Working with Data

and Macros 9
LESSON SKILL MATRIX
Skills Exam Objective Objective Number

Importing Data Open non-native files directly in Excel. 1.1.4

Import files. 1.1.3
Append data to worksheets. 2.1.1
Ensuring Your Data’s Integrity Set data validation. 1.3.8

Sorting Data
Filtering Data
Outlining and Subtotaling Data Create
Crea
Cr eate outlines.
te out
utliline
ut nes.
ne 2.3.5
Collapse
Collap groups
apse gro
ap roup
ro ups of data
dat
ata
at outlines.
a in o
out
utlines.
ut 2.3.6
Insert
Inse
sert
se rt subtotals.
ssubto
tota
to tals
ta ls.
ls 2.3.7
(continued on next page)

KEY TERMS
• auto-outline
• AutoFilter
• collapse
• criterion
• data file
• database
• delimiter
• filter
• grouping
• macro
• outline
• outline symbol
• parse
• quick format
• slicer
• subtotal
• table
• validation
©AlexRaths /iStockphoto

235
236 Lesson 9

LESSON SKILL MATRIX (continued)

Skills Exam Objective Objective Number
Setting Up Data in a Table Format Apply styles to tables. 3.2.1
Band rows and columns. 3.2.2
Remove styles from tables. 3.2.4
Define titles. 3.1.3
Insert total rows. 3.2.3
Add and remove cells within tables. 3.1.2
Filter records. 3.3.1
Sort data on multiple columns. 3.3.2
Change the sort order. 3.3.3
Remove duplicates. 3.3.4
Move
Mo ve between tables and ranges. 3.1.1
Saving Work with Macros Assign sho
As shortcut
hortcu
ho cut keys.
cu 1.4.12
Record
Re simple
rd sim
imple
im macros.
e ma
macr
cros
os.
os 1.4.7
Manage macro security. 1.4.5

You’ve been hired to keep the books at a local veterinary clinic. Its clientele is a bit
unusual in terms of bookkeeping. Although the patients have characteristics that
your co-workers need to keep track of, none of them are paying customers. Those
who pay on your patients’ behalf might be responsible for more than one patient at
a time.
Although Excel technically is not a database manager program, it’s used for data-
base management purposes in more offices than any other program. People ap-

©AlexRaths /iStockphoto preciate the convenience of keeping individual records aligned by single rows, so
everything you need to record about a certain feline or canine patient, for example,
is recorded in a single row. This way, you can have Excel sort an entire database by patients’ names or show
only certain records whose contents meet criteria that you specify (only the cats, for instance, or only the
spaniels) without disrupting the integrity of the database itself or changing the workbook.
 Working with Data and Macros 237

SOFTWARE ORIENTATION

Data Tab
Most of the exercises in this lesson use the DATA tab. Although spreadsheet programs such
as Excel were originally intended to serve as calculation engines, it’s often convenient to
have recordkeeping and calculation in the same program. Although you might imagine data
entry tasks as about as dull and repetitive as a marathon of city council meetings on public
access television, Excel actually makes data easy to import from sources other than your own
fingertips, and it makes it easy to arrange and manage that data properly once you bring it
into a workbook.
Figure 9-1 Figure 9-1 shows the DATA tab on a maximized Excel window, with many of the features
The DATA tab you use in this lesson pointed out.

Import from Sort A to Z Group rows or columns Insert

non-Excel sources Data tab (Sort Smallest to Largest) into clusters subtotal rows

Sort Z to A Filter
Fi Remove
Remo
Re move
mo ve Ungroup
Ungr
grou
gr oup
ou
(Sort Largest toSmallest) columns duplicate clustered
rows rows or columns

IMPORTING DATA
When you work with a workbook that requires a large amount of data, one thing you can fervently
Bottom Line
wish for is that the data already exists in some form and that you don’t have to type it manually. If
the data you need for a workbook is sourced outside of Excel, then what Excel needs is to be able
to receive that data in such a way that it can make sense of where cells begin and end and where
records begin and end. Even simple text files where values are separated (delimited) by commas
can be imported, because commas act like fence posts, and Excel recognizes fence posts. Complex
relational databases are comprised of multiple tables, and thus can’t be imported directly. So the
trick is to be able to open a connection to the database (such as a communications channel) and
stream the specific tables you need into Excel, in a manner that Excel can readily parse (interpret
character-by-character).

Opening Non-Native Files Directly in Excel

Excel has two main data formats: an older one that was owned and operated by Microsoft and
whose files end with the .XLS extension and a newer, XML-based .XLSX format whose specifi-
cations have been shared publicly. Because the newer format is public, there are more programs
and services now that publish data to a format that Excel accepts. But not all of them do; many
services provide data in a basic XML format that Excel can import. In that case, there’s no guar-
antee that the columns will all be aligned properly or that the headings will be in the place Excel
expects them to be for a table. The “lowest common denominator” for file compatibility is the
.CSV file, which is straight text that uses certain characters, such as commas and quotation marks,
as delimiters—characters that separate data entries from one another—and that Excel will not
interpret as part of a cell entry.
238 Lesson 9

STEP BY STEP Open a Non-Native File Directly in Excel

GET READY. Before you begin these steps, LAUNCH Microsoft Excel.
1. If the active workbook is not a new, blank workbook, then click the FILE tab. In
Backstage, click New, and then click the thumbnail marked Blank workbook.
2. On the DATA tab, in the Get External Data group, click From Text.
3. In the Import Text File dialog box, locate and click 09 NA-EST2012-01.csv. Click Import.
4. In Step 1 of the Text Import Wizard, notice the preview at the bottom (see Figure 9-2).
This is Excel’s best guess, for the moment, as to how the data should be formatted.
There are population figures rendered in “quotation marks” with commas between
each figure. Here, each comma acts as the delimiter, and it’s difficult to judge whether
each figure between the commas will be the same length. Under Choose the file type
that best describes your data, choose Delimited, and select My data has headers.

Figure 9-2
Text Import Wizard, step 1

5. The preview shows the headers starting on row 3. Thus, for the Set import at row
option, choose 3. Click Next.
6. In Step 2 of the wizard, shown in Figure 9-3, uncheck Tab because the preview does
not indicate long spaces between the figures. Check Comma. Set Text qualifier to “
(quotation mark). Scroll down the Data preview pane, and notice now that Excel has
found the column separations between figures. Click Next.

Figure 9-3
Text Import Wizard, step 2

7. Step 3 of the wizard, shown in Figure 9-4, lets you establish the data type for each
discovered column. Click the first column in the Data preview pane. Then, under
Column data format, click Date. Click Finish.
 Working with Data and Macros 239

Figure 9-4
Text Import Wizard, step 3

8. In the Import Data dialog box that appears next (see Figure 9-5), leave Where do you
want to put the data? set to Existing worksheet. Click OK.

Figure 9-5
Import Data dialog box

9. Shorten the width of column A to 16.

1.1.4
10. The worksheet that Excel has generated, shown in Figure 9-6, shows United States
population estimates for each month from April 2010 to December 2012. Excel could
How do you open a non- not make sense of the dates in column A, so it left the data type set to General for most
native file directly in Excel? of the cells. However, it did make an error in attempting to convert the year in cell A25.
To correct it, begin by deleting rows 2, 12, and 25.

Figure 9-6
Freshly imported census data
worksheet
240 Lesson 9

11. Click cell A2, type April 2010, and press Enter.
12. Drag the fill handle from cell A2 down to cell A34 and release. Excel changes the
entries in column A to proper months.
13. Delete rows 35 through 40.
14. SAVE the workbook in the Lesson 9 folder as 09 Monthly Census Data Solution.

CLOSE the workbook and leave Excel open for the next exercise.

Getting External Data

In the world of computers, there are databases and data files. Because databases are typically stored
in files, a rational question is, “What’s the difference?” A data file stores a series of records in a
relatively simple format, and Excel is a program that uses data files in this manner. A database
is a comparatively complex system that can store a large amount of related data, which requires a
program to be able to assess and render that data. So when Excel imports data from a database as
opposed to a data file (as in the previous exercise), it actually launches a program, begins a com-
munications process with that program, and instructs the program to stream the data it requires.

Take Note In this exercise, you use a file from Microsoft Access, although you do not need Access installed
on your computer to follow along.

STEP BY STEP Get External

rnal
al D
Dat
Data
ata
at

GET READY. LAUNCH Excel if it is not already running.

1.1.3
1. If the active workbook is not a new, blank workbook, then click the FILE tab. In
Backstage, click New, and then click the thumbnail marked Blank workbook.
How do you import files?
2. On the DATA tab, in the Get External Data group, click From Access.
3. In the Select Data Source dialog box, locate the 09 GMcC Customer contacts.accdb
database file. Select it and click Open.
4. In the Select Table dialog box shown in Figure 9-7, click Customers (the table we want
to import), and then click OK.

Figure 9-7
Select Table dialog box

5. In the Import Data dialog box (refer to Figure 9-5), click Table. Under Where do you
want to put the data, click Existing Worksheet and ensure the text box reads =!$A$1.
6. Click OK. Excel takes a moment to query the database. Soon, it displays a fully
formatted table (see Figure 9-8), complete with AutoFilter buttons in the headers,
which you learn more about later in this lesson in “Using AutoFilter.”
 Working with Data and Macros 241

Figure 9-8
Mismatched, freshly imported
XML data

7. SAVE the workbook in the Lesson 9 folder as 09 2005 Customers Solution.

CLOSE th
thee workbook
book and
workbo
wo bo nd leave
l Excel open for the next exercise.

Appending
ndin
ing
in g Da
Data
ta tto
o a Wo
Worksh
Worksheet
shee
sh eet
ee
After you
u impo
import
port
port dataa from
fr ano
another
noth
nother ffor
th format
orma
or matt or database
ma dat
d atab
at abas
ab asee into
as in a w
wor
worksheet,
orkshe you’ll probably spend a
or
good deal of time reconciling that data with existing records. In the previous two exercises, you
were lucky enough to import data into blank worksheets. In a more real-life situation, you’ll bring
data from other sources into a full worksheet and make the effort to make it fit somehow.

STEP BY STEP Append Data to a Worksheet

GET READY. OPEN the 09 Owners.xls workbook for this lesson.

1. Click cell A21.
2. On the DATA tab, in the Get External Data group, click From Other Sources, and then
click From XML Data Import.
3. In the Select Data Source dialog box, locate and select the 09 2010_Owners.xml data
2.1.1 file. Click Open.
4. In the Import Data dialog box, click Existing worksheet, and then click OK. Although a
How do you append data list of customers is appended to the end of the worksheet, the columns don’t line up, as
to a worksheet? Figure 9-9 clearly indicates. This is typical of appended data. A dialog marked Error in
XML might appear at this point. If so, click OK to dismiss the dialog box and proceed.

Troubleshooting In the course of history, the folders where old data files used to reside may cease to exist. This
is indeed the case with the original XML file from which you imported data into the work-
sheet. Some versions of the Microsoft XML parser will see this as an “error,” and others will
not. Any number of factors may contribute to which XML parser your PC actually has. In either
case, it isn’t really an error, and you don’t need to worry about it.
242 Lesson 9

Figure 9-9
Mismatched, freshly imported
XML data

5. To correct the problem, begin by moving the first names from cell range E23:E75 to
B23:B75. Overwrite the existing contents in column B.
6. Move the
he last
llas
ast names
as name
mes from
me from cell range H23:H75 to A23:A75. Overwr
Overwrite the existing
ts in
contents i column
colu
co lumn
lu mn A.
7. Repeat the
he process
pro
roce
ro cess
ce ss for
for the states
ssta
tates in column J ttha
ta that
hatt should
ha sh ld be
be in column
col E, the ZIP codes
in column
umn K tha
that
hat should
ha shou
sh ould be in colum
ou column
umn F
um F, an
and th
the phone
phonone numbers
numb
mbers in column I that should
mb
mn G.
be in column
8. Delete columns H through L.
9. Delete rows 21 and 22.
10. Replace all 11 instances of Dell City in column D with Del City.

SAVE the workbook in the Lesson 9 folder as 09 Car Owners Solution.xlsx. CLOSE the
workbook and leave Excel open for the next exercise.

Workplace Ready
WORKING WITH DATABASES
The most commonly distributed definition for the word “database” is “an organized collection
of data.” Technically, that’s wrong. If this definition was correct, any book could be a database
because books contain data—even blank books.

The reason why this matters is because you will likely acquire data from multiple sources for use
in the worksheets you produce. To be accurate, a database is anything you can use as a source for
data. When you import data from a database into an Excel spreadsheet, if that data is stored by a
relational database manager, it might not actually exist as a file yet. So the file you “import” into
Excel might communicate with the database manager to produce the data that ends up appearing
in your worksheet.

This is important, because a financial database manager usually produces information in

real-time—meaning, as close to “right now” as possible. So you might import data into a work-
sheet that’s actually accurate up-to-the-second.

However, depending on how the database is set up, it might produce separate files that serve as
“snapshots” of the data’s state for a given point in time. When you import this type of data, you
need to know if it’s old and just how old it is. On occasion, you might not actually be able to im-
 Working with Data and Macros 243

port files because the database manager program has locked them to prevent inadvertent loss of
data. In these situations, you might need to have the person overseeing the database export a sepa-
rate file for you to import. While you’re at it, you can ask for that export file to be in a regular for-
mat, such as comma-separated values (CSV) or even a worksheet format such as Excel’s old XLS.

The example you used in “Getting External Data” involves a kind of snapshot file produced by
Microsoft Access, a database manager that’s part of some versions of Office. In a real-world set-
ting, even though such a file exists, it might not always be available, for the reasons just explained.
In these cases, you need to ask for help—perhaps for someone in the IT department to produce
an export file and meet you halfway.

ENSURING YOUR DATA’S INTEGRITY

It isn’t obvious on the surface, but an Excel workbook is actually a kind of program in itself. You
Bottom Line
don’t just feed it data, run off a few formulas, and tabulate the result. You actually can create rules
for each workbook, which Excel might enforce, helping you and others to enter the right data
properly. When typing in new data from paper—especially several records at once—it’s easy for
anyone to type the wrong digits or characters, especially in a field where a single character denotes
a type, such as a senior citizen or a child, or such as a dog or a cat. Quickly, ask yourself this: Should
“C” in a vet clinic stand for “cat” or “canine?” Validation ensures data gets entered correctly,
before it gets processed incorrectly. Excel’s data validation tools can help you set up rules that keep
you or anyone else from entering invalid or unusable data, or from failing to enter data when it’s
required.

