This week’s hint and tip is on Formula Auditing in Excel. This section is covered briefly in our Intermediate Excel training course. It​ isn’t covered in a lot of detail as it is a smaller section on our course. There are several features in this area but we’re focussing on just two in this hint and tip. These are:

1. Watch Windows
2. Trace Precedents

In the video below you will see how they both work. Excel is such a sophisticated package that sometimes a little help is required in order to understand what is going on. This is especially true if someone else has constructed a formula on a sheet and you need help to understand it.

Watch Windows

Firstly we will look at watch windows. Watch windows enable you to keep an eye on the value of a cell in a spreadsheet when you change a cell in an entirely different place on the workbook. This can be especially useful if you have very large workbooks with lots of rows of data in it.

Trace Precedents

Secondly we will look at race precedents. Trace Precedents allows you to see which cell precedents are used in the making up of a formula cell. Again, this works across worksheets and even across workbooks if they are open.

Both of these are covered in our Excel training courses which we run in Worcestershire, Herefordshire, across the Midlands and throughout the UK.

The video below shows you how to use these two options in the Formula Auditing part in Excel. It also shows how they can be beneficial for you in your day to day work.

Watch the video below to find out more and then try it out on your own computer!

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This week’s hint and tip is about pivot tables and how to create them in your spreadsheets in Excel. This is on our Advanced Excel training course but as they are so popular we decided to do a hint and tip on it too. We are going to go through it now below.

Pivot Tables

One of the most useful and powerful features companies can use in Excel is the ability through Pivot Tables to analyse and summarise data. We deliver the following training locally:

• IT Training Warwickshire
• IT Training Worcestershire
• IT Training Gloucestershire
• IT Training Herefordshire

We also train IT in other counties and always seek to provide the essential skills in Excel and there’s no better way to analyse data in Excel than through a Pivot Table so… Firstly, what is a Pivot Table and Chart and secondly how simple is it to create one?

Data Sheet

It is really important to set up your list with details of the transactions in a certain way. Follow these rules and it’s a great start:

• All your data on 1 sheet (even months/years as it’s very easy to filter by month/year)
• Row 1 to contain field column headings: all different and not too long
• Rows 2 onwards with no blank rows and no blank columns to contain your transaction data
• No merge cells anywhere

Pivot Table layout

Once you have your Pivot Table again follow these steps:

• Fill in the 4 boxes at the bottom right of your screen which allow you to design the PT with column/rows/filters and at least 1 value. The value may well be a quantity/sales value/product margin etc.
• Drag and drop these fields (this is simple to do) until you are happy with the layout
• Use Slicers to make filtering of the data easy

Below is a video which takes you through a live example on creating a Pivot Table and then a Pivot Chart.

Once you have these in place it’s a case of updating your transaction data and updating the data source so that the PT takes on board the latest data.

We hope you liked this hint and tip on creating pivot tables in Excel, why not take a look at our previous one on the BODMAS concept?

We have delivered Excel training courses in Worcestershire and Herefordshire recently where Pivot Tables have made a major impact on the efficiency of those businesses.

For all details of our Excel courses and details of IT training Herefordshire as well as the other counties we train in, please visit our web site here or phone us 07903 840105.

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Here at JPL we continually strive to improve the variety of Microsoft Office courses in the Midlands and further afield.

We thought you may like to see a short video of the towns we’ve trained clients in during the last 12 months. It’s only 10 seconds and was created using a new feature in Excel called 3D maps. You may spot your town but if not let us know!

Although we train in a variety of modules in Microsoft office like Word, PowerPoint and Access we’ve found the major demand for our training courses is in Excel. Of which we have now developed 5 levels of courses.

We often publish hints and tips at least once a month and here’s our tip of the day – a really simple one to do with worksheets but then as the saying goes “the simpler the better”.

Tip of the Day in Excel

Four things you may not know about Excel worksheets:

1. To colour a worksheet simply right click and choose a Tab colour
2. To move a worksheet to a different position simply drag and drop the sheet to the left or right
3. To rename a worksheet its quicker to double click on it and then type over the worksheet name
4. When using a worksheet in a formula where a sheet has an embedded space in it use an apostrophe e.g. =sum(‘jan 18:mar 18’!b2)

Why not take a look at our previous post on new features in PowerPoint?

We’ve developed ourselves into a Microsoft Office specialist and pride ourselves on the commitment to interest trainees on courses to enjoy their experience of being trained by us.

We are grateful for your support over the years and please keep an eye on our hints and tips page. These cover all kinds of Microsoft Office modules and you can find them here.

If you have any comments on the hints and tips or any news we post, please let us know on johnlegge@jplcomputer.co.uk.

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This week’s blog focusses on colour in Excel. We’ve done this before so it contains a new feature in Excel 365 as well as recapping on a traditional one that we have covered already in a previous hint and tip.

Maps In Excel

This new Add in is found on the Add in gallery of the Insert Ribbon. Maps in Excel allows you to display your data in a more visual way than just using text and displaying the figures next to it. This more visual approach can often be more appropriate and effective depending on what you are displaying the data for and who to. In the example above, you can see how the data is laid our clearly in the top left corner of the Excel worksheet but the Map that takes up most of the worksheet gives a bit more information and detail in displaying the locations visually. This could be beneficial if a comparison was needed to be made in how far each location was from each other.

