NFL Playoff Schedule 2013: Examples

Showing posts with label Examples. Show all posts

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Top 5 Excel Tips from 2013

Listed below are the five most popular Excel tips I published on the Excel Help blog throughout 2013:

How to combine Excel files with a VBA macro
How to filter Data in Excel
How to create collapsible rows in Excel
How to embed Excel in a website
Excel pranks and practical jokes

Top 5 Excel Templates from 2013

Listed below are the top 5 most popular free Excel templates and spreadsheets I created and made available to download in 2013:

Printable Super Bowl Squares
Website Creation Checklist
Newborn Checklist for New Parents
Apartment Comparison Spreadsheet LITE version
NFL Helmet Schedule

Goals for 2014

I recently took a poll of my loyal followers by asking them what they would rather see more of on the blog: spreadsheet templates or tips/tricks/macros to improve spreadsheet creation efficiency? My most recent posts have primarily been spreadsheet templates I’ve made available to download for free, such as my newborn feeding schedule, college bowl prediction pool, etc. Something I’ve gotten away from lately is posting tips and macros to improve your Excel efficiency, like my earlier posts on how to create folders automatically, how to create hatching in Excel, etc.

The majority of my reader’s responses asked for more tips, tricks, and macros to improve Excel efficiency. I will still be creating and posting templates as I have been because I think a lot of people find them to be quite useful and you may pick up a few tips just by looking at them and examining the formulas I use. However, I promise to make a strong effort to post more tips and macros, especially for my email subscribers. In fact, I already have several rough drafts already written and am working on some new video tutorials. What would you like to see more of in 2014? Anything specific?

Have a great holiday season, thanks for your continued support, and see you in 2014!!!

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Download a Wordpress Website Creation Checklist Spreadsheet

In the past two years I’ve created eight websites for various hobbies and niches I am interested in and that I felt were underserved in the online world. I use Wordpress as my content management system because it allows you to quickly create a website with no HTML or other coding experience. The steps to setup a new website are pretty much the same so I put together a Wordpress website creation checklist to help me remember to do everything. I’ve made this checklist into an Excel template which you can download for free by clicking the link below.

Two skills I encourage everyone to learn that I’ve found invaluable in my career is how to program VBA macros and how to build a simple website. In fact, in one of my most recent projects these skills were used hand-in-hand. I built the majority of the Observation Wheel database with an Excel spreadsheet and a few custom macros. Every row in my sheet contained all the information for a single observation wheel. I then had the macro export the data to Microsoft Word in the HTML format I needed for the site. I then simply copied and pasted that text into Wordpress and published it. I created pages for over eighty dfferent observation wheels almost instantly!

There are countless positive benefits for learning how to make a website. I’ve included a link to all the resources I use within the template and I've tried to include as many tips as I could think of. I begin with registering a domain name and take you all the way through setting up an email list. Download my Wordpress website creation checklist below and please feel free to ask me any questions you may have!

Wordpress Website Creation Checklist.xls download

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Apartment Comparison Spreadsheet Update

I’ve revamped my Apartment Comparison Spreadsheet website and the big news is you can now download the Apartment Search Spreadsheet for free! Signup for the Apartment Search Tips newsletter and you’ll immediately receive the link to download my apartment hunting tool. You can unsubscribe from the email list at anytime but if you’re looking for an apartment I recommend you don’t unsubscribe so you can get my valuable tips, like how to potentially earn $100 for signing a new lease!

The Apartment Search Spreadsheet can also be used as an apartment search checklist as I listed almost every criteria you could think of for what you would like in a new apartment. Enter the data for every apartment you are looking at. Next, you’ll set an importance factor for several categories. What’s more important to you - size of the rooms or distance to work? The spreadsheet uses your inputs to give each apartment a score and you can easily see which apartment has the highest score and is thus the best choice for you.

Please note, the free preview version of the spresdsheet for apartment comparison only allows you to compare two apartments. You'll have to purchase the PRO version to compare more than two apartments, but it also comes with a lot of extra resources you might enjoy. Check it out here. And please do let me know if you find this tool at all useful or if you think it would be great if there were something like this for another item, like to compare houses or cars.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

How to Filter Data in Excel

Learning how to filter data in Excel will help you analyse data faster and become better at your job. Filtering in Excel enables you to display only the data that you want to see on your spreadsheet without deleting anything. It’s a really great way to search through large amounts of information and you know I’m all about Excel tips that help improve your speed and efficiency!

There are three types of filters in Excel: list of values, by format, or criteria and you can sort your spreadsheet by order, color or text. What’s the difference between sorting and filtering? Sorting will rearrange the order of your list while filtering keeps the order but actually hides data based on your filter criteria.

To add a Filter in Excel, you can first select a single cell within your range of data but I recommend you highlight all your data (please note you cannot add filters to empty cells). Next, go to the Home tab then the Editing section. Under Sort & Filter click Filter (or use the filter shortcut Crtl+Shift+L). Once filtering is turned on you will see little arrows along your top row of data. Select one of the arrows to set your filter options. If you hover your mouse over the drop down arrow you will see a pop-up message displaying what the value the filter is currently set to (example: equals “Test”).

To remove the filtering from your spreadsheet, simply click the Filter button again. If you want to reset the filter to the original values click on the Sort & Filter button and then click “Clear."

