Advanced Excel

Selected Topics in Advanced Excel

• Cell formats (number, dates, scientific, currency, etc) • Table Auto Formatting

• Conditional Formatting Presenting Worksheets – Page 3

• Freeze panes

• Creating Worksheet Templates

Exploring Data – Page 4

• Filtering • Pivot Tables

Retrieving External Data – Page 7

• The Query Wizard

Printing – Page 7

• Page Setup – Gridlines • Page Breaks

Formulas – Page 8

• Operators, sums, averages, etc.

• Typed-in formulas, formula palette, and the paste function key • Absolute versus relative cell references

• Paste Special (freezing results)

Excel Charts – Page 11

• Chart Wizard • Chart formatting

Exporting Excel Data and Charts – Page 14

• To Word and PowerPoint • To the Internet

FORMATTING

Formatting Cells: Cells can be formatted in two ways – using the formatting toolbar or

the Format Cells dialog box –

Formatting Tables: You can choose different styles for your Excel data tables by using

Conditional Formatting: The Conditional Formatting dialog box allows you to

automatically set special cell formatting when certain conditions apply (say, put all subtotals in bold, or all values over $1,000 in red italics) –

PRESENTING WORKSHEETS

Freezing Panes: Freeze panes to maintain rows (columns) containing labels as you scroll

down (across) large worksheets. Select the row (column) below the row (to the right of the column) you want frozen, then go to WINDOW Æ FREEZE PANES. Go to WINDOW Æ UNFREEZE PANES to turn off.

Copying a Worksheet as a Template:

1. Select cells to be copied (if you want to copy the whole sheet, click on the ‘Select All’ button on the top left of the matrix before copying).

2. Go to Edit Æ Copy (or copy icon in toolbar).

3. Open new worksheet and then click Edit Æ Paste (or paste icon in toolbar).

4. Delete all variable data, leaving labels and formulas. (To show cell formulas (to avoid deleting them), press [Ctrl] + [`]. To hide the cell formulas again, press [Ctrl] + [`] again.)

EXPLORING DATA

Filtering Data: Filtering lets you explore data in Excel by allowing you to view the data

that meets your chosen criteria; i.e., to be able to have your worksheet only show the records for subjects who are less than 16 years old, or for which a certain value is negative.

To filter your data, highlight the columns you want to filter, and go to DATA Æ

Down arrows appear at the top of selected columns – clicking on the arrows presents a drop down menu with filtering criteria –

Pivot Tables: Pivot tables allow you to quickly summarize and organize your Excel data

in alternative ways. It can be a very useful tool for drawing out key information and emphasizing different insights from the same large set of data.

Using the same Excel data, Pivot Tables allow you to emphasize different aspect of your data. For instance, arranging the data this way, you may emphasize the growth in each individual country’s imports year to year….

Or, alternatively, using the same data ‘pivot’ the table to emphasize a comparison of the two country’s imports in each year…

RETRIEVING EXTERNAL (NON-EXCEL) DATA INTO EXCEL:

From Microsoft Access: Data from Microsoft Access can be saved in Excel format and

then opened directly in Excel. In Access, go to FILE Æ SAVE AS/EXPORT… and then choose ‘Microsoft Excel’ in the Save as Type box.

From Quattro Pro, Lotus and dBase: Excel can directly open Files from these

programs. In Excel, go to FILE Æ OPEN and in the Open box, select the appropriate file format in the Files of Type box.

Other Data Sources: Data from other sources should be saved as ASCII text files. Excel

can then open these text files with the Text Import Wizard. 1. Go to FILE Æ OPEN.

2. In the Open box, select ‘Text Files’ or ‘All Files’ in the Files of Type box. 3. Click OK.

4. The Text Import Wizard will appear. Follow directions and answer questions in the Wizard to put data into Excel format.

PRINTING:

Removing or retaining gridlines in your printed document:

To remove or retain gridlines in your printed document, go to FILE Æ PAGE SETUP… Then in the Page Setup dialog box, hit the Sheet tab and click the Gridlines box on or off.

Keeping the labels displayed on each printed sheet: To keep the same top rows or left

column on each printed sheet (that is, to keep the row or column labels when the worksheet continues to a new printed page), use these boxes here.

FORMULAS

Building Formulas in Excel: Formulas allow you to carry out calculations using the data

in your Excel spreadsheet. These calculations may involve sums, averages,

multiplication, or many other mathematical, financial, statistical or logical functions.

