In this week’s Excel roundup, you’ll find fun with Power Map, trouble with Excel formula errors, different types of cell references, and more.
Video: Excel Roundup 20160307
Watch this short video to see the highlights for Excel Roundup 20160307. The details and links are below the video.
1. Excel Formula Problems
Is your VLOOKUP formula returning the wrong results? One simple thing can cause errors that you might not notice. The same problem can affect INDEX/MATCH formulas too, so be sure to check for this problem in your workbooks.
2. Free Business Analytics Webinars
If you missed the recent PASS Business Analytics webinars, there’s good news. The recordings are online now, so you can watch when you have some free time. This would be way better than a night of mediocre TV shows, right?
3. Excel Basics
Ian Green’s article is for auditors, but the difference between absolute and relative references is important for all Excel users to understand. Some people use Excel for years, and don’t know about this important setting!
Another thing that can confuse Excel beginners is a workbook with the “handcuffs” on. On the Journal of Accountancy blog, J. Carlton Collins shows how to “unlock” a workbook like that. I’m surprised that the sheets weren’t protected too.
4. Power BI
In another one of his cool and useful tricks, Ken Puls shows how to create bands in Power Query. For example, group overdue accounts by 0-30 days, 31-60 days, etc.
And who knew you could use Power Map to pick concert tickets? Gašper Kamenšek shows the steps, using Mick Jagger as an example.
5. Excel for Scientists
This short profile of Andrew Willoughby shows that Excel is an important tool for plant scientists too.
And I think it would take a scientist or engineer to understand Nathan Brink’s article on using Excel formulas for bilinear interpolation. It looks fascinating, but it certainly went way over my head!
6. Excel Humour
Finally, for a bit of spreadsheet humour, you can see what people are saying about Excel, in my weekly collection of tweets. Here’s one of my favourite tweets from this week’s collection.
Pivot tables usually get me out of a bad mood!
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