Excel does not provide a Fill Weeks option. FIGURE 12.3 Using AutoFill to create a series of dates. For more ﬂexibility, enter the ﬁ rst two dates in the series — for example, the starting day for week 1 and the starting day for week 2. Then select both cells and drag the ﬁll handle down the column. Excel will complete the date series, with each date separated by the interval represented by the ﬁ rst two dates. 274 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 275 Chapter 12: Working with Dates and Times Another way to create a series of dates is to use formulas. The advantage of using formulas (instead of AutoFill) to create a series of dates is that when you change the ﬁ rst date, the others update automatically. You need to enter the starting date in a cell and then use formulas (copied down the column) to generate the additional dates. The following examples assume that you enter the ﬁ rst date of the series into cell A1 and the formula into cell A2. You can then copy this formula down the column as many times as needed. To generate a series of dates separated by seven days, use this formula: =A1+7 To generate a series of dates separated by one month, you need to use a more complicated formula because months don’t all have the same number of days. This formula creates a series of dates, separated by one month: =DATE(YEAR(A1),MONTH(A1)+1,DAY(A1)) To generate a series of dates separated by one year, use this formula: =DATE(YEAR(A1)+1,MONTH(A1),DAY(A1)) To generate a series of weekdays only (no Saturdays or Sundays), use the following formula. This formula assumes that the date in cell A1 is not a weekend day. =IF(WEEKDAY(A1)=6,A1+3,A1+1) Converting a nondate string to a date You may import data that contains dates coded as text strings. For example, the following text represents August 21, 2016 (a four-digit year followed by a two-digit month, followed by a two-digit day): 20160821 To convert this string to an actual date, you can use a formula such as the following to extract the three elements and convert them to a date. (This formula assumes that the coded data is in cell A1.) =DATE(LEFT(A1,4),MID(A1,5,2),RIGHT(A1,2)) This formula uses text functions (LEFT, MID, and RIGHT) to extract the digits, and then it uses these extracted digits as arguments for the DATE function. See Chapter 11, “Creating Formulas That Manipulate Text,” for more information about using formulas that deal with text. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 275 12 c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 276 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Calculating the number of days between two dates A common type of date calculation determines the number of days between two dates. For example, say you have a ﬁ nancial worksheet that calculates interest earned on a deposit account. The interest earned depends on the number of days the account is open. If your sheet contains the open date and the close date for the account, you can calculate the number of days the account was open. Because dates are stored as consecutive serial numbers, you can use simple subtraction to calculate the number of days between two dates. For example, if cells A1 and B1 both contain a date, the following formula returns the number of days between these dates: =A1-B1 If cell B1 contains a more recent date than the date in cell A1, the result will be negative. If you don’t care about which date is earlier and want to avoid displaying a negative value, use this formula: =ABS(A1-B1) You can also use the DAYS worksheet function, which was introduced in Excel 2013. It offers no advantage that I can see, but here’s an example of how to use it to calculate the number of days between two dates: =DAYS(A1,B1) Sometimes calculating the difference between two days is more difﬁcult. To demonstrate, consider the common fence-post analogy. If somebody asks you how many units make up a fence, you can respond with either of two answers: the number of fence posts or the number of gaps between the fence posts. The number of fence posts is always one more than the number of gaps between the posts. To bring this analogy into the realm of dates, suppose that you start a sales promotion on February 1 and end the promotion on February 9. How many days was the promotion in effect? Subtracting February 1 from February 9 produces an answer of eight days. Actually, though, the promotion lasted nine days. In this case, the correct answer involves counting the fence posts, not the gaps. The formula to calculate the length of the promotion (assuming that you have appropriately named cells) appears like this: =EndDay-StartDay+1 Calculating the number of workdays between two dates When calculating the difference between two dates, you may want to exclude weekends and holidays. For example, you may need to know how many business days fall in the month of November. This calculation should exclude Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. The NETWORKDAYS function can help out. 276 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 277 Chapter 12: Working with Dates and Times In versions prior to Excel 2007, the NETWORKDAYS function was available only when the Analysis ToolPak add-in was installed. This function is now part of Excel and doesn’t require an add-in. This is relevant if you plan to share your workbook with someone who uses an older version of Excel. The NETWORKDAYS function calculates the difference between two dates, excluding weekend days (Saturdays and Sundays). As an option, you can specify a range of cells that contain the dates of holidays, which are also excluded. Excel has no way of determining which days are holidays, so you must provide this information in a range. Figure 12.4 shows a worksheet that calculates the workdays between two dates. The range A2:A11 contains a list of holiday dates. The two formulas in column C calculate the workdays between the dates in column A and column B. For example, the formula in cell C15 is =NETWORKDAYS(A15,B15,A2:A11) FIGURE 12.4 Using the NETWORKDAYS function to calculate the number of workdays between two dates. This formula returns 4, which means that the seven-day period beginning with January 1 contains four workdays. In other words, the calculation excludes one holiday, one Saturday, and one Sunday. The formula in cell C16 calculates the total number of workdays in the year and returns 252. This workbook is available on the book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named work days.xlsx. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 277 12 c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 278 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Excel 2010 introduced an updated version of the NETWORKDAYS function, named NETWORKDAYS.INTL. This newer version of the function is useful if you consider weekend days to be days other than Saturday and Sunday. Offsetting a date using only workdays The WORKDAY function is the opposite of the NETWORKDAYS function. For example, if you start a project on January 5 and the project requires twelve working days to complete, the WORKDAY function can calculate the date you will ﬁ nish the project. In versions prior to Excel 2007, the WORKDAY function was available only when the Analysis ToolPak add-in was installed. The function is now part of Excel and doesn’t require an add-in. The following formula uses the WORKDAY function to determine the date that is twelve working days from January 5, 2016. A workday consists of a weekday (Monday through Friday). =WORKDAY("1/5/2016",12) The formula returns a date serial number, which must be formatted as a date. The result is January 21, 2016. (Four weekend dates fall between January 5 and January 21.) The preceding formula may return a different result, depending on your regional date setting. (The hard-coded date may be interpreted as May 1, 2016.) A better formula follows: =WORKDAY(DATE(2016,1,5),12) The second argument for the WORKDAY function can be negative. And, as with the NETWORKDAYS function, the WORKDAY function accepts an optional third argument (a reference to a range that contains a list of holiday dates). Excel 2010 introduced an updated version of the WORKDAY function, named WORKDAY.INTL. This newer version of the function is useful if you consider weekend days to be days other than Saturday and Sunday. Calculating the number of years between two dates The following formula calculates the number of years between two dates. This formula assumes that cells A1 and B1 both contain dates: =YEAR(A1)-YEAR(B1) 278 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 279 Chapter 12: Working with Dates and Times This formula uses the YEAR function to extract the year from each date and then subtracts one year from the other. If cell B1 contains a more recent date than the date in cell A1, the result is negative. Note that this function doesn’t calculate full years. For example, if cell A1 contains 12/31/2015 and cell B1 contains 01/01/2016, the formula returns a difference of one year even though the dates differ by only one day. (See the next section for another way to calculate the number of full years.) Calculating a person’s age A person’s age indicates the number of full years that the person has been alive. The formula in the previous section (for calculating the number of years between two dates) won’t calculate this value correctly. You can use two other formulas, however, to calculate a person’s age. The following formula returns the age of the person whose date of birth you enter into cell A1. This formula uses the YEARFRAC function: =INT(YEARFRAC(TODAY(),A1,1)) In versions prior to Excel 2007, the YEARFRAC function was available only when the Analysis ToolPak add-in was installed. The function is now part of Excel and does not require an add-in. The following formula uses the DATEDIF function to calculate an age. (See the next sidebar, “Where’s the DATEDIF Function?”) =DATEDIF(A1,TODAY(),"Y") Where’s the DATEDIF Function? One of Excel’s mysteries is the DATEDIF function. You may notice that this function doesn’t appear in the drop-down function list for the Date & Time category, nor does it appear in the Insert Function dialog box. Therefore, when you use this function, you must always enter it manually. The DATEDIF function has its origins in Lotus 1-2-3, and Excel provides it for compatibility purposes. DATEDIF is a handy function that calculates the number of days, months, or years between two dates. The function takes three arguments: start_date, end_date, and a code that represents the time unit of interest. Here’s an example of a formula that uses the DATEDIF function. (It assumes cells A1 and A2 contain a date.) The formula returns the number of complete years between those two dates. =DATEDIF(A1,A2,"y") Continues WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 279 12 c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 280 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions continued The following table displays valid codes for the third argument. (You must enclose the codes in quotation marks.) Unit Code Returns "y" The number of complete years in the period. "m" The number of complete months in the period. "d" The number of days in the period. "md" The difference between the days in start_date and end_date. The months and years of the dates are ignored. "ym" The difference between the months in start_date and end_date. The days and years of the dates are ignored. "yd" The difference between the days of start_date and end_date. The years of the dates are ignored. The start_date argument must be earlier than the end_date argument or else the function returns an error. Determining the day of the year January 1 is the ﬁrst day of the year, and December 31 is the last day. But what about all those days in between? The following formula returns the day of the year for a date stored in cell A1: =A1-DATE(YEAR(A1),1,0) Here’s a similar formula that returns the day of the year for the current date: =TODAY()-DATE(YEAR(TODAY()),1,0) The following formula returns the number of days remaining in the year after a particular date (assumed to be in cell A1): =DATE(YEAR(A1),12,31)-A1 Here’s the formula modiﬁed to use the current date: =DATE(YEAR(TODAY()),12,31)-TODAY() When you enter either formula, Excel applies date formatting to the cell. You need to apply a nondate number format to view the result as a number. To convert a particular day of the year (for example, the 90th day of the year) to an actual date in a speciﬁed year, use the following formula, which assumes that the year is stored in cell A1 and that the day of the year is stored in cell B1: =DATE(A1,1,B1) 280 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 281 Chapter 12: Working with Dates and Times This formula takes advantage of the fact that the DATE function accepts invalid dates (such as the 90th day of January) and adjusts automatically. The 90th day of January is actually the 90th day of the year. Determining the day of the week The WEEKDAY function accepts a date argument and returns an integer between 1 and 7 that corresponds to the day of the week. The following formula, for example, returns 6 because the ﬁ rst day of the year 2016 falls on a Friday: =WEEKDAY(DATE(2016,1,1)) The WEEKDAY function uses an optional second argument that speciﬁes the day numbering system for the result. If you specify 2 as the second argument, the function returns 1 for Monday, 2 for Tuesday, and so on. If you specify 3 as the second argument, the function returns 0 for Monday, 1 for Tuesday, and so on. You can also determine the day of the week for a cell that contains a date by applying a custom number format. A cell that uses the following custom number format displays the day of the week, spelled out: dddd Determining the week of the year To determine the week of the year for a date, use the WEEKNUM function. The following function returns the week number for the data in cell A1: =WEEKNUM(A1) When you use the WEEKNUM function, you can specify a second optional argument to indicate the type of week numbering system you prefer. The second argument can be one of ten values, which are described in the Help system. Excel 2013 introduced a new function, ISOWEEKNUM. This function uses the algorithm from the International Organization for Standardization. It returns the same result as WEEKNUM with a second argument of 21. Determining the date of the most recent Sunday You can use the following formula to return the date for the previous Sunday. If the current day is a Sunday, the formula returns the current date: =TODAY()-MOD(TODAY()-1,7) WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 281 12 c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 282 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions To modify this formula to ﬁ nd the date of a day other than Sunday, change the 1 to a different number between 2 (for Monday) and 7 (for Saturday). Determining the first day of the week after a date This formula returns the speciﬁed day of the week that occurs after a particular date. For example, use this formula to determine the date of the ﬁ rst Monday after a particular date. The formula assumes that cell A1 contains a date and cell A2 contains a number between 1 and 7 (1 for Sunday, 2 for Monday, and so on). =A1+A2-WEEKDAY(A1)+(A2<WEEKDAY(A1))*7 If cell A1 contains June 1, 2016 (a Wednesday) and cell A2 contains 2 (for Monday), the formula returns June 6, 2016. This is the ﬁ rst Monday following June 1, 2016. Determining the nth occurrence of a day of the week in a month You may need a formula to determine the date for a particular occurrence of a weekday. For example, suppose that your company payday falls on the second Friday of each month and you need to determine the paydays for each month of the year. The following formula makes this type of calculation: =DATE(A1,A2,1)+A3-WEEKDAY(DATE(A1,A2,1))+(A4(A3>=WEEKDAY(DATE(A1,A2,1))))*7 The formula in this section assumes that ■ Cell A1 contains a year. ■ Cell A2 contains a month. ■ Cell A3 contains a day number (1 for Sunday, 2 for Monday, and so on). ■ Cell A4 contains the occurrence number (for example, 2 to select the second occurrence of the weekday speciﬁed in cell A3). If you use this formula to determine the date of the second Friday in November 2016, it returns November 11, 2016. If the value in cell A4 exceeds the number of the specified day in the month, the formula returns a date from a subsequent month. For example, if you attempt to determine the date of the fifth Friday in October 2016 (there is no such date), the formula returns the first Friday in November. Calculating dates of holidays Determining the date for a particular holiday can be tricky. Some, such as New Year’s Day and Independence Day in the United States, are no-brainers because they always occur on 282 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 283 Chapter 12: Working with Dates and Times the same date. For these kinds of holidays, you can simply use the DATE function. To enter New Year’s Day (which always falls on January 1) for a speciﬁc year in cell A1, you can enter this function: =DATE(A1,1,1) Other holidays are deﬁ ned in terms of a particular occurrence of a particular weekday in a particular month. For example, Labor Day falls on the ﬁ rst Monday in September. Figure 12.5 shows a workbook with formulas that calculate the date for 11 U.S. holidays. The formulas, which reference the year in cell A1, are listed in the sections that follow. FIGURE 12.5 12 Using formulas to determine the date for various holidays. The workbook shown in Figure 12.5 also appears on the companion website, at www.wiley.com/ go/excel2016bible. The file is named holidays.xlsx. New Year’s Day This holiday always falls on January 1: =DATE(A1,1,1) Martin Luther King, Jr., Day This holiday occurs on the third Monday in January. This formula calculates Martin Luther King, Jr., Day for the year in cell A1: =DATE(A1,1,1)+IF(2<WEEKDAY(DATE(A1,1,1)),7-WEEKDAY(DATE(A1,1,1))+2, 2-WEEKDAY(DATE(A1,1,1)))+((3-1)*7) WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 283 c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 284 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Presidents’ Day Presidents’ Day occurs on the third Monday in February. This formula calculates Presidents’ Day for the year in cell A1: =DATE(A1,2,1)+IF(2<WEEKDAY(DATE(A1,2,1)),7-WEEKDAY(DATE(A1,2,1))+2, 2-WEEKDAY(DATE(A1,2,1)))+((3-1)*7) Easter Calculating the date for Easter is difﬁ cult because of the complicated manner in which Easter is determined. Easter Day is the ﬁ rst Sunday after the next full moon occurs after the vernal equinox. I found these formulas to calculate Easter on the Web. I have no idea how they work. And they don’t work if your workbook uses the 1904 date system. (Read about the difference between the 1900 and 1904 date systems earlier in this chapter.) =DOLLAR(("4/"&A1)/7+MOD(19*MOD(A1,19)-7,30)*14%,)*7-6 This one is slightly shorter, but equally obtuse: =FLOOR("5/"&DAY(MINUTE(A1/38)/2+56)&"/"&A1,7)-34 Memorial Day The last Monday in May is Memorial Day. This formula calculates Memorial Day for the year in cell A1: =DATE(A1,6,1)+IF(2<WEEKDAY(DATE(A1,6,1)),7-WEEKDAY(DATE(A1,6,1))+2, 2-WEEKDAY(DATE(A1,6,1)))+((1-1)*7)-7 Notice that this formula actually calculates the ﬁ rst Monday in June and then subtracts 7 from the result to return the last Monday in May. Independence Day This holiday always falls on July 4: =DATE(A1,7,4) Labor Day Labor Day occurs on the ﬁ rst Monday in September. This formula calculates Labor Day for the year in cell A1: =DATE(A1,9,1)+IF(2<WEEKDAY(DATE(A1,9,1)),7-WEEKDAY(DATE(A1,9,1))+2, 2-WEEKDAY(DATE(A1,9,1)))+((1-1)*7) Columbus Day This holiday occurs on the second Monday in October. This formula calculates Columbus Day for the year in cell A1: 284 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 285 Chapter 12: Working with Dates and Times =DATE(A1,10,1)+IF(2<WEEKDAY(DATE(A1,10,1)),7WEEKDAY(DATE(A1,10,1))+2,2-WEEKDAY(DATE(A1,10,1)))+((2-1)*7) Veterans Day This holiday always falls on November 11: =DATE(A1,11,11) Thanksgiving Day Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. This formula calculates Thanksgiving Day for the year in cell A1: =DATE(A1,11,1)+IF(5<WEEKDAY(DATE(A1,11,1)),7WEEKDAY(DATE(A1,11,1))+5,5-WEEKDAY(DATE(A1,11,1)))+((4-1)*7) 12 Christmas Day This holiday always falls on December 25: =DATE(A1,12,25) Determining the last day of a month To determine the date that corresponds to the last day of a month, you can use the DATE function. However, you need to increment the month by 1 and use a day value of 0. In other words, the “0th” day of the next month is the last day of the current month. The following formula assumes that a date is stored in cell A1. The formula returns the date that corresponds to the last day of the month. =DATE(YEAR(A1),MONTH(A1)+1,0) You can use a variation of this formula to determine how many days are in a speciﬁed month. The following formula returns an integer that corresponds to the number of days in the month for the date in cell A1: =DAY(DATE(YEAR(A1),MONTH(A1)+1,0)) Determining whether a year is a leap year To determine whether a particular year is a leap year, you can write a formula that determines whether the 29th day of February occurs in February or March. You can take advantage of the fact that the Excel DATE function adjusts the result when you supply an invalid argument — for example, a day of 29 when February contains only 28 days. The following formula returns TRUE if the year in cell A1 is a leap year. Otherwise, it returns FALSE: =IF(MONTH(DATE(A1,2,29))=2,TRUE,FALSE) WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 285 c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 286 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions This function returns the wrong result (TRUE) if the year is 1900. (See “Excel’s leap year bug,” earlier in this chapter.) The following formula is a bit more complicated, but it correctly identiﬁes 1900 as a non-leap year. This formula assumes that cell A1 contains a year: =IF(OR(MOD(A1,400)=0,AND(MOD(A1,4)=0,MOD(A1,100)<>0)),TRUE, FALSE) Determining a date’s quarter For ﬁ nancial reports, you may ﬁ nd it useful to present information in terms of quarters. The following formula returns an integer between 1 and 4 that corresponds to the calendar quarter for the date in cell A1: =ROUNDUP(MONTH(A1)/3,0) This formula divides the month number by 3 and then rounds up the result. Time-Related Worksheet Functions Excel also includes a number of functions that enable you to work with time values in your formulas. This section contains examples that demonstrate the use of these functions. Table 12.5 summarizes the time-related functions available in Excel. These functions work with date serial numbers. When you use the Insert Function dialog box, these functions appear in the Date & Time function category. TABLE 12.5 286 Time-Related Functions Function Description HOUR Returns the hour part of a serial number MINUTE Returns the minute part of a serial number NOW Returns the serial number of the current date and time SECOND Returns the second part of a serial number TIME Returns the serial number of a specified time TIMEVALUE Converts a time in the form of text to a serial number WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 287 Chapter 12: Working with Dates and Times Displaying the current time This formula displays the current time as a time serial number (or as a serial number without an associated date): =NOW()-TODAY() You need to format the cell with a time format to view the result as a recognizable time. The quickest way is to choose Home ➪ Number ➪ Format Number and select Time from the drop-down list. Or just use the following formula, which returns the current date and time. You can apply a number format that shows the time only: =NOW() 12 Formulas that use the NOW function are updated only when the worksheet is calculated. The time comes from your computer’s clock, so if the clock is wrong, the formula will return an incorrect time. To enter a time stamp (that doesn’t change) into a cell, press Ctrl+Shift+: (colon). Displaying any time One way to enter a time value into a cell is to just type it, making sure that you include at least one colon (:). You can also create a time by using the TIME function. For example, the following formula returns a time comprising the hour in cell A1, the minute in cell B1, and the second in cell C1: =TIME(A1,B1,C1) Like the DATE function, the TIME function accepts invalid arguments and adjusts the result accordingly. For example, the following formula uses 80 as the minute argument and returns 10:20:15 AM. The 80 minutes are simply added to the hour, with 20 minutes remaining. =TIME(9,80,15) If you enter a value greater than 24 as the first argument for the TIME function, the result may not be what you expect. Logically, a formula such as the one that follows should produce a date/time serial number of 1.041667 (that is, one day and one hour). =TIME(25,0,0) In fact, this formula is equivalent to the following: =TIME(1,0,0) WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 287 c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 288 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions You can also use the DATE function along with the TIME function in a single cell. The formula that follows generates a date and time with a serial number of 42708.7708333333 — which represents 6:30 p.m. on December 4, 2016: =DATE(2016,12,4)+TIME(18,30,0) The TIMEVALUE function converts a text string that looks like a time into a time serial number. This formula returns 0.2395833333, the time serial number for 5:45 a.m.: =TIMEVALUE("5:45 am") To view the result of this formula as a time, you need to apply number formatting to the cell. The TIMEVALUE function doesn’t recognize all common time formats. For example, the following formula returns an error because Excel doesn’t like the periods in “a.m.” =TIMEVALUE("5:45 a.m.") Calculating the difference between two times Because times are represented as serial numbers, you can subtract the earlier time from the later time to get the difference. For example, if cell A2 contains 5:30:00 and cell B2 contains 14:00:00, the following formula returns 08:30:00 (a difference of 8 hours and 30 minutes): =B2-A2 If the subtraction results in a negative value, however, it becomes an invalid time; Excel displays a series of hash marks (#######) because a time without a date has a date serial number of 0. A negative time results in a negative serial number, which cannot be displayed — although you can still use the calculated value in other formulas. If the direction of the time difference doesn’t matter, you can use the ABS function to return the absolute value of the difference: =ABS(B2-A2) This “negative time” problem often occurs when calculating an elapsed time — for example, calculating the number of hours worked given a start time and an end time. This presents no problem if the two times fall in the same day. But if the work shift spans midnight, the result is an invalid negative time. For example, you may start work at 10:00 p.m. and end work at 6:00 a.m. the next day. Figure 12.6 shows a worksheet that calculates the hours worked. As you can see, the shift that spans midnight presents a problem (cell C3). 288 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 289 Chapter 12: Working with Dates and Times FIGURE 12.6 Calculating the number of hours worked returns an error if the shift spans midnight. Using the ABS function (to calculate the absolute value) isn’t an option in this case because it returns the wrong result (16). The following formula, however, does work: 12 =IF(B2<A2,B2+1,B2)-A2 Negative times are permitted if the workbook uses the 1904 date system. To switch to the 1904 date system, use the Advanced section of the Excel Options dialog box. Select the Use 1904 Date System option. But beware! When changing the workbook’s date system, if the workbook uses dates, the dates will be off by four years. (For more information about the 1904 date system, see the sidebar “Choose Your Date System: 1900 or 1904,” earlier in this chapter.) Summing times that exceed 24 hours Many people are surprised to discover that when you sum a series of times that exceed 24 hours, Excel doesn’t display the correct total. Figure 12.7 shows an example. The range B2:B8 contains times that represent the hours and minutes worked each day. The formula in cell B9 is =SUM(B2:B8) FIGURE 12.7 Incorrect cell formatting makes the total appear incorrectly. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 289 c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 290 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions As you can see, the formula returns a seemingly incorrect total (17 hours, 45 minutes). The total should read 41 hours, 45 minutes. The problem is that the formula is displaying the total as a date/time serial number of 1.7395833, but the cell formatting is not displaying the date part of the date/time. In other words, the answer is correct, but it appears incorrect because cell B9 has the wrong number format. To view a time that exceeds 24 hours, you need to apply a custom number format for the cell so that square brackets surround the hour part of the format string. Applying the number format here to cell B9 displays the sum correctly: [h]:mm For more information about custom number formats, see Chapter 25. Figure 12.8 shows another example of a worksheet that manipulates times. This worksheet keeps track of hours worked during a week (regular hours and overtime hours). FIGURE 12.8 An employee timesheet workbook. 290 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 291 Chapter 12: Working with Dates and Times This workbook is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The filename is timesheet.xlsm. The workbook contains a few macros to make it easier to use, so you’ll need to enable macros when you open the workbook. The week’s starting date appears in cell D5, and the formulas in column B ﬁll in the dates for the days of the week. Times appear in the range D8:G14, and formulas in column H calculate the number of hours worked each day. For example, the formula in cell H8 is =IF(E8<D8,E8+1-D8,E8-D8)+IF(G8<F8,G8+1-G8,G8-F8) The ﬁ rst part of this formula subtracts the time in column D from the time in column E to get the total hours worked before lunch. The second part subtracts the time in column F from the time in column G to get the total hours worked after lunch. I use IF functions to accommodate graveyard shift cases that span midnight — for example, an employee may start work at 10:00 p.m. and begin lunch at 2:00 a.m. Without the IF function, the formula returns a negative result. The following formula in cell H17 calculates the weekly total by summing the daily totals in column H: =SUM(H8:H14) This worksheet assumes that hours in excess of 40 in a week are considered overtime. The worksheet contains a cell named Overtime in cell C23. This cell contains a formula that returns 40:00. If your standard workweek consists of something other than 40 hours, you can change this cell. The following formula (in cell H18) calculates regular (nonovertime) hours. This formula returns the smaller of two values: the total hours or the overtime hours: =MIN(E17,Overtime) The ﬁ nal formula, in cell H19, simply subtracts the regular hours from the total hours to yield the overtime hours: =E17-E18 The times in the range H17:H19 and cell C23 may display time values that exceed 24 hours, so these cells use a custom number format: [h]:mm Converting from military time Military time is expressed as a four-digit number from 0000 to 2359. For example, 1:00 a.m. is expressed as 0100 hours, and 3:30 p.m. is expressed as 1530 hours. The following formula converts such a number (assumed to be in cell A1) to a standard time: =TIMEVALUE(LEFT(A1,2)&":"&RIGHT(A1,2)) WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 291 12 c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 292 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions The formula returns an incorrect result if the contents of cell A1 do not contain four digits. The following formula corrects the problem, and it returns a valid time for any military time value from 0 to 2359: =TIMEVALUE(LEFT(TEXT(A1,"0000"),2)&":"&RIGHT(A1,2)) Following is a simpler formula that uses the TEXT function to return a formatted string and then the TIMEVALUE function to express the result in terms of a time: =TIMEVALUE(TEXT(A1,"00\:00")) Converting decimal hours, minutes, or seconds to a time To convert decimal hours to a time, divide the decimal hours by 24. For example, if cell A1 contains 9.25 (representing hours), this formula returns 09:15:00 (9 hours, 15 minutes): =A1/24 To convert decimal minutes to a time, divide the decimal minutes by 1,440 (the number of minutes in a day). For example, if cell A1 contains 500 (representing minutes), the following formula returns 08:20:00 (8 hours, 20 minutes): =A1/1440 To convert decimal seconds to a time, divide the decimal seconds by 86,400 (the number of seconds in a day). For example, if cell A1 contains 65,000 (representing seconds), the following formula returns 18:03:20 (18 hours, 3 minutes, and 20 seconds): =A1/86400 Adding hours, minutes, or seconds to a time You can use the TIME function to add any number of hours, minutes, or seconds to a time. For example, assume that cell A1 contains a time. The following formula adds 2 hours and 30 minutes to that time and displays the result: =A1+TIME(2,30,0) You can use the TIME function to ﬁll a range of cells with incremental times. Figure 12.9 shows a worksheet with a series of times in ten-minute increments. Cell A1 contains a time that was entered directly. Cell A2 contains the following formula, which was copied down the column: =A1+TIME(0,10,0) 292 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 293 Chapter 12: Working with Dates and Times FIGURE 12.9 Using a formula to create a series of incremental times. 12 Rounding time values You may need to create a formula that rounds a time to a particular value. For example, you may need to enter your company’s time records rounded to the nearest 15 minutes. This section presents examples of various ways to round a time value. The following formula rounds the time in cell A1 to the nearest minute: =ROUND(A1*1440,0)/1440 The formula works by multiplying the time by 1,440 (to get total minutes). This value is passed to the ROUND function, and the result is divided by 1,440. For example, if cell A1 contains 11:52:34, the formula returns 11:53:00. The following formula resembles this example, except that it rounds the time in cell A1 to the nearest hour: =ROUND(A1*24,0)/24 If cell A1 contains 5:21:31, the formula returns 5:00:00. The following formula rounds the time in cell A1 to the nearest 15 minutes (a quarter of an hour): =ROUND(A1*24/0.25,0)*(0.25/24) In this formula, 0.25 represents the fractional hour. To round a time to the nearest 30 minutes, change 0.25 to 0.5, as in the following formula: =ROUND(A1*24/0.5,0)*(0.5/24) WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 293 c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 294 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Working with non-time-of-day values Sometimes you may want to work with time values that don’t represent an actual time of day. For example, you may want to create a list of the ﬁ nish times for a race or record the amount of time you spend in meetings each day. Such times don’t represent a time of day. Instead, a value represents the time for an event (in hours, minutes, and seconds). The time to complete a test, for example, may be 35 minutes and 45 seconds. You can enter that value into a cell as follows: 00:35:45 Excel interprets such an entry as 12:35:45 a.m., which works ﬁ ne. (Just make sure that you format the cell so that it appears as you like.) When you enter such times, which don’t have an hour component, you must include at least one zero for the hour. If you omit a leading zero for a missing hour, Excel interprets your entry as 35 hours and 45 minutes. Figure 12.10 shows an example of a worksheet set up to keep track of a person’s jogging activity. Column A contains simple dates. Column B contains the distance in miles. Column C contains the time it took to run the distance. Column D contains formulas to calculate the speed in miles per hour. For example, the formula in cell D2 is =B2/(C2*24) FIGURE 12.10 This worksheet uses times not associated with a time of day. 294 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c12.indd 08/26/2015 Page 295 Chapter 12: Working with Dates and Times Column E contains formulas to calculate the pace, in minutes per mile. For example, the formula in cell E2 is =(C2*60*24)/B2 Columns F and G contain formulas that calculate the year-to-date distance (using column B) and the cumulative time (using column C). The cells in column G are formatted using the following number format (which permits time displays that exceed 24 hours): [hh]:mm:ss You can also access the workbook shown in Figure 12.10 on this book’s website at www.wiley .com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named jogging log.xlsx. 12 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 295 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 297 CHAPTER Creating Formulas That Count and Sum 13 IN THIS CHAPTER Introducing various ways to count and sum cells Creating basic counting and summing formulas Working with advanced counting and summing formulas Developing conditional summing formulas M any of the most common spreadsheet questions involve counting and summing values and other worksheet elements. It seems that people are always looking for formulas to count or to sum various items in a worksheet. If I’ve done my job, this chapter answers the majority of such questions. It contains many examples that you can easily adapt to your own situation. Counting and Summing Worksheet Cells Generally, a counting formula returns the number of cells in a speciﬁed range that meet certain criteria. A summing formula returns the sum of the values of the cells in a range that meet certain criteria. Table 13.1 lists the Excel worksheet functions that come into play when creating counting and summing formulas. Not all these functions are covered in this chapter. If none of the functions in Table 13.1 can solve your problem, it’s likely that an array formula can come to the rescue. See Chapter 17, “Introducing Array Formulas,” and Chapter 18, “Performing Magic with Array Formulas,” for detailed information and examples of array formulas used for counting and summing. 297 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 298 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions If your data is in the form of a table, you can use autofiltering to accomplish many counting and summing operations. Just set the autofilter criteria, and the table displays only the rows that match your criteria (the nonqualifying rows in the table are hidden). Then you can select formulas to display counts or sums in the table’s total row. See Chapter 5, “Introducing Tables,” for more information on using tables. TABLE 13.1 Excel Counting and Summing Functions Function Description COUNT Returns the number of cells that contain a numeric value. COUNTA Returns the number of nonblank cells. COUNTBLANK Returns the number of blank cells. COUNTIF Returns the number of cells that meet a specified criterion. COUNTIFS* Returns the number of cells that meet multiple criteria. DCOUNT Counts the number of records that meet specified criteria; used with a worksheet database. DCOUNTA Counts the number of nonblank records that meet specified criteria; used with a worksheet database. DSUM Returns the sum of a column of values that meet specified criteria; used with a worksheet database. FREQUENCY Calculates how often values occur within a range of values and returns a vertical array of numbers. Used only in a multicell array formula. SUBTOTAL When used with a first argument of 2, 3, 102, or 103, returns a count of cells that comprise a subtotal; when used with a first argument of 9 or 109, returns the sum of cells that comprise a subtotal. SUM Returns the sum of its arguments. SUMIF Returns the sum of cells that meet a specified criterion. SUMIFS* Returns the sum of cells that meet multiple criteria. SUMPRODUCT Multiplies corresponding cells in two or more ranges and returns the sum of those products. * These functions were introduced in Excel 2007. 298 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 299 Chapter 13: Creating Formulas That Count and Sum Getting a Quick Count or Sum The Excel status bar can display useful information about the currently selected cells — no formulas required. Normally, the status bar displays the sum and count of the values in the selected range. You can, however, right-click the status bar to bring up a menu with other options. You can choose any or all of the following: Average, Count, Numerical Count, Minimum, Maximum, and Sum. 13 Basic Counting Formulas All the basic counting formulas presented in this section are straightforward and relatively simple. They demonstrate the capability of the Excel counting functions to count the number of cells in a range that meet speciﬁc criteria. Figure 13.1 shows a worksheet that uses formulas (in column E) to summarize the contents of range A1:B10 — a 20-cell range named Data. This range contains a variety of information, including values, text, logical values, errors, and empty cells. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 299 c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 300 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions FIGURE 13.1 Formulas in column E display various counts of the data in A1:B10. This workbook is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named basic counting.xlsx. About This Chapter’s Examples Most of the examples in this chapter use named ranges for function arguments. When you adapt these formulas for your own use, you’ll need to substitute either the actual range address or a range name defined in your workbook. (See Chapter 4, “Working with Cells and Ranges,” for information about using named ranges.) Also, some examples consist of array formulas. An array formula is a special type of formula that enables you to perform calculations that would not otherwise be possible. You can spot an array formula because it’s enclosed in curly brackets when it’s displayed in the Formula bar. I use this syntax for the array formula examples presented in this book. For example: {=Data*2} When you enter an array formula, press Ctrl+Shift+Enter (not just Enter), but don’t type the curly brackets. (Excel inserts the brackets for you.) If you need to edit an array formula, don’t forget to press Ctrl+Shift+Enter when you finish editing; otherwise, the array formula will revert to a normal formula, and it will return an incorrect result. (See Chapter 17 for an introduction to array formulas.) 300 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 301 Chapter 13: Creating Formulas That Count and Sum Counting the total number of cells Oddly, Excel doesn’t have a function that simply counts the number of cells in a range reference. To get a count of the total number of cells in a range (empty and nonempty cells), use the following formula. This formula returns the number of cells in a range named Data. It simply multiplies the number of rows (returned by the ROWS function) by the number of columns (returned by the COLUMNS function): =ROWS(Data)*COLUMNS(Data) This formula will not work if the Data range consists of noncontiguous cells. In other words, Data must be a rectangular range of cells. Counting blank cells The following formula returns the number of blank (empty) cells in a range named Data: =COUNTBLANK(Data) This function works only with a contiguous range of cells. If Data is deﬁ ned as a noncontiguous range, the function returns a #VALUE! error. The COUNTBLANK function also counts cells containing a formula that returns an empty string. For example, the formula that follows returns an empty string if the value in cell A1 is greater than 5. If the cell meets this condition, the COUNTBLANK function counts that cell: =IF(A1>5,"",A1) You can use the COUNTBLANK function with an argument that consists of entire rows or columns. For example, the following formula returns the number of blank cells in column A: =COUNTBLANK(A:A) The following formula returns the number of empty cells on the entire worksheet named Sheet1. You must enter this formula on a sheet other than Sheet1, or it will create a circular reference: =COUNTBLANK(Sheet1!1:1048576) Counting nonblank cells To count nonblank cells, use the COUNTA function. The following formula uses the COUNTA function to return the number of nonblank cells in a range named Data: =COUNTA(Data) The COUNTA function counts cells that contain values, text, or logical values (TRUE or FALSE). WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 301 13 c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 302 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions If a cell contains a formula that returns an empty string, that cell is included in the count returned by COUNTA, even though the cell appears to be blank. Counting numeric cells To count only the numeric cells in a range, use the following formula (which assumes the range is named Data): =COUNT(Data) Cells that contain a date or a time are considered to be numeric cells. Cells that contain a logical value (TRUE or FALSE) aren’t considered to be numeric cells. Counting text cells To count the number of text cells in a range, you need to use an array formula. The array formula that follows returns the number of text cells in a range named Data: {=SUM(IF(ISTEXT(Data),1))} Counting nontext cells The following array formula uses the Excel ISNONTEXT function, which returns TRUE if its argument refers to any nontext cell (including a blank cell). This formula returns the count of the number of cells not containing text (including blank cells): {=SUM(IF(ISNONTEXT(Data),1))} Counting logical values The following array formula returns the number of logical values (TRUE or FALSE) in a range named Data: {=SUM(IF(ISLOGICAL(Data),1))} Counting error values in a range Excel has three functions that help you determine whether a cell contains an error value: 302 ■ ISERROR: Returns TRUE if the cell contains any error value (#N/A, #VALUE!, #REF!, #DIV/0!, #NUM!, #NAME?, or #NULL!) ■ ISERR: Returns TRUE if the cell contains any error value except #N/A ■ ISNA: Returns TRUE if the cell contains the #N/A error value WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 303 Chapter 13: Creating Formulas That Count and Sum You can use these functions in an array formula to count the number of error values in a range. The following array formula, for example, returns the total number of error values in a range named Data: {=SUM(IF(ISERROR(data),1))} Depending on your needs, you can use the ISERR or ISNA function in place of ISERROR. If you want to count speciﬁc types of errors, you can use the COUNTIF function. The following formula, for example, returns the number of #DIV/0! error values in the range named Data: =COUNTIF(Data,"#DIV/0!") Note that the COUNTIF functions works only with a contiguous range argument. If Data is a noncontiguous range, the formula returns a #VALUE! error. Advanced Counting Formulas Most of the basic examples I presented earlier in this chapter use functions or formulas that perform conditional counting. The advanced counting formulas that I present in this section represent more complex examples for counting worksheet cells, based on various types of criteria. Some of these examples are array formulas. See Chapters 17 and 18 for more information about array formulas. Counting cells by using the COUNTIF function The COUNTIF function, which is useful for single-criterion counting formulas, takes two arguments: ■ range: The range that contains the values that determine whether to include a particular cell in the count ■ criteria: The logical criteria that determine whether to include a particular cell in the count Table 13.2 lists several examples of formulas that use the COUNTIF function. All these formulas work with a range named Data. As you can see, the criteria argument proves quite ﬂexible. You can use constants, expressions, functions, cell references, and even wildcard characters (* and ?). WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 303 13 c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 304 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Note that the COUNTIF functions work only with a contiguous range argument. If Data is deﬁ ned as a noncontiguous range, the formula returns a #VALUE! error. TABLE 13.2 Examples of Formulas Using the COUNTIF Function =COUNTIF(Data,12) Returns the number of cells containing the value 12 =COUNTIF(Data,"<0") Returns the number of cells containing a negative value =COUNTIF(Data,"<>0") Returns the number of cells not equal to 0 =COUNTIF(Data,">5") Returns the number of cells greater than 5 =COUNTIF(Data,A1) Returns the number of cells equal to the contents of cell A1 =COUNTIF(Data,">"&A1) Returns the number of cells greater than the value in cell A1 =COUNTIF(Data,"*") Returns the number of cells containing text =COUNTIF(Data,"???") Returns the number of text cells containing exactly three characters =COUNTIF(Data,"budget") Returns the number of cells containing the single word budget (not case sensitive) =COUNTIF(Data,"*budget*") Returns the number of cells containing the text budget anywhere within the text =COUNTIF(Data,"A*") Returns the number of cells containing text that begins with the letter A (not case sensitive) =COUNTIF(Data,TODAY()) Returns the number of cells containing the current date =COUNTIF(Data,">"&AVERAGE (Data)) Returns the number of cells with a value greater than the average of the values =COUNTIF(Data,">"&AVERAGE (Data)+STDEV(Data)*3) Returns the number of values exceeding three standard deviations above the mean =COUNTIF(Data,3)+COUNTIF (Data,-3) Returns the number of cells containing the value 3 or –3 =COUNTIF(Data,TRUE) Returns the number of cells containing the logical value TRUE =COUNTIF(Data,TRUE)+COUNTIF (Data,FALSE) Returns the number of cells containing a logical value (TRUE or FALSE) =COUNTIF(Data,"#N/A") Returns the number of cells containing the #N/A error value Counting cells based on multiple criteria In many cases, your counting formula will need to count cells only if two or more criteria are met. These criteria can be based on the cells that are being counted or on a range of corresponding cells. 