You can type in formulas directly or use a formula palette or dialog box to create formulas.

Entering formulas directly:

1. An equal sign precedes every formula – make sure you type it in to let Excel know that you are entering a formula to be calculated! Use cell addresses to let Excel know which values to use in the calculation.

2. Use these operators:

+ Addition - Subtraction * Multiplication

/ Division, and brackets ,( ), for complex operations. For example, type ‘=B3/C3’ to divide the value in cell B3 by the value in C3.

3. You can also type in Excel’s formula function words such as SUM, AVERAGE, etc:

‘=SUM(H1:H10)’, for example, will give the sum of the values in

the ten cells from H1 to H10. (Note that ranges are denoted with a colon.)

And note that you can enter the cell address(es) you want in a formula by clicking on the cell or cells while typing in the formula.

Using the formula palette and dialog box to enter formulas:

Copying formulas:

Relative and absolute cell references

Use the standard copy and paste functions for formulas: Select cell with formula and go to EDIT Æ COPY, select cell to paste and go to EDIT Æ PASTE.

This will copy the formula with relative cell references – for example, if the formula in the original cell summed the three cells to its left, then the new copied cell will sum the three cells left of it.

Absolute cell references: To keep a unique cell reference in the formula, add the ‘$’ sign

before the parts of the cell address that you do not wish to change. For example, when copying ‘=C1+$D$2’ the cell address C1 will change relative to its new location when pasted to another cell but the second part of the sum will always be the value in cell D2.

Paste Special: Cells that contain formulas can be copied and pasted so that the values

contained in the cells, and not the formulas, are copied. Highlight the values to be copied, go to EDIT Æ COPY, select location to paste and then go to EDIT Æ PASTE

SPECIAL… This will open up the Paste Special dialog box, check the ‘Values’ box,

EXCEL CHARTS

Using the Chart Wizard: To make a chart to present your data, Excel uses the Chart

Wizard –

The Chart Wizard box will appear. Follow the four steps of the Chart Wizard to set up your chart –

STEP 2:

STEP 4:

Formatting a Chart in Excel: You can further format the chart after you first create it in

the Chart Wizard.

2. Plot Area: Double click on the plot area to open a Format Plot Area dialog box. 3. Data Series: Double click on data series bars (lines, etc) to open a Format Data

Series dialog box.

4. Title, Legend, Axis Title: Double click on the chart title, legend or axis titles to open a dialog box to format each of these.

5. From within a chart, you can go to CHART Æ CHART TYPE… on the menu bar to change to another chart type (bars, pie, 3-D, lines, etc.).

6. You can go to CHART Æ ADD DATA… to add additional data into the chart.

EXPORTING EXCEL DATA AND CHARTS

Exporting Excel Data and Charts to MS Word and MS PowerPoint:

1. Exporting Excel Data to Word or PowerPoint:

• In Excel, select the range you want to copy, then go to EDIT Æ COPY; Switch to Word document or PowerPoint presentation and click where you want to insert the Excel data.

• In Word or PowerPoint, go to EDIT Æ PASTE SPECIAL;

• Click Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object to paste the data as a picture that you can resize and position. By double clicking on the data, you can edit and reformat the data using Excel functions and tools;

• Click Formatted Text (RTF) to insert in a form you can resize and reformat using Word or PowerPoint functions and tools. (In Word, this will insert the data in a Word table);

• Click Unformatted Text to paste the data as text separated by tabs.

2. Exporting Excel Charts to Word or PowerPoint:

• In Excel, click on the chart you want to copy, then go to EDIT Æ COPY; Switch to Word document or PowerPoint presentation and click where you want to paste the chart.

• In Word or PowerPoint, go to EDIT Æ PASTE SPECIAL;

• Click Microsoft Office Drawing Object to paste the data as a picture that you can resize and position. By double clicking on the data, you can edit and reformat the data using Excel functions and tools.

Exporting Excel Data and Charts to the Internet:

Click a cell in the data (or click on the chart) that you want to convert to a Web page. Go to FILE Æ SAVE AS HTML. This will bring up an Internet Assistant

Wizard. Follow the instructions in the Internet Assistant Wizard to create the

Excel data or chart as an HTML document that can be opened as a separate Web page or inserted into a Web page.