Restricting Cell Entries to Certain Data Types

Perhaps the most common form of rule you’ll create for Excel workbooks will set certain expec-
tations for data being typed in. For example, in North America (where local business clients will
tend to reside anyway), a telephone area code has three digits. You can set up a rule that pings
the user whenever he types a two- or four-digit code by mistake. The user may then respond by
dismissing the message and starting over, or cancelling altogether if the problem is that the user
didn’t mean to type anything into this cell in the first place.
244 Lesson 9

STEP BY STEP Restrict Cell Entries to Certain Data Types

GET READY. OPEN the 09 Vet Clinic Patients workbook for this lesson.
1. Click the FILE tab and select Save As. SAVE the workbook in the Lesson 9 folder as
09 Vet Clinic Patients (Active) Solution.
2. Freeze rows 1 through 5 in both worksheets in the workbook.
3. In the Client list worksheet, select column L (Area Code).
4. On the DATA tab, in the Data Tools group, click Data Validation. The Data Validation
dialog box opens.
5. Click the Settings tab.
6. In the Allow list box, choose Text length. This is the first step in the creation of a rule
governing how many characters each new entry should contain. The dialog box should
now appear as depicted in Figure 9-10.

Figure 9-10
Set up validation rules for
input data

7. In the Data list box, choose equal to.

8. Click the Length box and type 3.
9. Click the Input Message tab. This tab displays a ScreenTip whenever you select a cell in
1.3.8 this specially validated area.
10. Click the Title box and type Rule:
How do you set data 11. Click the Input message box and type Three-digit area codes only, please. The Data
validation? Validation dialog box should now appear as shown in Figure 9-11.

Figure 9-11
Have Excel notify the user
about your validation rule
 Working with Data and Macros 245

12. Click the Error Alert tab. Excel notifies a user who missed your ScreenTip that the data
he has entered is invalid.
13. Click the Title box and type Data Entry Error.
14. Click the Error message box and type Only three-digit area codes are recognized. This
message is displayed in a dialog box whenever an invalid entry is made in column L.
The dialog box should now appear as shown in Figure 9-12.

Figure 9-12
Set up a warning for when the
validation rule is violated.

15. Click OK.

16. To test
est the
e new va
validation
on rrule,
e, ccli
click
lick
li ck ccel
cell
ell L5
el 8 Yo
L58.
L58 You should
sh ld ssee tthe notification message
you typed into the Input Message tab.
17. Type 40 and press Enter. Excel displays an alert dialog box with the message you
created (see Figure 9-13).

Figure 9-13
Worksheet with validation rule
enforced

Validation error alert Validation input message

18. Click Cancel. The partial entry in cell L58 is erased.

PAUSE. SAVE the workbook and leave it open to use in the next exercise.

Take Note Excel’s validation rules pertain to only new data as you enter it into the workbook, not to data that
existed in the workbook prior to creating the rules. Don’t rely on validation rules to correct errors
that might already exist, but to catch any new errors that might arise.
246 Lesson 9

$OORZLQJ2QO\6SHFLÀF9DOXHVWR%H(QWHUHGLQ&HOOV
A typical piece of information you’ll find in a database is often a single letter that represents a char-
acteristic, such as gender or political party affiliation or the work shift to which one is assigned.
In data entry, it’s easy for someone to slip and enter an invalid character. If that error isn’t caught
and the person who entered the data is replaced, would her replacement be able to rectify it? You
can preempt events like this by building a rule that restricts entry to a handful of valid characters.

STEP BY STEP Allow Only Specific Values to Be Entered in Cells

GET READY. USE the workbook from the previous exercise.

1. Click the FILE tab and select Save As. SAVE the workbook in the Lesson 9 folder as
09 Vet Clinic Patients (Active) Solution 2.
2. Click the Patient list tab.
3. Select column D.
4. On the DATA tab, in the Data Tools group, click Data Validation.
5. In the Data Validation dialog box, click the Settings tab.
6. In the Allow list box, choose List. The Source box appears at the bottom of the dialog
box.
7. Click the
e So
Source
Sour ce box
urce
ur box.
ox. Type
ox Ty M,M,F,N b
being
bei
eing careful
ei caref
eful
ef ul to
t in
incl
include
clud
cl ude th
ud the co
comm
commas.
8. Uncheckk the
th Ig
Ignore
Igno
nore
no lank b
re blank
bla
b la box.
box
ox.
ox
e Inpu
9. Click the pu Mess age tab
putt Message
Input ssag
ss ag ab. Click
ab
tab. Cl k the
th In
Inpu
put message
pu
Input mess
me ssag
age
ag e box and
and type
typ Male, Female, or
ed
Neutered.
10. Click OK. Now anyone entering a new patient into the database must specify the
animal’s gender.
11. Select column E (Owner #).
12. In the Data Tools group, click Data Validation.
13. Click the Settings tab. In the Allow list box, click List.
14. On the right side of the Source box, click the Collapse Dialog button.
15. With the Data Validation dialog box collapsed, click the Client list worksheet tab.
16. Select column A (Client #).
17. At the end of the Source box, click the Expand Dialog button. The full dialog box
returns, and the Source box should now read =’Client list’!$A:$A.
18. Unselect the Ignore blank and In-cell dropdown boxes.
19. Click the Error Alert tab. Choose Warning from the Style box.
20. In the Error message box, type Owner must be the number for a pre-existing client.
21. Click OK. Now the Owner # column may contain only numbers for clients who appear
in the Client # column of the Client list worksheet.
22. To make sure your new validation rules are working, in the Patient list worksheet, at the
bottom of the list, click cell A58 and attempt to type the following data:
Murdock Dog Rottweiler B 61
23. After you attempt to enter B into column D, respond to the error dialog box by clicking
Retry and by typing M.
24. After you attempt to enter 61 into column E, respond to the error dialog box shown in
Figure 9-14 by clicking No and typing 31.
 Working with Data and Macros 247

Figure 9-14
Excel attempts to enforce a
validation rule.

PAUSE. SAVE the workbook and leave it open to use in the next exercise.

Take Note It’s still feasible for an invalid value to remain in a worksheet after the user has been warned that
it’s invalid. For example, in the previous step if you were to click Yes instead of No, the value 61
would remain in column E, even though there is no client numbered 61 in column A of the Client
list worksheet.
kshe
ks heet
he et. Conceivably,
et Conc nceivabl
nc bly,
bl y, this way you can purposefully enter a new canine patient into the list
without an own wner
wn
owner,er,, if yyou iint
er nten
nt end
en
intendd to add
dd tthe owner’s
owner
er’s’s iinf
er nfor
nf orma
or mati
mation
ti
informationon later.
later
er.
er

5HPRYLQJ'XSOLFDWH5RZVIURPD:RUNVKHHW
YLQJ'
'XS
'XSOLFD
XS FDWH
FD WH5RZ
WH RZVIURP
RZ RPD:
RP :RU
:RUNV
RU NVKHHW
HW
In many databases, it’s important that each record (each row of an Excel database table) is unique.
If an entry appears twice, Excel might treat them as separate entries even if they somehow (es-
pecially by accident) contain identical information. The difficulty then comes when you try to
reconcile any other records or subsequent data that might refer to either of these duplicate entries.
As a means of cleansing your database, you can have Excel search for duplicate entries and purge
them before too much damage is done.

STEP BY STEP Remove Duplicate Rows from a Worksheet

GET READY. USE the workbook from the previous exercise.

1. SAVE the current workbook as 09 Vet Clinic Patients (Active) Solution 3.
2. Click the Client list worksheet tab.
3. Click cell A58 and in row 58, type the following data in the appropriate columns:
Mrs. Mary Jane Brink 704 Fairway Drive Cincinnati OH 255-1655
4. Select the cell range A5:N58.
5. On the DATA tab, in the Data Tools group, click Remove Duplicates. The Remove
Duplicates dialog box appears (see Figure 9-15).

Figure 9-15
Remove Duplicates dialog box
248 Lesson 9

6. In the Columns list, remove the check beside Client #. If duplicate names and
addresses appear in the list, it’s likely their client index numbers were not duplicated.
7. Leave the My data has headers box checked. This way, Excel won’t treat row 5 as
though it contains data.
8. Click OK. Excel responds with a dialog box stating one duplicate value set (the one you
just entered) was removed.
9. Click OK to dismiss the dialog box. Note the second (lowermost) instance of the
duplicate entry was removed, from row 58.

PAUSE. SAVE the workbook and leave it open to use in the next exercise.

SORTING DATA
After you enter data into a data range or, as you see later in this lesson, a formal database table, the
Bottom Line
number of the row each record appears on doesn’t matter at all. In fact, it’s important for you to
remember that data entries in Excel are not indexed by their row numbers, because they’re subject
to change. Sorting a data range helps you to locate the precise data you need. In a few respects,
it can also help Excel to look up certain data for inputs into formulas (see Lesson 5), but for the
most part sorting is for your benefit. You might want, for example, to keep people sorted in a ta-
ble by their surname rather than some arbitrary customer number you won’t remember. So when
you enter a ne neww custom omer whose
om
customer who
w hose surname begins with something earli
ho earlier than “Z,” you might
find it easierr to enter
e er the he name
namame at the
am he bottom
bot
otto
ot tom of the
to he list,
llis
ist,
is t, aand
nd then
tthe
hen
he n resort
reso
sort
sort alphabetically.
a This way,
you don’t have to to manually
manu
ma nual
nu ally
al ly insert
ertt a blank
iinser
er ank row in the
blan
an he m middle
mid dle of the
iddl
id dl the worksheet,
wor
w orks at the appropriate
alphabetical location.
locat
atio
at ion.
ion.

Sorting Data on a Single Criterion

You’ve probably heard the word “criteria” more often than its singular form, criterion. Both
words relate to elements that are referred to in the course of executing a function. For instance, the
White Pages of a telephone directory is sorted by phone owners’ last names (or rather, in this more
culturally expansive society, by their surnames). The surname is one criterion of the sort. Because
many people share the same surname, lists of surname-sharing phone owners are then sorted by
their first names (given names), and then by their middle initials when they’re used. This leads
to three different criteria for such a sort. When individuals in a database are indexed by number,
however, and that number is guaranteed to be unique, it forms a single criterion for a common
sort operation.

STEP BY STEP Sort Data on a Single Criterion

GET READY. USE the workbook from the previous exercise.

1. SAVE the current workbook as 09 Vet Clinic Patients (Active) Solution 4.
Another Way 2. In the Patient list worksheet, click cell E6. Note this is the top row of the Owner #
You can also column and its entries are all numerical.
quickly sort the data in a range 3. Hold the Shift key down while clicking cell A58. This selects the entire range you wish
in alphabetical order, even to sort.
without selecting the entire
4. On the DATA tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click the Sort Smallest to Largest button
range first, by right-clicking
(with A on top of Z, and an arrow pointing down). The list is now sorted in ascending
one cell in the column you
numerical order (despite the presence of the alphabet on the button) by Order #, which
want to sort, clicking Sort, and
was the first column you clicked in when selecting the range.
then clicking Sort A to Z (or
Sort Smallest to Largest). 5. Click cell A6.
6. Hold the Shift key down while clicking cell E58.
7. Click the sorting button again, whose ScreenTip is now the Sort A to Z button (because
you’re sorting alphanumeric text). This time, the list is sorted by Patient Name, and
 Working with Data and Macros 249

again, the first column you clicked in when selecting the range. Murdock the Rottweiler,
which you previously added to row 58, now appears on row 45.

PAUSE. SAVE the workbook and leave it open to use in the next exercise.

Take Note The Sort A to Z button (also known as Sort Smallest to Largest) and Sort Z to A button (also
known as Sort Largest to Smallest) assume that the column you wish to use as your sorting crite-
rion is the one that contains the active cell. In selecting a range, whether you hold down Shift to
select the opposite corner (as you did in this exercise) or whether you drag the pointer from one
corner to the opposite corner, the (or Sort Smallest to Largest) the cell that you clicked on first.

Troubleshooting Before sorting a range, make sure you select the entire range first, including the rightmost
column(s). Excel leaves any contents outside the selected sort range exactly as they are, which
leaves you with out-of-order contents should you fail to select the entire width of the range.

6RUWLQJ'DWDRQ0XOWLSOH&ULWHULD
A proper database containing records of people divides each element of their names into, at the
very least, last and first names, and preferably includes optional elements such as middle initials
and prefixes and suffixes. For this reason, any time you sort a database, range, or table by names,
you want to sort byy multiple
ip criteria.

STEP BY STEP Sort Data

ata on Multiple
Mul
ulti
ul tipl
ti ple Criteria
pl Crit
Cr iteria
it ia

GET READY. USE the workbook from the previous exercise.

1. Click the Client list tab.
2. Select the range A5:N57.
3. Name the range Clients.
4. On the DATA tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click Sort. The Sort dialog box appears.
5. In the Sort by list box, under Column, choose Surname.
6. Click Add Level.
7. In the Then by list box that appears, choose Given Name.
8. Click Add Level.
9. In the next Then by list box, choose MI (middle initial).
10. Click Add Level again.
11. In the next Then by list box, choose Suffix. The dialog box should now appear as
depicted in Figure 9-16.

Figure 9-16
Sort dialog box

12. Leave My data has headers checked, so that Excel won’t treat the headers row as a
data entry.
250 Lesson 9

13. Click OK. The clients list is now sorted alphabetically, with people sharing the same
surname sorted alphabetically by first name. Although the client numbers appear all
out of sort, the data is unchanged and the database itself retains its full integrity.

PAUSE. SAVE the workbook and leave it open to use in the next exercise.

6RUWLQJ'DWD8VLQJ&HOO$WWULEXWHV
In Lesson 6, you saw how Excel can apply special formatting to cells based on their ascertained
contents (for example, shading a temperature column extra-red when the number climbs above 90
degrees). Excel is capable of sorting records based on the conditional formatting that is applied to
their cells. This is important because Excel does not have a “conditional sort” feature, where you
create a rule or a formula that Excel evaluates to group or arrange rows. Instead, you create rules
that apply specific formats or graphics to cells based on their contents. Then Excel can sort and
group those records whose cells have these special formats applied to them.

STEP BY STEP Sort Data Using Cell Attributes

GET READY. USE the workbook from the previous exercise.

1. On the Patient
Pat
P atie
at ient lis
ie list
istt work
is worksheet,
rksh
rk shee
sh eet,
t, selec
select
ectt co
ec column
mn E..
2. Right-click
ickk the
th column,
colu
co lumn
lu mn,, and th
mn then cclick
ck Insert in the shortcut
shortc
sh tcut
tc ut m
men
menu.
enu.
en
3. With column
olum
umn E sel
um selected,
elec
el ecte
ec ted, on
te n th
the DA
DATA
TA tab, in the
he Dat
Data
ata Tool
at Tools
olss gr
ol group, click Data
tion.
Validation.
4. In the Data Validation dialog box, click Clear All. Click OK.

