Montclair State University
Advanced Excel
Filtering
Filtering is a quick and easy way to find and work with a
subset of data in a list. A filtered list displays only the rows
that meet the criteria you specify for a column. Microsoft
Excel provides two commands for filtering lists:
• AutoFilter, which includes filter by selection, for
simple criteria
• Advanced Filter, for more complex criteria
Unlike sorting, filtering does not rearrange a list. Filtering
temporarily hides rows you do not want displayed.
When Excel filters rows, you can edit, format, chart, and
print your list subset without rearranging or moving it.
Auto Filter
When you use the AutoFilter command, AutoFilter arrows
appear to the right of the column labels in the filtered lis t.
How to filter a list.
Using the AutoFilter arrows Clicking an AutoFilter arrow
displays a list of all unique, visible items in the column, in-
cluding blanks (all spaces) and nonblanks. By selecting an
item from a list for a specific column, you can instantly hide
all rows that don't contain the selected value.
Quickly filtering values If you are filtering a list of num-
bers, you can quickly view the largest values in the list by
clicking the Top 10 item in the AutoFilter list. To resume
viewing everything in the column, click All.
How to Filter a List
Display a subset of rows in a list by using filters
1. Click a cell in the list you want to filter.
2. On the Data menu, point to Filter, and then click Auto-
Filter.
3. To display only the rows that contain a specific value,
click the arrow in the column that contains the data you
want to display.
4. Click the value.
5. To apply an additional condition based on a value in
another column, repeat steps 3 and 4 in the other col-
umn. To filter the list by two values in the same col-
umn, or to apply comparison operators other than
Equals, click the arrow in the column, and then click
Custom. For information about displaying rows by
comparing values, click .
Pivot Table Report
A PivotTable report is an interactive table that you can use to
quickly summarize large amounts of data. You can rotate its
rows and columns to see different summaries of the source
data, filter the data by displaying different pages, or display
the details for areas of interest.
Creating a PivotTable report
1. Open the workbook where you want to create the Pivot-
Table report.
2. If you are basing the report on a Microsoft Excel list or
database, click a cell in the list or database.
3. On the Data menu, click PivotTable and PivotChart
Report.
4. In step 1 of the PivotTable and PivotChart Wizard,
follow the instructions, and click PivotTable under
What kind of report do you want to create?
5. Follow the instructions in step 2 of the wizard.
6. In step 3 of the wizard, determine whether you need
to click Layout.
7. Do one of the following:
If you clicked Layout in step 3, after you lay out
the report in the wizard, click OK in the PivotTable
and PivotChart Wizard – Layout dialog box,
and then click Finish to create the report.
Using Worksheets
Use worksheets to list and analyze data. You can enter and
edit data on several worksheets simultaneously and perform
calculations based on data from multiple worksheets. When
you create a chart, you can place the chart on the worksheet
with its related data or on a separate chart sheet.
Sheet tabs The names of the sheets appear on tabs at the bot-
tom of the workbook window. To move from sheet to sheet,
click the sheet tabs.
Inserting a new worksheet
• To add a single worksheet, click Worksheet on the In-
sert menu.
• To add multiple worksheets, hold down SHIFT, and
then click the number of worksheet tabs you want to add
in the open workbook. Then click Worksheet on the
Insert menu.
 Montclair State University
Advanced Excel—2
Macros
Automating tasks you perform frequently
If you perform a task repeatedly in Microsoft Excel, you can
automate the task with a macro. A macro is a series of com-
mands and functions that are stored in a Visual Basic module
and can be run whenever you need to perform the task. When
you record a macro, Excel stores information about each step
you take as you perform a series of commands. You then run
the macro to repeat, or "play back," the commands.
Recording a Macro
1. On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Re-
cord New Macro.
2. In the Macro name box, enter a name for the macro.
The first character of the macro name must be a letter.
Other characters can be letters, numbers, or underscore
characters. Spaces are not allowed in a macro name; an
underscore character works well as a word separator.
3. To run the macro by pressing a keyboard shortcut key,
enter a letter in the Shortcut key box. You can use
CTRL+ letter (for lowercase letters) or CTRL+SHIFT+
letter (for uppercase letters), where letter is any letter
key on the keyboard. The shortcut key letter you use
cannot be a number or special character such as @ or #.
The shortcut key will override any default Microsoft
Excel shortcut keys while the workbook that contains
the macro is open.
4. In the Store macro in box, click the location where you
want to store the macro.
If you want a macro to be available whenever you
use Excel, store the macro in the Personal Macro
Workbook in the Excel Startup folder. To include a
description of the macro, type the description in the
Description box.
5. Click OK.
If you select cells while running a macro, the macro
will select the same cells regardless of which cell is
first selected because it records absolute cell refe r-
ences. If you want a macro to select cells regardless
of the position of the active cell when you run the
macro, set the macro recorder to record relative cell
references. On the Stop Recording toolbar, click
Relative Reference . Excel will continue to record
macros with relative references until you quit Excel
or until you click Relative Reference again.
6. Carry out the actions you want to record.
7. On the Stop Recording toolbar, click Stop Recording .
Editing a Macro
Before you edit a macro, you should be familiar with the
Visual Basic Editor. The Visual Basic Editor can be used to
write and edit macros attached to Microsoft Excel work-
books.
1. On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click
Macros.
2. In the Macro name box, enter the name of the macro.
3. Click Edit.
Running a Macro
1. Open the workbook that contains the macro.
2. On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click
Macros.
3. Show Me
4. In the Macro name box, enter the name of the macro
you want to run.
5. Click Run.
Absolute Referencing
A reference identifies a cell or a range of cells on a
worksheet and tells Microsoft Excel where to look for the
values or data you want to use in a formula. With references,
you can use data contained in different parts of a worksheet
in one formula or use the value from one cell in several for-
mulas. You can also refer to cells on other sheets in the same
workbook, to other workbooks, and to data in other pro-
grams. References to cells in other workbooks are called ex-
ternal references. References to data in other programs are
called remote references.
Absolute references If you don't want Excel to ad-
just references when you copy a formula to a different cell,
use an absolute reference. For example, if your formula mu l-
tiplies cell A5 with cell C1 (=A5*C1) and you copy the for-
mula to another cell, Excel will adjust both references. You
can create an absolute reference to cell C1 by placing a dollar
sign ($) before the parts of the reference that do not change.
To create an absolute reference to cell C1, for example, add
dollar signs to the formula as follows:
=A5*$C$1