Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with excel and MSExcel

And maybe something with dollar signs I don't know

phunniemee — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:15:50 -0800

Need help with (possibly?) "indirect" in Excel. I keep track of some things daily at work in an Excel file. The data is set up like this:

[DATEx]__QuantityA__QuantityB__QuantityC__...__QuantityI
Thing1
Thing2
Thing3
...
Thing21

[DATEx-1]__QuantityA__QuantityB__QuantityC__...__QuantityI
Thing1
Thing2
Thing3
...
Thing21

I have this going back every day for months.

And I also have several (nine) different pages of the same thing with the same structure to keep track of these numbers for several different individuals.

I need to be able to keep a running total on a summary page (in that same format) BOTH for each individual AND everyone added together for the following things:

1) Today
2) Average of the previous week (previous 5 days irrespective of date)
3) Average of the previous month (previous 20 days irrespective of date)
4) Total of a particular, dated month (e.g. January 1-January 31)
5) Grand total

And I need it every day. (Which means 1-3 and 5 will change, and 4 will be static.)

I have no idea how to do this. Each new day adds to the top of the sheet, shifting the previous day(s) down each time. I'm pretty sure I need to use the "indirect" function somehow to make sure that A1 always refers to cell A1, even if the data in A1 shifts down to A2. I just don't know how to use it on so large a scale, taking 100s of cells into account (and summing/averaging them).

I've read pretty much every googlable thing on this and I can't seem to jigger something that works. I am scared and alone in a useless field of data. HELP.

help me excel at excel

headnsouth — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 10:47:23 -0800

Excel-filter: Is there a way to copy a formula from a cell on one sheet (e.g., page 4) to a different cell on a different sheet (page 1), where the total from page 4 is carried over to page 1? This is probably an easy question for Excel-experts, but I am an Excel-noob. Currently working in 2003 but upgrading soon to 2010, so answers for both/either are great.

I have a spreadsheet wherein each page is a running total-by-month of expenditures. So for example, page 4 is a particular budget item, and cell A1 uses the formula =SUM(SUM(N:N)-SUM(O:O)) to total debits minus credits for that item.

Page 1 of the same file has a list of all the budget items with the current total for each. So cell D5 on page 1 has the same total as cell A1 on page 4, and that total changes every month. What I've been doing is copy/pasting from one cell to the other, but I'd like for it to automatically update. How can page 1 learn what page 4 knows without me telling it?

Help me Excel at Excel(tm)

Mitheral — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:10:19 -0800

Recommendations for an online Excel refresher course, preferably free, that will make me an Excel ~~God~~ ~~Master~~ ~~Wizard~~ user compentant enough not to embarrass myself in 72 hours? I've used Excel quite a bit for basic analysis and reporting in the past but essentially not at all in the last five years. I'll be starting a new job soon that requires at least basic compentancy and I'd like to get back some familiarity plus learn the newer interfaces. I've read over this previously and plan to work the Microsoft turirials linked from there. But I'd love any recommendations for a non microsoft introductory level or refresher course or essential reference material.

Funnel Charts for Excel 2007?

thankyoumuchly — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:53:56 -0800

Where can I download more attractive funnel chart templates for Excel 2007? Similar to the funnel charts shown in the below images, where can I find similar funnel chart templates for microsoft excel 2007:

Funnel Chart Example 1

Funnel Chart Example 2

Funnel Chart Example 3

Thanks in advance MeFi's!!!

:-)

How can I filter out all but the latest entry in Excel?

Serial Killer Slumber Party — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:30:26 -0800

MS Excel Problem: How can I filter out all but the latest entry for each unique ID? I have a data set that consists of a lot ID number, an event date and then details surrounding it. The problem is that each lot ID will have a number of events (and thus a number of rows with the same ID number) and I only want the latest event. I've been playing with the 'advanced filter' option but can't think of a set of criteria to do this. The only solution thus far is to order them by ID and then date and do it manually, however this is going to take a lot of time.

Any suggestions?

