It’s a Feature

What the user had discovered was a relatively unknown feature of Excel. If you’re entering a long list of decimal amounts, you can turn on this feature, and the decimal points will be added automatically.

This won’t be of help to anyone who’s entering a small amount of data, but if you’re entering hundreds of sales orders, where everything has two decimal places, it could save you hundreds of keystrokes.

How to Change the Setting

I have no idea how this setting would have been turned on in Excel 2007, without the user knowing. It’s certainly not a default setting when you take Excel out of the box. Perhaps it was changed accidentally, or by a co-worker who has a strange sense of humour.

To change the setting in Excel 2007:

• Click the Office button, then click Excel Options
• Click the Advanced category
• In the Editing options section, remove the check mark from ‘Automatically insert a decimal point’, then click OK.

To change the setting in Excel 2003 or earlier:

On the Tools menu, click Options

On the Edit tab, remove the check mark from Fixed decimal, then click OK.

Calculate the Current Date

To show the current date in a cell, use the TODAY function:

  =TODAY()

This date will update automatically when you open the workbook on a different date.

Calculate the Current Date and Time

To show the current date and time in a cell, use the NOW function:

  =NOW()

This will update automatically.

Manually Enter the Current Date and Time

Instead of formulas, you can enter the date and time as values. These will NOT update automatically.

• To enter the current date in a cell as a value, press the Ctrl key and type a semi-colon (Ctrl+;)
• To enter the current time in a cell as a value, press the Ctrl key and type a colon (Ctrl+Shift+;)
• To enter both the date and time as value, enter the date (Ctrl+;), then a space character, then the time (Ctrl+Shift+;)

Determine When the Workbook Was Last Saved

In yesterday’s post on dates, Mariusz asked how to find the date that the workbook was last saved. Unlike Word, excel doesn’t have a menu command that will insert the last saved date. However, you can use a bit of programming to insert the date, assuming the workbook has been saved.

Sub GetLastSavedDate()
    On Error Resume Next
    Dim sSaveDate As String
    sSaveDate = FileDateTime(ActiveWorkbook.FullName)
    If sSaveDate = "" Then
      MsgBox "Could not determine save date."
    Else
      Worksheets("DataEntry").Range("A1").Value _
        = "Last Saved: " & sSaveDate
    End If
End Sub

Extract Information from a Date

Many times I need to pull a bit of information from a date, such as the year, month or weekday.

Here are the sample formulas I’d use. The date — December 29, 2008 — is in cell A2.

Using the Calculated Dates

If I plan to create a pivot table from data that contains a date field, I usually calculate the year and month in the source data. Then I can add those fields to the pivot table, instead of the individual dates.

Yes, the pivot table could automatically group the individual dates by year and month, but that can limit other functions in the pivot table. For example:

• if two pivot tables are based on the same data, grouping one pivot table by month would cause the other pivot table to also be grouped by month.
• if a field is grouped, you can’t add calculated items to the pivot table

Maybe you’ve had success with shared workbooks, and I’d love to hear about it in the comments. For me, the limitations far outweigh the benefits, and there’s usually another way to accommodate multiple users.

Too Many Missing Features

After you share a workbook, many of Excel’s features can’t be used. There’s a list of unavailable features for Excel 2003 on the Microsoft site, and in Excel’s help. For example, you can’t add any of the following features, and in some cases you can’t even change the existing items:

• Conditional Formatting
• Data Validation
• Lists
• Protection
• Pivot Tables

If you do need to create a shared workbook, check the list of restricted features, and make sure you have everything set up exactly the way you want it, before you share the file. Test everything after you share the file, because things might not work the way they did before.

Alternatives to Shared Workbooks

What can you do instead? Find out exactly what the workbook’s purpose is, and why multiple people need to use it.

• If users are entering data, they could get in and out of the workbook quickly, so another person has a chance to enter their data. Excel will notify the next user when the workbook is available.
• If users need the workbook as a calculator, make the file read only, or save it as a template, so anyone can open a copy. Users can save the file with a different name, if they need to save their work.
• If users enter data on separate sheets, create separate workbooks instead. Then, create a summary workbook to pull all the data together.
• If users need to enter data many times throughout the day, a database might be a better option.

If you have other solutions, I’d like to hear them.

===========================

There’s a list of Excel articles, and many links to other sites which have Excel tutorials, downloads and advanced Excel topics.