304 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 305 Chapter 13: Creating Formulas That Count and Sum Figure 13.2 shows a simple worksheet that I use for the examples in this section. This sheet shows sales data categorized by Month, Sales Rep, and Type. The worksheet contains four named ranges that correspond to the labels in row 1. FIGURE 13.2 This worksheet demonstrates various counting techniques that use multiple criteria. 13 This workbook is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named multiple criteria counting.xlsx. Several of the examples in this section use the COUNTIFS function, which was introduced in Excel 2007. I also present alternative versions of the formulas, which you should use if you plan to share your workbook with others who use a version prior to Excel 2007. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 305 c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 306 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Using And criteria An And criterion counts cells if all speciﬁed conditions are met. A common example is a formula that counts the number of values that fall within a numerical range. For example, you may want to count cells that contain a value that’s greater than 100 and less than or equal to 200. For this example, the COUNTIFS function will do the job: =COUNTIFS(Amount,">100",Amount,"<=200") If the data is contained in a table, you can use table referencing in your formulas. For example, if the table is named Table1, you can rewrite the preceding formula as follows: =COUNTIFS(Table1[Amount],">100",Table1[Amount],"<=200") This method of writing formulas does not require named ranges. Excel automatically creates names for the table and each column in the table. The COUNTIFS function accepts any number of paired arguments. The ﬁ rst member of the pair is the range to be counted (in this case, the range named Amount); the second member of the pair is the criterion. The preceding example contains two sets of paired arguments and returns the number of cells in which Amount is greater than 100 and less than or equal to 200. Prior to Excel 2007, you would need to use a formula like this: =COUNTIF(Amount,">100")-COUNTIF(Amount,">200") This formula counts the number of values that are greater than 100 and then subtracts the number of values that are greater than or equal to 200. The result is the number of cells that contain a value greater than 100 and less than or equal to 200. This formula can be confusing because the formula refers to a condition ">200" even though the goal is to count values that are less than or equal to 200. Yet another alternate technique is to use an array formula, like the one that follows. You may ﬁ nd it easier to create this type of formula: {=SUM((Amount>100)*(Amount<=200))} When you enter an array formula, remember to press Ctrl+Shift+Enter, but don’t type the curly brackets. Excel includes the brackets for you. 306 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 307 Chapter 13: Creating Formulas That Count and Sum Sometimes the counting criteria will be based on cells other than the cells being counted. You may, for example, want to count the number of sales that meet all the following criteria: ■ Month is January and ■ SalesRep is Brooks and ■ Amount is greater than 1,000 The following formula (for Excel 2007 and later) returns the number of items that meet all three criteria. Note that the COUNTIFS function uses three sets of paired arguments: =COUNTIFS(Month,"January",SalesRep,"Brooks",Amount,">1000") An alternative formula, which works with all versions of Excel, uses the SUMPRODUCT function. The following formula returns the same result as the previous formula: =SUMPRODUCT((Month="January")*(SalesRep="Brooks")*(Amount>1000)) Yet another way to perform this count is to use an array formula: {=SUM((Month="January")*(SalesRep="Brooks")*(Amount>1000))} Using Or criteria An Or criterion counts cells if any of the multiple conditions is met. To count cells by using an Or criterion, you can sometimes use multiple COUNTIF functions. The following formula, for example, counts the number of sales made in January or February: =COUNTIF(Month,"January")+COUNTIF(Month,"February") You can also use the COUNTIF function in an array formula. The following array formula, for example, returns the same result as the previous formula: {=SUM(COUNTIF(Month,{"January","February"}))} But if you base your Or criteria on cells other than the cells being counted, the COUNTIF function won’t work (refer to Figure 13.2). Suppose that you want to count the number of sales that meet at least one of the following criteria: ■ Month is January or ■ SalesRep is Brooks or ■ Amount is greater than 1,000 If you attempt to create a formula that uses COUNTIF, some double counting will occur. The solution is to use an array formula like this: {=SUM(IF((Month="January")+(SalesRep="Brooks")+(Amount>1000),1))} WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 307 13 c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 308 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Combining And and Or criteria In some cases, you may need to combine And criteria and Or criteria when counting. For example, perhaps you want to count sales that meet both of the following criteria: ■ Month is January. ■ SalesRep is Brooks or SalesRep is Cook. This array formula returns the number of sales that meet the criteria: {=SUM((Month="January")*IF((SalesRep="Brooks")+(SalesRep="Cook"),1))} Counting the most frequently occurring entry The MODE function returns the most frequently occurring value in a range. In case of a tie, it returns the mode of the value that appears ﬁ rst in the range. Figure 13.3 shows a worksheet with values in range A1:A10 (named Data). The formula that follows returns 10 because that value appears most frequently in the Data range: =MODE(Data) FIGURE 13.3 The MODE function returns the most frequently occurring value in a range. To count the number of times the most frequently occurring value appears in the range (in other words, the frequency of the mode), use the following formula: =COUNTIF(Data,MODE(Data)) This formula returns 3 because the modal value (10) appears three times in the Data range. The MODE function works only for numeric values. It simply ignores cells that contain text. To ﬁ nd the most frequently occurring text entry in a range, you need to use an array formula. 308 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 309 Chapter 13: Creating Formulas That Count and Sum To count the number of times the most frequently occurring item (text or values) appears in a range named Data, use the following array formula: {=MAX(COUNTIF(Data,Data))} This next array formula operates like the MODE function except that it works with both text and values: {=INDEX(Data,MATCH(MAX(COUNTIF(Data,Data)),COUNTIF(Data,Data),0))} Counting the occurrences of specific text The examples in this section demonstrate various ways to count the occurrences of a character or text string in a range of cells. Figure 13.4 shows a worksheet used for these examples. Various text strings appear in the range A1:A10 (named Data); cell B1 is named Text. FIGURE 13.4 This worksheet demonstrates various ways to count character strings in a range. 13 This book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible contains a workbook that demonstrates the formulas in this section. The file is named counting text in a range.xlsx. Entire cell contents To count the number of cells containing the contents of the Text cell (and nothing else), you can use the COUNTIF function as the following formula demonstrates: =COUNTIF(Data,Text) For example, if the Text cell contains the string Alpha, the formula returns 2 because two cells in the Data range contain this text. This formula is not case sensitive, so it counts both Alpha (cell A2) and alpha (cell A10). Note, however, that it does not count the cell that contains Alpha Beta (cell A8). WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 309 c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 310 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions The following array formula is similar to the preceding formula, but this one is case sensitive: {=SUM(IF(EXACT(Data,Text),1))} Partial cell contents To count the number of cells that contain a string that includes the contents of the Text cell, use this formula: =COUNTIF(Data,"*"&Text&"*") For example, if the Text cell contains the text Alpha, the formula returns 3 because three cells in the Data range contain the text alpha (cells A2, A8, and A10). Note that the comparison is not case sensitive. If you need a case-sensitive count, you can use the following array formula: {=SUM(IF(LEN(Data)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(Data,Text,""))>0,1))} If the Text cells contain the text Alpha, the preceding formula returns 2 because the string appears in two cells (A2 and A8). Total occurrences in a range To count the total number of occurrences of a string within a range of cells, use the following array formula: {=(SUM(LEN(Data))-SUM(LEN(SUBSTITUTE(Data,Text,""))))/LEN(Text)} If the Text cell contains the character B, the formula returns 7 because the range contains seven instances of the string. This formula is case sensitive. The following array formula is a modiﬁed version that is not case sensitive: {=(SUM(LEN(Data))-SUM(LEN(SUBSTITUTE(UPPER(Data),UPPER(Text),""))))/LEN(Text)} Counting the number of unique values The following array formula returns the number of unique values in a range named Data: {=SUM(1/COUNTIF(Data,Data))} The preceding formula is one of those “classic” Excel formulas that gets passed around on the Internet. I don’t know who originated it. 310 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 311 Chapter 13: Creating Formulas That Count and Sum Useful as it is, this formula does have a serious limitation: if the range contains any blank cells, it returns an error. The following array formula solves this problem: {=SUM(IF(COUNTIF(Data,Data)=0,"",1/COUNTIF(Data,Data)))} To find out how to create a multicell array formula that returns a list of unique items in a range, see Chapter 18. This book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible contains a workbook that demonstrates this technique. The file is named count unique.xlsx. Creating a frequency distribution A frequency distribution is a summary table that shows the frequency of each value in a range. For example, an instructor may create a frequency distribution of grades. The table would show the count of As, Bs, Cs, and so on. Excel provides a number of ways to create frequency distributions. You can ■ Use the FREQUENCY function. ■ Create your own formulas. ■ Use the Analysis ToolPak add-in. ■ Use a pivot table. 13 Excel 2016 includes a new Histogram chart feature, which can create a frequency histogram from a set of values. This feature does not create a table, however. For an example of a histogram chart, see Chapter 19, “Getting Started Making Charts.” A workbook that demonstrates these four techniques is available on this book’s website at www .wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named frequency distribution.xlsx. The FREQUENCY function Using the FREQUENCY function to create a frequency distribution can be a bit tricky; it is probably the most difﬁcult way to create a frequency distribution. The FREQUENCY function always returns an array, so you must use it in an array formula that’s entered into a multicell range. Figure 13.5 shows some data in range A1:E25 (named Data). These values range from 1 to 500. The range G2:G11 contains the bins used for the frequency distribution. Each cell in this bin range contains the upper limit for the bin. In this case, the bins consist of <=50, 51–100, 101–150, and so on. The goal is to count the number of values that fall into each bin. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 311 c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 312 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions FIGURE 13.5 Creating a frequency distribution for the data in A1:E25. To create the frequency distribution, select a range of cells that corresponds to the number of cells in the bin range. (In this example, select H2:H11 because the bins are in G2:G11.) Then enter the following array formula into the selected range. (Press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to enter an array formula.) {=FREQUENCY(Data,G2:G11)} The array formula returns the count of values in the Data range that fall into each bin. To create a frequency distribution that consists of percentages, use the following array formula: {=FREQUENCY(Data,G2:G11)/COUNT(Data)} 312 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 313 Chapter 13: Creating Formulas That Count and Sum Figure 13.6 shows two frequency distributions — one in terms of counts and one in terms of percentages. The ﬁgure also shows a chart (histogram) created from the frequency distribution. FIGURE 13.6 Frequency distributions created by using the FREQUENCY function. 13 Using formulas to create a frequency distribution Figure 13.7 shows a worksheet that contains test scores for 50 students in column B (the range is named Grades). Formulas in columns G and H calculate a frequency distribution for letter grades. The minimum and maximum values for each letter grade appear in columns D and E. For example, a test score between 80 and 89 (inclusive) earns a B. In addition, a chart displays the distribution of the test scores. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 313 c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 314 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions FIGURE 13.7 Creating a frequency distribution of test scores. The formula in cell G2 that follows counts the number of scores that qualify for an A: =COUNTIFS(Grades,">="&D2,Grades,"<="&E2) You may recognize this formula from a previous section in this chapter (see “Counting cells based on multiple criteria”). This formula was copied to the four cells below G2. The preceding formula uses the COUNTIFS function, which first appeared in Excel 2007. For compatibility with previous Excel versions, use this array formula: {=SUM((Grades>=D2)*(Grades<=E2))} 314 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 315 Chapter 13: Creating Formulas That Count and Sum The formulas in column H calculate the percentage of scores for each letter grade. The formula in H2, which was copied to the four cells below H2, is =G2/SUM($G$2:$G$6) Using the Analysis ToolPak to create a frequency distribution The Analysis ToolPak add-in, distributed with Excel, provides another way to calculate a frequency distribution: 1. Enter your bin values in a range. 2. Choose Data ➪ Analysis ➪ Analysis. The Data Analysis dialog box appears. If this command is not available, see the next sidebar, “Is the Analysis ToolPak Installed?” 3. In the Data Analysis dialog box, select Histogram, and then click OK. The Histogram dialog box, shown in Figure 13.8, appears. FIGURE 13.8 The Analysis ToolPak’s Histogram dialog box. 13 4. Specify the ranges for your data (Input Range), bins (Bin Range), and results (Output Range), and then select any options and click OK. Figure 13.9 shows a frequency distribution (and chart) created with the Histogram option. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 315 c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 316 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions FIGURE 13.9 A frequency distribution and chart generated by the Analysis ToolPak’s Histogram option. Note that the frequency distribution consists of values, not formulas. Therefore, if you make any changes to your input data, you need to rerun the Histogram procedure to update the results. Is the Analysis ToolPak Installed? To make sure that the Analysis ToolPak add-in is installed, click the Data tab. If the Ribbon displays the Data Analysis command in the Analysis group, you’re all set. If not, you’ll need to install the add-in: 1. Choose File ➪ Options. The Excel Options dialog box appears. 2. Click the Add-ins tab on the left. 3. Select Excel Add-Ins from the Manage drop-down list. 316 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 317 Chapter 13: Creating Formulas That Count and Sum 4. Click Go to display the Add-Ins dialog box. 5. Place a check mark next to Analysis ToolPak. 6. Click OK. If you’ve enabled the Developer tab, you can display the Add-Ins dialog box by choosing Developer ➪ Add-Ins ➪ Add-Ins. Note: In the Add-Ins dialog box, you see an additional add-in, Analysis ToolPak – VBA. This add-in is for programmers; you don’t need to install it. Using a pivot table to create a frequency distribution If your data is in the form of a table, you may prefer to use a pivot table and a pivot chart to create a histogram. Figure 13.10 shows the student grade data summarized in a pivot table (in D1:E9) and a pivot chart. The counts were created by grouping. FIGURE 13.10 Using a pivot chart to display a histogram. 13 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 317 c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 318 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions I cover pivot tables in detail in Chapter 33, “Introducing Pivot Tables,” and Chapter 34, “Analyzing Data with Pivot Tables.” Summing Formulas The examples in this section demonstrate how to perform common summing tasks by using formulas. The formulas range from simple to relatively complex array formulas that compute sums by using multiple criteria. Summing all cells in a range It doesn’t get much simpler than this. The following formula returns the sum of all values in a range named Data: =SUM(Data) The SUM function can take up to 255 arguments. The following formula, for example, returns the sum of the values in ﬁve noncontiguous ranges: =SUM(A1:A9,C1:C9,E1:E9,G1:G9,I1:I9) You can use complete rows or columns as an argument for the SUM function. The formula that follows, for example, returns the sum of all values in column A. If this formula appears in a cell in column A, it generates a circular reference error: =SUM(A:A) The following formula returns the sum of all values on Sheet1 by using a range reference that consists of all rows. To avoid a circular reference error, this formula must appear on a sheet other than Sheet1: =SUM(Sheet1!1:1048576) The SUM function is versatile. The arguments can be numerical values, cells, ranges, text representations of numbers (which are interpreted as values), logical values, and even embedded functions. For example, consider the following formula: =SUM(B1,5,"6",,SQRT(4),A1:A5,TRUE) This odd formula, which is perfectly valid, contains all the following types of arguments, listed here in the order of their presentation: 318 ■ A single cell reference: B1 ■ A literal value: 5 ■ A string that looks like a value: "6" WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 319 Chapter 13: Creating Formulas That Count and Sum ■ A missing argument: , , ■ An expression that uses another function: SQRT(4) ■ A range reference: A1:A5 ■ A logical value: TRUE The SUM function is versatile, but it’s also inconsistent when you use logical values (TRUE or FALSE). Logical values stored in cells are always treated as 0. However, logical TRUE, when used as an argument in the SUM function, is treated as 1. Computing a cumulative sum You may want to display a cumulative sum of values in a range — sometimes known as a “running total.” Figure 13.11 illustrates a cumulative sum. Column B shows the monthly amounts, and column C displays the cumulative (year-to-date) totals. FIGURE 13.11 Simple formulas in column C display a cumulative sum of the values in column B. 13 The formula in cell C2 is =SUM(B$2:B2) Notice that this formula uses a mixed reference — that is, the ﬁ rst cell in the range reference always refers to the same row (in this case, row 2). When this formula is copied down the column, the range argument adjusts such that the sum always starts with row 2 and ends with the current row. For example, after copying this formula down column C, the formula in cell C8 is WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 319 c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 320 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions =SUM(B$2:B8) You can use an IF function to hide the cumulative sums for rows in which data hasn’t been entered. The following formula, entered into cell C2 and copied down the column, is =IF(B2<>"",SUM(B$2:B2),"") Figure 13.12 shows this formula at work. FIGURE 13.12 Using an IF function to hide cumulative sums for missing data. This workbook is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named cumulative sum.xlsx. Ignoring errors when summing The SUM function does not work if the range to be summed includes errors. For example, if one of the cells to be summed displays #N/A, the SUM function will also return #N/A. To add the values in a range and ignore the error cells, use the AGGREGATE function. For example, to sum a range named Data (which may have error values), use this formula: =AGGREGATE(9,6,Data) 320 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 321 Chapter 13: Creating Formulas That Count and Sum The AGGREGATE function is versatile and can do a lot more than just add values. In this example, the ﬁ rst argument (9) speciﬁes SUM. The second argument (6) means ignore error values. The arguments are described in the Excel Help. Excel also provides good autocomplete assistance when you enter a formula that uses this function. The AGGREGATE function was introduced in Excel 2010. For compatibility with earlier versions, use this array formula: {=SUM(IF(ISERROR(Data),"",Data))} Summing the “top n” values In some situations, you may need to sum the n largest values in a range — for example, the top ten values. If your data resides in a table, you can use autoﬁltering to hide all but the top n rows and then display the sum of the visible data in the table’s total row. Another approach is to sort the range in descending order and then use the SUM function with an argument consisting of the ﬁ rst n values in the sorted range. A better solution — which doesn’t require a table or sorting — uses an array formula like this one: {=SUM(LARGE(Data,{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10}))} This formula sums the ten largest values in a range named Data. To sum the ten smallest values, use the SMALL function instead of the LARGE function: {=SUM(SMALL(Data,{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10}))} These formulas use an array constant composed of the arguments for the LARGE or SMALL function. If the value of n for your top-n calculation is large, you may prefer to use the following variation. This formula returns the sum of the top 20 values in the Data range. You can, of course, substitute a different value for 20. Figure 13.13 shows this array formula in use. {=SUM(LARGE(Data,ROW(INDIRECT("1:20"))))} WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 321 13 c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 322 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions FIGURE 13.13 Using an array formula to calculate the sum of the 20 largest values in a range. See Chapter 17 for more information about using array constants. Conditional Sums Using a Single Criterion Often, you need to calculate a conditional sum. With a conditional sum, values in a range that meet one or more conditions are included in the sum. This section presents examples of conditional summing by using a single criterion. The SUMIF function is useful for single-criterion sum formulas. The SUMIF function takes three arguments: ■ range: The range containing the values that determine whether to include a particular cell in the sum. ■ criteria: An expression that determines whether to include a particular cell in the sum. ■ sum_range: Optional. The range that contains the cells you want to sum. If you omit this argument, the function uses the range speciﬁed in the ﬁ rst argument. The examples that follow demonstrate the use of the SUMIF function. These formulas are based on the worksheet shown in Figure 13.14, set up to track invoices. Column F contains a formula that subtracts the date in column E from the date in column D. A negative number in column F indicates a past-due payment. The worksheet uses named ranges that correspond to the labels in row 1. 322 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 323 Chapter 13: Creating Formulas That Count and Sum FIGURE 13.14 A negative value in column F indicates a past-due payment. All the examples in this section are available at this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/ excel2016bible. The file is named conditional sum.xlsx. Summing only negative values The following formula returns the sum of the negative values in column F. In other words, it returns the total number of past-due days for all invoices. For this worksheet, the formula returns –63. =SUMIF(Difference,"<0") Because you omit the third argument, the second argument ("<0") applies to the values in the Difference range. You don’t need to hard-code the arguments for the SUMIF function into your formula. For example, you can create a formula, such as the following, which gets the criteria argument from the contents of cell G2: =SUMIF(Difference,G2) This formula returns a new result if you change the criteria in cell G2. Summing values based on a different range The following formula returns the sum of the past-due invoice amounts (in column C): =SUMIF(Difference,"<0",Amount) This formula uses the values in the Difference range to determine whether the corresponding values in the Amount range contribute to the sum. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 323 13 c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 324 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Summing values based on a text comparison The following formula returns the total invoice amounts for the Oregon ofﬁce: =SUMIF(Office,"=Oregon",Amount) Using the equal sign in the argument is optional. The following formula has the same result: =SUMIF(Office,"Oregon",Amount) To sum the invoice amounts for all ofﬁces except Oregon, use this formula: =SUMIF(Office,"<>Oregon",Amount) Summing values based on a date comparison The following formula returns the total invoice amounts that have a due date after May 1, 2016: =SUMIF(DateDue,">="&DATE(2016,5,1),Amount) Notice that the second argument for the SUMIF function is an expression. The expression uses the DATE function, which returns a date. Also, the comparison operator, enclosed in quotes, is concatenated (using the & operator) with the result of the DATE function. The formula that follows returns the total invoice amounts that have a future due date (including today): =SUMIF(DateDue,">="&TODAY(),Amount) Conditional Sums Using Multiple Criteria All the examples in the preceding section used a single comparison criterion. The examples in this section involve summing cells based on multiple criteria. Figure 13.15 shows the sample worksheet again, for your reference. The worksheet also shows the result of several formulas that demonstrate summing by using multiple criteria. 324 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 325 Chapter 13: Creating Formulas That Count and Sum FIGURE 13.15 This worksheet demonstrates summing based on multiple criteria. 13 Using And criteria Suppose that you want to get a sum of the invoice amounts that are past due and associated with the Oregon ofﬁce. In other words, the value in the Amount range will be summed only if both of the following criteria are met: ■ The corresponding value in the Difference range is negative, and ■ The corresponding text in the Ofﬁce range is Oregon. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 325 c13.indd 08/26/2015 Page 326 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions If the worksheet won’t be used by anyone running a version prior to Excel 2007, the following formula does the job: =SUMIFS(Amount,Difference,"<0",Office,"Oregon") The following array formula returns the same result and will work in all versions of Excel: {=SUM((Difference<0)*(Office="Oregon")*Amount)} Using Or criteria Suppose that you want to get a sum of past-due invoice amounts or ones associated with the Oregon ofﬁce. In other words, the value in the Amount range will be summed if either of the following criteria is met: ■ The corresponding value in the Difference range is negative. ■ The corresponding text in the Ofﬁce range is Oregon. This example requires an array formula: {=SUM(IF((Office="Oregon")+(Difference<0),1,0)*Amount)} A plus sign (+) joins the conditions; you can include more than two conditions. Using And and Or criteria As you may expect, things get a bit tricky when your criteria consists of both And and Or operations. For example, you may want to sum the values in the Amount range when both of the following conditions are met: ■ The corresponding value in the Difference range is negative. ■ The corresponding text in the Ofﬁce range is Oregon or California. Notice that the second condition actually consists of two conditions joined with Or. The following array formula does the trick: {=SUM((Difference<0)*IF((Office="Oregon")+(Office="California"),1)*Amount)} 326 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c14.indd 08/26/2015 Page 327 CHAPTER Creating Formulas That Look Up Values 14 IN THIS CHAPTER Introducing formulas that look up values in a table Identifying the worksheet functions used to perform lookups Getting acquainted with basic lookup formulas Delving into more sophisticated lookup formulas T his chapter discusses various techniques that you can use to look up a value in a range of data. Excel has three worksheet functions (LOOKUP, VLOOKUP, and HLOOKUP) designed for this task, but you may ﬁ nd that these functions don’t quite cut it. I provide many lookup examples, including alternative techniques that go well beyond the Excel program’s normal lookup capabilities. Introducing Lookup Formulas A lookup formula returns a value from a table by looking up another related value. A common telephone directory (remember those?) provides a good analogy. If you want to ﬁ nd a person’s telephone number, you ﬁ rst locate the name (look it up) and then retrieve the corresponding number. I use the term table to describe any rectangular range of data. The range does not necessarily need to be an “official” table, as created by choosing Insert ➪ Tables ➪ Table. Figure 14.1 shows a worksheet that uses four lookup formulas. This worksheet contains a table of employee data, beginning in row 7. This range is named EmpData. When you enter a last name into cell C2, lookup formulas in D2:G2 retrieve the matching information from the table. If the last name does not appear in column C, the formulas return #N/A. 327 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c14.indd 08/26/2015 Page 328 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions FIGURE 14.1 Lookup formulas in row 2 look up the information for the employee name in cell C2. The following lookup formulas use the VLOOKUP function: D2 =VLOOKUP(C2,EmpData,2,FALSE) E2 =VLOOKUP(C2,EmpData,3,FALSE) F2 =VLOOKUP(C2,EmpData,4,FALSE) G2 =VLOOKUP(C2,EmpData,5,FALSE) This particular example uses four formulas to return information from the EmpData range. In many cases, you want only a single value from the table, so use only one formula. Most of the examples in this chapter use named ranges for function arguments. When you adapt these formulas for your own use, you need to substitute the actual range address or a range name defined in your workbook. 328 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c14.indd 08/26/2015 Page 329 Chapter 14: Creating Formulas That Look Up Values Functions Relevant to Lookups Several Excel functions are useful when writing formulas to look up information in a table. Table 14.1 lists and describes these functions. TABLE 14.1 Functions Used in Lookup Formulas Function Description CHOOSE Returns a specific value from a list of values supplied as arguments. HLOOKUP Horizontal lookup. Searches for a value in the top row of a table and returns a value in the same column from a row you specify in the table. IF Returns one value if a condition you specify is TRUE, and returns another value if the condition is FALSE. IFERROR* If the first argument returns an error, the second argument is evaluated and returned. If the first argument does not return an error, then it is evaluated and returned. INDEX Returns a value (or the reference to a value) from within a table or range. LOOKUP Returns a value either from a one-row or one-column range. Another form of the LOOKUP function works like VLOOKUP but is restricted to returning a value from the last column of a range. MATCH Returns the relative position of an item in a range that matches a specified value. OFFSET Returns a reference to a range that is a specified number of rows and columns from a cell or range of cells. VLOOKUP Vertical lookup. Searches for a value in the first column of a table and returns a value in the same row from a column you specify in the table. * Introduced in Excel 2007. 14 The examples in this chapter use the functions listed in Table 14.1. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 329 c14.indd 08/26/2015 Page 330 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Using the IF Function for Simple Lookups The IF function is versatile and is often suitable for simple decision-making problems. The accompanying figure shows a worksheet with student grades in column B. Formulas in column C use the IF function to return text: either Pass (a score of 65 or higher) or Fail (a score below 65). For example, the formula in cell C2 is =IF(B2>=65,"Pass","Fail") You can “nest” IF functions to provide even more decision-making ability. This formula, for example, returns one of four strings: Excellent, Very Good, Fair, or Poor. =IF(B2>=90,"Excellent",IF(B2>=70,"Very Good",IF(B2>=50,"Fair","Poor"))) This technique is fine for situations that involve only a few choices. However, using nested IF functions can quickly become complicated and unwieldy. The lookup techniques described in this chapter usually provide a much better solution. Basic Lookup Formulas You can use the Excel basic lookup functions to search a column or row for a lookup value to return another value as a result. Excel provides three basic lookup functions: HLOOKUP, VLOOKUP, and LOOKUP. In addition, the MATCH and INDEX functions are often used together to return a cell or relative cell reference for a lookup value. The VLOOKUP function The VLOOKUP function looks up the value in the ﬁrst column of the lookup table and returns the corresponding value in a speciﬁed table column. The lookup table is arranged vertically (which explains the V in the function’s name). The syntax for the VLOOKUP function is VLOOKUP(lookup_value,table_array,col_index_num,range_lookup) The VLOOKUP function’s arguments are as follows: ■ 330 lookup_value: The value to be looked up in the ﬁ rst column of the lookup table. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c14.indd 08/26/2015 Page 331 Chapter 14: Creating Formulas That Look Up Values ■ table_array: The range that contains the lookup table. ■ col_index_num: The column number within the table from which the matching value is returned. ■ range_lookup: Optional. If TRUE or omitted, an approximate match is returned. (If an exact match is not found, the next largest value that is less than lookup_ value is returned.) If FALSE, VLOOKUP will search for an exact match. If VLOOKUP can’t ﬁ nd an exact match, the function returns #N/A. If the range_lookup argument is TRUE or omitted, the first column of the lookup table must be in ascending order. If lookup_value is smaller than the smallest value in the first column of table_array, VLOOKUP returns #N/A. If the range_lookup argument is FALSE, the first column of the lookup table need not be in ascending order. If an exact match is not found, the function returns #N/A. If the lookup_value argument is text and the range_lookup argument is FALSE, the lookup_value can include wildcard characters * and ?. A common use for a lookup formula involves an income tax rate schedule (see Figure 14.2). The tax rate schedule shows the income tax rates for various income levels. The following formula (in cell B3) returns the tax rate for the income in cell B2: =VLOOKUP(B2,D2:F7,3) FIGURE 14.2 Using VLOOKUP to look up a tax rate. 14 The examples in this section are available at this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/ excel2016bible. They’re contained in a file named basic lookup examples.xlsx. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 331 c14.indd 08/26/2015 Page 332 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions The lookup table resides in a range that consists of three columns (D2:F7). Because the last argument for the VLOOKUP function is 3, the formula returns the corresponding value in the third column of the lookup table. Note that an exact match is not required. If an exact match is not found in the ﬁ rst column of the lookup table, the VLOOKUP function uses the next largest value that is less than the lookup value. In other words, the function uses the row in which the value you want to look up is greater than or equal to the row value but less than the value in the next row. In the case of a tax table, this is exactly what you want to happen. The HLOOKUP function The HLOOKUP function works just like the VLOOKUP function except that the lookup table is arranged horizontally instead of vertically. The HLOOKUP function looks up the value in the ﬁ rst row of the lookup table and returns the corresponding value in a speciﬁed table row. The syntax for the HLOOKUP function is HLOOKUP(lookup_value,table_array,row_index_num,range_lookup) The HLOOKUP function’s arguments are as follows: ■ lookup_value: The value to be looked up in the ﬁ rst row of the lookup table. ■ table_array: The range that contains the lookup table. ■ row_index_num: The row number within the table from which the matching value is returned. ■ range_lookup: Optional. If TRUE or omitted, an approximate match is returned. (If an exact match is not found, the next largest value less than lookup_value is returned.) If FALSE, HLOOKUP will search for an exact match. If HLOOKUP can’t ﬁ nd an exact match, the function returns #N/A. If the lookup_value argument is text and the range_lookup argument is FALSE, the lookup_value can include wildcard characters * and?. Figure 14.3 shows the tax rate example with a horizontal lookup table (in the range E1:J3). The formula in cell B3 is =HLOOKUP(B2,E1:J3,3) 332 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c14.indd 08/26/2015 Page 333 Chapter 14: Creating Formulas That Look Up Values FIGURE 14.3 Using HLOOKUP to look up a tax rate. The LOOKUP function The LOOKUP function looks in a one-row or one-column range (lookup_vector) for a value (lookup_value) and returns a value from the same position in a second one-row or one-column range (result_vector). The LOOKUP function has the following syntax: LOOKUP(lookup_value,lookup_vector,result_vector) The function’s arguments are as follows: ■ lookup_value: The value to be looked up in the lookup_vector. ■ lookup_vector: A single-column or single-row range that contains the values to be looked up. These values must be in ascending order. ■ result_vector: The single-column or single-row range that contains the values to be returned. It must be the same size as the lookup_vector. 14 Values in the lookup_vector must be in ascending order. If the values in the first column are not arranged in ascending order, the LOOKUP function may return an incorrect value. If lookup_value is smaller than the smallest value in lookup_vector, LOOKUP returns #N/A. Figure 14.4 shows the tax table again. This time, the formula in cell B3 uses the LOOKUP function to return the corresponding tax rate. The formula in cell B3 is =LOOKUP(B2,D2:D7,F2:F7) WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 333 c14.indd 08/26/2015 Page 334 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions FIGURE 14.4 Using LOOKUP to look up a tax rate. Note that LOOKUP (as opposed to VLOOKUP) requires two range references: a range to be looked in and a range that contains result values. VLOOKUP, on the other hand, uses a single range for the lookup table, and the third argument determines which column to use for the result. This argument, of course, can consist of a cell reference. Combining the MATCH and INDEX functions The MATCH and INDEX functions are often used together to perform lookups. The MATCH function returns the relative position of a cell in a range that matches a speciﬁed value. The syntax for MATCH is MATCH(lookup_value,lookup_array,match_type) The MATCH function’s arguments are as follows: ■ lookup_value: The value you want to match in lookup_array. If match_type is 0 and lookup_value is text, this argument can include wildcard characters * and?. ■ lookup_array: The range being searched. ■ match_type: An integer (-1, 0, or 1) that speciﬁes how the match is determined. If match_type is 1, MATCH ﬁ nds the largest value less than or equal to lookup_value. (lookup_array must be in ascending order.) If match_type is 0, MATCH ﬁ nds the ﬁ rst value exactly equal to lookup_value. If match_type is -1, MATCH ﬁ nds the smallest value greater than or equal to lookup_value. (lookup_array must be in descending order.) If you omit the match_type argument, this argument is assumed to be 1. The INDEX function returns a cell from a range. The syntax for the INDEX function is INDEX(array,row_num,column_num) 334 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c14.indd 08/26/2015 Page 335 Chapter 14: Creating Formulas That Look Up Values The INDEX function’s arguments are as follows: ■ array: A range ■ row_num: A row number within array ■ col_num: A column number within array If array contains only one row or column, the corresponding row_num or column_num argument is optional. Figure 14.5 shows a worksheet with dates, day names, and amounts in columns D, E, and F. When you enter a date in cell B1, the following formula (in cell B2) searches the dates in column D and returns the corresponding amount from column F. The formula in cell B2 is =INDEX(F2:F21,MATCH(B1,D2:D21,0)) FIGURE 14.5 Using the INDEX and MATCH functions to perform a lookup. 14 To understand how this formula works, start with the MATCH function. This function searches the range D2:D21 for the date in cell B1. It returns the relative row number where the date is found. This value is then used as the second argument for the INDEX function. The result is the corresponding value in F2:F21. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 335 c14.indd 08/26/2015 Page 336 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions When a Blank Is Not a Zero The Excel lookup functions treat empty cells in the result range as zeros. The worksheet in the accompanying figure contains a two-column lookup table, and this formula looks up the name in cell B1 and returns the corresponding amount: =VLOOKUP(B1,D2:E8,2) Note that the Amount cell for Charlie is blank, but the formula returns a 0. If you need to distinguish zeros from blank cells, you must modify the lookup formula by adding an IF function to check whether the length of the returned value is 0. When the looked-up value is blank, the length of the return value is 0. In all other cases, the length of the returned value is nonzero. The following formula displays an empty string (a blank) whenever the length of the looked-up value is zero and the actual value whenever the length is anything but zero: =IF(LEN(VLOOKUP(B1,D2:E8,2))=0,"",(VLOOKUP(B1,D2:E8,2))) Alternatively, you can specifically check for an empty string, as in the following formula: =IF(VLOOKUP(B1,D2:E8,2)="","",(VLOOKUP(B1,D2:E8,2))) Specialized Lookup Formulas You can use additional types of lookup formulas to perform more specialized lookups. For example, you can look up an exact value, search in another column besides the ﬁ rst in a lookup table, perform a case-sensitive lookup, return a value from among multiple lookup tables, and perform other specialized and complex lookups. The examples in this section are available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/ excel2016bible. The file is named specialized lookup examples.xlsx. 336 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c14.indd 08/26/2015 Page 337 Chapter 14: Creating Formulas That Look Up Values Looking up an exact value As demonstrated in the previous examples, VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP don’t necessarily require an exact match between the value to be looked up and the values in the lookup table. An example is looking up a tax rate in a tax table. In some cases, you may require a perfect match. For example, when looking up an employee number, you would require a perfect match for the number. To look up an exact value only, use the VLOOKUP (or HLOOKUP) function with the optional fourth argument set to FALSE. Figure 14.6 shows a worksheet with a lookup table that contains employee numbers (column D) and employee names (column E). The lookup table is named EmpList. The formula in cell B2, which follows, looks up the employee number entered in cell B1 and returns the corresponding employee name: =VLOOKUP(B1,EmpList,2,FALSE) FIGURE 14.6 This lookup table requires an exact match. 