Excel Roundup 20150518

In this week’s roundup, see how to choose a chart type, check formula speed, work with pivot table source data, and many more tips.

If you read or wrote any other interesting Excel articles recently, or have upcoming Excel events, please let me know. Thanks!

Weekly Excel Roundup http://blog.contextures.com/

1. Contextures Posts

In case you missed them, here are the articles that I posted recently:

  • For a humorous peek at what other people are saying about spreadsheets, read the latest collection of Excel tweets, on my Excel Theatre blog.

2. Power Map

On his Above the Law blog, Jeff Bennion shows how to use Power Map to illustrate child car seat complaint data, over a 10 year period, for a court case.

3. Choose a Chart Type

If you’re not sure which chart type will work best for your data, use Ann Emery’s Chart Choosing Tool. Click a filter at the top, such as “Do-able in Excel”, to see the chart types in that category. It doesn’t look like you can apply multiple filters though.

And speaking of charts, have you ever seen a chocolate bar chart, like the example that Andy Kirk shows?

4. Calculated Items

Mynda Treacy explains how to create a calculated item in a pivot table, and gives a couple of examples of how to use this feature.

5. Power Query Updates

There were 11 updates to Power Query this month, and you can read the details on Microsoft’s Excel Team blog. The best news is that it’s now supported for all Excel 2013 desktop SKUs.

And remember, Ken Puls and Miguel Escobar have a new online Power Query course. When you register, use coupon code DEBRA to get 10% off

6. Office 2016 Preview

GaÅ¡per KamenÅ¡ek has been testing the public preview of Office 2016, and shares his 3 favourite new features. It’s more colourful than Excel 2013 too!

7. Timing Excel Formulas

Charles Williams looks at the reasons for timing Excel calculations, and explains what you should be measuring.

8. Fibonacci Clock in Excel

Apparently, the Fibonacci clock, that uses squares to tell time, is becoming popular on the Internet. Would you want to do that much arithmetic, to know if you’re late for a meeting? If you like the concept, Teylyn shows how to build one in Excel, without any programming.

9. Check Dates

Chandoo shows how to use conditional formatting to check if a date was entered in a cell. A red X appears beside the cell, if you enter text, and an exclamation mark is shown, if the cell is empty.

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Weekly Excel Roundup http://blog.contextures.com/

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