Troubleshooting When creating a new column to the right of one governed by a data validation rule, the new
column acquires that same rule even if it’s intended for a different purpose. To clear this rule,
select the new column, bring up the Data Validation dialog box, and click Clear All as demon-
strated previously.

5. Click cell E5 and type Spayed/Neutered.

6. In column E, type S for the following row numbers: 7, 22, 23, 26, 35, 38, 47, and 51.
7. In column E, type N for the following row numbers: 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 20,
21, 25, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 36, 37, 39, 42, 43, 44, 46, 48, 49, 50, 53, 55, 56, 57, and 58.
8. Select column E.
9. On the DATA tab, in the Data Tools group, click Data Validation.
10. In the Data Validation dialog box, click the Settings tab. Under Allow, choose List.
11. In the Source box, type N,S.
12. Click the Input Message tab. In the Input message box, type S = Spayed, N = Neutered.
Click OK.
13. Select the range E6:E100. On the HOME tab, in the Styles group, click Conditional
Formatting. Click New Rule.
14. In the New Formatting Rule dialog box, choose Format only cells that contain in the
Select a Rule Type list.
15. In the list box, under Format only cells with, choose No Blanks.
16. Click Format.
17. In the Format Cells dialog box, click the Fill tab. Choose the sixth color swatch from the
left in the third row. Click OK.
18. Click OK. Now both spayed and neutered animals should appear shaded.
19. Select the range A5:F58. Name the range Patients.
20. On the DATA tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click Sort.
21. In the Sort dialog box, in the Sort by list, choose Spayed/Neutered.
22. In the Sort On list, choose Cell Color.
 Working with Data and Macros 251

23. Click the down arrow next to No Cell Color. As Figure 9-17 shows, the list box that
appears shows only those colors that are actually in use for conditional formatting—in
this case, only one swatch. Click the color swatch.

Figure 9-17
Sort dialog box showing condi-
tional format color choice

24. Click OK. The sorted worksheet should now appear as shown in Figure 9-18. All the “N”
and “S” animals are grouped together at the top, with the two types mingling among
each other. All the non-operated-on animals are bunched toward the bottom.

Figure 9-18
Worksheet with conditional
format-based sort applied

PAUSE. SAVE the workbook and leave it open to use in the next exercise.

Troubleshooting Any table you intend for Excel to sort must not contain merged cells (see Lesson 6). For Excel
to be able to exchange cell contents between positions evenly, each row must have an iden-
tical number of cells. Each of the cells in a column may be formatted differently, though their
widths may not vary.

FILTERING DATA
When you search for information online, what you expect to happen is for the search engine to
Bottom Line
return the most relevant data to your search at the top of the list. Similarly with any database,
when you make a request or a query for just the records that meet particular criteria, you expect to
252 Lesson 9

see only the relevant data, and for irrelevant or non-matching data to be filtered out. With Excel,
there’s a way for you to formally specify the boundaries of your database table—to say, “This part
of my worksheet is to be treated like a database” —and to then have Excel filter out just those
rows that don’t pertain to what you’re searching for. This does not change the database, and you
don’t delete any rows with a filter. You just hide them temporarily.

8VLQJ$XWR)LOWHU
An AutoFilter is the quickest means for you to set up a table so that it displays only rows that
meet simple criteria (for example, just the clients who live in-state, or just the clients who have
signed up for monthly newsletters). If the criteria for your search involves information that is read-
ily assessable through a simple read of the existing data in the cells, you can use an AutoFilter to set
up your search with very little trouble. There are ways for you to set up more complex, advanced
filters that replicate data to a separate location (often a new worksheet) using advanced criteria
based on formulas. But for simple assessments of the data, an AutoFilter requires much less effort.
This converts the headings row of your table into a set of controls, which you then use to choose
your criteria and select the data you want to see.

STEP BY STEP Use AutoFilter

Y. USE
GET READY. USE tthe
he w
workb
kbookk fr
kb
workbook from tthe
he previou
ous exerci
ou
previous cise.
ci
exercise.
1. SAVE the
he current
cur
urre
ur rent workbook
re wor
w orkb
or kbookk as 09 V
kb Vet
et Clinic Patients
Pa (Active)
(Active
ve) Solution
ve Solu 5.
e Clie
2. Click the nt list w
ient
ie
Client workshe
heet
he et tab.
worksheet tab
ab In the
the N
Nam
ame
am
Name e bo
box,
x, ttype Cl ients and press Enter. Excel
Clie
ie
Clients
highlights the data range for the Clients table.
3. On the DATA tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click Filter. Excel adds down arrow buttons
to the field names in all of the columns in the list.
4. Click the down arrow beside the Client # heading in column A. Excel displays the
AutoFilter menu shown in Figure 9-19.

Figure 9-19
AutoFilter menu for a numeric
column

5. To sort the table by client number, click Sort Smallest to Largest. This gives you a
shortcut for sorting that bypasses the menu.
 Working with Data and Macros 253

6. To show just the clients with addresses in Ohio, click the down arrow beside State. In
the AutoFilter menu that appears (shown in Figure 9-20), uncheck the (Select All) box
to clear all check boxes, and then check OH and click OK.

Figure 9-20
AutoFilter menu for a text
column

PAUSE. SAVE the workbook and leave it open to use in the next exercise.

When an AutoFilter is active, so that you see filtered results rather than the complete table, Excel
applies special notation to the AutoFilter buttons and to the row numbers. As Figure 9-21 shows,
the button for the column used in the sort now contains a long up-arrow, whereas the button for
the column used in the filter contains a funnel symbol, like the thing you pour motor oil through.

Figure 9-21
Symbols in a filtered table

Masked row
indicators

Sorted column Filtered column

(ascending order)

Also, notice the row numbers are colored blue and are not consecutive. If you look closely, you’ll
see that where nonmatching rows are hidden, Excel puts a double-border between the numbers for
matching rows—for instance, between rows 18 and 21 and between 47 and 55.
254 Lesson 9

&UHDWLQJD&XVWRP$XWR)LOWHU
A custom AutoFilter uses a rule that you create, instructing Excel how to evaluate the entries in
each row. The result of that evaluation determines whether rows are displayed or filtered out.
With a simple AutoFilter, Excel looks for contents based on actual samples from the column. For
example, with the previous task, Ohio (OH) and Indiana (IN) were choices because both were
featured in the State column; no other states were listed. By contrast, with a custom AutoFilter,
you can devise a rule instructing the worksheet to display only records whose values in one given
column are above or below a certain amount. Essentially, your rule tells Excel to compare each
value in the column against something else. Whether that value is displayed depends on the terms
of the comparison—is it equal? Higher? Lower? Is it among the ten highest or lowest? The custom
AutoFilter is among Excel’s most powerful tools.

STEP BY STEP Create a Custom AutoFilter

GET READY. USE the workbook from the previous exercise.

1. Insert a new column into the Patient list worksheet, between the existing columns D
and E.
2. Clear the validation rules from the new column E.
3. Add the
e title
titl
ti tle
e Hepa
Hepatitis
pati
pa titis in
ti inoc
inoculation
ocul
oc ulat
ul n tto
ation
at o row 5.
4. Type the
he following
ffol
ollo
ol lowi
lo wing
wi ng d
dat
dates
ates
at es int
into
nto the ce
nt cell
cells
lls shown:
n:
E9 1/18/2012
1/18
18/2
18 /201
/2 012
01
E12 8/16/2011
8/16
16/2
16 /201
/2 011
01
E14 5/15/2 /2012
/2
5/15/2012
E19 3/1/2009
E23 10/19/2010
E27 7/5/2012
E33 2/2/2011
E38 8/15/2012
E39 7/14/2011
E44 9/1/2012
5. Select the Patients data range. The range should have automatically stretched to
include the new column.
6. On the DATA tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click Filter.
7. Click the down arrow beside Hepatitis inoculation. In the menu, click Date Filters, and
then click Custom Filter. The Custom AutoFilter dialog box opens.
8. In the first list box just below Hepatitis inoculation, choose is before. In the box to the
right, type 1/1/2012.
9. Click the Or button between the two rows of list boxes.
10. In the second list box below Or, choose equals. Leave the list box blank (literally
meaning “blank” or “nothing”). The dialog box should now appear as depicted in
Figure 9-22.

Figure 9-22
Custom AutoFilter dialog box

11. Click OK. After the dialog box disappears, Excel filters out all entries in the patient list
where the patient is known to have had a hepatitis inoculation in 2012 or later. What
 Working with Data and Macros 255

remains are both the animals known to have been inoculated in 2011 or earlier, or
whose inoculation dates are not known.
12. Click the filter button beside Hepatitis inoculation again. In the menu, click Date Filters,
and then click Custom Filter.
13. In the second list box that currently reads equals, choose the blank entry at the top of
the list. The box should now be empty.
14. Click OK. The list should now show only the five animals known to have been
inoculated in 2011 or earlier (see Figure 9-23).

Figure 9-23
Worksheet with custom filter
applied

15. Click the filter button beside Hepatitis inoculation again. In the menu, choose Clear
Filter from “Hepatitis inoculation”.

PAUSE. SAVE the workbook and leave it open to use in the next exercise.

)LOWHULQJ'DWD8VLQJ&HOO$WWULEXWHV
When conditional formatting is applied to a column of cells, that formatting is something that
Excel can “get a handle on.” In other words, it’s just as good as a value in giving the filtering system
something to look for. So you can easily have a filter hide rows where cells in a column don’t have
a particular format, such as a shaded background or a font color.

STEP BY STEP Filter Data Using Cell Attributes

GET READY. USE the workbook from the previous exercise.

1. In the Patient list worksheet, click the Spayed/Neutered button down arrow.
2. In the menu, click Filter by Color.
3. In the popup menu, choose the pink swatch. Excel now shows only those animals that
have been spayed or neutered.

PAUSE. SAVE the workbook and leave it open for the next exercise.

OUTLINING AND SUBTOTALING DATA

Up to this point, you’ve been working with data that’s arranged as tables full of records, where each
Bottom Line
row represents an entry of related elements. Another purpose for worksheets is to serve as lists of
values and their related descriptions. Imagine an inventory list showing the sale price of items ar-
ranged by department. In its most basic form, you need only two columns: one for the description
and the other for the price. For this list to be useful to you, however, you’ll want a way to break
256 Lesson 9

down items into their respective departments—for example, by listing their location on the shelf.
These descriptive categories help subdivide data into groups, and then collapse those groups into
single-row headings called outlines. Excel uses outlines to generate reports that provide you with
meaningful data about the items in each group collectively. The most important, and probably the
most frequently used of these reports shows you subtotals for the values that are grouped together.

*URXSLQJDQG8QJURXSLQJ'DWD
The simplest form of data grouping involves taking a row of cells that have one related attribute,
clustering them together, and then collapsing the cluster like a folder that can be reopened later.
The point of doing this is to reduce the size of long reports to make them easier to read. The trick
to doing this properly is leaving behind one row, after the group is collapsed, to represent the
group as a whole so someone reading the worksheet will know what to open later.

Whenever you group rows together or perform an operation (such as auto-outlining or auto-subto-
taling) in which groups are automatically created, Excel adds controls next to the row and column
headings. Excel calls these controls outline symbols.

Boxes marked with minus and plus symbols are placed at the bottom of grouped rows or to the
right of grouped columns. Each one acts like a clasp that can collapse or expand the group’s con-
tents. In the up
uppeper left
pe
upper ft corner
cornenerr are
ne ar number buttons that let you show or hide hi all of the group con-
part
rtic
rt icular level.
ic
tents for a particular llev
evel. When
ev When yyouou have
hav
h avee two groups
av grou
oups
ou ps ttha
hatt are
ha
that are just
ju beside
bes
esid
esid one another, you have
only two levels:
s: the
els: he collapsed
ccol
olla
ol laps
la ed view
psed
ps w and
an the
the expanded ed one.
o But Bu youyou ca
can have groups within groups,
n ha
and for each grouping
gro
roup
ro ing level
upin
up in leve
le vell you
ve yo crcreate,
crea
eate, Ex
ea Excel
cel adds another
Exce ano
noth
no ther n
th number to this bank of outline symbols.

Take Note The rows and columns that you enroll into a group should be those that you do not want to see
when the group is collapsed. Field name rows that identify cells and total rows that include subto-
tals should not be included in groups.

STEP BY STEP Group and Ungroup Data

GET READY. USE the workbook from the previous exercise.

1. SAVE the current workbook as 09 Vet Clinic Patients 130114 Solution. Grouping data is
best reserved for final reports and not for active databases where new data might be
entered later.

Take Note Enrolling a set of records into a group changes the behavior of AutoFilters that might incorporate
that group. For example, when you try to sort a column, only the records that are not members of
a group are sorted. Once records are grouped, their order is fixed and their usefulness as parts of
an active database is reduced, especially if you add subtotal rows to the middle. For this reason,
you should reserve grouping and outlining for workbooks that are presented as final (unchanging)
reports for a particular point in time.
2. With the Patient list worksheet active, on the DATA tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click
Clear.
3. Next to Cat or Dog?, click the down arrow button. In the menu, click Sort A to Z. Now,
all the cats are clustered together at the top, and dogs at the bottom.
4. Right-click the heading for row 30, the row where the first dog appears. Click Insert in
the shortcut menu.
5. Select cell H30. Type Number of cats.
6. Select cell G30. On the HOME tab, in the Font group, click the Bold button. This makes
this particular number stand out.
7. On the HOME tab, in the Editing group, click the AutoSum down arrow. In the menu,
click Count Numbers, and then press Enter. Excel inserts a function into the cell
that counts the number of contiguous cells in the column just above it that contains
numbers—in this case, the owner numbers for clients.
 Working with Data and Macros 257

8. Add a similar function for counting the number of dogs to row 60. (Bypass the
validation rule by clicking Yes in the dialog box.)
9. Select rows 6 through 29 (all the cats).
10. On the DATA tab, in the Outline group, click the Group button. A group indicator line is
added to the left of the row markers and an outline symbol on the row just below the
end of the group (see Figure 9-24).

Figure 9-24
Worksheet with
Outline level
groups applied buttons

Group indicator line

Outline symbol

Another Way
To collapse all the
groups in a worksheet, select 11. Repeat the process in Steps 9 and 10 for the dogs in rows 31 through 59. Format cell
the entire worksheet first, G60 as Bold. In cell H60, type Number of dogs.
and then click Hide Detail 12. To collapse the cats group, click the minus box (shown in Figure 9-24) beside row 30,
in the Outline group of the which contains the cats count. The control becomes a plus box, indicating that when
DATA menu tab. To expand all you click on it, it expands to show hidden rows.
groups, click Show Detail.
13. Collapse the dogs group with the minus box in row 60. The worksheet now appears
fully collapsed (see Figure 9-25).