14 Because the last argument for the VLOOKUP function is FALSE, the function returns a value only if an exact match is found. If the value is not found, the formula returns #N/A. This result, of course, is exactly what you want to happen because returning an approximate match for an employee number makes no sense. Also, notice that the employee numbers in column C are not in ascending order. If the last argument for VLOOKUP is FALSE, the values need not be in ascending order. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 337 c14.indd 08/26/2015 Page 338 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions If you prefer to see something other than #N/A when the employee number is not found, you can use the IFERROR function to test for the error result and substitute a different string. The following formula displays the text Not Found rather than #N/A: =IFERROR(VLOOKUP(B1,EmpList,2,FALSE),"Not Found") IFERROR works only with Excel 2007 and later versions. For compatibility with previous versions, use the following formula: =IF(ISNA(VLOOKUP(B1,EmpList,2,FALSE)),"Not Found",VLOOKUP(B1,EmpList,2,FALSE)) Looking up a value to the left The VLOOKUP function always looks up a value in the ﬁ rst column of the lookup range. But what if you want to look up a value in a column other than the ﬁ rst column? It would be helpful if you could supply a negative value for the third argument for VLOOKUP, but Excel doesn’t allow it. Figure 14.7 illustrates the problem. Suppose that you want to look up the batting average (column B, in a range named Averages) of a player in column C (in a range named Players). The player you want data for appears in a cell named LookupValue. The VLOOKUP function won’t work because the data isn’t arranged correctly. One option is to rearrange your data, but sometimes that’s not possible. FIGURE 14.7 The VLOOKUP function can’t look up a value in column B based on a value in column C. 338 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c14.indd 08/26/2015 Page 339 Chapter 14: Creating Formulas That Look Up Values One solution is to use the LOOKUP function, which requires two range arguments. The following formula (in cell F3) returns the batting average from column B of the player name contained in the cell named LookupValue: =LOOKUP(LookupValue,Players,Averages) Using the LOOKUP function requires that the lookup range (in this case, the Players range) is in ascending order. In addition to this limitation, the formula suffers from a serious problem: if you enter a nonexistent player (in other words, the LookupValue cell contains a value not found in the Players range), the formula returns an incorrect result — and you won’t even know it. A better solution uses the INDEX and MATCH functions. The formula that follows works just like the previous one except that it returns #N/A if the player is not found. Another advantage is that the player names don’t have to be sorted. =INDEX(Averages,MATCH(LookupValue,Players,0)) Performing a case-sensitive lookup The Excel lookup functions (LOOKUP, VLOOKUP, and HLOOKUP) are not case sensitive. For example, if you write a lookup formula to look up the text budget, the formula considers any of the following a match: BUDGET, Budget, or BuDgEt. Figure 14.8 shows a simple example. Range D2:D7 is named Range1, and range E2:E7 is named Range2. The word to be looked up appears in cell B1 (named Value). FIGURE 14.8 Using an array formula to perform a case-sensitive lookup. 14 The array formula that follows is in cell B2. This formula performs a case-sensitive lookup in Range1 and returns the corresponding value in Range2: {=INDEX(Range2,MATCH(TRUE,EXACT(Value,Range1),0))} WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 339 c14.indd 08/26/2015 Page 340 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions The formula looks up the word DOG (uppercase) and returns 300. The following standard LOOKUP formula (which is not case sensitive) returns 400: =LOOKUP(Value,Range1,Range2) When entering an array formula, remember to press Ctrl+Shift+Enter, and do not type the curly brackets. Looking up a value from multiple lookup tables You can, of course, have any number of lookup tables in a worksheet. In some situations, your formula may need to decide which lookup table to use. Figure 14.9 shows an example. FIGURE 14.9 This worksheet demonstrates the use of multiple lookup tables. This workbook calculates sales commission and contains two lookup tables: G3:H9 (named CommTable1) and J3:K8 (named CommTable2). The commission rate for a particular sales representative depends on two factors: the sales rep’s years of service (column B) and the amount sold (column C). Column D contains formulas that look up the commission rate from the appropriate table. For example, the formula in cell D2 is =VLOOKUP(C2,IF(B2<3,CommTable1,CommTable2),2) The second argument for the VLOOKUP function consists of an IF formula that uses the value in column B to determine which lookup table to use. 340 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c14.indd 08/26/2015 Page 341 Chapter 14: Creating Formulas That Look Up Values The formula in column E simply multiplies the sales amount in column C by the commission rate in column D. The formula in cell E2, for example, is =C2*D2 Determining letter grades for test scores A common use of a lookup table is to assign letter grades for test scores. Figure 14.10 shows a worksheet with student test scores. The range E2:F6 (named GradeList) displays a lookup table used to assign a letter grade to a test score. Column C contains formulas that use the VLOOKUP function and the lookup table to assign a grade based on the score in column B. The formula in cell C2, for example, is =VLOOKUP(B2,GradeList,2) When the lookup table is small (as in the example shown earlier in Figure 14.10), you can use a literal array in place of the lookup table. The formula that follows, for example, returns a letter grade without using a lookup table. Instead, the information in the lookup table is hard-coded into an array: =VLOOKUP(B2,{0,"F";40,"D";70,"C";80,"B";90,"A"},2) FIGURE 14.10 Looking up letter grades for test scores. 14 See Chapter 17, “Introducing Array Formulas,” for more information about arrays. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 341 c14.indd 08/26/2015 Page 342 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Another approach, which uses a more legible formula, is to use the LOOKUP function with two array arguments: =LOOKUP(B2,{0,40,70,80,90},{"F","D","C","B","A"}) Note that in this case, you do type the curly brackets because the arrays are arguments for the function. The formula itself is not an array formula. Calculating a grade-point average A student’s grade-point average (GPA) is a numerical measure of the average grade received for classes taken. This discussion assumes a letter grade system, in which each letter grade is assigned a numeric value (A = 4, B = 3, C = 2, D = 1, and F = 0). The GPA comprises an average of the numeric grade values weighted by the credit hours of the course. A one-hour course, for example, receives less weight than a three-hour course. The GPA ranges from 0 (all Fs) to 4.00 (all As). Figure 14.11 shows a worksheet with information for a student. This student took ﬁve courses, for a total of 13 credit hours. Range B2:B6 is named Credit Hours. The grades for each course appear in column C. (Range C2:C6 is named Grades.) Column D uses a lookup formula to calculate the grade value for each course. The lookup formula in cell D2, for example, follows. This formula uses the lookup table in G2:H6 (named GradeTable). =VLOOKUP(C2,GradeTable,2,FALSE) FIGURE 14.11 Using multiple formulas to calculate a GPA. Formulas in column E calculate the weighted values. The formula in cell E2 is =D2*B2 Cell B8 computes the GPA by using the following formula: =SUM(E2:E6)/SUM(B2:B6) 342 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c14.indd 08/26/2015 Page 343 Chapter 14: Creating Formulas That Look Up Values The preceding formulas work ﬁ ne, but you can streamline the GPA calculation quite a bit. In fact, you can use a single array formula to make this calculation and avoid using the lookup table and the formulas in columns D and E. This array formula does the job: {=SUM((MATCH(Grades,{"F","D","C","B","A"},0)-1)*CreditHours)/SUM(CreditHours)} Performing a two-way lookup Figure 14.12 shows a worksheet with a table that displays product sales by month. To retrieve sales for a particular month and product, the user enters a month in cell B1 and a product name in cell B2. FIGURE 14.12 This table demonstrates a two-way lookup. 14 To simplify things, the worksheet uses the following named ranges: ■ Month: B1 ■ Product: B2 ■ Table: D1:H14 ■ MonthList: D1:D14 ■ ProductList: D1:H1 The following formula (in cell B4) uses the MATCH function to return the position of the month within the MonthList range. For example, if the month is January, the formula returns 2 because January is the second item in the MonthList range. (The ﬁ rst item is a blank cell, D1.) WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 343 c14.indd 08/26/2015 Page 344 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions =MATCH(Month,MonthList,0) The formula in cell B5 works similarly but uses the ProductList range: =MATCH(Product,ProductList,0) The ﬁ nal formula, in cell B6, returns the corresponding sales amount. It uses the INDEX function with the results from cells B4 and B5: =INDEX(Table,B4,B5) You can combine these formulas into a single formula, as shown here: =INDEX(Table,MATCH(Month,MonthList,0),MATCH(Product,ProductList,0)) Another way to accomplish a two-way lookup is to provide a name for each row and column of the table. A quick way to do so is to select the table and choose Formulas ➪ Defined Names ➪ Create from Selection. In the Create Names from Selection dialog box, select the Top Row and Left Column check boxes. After creating the names, you can use a simple formula, such as this: = Sprockets July This formula, which uses the range intersection operator (a space), returns July sales for Sprockets. See Chapter 10, “Introducing Formulas and Functions,” for more about the range intersection operator. Performing a two-column lookup Some situations may require a lookup based on the values in two columns. Figure 14.13 shows an example. The lookup table contains automobile makes and models and a corresponding code for each. The worksheet uses named ranges, as shown here: 344 ■ Code: F2:F12 ■ Make: B1 ■ Model: B2 ■ Makes: D2:D12 ■ Models: E2:E12 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c14.indd 08/26/2015 Page 345 Chapter 14: Creating Formulas That Look Up Values FIGURE 14.13 This workbook performs a lookup by using information in two columns (D and E). The following array formula displays the corresponding code for an automobile make and model: {=INDEX(Code,MATCH(Make&Model,Makes&Models,0))} This formula works by concatenating the contents of Make and Model and then searching for this text in an array consisting of the concatenated corresponding text in Makes and Models. Determining the cell address of a value within a range Most of the time, you want your lookup formula to return a value. You may, however, need to determine the cell address of a particular value within a range. For example, Figure 14.14 shows a worksheet with a range of numbers that occupies a single column (named Data). Cell B1, which contains the value to look up, is named Target. The formula in cell B2, which follows, returns the address of the cell in the Data range that contains the Target value: =ADDRESS(ROW(Data)+MATCH(Target,Data,0)-1,COLUMN(Data)) If the Data range occupies a single row, use this formula to return the address of the Target value: =ADDRESS(ROW(Data),COLUMN(Data)+MATCH(Target,Data,0)-1) If the Data range contains more than one instance of the Target value, the address of the ﬁ rst occurrence is returned. If the Target value isn’t found in the Data range, the formula returns #N/A. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 345 14 c14.indd 08/26/2015 Page 346 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions FIGURE 14.14 The formula in cell B2 returns the address in the Data range for the value in cell B1. Looking up a value by using the closest match The VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP functions are useful in the following situations: ■ You need to identify an exact match for a target value. Use FALSE as the function’s fourth argument. ■ You need to locate an approximate match. If the function’s fourth argument is TRUE or omitted and an exact match is not found, the next largest value less than the lookup value is returned. But what if you need to look up a value based on the closest match? Neither VLOOKUP nor HLOOKUP can do the job. Figure 14.15 shows a worksheet with student names in column A and values in column B. Range B2:B20 is named Data. Cell E2, named Target, contains a value to search for in the Data range. Cell E3, named ColOffset, contains a value that represents the column offset from the Data range. The array formula that follows identiﬁes the closest match to the Target Value in the Data range and returns the names of the corresponding student in column A (that is, the column with an offset of –1). The formula returns Paul (with a corresponding value of 6,800, which is the one closest to the Target value of 7,200). {=INDIRECT(ADDRESS(ROW(Data)+MATCH(MIN(ABS(Target-Data)),ABS(Target-Data),0)1,COLUMN(Data)+ColOffset))} If two values in the Data range are equidistant from the Target value, the formula uses the ﬁ rst one in the list. 346 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c14.indd 08/26/2015 Page 347 Chapter 14: Creating Formulas That Look Up Values The value in ColOffset can be negative (for a column to the left of Data), positive (for a column to the right of Data), or 0 (for the actual closest match value in the Data range). To understand how this formula works, you need to understand the INDIRECT function. This function’s ﬁ rst argument is a text string in the form of a cell reference (or a reference to a cell that contains a text string). In this example, the text string is created by the ADDRESS function, which accepts a row and column reference and returns a cell address. FIGURE 14.15 This workbook demonstrates how to perform a lookup by using the closest match. 14 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 347 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 349 CHAPTER Creating Formulas for Financial Applications 15 IN THIS CHAPTER Getting a brief overview of the Excel functions that deal with the time value of money Looking at formulas that perform various types of loan calculations Considering formulas that perform various types of investment calculations Reviewing Excel depreciation functions Using the new forecasting functions I t’s a safe bet that the most common use of Excel is to perform calculations involving money. Every day, people make hundreds of thousands of ﬁ nancial decisions based on the numbers that are calculated in a spreadsheet. These decisions range from simple (“Can I afford to buy a new car?”) to complex (“Will purchasing XYZ Corporation result in a positive cash ﬂow in the next 18 months?”). This chapter discusses basic ﬁ nancial calculations that you can perform with the assistance of Excel. The Time Value of Money The face value of money may not always be what it seems. A key consideration is the time value of money. This concept involves calculating the value of money in the past, present, or future. It’s based on the premise that money increases in value over time because of interest earned by the money. In other words, a dollar invested today will be worth more tomorrow. For example, imagine that your rich uncle decided to give away some money and asked you to choose one of the following options: ■ Receive $8,000 today. ■ Receive $9,500 in one year. ■ Receive $12,000 in ﬁve years. ■ Receive $150 per month for ﬁve years. 349 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 350 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions If your goal is to maximize the amount received, you need to take into account not only the face value of the money but also the time value of the money when it arrives in your hands. The time value of money depends on your perspective. In other words, you’re either a lender or a borrower. When you take out a loan to purchase an automobile, you’re a borrower, and the institution that provides the funds to you is the lender. When you invest money in a bank savings account, you’re a lender; you’re lending your money to the bank, and the bank is borrowing it from you. Several concepts contribute to the time value of money: 350 ■ Present value (PV): This is the principal amount. If you deposit $5,000 in a bank savings account, this amount represents the principal, or present value, of the money you invested. If you borrow $15,000 to purchase a car, this amount represents the principal, or present value, of the loan. Present value may be positive or negative. ■ Future value (FV): This is the principal plus interest. If you invest $5,000 for ﬁve years and earn 3% annual interest, your investment is worth $5,796.37 at the end of the ﬁve-year term. This amount is the future value of your $5,000 investment. If you take out a three-year car loan for $15,000 and make monthly payments based on a 5.25% annual interest rate, you pay a total of $16,244.97. This amount represents the principal plus the interest you paid. Future value may be positive or negative, depending on the perspective (lender or borrower). ■ Payment (PMT): This is either principal or principal plus interest. If you deposit $100 per month into a savings account, $100 is the payment. If you have a monthly mortgage payment of $1,025, this amount is made up of principal and interest. ■ Interest rate: Interest is a percentage of the principal, usually expressed on an annual basis. For example, you may earn 2.5% annual interest on a bank CD (certiﬁcate of deposit). Or your mortgage loan may have a 6.75% interest rate. ■ Period: This represents the point in time when interest is paid or earned (for example, a bank CD that pays interest quarterly, or an auto loan that requires monthly payments). ■ Term: This is the amount of time of interest. A 12-month bank CD has a term of one year. A 30-year mortgage loan has a term of 360 months. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 351 Chapter 15: Creating Formulas for Financial Applications Loan Calculations This section describes how to calculate various components of a loan. Think of a loan as consisting of the following components: ■ The loan amount ■ The interest rate ■ The number of payment periods ■ The periodic payment amount If you know any three of these components, you can create a formula to calculate the unknown component. The loan calculations in this section all assume a fixed-rate loan with a fixed term. Worksheet functions for calculating loan information This section describes six commonly used ﬁ nancial functions: PMT, PPMT, IPMT, RATE, NPER, and PV. For information about the arguments used in these functions, see Table 15.1. TABLE 15.1 Function Argument Financial Function Arguments Description Rate The interest rate per period. If the rate is expressed as an annual interest rate, you must divide it by the number of periods. Nper The total number of payment periods. Per A particular period. The period must be less than or equal to nper. Pmt The payment made each period (a constant value that does not change). Fv The future value after the last payment is made. If you omit fv, it is assumed to be 0. (The future value of a loan, for example, is 0.) Type An indication of when payments are due — either 0 (due at the end of the period) or 1 (due at the beginning of the period). If you omit type, it is assumed to be 0. Guess An initial estimate of what the result will be. Used by the RATE function, which is calculated by iteration. If the function doesn’t converge on a result, changing the guess argument will help. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 351 15 c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 352 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions PMT The PMT function returns the loan payment (principal plus interest) per period, assuming constant payment amounts and a ﬁ xed interest rate. The syntax for the PMT function follows: PMT(rate,nper,pv,fv,type) The following formula returns the monthly payment amount for a $5,000 loan with a 6% annual percentage rate. The loan has a term of four years (48 months). =PMT(6%/12,48,-5000) This formula returns $117.43, the monthly payment for the loan. The ﬁ rst argument, rate, is the annual rate divided by the number of months in a year. Also, notice that the third argument (pv, for present value) is negative and represents money owed. PPMT The PPMT function returns the principal part of a loan payment for a given period, assuming constant payment amounts and a ﬁ xed interest rate. The syntax for the PPMT function is PPMT(rate,per,nper,pv,fv,type) The following formula returns the amount paid to principal for the ﬁ rst month of a $5,000 loan with a 6% annual percentage rate. The loan has a term of four years (48 months). =PPMT(6%/12,1,48,-5000) The formula returns $92.43 for the principal, which is about 78.7% of the total loan payment. If I change the second argument to 48 (to calculate the principal amount for the last payment), the formula returns $116.84, or about 99.5% of the total loan payment. To calculate the cumulative principal paid between any two payment periods, use the CUMPRINC function. This function uses two additional arguments: start_period and end_period. In Excel versions prior to Excel 2007, CUMPRINC is available only when you install the Analysis ToolPak add-in. IPMT The IPMT function returns the interest part of a loan payment for a given period, assuming constant payment amounts and a ﬁ xed interest rate. The syntax for the IPMT function is IPMT(rate,per,nper,pv,fv,type) 352 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 353 Chapter 15: Creating Formulas for Financial Applications The following formula returns the amount paid to interest for the ﬁ rst month of a $5,000 loan with a 6% annual percentage rate. The loan has a term of four years (48 months). =IPMT(6%/12,1,48,-5000) This formula returns an interest amount of $25.00. By the last payment period for the loan, the interest payment is only $0.58. To calculate the cumulative interest paid between any two payment periods, use the CUMIPMT function. This function uses two additional arguments: start_period and end_period. In Excel versions prior to Excel 2007, CUMIPMT is available only when you install the Analysis ToolPak add-in. RATE The RATE function returns the periodic interest rate of a loan, given the number of payment periods, the periodic payment amount, and the loan amount. The syntax for the RATE function is RATE(nper,pmt,pv,fv,type,guess) The following formula calculates the annual interest rate for a 48-month loan for $5,000 that has a monthly payment amount of $117.43: =RATE(48,117.43,-5000)*12 This formula returns 6.00%. Notice that the result of the function is multiplied by 12 to get the annual percentage rate. NPER The NPER function returns the number of payment periods for a loan, given the loan’s amount, interest rate, and periodic payment amount. The syntax for the NPER function is NPER(rate,pmt,pv,fv,type) The following formula calculates the number of payment periods for a $5,000 loan that has a monthly payment amount of $117.43. The loan has a 6% annual interest rate: =NPER(6%/12,117.43,-5000) This formula returns 47.997 (that is, 48 months). The monthly payment was rounded to the nearest penny, causing the minor discrepancy. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 353 15 c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 354 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions PV The PV function returns the present value (that is, the original loan amount) for a loan, given the interest rate, the number of periods, and the periodic payment amount. The syntax for the PV function is PV(rate,nper,pmt,fv,type) The following formula calculates the original loan amount for a 48-month loan that has a monthly payment amount of $117.43. The annual interest rate is 6%. =PV(6%/12,48,-117.43) This formula returns $5,000.21. The monthly payment was rounded to the nearest penny, causing the $0.21 discrepancy. A loan calculation example Figure 15.1 shows a worksheet set up to calculate the periodic payment amount for a loan. FIGURE 15.1 Using the PMT function to calculate a periodic loan payment amount. The workbook described in this section is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/ excel2016bible. The file is named loan payment.xlsx. The loan amount is in cell B1, and the annual interest rate is in cell B2. Cell B3 contains the payment period expressed in months. For example, if cell B3 is 1, the payment is due monthly. If cell B3 is 3, the payment is due every three months, or quarterly. Cell B4 contains the number of periods of the loan. The example shown in this ﬁgure calculates the payment for a $25,000 loan at 6.25% annual interest with monthly payments for 36 months. The formula in cell B6 is =PMT(B2*(B3/12),B4,-B1) 354 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 355 Chapter 15: Creating Formulas for Financial Applications Notice that the ﬁrst argument is an expression that calculates the periodic interest rate by using the annual interest rate and the payment period. Therefore, if payments are made quarterly on a three-year loan, the payment period is 3, the number of periods is 12, and the periodic interest rate would be calculated as the annual interest rate multiplied by 3/12. In the worksheet in Figure 15.1, range A9:B11 is set up to calculate the principal and interest amount for a particular payment period. Cell B9 contains the payment period used by the formulas in B10:B11. (The payment period must be less than or equal to the value in cell B4.) The formula in cell B10, shown here, calculates the amount of the payment that goes toward principal for the payment period in cell B9: =PPMT(B2*(B3/12),B9,B4,-B1) The following formula, in cell B11, calculates the amount of the payment that goes toward interest for the payment period in cell B9: =IPMT(B2*(B3/12),B9,B4,-B1) The sum of B10 and B11 is equal to the total loan payment calculated in cell B6. However, the relative proportion of principal and interest amounts varies with the payment period. (An increasingly larger proportion of the payment is applied toward principal as the loan progresses.) Figure 15.2 shows the principal and interest portions graphically. FIGURE 15.2 This chart shows how the interest and principal amounts vary during the payment periods of a loan. 15 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 355 c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 356 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Credit card payments Do you ever wonder how long it would take to pay off a credit card balance if you make the minimum payment amount each month? Figure 15.3 shows a worksheet set up to make this type of calculation. FIGURE 15.3 This worksheet calculates the number of payments required to pay off a credit card balance by paying the minimum payment amount each month. The workbook shown in Figure 15.3 is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/ excel2016bible. The file is named credit card payments.xlsx. Range B1:B5 stores input values. In this example, the credit card has a balance of $1,000, and the lender charges a 21.25% annual percentage rate (APR). The minimum payment is 2.00% (typical of many credit card lenders). Therefore, the minimum payment amount for this example is $20. You can enter a different payment amount in cell B5, but it must be large enough to pay off the loan. For example, you may choose to pay $50 per month to pay off the balance more quickly. However, paying $10 per month isn’t sufﬁcient, and the formulas return an error. Range B7:B9 holds formulas that perform various calculations. The formula in cell B7, which follows, calculates the number of months required to pay off the balance: =NPER(B2/12,B5,-B1,0) 356 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 357 Chapter 15: Creating Formulas for Financial Applications The formula in B8 calculates the total amount you will pay. This formula is =B7*B5 The formula in cell B9 calculates the total interest paid: =B8-B1 In this example, it would take about 123 months (more than ten years) to pay off the credit card balance if the borrower made only the minimum monthly payment. The total interest paid on the $1,000 loan would be $1,468.42. This calculation assumes, of course, that no additional charges are made on the account. This example may help explain why you receive so many credit card solicitations in the mail. Figure 15.4 shows some additional calculations for the credit card example. For example, if you want to pay off the credit card in 12 months, you need to make monthly payments of $93.23. (This amount results in total payments of $1,118.81 with total interest of $118.81.) The formula in B13 is =PMT($B$2/12,A13,-$B$1) FIGURE 15.4 Column B shows the payment required to pay off the credit card balance for various payoff periods. 15 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 357 c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 358 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Creating a loan amortization schedule A loan amortization schedule is a table of values that shows various types of information for each payment period of a loan. Figure 15.5 shows a worksheet that uses formulas to calculate an amortization schedule. FIGURE 15.5 A loan amortization schedule. This workbook is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named loan amortization schedule.xlsx. The loan parameters are entered into C1:C4, and the formulas beginning in row 9 use these values for the calculations. Table 15.2 shows the formulas in row 9 of the schedule. These formulas were copied down to row 488. Therefore, the worksheet can calculate amortization schedules for a loan with as many as 480 payment periods (40 years of monthly payments). 358 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 359 Chapter 15: Creating Formulas for Financial Applications Formulas in the rows that extend beyond the number of payments return an error value. The worksheet uses conditional formatting to hide the data in these rows. See Chapter 21, “Visualizing Data Using Conditional Formatting,” for more information about conditional formatting. TABLE 15.2 Formulas Used to Calculate an Amortization Schedule Cell Formula Description A9 =A8+1 Returns the payment number B9 =PMT($B$2*($B$3/12),$B$4,-$B$1) Calculates the periodic payment amount C9 =C8+B9 Calculates the cumulative payment amounts D9 =IPMT($B$2*($B$3/12),A9,$B$4,-$B$1) Calculates the interest portion of the periodic payment E9 =E8+D9 Calculates the cumulative interest paid F9 =PPMT($B$2*($B$3/12),A9,$B$4,-$B$1) Calculates the principal portion of the periodic payment G9 =G8+F9 Calculates the cumulative amount applied toward principal H9 =H8-F9 Returns the principal balance at the end of the period Summarizing loan options by using a data table The Excel Data Table feature is probably one of the most underutilized tools in Excel. Keep in mind that a data table is not the same as a table (created by choosing Insert ➪ Tables ➪ Table). A data table is a handy way to summarize calculations that depend on one or two “changing” cells. In this example, I use a data table to summarize various loan options. This section describes how to create one-way and two-way data tables. 15 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 359 c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 360 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions See Chapter 35, “Performing Spreadsheet What-If Analysis,” for more information about setting up data tables. A workbook that demonstrates one- and two-way data tables is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named loan data tables.xlsx. Creating a one-way data table A one-way data table shows the results of any number of calculations for different values of a single input cell. Figure 15.6 shows a one-way data table (in B10:I13) that displays three calculations (payment amount, total payments, and total interest) for a loan, using seven interest rates ranging from 7.00% to 8.50%. In this example, the input cell is cell B2. FIGURE 15.6 Using a one-way data table to display three loan calculations for various interest rates. To create this one-way data table, follow these steps: 1. Enter the formulas that return the results for use in the data table. In this example, the formulas are in B6:B8. 2. Enter various values for a single input cell in successive columns. In this example, the input value is interest rate, and the values for various interest rates appear in C10:I10. 3. Create a reference to the formula cells in the column to the left of the input values. In this example, the range B11:B13 contains simple formulas that reference other cells. For example, cell B11 contains the following formula: =B6 360 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 361 Chapter 15: Creating Formulas for Financial Applications 4. Select the rectangular range that contains the entries from the previous steps. In this example, select B10:I13. 5. Choose Data ➪ Data Tools ➪ What-If Analysis ➪ Data Table. The Data Table dialog box, shown in Figure 15.7, appears. FIGURE 15.7 The Data Table dialog box. 6. For the Row input cell field, specify the cell reference that corresponds to the variable in your Data Table column header row. In this example, the Row input cell is B2. 7. Leave the Column input cell field empty. The Column input ﬁeld is used for twoway data tables, described in the next section. 8. Click OK. Excel inserts a multicell array formula that uses the TABLE function with a single argument. 9. (Optional) Format the data table. For example, you may want to apply shading to the row and column headers. Note that Excel enters the multicell array formula only in the results portion of the table. The ﬁ rst column and ﬁ rst row of the range you selected in step 4 are not changed. When you create a data table, the leftmost column of the data table (the column that contains the references entered in Step 3) contains the calculated values for the input cell. In this example, those values are repeated in column D. To avoid confusion, you may want to hide the values B11:B13 by making the font color the same color as the background. Creating a two-way data table A two-way data table shows the results of a single calculation for different values of two input cells. Figure 15.8 shows a two-way data table (in B10:I16) that displays a calculation (payment amount) for a loan, using seven interest rates and six loan amounts — a total of 42 different combinations. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 361 15 c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 362 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions FIGURE 15.8 Using a two-way data table to display payment amounts for various loan amounts and interest rates. To create this two-way data table, follow these steps: 1. Enter a formula that returns the results that will be used in the data table. In this example, the formula is in cell B6. The formulas in B7:B8 are not used. 2. Enter various values for the first input in successive columns. In this example, the ﬁ rst input value is interest rate, and the values for various interest rates appear in C10:I10. 3. Enter various values for the second input cell in successive rows, to the left and below the input values for the first input. In this example, the second input value is the loan amount, and the values for various loan amounts are in B11:B16. 4. Create a reference to the formula that will be calculated in the table. This reference goes in the upper-left corner of the data table range. In this example, cell B10 contains the following formula: =B6 362 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 363 Chapter 15: Creating Formulas for Financial Applications 5. Select the rectangular range that contains the entries from the previous steps. In this example, select B10:I16. 6. Choose Data ➪ Data Tools ➪ What-If Analysis ➪ Data Table. Excel displays the Data Table dialog box (refer to Figure 15.7). 7. For the Row Input Cell field, specify the cell reference that corresponds to the first input cell. In this example, the Row Input cell is B2. 8. For the Column Input Cell field, specify the cell reference that corresponds to the second input cell. In this example, the Column Input cell is B1. 9. Click OK. Excel inserts an array formula that uses the TABLE function with two arguments. After you create the two-way data table, you can change the calculated cell by changing the cell reference in the upper-left cell of the data table. In this example, you can change the formula in cell B10 to =B8 (to display total interest) or =B7 (to display total payments). If you create very large data tables, the calculation speed of your workbook may be slowed down. Excel has a special calculation mode for calculation-intensive data tables. To change the calculation mode, choose Formulas ➪ Calculation ➪ Calculation Options ➪ Automatic Except for Data Tables. Calculating a loan with irregular payments So far, the loan calculation examples in this chapter have involved loans with regular periodic payments. In some cases, loan payback is irregular. For example, you may loan some money to a friend without a formal agreement as to how he’ll pay the money back. You still collect interest on the loan, so you need a way to perform the calculations based on the actual payment dates. Figure 15.9 shows a worksheet set up to keep track of such a loan. The annual interest rate for the loan is stored in cell B1 (named APR). The original loan amount and loan date are stored in row 5. Notice that the loan amount is entered as a negative value in cell B5. Formulas, beginning in row 6, track the irregular loan payments and perform calculations. 15 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 363 c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 364 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions FIGURE 15.9 This worksheet tracks loan payments that are made on an irregular basis. Column B stores the payment amount made on the date in column C. Notice that the payments are not made on a regular basis. Also, notice that in two cases (row 11 and row 24), the payment amount is negative. These entries represent additional borrowed money added to the loan balance. Formulas in columns D and E calculate the amount of the payment credited toward interest and principal. Columns F and G keep a running tally of the cumulative payments and interest amounts. Formulas in column H compute the new loan balance after each payment. Table 15.3 lists and describes the formulas in row 6. Note that each formula uses an IF function to determine whether the payment date in column C is missing. If so, the formula returns an empty string, so no data appears in the cell. 364 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 365 Chapter 15: Creating Formulas for Financial Applications TABLE 15.3 Formulas to Calculate a Loan with Irregular Payments Cell Formula Description D6 =IF(C6<>"",(C6-C5)/365*H5*APR,"") Calculates the interest, based on the payment date E6 =IF(C6<>"",B6-D6,"") Subtracts the interest amount from the payment to calculate the amount credited to principal F6 =IF(C6<>"",F5+B6,"") Adds the payment amount to the running total G6 =IF(C6<>"",G5+D6,"") Adds the interest to the running total H6 =IF(C6<>"",H5-E6,"") Calculates the new loan balance by subtracting the principal amount from the previous loan balance This workbook is available on the book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The filename is irregular payments.xlsx. Investment Calculations Investment calculations involve calculating interest on ﬁ xed-rate investments, such as bank savings accounts, CDs, and annuities. You can make these interest calculations for investments that consist of a single deposit or multiple deposits. This book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible contains a workbook with all the interest calculation examples in this section. The file is named investment calculations.xlsx. Future value of a single deposit Many investments consist of a single deposit that earns interest over the term of the investment. This section describes calculations for simple interest and compound interest. Calculating simple interest Simple interest refers to the fact that interest payments are not compounded. The basic formula for computing interest is 15 Interest=Principal*Rate*Term WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 365 c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 366 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions For example, suppose that you deposit $1,000 into a bank CD that pays a 3% simple annual interest rate. After one year, the CD matures, and you withdraw your money. The bank adds $30, and you walk away with $1,030. In this case, the interest earned is calculated by multiplying the principal ($1,000) by the interest rate (0.03) by the term (one year). If the investment term is less than one year, the simple interest rate is adjusted accordingly, based on the term. For example, $1,000 invested in a six-month CD that pays 3% simple annual interest earns $15.00 when the CD matures. In this case, the annual interest rate multiplies by 6/12. Figure 15.10 shows a worksheet set up to make simple interest calculations. The formula in cell B7, shown here, calculates the interest due at the end of the term: =B3*B4*B5 FIGURE 15.10 This worksheet calculates simple interest payments. The formula in B8 simply adds the interest to the original investment amount. Calculating compound interest Most ﬁ xed-term investments pay interest by using some type of compound interest calculation. Compound interest refers to interest credited to the investment balance, and the investment then earns interest on the interest. For example, suppose that you deposit $1,000 into a bank CD that pays 3% annual interest rate, compounded monthly. Each month, the interest is calculated on the balance, and that amount is credited to your account. The next month’s interest calculation will 366 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 367 Chapter 15: Creating Formulas for Financial Applications be based on a higher amount because it also includes the previous month’s interest payment. One way to calculate the ﬁ nal investment amount involves a series of formulas (see Figure 15.11). FIGURE 15.11 Using a series of formulas to calculate compound interest. Column B contains formulas to calculate the interest for one month. For example, the formula in B10 is =C9*($B$5*(1/12)) The formulas in column C add the monthly interest amount to the balance. For example, the formula in C10 is =C9+B10 At the end of the 12-month term, the CD balance is $1,030.42. In other words, monthly compounding results in an additional $0.42 (compared with simple interest). WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 367 15 c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 368 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions You can use the FV (future value) function to calculate the ﬁ nal investment amount without using a series of formulas. Figure 15.12 shows a worksheet set up to calculate compound interest. Cell B6 is an input cell that holds the number of compounding periods per year. For monthly compounding, the value in B6 would be 12. For quarterly compounding, the value would be 4. For daily compounding, the value would be 365. Cell B7 holds the term of the investment expressed in years. FIGURE 15.12 Using a single formula to calculate compound interest. Cell B9 contains the following formula that calculates the periodic interest rate. This value is the interest rate used for each compounding period. =B5*(1/B6) The formula in cell B10 uses the FV function to calculate the value of the investment at the end of the term. The formula is =FV(B9,B6*B7,,-B4) The ﬁ rst argument for the FV function is the periodic interest rate, which is calculated in cell B9. The second argument represents the total number of compounding periods. The third argument (pmt) is omitted, and the fourth argument is the original investment amount (expressed as a negative value). The total interest is calculated with a simple formula in cell B11: =B10-B4 368 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 369 Chapter 15: Creating Formulas for Financial Applications Another formula, in cell B13, calculates the annual yield on the investment: =(B11/B4)/B7 For example, suppose that you deposit $5,000 into a three-year CD with a 4.25% annual interest rate compounded quarterly. In this case, the investment has four compounding periods per year, so you enter 4 into cell B6. The term is three years, so you enter 3 into cell B7. The formula in B10 returns $5,676.11. Perhaps you want to see how this rate stacks up against a competitor’s account that offers daily compounding. Figure 15.13 shows a calculation with daily compounding, using a $5,000 investment. (Compare this with Figure 15.12.) As you can see, the difference is very small ($679.88 versus $676.11). Over a period of three years, the account with daily compounding earns a total of $3.77 more interest. In terms of annual yield, quarterly compounding earns 4.51%, and daily compounding earns 4.53%. FIGURE 15.13 Calculating interest by using daily compounding. Calculating interest with continuous compounding The term continuous compounding refers to interest that is accumulated continuously. In other words, the investment has an inﬁ nite number of compounding periods per year. The following formula calculates the future value of a $5,000 investment at 4.25% compounded continuously for three years: =5000*EXP(4.25%*3) The formula returns $5,679.92, which is an additional $0.04 compared with daily compounding. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 369 15 c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 370 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions You can calculate compound interest without using the FV function. The general formula to calculate compound interest is Principal*(1+Periodic Rate)^Number of Periods For example, consider a five-year, $5,000 investment that earns an annual interest rate of 4%, compounded monthly. The formula to calculate the future value of this investment is =5000*(1+4%/12)^(12*5) The Rule of 72 Need to make an investment decision but don’t have a computer handy? You can use the Rule of 72 to determine the number of years required to double your money at a particular interest rate, using annual compounding. Just divide 72 by the interest rate. For example, consider a $10,000 investment at 4% interest. How many years will it take to turn that 10 grand into 20 grand? Take 72, divide it by 4, and you get 18 years. What if you can get a 5% interest rate? If so, you can double your money in a little over 14 years. How accurate is the Rule of 72? The table that follows shows Rule of 72 estimated years versus the actual years for various interest rates. As you can see, this simple rule is remarkably accurate. However, for interest rates that exceed 30 percent, the accuracy drops off considerably. Interest Rate Rule of 72 Actual 1% 72.00 69.66 2% 36.00 35.00 3% 24.00 23.45 4% 18.00 17.67 5% 14.40 14.21 6% 12.00 11.90 7% 10.29 10.24 370 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 371 Chapter 15: Creating Formulas for Financial Applications 8% 9.00 9.01 9% 8.00 8.04 10% 7.20 7.27 15% 4.80 4.96 20% 3.60 3.80 25% 2.88 3.11 30% 2.40 2.64 The Rule of 72 also works in reverse. For example, if you want to double your money in six years, divide 6 into 72; you’ll discover that you need to find an investment that pays an annual interest rate of about 12%. Good luck. Future value of a series of deposits Now consider another type of investment, one in which you make a regular series of deposits into an account. This type of investment is known as an annuity. The worksheet functions discussed in the “Loan Calculations” section earlier in this chapter also apply to annuities, but you need to use the perspective of a lender, not a borrower. A simple example of this type of investment is a holiday club savings program offered by some banking institutions. A ﬁ xed amount is deducted from each of your paychecks and deposited into an interest-earning account. At the end of the year, you withdraw the money (with accumulated interest) to use for holiday expenses. Suppose that you deposit $200 at the beginning of each month (for 12 months) into an account that pays 2.5% annual interest compounded monthly. The following formula calculates the future value of your series of deposits: =FV(2.5%/12,12,-200,,1) This formula returns $2,432.75, which represents the total of your deposits ($2,400.00) plus the interest ($32.75). The last argument for the FV function is 1, which means that you make payments at the beginning of the month. Figure 15.14 shows a worksheet set up to calculate annuities. Table 15.4 describes the contents of this sheet. 