Author: Debra Dalgleish

There is a free app available for Excel (2013 or Online version), that lets you create 8 different chart types, including some that aren’t standard Excel charts, such as box plots. The app is called XLMiner Data Visualization, and it’s created by Frontline Systems, which also makes the Solver add-in.

If you log in to your Microsoft account, you can download and install the app from the Microsoft Store. Then select data, and the chart appears in the app’s window. In the screen shot below, you can see the box plot chart that I created, in just a few seconds.

The free version of XLMiner lets you do the basics, and if you want more features, you can upgrade to the Pro version. It costs $995, about the same as Tableau Desktop. And if you want quick, fancy charts, at a much lower cost, take a look at Jon Peltier’s charting utility.

Continue reading “Excel Roundup 20140825”

Does Ed Bott include your favorites in his list of 6 Excel power tips?

He included one of my favourites – Paste As Values. However, I usually Paste Values by dragging with the right-mouse button pressed, instead of using a keyboard shortcut. You can see that technique in the very short video below. Do you use the mouse or keyboard for Paste As Values?

Or watch on YouTube: Change Excel Formulas to Values With Mouse

Continue reading “Excel Roundup 20140811”

The Office 365 Garage Series has a video on what’s new in the Office Apps, and they demonstrate some cool new features. The Excel App is mentioned at the 7:12 mark, when they look at the new APIs for formatting.

However, at the 3:12 mark, they downplay the old development methods, including VBA and COM, and rave about the new methods — HTML and JavaScript, that are used for the online versions of Office.

Apparently it’s almost impossible to find people who are still working in the older development platforms. What do you think of the chart they use to “validate” the trend? Are they really using a sample size of 12 COM jobs, compared to a final number of 5 JavaScript jobs? I’m not a statistician, but that doesn’t qualify as “dramatic decline” versus a “huge insurgence” in my opinion!

I did like the way that he drew on the chart though, to change it from a column to a line chart. You can see that at the 4:20 mark in the video below.

Or watch on YouTube: What’s new in the world of apps for Office?

Continue reading “Excel Roundup 20140728”

Here’s this week’s Excel roundup, with news, tips, and announcements.

Contextures Posts

Here’s what I posted recently:

• Automatically add new items to a drop down list — the macro asks if you want to add the new item, then sorts the list in alphabetical order

• Hide zero items in a pivot table, and allow multiple filters per field

• Enter a number in the input box, and that amount is added to each cell in the selected range, with this macro. I use this to add a week, to a  group  of date cells.

• I sent out an update for my PivotPower Premium add-in last week. If you missed the email, or didn’t open it before the deadline, please let me know and I’ll send you a new link. You can read about the new features on my Pivot Table blog. [Update: This product is no longer available]

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

Other Excel Articles

Here are a few of the Excel articles that I read recently, that you might find useful:

• Do you agree with these 10 common spreadsheet mistakes? I’m not even sure what some of them mean!

• Dick Kusleika finished his 5-part series on converting Numbers to Words in Excel VBA.

• On Microsoft’s MSDN Blog, Eric Ligman shared a list of free ebooks, including Excel shortcuts and quick start guide.

• Chandoo announced the winners of his state migration dashboard contest. He said the winner, Roberto Mensa, was Messi, but apparently that’s a compliment. 😉

• The FrankensTeam has created another interesting chart in Excel, and you can download the sample file. It’s based on a vintage chart that shows occupational distribution.

• Scott Lyerly shows how to use VBA And ADO To Change Data to SharePoint Lists.

• Bill Jelen wrote a macro to copy the Status Bar statistics to the clipboard. Then, select a blank range and press Ctrl+V to paste the stats to the worksheet.

Excel Announcements

Here are some upcoming events, courses, recently published books, and other new items, related to Excel.

• Mynda Treacy’s Excel Dashboard course is open for registration, and I highly recommend this online course, which has excellent content, and great student support from Mynda. Save 20% if you sign up by July 24th. Registration closes on July 31st.
  BONUS: If you sign up for the course through this link, you can have a copy of any one of my Contextures Products. When you sign up, type DebraD in the Referral Code box (below the Buy Now button), and email me your receipt number.

• Charles Williams has released a new version his add-in, FastExcel V3, and you’ll get 50% off the bundle price, if you use Coupon Code FXLV3Intro Warning: The 50% Discount ends soon — July 31 2014. Don’t miss the deadline!

• Jon Peltier’s new Advanced Charting Utility for Mac Excel was just released (the Windows version is also available)

Excel Tables: A Complete Guide (pdf version) by Zack Barresse and Kevin Jones ”The book begins by explaining what tables are, how to create them, and how they can be used in reporting before moving on to slightly more advanced topics, including slicers and filtering, working with VBA macros, and using tables in the Excel web app. Novice Excel users and experts alike will find relevant, useful, and authoritative information in this one-of-a-kind resource. “

Share Your Events and Articles

If you read or wrote any other interesting Excel articles recently, or have upcoming Excel events, please share a link in the comments below, with a brief description. Thanks!

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