Selected Topics in Advanced Excel

Retrieving External Data

• From Access
• From Quattro Pro, Lotus and Dbase
• From Other Sources
Formatting
• Table Auto Formatting
• Conditional Formatting
Exploring Data
• Filtering
• Pivot Tables
Formulas
• Formula palette and the paste function key
• Naming Cells or Ranges
• Add links between sheets
• Paste Special (freezing results)
Excel Charts
• Chart Wizard
• Chart formatting
Exporting Excel Data and Charts
• To Word and PowerPoint
• To the Internet
Printing
• Page Setup – Gridlines
• Page Breaks

RETRIEVING EXTERNAL (NON-EXCEL) DATA INTO EXCEL:

From Microsoft Access: Data from Microsoft Access can be saved in Excel format and then
opened directly in Excel. In Access, go to FILE ! SAVE AS/EXPORT… and then choose
‘Microsoft Excel’ in the Save as Type box.

From Quattro Pro, Lotus and dBase: Excel can directly open Files from these programs. In
Excel, go to FILE ! OPEN and in the Open box, select the appropriate file format in the Files
of Type box.

Other Data Sources: Data from other sources should be saved as ASCII text files. Excel can
then open these text files with the Text Import Wizard.
1. Go to FILE ! OPEN.
2. In the Open box, select ‘Text Files’ or ‘All Files’ in the Files of Type box.
3. Click OK.
4. The Text Import Wizard will appear. Follow directions and answer questions in the Wizard
to put data into Excel format.

Advanced Excel Page 1

FORMATTING

Formatting Tables: You can choose different styles for your Excel data tables by using the
AutoFormat dialog box –

Conditional Formatting:
The Conditional
Formatting dialog box
allows you to
automatically set special
cell formatting when
certain conditions apply
(say, put all subtotals in
bold, or all values over
$1,000 in red italics) –

Advanced Excel Page 2

EXPLORING DATA

Filtering Data: Filtering lets you explore data in Excel by allowing you to view the data that
meets your chosen criteria; i.e., to be able to have your worksheet only show the records for
subjects who are less than 16 years old, or for which a certain value is negative.
To filter your data, highlight the columns you want to filter, and go to DATA ! FILTER !
AUTOFILTER

Down arrows appear at the top of selected columns – clicking on the arrows presents a drop
down menu with filtering criteria –

Advanced Excel Page 3

Pivot Tables: Pivot tables allow you to quickly summarize and organize your Excel data in
alternative ways. It can be a very useful tool for drawing out key information and emphasizing
different insights from the same large set of data.

Using the same Excel data, Pivot Tables allow you to emphasize different aspect of your data.
For instance, arranging the data this way, you may emphasize the growth in each individual
country’s imports year to year….

Or, alternatively,
using the same data
‘pivot’ the table to
emphasize a
comparison of the
two country’s imports
in each year…

Advanced Excel Page 4

FORMULAS

Building Formulas in Excel: Formulas allow you to carry out calculations using the data in
your Excel spreadsheet. These calculations may involve sums, averages, multiplication, or many
other mathematical, financial, statistical or logical functions.
And note that you can enter the cell address(es) you want in a formula by clicking on the cell or
cells while typing in the formula.

Using the formula palette and dialog box to enter formulas:

Click on the formula palette icon in the formula toolbar to open up the formula palette—

Advanced Excel Page 5

Paste Special: Cells that contain formulas can be copied and pasted so that the values contained
in the cells, and not the formulas, are copied. Highlight the values to be copied, go to EDIT !
COPY, select location to paste and then go to EDIT ! PASTE SPECIAL… This will open up
the Paste Special dialog box, check the ‘Values’ box, and then OK.
Named Cells: Cells (or a range of cells) that you want to include in a formula as an Absolute
Reference, can be named rather than using the $A$12 format to always include a specific value
(such as a total). Click within the cell you want to name. Click on the cell name box on the left of
the formula bar. Type in a name to represent the value in that cell.
Linked Cells: Sometimes you will want to include a value from one sheet in a formula for
another sheet. For instance, if you want to create a budget summary sheet and include amounts
from budget details on different sheets, you can easily do this. While creating the formula in the
summary sheet, click on the tab for the sheet that has the value you want to include. Then click
on the cell containing the value. Notice that the formula contains a sheet reference in addition to
the cell reference. (e.g. Sheet1!N15)

EXCEL CHARTS

Using the Chart Wizard:

To make a chart to present
your data, Excel uses the
Chart Wizard –
The Chart Wizard box will
appear. Follow the four
steps of the Chart Wizard
to set up your chart –

Advanced Excel Page 6

Formatting a Chart in Excel: You can further format the chart after you first create it in the
Chart Wizard.
1. Axes: On your chart, double click on the axes to open a Format Axis dialog box –

2. Plot Area: Double click on the plot area to open a Format Plot Area dialog box.
3. Data Series: Double click on data series bars (lines, etc) to open a Format Data Series
dialog box.
4. Title, Legend, Axis Title: Double click on the chart title, legend or axis titles to open a
dialog box to format each of these.
5. From within a chart, you can go to CHART ! CHART TYPE… on the menu bar to
change to another chart type (bars, pie, 3-D, lines, etc.).
6. You can go to CHART ! ADD DATA… to add additional data into the chart.

EXPORTING EXCEL DATA AND CHARTS

Exporting Excel Data and Charts to MS Word and MS PowerPoint:

1. Exporting Excel Data to Word or PowerPoint:
• In Excel, select the range you want to copy, then go to EDIT ! COPY; Switch to
Word document or PowerPoint presentation and click where you want to insert the
Excel data.
• In Word or PowerPoint, go to EDIT ! PASTE SPECIAL;
• Click Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object to paste the data as a picture that you can resize and
position. By double clicking on the data, you can edit and reformat the data using Excel
functions and tools;
• Click Formatted Text (RTF) to insert in a form you can resize and reformat using Word or
PowerPoint functions and tools. (In Word, this will insert the data in a Word table);
• Click Unformatted Text to paste the data as text separated by tabs.

Advanced Excel Page 7

2. Exporting Excel Charts to Word or PowerPoint:
• In Excel, click on the chart you want to copy, then go to EDIT ! COPY; Switch to Word
document or PowerPoint presentation and click where you want to paste the chart.
• In Word or PowerPoint, go to EDIT ! PASTE SPECIAL;
• Click Microsoft Office Drawing Object to paste the data as a picture that you can resize and
position. By double clicking on the data, you can edit and reformat the data using Excel
functions and tools.

Exporting Excel Data and Charts to the Internet:

Click a cell in the data (or click on the chart) that you want to convert to a Web page. Go to
FILE ! SAVE AS HTML. This will bring up an Internet Assistant Wizard. Follow the
instructions in the Internet Assistant Wizard to create the Excel data or chart as an HTML
document that can be opened as a separate Web page or inserted into a Web page.

PRINTING:

Removing or retaining gridlines in your printed document:

To remove or retain
gridlines in your printed
document, go to FILE !
PAGE SETUP…

Then in the Page Setup

dialog box, hit the Sheet
tab and click the
Gridlines box on or off.

Advanced Excel Page 8

Keeping the labels displayed on each printed sheet: To keep the same top rows or left column
on each printed sheet (that is, to keep the row or column labels when the worksheet continues to
a new printed page), use these boxes here.

Advanced Excel Page 9