Essentially, it gives you your data in a more visually descriptive layout compared to just having a table.

Conditional Formatting

Using this flexible feature on the Home ribbon brings data to life. All the conditions are managed so that the split of data relating to colours can be easily changed.

In the example above, the conditional formatting is able to add more colour to the data in the spreadsheet. This colour can very quickly give an overview of the data without having to look too closely at the individual figures. Using both icons and colour formatting is useful for making large amounts of data easier to read, show trends or quickly locate any issues/problems.

Like this post on Excel exposure? For more details on it and our courses please visit our website here or phone 07903 840105. You can also see our previous post here on pivot tables in Excel.

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This week was a first for John on a Basic Excel training session he delivered for 6 people in Hereford. You may know the concept of BODMAS from your days back at school in the maths classroom, which dictates the order in which calculations are performed in an Excel formula. What BODMAS stands for is laid out below:

BO – Brackets Over   ( )

D – Division   /

M – Multiplication   *

A – Addition   +

S – Subtraction   –

Understanding the concept

Even though it might not apply to your work on a daily basis, BODMAS is an important concept to know about in Excel. It is important to remember that Excel is a program and so it carries out calculations based on how it was programmed to do so. This is where BODMAS comes in to place. For example take a look at the calculation below:

A1 = 10  B1 = 5  C1 = 4           =A1+B1*C1

In this example, I am trying to do a calculation to add A1 to B1 and then times it by C1, so in that scenario I would expect the answer to be 60. However if you put that calculation in to Excel, it would produce the answer as 30! The reason? BODMAS! The calculation has done B1*C1 first because multiplication comes above addition (look above), then it has added A1.

To make the calculation work the way we wanted to originally, we would have to amend it like so:  =(A1+B1)*C1   This would now work as brackets are above everything else and so A1 would be added to B1 first!

Well, John set an exercise to test out the individual’s understanding of this concept before he got round to explaining how it works and on Wednesday 10th November all 6 individuals got it correct. They were from Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Ukraine.  John was most impressed as it was the first time the whole class had given him the right answer in 21 years of training!

Excel courses

If you want to learn about BODMAS in Excel as well as other topics found in the package, why not take a look at our Agendas for our Excel courses on the website here. We are happy to help, contact us for more information.

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Comments from attendees on an Basic Excel Training 2013 course run on their premises:

“Really fun & enjoyable. Best part of the course: learning new easy tricks”.

“The training was very easy to follow. Best part of the course: all of it – very explanatory”.

“thoroughly enjoyed the course, I have learnt a lot that I will be able to apply in my everyday job. Best part of the course: all of it, as it was stuff I have never done and has widened my knowledge in Excel”.

“The training was great, just about at my pace. Best part of the course: the way it was conveyed by John”.

“The delivery from John is top notch. Best part of the course: becoming most efficient at things I currently do slowly”.

“Really enjoyed it, was worried at first but really enjoyed it. Thank you! Best part of the course: John is so patient, no matter how slow you are”.

“Pitched perfectly with plenty of praise given. Best part of the course: gaining confidence in using Excel”.

– Charlotte, Nora, Laura, Ian, Ben, Penny and Heather

For more information on our Microsoft Excel Training, see here.

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Comments from attendees on a Bespoke Excel 2010 Training course run on their premises:

“Good quality exercises and detailed notes. Best part of the course: activities – chances for interaction”.

“Clearly explained, patient! Best part of the course: overview of many parts”.

“Very clear and easy to follow. Best part of the course: going through the exercises”.

“Everything was very clear and well structured. Best part of the course: brief introduction of lots of different excel uses I can experiment with”.

“Very comprehensive and easy to follow. Best part of the course: examples were easy to follow”.

– Luke, Jenny, Louise, Philip and Beckie

If you would like to know more about our Microsoft Excel Training Courses, please see here for more information.

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Comments from attendees on an Basic Excel Training 2010 course run on their premises:

“John explained the course in a very clear way. Best part of the course: learning about symbols and formulas”.

“Wished this was done long ago! Best part of the course: learning various symbols”.

“Very pleased with the training I have received. Best part of the course: learning new things and being reminded of the things I had forgotten”.

– Mark, Anup and Beki

If you would like to know more about our Excel Training, please see here for more information.

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Comments from attendees on an Advanced Excel 2013 Training course on 23rd & 27th January run on their premises:

“Best part of the course: interactive and informative”.

“Best part of the course: enjoyed the varied learning style; some listening, some doing on own, some team work, etc.”.

“Very good. Best part of the course: how easy it was to follow (made tricky things seem easy)”.

“Clear and informative. Best part of the course: finding shorter ways of finding/sorting info and Pivot Tables”.

“Clear guidance and notes. Best part of the course: Pivot Tables, Vlookup, data validation”.

“Enjoyed today’s session, really got me thinking. Best part of the course: charts, validation, Vlookup”.

– Maria, Jane, Amelia, Maegan, Debby and Nia

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Comments from attendees on an Intermediate Excel 2016 Training course run on their premises:

“Great step-by-step notes. Best part of the course: all the shortcuts, thank you”.

“The notes and trainer (John) were excellent. Best part of the course: the knowledge I acquired about Excel”.

“Best part of the course: the relaxed, but very informative approach”.

“Best part of the course: F11!”.

– Rekha, Suk, Deborah and Lena

For more information on our excel training services, you can see the excel courses that we run, here.

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