Figure 9-25
Worksheet with collapsed
groups

14. Click the Select All button. On the DATA tab, in the Outline group, click Show Detail.
15. Select columns B through F.
16. In the Outline group, click the Group button. A new column group is created.
17. Click the minus box over column G to collapse the column group. Click the plus box
that takes its place to expand it.
18. Select columns B through G.
19. In the Outline group, click the Ungroup button. The columnar group disappears.
258 Lesson 9

SAVE and CLOSE the workbook. Leave Excel open for use in the next exercise.

$XWR2XWOLQLQJ'DWD
Grouping data is an easy process when you have only a few groups in your worksheet that really
matter, such as cats and dogs. For a complex report, such as a balance sheet with assets and liabil-
ities broken down into departments and sub-departments, the task gets much more tedious. For
this reason, Excel has offered to make things somewhat simpler. Suppose you inserted total value
cells along the bottom rows of related cells, or along the right column beside related cells—or
perhaps both. You probably need to do this anyway for a formal balance sheet, or for a table with
names of salespeople in rows and sales for days of the week in columns—here, you total for each
salesperson along the right column, and for each day along the bottom row. Excel can detect when
and why you set up your worksheet like this, so when you auto-outline a table or a worksheet
full of tables, it creates the groups automatically and spares you the trouble.

STEP BY STEP Auto-Outline Data

GET READY. OPEN the 09 Critical Care Expenses workbook for this lesson.
1. SAVE the
he w
workboo
workbook
ook in tthe
oo he Lesson 9 folder as 09 Critical Care Exp
Expenses 0315 Solution.
2. Select cel
cell
ell H1
el H18. On the he HOME
HOM
H OME
OM E tab,
b, in
n the Font
nt g
gro
group,
roup
ro up,, cl
up clic
click
ickk th
ic the Bo
Bold button. Then, in the
Editing group,
grououp,
ou p, cclick
ck tthe
he Auto Sum b
AutoSum
toSu button
but
utton and
d pr
pres
press
esss Enter
es Enter. r. Th
Thee grand
gran total appears as
cell
ce ll.
ll
bold in the cell.
3. Repeat the grand
gra
rand total
ra tot
otal proce
ot process
cess
ce ss for
or ccel
cell
elll H2
el H288 an
andd apply
appl
ap ply
pl y Bold
ld tto
o the cell.
2.3.5
4. Select the cell range B10:H28, covering both groups of expenses in their entirety.
5. On the DATA tab, in the Outline group, click the down arrow next to Group. In the
How do you create outlines? menu, click Auto Outline. As Figure 9-26 shows, Excel automatically groups rows 12
through 17 and rows 22 through 27, having spotted the Total Expenses row along the
bottom of each cluster. Excel also groups together the columns for March 15 through
19, having spotted the weekly totals columns along the right.

Figure 9-26
Outlined worksheet

SAVE the workbook and LEAVE Excel open for the next exercise.
 Working with Data and Macros 259

&ROODSVLQJ*URXSVRI'DWDLQDQ2XWOLQH
When you create an outline around groups of data in a worksheet, outline symbols appear for each
group of rows and columns. You use these devices to collapse and then expand the outline, thus
switching between summary and detailed views of the worksheet.

STEP BY STEP Collapse Groups of Data in an Outline

GET READY. USE the workbook from the previous exercise.

1. Click all three minus boxes to collapse their respective groups. The worksheet should
now appear shrunken to just the grand totals cells you created with the appropriate
labels (see Figure 9-27).

Figure 9-27
Outlined worksheet with
collapsed groups

2. Click any of the plus boxes (which replaced the minus boxes) to expand the group to
which it’s attached.
3. To remove the outline entirely, on the DATA tab, in the Outline group, click the Ungroup
2.3.6 button arrow. In the menu, click Clear Outline.

SAVE and CLOSE the workbook. Leave Excel open for the next exercise.
How do you collapse groups
of data in an outline?
6XEWRWDOLQJ'DWDLQ2XWOLQHV
Suppose a worksheet serves as a report of certain activity that takes place on given days with re-
spect to specific divisions of the company in particular regions of the country. These three catego-
ries represent levels of information. When you sort a worksheet so that these levels are in a precise
order, as you’ve already seen how to do, then Excel can accept each of these levels as tiers in an out-
line. An outline gives you the complete summary while hiding the details until you request them.

STEP BY STEP Subtotal Data in Outlines

GET READY. OPEN the 09 Server Usage Stats workbook for this lesson.
1. SAVE the workbook in the Lesson 9 folder as 09 Server Usage Stats 130831 Solution.
2. Select the range A5:G140.
3. On the DATA tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click Sort.
260 Lesson 9

4. In the Sort dialog box, in the Sort by line, choose Date, Oldest to Newest. Click OK.
2.3.7 5. On the DATA tab, in the Outline group, click Subtotal. The Subtotal dialog box appears.
6. In the At each change in list box, click Department.
How do you insert 7. If necessary, in the Use function list box, choose Sum.
subtotals?
8. In the list of columns marked Add subtotal to, select the boxes for Avg. Bandwidth,
Data In, Data Out, and Transactions.
9. Check the Summary below data and Replace current subtotals check boxes, if
necessary. The dialog box should now appear as depicted in Figure 9-28.

Figure 9-28
Subtotal dialog box

10. Click OK. Excel inserts subtotal rows for each company division, grouping together
data consumption values for all three corporate regions. It places each of these division
row clusters into groups. It then creates a broader group for the entire range and adds
a grand total row at the bottom. The result is a subtotal-endowed worksheet with a
three-tier outline (see Figure 9-29).

Figure 9-29
Automatically subtotaled
worksheet with three-tier
outline

SAVE and CLOSE the workbook. Leave Excel open for the next exercise.
 Working with Data and Macros 261

Take Note When you remove an outline from an automatically subtotaled range, the subtotal rows that Excel
inserted automatically remain. So to return a worksheet to its pre-subtotaled state, you must delete
each subtotal row manually.

SETTING UP DATA IN A TABLE FORMAT

Up to now in this lesson, you might think most of the data you used in worksheets has been, for
Bottom Line
all intents and purposes, tables. How could they not be tables? They have headings along the top,
they have unique entries that identify rows, and some even have indexes. From a typesetting per-
spective, they’re certainly tables. But Excel has a special relevance for a class of data that it formally
calls a table. When you format a single, rectangular range with a row of headers along the top,
and columns beneath the headers, converting that range to a table enables Excel to treat it like a
database. Processing a table’s data is faster, including for sorting. And Excel can apply an elaborate
quick format that makes the table look sleek and professional. When you compose formulas,
formal tables let you refer to field names explicitly (for example, “Price” and “Markup”) rather
than by their cell reference (for example, B7).

)RUPDWWLQJD7DEOHZLWKD4XLFN6W\OH
Let’s be honest: Big worksheets are hard to read. When you look at a well-laid out document that
contains a ttab
table
able full
ab ulll of figures,
ful
ul figu
gure
gu res, you can see how typesetters apply graph
re graphic tools to make the table
easier to re
read—tools
read
ad—t
ad —too
—t ools
oo such
ls suc
uch
uc alternating
h as altlterna
lt nati
na ting
ti ng bands ds across
aacr osss every
cros
cr os ever
ev otherr line.
eryy ot
er line You can (meticulously)
li
apply such
ch a style
sty
tyle
ty le to normal
to a no
normrmal range,
rm ange, but
rran
an bu what wouldwou
ould
ou happen
ld h
hapappen when
ap when you sorted the range? The cell
ng would
formatting wou
w ould
ou ld move
mov ovee al
ov along with
wi the he cells, and d yo
your alternatingng bands would be jumbled up. By
denoting which ch part of a wor worksheet
orks
or kshe
ks heet iiss a table,
he tabl
ta ble,
ble, E
Exc
Excel
xcel
xc el ccan
an apply
a ly some
ssom
ome formatting
om fo independently of
contents. So a properly banded table stays properly banded when you sort the table, or when you
insert and delete rows.

STEP BY STEP Format a Table with a Quick Style

GET READY. OPEN the 09 Pet Pharma Sales workbook for this lesson.
1. SAVE the workbook in the Lesson 9 folder as 09 Pet Pharma Sales August Solution.
2. In the August Sales worksheet, select the data range A6:K93.
3. On the HOME tab, in the Styles group, click Format as Table. Excel brings up a colorful
menu full of sample layouts (see Figure 9-30).

Figure 9-30
Table format menu

3.2.1

How do you apply styles to

tables?
262 Lesson 9

4. Click the sample in row 4, column 7 (Table Style Medium 7). The Format As Table
dialog box appears (see Figure 9-31).

Figure 9-31
Format As Table dialog box

Take Note You can change the format of a table at any time using the Format as Table command. You only
see the Format As Table dialog box the first time you format a table, which effectively changes a
standard range to a table. Afterwards, you only need to select a cell inside the table to tell Excel
which table you want to reformat.
5. Because the cell reference under Where is the data for your table? is accurate, don’t
3.2.2 make any changes and click OK. Excel converts the data range into a formal table and
applies the style you chose, which includes automatically banded rows that maintain
How do you band rows and ndin
nd ing even
in
their banding en when
whe
hen
he n rows become sorted. AutoFilter controls
control are also added to the
columns? ames
am es row.
field names row
ow.
ow
6. To automatically
omat
atic
at ical
ic ally
al ly boldface
bol
b oldf
ol dfac
df ace th
ac thee righ
rightmost
ghtm
gh tmost colu
column
lumn
lu mn in
in the table
tabl
ta ble
bl e (T
(Total Sales), click any
cell inside
ide the
the table.
ta e. On O the e DESIGN
DE GN tab, in the he Tablele Style
le Options group, click Last
mn.
Column.

Take Note The Table Style Options group also contains an option for banding columns instead of rows.
Uncheck Banded Rows from this group, and then check Banded Columns.

SAVE the workbook and LEAVE it open for the next exercise.

Take Note When you scroll down a data table so that the field names row disappears, as long as the active cell
stays within the table area, the usual column headings (A, B, C, and so on) are replaced with the
complete field names, as Figure 9-32 depicts. The AutoFilter buttons also move to the headings
row. This way, you don’t need to freeze the field names row in place to keep the names themselves
visible. When you move the active cell outside the table area, the standard column headings re-
appear.

Figure 9-32
Field names display in the
headings row.

Field names replace column labels

5HPRYLQJ6W\OHVIURPD7DEOH
If you’re at a point where you want to create a custom style for your table, or for multiple tables in
your workbook, you might want to begin by removing the formatting that’s already present. The
table style removal feature in Excel is a bit buried and needs to be uncovered to be used.
 Working with Data and Macros 263

STEP BY STEP Remove Styles from a Table

GET READY. USE the workbook from the previous exercise.

1. SAVE the workbook in the Lesson 9 folder as 09 Pet Pharma Sales August Solution 2.
2. In the August Sales worksheet, click anywhere inside the table.
3.2.4
3. On the DESIGN tab, in the Table Styles group, click the More down arrow button. (Or if
you see only the Quick Styles button, click that instead.)
How do you remove styles 4. In the menu, as indicated in Figure 9-33, click Clear. The automatic formatting is
from tables? removed.

Figure 9-33
Table Styles menu on the
DESIGN tab

Troubleshooting There are two places to find the table styles menu in Excel. One is under the Format as Table
button on the HOME tab. The other is in the Table Styles group of the DESIGN menu tab. At
first, both menus look the same. But only the one on the DESIGN tab has the Clear button to
remove styles from a table.

5. To change the table style to something that contrasts against the others in this series,
bring up the Quick Styles menu again, and this time, choose Table Style Light 6 (upper
right corner).
6. To automatically apply boldface to the rightmost column, in the Table Style Options
group, ensure Last Column is checked. To do the same for the leftmost column, check
First Column.

SAVE the workbook and LEAVE it open for the next exercise.

'HÀQLQJD7LWOHIRUD7DEOH
Up to now, you’ve seen some nuanced and subtle differences between tables and ordinary data
ranges. The one big difference between the two lay with the table’s ability to be given a title, so
that it and its constituent columns can be referred to by name instead of by reference location.
This changes everything when you write formulas that refer to parts of the table, because now you
don’t have to know where they’re located, just what they’re called.
264 Lesson 9

Once a table is given a title, all the names of its columns can be used in place of cell references in
a formula. The result is not only a formula that’s easier to conceive, but easier to read and even
easier to type. So instead of an absolute cell reference such as $B$2:$B$55 (which starts on the
second row, of course, because the headers are always on the first row), you can use a reference such
as Inventory[Sale Price]. Excel already knows not to treat the first row as values, and whenever
records are added to the table, the results of the formula are adjusted without the formula itself
even having to change its appearance.

The syntax of a reference to fields in an Excel table is as follows:

TableName[FieldName]

Component Meaning

TableName An arbitrary name you give to a table, in place of its reference as a

range. You can have more than one table on a worksheet, although
it might not always be convenient.
Examples: Customers, Back Orders, Comics issues

FieldName The field name from the header row of the table. The name refers
to the set of all cells that comprise the named name column in the table.
You do not need
Yo d to sspe
peci
pe cify
ci
specify fy the
he start
ssta
tart and
ta nd end
e cell. The field name is
always
ys d
denoted w withh [s
[squ
quare br
qu
[square brac
acke
ac kets
ke ts].
ts
brackets]. ].
Exam
ampl
am ples: Surnam
Examples: ame,
am
Surname, e, IIssue
ue date, Sal ale price
al
Sale

Note: Excel recognizes four constants that refer to the same general area of a table, which you may
use here when applicable to replace the field name:

#All The set of all cells in the table

#Data The set of all cells that contain data, excluding the header row at
the top and any total or subtotal rows that might appear at the
bottom

#Headers The set of all cells in the first row in the table

#Totals The set of all cells where totals appear, usually the rightmost col-
umn of the table where a SUM function is employed

When you type a table-style reference inside a formula, Excel gives you a shortcut. After you type
the second character of the table name, Excel displays a list of names you can add to the formula
(including named ranges). Figure 9-34 shows you what it looks like. Instead of typing in the rest
of the name, you can use the arrow keys on the keyboard to navigate this menu until the name
you want (the table name) is highlighted, and then you press Tab. The entire name is entered into
the formula, saving you a few seconds of time.