15 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 371 c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 372 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions FIGURE 15.14 This worksheet contains formulas to calculate annuities. The workbook shown in Figure 15.14 is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/ excel2016bible. The file is named annuity calculator.xlsx. TABLE 15.4 372 The Annuity Calculator Worksheet Cell Formula Description B4 None (input cell) Initial investment (can be 0) B5 None (input cell) Amount deposited on a regular basis B6 None (input cell) Number of deposits made in 12 months B7 None (input cell) TRUE if you make deposits at the beginning of period; otherwise, FALSE B10 None (input cell) Length of the investment, in years (can be fractional) B13 None (input cell) Annual interest rate B16 =B4 Initial investment amount B17 =B5*B6*B10 Total of all regular deposits B18 =B16+B17 Initial investment added to the sum of the deposits WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 373 Chapter 15: Creating Formulas for Financial Applications Cell Formula Description B19 =B13*(1/B6) Periodic interest rate B20 =FV(B19,B6*B10,-B5,B4,IF(B7,1,0)) Future value of the investment B21 =B20-B18 Interest earned from the investment Depreciation Calculations Excel offers ﬁve functions to calculate depreciation of an asset over time. Depreciating an asset places a value on the asset at a point in time, based on the original value and its useful life. The function that you choose depends on the type of depreciation method you use. Table 15.5 summarizes the Excel depreciation functions and the arguments used by each. For complete details, consult the Excel online Help system. TABLE 15.5 Excel Depreciation Functions Function Depreciation Method Arguments SLN Straight line. The asset depreciates by the same amount each year of its life. Cost, Salvage, Life DB Declining balance. Computes depreciation at a fixed rate. Cost, Salvage, Life, Period, Month* DDB Double declining balance. Computes depreciation at an accelerated rate. Depreciation is highest in the first period and decreases in successive periods. Cost, Salvage, Life, Period, Factor* SYD Sum of the year’s digits. Allocates a large depreciation in the earlier years of an asset’s life. Cost, Salvage, Life, Period VDB Variable declining balance. Computes the depreciation of an asset for any period (including partial periods) using the double declining balance method or some other method you specify. Cost, Salvage, Life, Start _Period, End_ Period, Factor*, No Switch* * Optional Here are the arguments for the depreciation functions: ■ Cost: Original cost of the asset. ■ Salvage: Salvage cost of the asset after it has fully depreciated. ■ Life: Number of periods over which the asset will depreciate. ■ Period: Period in the life for which the calculation is being made. ■ Month: Number of months in the ﬁ rst year; if omitted, Excel uses 12. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 15 373 c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 374 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions ■ Start_Period: Starting period for the depreciation calculation. ■ End_Period: Ending period for the depreciation calculation. ■ Factor: Rate at which the balance declines; if omitted, it is assumed to be 2 (that is, double-declining). ■ No Switch: TRUE or FALSE. Speciﬁes whether to switch to straight-line depreciation when depreciation is greater than the declining balance calculation. Figure 15.15 shows depreciation calculations using the SLN, DB, DDB, and SYD functions. The asset’s original cost, $10,000, is assumed to have a useful life of ten years, with a salvage value of $1,000. The range labeled Depreciation Amount shows the annual depreciation of the asset. The range labeled Value of Asset shows the asset’s depreciated value over its life. FIGURE 15.15 A comparison of four depreciation functions. 374 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 375 Chapter 15: Creating Formulas for Financial Applications This workbook is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named depreciation calculations.xlsx. Figure 15.16 shows a chart that graphs the asset’s value. As you can see, the SLN function produces a straight line; the other functions produce a curved line because the depreciation is greater in the earlier years of the asset’s life. FIGURE 15.16 This chart shows an asset’s value over time, using four depreciation functions. The VBD function is useful if you need to calculate depreciation for multiple periods (for example, years 2 and 3). Figure 15.17 shows a worksheet set up to calculate depreciation using the VBD function. The formula in cell B11 is =VDB(B2,B4,B3,B6,B7,B8,B9) 15 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 375 c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 376 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions FIGURE 15.17 Using the VBD function to calculate depreciation for multiple periods. The formula displays the depreciation for the ﬁ rst three years of an asset (starting period of 0 and ending period of 3). Financial Forecasting Forecasting refers to predicting values based on historical values. The values can be ﬁ nancial (for example, sales or income) or any other time-based data (for example, number of employees). Excel 2016 makes the forecasting process easier than ever. Excel 2016 includes five new worksheet functions for forecasting. As you see, Excel can insert these functions for you automatically and can even generate a chart. This workbook is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named forecasting example.xlsx. To create a forecast, start with historical time-based data — for example, monthly sales. Figure 15.18 shows a simple example. Column B contains monthly sales data from 2012 through 376 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 377 Chapter 15: Creating Formulas for Financial Applications 2015. I also created a chart, which shows the sales tend to be cyclical, with lower sales during the summer months. The goal is to forecast the monthly sales for the next two years. FIGURE 15.18 Four years of monthly sales data. Start by selecting the data. For this example, I selected the range A1:B49. Choose Data ➪ Forecast ➪ Forecast Sheet, and Excel displays the Create Forecast Worksheet dialog box shown in Figure 15.19. (I clicked Options to display additional parameters.) The dialog box shows a chart that displays the historical data, the forecasted data, and the conﬁdence limits for the forecast. The conﬁdence interval (depicted as thinner lines in the chart) determines the “plus or minus” values for the forecast and indicates the degree of conﬁdence in the forecast. A higher conﬁdence interval results in a wider prediction range. 15 Note that the chart shown in the dialog box adjusts as you change options. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 377 c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 378 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions FIGURE 15.19 The Create Forecast Worksheet dialog box. Click Create, and Excel inserts a new worksheet that contains a table and a chart. Figure 15.20 shows part of this table. The table displays the forecasted values, along with the lower and upper conﬁdence intervals. These values are generated using the new FORECAST.ETS and FORECAST.ETS.CONFINT functions. These are fairly complex functions, which explains why Excel does all the work. 378 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c15.indd 08/26/2015 Page 379 Chapter 15: Creating Formulas for Financial Applications FIGURE 15.20 The forecast worksheet contains a table and a chart. 15 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 379 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c16.indd 08/26/2015 Page 381 CHAPTER 16 Miscellaneous Calculations IN THIS CHAPTER Converting between measurement units Solving right triangles Calculating area, surface, circumference, and volume Demonstrating various ways to round numbers T his chapter contains reference information that may be useful to you at some point. Consider it a cheat sheet to help you remember the stuff you may have learned but have long since forgotten. Unit Conversions You know the distance from New York to London in miles, but your European ofﬁce needs the number in kilometers. What’s the conversion factor? Excel’s CONVERT function can convert between a variety of measurements in the following categories: ■ Area ■ Distance ■ Energy ■ Force ■ Information ■ Magnetism ■ Power ■ Pressure 381 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c16.indd 08/26/2015 Page 382 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions ■ Speed ■ Temperature ■ Time ■ Volume (or liquid measure) ■ Weight and mass Prior to Excel 2007, the CONVERT function required the Analysis ToolPak add-in. Beginning with Excel 2007, this useful function is built in. The CONVERT function requires three arguments: the value that you want to convert, the from-unit, and the to-unit. For example, if cell A1 contains a distance expressed in miles, use this formula to convert miles to kilometers: =CONVERT(A1,"mi","km") The second and third arguments are unit abbreviations, which are listed in the Excel Help system. Some of the abbreviations are commonly used, but others aren’t. And, of course, you must use the exact abbreviation. Furthermore, the unit abbreviations are case sensitive, so the following formula returns an error: =CONVERT(A1,"Mi","km") The CONVERT function is even more versatile than it seems. When using metric units, you can apply a multiplier. In fact, the ﬁ rst example I presented uses a multiplier. The actual unit abbreviation for the third argument is m for meters. I added the kilo-multiplier (k) to express the result in kilometers. Sometimes you need to use a bit of creativity. For example, if you need to convert 100 km/ hour into miles/sec, the following formula uses the CONVERT function: =CONVERT(100,"km","mi")/CONVERT(1,"hr","sec") The CONVERT function was significantly enhanced in Excel 2013 and includes dozens of new units. Therefore, you need to be careful if you use this function in workbooks that will be opened in earlier versions of Excel. Figure 16.1 shows part of a table that lists all the conversion units supported by the CONVERT function. The table can be sorted and ﬁltered, and it indicates which of the units support the metric preﬁ xes and which were introduced in Excel 2013. 382 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c16.indd 08/26/2015 Page 383 Chapter 16: Miscellaneous Calculations FIGURE 16.1 A table that lists all the units supported by the CONVERT function. 16 This workbook is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The filename is conversion units table.xlsx. If you can’t ﬁnd a particular unit that works with the CONVERT function, it’s possible that Excel has another function that will do the job. Table 16.1 lists some other functions that convert between measurement units. TABLE 16.1 Other Conversion Functions Function Description ARABIC* Converts an Arabic number to decimal BASE* Converts a decimal number to a specified base BIN2DEC Converts a binary number to decimal 16 Continues WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 383 c16.indd 08/26/2015 Page 384 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions TABLE 16.1 (continued) Function Description BIN2OCT Converts a binary number to octal DEC2BIN Converts a decimal number to binary DEC2HEX Converts a decimal number to hexadecimal DEC2OCT Converts a decimal number to octal DEGREES Converts an angle (in radians) to degrees HEX2BIN Converts a hexadecimal number to binary HEX2DEC Converts a hexadecimal number to decimal HEX2OCT Converts a hexadecimal number to octal OCT2BIN Converts an octal number to binary OCT2DEC Converts an octal number to decimal OCT2HEX Converts an octal number to hexadecimal RADIANS Converts an angle (in degrees) to radians * Function introduced in Excel 2013 Solving Right Triangles A right triangle has six components: three sides and three angles. Figure 16.2 shows a right triangle with its various parts labeled. Angles are labeled A, B, and C; sides are labeled Hypotenuse, Adjacent, and Opposite. Angle C is always 90 degrees (or π/2 radians). If you know any two of these components (excluding angle C, which is always known), you can use formulas to solve for the others. FIGURE 16.2 A right triangle’s components. The Pythagorean theorem states that Opposite2 + Adjacent2 = Hypotenuse2. Therefore, if you know two sides of a right triangle, you can calculate the remaining side. The formula to calculate a right triangle’s opposite side (given the length of the hypotenuse and adjacent side) is as follows: 384 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c16.indd 08/26/2015 Page 385 Chapter 16: Miscellaneous Calculations =SQRT((hypotenuse^2)-(adjacent^2)) The formula to calculate a right triangle’s adjacent side (given the length of the hypotenuse and opposite side) is as follows: 16 =SQRT((hypotenuse^2)-(opposite^2)) The formula to calculate a right triangle’s hypotenuse (given the length of the adjacent and opposite sides) is as follows: =SQRT((opposite^2)+(adjacent^2)) Other useful trigonometric identities are SIN(A) SIN(B) COS(A) COS(B) TAN(A) TAN(B) = = = = = = opposite/hypotenuse adjacent/hypotenuse adjacent/hypotenuse opposite/hypotenuse opposite/adjacent adjacent/opposite Excel’s trigonometric functions assume that the angle arguments are in radians. To convert degrees to radians, use the RADIANS function. To convert radians to degrees, use the DEGREES function. If you know the opposite and adjacent sides, you can use the following formula to calculate the angle formed by the hypotenuse and adjacent side (angle A): =ATAN(opposite/adjacent) The preceding formula returns radians. To convert to degrees, use this formula: =DEGREES(ATAN(opposite/adjacent)) If you know the opposite and adjacent sides, you can use the following formula to calculate the angle formed by the hypotenuse and the opposite side (angle B): =PI()/2-ATAN(opposite/adjacent) The preceding formula returns radians. To convert to degrees, use this formula: =90-DEGREES(ATAN(opposite/adjacent)) Area, Surface, Circumference, and Volume Calculations This section contains formulas for calculating the area, surface, circumference, and volume for common two- and three-dimensional shapes. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 385 c16.indd 08/26/2015 Page 386 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Calculating the area and perimeter of a square To calculate the area of a square, square the length of one side. The following formula calculates the area of a square for a cell named side: =side^2 To calculate the perimeter of a square, multiply one side by 4. The following formula uses a cell named side to calculate the perimeter of a square: =side*4 Calculating the area and perimeter of a rectangle To calculate the area of a rectangle, multiply its height by its base. The following formula returns the area of a rectangle, using cells named height and base: =height*base To calculate the perimeter of a rectangle, multiply the height by 2 and then add it to the width multiplied by 2. The following formula returns the perimeter of a rectangle, using cells named height and width: =(height*2)+(width*2) Calculating the area and perimeter of a circle To calculate the area of a circle, multiply the square of the radius by π. The following formula returns the area of a circle. It assumes that a cell named radius contains the circle’s radius: =pi()*(radius^2) The radius of a circle is equal to one-half of the diameter. To calculate the circumference of a circle, multiply the diameter of the circle by π. The following formula calculates the circumference of a circle using a cell named diameter: =diameter*pi() The diameter of a circle is the radius times 2. Calculating the area of a trapezoid To calculate the area of a trapezoid, add the two parallel sides, multiply by the height, and then divide by 2. The following formula calculates the area of a trapezoid using cells named parallel_side_1, parallel_side_2, and height: =((parallel_side_1+parallel_side_2)*height)/2 386 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c16.indd 08/26/2015 Page 387 Chapter 16: Miscellaneous Calculations Calculating the area of a triangle To calculate the area of a triangle, multiply the base by the height and then divide by 2. The following formula calculates the area of a triangle using cells named base and height: 16 =(base*height)/2 Calculating the surface and volume of a sphere To calculate the surface of a sphere, multiply the square of the radius by π and then multiply by 4. The following formula returns the surface of a sphere, the radius of which is in a cell named radius: =pi()*(radius^2)*4 To calculate the volume of a sphere, multiply the cube of the radius by 4 times π and then divide by 3. The following formula calculates the volume of a sphere. The cell named radius contains the sphere’s radius: =((radius^3)*(4*pi()))/3 Calculating the surface and volume of a cube To calculate the surface area of a cube, square one side and multiply by 6. The following formula calculates the surface of a cube using a cell named side, which contains the length of a side of the cube: =(side^2)*6 To calculate the volume of a cube, raise the length of one side to the third power. The following formula returns the volume of a cube using a cell named side: =side^3 Calculating the surface and volume of a rectangular solid The following formula calculates the surface of a rectangular solid using cells named height, width, and length: =(length*height*2)+(length*width*2)+(width*height*2) To calculate the volume of a rectangular solid, multiply the height by the width by the length: =height*width*length Calculating the surface and volume of a cone The following formula calculates the surface of a cone (including the surface of the base). This formula uses cells named radius and height: =pi()*radius*(SQRT(height^2+radius^2)+radius)) WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 387 c16.indd 08/26/2015 Page 388 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions To calculate the volume of a cone, multiply the square of the radius of the base by π, multiply by the height, and then divide by 3. The following formula returns the volume of a cone using cells named radius and height: =(pi()*(radius^2)*height)/3 Calculating the volume of a cylinder To calculate the volume of a cylinder, multiply the square of the radius of the base by π and then multiply by the height. The following formula calculates the volume of a cylinder using cells named radius and height: =(pi()*(radius^2)*height) Calculating the volume of a pyramid Calculate the area of the base, multiply by the height, and then divide by 3. This formula calculates the volume of a pyramid. It assumes cells named width (the width of the base), length (the length of the base), and height (the height of the pyramid): =(width*length*height)/3 Rounding Numbers Excel provides quite a few functions that round values in various ways. Table 16.2 summarizes these functions. It’s important to understand the difference between rounding a value and formatting a value. When you format a number to display a specific number of decimal places, formulas that refer to that number use the actual value, which may differ from the displayed value. When you round a number, formulas that refer to that value use the rounded number. TABLE 16.2 388 Excel Rounding Functions Function Description CEILING Rounds a number up (away from zero) to the nearest specified multiple. DOLLARDE Converts a dollar price expressed as a fraction into a decimal number. DOLLARFR Converts a dollar price expressed as a decimal into a fractional number. EVEN Rounds a number up (away from zero) to the nearest even integer. FLOOR Rounds a number down (toward zero) to the nearest specified multiple. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c16.indd 08/26/2015 Page 389 Chapter 16: Miscellaneous Calculations Function Description INT Rounds a number down to make it an integer. ISO.CEILING* Rounds a number up to the nearest integer or to the nearest multiple of significance. Similar to CEILING but works correctly with negative arguments. MROUND Rounds a number to a specified multiple. ODD Rounds a number up (away from zero) to the nearest odd integer. ROUND Rounds a number to a specified number of digits. ROUNDDOWN Rounds a number down (toward zero) to a specified number of digits. ROUNDUP Rounds a number up (away from zero) to a specified number of digits. TRUNC Truncates a number to a specified number of significant digits. * Introduced in Excel 2010 The following sections provide examples of formulas that use various types of rounding. Basic rounding formulas The ROUND function is useful for basic rounding to a speciﬁed number of digits. You specify the number of digits in the second argument for the ROUND function. For example, the formula that follows returns 123.40. (The value is rounded to one decimal place.) =ROUND(123.37,1) If the second argument for the ROUND function is zero, the value is rounded to the nearest integer. The formula that follows, for example, returns 123.00: =ROUND(123.37,0) The second argument for the ROUND function can also be negative. In such a case, the number is rounded to the left of the decimal point. The following formula, for example, returns 120.00: =ROUND(123.37,–1) The ROUND function rounds either up or down. But how does it handle a number such as 12.5, rounded to no decimal places? You’ll ﬁ nd that the ROUND function rounds such numbers away from zero. The formula that follows, for instance, returns 13.0: =ROUND(12.5,0) The next formula returns –13.00. (The rounding occurs away from zero.) =ROUND(–12.5,0) To force rounding to occur in a particular direction, use the ROUNDUP or ROUNDDOWN functions. The following formula, for example, returns 12.0. The value rounds down: =ROUNDDOWN(12.5,0) WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 389 16 c16.indd 08/26/2015 Page 390 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions The formula that follows returns 13.0. The value rounds up to the nearest whole value: =ROUNDUP(12.43,0) Rounding to the nearest multiple The MROUND function is useful for rounding values to the nearest multiple. For example, you can use this function to round a number to the nearest 5. The following formula returns 135: =MROUND(133,5) Rounding currency values Often, you need to round currency values. For example, you may need to round a dollar amount to the nearest penny. A calculated price may be something like $45.78923. In such a case, you’ll want to round the calculated price to the nearest penny. This may sound simple, but there are actually three ways to round such a value: ■ Round it up to the nearest penny. ■ Round it down to the nearest penny. ■ Round it to the nearest penny. (The rounding may be up or down.) The following formula assumes that a dollar-and-cents value is in cell A1. The formula rounds the value to the nearest penny. For example, if cell A1 contains $12.421, the formula returns $12.42: =ROUND(A1,2) If you need to round the value up to the nearest penny, use the CEILING function. The following formula rounds the value in cell A1 up to the nearest penny. For example, if cell A1 contains $12.421, the formula returns $12.43: =CEILING(A1,0.01) To round a dollar value down, use the FLOOR function. The following formula, for example, rounds the dollar value in cell A1 down to the nearest penny. If cell A1 contains $12.421, the formula returns $12.42: =FLOOR(A1,0.01) To round a dollar value up to the nearest nickel, use this formula: =CEILING(A1,0.05) You’ve probably noticed that many retail prices end in $0.99. If you have an even dollar price and you want it to end in $0.99, just subtract $0.01 from the price. Some higher-ticket items are always priced to end with $9.99. To round a price to the nearest $9.99, ﬁ rst round 390 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c16.indd 08/26/2015 Page 391 Chapter 16: Miscellaneous Calculations it to the nearest $10.00 and then subtract a penny. If cell A1 contains a price, use a formula like this to convert it to a price that ends in $9.99: =ROUND(A1/10,0)*10–0.01 16 For example, if cell A1 contains $345.78, the formula returns $349.99. A simpler approach uses the MROUND function: =MROUND(A1,10)–0.01 Working with fractional dollars The DOLLARFR and DOLLARDE functions are useful when you’re working with fractional dollar value, as in stock market quotes. Consider the value $9.25. You can express the decimal part as a fractional value ($91/4, $92/8, $94/16, and so on). The DOLLARFR function takes two arguments: the dollar amount and the denominator for the fractional part. The following formula, for example, returns 9.1. (The .1 decimal represents 1/4.) =DOLLARFR(9.25,4) In most situations, you won’t use the value returned by the DOLLARFR function in other calculations. In the preceding example, the result of the function will be interpreted as 9.1, not 9.25. To perform calculations on such a value, you need to convert it back to a decimal value by using the DOLLARDE function. The DOLLARDE function converts a dollar value expressed as a fraction to a decimal amount. It also uses a second argument to specify the denominator of the fractional part. The following formula, for example, returns 9.25: =DOLLARDE(9.1,4) The DOLLARDE and DOLLARFR functions aren’t limited to dollar values. For example, you can use these functions to work with feet and inches. You might have a value that represents 81/2 feet. Use the following formula to express this value in terms of feet and inches. The formula returns 8.06 (which represents 8 feet, 6 inches). =DOLLARFR(8.5,12) Another example is baseball statistics. A pitcher may work 62/3 innings, which is usually represented as 6.2. The following formula displays 6.2: =DOLLARFR(6+2/3,3) WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 391 c16.indd 08/26/2015 Page 392 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Using the INT and TRUNC functions On the surface, the INT and TRUNC functions seem similar. Both convert a value to an integer. The TRUNC function simply removes the fractional part of a number. The INT function rounds a number down to the nearest integer, based on the value of the fractional part of the number. In practice, INT and TRUNC return different results only when using negative numbers. For example, the following formula returns –14.0: =TRUNC(–14.2) The next formula returns –15.0 because –14.2 is rounded down to the next lower integer: =INT(–14.2) The TRUNC function takes an additional (optional) argument that’s useful for truncating decimal values. For example, the formula that follows returns 54.33 (the value truncated to two decimal places): =TRUNC(54.3333333,2) Rounding to an even or odd integer The ODD and EVEN functions are provided when you need to round a number up to the nearest odd or even integer. These functions take a single argument and return an integer value. The EVEN function rounds its argument up to the nearest even integer. The ODD function rounds its argument up to the nearest odd integer. Table 16.3 shows some examples of these functions. TABLE 16.3 Number EVEN Function ODD Function –4 –5 –3.0 –4 –3 –2.4 –4 –3 –1.8 –2 –3 –1.2 –2 –3 –0.6 –2 –1 0.0 0 1 0.6 2 1 1.2 2 3 –3.6 392 Results Using the EVEN and ODD Functions 1.8 2 3 2.4 4 3 3.0 4 3 3.6 4 5 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c16.indd 08/26/2015 Page 393 Chapter 16: Miscellaneous Calculations Rounding to n significant digits In some cases, you may need to round a value to a particular number of signiﬁcant digits. For example, you might want to express the value 1,432,187 in terms of two signiﬁcant digits (that is, as 1,400,000). The value 9,187,877 expressed in terms of three signiﬁcant digits is 9,180,000. 16 If the value is a positive number with no decimal places, the following formula does the job. This formula rounds the number in cell A1 to two signiﬁcant digits. To round to a different number of signiﬁcant digits, replace the 2 in this formula with a different number. =ROUNDDOWN(A1,2–LEN(A1)) For nonintegers and negative numbers, the solution gets a bit trickier. The formula that follows provides a more general solution that rounds the value in cell A1 to the number of signiﬁcant digits speciﬁed in cell A2. This formula works for positive and negative integers and nonintegers. =ROUND(A1,A2–1–INT(LOG10(ABS(A1)))) For example, if cell A1 contains 1.27845 and cell A2 contains 3, the formula returns 1.28000 (the value, rounded to three signiﬁcant digits). WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 393 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 395 CHAPTER Introducing Array Formulas 17 IN THIS CHAPTER Defining arrays and array formulas Comparing one-dimensional and two-dimensional arrays Working with array constants Working with array formulas Looking at examples of multicell array formulas Looking at examples of single-cell array formulas O ne of Excel’s most interesting (and most powerful) features is its ability to work with arrays in formulas. When you understand this concept, you’ll be able to create elegant formulas that appear to perform spreadsheet magic. This chapter introduces the concept of arrays and is required reading for anyone who wants to become a master of Excel formulas. Chapter 18, “Performing Magic with Array Formulas,” continues with lots of useful examples. Most of the examples in this chapter are available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/ excel2016bible. The filename is array examples.xlsx. Understanding Array Formulas If you do any computer programming, you’ve probably been exposed to the concept of an array. An array is a collection of items operated on collectively or individually. In Excel, an array can be one dimensional or two dimensional. These dimensions correspond to rows and columns. For example, a one-dimensional array can be stored in a range that consists of one row (a horizontal array) or one column (a vertical array). A two-dimensional array can be stored in a rectangular range of cells. Excel doesn’t support three-dimensional arrays (but its VBA programming language does). 395 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 396 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions As you’ll see, arrays don’t have to be stored in cells. You can also work with arrays that exist only in Excel’s memory. Then you can use an array formula to manipulate this information and return a result. Excel supports two types of array formulas: ■ Single-cell array formulas: Work with arrays stored in ranges or in memory and produce a result displayed in a single cell. ■ Multicell array formulas: Work with arrays stored in ranges or in memory and produce an array as a result. Because a cell can hold only one value, a multicell array formula is entered into a range of cells. This section presents two array formula examples: one that occupies multiple cells and another that occupies only one cell. A multicell array formula Figure 17.1 shows a simple worksheet set up to calculate product sales. Normally, you’d calculate the value in column D (total sales per product) with a formula such as the one that follows, and then you’d copy this formula down the column. =B2*C2 FIGURE 17.1 Column D contains formulas to calculate the total for each product. After you copy the formula, the worksheet contains six formulas in column D. An alternative method uses a single formula (a multicell array formula) to calculate all six values in D2:D7. This single formula occupies six cells and returns an array of six values. To create a multicell array formula to perform the calculations, follow these steps: 1. Select a range to hold the results. In this case, the range is D2:D7. Because you can’t display more than one value in a single cell, six cells are required to display the resulting array — so you select six cells to make this array work. 396 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 397 Chapter 17: Introducing Array Formulas 2. Type the following formula: =B2:B7*C2:C7 3. Press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to enter the formula. Normally, you press Enter to enter a formula. Because this is an array formula, however, press Ctrl+Shift+Enter. You can’t insert a multicell array formula into a range that has been designated a table (by choosing Insert ➪ Tables ➪ Table). In addition, you can’t convert a range that contains a multicell array formula to a table. The formula is entered into all six selected cells. If you examine the Formula bar, you see the following: 17 {=B2:B7*C2:C7} Excel places curly brackets around the formula to indicate that it’s an array formula. This formula performs its calculations and returns a six-item array. The array formula actually works with two other arrays, both of which happen to be stored in ranges. The values for the ﬁrst array are stored in B2:B7, and the values for the second array are stored in C2:C7. This multicell array formula returns the same values as these six normal formulas entered into individual cells in D2:D7: =B2*C2 =B3*C3 =B4*C4 =B5*C5 =B6*C6 =B7*C7 Using a multicell array formula rather than individual formulas does offer a few advantages: ■ It’s a good way to ensure that all formulas in a range are identical. ■ Using a multicell array formula makes it less likely that you’ll overwrite a formula accidentally. You can’t change or delete just one cell in a multicell array formula. Excel displays an error message if you attempt to do so. ■ Using a multicell array formula will almost certainly prevent novices from tampering with your formulas. Using a multicell array formula as described in the preceding list also has some potential disadvantages: ■ Inserting a new row into the range is impossible. But in some cases, the inability to insert a row is a positive feature. For example, you might not want users to add rows because it would affect other parts of the worksheet. ■ If you add new data to the bottom of the range, you need to modify the array formula to accommodate the new data. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 397 c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 398 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions A single-cell array formula Now it’s time to take a look at a single-cell array formula. Check out Figure 17.2, which is similar to Figure 17.1. Notice, however, that the formulas in column D have been deleted. The goal is to calculate the sum of the total product sales without using the individual calculations that were in column D. FIGURE 17.2 The array formula in cell C9 calculates the total sales without using intermediate formulas. The following array formula is in cell C9: {=SUM(B2:B7*C2:C7)} When you enter this formula, make sure that you press Ctrl+Shift+Enter (and don’t type the curly brackets because Excel automatically adds them for you). This formula works with two arrays, both of which are stored in cells. The ﬁ rst array is stored in B2:B7, and the second array is stored in C2:C7. The formula multiplies the corresponding values in these two arrays and creates a new array (which exists only in memory). The new array consists of six values, which can be represented like this. (The reason for using semicolons is explained a bit later.) {150;1000;100;90;180;200} The SUM function then operates on this new array and returns the sum of its values. In this case, you can use the SUMPRODUCT function to obtain the same result without using an array formula: =SUMPRODUCT(B2:B7,C2:C7) 398 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 399 Chapter 17: Introducing Array Formulas As you see, however, array formulas allow many other types of calculations that are otherwise not possible. Creating an Array Constant The examples in the preceding section used arrays stored in worksheet ranges. The examples in this section demonstrate an important concept: an array doesn’t have to be stored in a range of cells. This type of array, which is stored in memory, is referred to as an array constant. To create an array constant, list its items and surround them with curly brackets. Here’s an example of a ﬁve-item horizontal array constant: {1,0,1,0,1} 17 The following formula uses the SUM function, with the preceding array constant as its argument. The formula returns the sum of the values in the array (which is 3): =SUM({1,0,1,0,1}) Notice that this formula uses an array, but the formula itself isn’t an array formula. Therefore, you don’t press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to enter the formula — although entering it as an array formula will still produce the same result. When you specify an array directly (as shown previously), you must provide the curly brackets around the array elements. When you enter an array formula, on the other hand, you do not supply the curly brackets. At this point, you probably don’t see any advantage to using an array constant. The following formula, for example, returns the same result as the previous formula. The advantages, however, will become apparent: =SUM(1,0,1,0,1) Here’s a formula that uses two array constants: =SUM({1,2,3,4}*{5,6,7,8}) The formula creates a new array (in memory) that consists of the product of the corresponding elements in the two arrays. The new array is {5,12,21,32} This new array is then used as an argument for the SUM function, which returns the result (70). The formula is equivalent to the following formula, which doesn’t use arrays: =SUM(1*5,2*6,3*7,4*8) WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 399 c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 400 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Alternatively, you can use the SUMPRODUCT function. The formula that follows is not an array formula, but it uses two array constants as its arguments: =SUMPRODUCT({1,2,3,4},{5,6,7,8}) A formula can work with both an array constant and an array stored in a range. The following formula, for example, returns the sum of the values in A1:D1, each multiplied by the corresponding element in the array constant: =SUM((A1:D1*{1,2,3,4})) This formula is equivalent to =SUM(A1*1,B1*2,C1*3,D1*4) An array constant can contain numbers, text, logical values (TRUE or FALSE), and even error values, such as #N/A. Numbers can be in integer, decimal, or scientiﬁc format. You must enclose text in double quotation marks. You can use different types of values in the same array constant, as in this example: {1,2,3,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,"Moe","Larry","Curly"} An array constant can’t contain formulas, functions, or other arrays. Numeric values can’t contain dollar signs, commas, parentheses, or percent signs. For example, the following is an invalid array constant: {SQRT(32),$56.32,12.5%} Understanding the Dimensions of an Array As stated previously, an array can be one dimensional or two dimensional. A one-dimensional array’s orientation can be horizontal (corresponding to a single row) or vertical (corresponding to a single column). One-dimensional horizontal arrays Each element in a one-dimensional horizontal array is separated by a comma, and the array can be displayed in a row of cells. If you use a non-English language version of Excel, your list separator character may be a semicolon. The following example is a one-dimensional horizontal array constant: {1,2,3,4,5} Displaying this array in a range requires ﬁve consecutive cells in a row. To enter this array into a range, select a range of cells that consists of one row and ﬁve columns. Then enter the following formula and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter: ={1,2,3,4,5} 400 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 401 Chapter 17: Introducing Array Formulas If you enter this array into a horizontal range that consists of more than five cells, the extra cells will contain #N/A (which denotes unavailable values). If you enter this array into a vertical range of cells, only the first item (1) will appear in each cell. The following example is another horizontal array; it has seven elements and is made up of text strings: {"Sun","Mon","Tue","Wed","Thu","Fri","Sat"} To enter this array, select seven cells in a row and type the following (and then press Ctrl+Shift+Enter): 17 ={"Sun","Mon","Tue","Wed","Thu","Fri","Sat"} One-dimensional vertical arrays The elements in a one-dimensional vertical array are separated by semicolons, and the array can be displayed in a column of cells. The following is a six-element vertical array constant: {10;20;30;40;50;60} Displaying this array in a range requires six cells in a column. To enter this array into a range, select a range of cells that consists of six rows and one column. Then enter the following formula, followed by Ctrl+Shift+Enter: ={10;20;30;40;50;60} The following is another example of a vertical array; this one has four elements: {"Widgets";"Sprockets";"Doodads";"Thingamajigs"} Two-dimensional arrays A two-dimensional array uses commas to separate its horizontal elements and semicolons to separate its vertical elements. If you use a non-English language version of Excel, the item-separator character may be a semicolon (for horizontal elements) and a backslash (for vertical elements). If you are not sure, open the example ﬁle for this chapter and examine a two-dimensional array. The item-separator characters are translated automatically to your language version. The following example shows a 3 × 4 array constant: {1,2,3,4;5,6,7,8;9,10,11,12} Displaying this array in a range requires 12 cells. To enter this array into a range, select a range of cells that consists of three rows and four columns. Then type the following formula, and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter: ={1,2,3,4;5,6,7,8;9,10,11,12} WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 401 c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 402 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Figure 17.3 shows how this array appears when entered into a range (in this case, B3:E5). FIGURE 17.3 A 3 × 4 array entered into a range of cells. If you enter an array into a range that has more cells than array elements, Excel displays #N/A in the extra cells. Figure 17.4 shows a 3 × 4 array entered into a 10 × 5 cell range. FIGURE 17.4 A 3 × 4 array entered into a 10 × 5 cell range. Each row of a two-dimensional array must contain the same number of items. The array that follows, for example, isn’t valid, because the third row contains only three items: 402 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 403 Chapter 17: Introducing Array Formulas {1,2,3,4;5,6,7,8;9,10,11} Excel doesn’t allow you to enter a formula that contains an invalid array. Naming Array Constants You can create an array constant, give it a name, and then use this named array in a formula. Technically, a named array is a named formula. Chapter 4, “Working with Cells and Ranges,” and Chapter 10, “Introducing Formulas and Functions,” cover the topic of names and named formulas. Figure 17.5 shows a named array being created from the New Name dialog box. (Access this dialog box by choosing Formulas ➪ Deﬁ ned Names ➪ Deﬁ ne Name.) The name of the array is DayNames, and it refers to the following array constant: {"Sun","Mon","Tue","Wed","Thu","Fri","Sat"} FIGURE 17.5 Creating a named array constant. Notice that, in the New Name dialog box, the array is deﬁ ned (in the Refers To ﬁeld) using a leading equal sign (=). Without this equal sign, the array is interpreted as a text string rather than an array. Also, you must type the curly brackets when deﬁ ning a named array constant; Excel doesn’t enter them for you. After creating this named array, you can use it in a formula. Figure 17.6 shows a worksheet that contains a multicell array formula entered into the range B2:H2. The formula is {=DayNames} WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 403 17 c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 404 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions FIGURE 17.6 Using a named array constant in an array formula. To enter this formula, select seven cells in a row, type =DayNames, and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter. Because commas separate the array elements, the array has a horizontal orientation. Use semicolons to create a vertical array. Or you can use the Excel TRANSPOSE function to insert a horizontal array into a vertical range of cells. (See “Transposing an array,” later in this chapter.) The following array formula, which is entered into a seven-cell vertical range, uses the TRANSPOSE function: {=TRANSPOSE(DayNames)} You also can access individual elements from the array by using the Excel INDEX function. The following formula, for example, returns Wed, the fourth item in the DayNames array: =INDEX(DayNames,4) Working with Array Formulas This section deals with the mechanics of selecting cells that contain arrays and entering and editing array formulas. These procedures differ a bit from working with ordinary ranges and formulas. Entering an array formula When you enter an array formula into a cell or range, you must follow a special procedure so Excel knows that you want an array formula rather than a normal formula. You enter a normal formula into a cell by pressing Enter. You enter an array formula into one or more cells by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Enter. Don’t enter the curly brackets when you create an array formula; Excel inserts them for you. If the result of an array formula consists of more than one value, you must select all 404 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 405 Chapter 17: Introducing Array Formulas the cells in the results range before you enter the formula. If you fail to do so, only the ﬁ rst element of the result is returned. Selecting an array formula range You can manually select the cells that contain a multicell array formula by using the normal cell selection procedures. Or you can use either of the following methods: ■ Activate any cell in the array formula range. Choose Home ➪ Editing ➪ Find & Select ➪ Go To, or just press F5. The Go To dialog box appears. In the Go To dialog box, click the Special button and then choose the Current Array option. Click OK to close the dialog box. ■ Activate any cell in the array formula range and press Ctrl+/ (forward slash) to select the cells that make up the array. 