Excel Hacks: 100 Industrial Strength Tips and Tools

by David Hawley, Raina Hawley

Overview

If you think that getting creative with Excel means the underhanded tweaking of numbers, think again. Excel Hacks shows even the most experienced users how to do things with Excel they might never have thought of doing--and lets them have a little fun while they're at it.Microsoft Excel is not just the dominant spreadsheet in the world; it's also one of the most popular applications ever created. Its success lies not only in its power and flexibility, but also in its streamlined, familiar interface that casually conceals its considerable capabilities. You don't need to know everything that Excel can do in order to use it effectively, but if you're like the millions of Excel power users looking to improve productivity, then Excel Hacks will show you a wide variety of Excel tasks you can put to use, most of which are off the beaten path.With this book, Excel power users can bring a hacker's creative approach to both common and uncommon Excel topics--"hackers" in this sense being those who like to tinker with technology to improve it. The "100 Industrial Strength Tips and Tools" in Excel Hacks include little known "backdoor" adjustments for everything from reducing workbook and worksheet frustration to hacking built-in features such as pivot tables, charts, formulas and functions, and even the macro language.This resourceful roll-up-your-sleeves guide is for intermediate to advanced Excel users eager to explore new ways to make Excel do things--from data analysis to worksheet management to import/export--that you never thought possible. Excel Hacks will help you increase productivity with Excel and give you hours of "hacking" enjoyment along the way.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780596552466
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	03/24/2004
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	4 MB