Figure 9-34
IntelliSense menu for the
table name Menu pops up here

With the table name entered, when it’s time to refer to a field name in the table, you can start with
the left square bracket ( [ ). Excel displays a list of all the field names already in the table. You use
 Working with Data and Macros 265

the arrow keys to highlight the one you’re looking for, and then press Tab. Then type the right
square bracket ( ] ) to complete the reference.

Similarly, whenever you want to use one of the four constants (#All, #Data, #Headers, or #Totals),
you just start with the pound sign #. Excel displays the list, and then you highlight the one you
want and press Tab. Microsoft markets this feature as IntelliSense, and you see it referred to as such
in the Help system.

Troubleshooting When you highlight the entry you want on the IntelliSense menu, make sure to press Tab, not
Enter. The Enter key tells Excel the formula is complete, and at this point, it’s often not.

Take Note When referring to a field name by name in a formula that’s used inside the same table as the field
name, you can omit the table name. For example, the reference Customers[Surname] can be sub-
stituted with just Surname when the reference is inside the Customers table.

STEP BY STEP Define a Title for a Table

GET READY. USE the workbook from the previous exercise.

1. SAVE
VE the
the workbook
wor
orkb
or kbook in the Lesson 9 folder as 09 Pet Pharma Sales
kb Sa August Solution 3.
2. In the
he August
Aug
A ugus
ug ustt Sa
us Saless worksheet,
work
wo rksh
rk sheet, cli
sh click
lick anywh
li anywhere
wher
wh ere in
insi
inside
side
si de the
he tab
table.
able
ab
3.1.3
3. On the
he DESIGN
DES
D ESIG
ES IGN
IG N tab,
tab, in the
th Prop
Properties
oper
op erties group
group,
up,, cl
up clic
click
ickk the te
ic text
xt box
b under Table Name.
4. Type Drug Sales ((al
DrugSales
ugSa
ug Sa (all
all one word)
al wo and
and pr
pres
press
ess En
es terr. Yo
Enter.
Ente
te You have
ve given
g a name to the table.
How do you define titles in Now you can replace the strange-looking formulas at the bottom of the August Sales
a table? worksheet with formulas that are easier to read, yet yield the same results.
5. Select cell D97 (Total Sales).
6. Type =sum(Dr
7. When DrugSales appears in the list, press Tab.
8. Type [ (left square bracket).
9. Use the arrow keys to select Total Sales from the list, and then press Tab.
10. Type ] (right square bracket), followed by ) (right parenthesis) and Enter. If you enter
the formula properly, the result should be identical to what was there before.
11. Replace the formula in cell D98 with the following:
=SUMIF(DrugSales[To treat],”Dog”,DrugSales[Total Sales])
12. Replace the formula in cell D99 with one based on the formula in D98, but searching for
Cat instead of Dog.

SAVE the workbook and leave it open for the next exercise.

Using the Total Row Command in a Table

Once Excel recognizes a formal table, it can automatically place an automatic totals row along
the bottom. It’s not the same as a subtotal row that falls after a group. However, once you choose
a table style, Excel automatically applies boldface to the totals row to make it stand out—so it’s
obvious from a distance that it contains totals, and so it serves as a “bookend” for all the data in
the middle.

STEP BY STEP Use the Total Row Command in a Table

3.2.3 GET READY. USE the workbook from the previous exercise.
1. Select any cell in the table. Excel adds the DESIGN tab to the ribbon.
How do you insert total 2. With the August Sales worksheet active, on the DESIGN tab, in the Table Style Options
rows in a table? group, select the Total Row box. Excel adds a total row to the bottom, as shown in
266 Lesson 9

Figure 9-35, with a label in the leftmost column and the grand total in the rightmost
column.

Figure 9-35
Total row added below table

Total row

3. To add other
oth
ther
th er subtotals
sub
ubto
ub tota
to tals
ta ls or formulas
form
fo rmulas
rm as to
t the Total
Tota
tall Row,
ta Row, you can
can choose
ccho
ho one from a drop-
down menu. u. Click
Cli
C lick
li ck the
the cell in the
t total
tot
otal
ot al row at th
the bo
bott
ttom off the
tt
bottom th Item Price column.
4. Click the
e down
wn arrowow that appears
appe
ap pear
pe arss to the
ar the rrig
right
ight
ig ht o
off th
thee bl
blankk cell.
ce In the popup menu (see
Figure 9-36), click Average. Excel calculates the average price per sales item.

Figure 9-36
Adding formulas to the
total row

5. Repeat the process to find the maximum number of items sold in one order by
choosing the Max function for the No. Sold column.

SAVE the workbook and leave it open for the next exercise.
 Working with Data and Macros 267

$GGLQJDQG5HPRYLQJ5RZVRU&ROXPQVLQD7DEOH
Databases are never finished. When you maintain data in an ordinary range, one problem you
frequently face is how and where to insert a new row. There’s no rule that says you have to insert
a new record in alphabetical order, when the range is sorted alphabetically. You can add it to the
end and sort again. Here’s the problem: If you’ve named your range already, when you add the
record to the end, you might need to reassign the range name. With a formal table, not only does
the range for the table stay named properly, but when you insert rows (as well as delete them) the
named range covered by the table is adjusted to fit automatically. And any formulas you use inside
each of the rows in the table are copied and adjusted to the new rows you add.

STEP BY STEP Add and Remove Rows and Columns in a Table

GET READY. USE the workbook from the previous exercise.

1. SAVE the workbook in the Lesson 9 folder as 09 Pet Pharma Sales August Solution 4.
2. In the August Sales worksheet, select cell A88 (in the Drug column).
Another Way 3. On the HOME tab, in the Cells group, click the Insert down arrow. In the menu, click
To insert multiple Insert Table Rows Above.
contiguous rows in a table, 4. Type the
the following
followi
wing v
wi val
values
alue
ues into cells A88:F88:
ue
start by selecting a block of Soloxine
xine
xi ne Hypert
Hy
Hyperthyroidism
rthy
rt hyro
hy roid
ro idism
id m Dog or Cat
Cat 7 20 2
cells that’s as tall as the num-
ber of rows you want to insert. 5. Note that
tha
hat the
ha the va
valu
value
lue
lu e in the
he Items
ms oon Hand ccol
column
olum
ol umn
um n is aut
automatically
utom
ut omat
om atical updated, because
at
Excell copi
copied
ed the
pied
pi he formula
ffor
ormula
or into
la int
nto th
nt thee new row.
w.
6. Select
ct celll H88 (in
in the Items
Ite
tems
te ms Remaining
Rem
emai
em aini
ai ning
ni ng col
column)
olum
ol umn)
um n) a
and
nd typ
type
ype
yp e th
the va
value 41. Cell I88 is
updated.
7. Select cell J88 (in the Item Price column) and type the value 25.95. Cell K88 is updated.
3.1.2
8. Select any cell in row 32.
9. On the HOME tab, in the Cells group, click the Delete down arrow. In the menu, click
How do you add and remove Delete Table Rows. Row 32 is deleted, and the table shrinks to fit.
cells within tables?
10. Select any cell in column I (No. Sold).
11. On the HOME tab, in the Cells group, click the Delete down arrow, and then click
Delete Table Columns. Column I is removed, and for the time being, #REF! errors are
generated throughout the Total Sales column, which contain formulas that referred to
No. Sold.
12. With a cell in column I still selected, click the down arrow next to Insert in the Cells
group, and in the menu, click Insert Table Columns to the Left.
13. Change the header in cell I6 to read No. Sold.
14. Click cell I7 and enter the formula =[Items on Hand]-[Items Remaining]. Use the
“IntelliSense” menus when you type each left bracket [ to expedite your entry. Notice
when you press Enter that Excel automatically copies the formula down the remainder
of the column. You normally don’t have to do this manually for a table.
15. Click cell K7 and enter the formula =[No. Sold]*[Item Price]. This time when you press
Enter, Excel does not fill the formula down the column, because it will not autofill over
nonblank cells.
16. Fill the new Total Sales formula down to row 93, making sure to stop short of the total
row. The grand total formula in cell K94 is now fixed.
17. Click cell L7, outside the table.
18. Enter the formula =[Total Sales]/AVERAGE([Total Sales]). Notice you don’t get the
“IntelliSense” menus this time, because the active cell is not inside the table. After you
press Enter, Excel not only creates the formula but extends the table one column to the
right, and copies the formula down the entire column L. For now, Excel gives the new
column the temporary name Column1 (see Figure 9-37).
268 Lesson 9

Figure 9-37
Appended column to a table

Automatically generated column

Take Note Excel doesn’t apply its autofill IntelliSense feature for table field names while you enter data out-
side the table.
19. Rename
me tthe
he new
ew c
col
column
olum
ol umn % of Avg
um Avg.
vg.
vg
20. Select cell ra
rang
range
nge L7
ng L7:L
L7:L9393 and
:L93
:L nd g
give th
thee range a pe
perc
percent
rcen
rc ent style.
en e. EExc
Excel
xcel does not
xc
automatically
ticalllly
ll y co
copy custom
py cus
ustom ce
us styles
cell sty
tyle
ty les down
wn a ccolumn, n, so yo must select the range
you mu
manuallyly firs
rst.
rs
first. t. Note
e ho
how ExExce
cel ha
ce
Excel hass mo
move
ved
ve
moved d th
thee la
last
st ccol
olumn’
ol n’ss bo
n’
column’s bold
boldfaced format from
Total Sales to % of Avg.
21. Click any cell in % of Avg., and then click the down arrow next to Delete. Click Delete
Table Columns. As the appended column disappears, the boldfacing is returned to
Total Sales.

SAVE the workbook and leave it open for the next exercise.

Filtering Records in a Table

The filtering/sorting buttons that appear beside the field names at the top row of a table work the
same way as the filtering/sorting buttons for a range where AutoFilter is applied. The big differ-
ence with tables concerns the total row. The values in a subtotal row change to reflect only what’s
visible in the table after the filter is applied.

STEP BY STEP Filter Records in a Table

GET READY. USE the workbook from the previous exercise.

3.3.1
1. In the August Sales worksheet, click the Total Sales down arrow.
How do you filter records in 2. In the menu (see Figure 9-38), click Number Filters, and then click Top 10. The Top 10
a table? AutoFilter dialog box appears.
 Working with Data and Macros 269

Figure 9-38
AutoFilter menu for records
in a table

Another Way
A quick way to
filter a column by the contents
of one of the visible cells in
3. Leave the choices set at Top 10 items, and then click OK. The table is filtered down to
that column is to right-click
the 10 items with the highest sales.
that cell, click Filter in the
menu, and then click Filter by SAVE and CLOSE the workbook and leave Excel open for the next exercise.
Selected Cell’s Value.

Take Note The Top 10 items

i ms filter
filt
fi lter always
lt aalw
lway
lw ayss results
ay result
re ltss in 10 item
lt items
emss displayed
em disp
di spla
splaye
layed
ye d (unless
(unles
(u esss th
es the table has fewer than 10
records to b
begin
beg
egin
eg with).
in w
wit
ith)
it h). By com
h) comparison,
ompa
om pariso
pa n, the Top
son,
so op 110 pepercent
rcent filter
perc
rc filte
fil displays however many records
ter di
te disp
comprise the
he top
op 10 pe percent
rcent of the
perc
rc values
the val ues in the fi
alue
alue filtered
filt
ltered
lt ed column. n.
The totall row of a filt
filtered
lt ed table
able
able adjusts
dj its
i contents so that
ha it
its formulas
fo reflect only the visible
(filtered) cells. As Figure 9-39 demonstrates, the averaging formula in cell J94 is adjusted to show
the average item price among just the top 10. However, look further down at the analysis section.
The formulas for Total Sales, Sales of dog only products, and so on, still refer to the entire table,
not just the filtered portion. So any analysis you want to perform using filtering should be entered
on a total row, which is included within the filtered area.

Figure 9-39
Changed and unchanged
filtered table

Grand total Total of

(including visible sales
unseen rows)

Troubleshooting The exceptions to the rule about references to a table outside a filtered table are the # con-
stants. If the formula in cell D98 of the example is =SUM(DrugSales[#Totals]) instead of
=SUM(DrugSales[Total Sales]), the formula would adjust itself to tally only the visible, filtered
records.
270 Lesson 9

6RUWLQJ'DWDRQ0XOWLSOH&ROXPQVLQD7DEOH
With a table, as with an AutoFiltered range, you can apply a filter and a sort order at the same
time; for instance, you can show only the records that contain a particular entry (all motorcycles,
all dogs, and so on), sorted in alphabetical order by name.

STEP BY STEP Sort Data on Multiple Columns in a Table

GET READY. RE-OPEN the 09 Car Owners Solution workbook from earlier in this lesson.
1. SAVE the workbook in the Lesson 9 folder as 09 Car Owners Solution 2.
2. Select the range A1:G73.
3. On the HOME tab, in the Styles group, click Format as Table. In the menu, click Table
Style Medium 14.
4. In the Format As Table dialog box, click OK.
5. Because this range contains data appended from an outside source (see the
3.3.2 “Appending Data to a Worksheet” section earlier in this lesson), the query data related
to that outside source is still attached to the range. Click Yes in the dialog box to have
How do you sort data on Excel remove those connections.
multiple columns in a table? 6. Click the
e Na
Name b
box
ox and
nd rename
r the table Owners.
7. Resize col
columns
olum
ol umns
um ns B
B,, E, an
andd F tto
o more
re appropriately
appropria
a iate
ia tely
te ly fit
fit th
thei
their
eir co
ei conten
contents.
ents
en
8. Change the
he font
ffon
ontt fo
on for th
thee enti
entire
tire
ti re table
le to
t Cambri a, 11 p
Cambria,
ria pt.
9. Left-justify
tify column
ccol
olumn
ol nGG..
10. With the Owners table selected, on the DATA tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click Sort.
The Sort dialog box appears (refer to Figure 9-16).
11. In the Sort by list box under Column, choose Last Name.
12. Click Add Level.
13. In the Then by list box that appears under Column, choose First Name. Click OK.

SAVE the workbook and leave it open for the next exercise.

Changing Sort Order in a Table

Once you set the sort order for a table, you can change it in two ways. First, any sorting choice
you make with the AutoFilter buttons override the current sort order, including when the table is
sorted by multiple columns. Second, in the Sort dialog box, delete the existing order and enter a
new one.

STEP BY STEP Change Sort Order in a Table

GET READY. USE the workbook from the previous exercise.

1. With the active cell in the Owners table, on the DATA tab, in the Sort & Filter group,
3.3.3 click Sort.
2. In the Sort dialog box, click Delete Level, and then click Delete Level again, to remove
How do you change the sort the existing sort order.
order in a table? 3. Click Add Level.
4. In the Sort by list box that appears, click ZIP. Click OK.