17 Editing an array formula If an array formula occupies multiple cells, you must edit the entire range as though it were a single cell. The key point to remember is that you can’t change just one element of a multicell array formula. If you attempt to do so, Excel displays the message shown in Figure 17.7. FIGURE 17.7 Excel’s warning message reminds you that you can’t edit just one cell of a multicell array formula. To edit an array formula, select all the cells in the array range and activate the Formula bar as usual. (Click it or press F2.) Excel removes the curly brackets from the formula while you edit it. Edit the formula and then press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to enter the changes. All the cells in the array now reﬂect your editing changes (and the curly brackets reappear). The following rules apply to multicell array formulas. If you try to do any of these things, Excel lets you know about it: ■ You can’t change the contents of any individual cell that makes up an array formula. ■ You can’t move cells that make up part of an array formula (but you can move an entire array formula). WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 405 c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 406 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions ■ You can’t delete cells that form part of an array formula (but you can delete an entire array). ■ You can’t insert new cells into an array range. This rule includes inserting rows or columns that would add new cells to an array range. ■ You can’t use multicell array formulas inside of a table that was created by choosing Insert ➪ Tables ➪ Table. Similarly, you can’t convert a range to a table if the range contains a multicell array formula. If you accidentally press Ctrl+Enter (instead of Ctrl+Shift+Enter) after editing an array formula, the formula will be entered into each selected cell, but it will no longer be an array formula. And it will probably return an incorrect result. Just reselect the cells, press F2, and then press Ctrl+Shift+Enter. Although you can’t change any individual cell that makes up a multicell array formula, you can apply formatting to the entire array or to only parts of it. Expanding or contracting a multicell array formula Often, you may need to expand a multicell array formula (to include more cells) or contract it (to include fewer cells). Doing so requires these steps: 1. Select the entire range that contains the array formula. 2. Press F2 to enter Edit mode. 3. Press Ctrl+Enter. This step enters an identical (nonarray) formula into each selected cell. 4. Change your range selection to include additional or fewer cells, but make sure the active cell is a cell that’s part of the original array. 5. Press F2 to re-enter Edit mode. 6. Press Ctrl+Shift+Enter. Array Formulas: The Downside If you’ve followed along in this chapter, you probably understand some of the advantages of using array formulas. The main advantage, of course, is that an array formula enables you to perform otherwise impossible calculations. As you gain more experience with arrays, however, you undoubtedly will also discover some disadvantages. Array formulas are one of the least understood features of Excel. Consequently, if you plan to share a workbook with someone who may need to make modifications, you should probably avoid using array formulas. Encountering an array formula when you don’t know what it is can be confusing. 406 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 407 Chapter 17: Introducing Array Formulas You can easily forget to enter an array formula by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Enter. (Also, if you edit an existing array, you must remember to use this key combination to complete the edits.) Except for logical errors, this is probably the most common problem that users have with array formulas. If you press Enter by mistake after editing an array formula, just press F2 to get back into Edit mode and then press Ctrl+Shift+Enter. Another potential problem with array formulas is that they can sometimes slow your worksheet’s recalculations, especially if you use very large arrays. On a faster system, this delay in speed may not be a problem. But, conversely, using an array formula is almost always faster than using a custom VBA function. See Chapter 40, “Creating Custom Worksheet Functions,” for more information about creating custom VBA functions. 17 Using Multicell Array Formulas This section contains examples that demonstrate additional features of multicell array formulas (array formulas that are entered into a range of cells). These features include creating arrays from values, performing operations, using functions, transposing arrays, and generating consecutive integers. Creating an array from values in a range The following array formula creates an array from a range of cells. Figure 17.8 shows a workbook with some data entered into A1:C4. The range D8:F11 contains a single array formula: {=A1:C4} FIGURE 17.8 Creating an array from a range. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 407 c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 408 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions The array in D8:F11 is linked to the range A1:C4. Change any value in A1:C4, and the corresponding cell in D8:F11 reﬂects that change. It’s a one-way link, of course. You can’t change a value in D8:F11. Creating an array constant from values in a range In the preceding example, the array formula in D8:F11 essentially created a link to the cells in A1:C4. It’s possible to sever this link and create an array constant made up of the values in A1:C4: 1. Select the cells that contain the array formula (the range D8:F11, in this example). 2. Press F2 to edit the array formula. 3. Press F9 to convert the cell references to values. 4. Press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to re-enter the array formula (which now uses an array constant). The array constant is {1,"dog",3;4,5,"cat";7,False,9;"monkey",8,12} Figure 17.9 shows how this looks in the Formula bar. FIGURE 17.9 After you press F9, the Formula bar displays the array constant. Performing operations on an array So far, most of the examples in this chapter simply entered arrays into ranges. The following array formula creates a rectangular array and multiplies each array element by 2: {={1,2,3,4;5,6,7,8;9,10,11,12}*2} 408 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 409 Chapter 17: Introducing Array Formulas Figure 17.10 shows the result when you enter this formula into a range: FIGURE 17.10 Performing a mathematical operation on an array. 17 The following array formula multiplies each array element by itself: {={1,2,3,4;5,6,7,8;9,10,11,12}*{1,2,3,4;5,6,7,8;9,10,11,12}} The following array formula is a simpler way of obtaining the same result. Figure 17.11 shows the result when you enter this formula into a range: {={1,2,3,4;5,6,7,8;9,10,11,12}^2} FIGURE 17.11 Multiplying each array element by itself. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 409 c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 410 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions If the array is stored in a range (such as B8:E10), the array formula returns the square of each value in the range, as follows: {=B8:E10^2} Using functions with an array As you may expect, you can also use worksheet functions with an array. The following array formula, which you can enter into a ten-cell vertical range, calculates the square root of each array element in the array constant: {=SQRT({1;2;3;4;5;6;7;8;9;10})} If the array is stored in a range, a multicell array formula such as the one that follows returns the square root of each value in the range: {=SQRT(A1:A10)} Transposing an array When you transpose an array, you essentially convert rows to columns and columns to rows. In other words, you can convert a horizontal array to a vertical array (and vice versa). Use the TRANSPOSE function to transpose an array. Consider the following one-dimensional horizontal array constant: {1,2,3,4,5} You can enter this array into a vertical range of cells by using the TRANSPOSE function. To do so, select a range of ﬁve cells that occupy ﬁve rows and one column. Then enter the following formula and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter: =TRANSPOSE({1,2,3,4,5}) The horizontal array is transposed, and the array elements appear in the vertical range. Transposing a two-dimensional array works in a similar manner. Figure 17.12 shows a two-dimensional array entered into a range normally and entered into a range by using the TRANSPOSE function. The formula in A1:D3 is {={1,2,3,4;5,6,7,8;9,10,11,12}} 410 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 411 Chapter 17: Introducing Array Formulas FIGURE 17.12 Using the TRANSPOSE function to transpose a rectangular array. 17 The formula in A6:C9 is {=TRANSPOSE({1,2,3,4;5,6,7,8;9,10,11,12})} You can, of course, use the TRANSPOSE function to transpose an array stored in a range. The following formula, for example, uses an array stored in A1:C4 (four rows, three columns). You can enter this array formula into a range that consists of three rows and four columns: {=TRANSPOSE(A1:C4)} Generating an array of consecutive integers As you see in Chapter 18, generating an array of consecutive integers for use in a complex array formula is often useful. The ROW function, which returns a row number, is ideal for this. Consider the array formula shown here, entered into a vertical range of 12 cells: {=ROW(1:12)} This formula generates a 12-element array that contains integers from 1 to 12. To demonstrate, select a range that consists of 12 rows and one column and enter the array formula into the range. You’ll ﬁ nd that the range is ﬁlled with 12 consecutive integers (as shown in Figure 17.13). WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 411 c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 412 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions FIGURE 17.13 Using an array formula to generate consecutive integers. If you want to generate an array of consecutive integers, a formula like the one shown previously is good — but not perfect. To see the problem, insert a new row above the range that contains the array formula. Excel adjusts the row references so that the array formula now reads {=ROW(2:13)} The formula that originally generated integers from 1 to 12 now generates integers from 2 to 13. For a better solution, use this formula: {=ROW(INDIRECT("1:12"))} This formula uses the INDIRECT function, which takes a text string as its argument. Excel does not adjust the references contained in the argument for the INDIRECT function. Therefore, this array formula always returns integers from 1 to 12. Chapter 18 contains several examples that use the technique for generating consecutive integers. Worksheet Functions That Return an Array Several of the Excel worksheet functions use arrays; you must enter into multiple cells a formula that uses one of these functions as an array formula. These functions are FORECAST, FREQUENCY, GROWTH, LINEST, LOGEST, MINVERSE, MMULT, and TREND. Consult the Excel Help system for more information. 412 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 413 Chapter 17: Introducing Array Formulas Using Single-Cell Array Formulas The examples in the preceding section all used a multicell array formula — a single array formula that’s entered into a range of cells. The real power of using arrays becomes apparent when you use single-cell array formulas. This section contains examples of array formulas that occupy a single cell. Counting characters in a range Suppose that you have a range of cells that contains text entries (see Figure 17.14). If you need to get a count of the total number of characters in that range, the “traditional” method involves creating a formula like the one that follows and copying it down the column: =LEN(A1) FIGURE 17.14 The goal is to count the number of characters in a range of text. Then you use a SUM formula to calculate the sum of the values returned by these intermediate formulas. The following array formula does the job without using any intermediate formulas: {=SUM(LEN(A1:A14))} WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 413 17 c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 414 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions The array formula uses the LEN function to create a new array (in memory) that consists of the number of characters in each cell of the range. In this case, the new array is {10,9,8,5,6,5,5,10,11,14,6,8,8,7} The array formula is then reduced to =SUM({10,9,8,5,6,5,5,10,11,14,6,8,8,7}) The formula returns the sum of the array elements: 112. Summing the three smallest values in a range If you have values in a range named Data, you can determine the smallest value by using the SMALL function: =SMALL(Data,1) You can determine the second smallest and third smallest values by using these formulas: =SMALL(Data,2) =SMALL(Data,3) To add the three smallest values, you can use a formula like this: =SUM(SMALL(Data,1), SMALL(Data,2), SMALL(Data,3) This formula works ﬁ ne, but using an array formula is more efﬁcient. The following array formula returns the sum of the three smallest values in a range named Data: {=SUM(SMALL(Data,{1,2,3}))} The formula uses an array constant as the second argument for the SMALL function. This generates a new array, which consists of the three smallest values in the range. This array is then passed to the SUM function, which returns the sum of the values in the new array. Figure 17.15 shows an example in which the range A1:A10 is named Data. The SMALL function is evaluated three times, each time with a different second argument. The ﬁ rst time, the SMALL function has a second argument of 1, and it returns –5. The second time, the second argument for the SMALL function is 2, and it returns 0 (the second smallest value in the range). The third time, the SMALL function has a second argument of 3 and returns the third smallest value of 2. 414 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 415 Chapter 17: Introducing Array Formulas FIGURE 17.15 An array formula returns the sum of the three smallest values in A1:A10. 17 Therefore, the array that’s passed to the SUM function is {-5,0,2) The formula returns the sum of the array (–3). Counting text cells in a range Suppose that you need to count the number of text cells in a range. The COUNTIF function seems like it might be useful for this task — but it’s not. COUNTIF is useful only if you need to count values in a range that meet some criterion (for example, values greater than 12). To count the number of text cells in a range, you need an array formula. The following array formula uses the IF function to examine each cell in a range. It then creates a new array (of the same size and dimensions as the original range) that consists of 1s and 0s, depending on whether the cell contains text. This new array is then passed to the SUM function, which returns the sum of the items in the array. The result is a count of the number of text cells in the range: {=SUM(IF(ISTEXT(A1:D5),1,0))} WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 415 c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 416 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions This general array formula type (that is, an IF function nested in a SUM function) is useful for counting. See Chapter 13, “Creating Formulas That Count and Sum,” for additional examples of IF and SUM functions. Figure 17.16 shows an example of the preceding formula in cell C7. The array created by this formula is {0,1,1,1;1,0,0,0;1,0,0,0;1,0,0,0;1,0,0,0} FIGURE 17.16 An array formula returns the number of text cells in the range. Notice that this array contains four rows of three elements (the same dimensions as the range). Here is a slightly more efﬁcient variation on this formula: {=SUM(ISTEXT(A1:D5)*1)} This formula eliminates the need for the IF function and takes advantage of the fact that TRUE * 1 = 1 and FALSE * 1 = 0 Eliminating intermediate formulas One key beneﬁt of using an array formula is that you can often eliminate intermediate formulas in your worksheet, which makes your worksheet more compact and eliminates the need to display irrelevant calculations. Figure 17.17 shows a worksheet that contains pre-test and post-test scores for students. Column D contains formulas that calculate the changes between the pre-test and the post-test scores. Cell D17 contains a formula, shown here, that calculates the average of the values in column D: =AVERAGE(D2:D15) 416 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 417 Chapter 17: Introducing Array Formulas FIGURE 17.17 Without an array formula, calculating the average change requires intermediate formulas in column D. 17 With an array formula, you can eliminate column D. The following array formula calculates the average of the changes but does not require the formulas in column D: {=AVERAGE(C2:C15-B2:B15)} How does it work? The formula uses two arrays, the values of which are stored in two ranges (B2:B15 and C2:C15). The formula creates a new array that consists of the differences between each corresponding element in the other arrays. This new array is stored in Excel’s memory, not in a range. The AVERAGE function then uses this new array as its argument and returns the result. The new array, calculated from the two ranges, consists of the following elements: {11,15,-6,1,19,2,0,7,15,1,8,23,21,-11} The formula, therefore, is equivalent to this: =AVERAGE({11,15,-6,1,19,2,0,7,15,1,8,23,21,-11}) Excel evaluates the function and displays the results, 7.57. You can use additional array formulas to calculate other measures for the data in this example. For example, the following array formula returns the largest change (that is, the greatest improvement). This formula returns 23, which represents Linda’s test scores. {=MAX(C2:C15-B2:B15)} WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 417 c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 418 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions The following array formula returns the smallest value in the Change column. This formula returns –11, which represents Nancy’s test scores: {=MIN(C2:C15-B2:B15)} Using an array in lieu of a range reference If your formula uses a function that requires a range reference, you may be able to replace that range reference with an array constant. This is useful in situations in which the values in the referenced range do not change. A notable exception to using an array constant in place of a range reference in a function is with the database functions that use a reference to a criteria range (for example, DSUM). Unfortunately, using an array constant instead of a reference to a criteria range does not work. Figure 17.18 shows a worksheet that uses a lookup table to display a word that corresponds to an integer. For example, looking up a value of 9 returns Nine from the lookup table in D1:E10. The formula in cell C1 is =VLOOKUP(B1,D1:E10,2,FALSE) FIGURE 17.18 You can replace the lookup table in D1:E10 with an array constant. 418 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c17.indd 09/28/2015 Page 419 Chapter 17: Introducing Array Formulas For information about lookup formulas, see Chapter 14, “Creating Formulas That Look Up Values.” You can use a two-dimensional array in place of the lookup range. The following formula returns the same result as the previous formula, but it does not require the lookup range in D1:E1: =VLOOKUP(B1,{1,"One";2,"Two";3,"Three";4,"Four";5,"Five";6,"Six"; 7,"Seven";8,"Eight";9,"Nine";10,"Ten"},2,FALSE) This chapter introduced arrays. Chapter 18 explores the topic further and provides some additional examples. 17 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 419 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c18.indd 08/26/2015 Page 421 CHAPTER 18 Performing Magic with Array Formulas IN THIS CHAPTER Looking at more examples of single-cell array formulas Seeing more examples of multicell array formulas Returning an array from a custom VBA function T he preceding chapter provided an introduction to arrays and array formulas and presented some basic examples to whet your appetite. This chapter continues the saga and provides many useful examples that further demonstrate the power of this feature. I selected the examples in this chapter to offer a good assortment of the various uses for array formulas. You can use most of them as is. You will, of course, need to adjust the range names or references used. Also, you can modify many of the examples easily to work in a slightly different manner. Working with Single-Cell Array Formulas As I describe in the preceding chapter, you enter single-cell array formulas into a single cell (not into a range of cells). These array formulas work with arrays contained in a range or that exist in memory. This section provides some additional examples of such array formulas. The examples in this section are available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/ excel2016bible. The file is named single-cell array formulas.xlsx. Summing a range that contains errors You may have discovered that the SUM function doesn’t work if you attempt to sum a range that contains one or more error values (such as #DIV/0! or #N/A). Figure 18.1 shows an example. The formula in cell D11 returns an error value because the range that it sums (D4:D10) contains errors. 421 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c18.indd 08/26/2015 Page 422 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions FIGURE 18.1 An array formula can sum a range of values, even if the range contains errors. The following array formula, in cell D13, overcomes this problem and returns the sum of the values, even if the range contains error values: {=SUM(IFERROR(D4:D10,""))} This formula works by creating a new array that contains the original values but without the errors. The IFERROR function effectively ﬁlters out error values by replacing them with an empty string. The SUM function then works on this “ﬁltered” array. This technique also works with other functions, such as AVERAGE, MIN, and MAX. The IFERROR function was introduced in Excel 2007. Following is a modified version of the formula that’s compatible with older versions of Excel: {=SUM(IF(ISERROR(D4:D10),"",D4:D10))} The AGGREGATE function, which was introduced in Excel 2010, provides another way to sum a range that contains one or more error values, without using an array formula. Here’s an example: =AGGREGATE(9,2,C4:C10) The ﬁ rst argument, 9, is the code for SUM. The second argument, 2, is the code for “ignore error values.” The AGGREGATE function can also be used to calculate an average, minimum, maximum, and other summary values. 422 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c18.indd 08/26/2015 Page 423 Chapter 18: Performing Magic with Array Formulas Counting the number of error values in a range The following array formula is similar to the previous example, but it returns a count of the number of error values in a range named Data: {=SUM(IF(ISERROR(Data),1,0))} This formula creates an array that consists of 1s (if the corresponding cell contains an error) and 0s (if the corresponding cell does not contain an error value). You can simplify the formula a bit by removing the third argument for the IF function. If this argument isn’t speciﬁed, the IF function returns FALSE if the condition is not satisﬁed (that is, the cell does not contain an error value). In this context, Excel treats FALSE as a 0 value. The array formula shown here performs exactly like the previous formula, but it doesn’t use the third argument for the IF function: {=SUM(IF(ISERROR(Data),1))} In fact, you can simplify the formula even more: {=SUM(ISERROR(Data)*1)} This version of the formula relies on the fact that TRUE * 1 = 1 18 and FALSE * 1 = 0 Summing the n largest values in a range The following array formula returns the sum of the ten largest values in a range named Data: {=SUM(LARGE(Data,ROW(INDIRECT("1:10"))))} The LARGE function is evaluated ten times, each time with a different second argument (1, 2, 3, and so on, up to 10). The results of these calculations are stored in a new array, and that array is used as the argument for the SUM function. To sum a different number of values, replace the 10 in the argument for the INDIRECT function with another value. If the number of cells to sum is contained in cell C17, use the following array formula, which employs the concatenation operator (&) to create the range address for the INDIRECT function: {=SUM(LARGE(Data,ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&C17))))} To sum the n smallest values in a range, use the SMALL function instead of the LARGE function. Using the INDIRECT function to generate a series of consecutive integers is discussed in Chapter 17, “Introducing Array Formulas.” WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 423 c18.indd 08/26/2015 Page 424 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Computing an average that excludes zeros Figure 18.2 shows a simple worksheet that calculates average sales. The formula in cell B13 is =AVERAGE(B4:B11) FIGURE 18.2 The calculated average includes cells that contain a 0. Two of the sales staff had the week off, however, so including their 0 sales in the calculated average doesn’t accurately describe the average sales per representative. The AVERAGE function ignores blank cells, but it does not ignore cells that contain 0. The following array formula returns the average of the range but excludes the cells containing 0: {=AVERAGE(IF(B5:B12<>0,B5:B12))} This formula creates a new array that consists only of the nonzero values in the range. The AVERAGE function then uses this new array as its argument. You can also get the same result with a regular (nonarray) formula: =SUM(B5:B12)/COUNTIF(B5:B12,"<>0") This formula uses the COUNTIF function to count the number of nonzero values in the range. This value is divided into the sum of the values. 424 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c18.indd 08/26/2015 Page 425 Chapter 18: Performing Magic with Array Formulas The only reason to use an array formula to calculate an average that excludes zero values is for compatibility with versions prior to Excel 2007. A simpler approach is to use the AVERAGEIF function in a nonarray formula: =AVERAGEIF(B5:B12,"<>0",B5:B12) Determining whether a particular value appears in a range To determine whether a particular value appears in a single column of cells, you can use the LOOKUP function. But if the range consists of multiple columns, you’ll need to use a different approach. Figure 18.3 shows a worksheet with a list of names in A5:E24 (named NameList). An array formula in cell D3 checks the name entered into cell C3 (named TheName). If the name exists in the list of names, the formula displays the text Found; otherwise, it displays Not Found. FIGURE 18.3 Using an array formula to determine whether a range contains a particular value. 18 The array formula in cell D3 is {=IF(OR(TheName=NameList),"Found","Not Found")} WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 425 c18.indd 08/26/2015 Page 426 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions This formula compares TheName to each cell in the NameList range. It builds a new array that consists of logical TRUE or FALSE values. The OR function returns TRUE if any one of the values in the new array is TRUE. The IF function uses this result to determine which message to display. A simpler form of this formula follows. This formula displays TRUE if the name is found; otherwise, it returns FALSE: {=OR(TheName=NameList)} Yet another approach uses the COUNTIF function in a nonarray formula: =IF(COUNTIF(NameList,TheName)>0,"Found","Not Found") Counting the number of differences in two ranges The following array formula compares the corresponding values in two ranges (named MyData and YourData) and returns the number of differences in the two ranges. If the contents of the two ranges are identical, the formula returns 0: {=SUM(IF(MyData=YourData,0,1))} Figure 18.4 shows an example. FIGURE 18.4 Using an array formula to count the number of differences in two ranges. 426 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c18.indd 08/26/2015 Page 427 Chapter 18: Performing Magic with Array Formulas Each of the two ranges can consist of more than one column, but they must be the same size and the same dimensions. This formula works by creating a new array of the same size as the ranges being compared. The IF function ﬁlls this new array with 0s and 1s: 1 if a difference is found, and 0 if the corresponding cells are the same. The SUM function then returns the sum of the values in the array. The following array formula, which is simpler, is another way of calculating the same result: {=SUM(1*(MyData<>YourData))} This version of the formula relies on the fact that TRUE * 1 = 1 and FALSE * 1 = 0 Returning the location of the maximum value in a range The following array formula returns the row number of the maximum value in a single-column range named Data: 18 {=MIN(IF(Data=MAX(Data),ROW(Data), ""))} The IF function creates a new array that corresponds to the Data range. If the corresponding cell contains the maximum value in Data, the array contains the row number; otherwise, it contains an empty string. The MIN function uses this new array as its second argument, and it returns the smallest value, which corresponds to the row number of the maximum value in Data. I use the MIN function to handle ties. If the Data range contains more than one cell that has the maximum value, the row of the first occurrence of the maximum cell is returned. If you change MIN to MAX, then the formula returns the last occurrence of the maximum cell. The following array formula is similar to the previous one, but it returns the actual cell address of the maximum value in the Data range. It uses the ADDRESS function, which takes two arguments: a row number and a column number: {=ADDRESS(MIN(IF(Data=MAX(Data),ROW(Data), "")),COLUMN(Data))} The previous formulas work only with a single-column range. The following variation works with any sized range and returns the address of the largest value in the range named Data: {=ADDRESS(MIN(IF(Data=MAX(Data),ROW(Data), "")), MIN(IF(Data=MAX(Data),COLUMN(Data), "")))} If the range contains two or more cells that are tied for the maximum value, this formula returns the address of the ﬁ rst occurrence. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 427 c18.indd 08/26/2015 Page 428 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Finding the row of a value’s nth occurrence in a range The following array formula returns the row number within a single-column range named Data that contains the nth occurrence of the value in a cell named Value: {=SMALL(IF(Data=Value,ROW(Data), ""),n)} The IF function creates a new array that consists of the row number of values from the Data range that are equal to Value. Values from the Data range that aren’t equal to Value are replaced with an empty string. The SMALL function works on this new array and returns the nth smallest row number. The formula returns #NUM! if the Value is not found or if n exceeds the number of occurrences of Value in the range. Returning the longest text in a range The following array formula displays the text string in a range (named Data) that has the most characters. If multiple cells contain the longest text string, the ﬁ rst cell is returned: {=INDEX(Data,MATCH(MAX(LEN(Data)),LEN(Data),FALSE),1)} This formula works with two arrays, both of which contain the length of each item in the Data range. The MAX function determines the largest value, which corresponds to the longest text item. The MATCH function calculates the offset of the cell that contains the maximum length. The INDEX function returns the contents of the cell containing the most characters. Figure 18.5 shows an example. This function works only if the Data range consists of a single column. FIGURE 18.5 Using an array formula to return the longest text in a range. 428 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c18.indd 08/26/2015 Page 429 Chapter 18: Performing Magic with Array Formulas Determining whether a range contains valid values You may have a list of items that you need to check against another list. For example, you may import a list of part numbers into a range named MyList, and you want to ensure that all the part numbers are valid. You can do so by comparing the items in the imported list to the items in a master list of part numbers (named Master). Figure 18.6 shows an example. FIGURE 18.6 Using array formula to count and identify items that aren’t in a list. 18 The following array formula returns TRUE if every item in the range named MyList is found in the range named Master. Both ranges must consist of a single column, but they don’t need to contain the same number of rows: {=ISNA(MATCH(TRUE,ISNA(MATCH(MyList,Master,0)),0))} The array formula that follows returns the number of invalid items. In other words, it returns the number of items in MyList that do not appear in Master: {=SUM(1*ISNA(MATCH(MyList,Master,0)))} To return the ﬁ rst invalid item in MyList, use the following array formula: {=INDEX(MyList,MATCH(TRUE,ISNA(MATCH(MyList,Master,0)),0))} WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 429 c18.indd 08/26/2015 Page 430 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Summing the digits of an integer I can’t think of any practical application for the example in this section, but it’s a good demonstration of the potential power of an array formula. The following array formula calculates the sum of the digits in a positive integer, which is stored in cell A1. For example, if cell A1 contains the value 409, the formula returns 13 (the sum of 4, 0, and 9): {=SUM(MID(A1,ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&LEN(A1))),1)*1)} To understand how this formula works, start with the ROW function, as shown here: {=ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&LEN(A1)))} This function returns an array of consecutive integers beginning with 1 and ending with the number of digits in the value in cell A1. For example, if cell A1 contains the value 409, the LEN function returns 3, and the array generated by the ROW functions is {1,2,3} For more information about using the INDIRECT function to return this array, see Chapter 17. This array is then used as the second argument for the MID function. The MID part of the formula, simpliﬁed a bit and expressed as values, is the following: {=MID(409,{1,2,3},1)*1} This function generates an array with three elements: {4,0,9} By simplifying again and adding the SUM function, the formula looks like this: {=SUM({4,0,9})} This formula produces the result of 13. The values in the array created by the MID function are multiplied by 1 because the MID function returns a string. Multiplying by 1 forces a numeric value result. Alternatively, you can use the VALUE function to force a numeric string to become a numeric value. Notice that the formula doesn’t work with a negative value because the negative sign is not a numeric value. Also, the formula fails if the cell contains nonnumeric values (such as 123A6). The following formula solves this problem by checking for errors in the array and replacing them with zero: {=SUM(IFERROR(MID(A1,ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&LEN(A1))),1)*1,0))} This formula uses the IFERROR function, which was introduced in Excel 2007. 430 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c18.indd 08/26/2015 Page 431 Chapter 18: Performing Magic with Array Formulas Figure 18.7 shows a worksheet that uses both versions of this formula. FIGURE 18.7 Two versions of an array formula calculate the sum of the digits in an integer. 18 Summing rounded values Figure 18.8 shows a simple worksheet that demonstrates a common spreadsheet problem: rounding errors. As you can see, the grand total in cell E7 appears to display an incorrect amount. (It’s off by a penny.) The values in column E use a number format that displays two decimal places. The actual values, however, consist of additional decimal places that do not display due to rounding (as a result of the number format). The net effect of these rounding errors is a seemingly incorrect total. The total, which is actually $168.320997, displays as $168.32. FIGURE 18.8 Using an array formula to correct rounding errors. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 431 c18.indd 08/26/2015 Page 432 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions The following array formula creates a new array that consists of values in column E, rounded to two decimal places: {=SUM(ROUND(E4:E6,2))} This formula returns $168.31. You can also eliminate these types of rounding errors by using the ROUND function in the formula that calculates each row total in column E (which does not require an array formula). Summing every nth value in a range Suppose that you have a range of values and you want to compute the sum of every third value in the list — the ﬁ rst, the fourth, the seventh, and so on. One solution is to hardcode the cell addresses in a formula. A better solution, though, is to use an array formula. In Figure 18.9, the values are stored in a range named Data, and the value of n is in cell D4 (which is named n). FIGURE 18.9 An array formula returns the sum of every nth value in the range. 432 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c18.indd 08/26/2015 Page 433 Chapter 18: Performing Magic with Array Formulas The following array formula returns the sum of every nth value in the range: {=SUM(IF(MOD(ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&COUNT(Data)))-1,n)=0,Data,""))} This formula returns 70, which is the sum of every third value in the range. This formula generates an array of consecutive integers, and the MOD function uses this array as its ﬁ rst argument. The second argument for the MOD function is the value of n. The MOD function creates another array that consists of the remainders when each row number is divided by n. When the array item is 0 (that is, the row is evenly divisible by n), the corresponding item in the Data range will be included in the sum. You ﬁ nd that this formula fails when n is 0 (that is, when it sums no items). The modiﬁed array formula that follows uses an IF function to handle this case: {=IF(n=0,0,SUM(IF(MOD(ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&COUNT(Data)))1,n)=0,Data,"")))} This formula works only when the Data range consists of a single column of values. It does not work for a multicolumn range or for a single row of values. To make the formula work with a horizontal range, you need to transpose the array of integers generated by the ROW function. The TRANSPOSE function is just the ticket. The modiﬁed array formula that follows works only with a horizontal Data range: 18 {=IF(n=0,0,SUM(IF(MOD(TRANSPOSE(ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&COUNT(Data))))1,n)=0,Data,"")))} Removing nonnumeric characters from a string The following array formula extracts a number from a string that contains text. For example, consider the string ABC145Z. The formula returns the numeric part, 145: {=MID(A1,MATCH(0,(ISERROR(MID(A1,ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&LEN(A1))) ,1)*1)*1),0),LEN(A1)-SUM((ISERROR(MID(A1,ROW(INDIRECT("1:" &LEN(A1))),1)*1)*1)))} This formula works only with a single embedded number. For example, it fails with a string like X45Z99 because the string contains two embedded numbers. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 433 c18.indd 08/26/2015 Page 434 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Using the Excel Formula Evaluator If you want to better understand how some of these complex array formulas work, consider using a handy tool: the Formula Evaluator. Select the cell that contains the formula and then choose Formulas ➪ Formula Auditing ➪ Evaluate Formula. The Evaluate Formula dialog box, shown in the figure here, appears. Click the Evaluate button repeatedly to see the intermediate results as the formula is being calculated. It’s like watching a formula calculate in slow motion. Determining the closest value in a range The formula in this section performs an operation that none of Excel’s lookup functions can do. The array formula that follows returns the value in a range named Data that is closest to another value (named Target): {=INDEX(Data,MATCH(SMALL(ABS(Target-Data),1), ABS(Target-Data),0))} If two values in the Data range are equidistant from the Target value, the formula returns the ﬁ rst one in the list. Figure 18.10 shows an example of this formula. In this case, the Target value is 45. The array formula in cell D4 returns 48 — the value closest to 45. 434 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c18.indd 08/26/2015 Page 435 Chapter 18: Performing Magic with Array Formulas FIGURE 18.10 An array formula returns the closest match. 18 Returning the last value in a column Suppose that you have a worksheet you update frequently by adding new data to columns. You may need a way to reference the last value in column A (the value most recently entered). If column A contains no empty cells, the solution is relatively simple and doesn’t require an array formula: =OFFSET(A1,COUNTA(A:A)-1,0) This formula uses the COUNTA function to count the number of nonempty cells in column A. This value (–1) is used as the second argument for the OFFSET function. For example, if the last value is in row 100, COUNTA returns 100. The OFFSET function returns the value in the cell 99 rows down from cell A1 in the same column. If column A has one or more empty cells interspersed, which is frequently the case, the preceding formula won’t work because the COUNTA function doesn’t count the empty cells. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 435 c18.indd 08/26/2015 Page 436 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions The following array formula returns the contents of the last nonempty cell in the ﬁ rst 500 rows of column A: {=INDEX(A1:A500,MAX(ROW(A1:A500)*(A1:A500<>"")))} You can, of course, modify the formula to work with a column other than column A. To use a different column, change the column references from A to whatever column you need. If the last nonempty cell occurs in a row beyond row 500, you need to change the two instances of 500 to a larger number. The fewer rows referenced in the formula, the faster the calculation speed. Note that the formula does not work if the column contains error values. You can’t use this formula, as written, in the same column with which it’s working. Attempting to do so generates a circular reference. You can, however, modify it. For example, to use the function in cell A1, change the references so that they begin with row 2 instead of row 1. Following is an alternate (nonarray) formula that returns the last value in a column. This formula returns the last nonempty cell in column A: =LOOKUP(2,1/(A:A<>""),A:A ) I don’t understand how this formula works, but it seems to be perfectly reliable and is probably more efficient than the array formula. It differs from the array formula in one way: it ignores error values. So it actually returns the last nonempty, nonerror cell in a column. Returning the last value in a row The following array formula is similar to the previous formula, but it returns the last nonempty cell in a row (in this case, row 1): {=INDEX(1:1,MAX(COLUMN(1:1)*(1:1<>"")))} To use this formula for a different row, change the 1:1 reference to correspond to the row. Figure 18.11 shows an example for the last value in a column and the last value in a row. 436 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c18.indd 08/26/2015 Page 437 Chapter 18: Performing Magic with Array Formulas FIGURE 18.11 Using array formulas to return the last nonempty cell in a column or row. An alternative, nonarray formula that returns the last nonempty nonerror cell in a row is =LOOKUP(2,1/(1:1<>""),1:1 ) Working with Multicell Array Formulas The preceding chapter introduced array formulas entered into multicell ranges. In this section, I present a few more multicell array formulas. Most of these formulas return some or all the values in a range, but rearranged in some way. When you enter a multicell array formula, you must select the entire range ﬁ rst. Then type the formula and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter. The examples in this section are available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/ excel2016bible. The file is named multicell array formulas.xlsx. Returning only positive values from a range The following array formula works with a single-column vertical range (named Data). The array formula is entered into a range that’s the same size as Data and returns only the positive values in the Data range. (Zeroes and negative numbers are ignored.) {=INDEX(Data,SMALL(IF(Data>0,ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&ROWS(Data)))), ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&ROWS(Data)))))} WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 437 18 c18.indd 08/26/2015 Page 438 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions As you can see in Figure 18.12, this formula works, but not perfectly. The Data range is A4:A23, and the array formula is entered into C4:C23. However, the array formula displays #NUM! error values for cells that don’t contain a value. FIGURE 18.12 Using an array formula to return only the positive values in a range. This modiﬁed array formula, entered into range E4:E23, uses the IFERROR function to avoid the error value display: {=IFERROR(INDEX(Data,SMALL(IF(Data>0,ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&ROWS(Data)))), ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&ROWS(Data))))),"")} The IFERROR function was introduced in Excel 2007. For compatibility with older versions, use this formula: {=IF(ISERR(SMALL(IF(Data>0,ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&ROWS(Data)))),ROW(INDIRE CT("1:"&ROWS(Data))))),"",INDEX(Data,SMALL(IF(Data>0,ROW(INDIRECT("1: "&ROWS(Data)))),ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&ROWS(Data))))))} 438 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c18.indd 08/26/2015 Page 439 Chapter 18: Performing Magic with Array Formulas Returning nonblank cells from a range The following formula is a variation on the formula in the preceding section. This array formula works with a single-column vertical range named Data. The array formula is entered into a range of the same size as Data and returns only the nonblank cells in the Data range: {=IFERROR(INDEX(Data,SMALL(IF(Data<>"",ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&ROWS(Data)))) ,ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&ROWS(Data))))),"")} For compatibility with versions prior to Excel 2007, use this formula: {=IF(ISERR(SMALL(IF(Data<>"",ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&ROWS(Data)))),ROW(INDI RECT("1:"&ROWS(Data))))),"",INDEX(Data,SMALL(IF(Data<>"",ROW(INDIRECT ("1:"&ROWS(Data)))),ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&ROWS(Data))))))} Reversing the order of cells in a range In Figure 18.13, cells C4:C13 contain a multicell array formula that reverses the order of the values in the range A4:A13 (which is named Data). FIGURE 18.13 A multicell array formula displays the entries in A4:A13 in reverse order. 