Selected Topics in Advanced Excel

Formatting – Page 2
• 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
 Selected Topics in Advanced Excel – 2

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
the AutoFormat dialog box –
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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.
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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
FILTER Æ AUTOFILTER –
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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.
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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…
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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.
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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.
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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:

Click on the formula palette icon in the formula toolbar to open up the formula palette—
 Selected Topics in Advanced Excel – 10

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,
and then OK.
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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 1:
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STEP 2:

STEP 3:
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STEP 4:

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

1. Axes: On your chart, double click on the axes to open a Format Axis dialog box –
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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.