How do I get Word and Excel to work together?

cheeken — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:07:52 -0800

I need MS Excel and Word to play together nicely. I can do what I need to in Word, and I can do what I need to in Excel; it's the Relationship that's Complicated. Maybe I need workflow advice? Basic knowledge? Please, please keep reading. I'm putting together a quarterly report for an ongoing evaluation of a county youth program. We're currently in Q2. We get lots of quantitative data, run it through SPSS and Excel to make lovely charts and graphs (like the average number of tutoring hours for females across tutoring agencies, that kind of thing). Then, my job is to write up a narrative description of what's going on, and put it together in ONE document.

This is the problem.

So, the final document will have a couple paragraphs of text, and then a chart that I've copied over from Excel, then more text, and on and on. Writing up the text and charts takes 20% of my time. Formatting, moving, adjusting, placing, chasing paragraphs around takes up the other 80%. It seems to me that with two programs that are part of a "Suite," it can't possibly be that hard.

Here's how I currently do it:
1) Write paragraph of text in Word.
2) Go to line after paragraph.
3) Copy chart from Excel.
4) Post Special...Microsoft Excel Chart Object
5) (Because now the text looks all goofy from how it looked in Excel) Right click > Format Object... > Layout > Click 'Square' and 'Center'
6) Then I have to go back above the chart and start typing the next paragraph, but I have to move the chart up manually to push the new text below the chart. [This is where it starts to suck.]

Now, god forbid that, after I have all my text-chart-text-chart sequences done, I have to go back and add a sentence or a paragraph, or move (or, *gasp* resize slightly) a chart, because then my charts will suddenly move behind each other, or on different pages, or they'll move to above the top margin on a page and become Completely Immovable.

So, I need some advice on how you create a document in Word that has 20+ pages of text and 25+ charts pasted in from Excel in a way that you can then make adjustments to the document and not have everything completely screwed up. What's your Word+Excel workflow?

Excel date arithmetic problem

Rock Steady — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:55:06 -0800

MS Excel Question: If I have a column with a range of dates in it, is there a formula that will tell me how many years ago that date was from today? I am trying to calculate employee discount levels. For every year of service, an employee gains an additional percentage discount. I have employee hire dates in an Excel spreadsheet, and I would like to be able to, at a glance, determine what discount level a given employee is at, even if I open the spreadsheet three years from now. The levels top out at five years, if that matters.

Detect bold text in MS Excel

beniamino — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 14:36:39 -0800

I have a very large MS Excel spreadsheet in Mac Office 2008 (yuk). I want to find every cell that contains bold text and append an asterisk to it -- i.e. "bold cell text" becomes "bold cell text*". I can probably find a Windows machine if necessary. How can this be done automatically?

I know there is a way to do this! There HAS to be!

Diskeater — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 18:31:26 -0800

MS Excel question: Creating a master spreadsheet that dynamically updates when information is updated from any one of six other spreadsheets. Possible? I'm doing an inventory of three buildings, each with two floors. I've made six different speadsheets (one for each floor) to help me keep track of things. My boss wants weekly updates on a single, master spreadsheet.

I know I could just copy/paste all of the information into a speadsheet but I was wondering if there was a way to create a single spreadsheet that dynamically updated itself whenever I added information to any of the six other spreadsheets?

I'm using MS Excel 2002. Thanks.

ExcelFilter: I don't see an easy one-function way to get the initial letters of a text string in Excel. Is there such a beast?

mwhybark — Wed, 29 Sep 2004 14:49:53 -0800

ExcelFilter: I don't see an easy one-function way to get the initial letters of a text string in Excel. Is there such a beast? [=Text(MI)] I need to do this for the first N words in the string. Let's say I have cells at A1 and B1 that look like this:

[A Test Text String]
[Another testing string, with more words]

In this case, I'd like to get the values "ATTS" and "ATSW." All the cells I need to operate on will always hold only strings.

[=INTITALS(A1,4)] is the ideal case, but as I said, it seems to not exist. TYVM.

Teach Me Excel

elwoodwiles — Sat, 10 Jul 2004 14:07:50 -0800

I'm looking for a good, but very basic Excel tutorial. I'm somewhat familar with computers at large, but suddenly faced with an office productivity application my eyes are rolling up in my head and I'm drooling liberally. I've seen a few tutorials on the web, but they seem to require some familarity with spreedsheets and other office applications. I need something that is a total introduction, written with small distracted children or particularly dumb monkeys in mind.

What I'm trying to do is make a chart that compares two data sets that displays numerical units on one axis and the year on the other.