18 The array formula is {=IF(INDEX(Data,ROWS(Data)-ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&ROWS(Data)))+1)="","", INDEX(Data,ROWS(Data)-ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&ROWS(Data)))+1))} WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 439 c18.indd 08/26/2015 Page 440 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Sorting a range of values dynamically Figure 18.14 shows a data entry range in column A (named Data). As the user enters values into that range, the values are displayed sorted from largest to smallest in column C. The array formula in column C is rather simple: {=LARGE(Data,ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&ROWS(Data))))} FIGURE 18.14 A multicell array formula displays the values in column A, sorted. If you prefer to avoid the #NUM! error display, use this formula: =IFERROR(LARGE(Data,ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&ROWS(Data)))),"") If you require compatibility with versions prior to Excel 2007, the formula gets a bit more complex: {=IF(ISERR(LARGE(Data,ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&ROWS(Data))))),"", LARGE(Data,ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&ROWS(Data)))))} Note that this formula works only with values. The ﬁle at this book’s website has a similar array formula example that works only with text. 440 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c18.indd 08/26/2015 Page 441 Chapter 18: Performing Magic with Array Formulas Returning a list of unique items in a range If you have a single-column range named Data, the following array formula returns a list of the unique items in the range (the list with no duplicated items): {=INDEX(Data,SMALL(IF(MATCH(Data,Data,0)=ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&ROWS(Data) )),MATCH(Data,Data,0),""),ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&ROWS(Data)))))} This formula doesn’t work if the Data range contains any blank cells. The unﬁlled cells of the array formula display #NUM!. The following modiﬁed version eliminates the #NUM! display by using the IFERROR function: {=IFERROR(INDEX(Data,SMALL(IF(MATCH(Data,Data,0)=ROW(INDIRECT ("1:"&ROWS(data))),MATCH(Data,Data,0),""),ROW(INDIRECT ("1:"&ROWS(Data))))),"")} Figure 18.15 shows an example. Range A4:A22 is named Data, and the array formula is entered into range C4:C22. Range E4:E22 contains the array formula that uses the IFERROR function. FIGURE 18.15 Using an array formula to return unique items from a list. 18 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 441 c18.indd 08/26/2015 Page 442 Part II: Working with Formulas and Functions Displaying a calendar in a range Figure 18.16 shows the results of one of my favorite multicell array formulas, a “live” calendar displayed in a range of cells. If you change the date at the top, the calendar recalculates to display the dates for the month and year. FIGURE 18.16 Displaying a calendar by using a single array formula. This workbook is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named array formula calendar.xlsx. In addition, you’ll find a workbook (yearly calendar.xlsx) that uses this technique to display a calendar for a complete year. After you create this calendar, you can easily copy it to other worksheets or workbooks. To create this calendar in the range B2:H9, follow these steps: 1. Select B2:H2 and merge the cells by choosing Home ➪ Alignment ➪ Merge & Center. 2. Enter a date into the merged range. The day of the month isn’t important. 3. Enter the abbreviated day names in the range B3:H3. 4. Select B4:H9 and enter this array formula. Remember: to enter an array formula, press Ctrl+Shift+Enter (not just Enter): 442 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c18.indd 08/26/2015 Page 443 Chapter 18: Performing Magic with Array Formulas {=IF(MONTH(DATE(YEAR(B2),MONTH(B2),1))<>MONTH(DATE (YEAR(B2),MONTH(B2),1)-(WEEKDAY(DATE(YEAR(B2),MONT H(B2),1))-1)+{0;1;2;3;4;5}*7+{1,2,3,4,5,6,7}-1),"",DATE(YEAR(B2),MONTH(B2),1)-(WEEKDAY(DATE(YEAR(B2),MONT H(B2),1))-1)+{0;1;2;3;4;5}*7+{1,2,3,4,5,6,7}-1)} 5. Format the range B4:H9 to use this custom number format: d. This step formats the dates to show only the day. Use the Custom category in the Number tab of the Format Cells dialog box to specify this custom number format. 6. Adjust the column widths and format the cells as you like. 7. Change the month and year in cell B2. The calendar updates automatically. After creating this calendar, you can copy the range to any other worksheet or workbook. The array formula actually returns date values, but the cells are formatted to display only the day portion of the date. Also, notice that the array formula uses array constants. See Chapter 17, “Introducing Array Formulas,” for more information about array constant s. 18 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 443 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 445 Part III Creating Charts and Graphics T he ﬁve chapters in this part deal with charts and graphics. You’ll discover how to use Excel’s graphics capabilities to display your data in a chart or as Sparkline graphics. In addition, you’ll learn to use Excel’s other drawing and graphics tools to enhance your worksheets. IN THIS PART Chapter 19 Getting Started Making Charts Chapter 20 Learning Advanced Charting Chapter 21 Visualizing Data Using Conditional Formatting Chapter 22 Creating Sparkline Graphics Chapter 23 Enhancing Your Work with Pictures and Drawings WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 447 CHAPTER 19 Getting Started Making Charts IN THIS CHAPTER Charting overview Seeing how Excel handles charts Comparing embedded charts and chart sheets Identifying the parts of a chart Looking at examples of each chart type Exploring the new Excel 2016 chart types W hen most people think of Excel, they think of crunching rows and columns of numbers. But as you probably know already, Excel is no slouch when it comes to presenting data visually in the form of charts. In fact, Excel is probably the most commonly used software in the world for creating charts. This chapter presents an introductory overview of Excel’s charting ability. Chapter 20, “Learning Advanced Charting,” continues with some more advanced techniques. What Is a Chart? A chart is a visual representation of numeric values. Charts (also known as graphs) have been an integral part of spreadsheets since the early days of Lotus 1-2-3. Charts generated by early spreadsheet products were quite crude, but they’ve improved signiﬁcantly over the years. Excel provides you with the tools to create a variety of highly customizable professional-quality charts. Displaying data in a well-conceived chart can make your numbers more understandable. Because a chart presents a picture, charts are particularly useful for summarizing a series of numbers and their interrelationships. Making a chart can often help you spot trends and patterns that may otherwise go unnoticed. If you’re unfamiliar with the elements of a chart, see the sidebar later in this chapter, “Parts of a Chart.” Figure 19.1 shows a worksheet that contains a simple column chart that depicts a company’s sales volume by month. Viewing the chart makes it very apparent that sales were down in the summer months (June through August), but they increased steadily during the ﬁ nal four months of the 447 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 448 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics year. You could, of course, arrive at this same conclusion simply by studying the numbers. But viewing the chart makes the point much more quickly. FIGURE 19.1 A simple column chart depicts the monthly sales volume. A column chart is just one of many different types of charts that you can create with Excel. Later in this chapter, I discuss all chart types so you can make the right choice for your data. Understanding How Excel Handles Charts Before you can create a chart, you must have some numbers — sometimes known as data. The data, of course, is stored in the cells in a worksheet. Normally, the data that a chart uses resides in a single worksheet, but that’s not a strict requirement. A chart can use data that’s stored in a different worksheet or even in a different workbook. A chart is essentially an object that Excel creates upon request. This object consists of one or more data series, displayed graphically. The appearance of the data series depends on the selected chart type. For example, if you create a line chart that uses two data series, the chart contains two lines, each representing one data series. The data for each series is stored in a separate row or column. Each point on the line is determined by the value in a single cell and is represented by a marker. You can distinguish each of the lines by its thickness, line style, color, or data markers (squares, circles, and so on). 448 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 449 Chapter 19: Getting Started Making Charts Figure 19.2 shows a line chart that plots two data series across a 12-month period. I used different data markers (squares versus circles) to identify the two series, as shown in the legend at the bottom of the chart. The chart clearly shows that the sales in the Eastern Region are declining steadily, while Western Region sales are increasing a bit after remaining level for the ﬁ rst six months. FIGURE 19.2 This line chart displays two data series. A key point to keep in mind is that charts are dynamic. In other words, a chart series is linked to the data in your worksheet. If the data changes, the chart is updated automatically to reﬂect those changes. After you create a chart, you can always change its type, change the formatting, add or remove speciﬁc elements (such as the title or legend), add new data series to it, or change an existing data series so that it uses data in a different range. A chart is either embedded in a worksheet or displayed on a separate chart sheet. It’s easy to move an embedded chart to a chart sheet (and vice versa). Embedded charts An embedded chart basically ﬂoats on top of a worksheet, on the worksheet’s drawing layer. Both charts shown previously in this chapter are embedded charts. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 449 19 c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 450 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics As with other drawing objects (such as Shapes or SmartArt), you can move an embedded chart, resize it, change its proportions, adjust its borders, and perform other operations. Using embedded charts enables you to print the chart next to the data that it uses. To make any changes to the actual chart in an embedded chart object, you must click it to activate the chart. When a chart is activated, Excel displays the Chart Tools context tab. The Ribbon provides many tools for working with charts, and even more tools are available in the Format task pane. With one exception, every chart starts out as an embedded chart. The exception is when you create a default chart by selecting the data and pressing F11. In that case, the chart is created on a chart sheet. Chart sheets When a chart is on a chart sheet, you view it by clicking its sheet tab. A chart sheets contains a single chart (and no cells). Chart sheets and worksheets can be interspersed in a workbook. To move an embedded chart to a chart sheet, click the chart to select it and then choose Chart Tools ➪ Design ➪ Location ➪ Move Chart. The Move Chart dialog box, shown in Figure 19.3, appears. Select the New Sheet option and provide a name for the chart sheet (or accept Excel’s default name). Click OK, the chart is moved, and the new chart sheet is activated. FIGURE 19.3 The Move Chart dialog box lets you move a chart to a chart sheet. This operation also works in the opposite direction: You can select a chart on a chart sheet and relocate it to a worksheet as an embedded chart. In the Move Chart dialog box, choose Object In, and then select the worksheet from the drop-down list. 450 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 451 Chapter 19: Getting Started Making Charts When you place a chart on a chart sheet, the chart occupies the entire sheet. If you plan to print a chart on a page by itself, using a chart sheet is often your better choice. If you have many charts, you may want to put each one on a separate chart sheet to avoid cluttering your worksheet. This technique also makes locating a particular chart easier because you can change the names of the chart sheets’ tabs to provide a description of the chart that it contains. The Excel Ribbon changes when a chart sheet is active, similar to the way it changes when you select an embedded chart. You have access to the same editing tools for embedded charts and charts on chart sheets. If the chart isn’t fully visible in the window, you can use the scrollbars to scroll it or adjust the zoom factor to make it smaller. You can also change its orientation (tall or wide) by choosing Page Layout ➪ Page Setup ➪ Orientation. Parts of a Chart Refer to the accompanying chart as you read the following description of the chart’s elements. The particular chart is a combination chart that displays two data series: Sales Calls and Units Sold. Sales Calls are plotted as vertical columns, and the Units Sold are plotted as a line with circle markers. Each column (or marker on the line) represents a single data point (the value in a cell). The chart data is stored in the range A1:C7. 19 It has a horizontal axis, known as the category axis. This axis represents the category for each data point (January, February, and so on). Continues WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 451 c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 452 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics continued It has two vertical axes, known as value axes, and each one has a different scale. The axis on the left is for the columns (Sales Calls), and the axis on the right is for the line (Units Sold). The value axes also display scale values. The axis on the left displays scale values from 0 to 1,200, in major unit increments of 200. The value axis on the right uses a different scale: 0 to 160, in increments of 20. Why two value axes? A chart with two value axes is appropriate because the two data series vary dramatically in scale. If the Sales data were plotted using the left axis, the line would barely be visible. Most charts provide some method of identifying the data series or data points. A legend, for example, is often used to identify the various series in a chart. In this example, the legend appears on the bottom of the chart. Some charts also display data labels to identify specific data points. This chart displays data labels for the Units Sold series, but not for the Sales Calls series. In addition, most charts (including the example chart) contain a chart title and additional labels to identify the axes or categories. It also contains horizontal gridlines (which correspond to the left value axis). Gridlines are basically extensions of the value axis scale, which makes it easier for the viewer to determine the magnitude of the data points. All charts have a chart area (the entire background area of the chart) and a plot area. The plot area shows the actual chart, and in this example, the plot area has a different background color. Charts can have additional parts or fewer parts, depending on the chart type. For example, a pie chart has slices and no axes. A 3-D chart may have walls and a floor. You can also add many other types of items to a chart. For example, you can add a trend line or display error bars. In other words, after you create a chart, you have a great deal of flexibility in customizing it. Creating a Chart Creating a chart is fairly simple: 1. Make sure that your data is appropriate for a chart. 2. Select the range that contains your data. 3. Select the Insert tab and select a chart type from the Charts group. These icons display drop-down lists that display subtypes. Excel creates the chart and places it in the center of the window. 4. (Optional) Use the various tools and commands to change the look or layout of the chart or add or delete chart elements. 452 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 453 Chapter 19: Getting Started Making Charts You can create a chart with a single keystroke. Select the range to be used in the chart and then press Alt+F1 (for an embedded chart) or F11 (for a chart on a chart sheet). Excel displays the chart of the selected data using the default chart type. The default chart type is a column chart, but you can change it. To change the default chart type, select any chart and choose Chart Tools ➪ Design ➪ Change Chart Type. The Change Chart Type dialog box appears. Choose a chart type from the list on the left, and then right-click a chart in the row of thumbnails and choose Set As Default Chart. Hands On: Creating and Customizing a Chart This section contains a step-by-step example of creating a chart and applying some customizations. If you’ve never created a chart, this is a good opportunity to get a feel for the way the process works. Figure 19.4 shows a worksheet with a range of data. This data shows customer survey results by month, broken down by customers in three age groups. In this case, the data resides in a table (created by choosing Insert ➪ Tables ➪ Table), but that’s not a requirement to create a chart. FIGURE 19.4 The source data for the hands-on chart example. 19 This workbook, named hands-on example.xlsx, is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 453 c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 454 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics Selecting the data The ﬁ rst step is to select the data for the chart. Your selection should include such items as labels and series identiﬁers (row and column headings). For this example, select the entire table (range A4:D10). This range includes the category labels but not the title (which is in A1). If you want to chart all data in a table (or a rectangular range separated from other data), you can select just a single cell. Excel will almost always guess the range for the chart accurately. If you don’t want to plot all data in the table, just select the specific columns or rows. The data that you use in a chart needs not be in contiguous cells. You can press Ctrl and make a multiple selection. The initial data, however, must be on a single worksheet. If you need to plot data that exists on more than one worksheet, you can add more series after the chart is created. In all cases, however, data for a single chart series must reside on one sheet. Choosing a chart type After you select the data, select a chart type from the Insert ➪ Charts group. Each control in this group is a drop-down list, which lets you further reﬁ ne your choice by selecting a subtype. For this example, let Excel recommend a chart type. Choose Insert ➪ Charts ➪ Recommended Charts. Excel displays the dialog box shown in Figure 19.5. This dialog box shows several recommended charts, using your actual data. Select the ﬁ rst choice, Clustered Column, and click OK. Excel inserts the chart in the middle of the workbook window. You can move the chart by dragging any of its borders. You can also resize it by clicking and dragging in one of its corners. Figure 19.6 shows the chart after I moved it next to the data range. Experimenting with different styles The chart looks pretty good, but it’s just one of several predeﬁ ned styles for a clustered column chart. To see some other looks for the chart, select the chart (click it) and check out a few other predeﬁ ned styles in the Chart Tools ➪ Design ➪ Chart Styles group. Just hover your mouse over a thumbnail image, and your chart temporarily takes on the new style. If you ﬁ nd a style you like, click the thumbnail to make it permanent. Notice that this Ribbon group also includes a Change Colors tool, which lets you quickly modify the colors used in the chart. 454 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 455 Chapter 19: Getting Started Making Charts FIGURE 19.5 Letting Excel recommend a chart type. FIGURE 19.6 A clustered column chart created from the data in the table. 19 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 455 c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 456 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics You can also access the chart styles and colors by using the Chart Styles icon, which appears to the right of the chart when you select it. (The icon displays a paintbrush.) The choices are presented in a scrollable list. The choices are the same as those displayed in the Chart Tools ➪ Design ➪ Chart Styles group. Experimenting with different layouts Every chart type has a set of layouts that you can choose from. A layout contains additional chart elements, such as a title, data labels, and axes. You can add your own elements to your chart, but often, using a predeﬁned layout saves time. Even if the layout isn’t exactly what you want, it may be close enough that you need to make only a few adjustments. To try a different predeﬁned layout, select the chart and choose Chart Tools ➪ Design ➪ Chart Layouts ➪ Quick Layout. To manually add or remove elements from the chart, click the Chart Elements icon, which appears to the right of the chart and has an image of a plus sign. Note that each item expands to provide more options, such as the location of the element within the chart. The Chart Elements icon contains the same option as the Chart Tools ➪ Design ➪ Chart Layouts ➪ Add Chart Element control. Figure 19.7 shows the chart after selecting a different style and changing the colors. I chose a layout that displays the legend on the right and includes axis titles. I customized the generic title and vertical axis title and deleted the horizontal axis title because it’s obvious that the axis displays months. FIGURE 19.7 The chart, after selecting a different style and layout. 456 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 457 Chapter 19: Getting Started Making Charts You can link the chart title to a cell so the title always displays the contents of a particular cell. To create a link to a cell, click the chart title, type an equal sign (=), click the cell, and press Enter. Excel displays the link in the Formula bar. In the example, the text in cell A1 is perfect for the chart title. Experiment with the Chart Tools ➪ Design Ribbon to make other changes to the chart. Also try the tools that appear to the right of the chart when you click it. For example, you can remove the gridlines add axis titles, relocate the legend, and so on. Making these changes is easy and fairly intuitive. Up until now, the changes made to the chart have been strictly cosmetic. The following sections describe how to make more substantial changes to a chart. Trying another view of the data The chart, at this point, shows six clusters (months) of three data points in each (age groups). Would the data be easier to understand if you plotted the information in the opposite way? Try it. Select the chart and then choose Chart Tools ➪ Design ➪ Data ➪ Switch Row/ Column. Figure 19.8 shows the result of this change. FIGURE 19.8 The chart, after changing the row and column orientation. 19 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 457 c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 458 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics The orientation of the data has a drastic effect on the look of your chart. Excel has its own rules that it uses to determine the initial data orientation when you create a chart. If Excel’s orientation doesn’t match your expectation, it’s easy enough to change. The chart, with this new orientation, reveals information that wasn’t so apparent in the original version. The <30 and 30–49 age groups both show a decline in satisfaction for March and April. The 50+ age group didn’t exhibit this pattern, however. Trying other chart types Although a clustered column chart seems to work well for this data, there’s no harm in checking out some other chart types. Choose Chart Tools ➪ Design ➪ Type ➪ Change Chart Type to experiment with other chart types. This command displays the Change Chart Type dialog box, shown in Figure 19.9. The ﬁgure shows how the data would look as a line chart. FIGURE 19.9 Use this dialog box to change the chart type. 458 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 459 Chapter 19: Getting Started Making Charts The main chart categories are listed on the left, and the subtypes are shown as a horizontal row of icons. Select an icon and the display shows how the chart will look in both data orientations. When you ﬁ nd a suitable chart type, click OK and Excel changes the chart. Notice that this dialog box has a tab at the top that lets you access Excel’s recommended chart types for the data. If you don’t like the result after clicking OK, select Undo from the Quick Access toolbar. You can also change the chart type by selecting the chart and using the controls in the Insert ➪ Charts group. Figure 19.10 shows a few different chart type options using the customer satisfaction data. FIGURE 19.10 The customer satisfaction data, displayed using four different chart types. 19 The styles displayed in the gallery depend on the workbook’s theme. When you choose Page Layout ➪ Themes ➪ Themes to apply a different theme, you’ll have a new selection of chart styles and colors designed for the selected theme. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 459 c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 460 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics Working with Charts This section covers some common chart modiﬁcations: ■ Resizing and moving charts ■ Copying a chart ■ Deleting a chart ■ Adding chart elements ■ Moving and deleting chart elements ■ Formatting chart elements ■ Printing charts Before you can modify a chart, the chart must be activated. To activate an embedded chart, click it. Doing so activates the chart and selects the element that you click. To activate a chart on a chart sheet, just click its sheet tab. Resizing a chart If your chart is an embedded chart, you can easily resize it with your mouse. Click the chart, and round handles appear on the chart’s corners and edges. Move the mouse pointer to a corner, and when the mouse pointer turns into a double arrow, click and drag to resize the chart. Another way to resize a chart: when a chart is selected, choose Chart Tools ➪ Format ➪ Size and use the two controls to adjust the height and width of the chart. Use the spinners or type the dimensions directly into the Height and Width controls. Moving a chart To move an embedded chart to a different location on a worksheet, click the chart and drag one of its borders. You can use standard cut-and-paste techniques to move an embedded chart. In fact, this is the only way to move a chart from one worksheet to another. Select the chart and choose Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Cut (or press Ctrl+X). Then activate a cell near the desired location and choose Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Paste (or press Ctrl+V). The new location can be in a different worksheet or even in a different workbook. If you paste the chart to a different workbook, the chart will be linked to the data in the original workbook. To move an embedded chart to a chart sheet (or vice versa), select the chart and choose Chart Tools ➪ Design ➪ Location ➪ Move Chart; the Move Chart dialog box appears. Choose New Sheet and provide a name for the chart sheet (or use the Excel proposed name). 460 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 461 Chapter 19: Getting Started Making Charts Copying a chart To make an exact copy of an embedded chart on the same worksheet, click the chart’s border, press and hold the Ctrl key, and drag. Release the mouse button, and a new copy of the chart is created. To make a copy of a chart sheet, use the same procedure, but drag the chart sheet’s tab. You also can use standard copy-and-paste techniques to copy a chart. Select the chart (an embedded chart or a chart sheet) and choose Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Copy (or press Ctrl+C). Then activate a cell near the desired location and choose Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Paste (or press Ctrl+V). The new location can be in a different worksheet or even in a different workbook. If you paste the chart to a different workbook, it will be linked to the data in the original workbook. Deleting a chart To delete an embedded chart, press Ctrl and click the chart (to select the chart as an object). Then press Delete. When the Ctrl key is pressed, you can select multiple charts and then delete them all with a single press of the Delete key. To delete a chart sheet, right-click its sheet tab and choose Delete from the shortcut menu. To delete multiple chart sheets, select them by pressing Ctrl while you click the sheet tabs. Adding chart elements To add new elements to a chart (such as a title, legend, data labels, or gridlines), activate the chart and use the controls in the Chart Elements “+” icon, which appears to the right of the chart. Note that each item expands to display additional options. You can also use the Add Chart Element control on the Chart Tools ➪ Design ➪ Chart Layouts tab. 19 Moving and deleting chart elements Some elements within a chart can be moved: titles, legend, and data labels. To move a chart element, simply click it to select it and then drag its border. The easiest way to delete a chart element is to select it and then press Delete. You can also use the controls on the Chart Elements icon, which appears to the right of the chart. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 461 c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 462 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics A few chart elements consist of multiple objects. For example, the data labels element consists of one label for each data point. To move or delete one data label, click once to select the entire element and then click a second time to select the specific data label. You can then move or delete the single data label. Formatting chart elements Many users are content to stick with the predeﬁ ned chart styles and layouts. For more precise customizations, Excel allows you to work with individual chart elements and apply additional formatting. You can use the Ribbon commands for some modiﬁcations, but the easiest way to format chart elements is to right-click the element and choose Format <Element> from the shortcut menu. The exact command depends on the element you select. For example, if you right-click the chart’s title, the shortcut menu command is Format Chart Title. The Format command displays a task pane with options for the selected element. Changes that you make are displayed immediately. When you select a new chart element, the dialog box changes to display the properties for the newly selected element. You can keep this task pane displayed while you work on the chart. It can be docked along the left or right part of the window or made free ﬂoating and sizable. If the Format task pane isn’t displayed, you can double-click a chart element to display it. Refer to the “Exploring the Format Task Pane” sidebar for an explanation of how the Format task panes work. If you apply formatting to a chart element and decide that it wasn’t such a good idea, you can revert to the original formatting for the particular chart style. Right-click the chart element and choose Reset to Match Style from the shortcut menu. To reset the entire chart, select the chart area when you issue the command. Exploring the Format Task Pane The Format task pane can be a bit deceiving. It contains many options that aren’t visible, and you sometimes have to do quite a bit of clicking to find the formatting option you’re looking for. The accompanying figure shows the task pane for the chart title. The name of the task pane depends on which chart element is selected. The task pane varies quite a bit, depending on which chart element is selected. 462 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 463 Chapter 19: Getting Started Making Charts Notice that the task pane displays two tabs along the top: Title Options and Text Options. Click the Title Options tab, and you see three icons: Fill & Line, Effects, and Size & Properties. Each of these icons has its own set of controls, which can be expanded or contracted. Similarly, the Text Options tab has three icons: Text Fill & Outline, Text Effects, and Textbox. Again, each of these icons has its own set of options. So, if you want to change the color of the text in a chart’s title by using the Format Chart Title task pane, you would follow these steps: 1. If the Format task pane is displayed, click the chart’s title; if the task pane is not displayed, double-click the chart’s title. 2. In the Format Chart Title task pane, select the Text Options tab. 19 3. Click the Text Fill & Outline icon. 4. Expand the Text Fill section. 5. Choose a color from the Color control. At first, the Format task pane will seem complicated and confusing. But as you get acquainted with it, using the task pane gets much easier. Also, keep in mind that many formatting choices are available on the Ribbon. For example, a quicker way to change the text color in a chart title is to select the title, click the Home tab on the Ribbon, and use the Font Color control. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 463 c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 464 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics See Chapter 20 for more information about customizing and formatting charts. Printing charts Printing embedded charts is nothing special; you print them the same way that you print a worksheet. As long as you include the embedded chart in the range that you want to print, Excel prints the chart as it appears onscreen. When printing a sheet that contains embedded charts, it’s a good idea to preview ﬁ rst (or use Page Layout view) to ensure that your charts don’t span multiple pages. If you created the chart on a chart sheet, Excel always prints the chart on a page by itself. If you select an embedded chart and choose File ➪ Print, Excel prints the chart on a page by itself and does not print the worksheet. If you don’t want a particular embedded chart to appear on your printout, access the Format Chart Area task pane and select the Size & Properties icon. Then Expand the Properties section and clear the Print Object check box. Understanding Chart Types People who create charts usually do so to make a point or to communicate a speciﬁc message. Often, the message is explicitly stated in the chart’s title or in a text box within the chart. The chart itself provides visual support. Choosing the correct chart type is often a key factor in the effectiveness of the message. Therefore, it’s often well worth your time to experiment with various chart types to determine which one conveys your message best. In almost every case, the underlying message in a chart is some type of comparison. Examples of some general types of comparisons include 464 ■ Comparing an item to other items: A chart may compare sales in each of a company’s sales regions. ■ Comparing data over time: A chart may display sales by month and indicate trends over time. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 465 Chapter 19: Getting Started Making Charts ■ Making relative comparisons: A common pie chart can depict relative proportions in terms of pie “slices.” ■ Comparing data relationships: An XY chart is ideal for this comparison. For example, you might show the relationship between monthly marketing expenditures and sales. ■ Comparing frequency: You can use a common histogram, for example, to display the number (or percentage) of students who scored within a particular grade range. ■ Identifying outliers or unusual situations: If you have thousands of data points, creating a chart may help identify data that isn’t representative. Choosing a chart type A common question among Excel users is “How do I know which chart type to use for my data?” Unfortunately, this question has no cut-and-dried answer. Perhaps the best answer is a vague one: use the chart type that gets your message across in the simplest way. A good starting point is Excel’s recommended charts. Select your data and choose Insert ➪ Charts ➪ Recommended Charts to see the chart types that Excel suggests. Remember that these suggestions are not always the best choices. In the Ribbon, the Charts group of the Insert tab shows the Recommended Charts button, plus nine other drop-down buttons. All of these drop-down buttons display multiple chart types. For example, column and bar charts are all available from a single drop-down button. Similarly, scatter charts and bubble charts share a single button. Probably the easiest way to choose a particular chart type is to select Insert ➪ Charts ➪ Recommended Charts, which displays the Insert Chart dialog box. Select the All Charts tab, and you’ll have a concise list of all chart types and subchart types. Figure 19.11 shows the same set of data plotted by using six different chart types. Although all six charts represent the same information (monthly website visitors), they look quite different from one another. 19 This workbook is available this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named six chart types.xlsx. The column chart (upper left) is probably the best choice for this particular set of data because it clearly shows the information for each month in discrete units. The bar chart (upper right) is similar to a column chart, but the axes are swapped. Most people are more accustomed to seeing time-based information extend from left to right rather than from top to bottom, so this isn’t the optimal choice. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 465 c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 466 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics FIGURE 19.11 The same data, plotted by using six chart types. The line chart (middle left) may not be the best choice because it can imply that the data is continuous — that points exist in between the 12 actual data points. This same argument may be made against using an area chart (middle right). The pie chart (lower left) is simply too confusing and does nothing to convey the timebased nature of the data. Pie charts are most appropriate for a data series in which you want to emphasize proportions among a relatively small number of data points. If you have too many data points, a pie chart can be impossible to interpret. 466 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 467 Chapter 19: Getting Started Making Charts The radar chart (lower right) is clearly inappropriate for this data. People aren’t accustomed to viewing time-based information in a circular direction! Excel’s first recommendation for this data is a line chart, followed by column chart and area chart. This is a case in which I disagree with Excel. Fortunately, changing a chart’s type is easy, so you can experiment with various chart types until you ﬁ nd the one that represents your data accurately, clearly, and as simply as possible. The remainder of this chapter contains more information about the various Excel chart types. The examples and discussion may give you a better handle on determining the most appropriate chart type for your data. Column charts Probably the most common chart type is the column chart, which displays each data point as a vertical column, the height of which corresponds to the value. The value scale is displayed on the vertical axis, which is usually on the left side of the chart. You can specify any number of data series, and the corresponding data points from each series can be stacked on top of each other. Typically, each data series is depicted in a different color or pattern. Column charts are often used to compare discrete items, and they can depict the differences between items in a series or items across multiple series. Excel offers seven columnchart subtypes. A workbook that contains the charts in this section is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named column charts.xlsx 19 Figure 19.12 shows an example of a clustered column chart that depicts monthly sales for two products. From this chart, it’s clear that Sprocket sales have always exceeded Widget sales. In addition, Widget sales have been declining over the ﬁve-month period, whereas Sprocket sales are increasing. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 467 c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 468 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics FIGURE 19.12 This clustered column chart compares monthly sales for two products. The same data, in the form of a stacked column chart, is shown in Figure 19.13. This chart has the added advantage of depicting the combined sales over time. It shows that total sales have remained fairly steady each month, but the relative proportions of the two products have changed. FIGURE 19.13 This stacked column chart displays sales by product and depicts the total sales. Figure 19.14 shows the same sales data plotted as a 100% stacked column chart. This chart type shows the relative contribution of each product by month. Notice that the vertical axis displays percentage values, not sales amounts. This chart provides no information 468 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 469 Chapter 19: Getting Started Making Charts about the actual sales volumes, but such information could be provided using data labels. This type of chart is often a good alternative to using several pie charts. Instead of using a pie to show the relative sales volume in each year, the chart uses a column for each year. FIGURE 19.14 This 100% stacked column chart displays monthly sales as a percentage. The data is plotted with a 3-D clustered column chart in Figure 19.15. The name is a bit deceptive because the chart uses only two dimensions, not three. Many people use this type of chart because it has more visual pizzazz. Compare this chart with a “true” 3-D column chart (which has a second category axis), shown in Figure 19.16. This type of chart may be appealing visually, but precise comparisons are difﬁcult because of the distorted perspective view. FIGURE 19.15 A 3-D column chart. 19 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 469 c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 470 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics FIGURE 19.16 A true 3-D column chart. For the 3-D columns, you can choose a different column shape in the Format Data Series dialog box. Excel offers variations such as cylinder, cone, and pyramids. Bar charts A bar chart is essentially a column chart that has been rotated 90 degrees clockwise. One distinct advantage to using a bar chart is that the category labels may be easier to read. Figure 19.17 shows a bar chart that displays a value for each of ten survey items. The category labels are lengthy, and displaying them legibly with a column chart would be difﬁcult. Excel offers six bar chart subtypes. A workbook that contains the chart in this section is available on this book’s website. The file is named bar charts.xlsx. Unlike a column chart, no subtype displays multiple series along a third axis. (That is, Excel does not provide a 3-D Bar Chart subtype.) You can add a 3-D look to a bar chart, but it will be limited to two axes. You can include any number of data series in a bar chart. In addition, the bars can be “stacked” from left to right. 470 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 471 Chapter 19: Getting Started Making Charts FIGURE 19.17 If you have lengthy category labels, a bar chart may be a good choice. Line charts 19 Line charts are often used to plot continuous data and are useful for identifying trends. For example, plotting daily sales as a line chart may enable you to identify sales ﬂuctuations over time. Normally, the category axis for a line chart displays equal intervals. Excel supports seven line chart subtypes. See Figure 19.18 for an example of a line chart that depicts monthly data (676 data points). Although the data varies quite a bit on a monthly basis, the chart clearly depicts the cycles. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 471 c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 472 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics FIGURE 19.18 A line chart often can help you spot trends in your data. A workbook that contains the charts in this section is available on this book’s website. The file is named line charts.xlsx. A line chart can use any number of data series, and you distinguish the lines by using different colors, line styles, or markers. Figure 19.19 shows a line chart that has three series. The series are distinguished by markers (circles, squares, and triangles) and different line colors. When the chart is printed on a noncolor printer, the markers are the only way to identify the lines. The ﬁ nal line chart example, shown in Figure 19.20, is a 3-D line chart. Although it has a nice visual appeal, it’s certainly not the clearest way to present the data. In fact, it’s fairly worthless. 472 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 473 Chapter 19: Getting Started Making Charts FIGURE 19.19 This line chart displays three series. FIGURE 19.20 This 3-D line chart does not present the data very well. 19 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 473 c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 474 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics Pie charts A pie chart is useful when you want to show relative proportions or contributions to a whole. A pie chart uses only one data series. Pie charts are most effective with a small number of data points. Generally, a pie chart should use no more than ﬁve or six data points (or slices). A pie chart with too many data points can be difﬁcult to interpret. All the values in a pie chart must be positive numbers. If you create a pie chart that uses one or more negative values, the negative values will be converted to positive values, which is probably not what you intended. You can “explode” one or more slices of a pie chart for emphasis (see Figure 19.21). Activate the chart and click any pie slice to select the entire pie. Then click the slice that you want to explode and drag it away from the center. FIGURE 19.21 A pie chart with one slice exploded. A workbook that contains the charts in this section is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named pie charts.xlsx. The pie of pie and bar of pie chart types enable you to display a secondary chart that provides more detail for one of the pie slices. Figure 19.22 shows an example of a bar of pie chart. The pie chart shows the breakdown of four expense categories: Rent, Supplies, Miscellaneous, and Salary. The secondary bar chart provides an additional regional breakdown of the Salary category. 474 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 475 Chapter 19: Getting Started Making Charts FIGURE 19.22 A bar of pie chart that shows detail for one of the pie slices. The data used in the chart resides in A2:B8. When the chart was created, Excel made a guess as to which categories belong to the secondary chart. In this case, the guess was to use the last three data points for the secondary chart — and the guess was incorrect. To correct the chart, right-click any of the pie slices and choose Format Data Series. In the Format Data Series task pane, select the Series Options icon and make the changes. In this example, I chose Split Series by Position and speciﬁed that the second plot contains four values in the series. A pie chart subtype is called a doughnut chart. It’s basically a pie chart with a hole in the middle. XY (scatter) charts Another common chart type is an XY chart (also known as scattergrams or scatter plots). An XY chart differs from most other chart types in that both axes display values. (An XY chart has no category axis.) This type of chart often is used to show the relationship between two variables. Figure 19.23 shows an example of an XY chart that plots the relationship between sales calls made (horizontal axis) and sales (vertical axis). Each point in the chart represents one month. The chart shows that these two variables are positively related: months in which more calls were made typically had higher sales volumes. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 475 19 c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 476 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics FIGURE 19.23 An XY chart shows the relationship between two variables. A workbook that contains the charts in this section is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named xy charts.xlsx. Although these data points correspond to time, the chart doesn’t convey any time-related information. In other words, the data points are plotted based only on their two values. Figure 19.24 shows another XY chart, this one with lines that connect the XY points. This chart plots a hypocycloid curve with 200 data points. It’s set up with three parameters. Change any of the parameters, and you’ll get a completely different curve. This is a minimalist chart. I deleted all the chart elements except the data series itself. If this type of design looks familiar, it’s because a hypocycloid curve is the basis for a popular children’s drawing toy. 476 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 477 Chapter 19: Getting Started Making Charts FIGURE 19.24 A hypocycloid curve, plotted as an XY chart. Area charts Think of an area chart as a line chart in which the area below the line has been colored in. Figure 19.25 shows an example of a stacked area chart. Stacking the data series enables you to clearly see the total, plus the contribution by each series. 19 A workbook that contains the charts in this section is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named area charts.xlsx. Figure 19.26 shows the same data, plotted as a 3-D area chart. As you can see, it’s not an example of an effective chart. The data for products B and C is obscured. In some cases, the problem can be resolved by rotating the chart or using transparency. But usually the best way to salvage a chart like this is to select a new chart type. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 477 c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 478 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics FIGURE 19.25 A stacked area chart. FIGURE 19.26 This 3-D area chart is not a good choice. Radar charts You may not be familiar with this type of chart. A radar chart is a specialized chart that has a separate axis for each category, and the axes extend outward from the center of the chart. The value of each data point is plotted on the corresponding axis. Figure 19.27 shows an example of a radar chart. This chart plots two data series across 12 categories (months) and shows the seasonal demand for snow skis versus water skis. Note that the water-ski series partially obscures the snow-ski series. 478 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 479 Chapter 19: Getting Started Making Charts FIGURE 19.27 Plotting ski sales using a radar chart with 12 categories and two series. A workbook that contains the charts in this section is available at this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named radar charts.xlsx. Using a radar chart to show seasonal sales may be an interesting approach, but it’s certainly not the best chart type. As you can see in Figure 19.28, a stacked bar chart shows the information much more clearly. FIGURE 19.28 A stacked bar chart is a better choice for the ski sales data. 19 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 479 c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 480 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics A more appropriate use for radar charts is shown in Figure 19.29. These four charts each plot a color. More precisely, each chart shows the RGB components (the contributions of red, green, and blue) that make up a color. Each chart has one series and three categories. The categories extend from 0 to 255. FIGURE 19.29 These radar charts depict the red, green, and blue contributions for each of four colors. If you view the charts in color, you’ll see that they actually depict the color that they describe. The data series colors were applied manually. 480 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 481 Chapter 19: Getting Started Making Charts Surface charts Surface charts display two or more data series on a surface. As Figure 19.30 shows, these charts can be quite interesting. Unlike other charts, Excel uses color to distinguish values, not to distinguish the data series. The number of colors used is determined by the major unit scale setting for the value axis. Each color corresponds to one major unit. FIGURE 19.30 A surface chart. 19 A workbook that contains the charts in this section is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named surface charts.xlsx. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 481 c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 482 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics A surface chart does not plot 3-D data points. The series axis for a surface chart, as with all other 3-D charts, is a category axis — not a value axis. In other words, if you have data that is represented by x, y, and z coordinates, it can’t be plotted accurately on a surface chart unless the x and y values are equally spaced. Bubble charts Think of a bubble chart as an XY chart that can display an additional data series, which is represented by the size of the bubbles. As with an XY chart, both axes are value axes. (There is no category axis.) Figure 19.31 shows an example of a bubble chart that depicts the results of a weight-loss program. The horizontal value axis represents the original weight, the vertical value axis shows the number of weeks in the program, and the size of the bubbles represents the amount of weight lost. FIGURE 19.31 A bubble chart. 482 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 483 Chapter 19: Getting Started Making Charts A workbook that contains the charts in this section is available on this book’s website. The file is named bubble charts.xlsx. Figure 19.32 shows another bubble chart, made up of nine series that represent mouse face parts. The size and position of each bubble required some experimentation. FIGURE 19.32 This bubble chart depicts a mouse. Stock charts Stock charts are most useful for displaying stock-market information. These charts require three to ﬁve data series, depending on the subtype. Figure 19.33 shows an example of each of the four stock chart types. The two charts on the bottom display the trade volume and use two value axes. The daily volume, represented by columns, uses the axis on the left. The up-bars, sometimes referred to as candlesticks, are the vertical lines that depict the difference between the opening and closing price. A black up-bar indicates that the closing price was lower than the opening price. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 483 19 c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 484 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics A workbook that contains the charts in this section is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named stock charts.xlsx. FIGURE 19.33 The four stock chart subtypes. Stock charts aren’t just for stock price data. Figure 19.34 shows a stock chart that depicts the high, low, and average temperatures for each day in May. This is a high-lowclose chart. 484 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 485 Chapter 19: Getting Started Making Charts FIGURE 19.34 Plotting temperature data with a stock chart. New Chart Types for Excel 2016 Excel 2016 includes six new chart types. This section presents an example of each new chart type, along with an explanation of the type of data required. If you plan to share your workbook with users of previous versions of Excel, you should avoid these charts. A workbook that contains the charts in this section is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The file is named new chart types.xlsx. 19 Histogram charts A histogram displays the count of data items in each of several discrete bins. With a bit of effort, you can create a histogram by using a standard column chart or by using the Analysis ToolPak (see Chapter 37, “Analyzing Data with the Analysis ToolPak”). But using the new histogram chart type makes it easier. Figure 19.35 shows a histogram created from 105 student test scores. The bins are displayed as category labels. You control the number of bins by using the Axis Options section of the Format Axis task pane. In this example, I speciﬁed eight bins, and Excel took care of all the details. Pareto charts A Pareto chart is a combination chart in which columns are displayed in descending order, and the columns use the left axis. The line shows the cumulative percentage and uses the right axis. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 485 c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 486 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics FIGURE 19.35 Displaying a student grade distribution using a histogram chart. Figure 19.36 shows a Pareto chart created from the data in range A2:B14. Notice that Excel sorted the items in the chart. The line shows, for example, that approximately 50 percent of all complaints are in the top three categories. FIGURE 19.36 A Pareto chart displays the number of complaints graphically. 486 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 487 Chapter 19: Getting Started Making Charts Waterfall charts A waterfall chart is used to show the cumulative effect of a series of numbers, usually both positive and negative numbers. The result is a staircase-like display. Figure 19.37 shows a waterfall chart that uses the data in Column D. Waterfall charts typically display the ending total as the last bar, with its origin at zero. To display the total column correctly, select the column, right-click, and choose Set As Total from the shortcut menu. FIGURE 19.37 A waterfall chart showing positive and negative net cash flows. 19 Box & whisker charts A box & whisker chart (also known as a box plot or a quartile plot) is often used to visually summarize data. In the past, it was possible to create such charts using Excel, but it required quite a bit of setup work. In Excel 2016, it’s simple. Figure 19.38 shows a box & whisker chart created for four groups of subjects. The data is in a two-column table. In the chart, the vertical lines extending from the box represent the numerical range of the data (minimum and maximum values). The “boxes” represent the 25th through the 75th percentile. The horizontal line inside the box is the median value (or 50th percentile), and the X is the average. This type of chart enables the viewer to make quick comparisons among groups of data. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 487 c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 488 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics As you can see in Figure 19.38, the Series Options section of the Format Data Series task pane contains some options for this chart type. FIGURE 19.38 A box & whisker chart that summarizes data for four groups. Sunburst charts A sunburst chart is like a pie chart with multiple concentric layers. This chart type is most useful for data that’s organized hierarchically. Figure 19.39 shows an example of a sunburst chart that depicts a music collection. It shows the number of tracks by genre and subgenre. Note that some genres have no subgenres. A potential problem with the chart type is that some slices are so small that the data labels can’t be displayed. Treemap charts Like a sunburst chart, a treemap chart is suited for hierarchical data. The data, however, is represented as rectangles. Figure 19.40 shows the data from the previous example, plotted as a treemap chart. 488 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 489 Chapter 19: Getting Started Making Charts FIGURE 19.39 A sunburst chart that depicts a music collection by genre and subgenre. FIGURE 19.40 A treemap chart that depicts a music collection by genre and subgenre. 19 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 489 c19.indd 09/28/2015 Page 490 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics Learning More This chapter introduced Excel charts, including examples of the types of charts that you can create. For many people, the information in this chapter is sufﬁcient to create a variety of charts. Those who require control over every aspect of their charts can ﬁ nd the information they need in the next chapter. It picks up where this one leaves off and covers the details involved in creating the perfect chart. 490 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 491 CHAPTER 20 Learning Advanced Charting IN THIS CHAPTER Understanding chart customization Changing basic chart elements Working with data series Discovering some chart-making tricks E xcel makes creating a basic chart easy. Select your data, choose a chart type, and you’re ﬁ nished. You may take a few extra seconds and select one of the prebuilt chart styles and maybe even select one of the chart layouts. But if your goal is to create the most effective chart possible, you probably want to take advantage of the additional customization techniques available in Excel. Customizing a chart involves changing its appearance, as well as possibly adding new elements to it. These changes can be purely cosmetic (such as changing colors, modifying line widths, or adding a shadow) or quite substantial (say, changing the axi s scales or adding a second value axis). Chart elements that you might add include such features as a data table, a trend line, or error bars. The preceding chapter introduced charting in Excel and described how to create basic charts. This chapter takes the topic to the next level. You learn how to customize your charts to the maximum so that they look exactly as you want. You also pick up some slick charting tricks that will make your charts even more impressive. Selecting Chart Elements Modifying a chart is similar to everything else you do in Excel: First, you make a selection (in this case, select a chart element), and then you issue a command to do something with the selection. You can select only one chart element (or one group of chart elements) at a time. For example, if you want to change the font for two axis labels, you must work on each set of axis labels separately. 491 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 492 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics Excel provides three ways, described in the following sections, to select a particular chart element: ■ Mouse ■ Keyboard ■ Chart Elements control Selecting with the mouse To select a chart element with your mouse, just click the element. The chart element appears with small circles at the corners. Some chart elements can be a bit tricky to select. To ensure that you select the chart element that you intended to select, view the Chart Elements control, located in the Chart Tools ➪ Format ➪ Current Selection group of the Ribbon (see Figure 20.1). Or, if the Format task pane is displayed, you can identify the selected chart element by the title of the task pane. Press Ctrl+1 to display the Format task pane. FIGURE 20.1 The Chart Elements control (in the upper-left corner) displays the name of the selected chart element. In this example, the “chart title” is selected. 492 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 493 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting When you move the mouse over a chart, a small chart tip displays the name of the chart element under the mouse pointer. When the mouse pointer is over a data point, the chart tip also displays the value of the data point. If you find these chart tips annoying, you can turn them off. Choose File ➪ Options and select the Advanced tab in the Excel Options dialog box. Locate the Chart section and clear either or both the Show Chart Element Names on Hover or the Show Data Point Values on Hover check boxes. Some chart elements (such as a series, a legend, and data labels) consist of multiple items. For example, a chart series element is made up of individual data points. To select a particular data point, click twice: ﬁ rst, click the series to select it, and then click the speciﬁc element within the series (for example, a column or a line chart marker). Selecting the element enables you to apply formatting to only a particular data point in a series. You may ﬁ nd that some chart elements are difﬁcult to select with the mouse. If you rely on the mouse for selecting a chart element, you may have to click it several times before the desired element is actually selected. Fortunately, Excel provides other ways to select a chart element, and it’s worth your while to be familiar with them. Keep reading to see how. Selecting with the keyboard When a chart is active, you can use the up-arrow and down-arrow navigation keys on your keyboard to cycle among the chart’s elements. Again, keep your eye on the Chart Elements control to ensure that the selected chart element is what you think it is. ■ When a chart series is selected: Use the left-arrow and right-arrow keys to select an individual item within the series. ■ When a set of data labels is selected: You can select a speciﬁc data label by using the left-arrow or right-arrow key. ■ When a legend is selected: Select individual elements within the legend by using the left-arrow or right-arrow key. Selecting with the Chart Elements control The Chart Elements control is located in the Chart Tools ➪ Format ➪ Current Selection group. This control displays the name of the currently selected chart element. It’s a dropdown control, and you can use it to select a particular element in the active chart. The Chart Elements control also appears in the Mini toolbar, which is displayed when you right-click a chart element (see Figure 20.2). WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 493 20 c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 494 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics FIGURE 20.2 Using the Chart Elements control in the Mini toolbar. The Chart Elements control enables you to select only the top-level elements in the chart. To select an individual data point within a series, for example, you need to select the series and then use the navigation keys (or your mouse) to select the desired data point. When a single data point is selected, the Chart Elements control will display the name of the selected element even though it’s not actually available for selection from the drop-down list. If you do a lot of work with charts, you may want to add the Chart Elements control to your Quick Access toolbar. That way, it will always be visible regardless of which Ribbon tab is showing. To add the control to your Quick Access toolbar, right-click the down arrow in the Chart Elements control in the Ribbon and choose Add to Quick Access Toolbar. User Interface Choices for Modifying Chart Elements You have four main ways of working with chart elements: the Format task pane, the icons that display to the right of the chart, the Ribbon, and the Mini toolbar. 494 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 495 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting Using the Format task pane When a chart element is selected, use the element’s Format task pane to format or set options for the element. Each chart element has a unique Format task pane that contains controls speciﬁc to the element (although many Format task panes have controls in common). To access the Format task pane, use any of these methods: ■ Double-click the chart element. ■ Right-click the chart element and then choose Format xxxx from the shortcut menu (where xxxx is the name of the element). ■ Select a chart element and then choose Chart Tools ➪ Format ➪ Current Selection ➪ Format Selection. ■ Select a chart element and press Ctrl+1. Any of these actions displays the Format task pane from which you can make many changes to the selected chart element. For example, Figure 20.3 shows the task pane that appears when a chart’s value axis is selected. The task pane is free ﬂoating, not docked. Note that a scrollbar is displayed, which means that all the options can’t ﬁt in the vertical space for the task pane. FIGURE 20.3 Use the Format task pane to set the properties of a selected chart element — in this case, the chart’s value axis. 20 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 495 c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 496 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics Normally, the Format task pane is docked on the right side of the window. But you can click the title and drag it anywhere you like and resize it. To redock the task pane, maximize the Excel window, and then drag the task pane to the right side of the window. If you select a different chart element, the Format task pane changes to display the options appropriate for the new element. Using the chart customization buttons When a chart is selected, three buttons appear to the right of the chart (see Figure 20.4). These buttons, when clicked, expand to show various options. The icons are ■ Chart Elements: Use these tools to hide or display speciﬁc elements in the chart. Note that each item can be expanded to show additional options. To expand an item in the Chart Elements list, hover your mouse over the item and click the arrow that appears. ■ Chart Styles: Use this icon to select from prebuilt chart styles or change the color scheme of the chart. ■ Chart Filters: Use this icon to hide or display data series and speciﬁc points in a data series, or hide and display categories. Some chart types do not display the Chart Filters button. FIGURE 20.4 Chart customization buttons. Using the Ribbon When a chart element is selected, you can also use the commands on the Ribbon to change some aspects of its formatting. For example, to change the color of the bars in a column chart, use the commands from the Chart Tools ➪ Format ➪ Shape Styles group. For some types of chart element formatting, you need to leave the Chart Tools tab. For example, to adjust font-related properties, use the commands from the Home ➪ Font group. 496 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 497 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting The Ribbon controls do not comprise a comprehensive set of tools for chart elements. The Format task pane usually presents options that aren’t available on the Ribbon. Using the Mini toolbar When you right-click an element in a chart, Excel displays a shortcut menu and the Mini toolbar. The Mini toolbar contains icons (Style, Fill, Outline) that, when clicked, display formatting options. For some chart elements, the Style icon isn’t relevant, so the Mini toolbar displays the Chart Elements control (which you can use to select another chart element). Modifying the Chart Area The Chart Area is an object that contains all other elements in the chart. You can think of it as a chart’s master background or container. The only modiﬁcations that you can make to the Chart Area are cosmetic. You can change its ﬁll color, outline, or effects such as shadows and soft edges. If you set the Chart Area of an embedded chart to use No Fill, the chart becomes transparent and the underlying cells are visible. Figure 20.5 shows a chart that uses No Fill and No Outline in its Chart Area. The Plot Area, Legend, and Chart Title do use a fill color. Adding a shadow to these other elements makes them appear to be floating above the worksheet. FIGURE 20.5 The Chart Area element uses No Fill, so the underlying cells are visible. 20 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 497 c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 498 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics The Chart Area element also controls all the fonts used in the chart. For example, if you want to change every font in the chart, you don’t need to format each text element separately. Just select the Chart Area and then make the change from options of the Home ➪ Font group or the Format Chart Area task pane. Resetting Chart Element Formatting If you go overboard formatting a chart element, you can always reset it to its original state. Just select the element and choose Chart Tools ➪ Format ➪ Current Selection ➪ Reset to Match Style. Or rightclick the chart element and choose Reset to Match Style from the shortcut menu. To reset all formatting changes in the entire chart, select the Chart Area before you issue the Reset to Match Style command. Modifying the Plot Area The Plot Area is the part of the chart that contains the actual chart. More speciﬁcally, the Plot Area is a container for the chart series. If you set the Shape Fill property to No Fill, the Plot Area will be transparent. Therefore, the fill color applied to the Chart Area will show through. You can move and resize the Plot Area. Select the Plot Area and then drag a border to move it. To change the size of the Plot Area, drag one of the corner handles. Different chart types vary in the way they respond to changes in the Plot Area dimensions. For example, you can’t change the relative dimensions of the Plot Area of a pie chart or a radar chart. The Plot Area of these charts is always square. With other chart types, though, you can change the aspect ratio of the Plot Area by changing either the height or the width. Figure 20.6 shows a chart in which the Plot Area was resized to make room for an inserted Shape that contains text. 498 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 499 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting FIGURE 20.6 Reducing the size of the Plot Area makes room for the Shape. In some cases, the size of the Plot Area changes automatically when you adjust other elements of your chart. For example, if you add a legend to a chart, the size of the Plot Area may be reduced to accommodate the legend. Changing the size and position of the Plot Area can have a dramatic effect on the overall look of your chart. When you’re fine-tuning a chart, you’ll probably want to experiment with various sizes and positions for the Plot Area. Working with Titles in a Chart A chart can have several different types of titles: ■ Chart title ■ Category axis title ■ Value axis title ■ Secondary category axis title ■ Secondary value axis title ■ Depth axis title (for true 3-D charts) WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 20 499 c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 500 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics The number of titles that you can use depends on the chart type. For example, a pie chart supports only a chart title because it has no axes. The easiest way to add a chart title is to use the Chart Elements button (the plus sign), which appears to the right of the chart. Activate the chart, click the Chart Elements button, and enable the Chart Title item. To specify a location, move the mouse over the Chart Title item and click the arrow. You can then specify the location for the Chart Title. Click More Options to display the Format Chart Title task pane. The same basic procedure applies to Axis Titles. You have additional options to specify which axis title(s) you want. After you add a title, you can replace the default text and drag the title to a different position. However, you can’t change the size of a title by dragging its borders. The only way to change the size of a title is to change the font size. The chart title or any of the axis titles can also use a cell reference. For example, you can create a link so the chart always displays the text contained in cell A1 as its title. To create a link, select the title, type an equal sign (=), point to the cell, and press Enter. After you create the link, the Formula bar displays the cell reference when you select the title. Adding Free-Floating Text to a Chart Text in a chart is not limited to titles. In fact, you can add free-floating text anywhere you want. To do so, activate the chart and choose Insert ➪ Text ➪ Text Box. Click in the chart to create the text box and enter the text. You can resize the text box, move it, change its formatting, and so on. You can also add a Shape to the chart and then add text to the Shape (if the Shape is one that accepts text). Refer to Figure 20.6 for an example of an inserted Shape with text. Working with a Legend A chart’s legend consists of text and keys that identify the data series in the chart. A key is a small graphic that corresponds to the chart’s series (one key for each series). To add a legend to your chart, activate the chart and click the Chart Elements icon to the right of the chart. Place a check mark next to Legend. To specify a location for the legend, click the arrow next to the Legend item and choose a location (Right, Top, Left, or Bottom). After you add a legend, you can drag it to move it anywhere you like. 500 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 501 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting If you move a legend manually, you may need to adjust the size of the chart’s Plot Area. The quickest way to remove a legend is to select it and then press Delete. You can select individual items within a legend and format them separately. For example, you may want to make the text bold to draw attention to a particular data series. To select an element in the legend, ﬁ rst select the legend and then click the desired element. If you didn’t include legend text when you originally selected the cells to create the chart, Excel displays Series 1, Series 2, and so on, in the legend. To add series names, choose Chart Tools ➪ Design ➪ Data ➪ Select Data to display the Select Data Source dialog box (see Figure 20.7). Select the series name and click the Edit button. In the Edit Series dialog box, type the series name or enter a cell reference that contains the series name. Repeat for each series that needs naming. FIGURE 20.7 Use the Select Data Source dialog box to change the name of a data series. In some cases, you may prefer to omit the legend and use callouts to identify the data series. Figure 20.8 shows a chart with no legend. Instead, it uses Shapes to identify each series. These Shapes are from the Callouts section of the Chart Tools ➪ Format ➪ Insert Shapes gallery. 20 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 501 c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 502 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics FIGURE 20.8 Using Shapes as callouts in lieu of a legend. Copying Chart Formatting You created a killer chart and spent hours customizing it. Now you need to create another one just like it, but with a different set of data. What are your options? You have several choices: 502 ■ Copy the formatting. Create your new chart with the default formatting. Then select your original chart and choose Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Copy (or press Ctrl+C). Click your new chart and choose Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Paste ➪ Paste Special. In the Paste Special dialog box, select the Formats option. ■ Copy the chart and change the data sources. Press Ctrl while you click the original chart and drag. This creates an exact copy of your chart. Then choose Chart Tools ➪ Design ➪ Data ➪ Select Data. In the Select Data Source dialog box, specify the data for the new chart in the Chart Data Range field. ■ Create a chart template. Select your chart, right-click the Chart Area, and choose Save as Template from the shortcut menu. Excel prompts you for a name. When you create your next chart, use this template as the chart type. For more information about using chart templates, see “Creating Chart Templates,” later in this chapter. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 503 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting Working with Gridlines Gridlines can help the viewer determine what the chart series represents numerically. Gridlines simply extend the tick marks on an axis. Some charts look better with gridlines; others appear more cluttered. Sometimes horizontal gridlines alone are enough, although XY charts often beneﬁt from both horizontal and vertical gridlines. To add or remove gridlines, activate the chart and click the Chart Elements button to the right of the chart. Place a checkmark next to Gridlines. To specify the type of gridlines, click the arrow to the right of the Gridlines item. Each axis has two sets of gridlines: major and minor. Major units display a label. Minor units are located between the labels. To modify the color or thickness of a set of gridlines, click one of the gridlines and use the commands from the Chart Tools ➪ Format ➪ Shape Styles group. Or use the controls in the Format Major (or Format Minor) Gridlines task pane. If gridlines seem too overpowering, consider changing them to a lighter color or use one of the dashed line options. Modifying the Axes Charts vary in the number of axes they use. Pie, doughnut, sunburst, and treemap charts have no axes. All 2-D charts have two axes but can have three (if you use a secondary value axis) or four (if you use a secondary category axis in an XY chart). True 3-D charts have three axes. Excel gives you a great deal of control over these axes via the Format Axis task pane. The content of this task pane varies depending on the type of axis selected. Value axis To change a value axis, right-click it and choose Format Axis. Figure 20.9 shows one panel (Axis Options) of the Format Axis task pane, for a value axis. In this case, the Axis Options section is expanded, and the other three sections are contracted. The other icons along the top of this task pane deal with cosmetic and number formatting for the axis. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 503 20 c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 504 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics FIGURE 20.9 The Format Axis task pane for a value axis. By default, Excel determines the minimum and maximum axis values automatically, based on the numerical range of the data. To override this automatic axis scaling, enter your own minimum and maximum values in the Bounds section. If you change these values, the word Auto changes to a Reset button. Click Reset to revert to automatic axis scaling. Excel also adjusts the major and minor axis units automatically. Again, you can override Excel’s choice and specify different units. Adjusting the bounds of a value axis can dramatically affect the chart’s appearance. Manipulating the scale, in some cases, can present a false picture of the data. Figure 20.10 shows two line charts that depict the same data. The chart on the left uses Excel’s default (Auto) axis bounds values, which extend from 1,600 to 1,950. In the chart on the right, the Minimum bound value was set to 0, and the Maximum bound value was set to 3,000. The ﬁ rst chart makes the differences in the data seem more prominent. The second chart gives the impression that there isn’t much change over time. 504 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 505 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting FIGURE 20.10 These two charts show the same data but use different value axis bounds. The actual scale that you use depends on the situation. There are no hard-and-fast rules regarding setting scale values except that you shouldn’t misrepresent data by manipulating the chart to prove a point that doesn’t exist. If you’re preparing several charts that use similarly scaled data, keeping the bounds the same is a good idea so that the charts can be compared more easily. Another option in the Format Axis task pane is Values in Reverse Order. The left chart in Figure 20.11 uses default axis settings. The right chart uses the Values in Reverse Order option, which reverses the scale’s direction. Notice that the Category Axis is at the top. If you would prefer that it remain at the bottom of the chart, select the Maximum Axis Value option for the Horizontal Axis Crosses setting. If the values to be plotted cover a large numerical range, you may want to use a logarithmic scale for the value axis. A log scale is most often used for scientiﬁc applications. Figure 20.12 shows two charts. The top chart uses a standard scale, and the bottom chart uses a logarithmic scale. 20 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 505 c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 506 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics FIGURE 20.11 The right chart uses the Values in Reverse Order option FIGURE 20.12 These charts display the same data, but the bottom chart uses a logarithmic scale. 506 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 507 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting For a logarithmic scale, the Base setting is 10, so each scale value in the chart is ten times greater than the one below it. Increasing the major unit to 100 results in a scale in which each tick mark value is 100 times greater than the one below it. You can specify a base value between 2 and 1,000. This workbook, log scale.xlsx, is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/ excel2016bible. If your chart uses large numbers, you may want to change the Display Units settings. Figure 20.13 shows a chart (left) that uses large numbers. The chart on the right uses the Display Units as Millions settings, with the option to Show Display Units Labels on Chart. I added “of Miles” to the label. FIGURE 20.13 The chart on the right uses display units of millions. To adjust the tick marks displayed on an axis, click the Tick Marks section of the Format Axis dialog box to expand that section. The Major and Minor Tick Mark options control the way the tick marks are displayed. Major tick marks are the axis tick marks that normally have labels next to them. Minor tick marks fall between the major tick marks. If you expand the Labels section, you can position the axis labels at three different locations: Next to Axis, High, and Low. Refer to Figure 20.14. Each axis extends from –10 to +10. When you combine these settings with the Axis Crosses At option, you have a great deal of ﬂexibility. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 507 20 c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 508 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics FIGURE 20.14 Various ways to display axis labels and crossing points. The ﬁ nal section of the task pane, Number, lets you specify the number formatting for the value axis. Normally, the number formatting is linked to the source data, but you can override that. Category axis Figure 20.15 shows part of the Axis Options section of the Format Axis task pane when a category axis is selected. Some options are the same as those for a value axis. An important setting is the Axis Type: Text or Date. When you create a chart, Excel recognizes whether your category axis contains date or time values. If it does, it uses a Date category axis. Figure 20.16 shows a simple example. Column A contains dates, and column B contains the values plotted in the column chart. The data consists of values for only 10 dates, yet Excel created the chart with 30 intervals on the category axis. It recognized that the category axis values were dates and created an equal-interval scale. You can override Excel’s decision to use a Date category axis by choosing the Text Axis option for Axis Type. Figure 20.17 shows the chart after making this change. In this case, 508 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 509 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting using a time-based category axis (as shown in Figure 20.16) presents a much truer picture of the data. FIGURE 20.15 Some of the options available for a category axis. FIGURE 20.16 Excel recognizes dates and creates a time-based category axis. 20 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 509 c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 510 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics FIGURE 20.17 Overriding the Excel time-based category axis. Excel chooses the way to orient the category labels, but you can override its choice. Figure 20.18 shows a column chart with month labels. Because of the lengthy category labels, Excel displays the text at an angle. If you make the chart wider, the labels will then appear horizontally. You can also adjust the labels using the Alignment controls in the Size & Properties section of the Format Axis task pane. FIGURE 20.18 Excel determines the way to display category axis labels. In some cases, you really don’t need every category label. You can adjust the interval between Labels settings to skip some labels (and cause the text to display horizontally). Figure 20.19 shows such a chart; the interval between the Labels setting is 3. 510 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 511 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting FIGURE 20.19 Changing the interval between the Labels setting makes labels display horizontally. Keep in mind that category axis labels can consist of more than one column. Figure 20.20 shows a chart that displays three columns of text for the category axis. I selected the range A1:E10 and created a column chart, and Excel ﬁgured out the category axis. FIGURE 20.20 This chart uses three columns of text for the category axis labels. 20 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 511 c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 512 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment (But on a Copy) I’ll let you in on a secret: the key to mastering charts in Excel is experimentation, otherwise known as trial and error. Excel’s charting options can be overwhelming, even to experienced users. This book doesn’t even pretend to cover all the charting features and options. Your job, as a potential charting master, is to dig deep and try out the various options in your charts. With a bit of creativity, you can create original-looking charts. After you create a basic chart, make a copy of the chart for your experimentation. That way, if you mess it up, you can always revert to the original and start again. To make a copy of an embedded chart, click the chart and press Ctrl+C. Then activate a cell and press Ctrl+V. To make a copy of a chart sheet, press Ctrl while you click the sheet tab and then drag it to a new location among the other tabs. Working with Data Series Every chart consists of one or more data series. This data translates into chart columns, bars, lines, pie slices, and so on. This section discusses some common operations that involve a chart’s data series. When you select a data series in a chart, Excel does the following: ■ Displays the series name in the Chart Elements control (located in the Chart Tools ➪ Format ➪ Current Selection group ■ Displays the Series formula in the Formula bar ■ Highlights the cells used for the selected series by outlining them in color You can make changes to a data series by using options on the Ribbon or from the Format Data Series task pane. This task pane varies, depending on the type of data series you’re working on (column, line, pie, and so on). If the Format task pane isn’t already displayed, the easiest way to display the Format Data Series task pane is to double-click the chart series. Be careful, however: If a data series is already selected, double-clicking brings up the Format Data Point task pane. Changes that you make affect only one point in the data series. To edit the entire series, make sure that a chart element other than the data series is selected before you double-click the data series. Or just press Ctrl+1 to display the task pane. 512 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 513 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting Deleting or hiding a data series To delete a data series in a chart, select the data series and press Delete. The data series disappears from the chart. The data in the worksheet, of course, remains intact. You can delete all data series from a chart. If you do so, the chart appears empty. It retains its settings, however. Therefore, you can add a data series to an empty chart, and it again looks like a chart. To temporarily hide a data series, activate a chart and click the Chart Filters button on the right. Remove the check mark from the data series that you want to hide, click Apply, and that data series is hidden — but it’s still associated with the chart, so you can unhide it later. You can’t hide all the series, though. At least one must be visible. The Chart Filters button also lets you hide individual points in a series. Note that the six new chart types introduced in Excel 2016 do not display a Chart Filters button. Adding a new data series to a chart If you want to add another data series to an existing chart, one approach is to re-create the chart and include the new data series. However, adding the data to the existing chart is usually easier, and your chart retains any customization that you’ve made. Figure 20.21 shows a column chart that has one data series (Pre-Test). The Post-Test scores just became available and were entered into the worksheet in column C. Now the chart needs to be updated to include the new data series. FIGURE 20.21 This chart needs a new data series. 20 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 513 c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 514 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics Excel provides three ways to add a new data series to a chart: ■ Use the Select Data Source dialog box. Activate the chart and choose Chart Tools ➪ Design ➪ Data ➪ Select Data. In the Select Data Source dialog box, click the Add button, and Excel displays the Edit Series dialog box. Specify the Series Name (as a cell reference or text) and the range that contains the Series Values. The Select Data Source dialog box is also accessible from the shortcut menu displayed by rightclicking many elements in a chart. ■ Drag the range outline. If the data series to be added is contiguous with other data in the chart, you can click the Chart Area in the chart. Excel highlights and outlines the data in the worksheet. Click one of the corners of the outline and drag to highlight the new data. This method works only for embedded charts. ■ Copy and paste. Select the range to add and press Ctrl+C to copy it to the Clipboard. Then activate the chart and press Ctrl+V to paste the data into the chart. If the chart was originally made from data in a table (created via Insert ➪ Tables ➪ Table), the chart is updated automatically when you add new rows or columns to the table (or remove rows or columns). If you have a chart that is updated frequently with new data, you can save time and effort by creating the chart from data in a table. Changing data used by a series You may ﬁ nd that you need to modify the range that deﬁ nes a data series. For example, say you need to add new data points or remove old ones from the data set. The following sections describe several ways to change the range used by a data series. Changing the data range by dragging the range outline If you have an embedded chart, the easiest way to change the data range for a data series is to drag the range outline. When you select a series in a chart, Excel outlines the data range used by that series. You can drag the small dot in the lower-right corner of the range outline to extend or contract the data series. In Figure 20.22, the range outline will be dragged to include two additional data points. You can also click and drag one of the sides of the outline to move the outline to a different range of cells. In some cases, you’ll also need to adjust the range that contains the category labels. The labels are also outlined, and you can drag the outline to expand or contract the range of labels used in the chart. If your chart is on a chart sheet, you need to use one of the two methods described next. These methods also work with embedded charts. 514 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 515 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting FIGURE 20.22 Changing a chart’s data series by dragging the range outline. Using the Edit Series dialog box Another way to update the chart to reﬂect a different data range is to use the Edit Series dialog box. A quick way to display this dialog box is to right-click the series in the chart and then choose Select Data from the shortcut menu. The Select Source Data dialog box appears. Select the data series in the list, and click Edit to display the Edit Series dialog box, shown in Figure 20.23. FIGURE 20.23 The Edit Series dialog box. You can change the entire data range used by the chart by adjusting the range references in the Chart Data Range ﬁeld. Or select a series from the list and click Edit to modify the selected series. Editing the Series formula Every data series in a chart has an associated SERIES formula, which appears in the Formula bar when you select a data series in a chart. If you understand the way a SERIES formula is constructed, you can edit the range references in the SERIES formula directly to change the data used by the chart. Note that the six new chart types introduced in Excel 2016 do not display a SERIES formula when a data series is selected. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 515 20 c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 516 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics The SERIES formula is not a real formula. In other words, you can’t use it in a cell, and you can’t use worksheet functions within the SERIES formula. You can, however, edit the arguments in the SERIES formula. A SERIES formula has the following syntax: =SERIES(series_name, category_labels, values, order, sizes) The arguments that you can use in the SERIES formula include ■ series_name: (Optional) A reference to the cell that contains the series name used in the legend. If the chart has only one series, the name argument is used as the title. This argument can also consist of text in quotation marks. If omitted, Excel creates a default series name (for example, Series 1). ■ category_labels: (Optional) A reference to the range that contains the labels for the category axis. If omitted, Excel uses consecutive integers beginning with 1. For XY charts, this argument speciﬁes the X values. A noncontiguous range reference is also valid. The ranges’ addresses are separated by commas and enclosed in parentheses. The argument could also consist of an array of comma-separated values (or text in quotation marks) enclosed in curly brackets. ■ values: (Required) A reference to the range that contains the values for the series. For XY charts, this argument speciﬁes the Y values. A noncontiguous range reference is also valid. The range addresses are separated by a comma and enclosed in parentheses. The argument could also consist of an array of comma-separated values enclosed in curly brackets. ■ order: (Required) An integer that speciﬁes the plotting order of the series. This argument is relevant only if the chart has more than one series. Using a reference to a cell is not allowed. ■ sizes: (Only for bubble charts) A reference to the range that contains the values for the size of the bubbles in a bubble chart. A noncontiguous range reference is also valid. The range addresses are separated by commas and enclosed in parentheses. The argument can also consist of an array of values enclosed in curly brackets. Range references in a SERIES formula are always absolute (contain two dollar signs), and they always include the sheet name. For example =SERIES(Sheet1!$B$1,,Sheet1!$B$2:$B$7,1) You can substitute range names for the range references. If you do so, Excel changes the reference in the SERIES formula to include the workbook name (if it’s a workbook-level name) or to include the worksheet name (if it’s a sheet-level name). For example, if you use a workbook-level range named MyData (in a workbook named budget .xlsx), the SERIES formula looks like this: =SERIES(Sheet1!$B$1,,budget.xlsx!MyData,1) 516 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 517 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting For more information about named ranges, see Chapter 4, “Working with Cells and Ranges.” Displaying data labels in a chart Sometimes, you may want your chart to display the actual numerical value for each data point. To add labels to data series in a chart, select the series and click the Add Elements button on the right side of the chart. Place a check mark next to Data Labels. Click the arrow next to the Data Labels item to specify the position for the labels. To add data labels for all series, use the same procedure, but start by selecting something other than a data series. Figure 20.24 shows three minimalist charts with data labels. FIGURE 20.24 These charts use data labels and don’t display axes. 20 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 517 c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 518 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics To change the type of information that appears in data labels, select the data labels for a series and use the Format Data Labels task pane. (If the task pane isn’t visible, press Ctrl+1.) Then use the Label Options section to customize the data labels. For example, you can include the series name and the category name along with the value. The data labels are linked to the worksheet, so if your data changes, the labels also change. If you want to override the data label with other text, select the label and enter the new text. In some situations, you may need to use other data labels for a series. In the Format Data Labels task pane, select Value from Cells (in the Label Options section) and click Select Range to specify the range that contains the data point labels. Figure 20.25 shows an XY chart that uses data labels stored in a range. In versions prior to Excel 2013, adding these data labels had to be done manually or with the assistance of a macro. Because it’s a new feature (introduced in Excel 2013), data labels applied using this method will not be displayed in Excel 2007 or earlier. FIGURE 20.25 Data labels linked to text in an arbitrary range. Often, the data labels aren’t positioned properly. For example, a label may be obscured by another data point or another label. If you select an individual data label, you can drag the label to a better location. To select an individual data label, click once to select them all and then click the single data label. 518 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 519 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting Handling missing data Sometimes, data that you’re charting may be missing one or more data points. As shown in Figure 20.26, Excel offers three ways to handle the missing data: ■ Gaps: Missing data is simply ignored, and the data series will have a gap. This is the default. ■ Zero: Missing data is treated as zero. ■ Connect Data Points with Line: Missing data is interpolated, calculated by using data on either side of the missing point(s). This option is available for line charts, area charts, and XY charts only. FIGURE 20.26 Three options for dealing with missing data. To specify how to deal with missing data for a chart, choose Chart Tools ➪ Design ➪ Data ➪ Select Data. In the Select Data Source dialog box, click the Hidden and Empty Cells button. Excel displays its Hidden and Empty Cell Settings dialog box. Make your choice in the dialog box. The option that you choose applies to the entire chart, and you can’t set a different option for different series in the same chart. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 519 20 c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 520 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics Normally, a chart doesn’t display data that’s in a hidden row or column. You can use the Hidden and Empty Cell Settings dialog box to force a chart to use hidden data, though. Adding error bars Some chart types support error bars. Error bars often are used to indicate “plus or minus” information that reﬂects uncertainty in the data. Error bars are appropriate for area, bar, column, line, and XY charts only. To add error bars, select a data series and then click the Add Elements icon to the right of the chart. Add a check mark next to Error Bars. Click the arrow next to the Error Bars item to specify the type of error bars. If necessary, you can ﬁ ne-tune the error bar settings from the Format Error Bars task pane. The types of error bars are ■ Fixed value: The error bars are ﬁ xed by an amount that you specify. ■ Percentage: The error bars are a percentage of each value. ■ Standard deviation(s): The error bars are in the number of standard deviation units that you specify. (Excel calculates the standard deviation of the data series.) ■ Standard error: The error bars are one standard error unit. (Excel calculates the standard error of the data series.) ■ Custom: You set the error bar units for the upper or lower error bars. You can enter either a value or a range reference that holds the error values that you want to plot as error bars. The chart shown in Figure 20.27 displays error bars based on percentage. FIGURE 20.27 This line chart series displays error bars based on percentage. 520 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 521 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting A data series in an XY chart can have error bars for both the X values and the Y values. A workbook with several other error bar examples is available on this book’s website at www.wiley .com/go/excel2016bible. The filename is error bars examples.xlsx. Adding a trendline When you’re plotting data over time, you may want to display a trendline that describes the data. A trendline points out general trends in your data. In some cases, you can forecast future data with trendlines. To add a trendline, select the data series and click the Add Elements button to the right of the chart. Place a check mark next to Trendline. To specify the type of trendline, click the arrow to the right of the Trendline item. The type of trendline that you choose depends on your data. Linear trends are most common, but some data can be described more effectively with another type. Figure 20.28 shows a line chart with two linear trendlines. Although the raw data is quite variable, the trendlines show that income is increasing and expenses are decreasing (but at a slower rate). FIGURE 20.28 A line chart with two linear trendlines. 20 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 521 c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 522 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics For more control over a trendline, use the Format Trendline task pane. Figure 20.29 shows another trendline example, in an XY chart. The trendline depicts the relationship between height and weight for 15 people. FIGURE 20.29 The trendline depicts the relationship between height and weight. Modifying 3-D charts 3-D charts have a few additional elements that you can customize. For example, most 3-D charts have a ﬂoor and walls, and true 3-D charts also have an additional category axis. You can select these chart elements and format them to your liking using the Format task pane. One area in which Excel 3-D charts differ from 2-D charts is in the perspective — or viewpoint — from which you see the chart. In some cases, the data may be viewed better if you change the order of the series. Figure 20.30 shows six views of a 3-D column chart with two data series. The top-left chart is the original, and the others are variations. In some of the charts, I changed the series order to make the columns more visible. As you can see, you can accidentally distort the chart to make it virtually worthless in terms of visualizing information. If accuracy of presentation is important, a 3-D chart is hardly ever the best choice. 522 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 523 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting FIGURE 20.30 Variations on a simple 3-D column chart. Changing the viewing angle of a 3-D chart may reveal portions of the chart that are otherwise hidden. To rotate a 3-D chart, use the Format Chart Area task pane. Then choose Chart Options ➪ Effects and expand the 3-D Rotation section. You can make your rotations and perspective changes by clicking the appropriate controls. Creating combination charts A combination chart is a single chart that consists of series that use different chart types. A combination chart may also include a second value axis. For example, you may have a chart that shows both columns and lines, with two value axes. The value axis for the columns is on the left, and the value axis for the line is on the right. A combination chart requires at least two data series. Figure 20.31 shows a column chart with two data series. The values for the Precipitation series are so low that they’re barely visible on the Value Axis scale. This is a good candidate for a combination chart. 20 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 523 c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 524 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics FIGURE 20.31 The Precipitation series is barely visible. The following steps describe how to convert this chart into a combination chart (column and line) that uses a second Value Axis: 1. Activate the chart and choose Chart Tools ➪ Design ➪ Type ➪ Change Chart type. The Change Chart Type dialog box appears. 2. Select the All Charts tab. 3. In the list of chart types, click Combo. 4. For the Avg Temp series, specify Clustered Column as the chart type. 5. For the Precipitation series, specify Line as the chart type, and click the Secondary Axis check box. 6. Click OK to insert the chart. Figure 20.32 shows the Change Chart dialog box after specifying the parameters for each series. This workbook is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The filename is weather combination chart.xlsx. 524 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 525 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting In some cases, you can’t combine chart types. For example, you can’t create a combination chart that involves a bubble chart or a 3-D chart. In the Change Chart dialog box, Excel displays only the chart types that can be used. Figure 20.33 demonstrates just how far you can go with a combination chart. This chart combines ﬁve different chart types: Pie, Area, Column, Line, and XY. I can’t think of any situation that would warrant such a chart, but it’s an interesting demo. FIGURE 20.32 Using the Change Chart dialog box to convert a chart into a combination chart. 20 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 525 c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 526 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics FIGURE 20.33 A five-way combination chart. This workbook is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The filename is five-way combination chart.xlsx. Displaying a data table In some cases, you may want to display a data table, which displays the chart’s data in tabular form, directly in the chart. To add a data table to a chart, activate the chart and click the Add Element button to the right of the chart. Place a check mark next to Data Table. Click the arrow to the right of the Data Table item for a few options. Figure 20.34 shows a combination chart that includes a data table. 526 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 527 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting FIGURE 20.34 This combination chart includes a data table that displays the values of the data points. Not all chart types support data tables. If the Data Table option isn’t available, that means the chart doesn’t support this feature. Using a data table is probably best suited for charts on chart sheets. If you need to show the data used in an embedded chart, you can do so using data in cells, which gives you more formatting flexibility. Creating Chart Templates This section describes how to create custom chart templates. A template includes customized chart formatting and settings. When you create a new chart, you can choose to use your template rather than a built-in chart type. If you ﬁ nd that you’re continually customizing your charts in the same way, you can probably save some time by creating a template. Or if you create lots of combination charts, you can create a combination chart template and avoid making the manual adjustments required for a combination chart. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 527 20 c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 528 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics To create a chart template, follow these steps: 1. Create a chart to serve as the basis for your template. The data you use for this chart isn’t critical, but for best results, it should be typical of the data that you’ll eventually be plotting with your custom chart type. 2. Apply any formatting and customizations that you like. This step determines the appearance of the charts created from the template. 3. Activate the chart, right-click the Chart Area or the Plot Area, and choose Save as Template from the shortcut menu. The Save Chart Template dialog box appears. 4. Provide a name for the template and click Save. Make sure you don’t change the proposed directory for the ﬁle. To create a chart based on a template, follow these steps: 1. Select the data to be used in the chart. 2. Choose Insert ➪ Charts ➪ Recommended Charts. The Insert Chart dialog box appears. 3. Select the All Charts tab. 4. From the left side of the Insert Chart dialog box, select Templates. Excel displays a thumbnail for each custom template that has been created. 5. Click the thumbnail that represents the template you want to use, and then click OK. Excel creates the chart based on the template you selected. You can also apply a template to an existing chart. Select the chart and choose Chart Tools ➪ Design ➪ Type ➪ Change Chart Type to display the Change Chart Type dialog box, which is identical to the Insert Chart dialog box. Learning Some Chart-Making Tricks This section describes some interesting (and perhaps useful) chart-making tricks. Some of these tricks use little-known features, and several tricks enable you to make charts that you may have considered impossible to create. Creating picture charts Excel makes it easy to incorporate a pattern, texture, or graphics ﬁle for elements in your chart. Figure 20.35 shows a chart that uses a photo as the background for a chart’s Chart Area element. 528 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 529 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting FIGURE 20.35 The Chart Area contains a photo. To display an image in a chart element, use the Fill section in the element’s Format task pane. Select the Picture or Texture Fill option and then click the button that corresponds to the image source (File, Clipboard, or Online). If you use the Clipboard button, make sure that you copied your image ﬁ rst. The other two options prompt you for the image. Figure 20.36 shows two more examples: a pie chart that uses a clip art image as its ﬁll; and a column chart that uses a Shape, which was inserted on a worksheet and then copied to the Clipboard. The examples in this section are available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/ excel2016bible. The filename is picture charts.xlsx. 20 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 529 c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 530 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics FIGURE 20.36 The left chart uses clip art, and the right chart uses a Shape that was copied to the Clipboard and pasted to the chart’s data series. Using images in a chart offers unlimited potential for creativity. The key, of course, is to resist the temptation to go overboard. Usually, a chart’s primary goal is to convey information, not to impress the viewer with your artistic skills. Using images, especially photos, in charts can dramatically increase the size of your workbooks. Creating a thermometer chart You’re probably familiar with a “thermometer” type display that shows the percentage of a task that has been completed. Creating such a display in Excel is easy. The trick involves creating a chart that uses a single cell (which holds a percentage value) as a data series. Figure 20.37 shows a worksheet set up to track daily progress toward a goal: 1,000 new customers in a 15-day period. Cell B18 contains the goal value, and cell B19 contains a simple formula that calculates the sum. Cell B21 contains a formula that calculates the percent of goal: =B19/B18 As you enter new data in column B, the formulas display the current results. A workbook with this example is available on this book’s website atwww.wiley.com/go/ excel2016bible. The filename is thermometer chart.xlsx. 530 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 531 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting FIGURE 20.37 This single-point chart displays progress toward a goal. To make the thermometer chart, select cell B21 and create a column chart from that single cell. Notice the blank cell above cell B21. Without this blank cell, Excel uses the entire data block for the chart, not just the single cell. Because B21 is isolated from the other data, only the single cell is used. Other changes required are to ■ Select the horizontal category axis and press Delete to remove the category axis from the chart. ■ Remove the legend. ■ Add a text box linked to cell B21 to display the percent accomplished. ■ In the Format Data Series task pane (Series Options section), set the Gap width to 0, which makes the column occupy the entire width of the plot area. ■ Select the Value Axis and display the Format Value Axis task pane. In the Axis Options section, set the Minimum to 0 and the Maximum to 1. 20 Make any other cosmetic adjustments to get the look you desire. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 531 c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 532 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics Creating a gauge chart Figure 20.38 shows another chart based on a single cell. It’s a pie chart set up to resemble a gauge. Although this chart displays only one value (entered in cell B1), it actually uses three data points (in A4:A6). FIGURE 20.38 This chart resembles a speedometer gauge and displays a value between 0 and 100 percent. A workbook with this example is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/ excel2016bible. The filename is gauge chart.xlsx. One slice of the pie — the slice at the bottom — always consists of 50 percent. I rotated the pie so that the 50 percent slice was at the bottom. Then I hid that slice by specifying No Fill and No Border for the data point. The other two slices are apportioned based on the value in cell B1. The formula in cell A4 is =MIN(B1,100%)/2 This formula uses the MIN function to display the smaller of two values: either the value in cell B1 or 100 percent. It then divides this value by 2 because only the top half of the pie is relevant. Using the MIN function prevents the chart from displaying more than 100 percent. The formula in cell A5 simply calculates the remaining part of the pie — the part to the right of the gauge’s “needle.” =50%-A4 The chart’s title was moved below the half-pie. The chart also contains a text box, linked to cell B1, that displays the percent completed. 532 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 533 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting Creating a comparative histogram With a bit of creativity, you can create charts that you may have considered impossible. For example, Figure 20.39 shows a chart sometimes referred to as a comparative histogram. Such charts often display population data and are sometimes known as population pyramids. FIGURE 20.39 A comparative histogram. A workbook with this example is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/ excel2016bible. The filename is comparative histogram.xlsx. Here’s how to create the chart: 1. Enter the data in A1:C8, as shown in Figure 20.39. Notice that the values for females are entered as negative values, which is important. 2. Select A1:C8 and create a bar chart. Use the subtype labeled Clustered Bar. 3. Select the horizontal axis and display the Format Axis task pane. 4. Expand the Number section and specify the 0%;0%;0% custom number format in the Format Code box. This custom number format eliminates the negative signs in the percentages. 5. Select the vertical axis and display the Format Axis task pane. 6. In the Axis Options section, set all tick marks to None and set the Axis Labels option to Low. This setting keeps the vertical axis in the center of the chart but displays the axis labels at the left side. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 533 20 c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 534 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics 7. Select either data series and display the Format Data Series task pane. 8. In the Series Options section, set the Series Overlap to 100% and the Gap Width to 0%. 9. Delete the legend and add two text boxes to the chart (Females and Males) to substitute for the legend. 10. Apply other formatting and labels as desired. Creating a Gantt chart A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart often used in project management applications. Although Excel doesn’t support Gantt charts per se, creating a simple Gantt chart is possible. The key is getting your data set up properly. Figure 20.40 shows a Gantt chart that depicts the schedule for a project, which is in the range A2:C13. The horizontal axis represents the total time span of the project, and each bar represents a project task. The viewer can quickly see the duration for each task and identify overlapping tasks. FIGURE 20.40 You can create a simple Gantt chart from a bar chart. 534 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 535 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting A workbook with this example is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/ excel2016bible. The filename is gantt chart.xlsx. Column A contains the task name, column B contains the corresponding start date, and column C contains the duration of the task, in days. Note that column A does not have a column header. That’s important. If cell A1 contains text, Excel will use columns A and B for the category axis labels. Follow these steps to create this chart: 1. Select the range A1:C13, and create a stacked bar chart. 2. Delete the legend. 3. Select the category (vertical) axis and display the Format Axis task pane. 4. In the Axis Options section, specify Categories in Reverse Order to display the tasks in order, starting at the top; choose Horizontal Axis Crosses at Maximum Category to display the dates at the bottom. 5. Select the Start Date data series and display the Format Data Series task pane. 6. In the Series Options section, set the Series Overlap to 100%; in the Fill section, specify No Fill; in the Border section, specify No Line. These steps effectively hide the data series. 7. Select the value (horizontal) axis and display the Format Axis task pane. 8. In the Axis Options section, adjust the Minimum and Maximum settings to accommodate the dates that you want to display on the axis. When you enter a date value, Excel converts it to a date serial number. In the example, the Minimum is 5/3/2016 and the Maximum is 7/30/2016. 9. Apply other formatting as desired. A Chart on a Map? Excel 2016 includes a 3-D mapping add-in that allows you to display data on a map. The example here shows the population for the largest cities in the United States. The 3D map is highly interactive and is even capable of saving animated videos that depict your data from different perspectives and zoom levels. Continues 20 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 535 c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 536 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics continued 3D mapping is a powerful tool — it’s also so complex that it’s well beyond the scope of this book. In fact, it deserves an entire book. If 3D Map is a feature that interests you, I urge you to explore it, experiment with it, and seek out more information on the Web. The simple example shown here is available at this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/ excel2016bible. The file is named us cities in 3d map.xlsx. When you open the file, choose Insert ➪ Tours ➪ 3D Map ➪ Open 3D Maps. Then click in Tour 1 and start exploring. Plotting mathematical functions with one variable An XY chart is useful for plotting various mathematical and trigonometric functions. For example, Figure 20.41 shows a plot of the SIN function. The chart plots y for values of x (expressed in radians) from –5 to +5 in increments of 0.5. Each pair of x and y values appears as a data point in the chart, and the points connect with a line. The function is expressed as y = SIN(x) 536 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 537 Chapter 20: Learning Advanced Charting The corresponding formula in cell B2 (which is copied to the cells below) is =SIN(A2) FIGURE 20.41 This chart plots the SIN(x). This book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible contains a general-purpose, single-variable plotting application. The file is named function plot 2D.xlsx. Plotting mathematical functions with two variables The preceding section describes how to plot functions that use a single variable (x). You also can plot functions that use two variables. For example, the following function calculates a value of z for various values of two variables (x and y): z = SIN(x)*COS(y) Figure 20.42 shows a surface chart that plots the value of z for 21 x values and 21 y values, ranging from –2.0 to +2.0. Both x and y use an increment of 0.2. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 537 20 c20.indd 09/15/2015 Page 538 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics FIGURE 20.42 Using a surface chart to plot a function with two variables. The formula in cell B2, copied across and down, is =SIN($A2)*COS(B$1) This book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible contains a general-purpose, twovariable plotting application. The file is named function plot 3D.xlsm. This workbook contains a few simple VBA macros to allow you to change the char t’s rotation and elevation. 538 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c21.indd 08/27/2015 Page 539 CHAPTER Visualizing Data Using Conditional Formatting 21 IN THIS CHAPTER Getting an overview of Excel’s conditional formatting feature Using the graphical conditional formats Using conditional formatting formulas Finding tips for using conditional formatting T his chapter explores the topic of conditional formatting, one of Excel’s most versatile features. You can apply conditional formatting to a cell so that the cell looks different, depending on its contents. Conditional formatting is a useful tool for visualizing numeric data. In some cases, conditional formatting may be a viable alternative to creating a chart. About Conditional Formatting Conditional formatting enables you to apply cell formatting selectively and automatically, based on the contents of the cells. For example, you can apply conditional formatting in such a way that all negative values in a range have a light-yellow background color. When you enter or change a value in the range, Excel examines the value and checks the conditional formatting rules for the cell. If the value is negative, the background is shaded; otherwise, no formatting is applied. Conditional formatting is an easy way to quickly identify erroneous cell entries or cells of a particular type. You can use a format (such as bright-red cell shading) to make particular cells easy to identify. 539 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c21.indd 08/27/2015 Page 540 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics Figure 21.1 shows a worksheet with nine ranges, each with a different type of conditional formatting rule applied. FIGURE 21.1 This worksheet demonstrates a few conditional formatting rules. Here’s a brief explanation of each: ■ 540 Greater than ten: Values greater than ten are highlighted with a different background color. This rule is just one of many numeric-value-related rules that you can apply. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c21.indd 08/27/2015 Page 541 Chapter 21: Visualizing Data Using Conditional Formatting ■ Above average: Values that are higher than the average value are highlighted. ■ Duplicate values: Values that appear in the range more than once are highlighted. ■ Words that contain X: If the cell contains X (upper- or lowercase), the cell is highlighted. ■ Data bars: Each cell displays a horizontal bar, the length of which is proportional to its value. ■ Color scale: The background color varies, depending on the value of the cells. You can choose from several different color scales or create your own. ■ Icon set: This is one of several icon sets. It displays a small graphic in the cell. The graphic varies, depending on the cell value. ■ Icon set: This is another icon set, with all but one icon in the set hidden. ■ Custom rule: The rule for this checkerboard pattern is based on a formula: =MOD(ROW(),2)=MOD(COLUMN(),2) This workbook, named conditional formatting examples.xlsx, is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. Specifying Conditional Formatting To apply a conditional formatting rule to a cell or range, select the cells and then use one of the commands from the Home ➪ Styles ➪ Conditional Formatting drop-down list to specify a rule. The choices are ■ Highlight Cell Rules: Examples include highlighting cells that are greater than a particular value, between two values, contain speciﬁc text string, contain a date, or are duplicated. ■ Top Bottom Rules: Examples include highlighting the top ten items, the items in the bottom 20%, and items that are above average. ■ Data Bars: Applies graphic bars directly in the cells, proportional to the cell’s value. ■ Color Scales: Applies background color, proportional to the cell’s value. ■ Icon Sets: Displays icons directly in the cells. The icons depend on the cell’s value. ■ New Rule: Enables you to specify other conditional formatting rules, including rules based on a logical formula. ■ Clear Rules: Deletes all the conditional formatting rules from the selected cells. ■ Manage Rules: Displays the Conditional Formatting Rules Manager dialog box, in which you create new conditional formatting rules, edit rules, or delete rules. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 541 21 c21.indd 08/27/2015 Page 542 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics Formatting types you can apply When you select a conditional formatting rule, Excel displays a dialog box speciﬁc to that rule. These dialog boxes have one thing in a common: a drop-down list with common formatting suggestions. Figure 21.2 shows the dialog box that appears when you choose Home ➪ Styles ➪ Conditional Formatting ➪ Highlight Cells Rules ➪ Between. This particular rule applies the formatting if the value in the cell falls between two speciﬁed values. In this case, you enter the two values (or specify cell references) and then use choices from the drop-down list to set the type of formatting to display if the condition is met. FIGURE 21.2 One of several different conditional formatting dialog boxes. The formatting suggestions in the drop-down list are just a few of thousands of different formatting combinations. If none of Excel’s suggestions are what you want, choose the Custom Format option to display the Format Cells dialog box. You can specify the format in any or all of the four tabs: Number, Font, Border, and Fill. The Format Cells dialog box used for conditional formatting is a modified version of the standard Format Cells dialog box. It doesn’t have the Alignment and Protection tabs, and some of the Font formatting options are disabled. The dialog box also includes a Clear button that clears any formatting already selected. Making your own rules For maximum control, Excel provides the New Formatting Rule dialog box, shown in Figure 21.3. Access this dialog box by choosing Home ➪ Styles ➪ Conditional Formatting ➪ New Rules. Use the New Formatting Rule dialog box to re-create all the conditional format rules available via the Ribbon, as well as new rules. First, select a general rule type from the list at the top of the dialog box. The bottom part of the dialog box varies, depending on your selection at the top. After you specify the rule, click the Format button to specify the type of formatting to apply if the condition is met. An exception is the ﬁ rst rule type 542 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c21.indd 08/27/2015 Page 543 Chapter 21: Visualizing Data Using Conditional Formatting (Format All Cells Based on Their Values), which doesn’t have a Format button. (It uses graphics rather than cell formatting.) 21 FIGURE 21.3 Use the New Formatting Rule dialog box to create your own conditional formatting rules. Here is a summary of the rule types: ■ Format all cells based on their values: Use this rule type to create rules that display data bars, color scales, or icon sets. ■ Format only cells that contain: Use this rule type to create rules that format cells based on mathematical comparisons (greater than, less than, greater than or equal to, less than or equal to, equal to, not equal to, between, not between). You can also create rules based on text, dates, blanks, nonblanks, and errors. ■ Format only top- or bottom-ranked values: Use this rule type to create rules that involve identifying cells in the top n, top n%, bottom n, and bottom n%. ■ Format only values that are above or below average: Use this rule type to create rules that identify cells that are above average, below average, or within a speciﬁed standard deviation from the average. ■ Format only unique or duplicate values: Use this rule type to create rules that format unique or duplicate values in a range. ■ Use a formula to determine which cells to format: Use this rule type to create rules based on a logical formula. (See “Creating Formula-Based Rules,” later in this chapter.) WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 543 c21.indd 08/27/2015 Page 544 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics Conditional Formats That Use Graphics This section describes the three conditional formatting options that display graphics: data bars, color scales, and icon sets. These types of conditional formatting can be useful for visualizing the values in a range. Using data bars The data bars conditional format displays horizontal bars directly in the cell. The length of the bar is based on the value of the cell, relative to the other values in the range. A simple data bar Figure 21.4 shows an example of data bars. It’s a list of tracks on 39 Bob Dylan albums, with the length of each track in column D. I applied data bar conditional formatting to the values in column D. You can tell at a glance which tracks are longer. FIGURE 21.4 The length of the data bars is proportional to the track length in the cell in column D. 544 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c21.indd 08/27/2015 Page 545 Chapter 21: Visualizing Data Using Conditional Formatting The examples in the section are available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/ excel2016bible. The workbook is named data bars examples.xlsx. 21 When you adjust the column width, the bar lengths adjust accordingly. The differences among the bar lengths are more prominent when the column is wider. Excel provides quick access to 12 data bar styles via Home ➪ Styles ➪ Conditional Formatting ➪ Data Bars. For additional choices, click the More Rules option, which displays the New Formatting Rule dialog box. Use this dialog box to ■ Show the bar only. (Hide the numbers.) ■ Specify Minimum and Maximum values for the scaling. ■ Change the appearance of the bars. ■ Specify how negative values and the axis are handled. ■ Specify the direction of the bars. Oddly, if you add data bars using one of the 12 data bar styles, the colors used for data bars are not theme colors. If you apply a new document theme, the data bar colors do not change. However, if you add the data bars by using the New Formatting Rule dialog box, the colors you choose are theme colors. Using data bars in lieu of a chart Using the data bars conditional formatting can sometimes serve as a quick alternative to creating a chart. Figure 21.5 shows a three-column range (in B3:D14) with data bars conditional formatting in column D. (Column D contains references to the values in column C.) The conditional formatting in column D uses the Show Bars Only option, so the values are not displayed. Figure 21.5 also shows an actual bar chart created from the same data. The bar chart takes about the same amount of time to create and is a lot more ﬂexible. But for a quick-anddirty chart, data bars may be a good option — especially when you need to create several such charts. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 545 c21.indd 08/27/2015 Page 546 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics FIGURE 21.5 Comparing data bars conditional formatting (top) with a bar chart. Using color scales The color scale conditional formatting option varies the background color of a cell based on the cell’s value, relative to other cells in the range. A color scale example Figure 21.6 shows examples of color scale conditional formatting. The example on the left depicts monthly sales for three regions. Conditional formatting was applied to the range 546 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c21.indd 08/27/2015 Page 547 Chapter 21: Visualizing Data Using Conditional Formatting B4:D15. The conditional formatting uses a three-color scale, with red for the lowest value, yellow for the midpoint, and green for the highest value. Values in between are displayed using a color within the gradient. It’s clear that the Central region consistently has lower sales volumes, but the conditional formatting doesn’t help identify monthly difference for a particular region. FIGURE 21.6 Two examples of color scale conditional formatting. The example on the right shows the same data, but conditional formatting was applied to each region separately. This approach facilitates comparisons within a region and can identify high or low sales months. Neither one of these approaches is necessarily better. The way you set up conditional formatting depends entirely on what you’re trying to visualize. This workbook, named color scale example.xlsx, is available on this book’s website at www .wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. Excel provides four two-color scale presets and four three-color scales presets, which you can apply to the selected range by choosing Home ➪ Styles ➪ Conditional Formatting ➪ Color Scales. To customize the colors and other options, choose Home ➪ Styles ➪ Conditional Formatting ➪ Color Scales ➪ More Rules. The New Formatting Rule dialog box, shown in Figure 21.7, appears. Adjust the settings, and watch the Preview box to see the effects of your changes. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 547 21 c21.indd 08/27/2015 Page 548 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics FIGURE 21.7 Use the New Formatting Rule dialog box to customize a color scale. An extreme color scale example It’s important to understand that color scale conditional formatting uses a gradient. For example, if you format a range using a two-color scale, you’ll get a lot more than two colors. You’ll also get colors within the gradient between the two speciﬁed colors. Figure 21.8 shows an extreme example that uses color scale conditional formatting on a range of more than 6,000 cells. The worksheet contains average daily temperatures for an 18-year period. Each row contains 365 (or 366) temperatures for the year. The columns are narrow so the entire year can be visualized. FIGURE 21.8 This worksheet uses color scale conditional formatting to display daily temperatures. 548 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c21.indd 08/27/2015 Page 549 Chapter 21: Visualizing Data Using Conditional Formatting This workbook, named extreme color scale.xlsx, is available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/excel2016bible. The workbook contains a second example of extreme color scale. 21 Using icon sets Yet another conditional formatting option is to display an icon in the cell. The icon displayed depends on the value of the cell. To assign an icon set to a range, select the cells and choose Home ➪ Styles ➪ Conditional Formatting ➪ Icon Sets. Excel provides 20 icon sets to choose from. The number of icons in the sets ranges from three to ﬁve. You can’t create a custom icon set. An icon set example Figure 21.9 shows an example that uses an icon set. The symbols graphically depict the status of each project, based on the value in column C. FIGURE 21.9 Using an icon set to indicate the status of projects. The icon set examples in this section are available on this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/ excel2016bible. The workbook is named icon set examples.xlsx. By default, the symbols are assigned using percentiles. For a three-symbol set, the items are grouped into three percentiles. For a four-symbol set, they’re grouped into four percentiles. And for a ﬁve-symbol set, the items are grouped into ﬁve percentiles. If you would like more control over how the icons are assigned, choose Home ➪ Styles ➪ Conditional Formatting ➪ Icon Sets ➪ More Rules to display the New Formatting Rule dialog box. To modify an existing rule, choose Home ➪ Styles ➪ Conditional Formatting ➪ Manage Rules. Then select the rule to modify and click the Edit Rule button. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 549 c21.indd 08/27/2015 Page 550 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics Figure 21.10 shows how to modify the icon set rules such that only projects that are 100% completed get the check mark icons. Projects that are 0% completed get the X icon. All other projects get no icon. Figure 21.11 shows project status list after making this change. FIGURE 21.10 Changing the icon assignment rule. FIGURE 21.11 Using a modified rule and eliminating an icon makes the table more readable. 550 WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org c21.indd 08/27/2015 Page 551 Chapter 21: Visualizing Data Using Conditional Formatting Another icon set example Figure 21.12 shows a table that contains two test scores for each student. The Change column contains a formula that calculates the difference between the two tests. The Trend column uses an icon set to display the trend graphically. FIGURE 21.12 The arrows depict the trend from Test 1 to Test 2. This example uses the icon set named 3 Arrows, and I customized the rule: ■ Up Arrow: When value is >= 5 ■ Level Arrow: When value < 5 and > –5 ■ Down Arrow: When value is <= –5 In other words, a difference of no more than ﬁve points in either direction is considered an even trend. An improvement of at least ﬁve points is considered a positive trend, and a decline of ﬁve points or more is considered a negative trend. The Trend column contains a formula that references the Change column. I used the Show Icon Only option in the Trend column, which also centers the icon in the column. In some cases, using icon sets can cause your worksheet to look a bit cluttered. Displaying an icon for every cell in a range might result in visual overload. Figure 21.13 shows a portion of the test results table after hiding the level arrow by choosing No Cell Icon in the Edit Formatting Rule dialog box. WOW! eBook www.wowebook.org 551 21 c21.indd 08/27/2015 Page 552 Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics FIGURE 21.13 Hiding one of the icons makes the table less cluttered. Creating Formula-Based Rules Excel’s conditional formatting feature is versatile, but sometimes it’s just not quite versatile enough. Fortunately, you can extend its versatility by writing conditional formatting formulas. The examples later in this section describe how to create conditional formatting formulas to ■ Identify text entries ■ Identify dates that fall on a weekend ■ Format cells that are in odd-numbered rows or columns (for dynamic alternate row or columns shading) ■ Format groups of rows (for example, shade every two groups of rows) ■ Display a sum only when all precedent cells contain values Some of these formulas m

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