will introduce you to the exciting new pivot table features in Excel 2007. Create quick summaries and pivot charts, add impact with traffic light icons, design calculated fields, group dates and numbers.
About
Thanks for visiting the Contextures blog, which is focussed on ways that businesses can save time and money. Published Monday to Friday, the blog will feature tips for efficiently using Microsoft Office programs. There will also be suggestions for reducing waste, cutting costs, improving office processes, and the occasional unrelated post.
For a large collection of Excel tutorials and sample files, please visit my web site:
I’m Debra Dalgleish, an independent computer consultant who specializes in Microsoft Office programming and development. Self-employed since 1985, I’ve learned a lot about business efficiency through my own experiences and experiments (some successful, some not so much). I’ve also seen the wide variety of systems and practices that my clients use, and have learned much from them.
Publications
In my spare(!) time, I’ve written three books on Excel pivot tables, and you can read the outlines here:
How It Started
When my business started, it was mainly word processing, and I did everything on a Macintosh (upgraded to 512K), with an external floppy drive, and no hard drive. The first two programs that I used were MacPaint and MacWrite. Soon I got MultiPlan and Microsoft Word, and was excited by all the new things they could do. The next big program I got was Excel, and I expanded my business into that area. There were a few new Macs along with way, including a Mac Plus, a PowerBook and an LC 475.
In the mid 90s, when Windows 3.1 was released, I gradually switched to a PC, because that’s where the money was. I did computer training, wrote training manuals, still did some word processing, and created spreadsheets. In 1996 I was asked to teach an introductory course in Access 2.0, so I learned that too. At the end of that year I created my first database for a client. Since then, we’ve converted the database to newer versions, but it’s still going strong!
Now my working hours are about 40% Excel programming, 40% Access development, and 20% other Microsoft Office stuff. A few clients are still using Office 2000, a couple have upgraded to Office 2007, and the rest use Office XP or Office 2003. It’s tough to remember where the commands are in all those versions!
Contact Me
Email: Debra Dalgleish — ddalgleish AT contextures.com
Phone: (905) 824-1853
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Comment from Tim Mayes
Time: June 18, 2008, 5:46 pm
Debra,
It seems that your feed URL isn’t working at the moment. At least Google Reader is saying that there are no items. Just wanted to be sure that you knew about this.
Tim
Comment from admin
Time: June 18, 2008, 11:52 pm
Thanks Tim, I’ll see what I can find out.
Debra
Comment from Karin H.
Time: July 28, 2008, 7:29 am
Hi Debra
Thanks to Liz Blog-to-Show I now know where to come to solve irritating and frustrating pc problems!
Put you in my reader.
Karin H. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)
Comment from Debra Dalgleish
Time: July 28, 2008, 10:12 am
Hi Karin,
Thanks, and I hope you don’t have too many pc problems! We’re fortunate to be so near the top of that long list, and I’ve subscribed to your email updates too.
Debra
Comment from Karin H.
Time: July 28, 2008, 10:54 am
Hi Debra
The early bird catches etc….I think applies here
Karin H
Comment from Murlidhar Rao
Time: August 26, 2008, 2:33 pm
Hi Debra,
I have created a validation drop down list. From that drop down list, I want to select multiple values so that they are populated in the same cell. Do you think this is possible ? Has this topic ever been discussed on this site ? If yes, could you please send the URL and your response to my mail id.
Thanks in advance.
Murli
Comment from Debra Dalgleish
Time: August 26, 2008, 4:45 pm
Hi Murli,
There’s a sample workbook here:
http://www.contextures.com/excelfiles.html
Under Data Validation, look for ‘DV0017 - Select Multiple Items from Dropdown List’
Regards,
Debra
Comment from Christy Dias
Time: October 2, 2008, 2:08 pm
Do you have any spreadsheets that would help with projections or forecasting? I have to negotiate with Labor contract and could use a model that helps me project increasing salaries, benefits, leave, holiday pay, etc over a number of years (say 5 or 3). I would know my starting points. I would imagine the big unions in DC have that stuff. Any thoughts?
Comment from Debra Dalgleish
Time: October 3, 2008, 1:15 am
Christy, I don’t have any sample sheets in those areas. You could ask your question in an Excel newsgroup, and someone may be able to help. You can access the newsgroups through the Microsoft web site: http://is.gd/12Nj
Comment from jagannathan
Time: October 18, 2008, 3:21 am
I am having a data base which i used from your partLocDBCombo example , further if i have to read the data in the same form for editing or checking (Prev, Next) is it possible if so please give me a link . Thank you in advance
Comment from Debra Dalgleish
Time: October 18, 2008, 6:56 pm
jagannathan, reading into the UserForm form the stored data should be possible, but I don’t have a sample file on my website to do that.
Pingback from Excel Design and Usability Tips : Codswallop
Time: October 23, 2008, 7:25 am
[...] For this article I turned to an Excel expert, Debra Dalgleish, who is an independent computer consultant who specializes in Microsoft Office programming and development. As well as being awarded the Microsoft Office Excel MVP award each year since 2001, Debra is the author of three brilliant Excel books. [...]
Comment from AlexJ
Time: October 24, 2008, 9:44 am
Debra,
I wanted to pass along my compliments for having new content every weekday - not something that many blogs do. It’s appreciated.
Alex
Comment from Debra Dalgleish
Time: October 24, 2008, 10:06 am
Thanks Alex! And I appreciate your stopping by to read the articles and add your comments.