SAVE the workbook and leave it open for the next exercise.
 Working with Data and Macros 271

5HPRYLQJ'XSOLFDWHVLQD7DEOH
When you import data and append it to the end of an existing table or range, you might end up
with duplicate entries—cases where a person appears twice, or perhaps more. Rather than go
through the list by hand, Excel has a way to excise duplicate entries from a table more intelligently.

STEP BY STEP Remove Duplicates in a Table

GET READY. USE the workbook from the previous exercise.

1. Click any cell inside the table.
3.3.4
2. On the DESIGN tab, in the Tools group, click Remove Duplicates.
3. The Remove Duplicates dialog box (refer to Figure 9-15) lets you determine how much
How do you remove of a record needs to be duplicated before it qualifies as a duplicate. For instance, two
duplicates in a table? or more customers might have the same name, though they probably don’t share the
same address or phone number. In the Columns list, uncheck City, State, and ZIP.
4. Click OK. Excel shows a dialog box reporting how many duplicate entries were
Another Way removed. Click OK to dismiss.
After Excel finds
SAVE and CLOSE the workbook and leave Excel open for the next exercise.
duplicate rows, it removes the
lowermost duplicates from the
table, leaving the row on top.
This is important when you
8VLQJD6OLFHUWR9LHZ7DEOH'DWD
D6O
6OLF
6O LFHU
LF HUW
HU WR
WR9L
R 9LHZ
9L HZ7
HZ 7DE
DEOH'
'DW
'DWD
DW
remove rows based on some, There arere two
wo wways to filter
fi a table
ttab
able soo th
ab that it shows
show
sh owss only rrecords
ow ds containing
cconta a certain object. One
not all, the fields in the rows. way is through
hrough AutoFilter.
gh the Aut
utoF
ut oFilter.
oF r. AAnother
Ano
noth
no ther
th makes
er m
mak
akes
ak es the
he table
ttab
able
ab more easily
le m easi
ea sily
si ly accessible
acc to a novice user. It’s
Excel does not automatically called the slicer, and it’s a selection panel that floats above a worksheet (the way a chart does).
reconcile the contents of rows This panel includes buttons labeled with each of the contents of one of the columns in the table.
deemed to be duplicates, so When you click a button, the table is filtered to show only rows that match the selection. When
any data in the lowermost designing the worksheet, each slicer is like a window with a title bar. You can relocate a slicer by
rows that does not appear in
dragging it by its title bar, which you need to do because it begins its life in the middle of the
the uppermost duplicate row
will be deleted without asking
worksheet. Each slicer also has white handles along its edges. You drag one of these handles to
you first. resize the slicer in the direction you’re dragging.

STEP BY STEP Use a Slicer to View Table Data

GET READY. RE-OPEN the 09 Pet Pharma Sales August Solution 4 workbook for this
lesson.
1. SAVE the workbook in the Lesson 9 folder as 09 Pet Pharma Sales August Solution 5.
2. On the DATA tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click Clear. Click any cell inside the table.
3. On the DESIGN tab, in the Tools group, click the Insert Slicer button.
4. The Insert Slicers dialog box contains empty check boxes for each of the fields for
which you can create buttons (see Figure 9-40). Click For use on and To treat.
272 Lesson 9

Figure 9-40
Insert Slicers dialog box

5. Click OK. As the dialog

g box disappears,
pp , the two slicer tools appear
pp as graphic objects in
nter
er of
the center o the
e worksheet.
worksh
wo shee
sh eet.
ee t. They’re
They’
T y’re
y’re not actually
actua
uall
ua lly
y inside
insi
in side
si de the
the table.
tab
able
ab le..
le
6. Relocate
te the
the Fo use on slice
Forr use slicer
cerr by dragging
ce dra
d ragging itss ti
title ba
bar to
towa
toward
ward
wa rd tthe
he upper right of the
worksheet.
eet.t. As
As you
you drag
drag toward
tow
owar
ow ard the ed
ar edge of th
the window,
e wi ndow, the
wind
nd th worksheet
work
wo automatically
scrolls to rev
evea
ev eal spac
ea
reveal ace where
ac
space wher
ere
er e you can
ca drop
op the
he sslicecer.
ce r. Drop
slicer. p th
the sl
slicer when it’s to the
right of the table,
able just
tab
ab st beneath
b th the
he hheaders
de row.
7. Repeat the process with the To treat slicer, dragging it below the For use on slicer. The
worksheet should look similar to Figure 9-41.

Figure 9-41
Worksheet with slicers added

8. To see just the treatments that apply to dogs only, click Dog on the To treat slicer. Note
that the AutoFilter button for the To treat column shows a filter has been applied.
9. To show just the treatments that apply to the endocrine system, click Endocrine on the
For use on slicer. Note that the filters from both slicers apply simultaneously, so you
should see endocrine system treatments for dogs only. The slicer highlights only the
criterion in use for the current filter.
10. To clear the filters using the slicers, click the Clear Filter button in the upper right
corner of each slicer.

SAVE and CLOSE the workbook and leave Excel open for the next exercise.
 Working with Data and Macros 273

Troubleshooting When an AutoFilter button for a column is used to filter a table and a slicer exists for that
same column, the slicer shows the criteria currently in use for that filter. However, the Clear
Filter button for the slicer is disabled. To clear this filter, you have to use the AutoFilter button.

Converting a Table into a Range

To append more data to a table from an outside source, it might be convenient for you to remove
the “table-ness” from the table, if only temporarily, and reapply it once the new data is imported
and the data is cleaned up. Also, before you export a workbook file to a new format (for instance,
for importing by someone else into a database), you might need to convert tables to ranges, be-
cause Excel treats data stored in tables differently than data stored in ordinary worksheets.

STEP BY STEP Convert a Table to a Range

GET READY. RE-OPEN the 09 2005 Customers Solution workbook for this lesson.
1. Near the top of the Excel window, respond to the security warning by clicking Enable
3.1.1 Content.
2. SAVE
VE tthe
he wor
workbook
orkb
or kbook in the Lesson 9 folder as 09 2005 Customers
kb Customer Solution 2.
How do you move between 3. Click an
any ce
cell
ll iins
inside
nsid
ns ide
id e the
th table.
tabl
ta ble.
bl
tables and ranges?
4. On the
he DESIGN
DES
D ESIG
ES IGN
IG N tab,
tab, in the
th Toolss gr
group, cli
click
lick
li ck Co
Convert
Conv
nvert to Ran
nv Range.
ange
an
5. Excell opens
open
ens a dialog
en dial
alog box
al ox tto
o veri
verify
rify
ri fy tthi
this
hiss co
hi conv
conversion
nver
nv ersi
er sion
si on is what
what you
y want. Click OK. The
AutoFilter buttons are removed from the header row and entries are left sorted as they
were. Subtotals and total rows remain (if applicable), and formatting is left as it was.
The DESIGN tab is no longer displayed.

SAVE and CLOSE the workbook and leave Excel open for the next exercise.

SAVING WORK WITH MACROS

Some of the first spreadsheet programs used lists of functions, typed down some tucked away
Bottom Line
column in an unseen edge of the sheet as multiple-step calculations that had the added virtue
of executing commands automatically. These were the first macros, and the fact that they were
considered “big functions” is how they got their name. Over the years, the number of different
categories of macros that Excel can execute has grown, and the categories themselves vary so
widely that a complete discussion of them would require another book. For the purposes of this
lesson, we concentrate on one type: a recording of a sequence of commands and typed entries that
you can then replay elsewhere in the worksheet. This way, you can perform the same sequences of
commands in different places, cutting down the time it takes to complete redundant work.

5HFRUGLQJD%DVLF0DFUR
What makes a recorded macro useful is the fact that it can be replayed on whatever cell is the
active cell. A recorded macro is a series of steps that can be repeated and that you might want
to repeat frequently to save you time. As you’ve seen, there are ways to automate the formatting
of cells that are actually easier than recording and playing back macros. So the kinds of steps you
want to record are the repetitious kind that you would otherwise have to repeat yourself dozens
of times or more.

Troubleshooting Excel records only those steps that have a direct impact on the contents of the worksheet. To
be accurate, it records the impact those steps have, not actually the commands that led to the
impact. For example, if you select several rows and columns, Excel records the act of the rows
and columns being grouped. But if you expand or collapse that group, it does not record that
fact because doing so does not impact the worksheet itself. Exceptions include filtering and
sorting ranges and tables, which Excel does record.
274 Lesson 9

Workplace Ready
PLANNING TO RECORD A MACRO
To ensure that the macro you record is useful to you in a variety of situations, you should consider
whether you need it to record absolute or relative cell references. This is because Excel keeps track
of every change in the position of the active cell during macro recording. When that change is
made, Excel needs to know whether it’s more important for it to know the exact address of the
new cell’s location (absolute) or the number of cells left or right or up or down that the pointer was
moved from its previous location (relative).

When you’re recording absolute references, record a macro, and then click on cell A5, the record-
ing always moves to A5. But if you use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move to another cell
instead, the recording takes note of each arrow key pressed. So if you record the macro on A5 and
use the down arrow key to move two cells down, and the macro replays from cell Y5, the macro
moves to Y7.

By comparison, when you record relative references and then click a new location on the work-
sheet, Excel records the distance to the new cell. This makes the starting cell location critical to
the macro. If yo
you start with a cell selected in column D,, and you yo click on a cell on the same row
in column A, Exc
Excel
xcel records
xc rec
ecor
ec ords a movement
or mov
m ovem
ov ementt th
em three cellss to the left.
the llef
eft.
ef That
t. T
Thahat is no
ha not the same thing as mov-
ing to the leftmost
eftm
tmos
tm column,
ost co
os colu
lumn
lu mn,, which
mn whic
wh ich you no
ic normally can an do by pre pressing
ress
re ssin
ssingg th
in the Home key. However, in
ording
ng m
relative recording mod
ode,
od
mode,e, ppre
ressingg Ho
re
pressing Home
me rec
ecords the
records he distance
dis
d ista
tanc
ta nce covered
nc cove
vered
ve d in getting to column A. So
when you replay
eplay th
this mac
macro,
acro
ac ro, you
ro u co
could en
end
d up ssta
starting
tart
ta rtin
rt ingg in a cell
in c in ccol column
olum F and end up moving
ol
to column C when you expect to move to column A. Or, you can start in column B and trip an
error condition when Excel tries to move too far to the left of column A.

For this reason, it’s important to map out your precise cell movements (if any) prior to recording a
macro, and then slowly repeat that sequence during the recording process. The recording does not
account for how much time you take, so if you’re nice and slow, the playback won’t be any slower.
 Working with Data and Macros 275

STEP BY STEP Record a Basic Macro

GET READY. OPEN the 09 4Strong Tour Revenues workbook for this lesson.
1. Click the FILE tab, and then click Options.
2. In the Excel Options dialog box, click Customize Ribbon.
3. In the Main Tabs list on the right, check the Developer box if it is not already checked.
This adds the DEVELOPER tab to Excel, enabling you to record macros. Click OK.
4. The macro that you record creates a custom subtotal row at the place you define,
rather than at some place Excel determines. The rule you follow is that the user (you)
must select the cell where you want the subtotal to appear, and then run the macro. So
to prepare for recording, click cell D21.
5. On the DEVELOPER tab, in the Code group, find Use Relative References. If it is not
highlighted, click to select it. You want relative references for this macro.
6. In the Code group, click Record Macro.
1.4.12
7. In the Record Macro dialog box, click the Macro name box and type CustomSubtotals.
8. In the Shortcut key box beside Ctrl +, type the capital S. This changes the shortcut key
How do you assign a to Ctrl + Shift + S. Leave Store macro in set to This Workbook. The dialog box should
shortcut key? now appear as depicted in Figure 9-42.

Figure 9-42
Record Macro dialog box

9. Click OK. You are now recording a macro.

Troubleshooting If you mess up a step during the macro recording, don’t worry. Click Stop Recording in the
Code group of the DEVELOPER tab. Then start again from Step 6. Use the same name, and
when Excel asks whether you want to overwrite the existing macro with the same name, re-
spond with Yes.

10. Press Shift + Down Arrow.

11. On the HOME tab, in the Cells group, click the Insert arrow. In the menu, click Insert
Sheet Rows.
12. Press Shift + Up Arrow.
1.4.7
13. In the Editing group, click AutoSum. Do not press Enter yet.
14. In the Clipboard, click Copy.
How do you record a simple
15. Press Tab.
macro?
16. Type the partial formula =max(.
17. In the Clipboard group, click Paste.
18. Type ) (end parenthesis) and press Tab.
19. Press Left Arrow.
20. Click $ (Accounting Number Format) in the Number group.
21. On the DEVELOPER tab, in the Code group, click Stop Recording.
276 Lesson 9

22. Now that you’re not recording, adjust the width of column E to fit its contents. As
Figure 9-43 shows, the macro generates a total for the bottom of the arbitrary cluster
of records, and also tabulates the highest value in that cluster in the cell adjacent to the
subtotal.

Figure 9-43
Custom subtotals generated
with macro

Custom subtotals
generated with macro

Another Way
In the green status
bar along the bottom of the
Excel window, there’s an icon 23. Click the
e FI LE tab
FILE tab,
ab, and
ab an then
then click
cli
lick Sa
li Save
ve As.
that looks like a worksheet
24. In Backstage,
kstage
ge,, locate
ge loca
lo cate
ca te the
the Lesson
Les
esso
es son 9 fo
so folder.
with a dot in the upper left
corner, as shown in Figure 25. In the Save
ave As dialog
dialo
log
lo g box, u
und
under
nder S
nd Sav
Save
ave as ttyp
type,
ype,
yp e, choos
choose
ose Exce
os Excel
cell Macro-Enabled
ce Macr Workbook
9-44. Click this to bypass the m)
(*.xlsm).
ribbon and immediately start
recording a new macro. Click SAVE the workbook as 09 4Strong Tour Revenues Solution.xlsm and leave it open for the
the same spot again to stop next exercise.
recording.

Figure 9-44
Alternate record macro button

Record macro

For security reasons, Excel no longer saves macros in its regular .XLS and .XLSX files. This is
due to how often the macros feature was maliciously used by people sending Excel workbooks to
others via e-mail attachments. Now, the only way to save a macro-enabled workbook is to give it
the special .XLSM file type. This way, companies that want to avoid any possibility of spreading
malware can enforce policies preventing .XLSM files from being attached to or received within
e-mails.

5XQQLQJD0DFUR
A recorded macro follows the steps you gave Excel during the recording process. For that reason,
it’s up to you to prepare the worksheet and select the cell you want before you begin. You can play
back any macro by selecting it from the Macro dialog box. But it’s generally easier to assign it to a
keystroke, as you did in the previous exercise, and simply launch it from the keyboard.
 Working with Data and Macros 277

STEP BY STEP Run a Macro

GET READY. USE the workbook from the previous exercise.