David’s interests have shifted over the past couple of years, and he’s now documenting Firefox features. You can find his Firefox Lessons in a new section on his web site.

Last week David was visiting relatives in Canada and we met for lunch on Friday. We had a great chat, and I learned quite a bit about his very interesting work history.

I had previously met David at a Microsoft MVP Summit in 2001. That was the first year I received the award, and David had been an Excel MVP since 1999. It was good to see him again, and I hope he enjoys the rest of his visit.

=============================

And I’m pretty sure I know that guy from Columbia, with the Excel questions in FaceBook. Not the asker, the ask-ee. Or is that spelled ASCII?

Excel Face

• Excel apparently can’t open files with names as long as Windows can make them. Nice.
• This stupid statistics info in Excel is not coming out right!
• Just lost 2 hours of work on an Excel spreadsheet. And yes … I did hit save several times.
• excel crashed and took everything I was working on with it. can I just call it a day and go watch bond yet?
• My coworkers fondly refer to my facial expression during the first part of the month as “Excel Face.” And boy do I have it today.

Excel Wishes

• Why won’t excel stay visibly highlighted when I’m tabbed out to another window? Did it occur to them that people use it to arrange info?
• on excel tips, I used to remember most of the short cut keys for 03 version and pretty proud of that, then comes 2007.
• I had 3 emails in FB from some guy asking for Excel help without saying please. His reason why I should help? “I’m also from Colombia”
• squirming in a sense of financial pain that i can only hope is due to frightful excel errors
• Chilly Beers & no more Excel. That’s my vacation.

Make It Pretty

• my staff know not to show me anything until it’s organized in excel w/ color coding. the annoyed stares don’t bother me anymore.
• All my projects have me hangin’ in Excel today. Love the functions; wish it was easier to make it “pretty.”

Now That’s a Real Hobby

• excel makes me feel so organized and accomplished. is that dorky?
• Is working on the wedding list thanks to excel messing all the address up .
• creating an excel spreadsheet for carpooling. how pathetic!
• I accidentally said I would make an Excel spreadsheet for Anima character creation. I am an idiot. I DON’T EVEN HAVE EXCEL!
• Nightclubs wouldn’t be so popular if more people knew how cool Excel was. Now that’s a real hobby.

==============================

Insert an Equation

1. On the Ribbon, click the Insert tab.
2. In the Symbols group, click on Equation, then click the equation that you want to insert.
   

Save an Equation

After you insert an equation, you can modify it, then save it to use again later.

1. Click on the equation in the Word document, to activate it.
2. Click the arrow at the bottom right of the equation box, and click on Save as New Equation.
   
3. Enter the details for your equation, then click OK.
4. When you close Word, you’ll be prompted to save the changes to the Building Blocks template. Click Yes to save your changes.

Insert a Saved Equation

Saved equations are listed in the Building Blocks Organizer. Open it and select the item you want to insert.

1. On the Ribbon, click the Insert tab.
2. In the Text group, click on Quick Parts, then click Building Blocks Organizer
   
3. In the Building Block Organizer dialog box, click on the Gallery heading, to sort the list by type.
4. Scroll down to the Equations, and click on an equation to select it.
   
5. Click the Insert button.

PUP Add-in With Free Source Code

In other news, John Walkenbach is having a rare clearance sale. If you buy a licence for his Excel PUP add-in, for Excel 2007 or earlier version, he’ll throw in the source code free. It’s a great way to look under the hood, and learn some new tricks in Excel VBA. And the PUP add-in is packed with features that will help you use Excel more efficiently. It even has a few games, for those times when you’re tired of working so hard.

The offer is only good until November 17th, so if you’re thinking about buying it, don’t think too long.

==============================

I’ve been using Live Writer for a couple of weeks and find it much quicker and easier than logging into my WordPress blog, and writing an article in the tiny window there.

Set Up a Blog

You can set up one blog, or several blogs, and publish to any of them from the same Windows Live Writer session. It only takes a minute or two to set up a blog in Live Writer. Fill in the URL, name, password, and select from a few options.

Then, select a blog from the dropdown list, and start writing.

Write an Article

Live Writer has a nice big writing area, so it’s easier to see what you’re doing, and view more of the current article. There’s a formatting toolbar, with most of the common tools. Align is on the Format menu though, instead of the toolbar.

A few more features that keep me using Live Writer:

• Spelling mistakes are underlined, so you can correct them as you work.
• From the sidebar, you can insert objects such as a table, map, or video.
  