Table of Contents

Dedication; Credits; About the Authors; Contributors; Acknowledgments; Preface; Why Excel Hacks?; Getting and Using the Hacks; How to Use This Book; How This Book Is Organized; Windows and Macintosh Users; Conventions Used in This Book; Using Code Examples; How to Contact Us; Chapter 1: Reducing Workbook and Worksheet Frustration; 1.1 Hacks #1-15; 1 Create a Personal View of Your Workbooks; 2 Enter Data into Multiple Worksheets Simultaneously; 3 Prevent Users from Performing Certain Actions; 4 Prevent Seemingly Unnecessary Prompts; 5 Hide Worksheets So That They Cannot Be Unhidden; 6 Customize the Templates Dialog and Default Workbook; 7 Create an Index of Sheets in Your Workbook; 8 Limit the Scrolling Range of Your Worksheet; 9 Lock and Protect Cells Containing Formulas; 10 Find Duplicate Data using Conditional Formatting; 11 Tie Custom Toolbars to a Particular Workbook; 12 Outsmart Excel's Relative Reference Handler; 13 Remove Phantom Workbook Links; 14 Reduce Workbook Bloat; 15 Extract Data from a Corrupt Workbook; Chapter 2: Hacking Excel's Built-in Features; 2.1 Hacks #16-38; 16 Validate Data Based on a List on Another Worksheet; 17 Control Conditional Formatting with Checkboxes; 18 Identify Formulas with Conditional Formatting; 19 Count or Sum Cells That Meet Conditional Formatting Criteria; 20 Highlight Every Other Row or Column; 21 Create 3D Effects in Tables or Cells; 22 Turn Conditional Formatting and Data Validation On and Off with a Checkbox; 23 Support Multiple Lists in a ComboBox; 24 Create Validation Lists That Change Based on a Selection from Another List; 25 Force Data Validation to Reference a List on Another Worksheet; 26 Use Replace... to Remove Unwanted Characters; 27 Convert Text Numbers to Real Numbers; 28 Customize Cell Comments; 29 Sort by More Than Three Columns; 30 Random Sorting; 31 Manipulate Data with the Advanced Filter; 32 Create Custom Number Formats; 33 Add More Levels of Undo to Excel for Windows; 34 Create Custom Lists; 35 Boldface Excel Subtotals; 36 Convert Excel Formulas and Functions to Values; 37 Automatically Add Data to a Validation List; 38 Hack Excel's Date and Time Features; Chapter 3: Naming Hacks; 3.1 Hacks #39-44; 39 Address Data by Name; 40 Use the Same Name for Ranges on Different Worksheets; 41 Create Custom Functions Using Names; 42 Create Ranges That Expand and Contract; 43 Nest Dynamic Ranges for Maximum Flexibility; 44 Identify Named Ranges on a Worksheet; Chapter 4: Hacking PivotTables; 4.1 Hacks #46-49; 45 PivotTables: A Hack in Themselves; 46 Share PivotTables but Not Their Data; 47 Automate PivotTable Creation; 48 Move PivotTable Grand Totals; 49 Efficiently Pivot Another Workbook's Data; Chapter 5: Charting Hacks; 5.1 Hacks #50-59; 50 Explode a Single Slice from a Pie Chart; 51 Create Two Sets of Slices in One Pie Chart; 52 Create Charts That Adjust to Data; 53 Interact with Your Charts Using Custom Controls; 54 Three Quick Ways to Update Your Charts; 55 Hack Together a Simple Thermometer Chart; 56 Create a Column Chart with Variable Widths and Heights; 57 Create a Speedometer Chart; 58 Link Chart Text Elements to a Cell; 59 Hack Chart Data So That Blank Cells Are Not Plotted; Chapter 6: Hacking Formulas and Functions; 6.1 Hacks #60-80; 60 Add Descriptive Text to Your Formulas; 61 Move Relative Formulas Without Changing References; 62 Compare Two Excel Ranges; 63 Fill All Blank Cells in a List; 64 Make Your Formulas Increment by Rows When You Copy Across Columns; 65 Convert Dates to Excel Formatted Dates; 66 Sum or Counting Cells While Avoiding Error Values; 67 Reduce the Impact of Volatile Functions on Recalculation; 68 Count Only One Instance of Each Entry in a List; 69 Sum Every Second, Third, or nth Row or Cell; 70 Find the nth Occurrence of a Value; 71 Make the Excel Subtotal Function Dynamic; 72 Add Date Extensions; 73 Convert Numbers with the Negative Sign on the Right to Excel Numbers; 74 Display Negative Time Values; 75 Use the VLOOKUP Function Across Multiple Tables; 76 Show Total Time as Days, Hours, and Minutes; 77 Determine the Number of Specified Days in Any Month; 78 Construct Mega-Formulas; 79 Hack Mega-Formulas that Reference Other Workbooks; 80 Hack One of Excel's Database Functions to Take the Place of Many Functions; Chapter 7: Macro Hacks; 7.1 Hacks #81-94; 81 Speed Up Code While Halting Screen Flicker; 82 Run a Macro at a Set Time; 83 Use CodeName to Reference Sheets in Excel Workbooks; 84 Connect Buttons to Macros Easily; 85 Create a Workbook Splash Screen; 86 Display a "Please Wait" Message; 87 Have a Cell Ticked or Unticked upon Selection; 88 Count or Sum Cells That Have a Specified Fill Color; 89 Add the Microsoft Excel Calendar Control to Any Excel Workbook; 90 Password-Protect and Unprotect All Excel Worksheeeeeeets in One Fell Swoop; 91 Retrieve a Workbook's Name and Path; 92 Get Around Excel's Three-Criteria Limit for Conditional Formatting; 93 Run Procedures on Protected Worksheets; 94 Distribute Macros; Chapter 8: Connecting Excel to the World; 8.1 Hacks #95-100; 95 Load an XML Document into Excel; 96 Save to SpreadsheetML and Extracting Data; 97 Create Spreadsheets using SpreadsheetML; 98 Import Data Directly into Excel; 99 Access SOAP Web Services from Excel; 100 Create Excel Spreadsheets Using Other Environments; Chapter 9: Glossary; Colophon;

David Hawley of Perth, Australia is a professional Microsoft Excel consultant whose company, OzGrid Business Applications, offers services in all aspects of Excel, and VBA for Excel. The company's web site at www.ozgrid.com provides online and email Excel training, a directory of useful Excel add-ins, a user forum, and lots of tips and tricks.

Raina Hawley of Perth, Australia is a professional Microsoft Excel consultant whose company, OzGrid Business Applications, offers services in all aspects of Excel, and VBA for Excel. The company's web site at www.ozgrid.com provides online and email Excel training, a directory of useful Excel add-ins, a user forum, and lots of tips and tricks. Raina is also a lecturing team member at West Australian Institute of Management (WAIM) with specific expertise in Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Internet and email.