1. Click cell D39.
2. On the DEVELOPER tab, in the Code group, click Macros.
3. In the Macro dialog box, click CustomSubtotals. Click Run. The custom subtotals row
is added immediately, with a one-row gap between the clusters.
4. Click cell D57.
5. Press Ctrl + Shift + S. The custom subtotals row appears here immediately.

SAVE the workbook and leave it open for the next exercise.

0DQDJLQJ0DFUR6HFXULW\
Because of the proliferation of malicious software, Microsoft has set up Excel so that after it’s
installed, you cannot execute macros from a file you open (even an explicitly macro-enabled work-
book) until you read the notification and click Enable Content. If you never plan to run macros
or if you’re skeptical about your office colleagues, you can turn off macros completely. You can
also turn off the notifications and enable all macros, if you work in an office such as a financial
services provider
pro
provi
ro vider wh
vi macros
where ma
macrcros are in use constantly, you trust the source
cr sour of the Excel workbooks,
and notifications
ficat
fic atio
at ions would
io wou
would only
ou nly get
oonl
nl he way.
get in tthe

STEP BY STEP Manage Macro Security

GET READY. USE the workbook from the previous exercise.

1.4.5
1. On the DEVELOPER tab, in the Code group, click Macro Security.
2. In the Trust Center dialog box (see Figure 9-45), click Disable all macros with
How do you manage macro
notification to have Excel warn you whenever an opened workbook contains macros,
security?
enabling you to turn those macros on or off based on your decision.

Figure 9-45
Trust Center with macro
protection settings

3. Click OK.

CLOSE the workbook. CLOSE Excel.

278 Lesson 9

SKILL SUMMARY
Objective
In this lesson you learned how: Exam Objective Number

To import data. Open non-native files directly in Excel. 1.1.4

Import files. 1.1.3
Append data to worksheets. 2.1.1
To ensure your data’s integrity. Set data validation. 1.3.8
To sort data.
To filter data.
To outline and subtotal data. Create outlines. 2.3.5
Collapse groups of data in outlines. 2.3.6
Insert subtotals. 2.3.7
To set up data in a table format. Apply styles to tables. 3.2.1
rows
Band row
owss an
ow and columns.
d co
colu
lumn
lumns.
mn s. 3.2.2
styles
Remove ssty
tyle
ty les fr tables.
from tab
able
ables.
les. 3.2.4
Define
Defin
Define tititl
fin titles.
tltles 3.1.3
Insert total rows. 3.2.3
Add and remove cells within tables. 3.1.2
Filter records. 3.3.1
Sort data on multiple columns. 3.3.2
Change sort order. 3.3.3
Remove duplicates. 3.3.4
Move between tables and ranges. 3.1.1
To save work with macros. Assign shortcut keys. 1.4.12
Record simple macros. 1.4.7
Manage macro security. 1.4.5

Knowledge Assessment

Multiple Choice
Select the best response for the following statements.

1. Which of the following procedures is not a way to sort a table by the contents of one
column?
a. Click the Sort button in the Sort & Filter group of the DATA tab.
b. Click an AutoFilter button in the total row.
c. Click an AutoFilter button in the field names row.
d. Click the Filter button in the Sort & Filter group of the DATA tab.
 Working with Data and Macros 279

2. Which is a valid reason you’d want to convert a table to a range?

a. To clear the sorting criteria and start over.
b. To prepare for deleting a column.
c. To prepare for importing new data from a non-Excel file.
d. To prepare to change its conditional formatting.
3. Which of the following is the difference between an Auto Outlined worksheet and a
worksheet with multiple groups?
a. None.
b. Only an Auto Outlined worksheet may contain total rows.
c. An Auto Outlined worksheet contains only one button for collapsing and expanding.
d. Only a multi-grouped worksheet can cluster rows and columns.
4. Which of the following is a correct reference to the cell in the Total Sale column on the
rightmost side of a table called Auction Items?
a. Table[Auction Items(Total Sale)]
b. Auction Items(Total Sale)
c. Auction Items[#Totals]
d. #Totals[Total Sale]
5. Which of the following procedures is not a way to filter a table by the contents of one
column?
a. Click the criterion button on the slicer.
b. Right-click the cell whose contents you want for the criterion, and click Filter in the
menu.
c. Click
ickk the
ic th Filt
Filter
lter
lt er button
but
utto
ut ton
to n in the
t S Sor
Sort
ort & Filter
or Filt
lter
lt er g
gro
group
roup
up o
off the
the DATA
DAT
ATA
ATA tab.
d. Click
ickk the
th AutoFilter
Auto
Au toFi
to Filt
Fi er button
lter
lt but
utto
ut ton in the
to he total row
ow at the
the bottom.
bott
bo ttom
tt om.
om
6. Which
ich of the
he following
fol
ollo
ol lowi
lo wing attributes
wi att
ttri
tt ribute
ri tess is nott a p
te potential
pot
otenti
ot tial criterion
ti crite
teri
te rion
ri on for an AutoFilter sort?
a. Font color
col
olor
ol or
b. Font
Fo style
tyle
le
c. Cell color
d. Cell icon
7. Which is the difference between an AutoFiltered range of records in a list and a table?
a. None.
b. A table maintains its sort order after you close and then open it again.
c. A table given a title enables its field names to be used in formulas in place of cell
references.
d. A table enables special subtotal functions for total rows.
8. Which characters may not be used to begin a field name in a table?
a. = @ -
b. $ = (
c. % { [
d. $ % @
9. Which is the reason you would want to record a macro with absolute references rather
than relative?
a. You want to preserve the integrity of any cells referenced by formulas in the macro.
b. You want the values of any cells copied to the macro to be accurate.
c. You want the results of any formulas produced by the macro to be accurate.
d. You want the macro to reproduce its results in the same place each time.
10. From which of the following does Excel not have features for importing data?
a. An active database
b. A Web page
c. A Web search
d. An XML file

True / False
Circle T if the statement is true or F if the statement is false.

T F 1. You remove duplicate rows from a table the same way you would for a named
range of AutoFiltered records.
T F 2. You cannot sort a table in alphabetical or numerical order for one column and
by conditional formatting for another column at the same time.
280 Lesson 9

T F 3. When importing data from a text file, you can tell Excel to recognize a character
other than a comma as a field delimiter.
T F 4. You can have no more than two criteria in a custom AutoFilter.
T F 5. Immediately after you group together a cluster of adjacent rows, Excel prompts
you to create a total row beneath it.
T F 6. Once you remove an automatic style from a table, it is no longer a table.
T F 7. The title given to a table appears above the field names row.
T F 8. The @ character is required before any reference to a specific value in a named
row.
T F 9. Field names in a table, as opposed to a named range, must begin with an
alphabetic character.
T F 10. Excel will not let any macro run in a worksheet without the user’s direct
approval, unless the option for that notification is explicitly turned off.

Competency Assessment

Project 9-1: Home Buying Comparison

You’ve created
ed a list of homes es aavailable for sale in your neighborhood with wit some important char-
acteristics you want to
u wa to compare
comp
co mpar
mp are with
ar with one another.
ne aano You’re
nother. Yo
no You’
u’re
u’re wondering
won
w onde
onderi
de ng whether
ring
ri wheheth
he th your realtor is asking
as much for your
your h house
hou
ouse
ou se aas she
sh co could
coul
uld be aasking. In
ul n th
this project,
is p
pro
roject, yo
ro you’ll
you’
u’ll
u’ generate a table, filter the
ll gen
ultipl
plee cr
pl
table by multiple crit
iteria
it ia, and
ia
criteria, an calculate
calcul
ca ulate the
ul th average
averag
agee asking
ag as price ffor
p or hom
homes in the neighborhood
that meet the criteria.
crit
iter
iteria.
er

GET READY. LAUNCH Excel if it is not already open.

1. OPEN 09 Homes for Sale from the files for this lesson.
2. SAVE the workbook as 09 Homes for Sale 3-19 Solution.
3. Click any cell in the data range. On the HOME tab, in the Styles group, click Format as
Table. Give the table the style Table Style Light 19. Click OK.
4. On the DESIGN tab, in the Table Style Options group, click First Column.
5. Click cell A23.
6. On the HOME tab, in the Editing group, click the down arrow button next to AutoSum.
In the menu, click Average.
7. Click the filter button for Fireplace. In the menu, clear the checked boxes and then
check the box for Y. Click OK.
8. Repeat this process for the Great Room column.
9. Click the down arrow beside Sq. Ft. In the menu, click Number Filters, and then click
Greater Than Or Equal To.
10. In the Custom AutoFilter dialog box, next to is greater than or equal to, type 1900. Click
OK. The table now shows all homes for sale in the neighborhood with a fireplace and
a great room, and with 1,900 square feet or more. The total row shows the average
asking price for only the six houses shown.

SAVE and CLOSE this workbook. Leave Excel open for the next project.

Project 9-2: Fundraising Revenue Summary

You’re a volunteer for a charity that generates money for worthwhile causes by gathering together
famous athletes for public events. In this project, you will generate collapsible subtotal rows for a
list of moneys raised at various tour stops.
 Working with Data and Macros 281

GET READY. LAUNCH Excel if it is not already open.

1. OPEN 09 4Strong Tour Revenues.xlsx from the files for this lesson. Note that this is not
the .xlsm solution file you created during the Recording a Basic Macro exercise.
2. SAVE the workbook as 09 4Strong Tour Revenues Summary Solution.xlsx.
3. Select the range A4:D232.
4. On the DATA tab, in the Outline group, click Subtotal.
5. In the Subtotal dialog box, set At each change in to Tour Stop Date. Set Use function
to Sum. Check only the Sales box under Add subtotal to. Check Summary below data.
Click OK.
6. After the groups are all added, in the Outline group, click Hide Detail.
7. Expand column D if necessary to make room for the Grand Total at the bottom.

SAVE and CLOSE this workbook. Leave Excel open for the next project.

Proficiency Assessment

Project 9-
9-3:
3: Hot S
Sauce
auce
ce Sales
Sales Report
Rep
eport
ep
You workrk in
n the
the ac
acco
accounting
coun
counti
un ting department
ti dep
d epartm
ep tmen
tm ent of a n non
nonprofit
onpr
onprofi
pr ofit orga
ofi organization
gani
ga niza
ni zati
zation that manufactures jars of
ti
recipe
pes of homemade
pe
various recipes hom
omem
om emade ho
em hot sauc
uce,
uc e, for resale
sauce, resal
alee by cha
al harity groups.
ha
charity gro
roup
ro ups. In this project, you combine
up
eets wor
three sheets orth of data
or
worth da into
int
ntoo a single
nt sing
ngle
ng le sheet
sshe
heet
he et ttha
hatt ca
ha
that cann be expanded
eexpan
ande
an ded
de d and
an collapsed, and that shows
subtotals for each month.

GET READY. LAUNCH Excel if it is not already open.

1. OPEN 09 Hot Sauce Sales Q1 from the files for this lesson.
2. SAVE the workbook as 09 Hot Sauce Sales Q1 Report Solution.
3. Click the February tab.
4. Select cell range A6:J30.
5. Copy the range to the January worksheet starting at cell A32.
6. Adjust the formulas in Gross Sales for the copied region to point to the correct cells in
the Unit Prices worksheet, starting with cell B9.
7. Repeat the process, copying the range in the March worksheet to January, with the top
left cell in A58. Be sure to correct the Gross Sales formulas.
8. Adjust the height of rows with column headers to more appropriately fit their contents.
9. Click cell B4 and type First quarter 2013.
10. Click cell A6 and type January. Repeat this for the respective cells in the other two
months’ tables.
11. Delete the February and March worksheets.
12. Rename the January worksheet First quarter.
13. Select row 17 and insert a new row.
14. Create AutoSum formulas for January Unit Sales columns B through J, giving a special
boldface to J17.
15. Copy row 17 and insert it below the Unit Sales tables for the other two months.
16. Create AutoSum formulas for January Gross Sales columns B through I. Copy these
formulas to February and March.
17. Select rows 8 through 16. On the DATA tab, in the Outline group, click the Group
button.
18. Repeat this process for the remaining five tables.
19. Select columns B through I. Click the Group button.
282 Lesson 9

20. Select the entire worksheet. In the Outline group, click Hide Detail. Both rows
and columns are collapsed to reveal just the sales summaries. Widen column J, if
necessary.

SAVE and CLOSE this workbook. Leave Excel open for the next project.

Project 9-4: Employee Archive Rescue

You’re helping a colleague to restore some lost data, by reconstructing it from old backups. One
of these backup files is an .MDB format database file. In this project, you’ll import the data from
that file into an Excel table, and correcting the formulas inside that table.

GET READY. LAUNCH Excel if it is not already open.

1. OPEN a Blank workbook.
2. On the DATA tab, in the Get External Data group, click From Access.
3. In the Select Data Source dialog box, locate and select 09CMKPAY.mdb. Click Open.
4. In the Import Data dialog box, leave the settings for a new Table in an Existing
worksheet. Set the target location to the upper left corner cell. Click OK.
5. After the table is imported, use the Name Manager dialog box to rename the table from
Table__09_CMKPAY to Employees.
6. Change all
a the
t contents
ccon
ontentss of ccol
on columns
olum
ol umns
um ns D through
gh L tto
o Accounting
Acco
Ac coun
co unting
un ng n
num
number
um format.
7. Insert a new
ew column
col
olum
ol umn
um n between
betwee
be een
ee n LTD
Daand NET_PAYa
NET_PAY
PAY
PA and
nd name
nam
ame
am e it To
Total Deductions.
Tota
8. Click cell
ll L2 and
nd type
typ
ype
yp e the
th following
follow
fo owing
ow g fo
formula:
=SUM(Employees[@[FED_TAX]:[LTD]])
(Emploloyees[@
lo [@[FED_T
[@ _TAX
_TAX]:[L
AX [LTD
[LTD]]
TD ]]))
9. Note how the colon in-between the two field names FED_TAX and LTD makes this
reference into a range, just as it would if you entered D2:K2. The formula you entered
automatically fills down the rest of the column.
10. For cell M2, type the following formula:
=[GROSS_PAY]-[Total deductions]
11. Note that when the formula is used inside the table, which is the case here, you can
omit the @ prefix from the reference, which otherwise means “on this row.”
12. Because the rest of the column is nonblank, use the fill handle to fill the new formula
down to cell M11.
13. Group columns E through K together and collapse them.

SAVE the workbook as 09 Charter Employees Solution. Leave the workbook open for the
next project.