• For articles with pictures, I keep Windows Explorer open, and drag the images in from there. That’s much quicker than using the Upload feature in WordPress.
• At the bottom of the article window you can set the categories or add new categories.
• The Set publish date feature lets you schedule articles for publishing later.
  

Improvements

There are a couple of things that I’d like to see improved in the next version.

• Tags — There’s an Insert Tags option, but I don’t see the tags in the published article on my web site.
• Align — Add an Align button to the formatting toolbar.
• Pictures — Don’t insert all the images as thumbnails. Maybe there’s somewhere to change that setting, but I haven’t found it yet.

Those are minor annoyances though, and the benefits far outweigh them.

Try It!

Whether you write a couple of articles a month or several per day, I think you’ll like Live Writer. If you do try, let me know what you think of it.

_________________________

Now all the blank rows have an error in the new column, because Excel doesn’t like to divide by zero.

You don’t want the formula in those rows, so you can use Excel’s Go To feature to quickly clear the cells that contain errors.

Use Go To Special

1. Select column E, where the average order formula was added.
2. On the Ribbon, click the Home tab.
3. Click Find & Select, then click Go To Special.
4. (In Excel 2003 and earlier versions, click Edit►Go To, and click the Special button. The keyboard shortcut for Go To is F5.)
   
5. In the Go To Special dialog box, select Formulas. You want to go to the cells that contain a formula, where the formula results in an error.
6. Under Formulas, remove all the check marks except for Errors, then click OK.
   
7. On the worksheet, only the error cells are now selected.
   
   
8. To clear them, press the Delete key on the keyboard.

Other Uses for Go To Special

As you can see in the Go To Special dialog box, there are many types of special cells you can select on a worksheet. I often use it to find blank cells in a column, then I delete those entire rows, or fill in the blank cells.

________________________________

If you used the SUM function in the grand total cell, the result won’t change if a filter is applied. This list is filtered to show orders from the West Region. At a glance, you can see that the Grand Total is much higher than the records listed. There are only 3 orders visible, but the order count is calculated as 49.

Instead of SUM or COUNT, you can use the SUBTOTAL function, and only the filtered rows will be included in the grand total.

Create a SUBTOTAL formula

A quick way to create a SUBTOTAL formula is to:

1. Apply a filter to the list. In this example, the Region column is filtered for “West”.
2. Select the cell where you want the grand total.
3. On Excel’s Standard toolbar, click the AutoSum button, or on the keyboard, press the Alt key and tap the equal sign key (Alt + =).

Because the list is filtered, a SUBTOTAL formula is inserted, instead of a SUM formula.

Reading a SUBTOTAL formula

Within the brackets for the SUBTOTAL function there are two arguments, separated by a comma (or a semi-colon, depending on your regional settings).

The first argument is a number that tells Excel which summary function to use in the subtotal. Most of the time you’ll use a 9, which is the SUM function.

The second argument is the range of numbers that should be subtotaled. In this example, cells H2:H50 are the cells that we want to sum.

Changing a SUBTOTAL formula

In some cases, you might want a different function in the SUBTOTAL function. For example, it wouldn’t make sense to sum the Unit Cost column, but it might be useful to know the average unit cost.

Unfortunately, when the list is filtered, only the SUM function on the AutoSum button inserts a SUBTOTAL function. If you click Average, you’ll get an AVERAGE formula. (Note: This is improved in Excel 2007, and the other functions on the AutoSum button also insert a SUBTOTAL function.)

So, click Sum to create a SUBTOTAL function, then change the function number from 9 to 1, which will calculate an AVERAGE. Or, change the function number to 2, and you’ll calculate a COUNT of the numbers in a range.

There are 11 functions that you can use as the first argument in the SUBTOTAL function. The list is alphabetical, so that might help you remember some of the numbers, without going to Excel’s Help every time.

Ignore Manually Hidden Rows

In Excel 2003, and later versions, you can also use the numbers (101, 102…), as shown in the second column of the table below.

With these numbers, any rows that are hidden with the Hide command (Format►Row►Hide) WON”T be included in the subtotal.

If you use the numbers from the first column (1, 2…), any rows that are hidden with the Hide command WILL be included in the subtotal.

Note: Rows that you format to zero height WON’T be included in either type of subtotal.

More Information

There are other examples of formulas for summing and counting cells on my web site.