Mastery Assessment

Project 9-5: Macro for Table Reconciliation

The remainder of the employees file you’re trying to reconstruct resides in an old Excel worksheet.
The problem is that the data in that worksheet is all comprised of totals from consolidation for-
mulas, and each employee record is a header for a collapsed group. When you copy the records,
you end up copying everything except the data used in the consolidation, resulting in a sheet full
of #REF! errors. You need a copying function that Excel doesn’t have. In this project, you’ll record
a macro that fulfills the job of copying just the data you need, saving you the hassle of copying all
the errors and weeding them out.

GET READY. USE the workbook from the previous project.

1. OPEN 09 2006+ Employees.xls from the data files for this lesson. Dismiss the usual
security warning.
 Working with Data and Macros 283

2. Arrange the 2006+ Employees and Charter Employees windows side-by-side.

3. In the 2006+ Employees window, click the Sheet1 tab. Click cell A7 (ID).
4. In the Charter Employees window, create a new worksheet Sheet2. Click cell A1.
5. In the Charter Employees window, on the DEVELOPER tab, click the Code group to
ensure Use Relative References is highlighted.
6. In the Code group, click Record Macro.
7. In the Record Macro dialog box, name the macro CopyValRecord. Assign it the
keystroke Ctrl + Shift + C. Click OK to begin recording.
8. Switch to the 2006+ Employees window.
9. Hold down Shift and click cell P7 to select the entire row.
10. On the HOME tab, in the Clipboard group, click Copy.
11. Switch to the Charter Employees window.
12. In the Clipboard group, click Paste Values. The headings row should appear in the
worksheet.
13. Press Left Arrow, and then press Down Arrow. Cell A2 should be the active cell.
14. Switch to the 2006+ Employees window. Press Left Arrow, and then press Down
Arrow.
15. Switch to the Charter Employees window. On the DEVELOPER tab, in the Code group,
click Stop Recording.
16. To test
estt the
es th macro’s
macr
ma cro’s effectiveness,
cr effe
ef fect
fe ctiv
ct ivenes
iv ess,
es s, leave the
he same
ssam
amee cells
cell
ce llss selected
ll select
cted
ct ed in both worksheets,
and press
pres
esss Ct
es Ctrl
rl + S
Shi
Shift
hift
hi C. In a m
ft + C mom
moment,
oment, Excel
Exc
xcel should
xc sho
hould
ho d have
have copied
ccop
op over the next row,
ID# 38448,
3844448,
44 8, which
whi
w hich
hi ch is
is actually ly three
thr ee rows down
hree
hr down inin the old employees’ worksheet.
d em
employ
17. Keep
ep press
pressing
ssin
ss ing Ct
in Ctrl ft + C u
rl + Shift until
unt
ntil
nt il the
the last
llas
ast customer,
as cust
cu stom
st omer, ID #55412,
om #5541 has been copied into
#
row 36.

SAVE the newly loaded workbook as 09 Charter Employees Solution.xlsm. CLOSE the
2006+ Employees workbook and leave Charter Employees open for the next project.

Project 9-6: Reconciling Tables

You now have two employee tables of different ages imported into separate worksheets. You need
to reconcile them into a single table, but the problem is that you need to keep some aspects of
both tables and discard certain aspects of others. The solution is to make the tables structurally
equivalent to one another, copy the data from one into the other, and then trim any unwanted
parts from the product.

GET READY. USE the 09 Charter Employees Solution.xlsm workbook from the previous
project.
1. OPEN Sheet2. Change the number formats for cell ranges F2:L36 and N2:P36 to
Accounting. Change the number formats for M2:M36 to Percentage with two decimal
places.
2. OPEN Sheet1 and expand the group. Change the heading for column J to 401K. Add
a new column to the left of 401K named 401K rate. Add three columns to the right of
Employee Name called Title, First name, and Last name. Move Employee ID to column
B. Rename the REGULAR_HO column Hours. Add a column to the right of Hours named
Rate. Delete the Total Deductions column. Leave NET_PAY erroneous for the moment.
3. Copy the contents of Sheet2 to the end of the table in Sheet1 so that their Employee ID
fields align with one another.
4. Relocate the rows with full-name entries in the Employee Name column to the bottom
of the table in Sheet1, so that the relocated cells are automatically given the table
format.
5. Click any cell in the table. On the DATA tab, in the Data Tools group, click Remove
Duplicates.
6. In the Remove Duplicates dialog box,deselect all fields except the unique Employee ID
number. Click OK. Excel reports the number of duplicate employee records that were
removed. Click OK to dismiss the notice.
284 Lesson 9

7. Because all the old employees were apparently duplicated, delete the Employee Name
column.
8. Re-insert the Total deductions column and just before the NET_Pay column, type its
formula, this time being careful to omit 401K rate from the calculation.
9. Enter a new formula for the NET_PAY column starting at the top row and filling down,
subtracting Total deductions from GROSS_PAY.
10. Widen any partly-visible columns if necessary.
11. Apply boldface to the final column of the table.

SAVE the workbook as 09 Charter Employees Solution 2.xlsm. CLOSE Excel.

 Circling Back 2 285

Circling Back 2

The Graphic Design Institute tracks many different types of data on its students, such as name,
country of origin, the general type of program (accelerated or regular), tuition costs, and the
month in which the student starts his or her program. In addition, instructors must maintain
grade books, which track grades for each student for each course taken. In this set of projects, you
apply formatting to cells and entire worksheets, search and replace text in individual worksheets
and across a workbook, and sort, filter, and subtotal data tables.

Project 1: Formatting Cells and Ranges

In this project, you format cells using character attributes, cell styles, and a number of other tech-
niques to give the Student Roster workbook a professional finish.

GET READY. LAUNCH Excel if it is not already running.

1. OPEN Student Roster.
2. Select cells A1:E1. On the HOME tab, in the Alignment group, click the Merge & Center
on..
on
button.
3. Select
ct ccel
cells
ells A2
el :E2. On the
A2:E2.
A2:E
:E he HOME
HOM
H OME
OM E tab,
ta in the
th Al
Alig
Alignment
ignm
ig nmen
nm entt gr
en grou
group,
oup,
ou p, click the Merge & Center
button.
on.
4. Select
ct cel
cells
ells
el ls A3
A3:E3.
A3:E
:E3
:E 3. Right-
Right-click
t-cl
t- click and
cl and select De
Delete. In the D
Del
Delete
elete dialog box, ensure Shift
cells up is sselecte
selected
ted
te d and click
clic
cl ick O
ic K.
OK.
OK
5. Select cells A3:E3. On the HOME tab, in the Font group, click the Bold button.
6. Select columns C and D. On the HOME tab, in the Alignment group, click the Center
button.
7. Click cell A1. On the HOME tab, in the Styles group, click the Cell Styles button arrow to
display the gallery.
8. Select the Title style.
9. Select cell A2. On the HOME tab, in the Styles group, click the Cell Styles button arrow,
and then under Themed Cell Styles, select Accent1.
10. Apply bold to cell A2.
11. Select cells D4:D46. On the HOME tab, in the Number group, open the Number Format
drop-down menu and select Accounting.
12. In the Number group, click the Decrease Decimal button until no decimal places
display.
13. Click cell A4. Click the VIEW tab, and in the Window group, click the Freeze Panes
button arrow and select Freeze Panes.
14. SAVE the workbook as Student Roster 1 Solution in the Circling Back folder.

LEAVE the workbook open for the next project.

Project 2: Formatting Worksheets

Apply the formatting skills you learned in Lesson 6 to adjust the size of rows and columns in the
Student Roster worksheet, add a header and footer, and fix the formatting of a repeated word using
the Replace feature.

GET READY. USE the workbook you saved in the previous project.
1. Double-click the border between the rows 1 and 2 headings to automatically resize row
1 to fit the contents.
286 Circling Back 2

2. Select row 2. On the HOME tab, in the Cells group, click the Format button arrow, select
Row Height, in the Row Height text box, type 18.75, and then click OK.
3. Double-click the border between the columns D and E headings to automatically resize
column D to fit the contents.
4. Click the PAGE LAYOUT tab, and in the Themes group, click the Themes button arrow
to open the gallery. Select the Integral theme.
5. Click cell A1. Click the HOME tab, and in the Font group, change the font size to 24.
6. Change the font size of the content in cell A2 to 14.
7. Select cells A3:E46. Change the font size to 12.
8. Adjust the size of each column as follows:
Column A: 20
Column B: 15
Column C: 12
Column D: 10
Column E: 13
9. Click the VIEW tab, and in the Window group, click the Freeze Panes button arrow, and
then select Unfreeze Panes.
10. Click the INSERT tab, and in the Text group, click the Header & Footer button.
11. Click the HEADER & FOOTER TOOLS DESIGN tab, in the Header & Footer group, click
the Headerer button
ader
ad on arrow,
arrow
ow, and
ow and then
en ssel
select
elect Sh
el Sheet1,
Shee
eet1
ee t1,, Co
t1 Confi
Confidential,
nfide
nfi dential,
de l, Page
P 1.
12. Click anywhere
ywhe
yw here
he re in
in the
the header.
header
he er.. On the
er the HEADER
HEADE
DER & FOOTER
DE FO ER TOOLS
TOO
T OOLS
OO LS DESIGN tab, in the
Navigation
tion group,
gro
g roup, click
ro clic
cl ickk the Go to Fo
ic Footer butto
button.
ton.
to
13. In the Header
eade
derr & Footer
de Foot
oter
ot er group,
gro
roup
ro up,, click
up clic
ickk the
ic the Fo
Footer
Foot er bu
oter
ot button
butt
tton
tt on arrow
ow a
and sselect the file name
option, which is the sixth option in the list.
14. Press Ctrl + H to open the Find and Replace dialog box to the Replace tab. In the Find
What box, type accelerated and press Tab. In the Replace With box, type Accelerated.
Click the Options button and select the Match case checkbox. Click the Replace All
button. After the words are replaced, click OK, and then click Close.
15. On the status bar, click the Normal view button to return to Normal view.
16. SAVE the workbook as Student Roster 2 Solution in the Circling Back folder, and then
CLOSE the file.

LEAVE Excel open for the next project.

Project 3: Managing Worksheets

In this project, you help an instructor add the GPA worksheet to a grade book and reorganize the
worksheets within the grade book. You will also show the instructor how easy it is to find and
replace data across worksheets in a workbook.

GET READY. LAUNCH Excel if it is not already running.

1. OPEN Grade Book and GPA.
2. In the GPA workbook, right-click Sheet1 and select Move or Copy.
3. In the Move or Copy dialog box, open the To Book drop-down menu and select Grade
Book.xlsx.
4. Under Before Sheet, select (move to end) and click OK. The GPA worksheet is added to
the Grade Book workbook, and the GPA workbook closes.
5. In the Grade Book workbook, right-click the Sheet1 tab, select Rename, and type
Graphic Design 1.
6. Rename the Sheet2 tab to Digital Media 1.
7. Rename the Sheet3 tab to Typography 1.
 Circling Back 2 287

8. Rename the last sheet tab to GPA.

9. Click and hold the Digital Media 1 tab. Drag and drop it after the Typography 1 tab.
10. Right-click the GPA sheet tab, point to Tab Color, and under Standard Colors, select the
Purple color box.
11. You must replace every instance of Herp in the Last Name column and Jesper in the
First Name column with Byham and Richard A., respectively. The change must be
made to the first three worksheets. To do so, select the Graphic Design 1, Typography
1, and Digital Media 1 sheet tabs. You can select all of them by pressing the Shift key
while you click each sheet tab.
12. Press Ctrl + H to open the Find and Replace dialog box to the Replace tab.
13. In the Find What box, type Herp. In the Replace With box, type Byham. Click Replace
All and then click OK.
14. In the Find and Replace dialog box, in the Find What box, type Jesper and in the
Replace With box, type Richard A. Click Replace All and then click OK. Click Close to
close the Find and Replace dialog box.
15. Right-click any of the grouped sheet tabs and select Ungroup Sheets.
16. Click each of the three sheet tabs and verify that the names were replaced
appropriately.
17. SAVE the workbook as Grade Book Solution in the Circling Back folder, and then
CLOSE the file.

xcel
xc el open
LEAVE Excel ope
pen
pe n for
fo the
the ne
next
xt proje
ject
je ct.
ct
project.

Project 4: W
Working
Wor
orking w
or with Data
Dat
ataa
at
The chief financial officer created a new worksheet based on the Contributions worksheet. She
would like you to create two groups—one for organizations and another for individuals. In each
group, she wants you to sort by the type of fund and then the contribution amount (highest to
lowest), and provide subtotals for each fund in both groups.

GET READY. LAUNCH Excel if it is not already running.

1. OPEN Contributions 2.
2. Before row 4, insert a blank row. In cell A4, type Organizations and press Enter.
3. Insert two blank rows before row 23 (just before the row that contains “Voss, Florian”).
In cell A24, type Individuals and press Enter.
4. Bold the content in cell A24. Select A24:C24. If necessary, click the HOME tab, in the
Clipboard group, click the Format Painter button. Copy the formatting from cells
A24:C24 to A4:C4.
5. Select rows 4:22.
6. Click the DATA tab, and in the Outline group, click the Group button. A group indicator
line is added to the left of the row markers and an outline symbol on the row just below
the end of the group.
7. Select rows 24 through 35 (all of the individuals in the Contributions worksheet).
8. On the DATA tab, in the Outline group, click the Group button.
9. Select rows 5:22.
10. On the DATA tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click Sort.
11. In the Sort dialog box, clear the My Data has Headers check box if it is selected. In the
Sort By drop-down menu, select Column B. In the Order drop-down menu, ensure A to
Z appears. Click the Add Level button. In the Then By drop-down menu, select Column
C, and in the Order drop-down menu, select Largest to Smallest. Click OK.
12. Select rows 25:35 and repeat steps 10 and 11.
13. Select rows 3:35. Be sure the column headings (in row 3) are included in the selection.
288 Circling Back 2

14. On the DATA tab, in the Outline group, click Subtotal. The Subtotal dialog box appears.
15. In the At Each Change In list box, select Fund.
16. In the Use Function list box, verify that Sum appears.
17. In the Add Subtotal To list box, verify that only Amount is selected.
18. Near the bottom of the dialog box, verify that only Replace Current Subtotals and
Summary Below Data are selected.
19. Click OK. Excel inserts subtotal rows after each type of fund in both groups.
20. Highlight row 45 (the Total Contributions row). Use the Format Painter to copy
formatting from row 45 to row 44.
21. Delete row 45.
22. SAVE the workbook as Contributions Sorted Solution in the Circling Back folder, and
then CLOSE the file.

CLOSE Excel.