You can also turn auto-Filter on and off with a VBA macro:

Sub TurnAutoFilterOn()

'check for filter, turn on if none exists

If Not ActiveSheet.AutoFilterMode Then

ActiveSheet.Range("A1").AutoFilter

End If

End Sub

Turn off AutoFilter with VBA:

Sub TurnFilterOff()

Worksheets("Sheet1").AutoFilterMode = False

End Sub

Here’s a great video showing you exactly how to filter data in Excel:

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Excel Pranks and Practical Jokes with VBA

I’ve shared a lot of Excel tips about how to increase your productivity at work but today I thought I would post something a little more fun – how to decrease your productivity! I’m talking about ways to use Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to play pranks, practical jokes, April Fool’s Day kind of stuff on your friends, roommates, and coworkers. The intent is not to harm anyone or hurt their professional careers – this is simply about having some plain ole fun.

A great way to wreak havoc in the workplace is to create a macro that automatically runs when an Excel workbook is opened. You can do this by writing a VBA procedure in the Open event of the workbook by using the Visual Basic Editor. Create a new Excel spreadsheet then press Alt+F11 to launch the VBA Editor. Next, right-click the ThisWorkbook object, and then click View Code.

In the Object list above the Code window, select Workbook. This will automatically create an empty procedure for the Open event like this and you can now add your evil code.

To make Excel automatically close itself when the workbook is opened use this:

Private Sub Workbook_Open()

Application.DisplayAlerts = False
Application.Quit
End Sub

Here’s a trick that will automatically open Microsoft Word and close Excel:

Sub Workbook_Open()

‘make sure the Microsoft Word Object Library is selected by going to tools>references

Application.Visible = False
Dim wdApp as Word.Application
Set wdApp = New Word.Application
wdApp.Visible=True
Set wdApp = Nothing
Application.DisplayAlerts = False
Application.Quit
End Sub

This is one of my personal favorites; have a message box pop-up asking if the user wants to download the virus they requested. Whether they press the yes or no button the next message tells them the virus has begun downloading!

Private Sub Workbook_Open()

MsgBox "The virus you requested is now ready to download, Do you want to start downloading now?", vbYesNo, "Virus Trojan-x45fju"

MsgBox "The Virus is Now Downloading. You have made the biggest mistake of your life! ByE bYe", , "Begin Virus Download"

End Sub

This function flips the workbook and will make everything on the left now appear on the right side:

ActiveSheet.DisplayRightToLeft = True

To change all cell’s color to black:

Cells.Interior.Color = RGB(0,0,0)

Instead of automatically running a macro on opening a workbook (and making it obvious you did something) you could embed a macro that only runs on certain conditions. A funny prank is a macro to change the size of the Excel window every time the user clicks on a cell:

Private Sub Workbook_SheetSelectionChange(ByVal Sh As Object, ByVal Target As Range)

Application.WindowState = xlNormal

Application.Width = Int(Rnd() * 1000) - 100

End Sub

As you can imagine, the possibilities are nearly endless! Now you may think “All someone has to do is change or delete the code to fix the problem.” Well, you can protect your VBA code so only those with the password can modify it. Go to Tools>VBAProject Properties>Protection. Check the box to lock project for viewing and create a password (and remember it). Now you’re an evil genius!

Of course, if you’re not comfortable using VBA (which I recommend you get comfortable and learn it) you can always use these old fashioned tricks:

Use find and replace on a document, like replacing “you” with “you idiots”.
If your coworker has an old school mouse simply remove the ball when they're not around and then sit back and watch the fun when they try to figure out why their mouse isn't working anymore.
Take a screen capture of a roommate’s desktop and save it as a jpg or bmp file. Turn on the Active Desktop, and make sure to turn off "show desktop icons". Change the wallpaper to the screen capture image you just saved and watch as they click away on their "icons" that mysteriously stopped working.

Have you ever used something like this on someone? What’s your best Excel prank?

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Unique Excel Uses: Video Game

We’ve seen some very unique Excel uses in the past but this just might be the best (or most fun) application: Excel as a video game! Cary Walkin, a Canadian accountant, has transformed a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet into a playable video game. Arena.xlsm is a turn-based fantasy role playing game where the goal is to collect loot to become more powerful all the while warding off increasingly difficult monsters. In fact, there are currently over 2000 possible enemies with different AI abilities. Sounds complex! Remarkably, it only took Cary four months to completely program this game.

Cary has received a lot or press and attention since creating his Excel game. Recently, he was featured on one of Reddit’s “I Am A” features. A few quotes from Cary:

“I'm an accountant by profession, I use excel every day of my life. I simply worked with what I knew. Also there is an old adage that underneath every RPG is a massive spreadsheet, so now the massive spreadsheet IS the RPG!”

“...a number of calculations are dependent on the background colour of a cell (such as if you are standing on fire).”

“Never stop learning.”

Read the entire interview feature here. Additionally, to see an example of how one would even begin to go about coding this massive gaming macros see Cary’s great VBA tutorial here.

Visit Cary’s site and download Arena XLSM today and try it out for yourself! But be warned, your productivity may decrease greatly after playing a few levels. Please note you must have macros enabled in order to play the game. Arena.Xlsm will only work in Excel 2007, 2010 and 2013. It will not work in other spreadsheet programs either. Have fun!

-Nick

Of course I’m not playing this at work ;)

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

How to create collapsible rows in Excel

I was recently creating an Excel spreadsheet template for a friend and I needed to know how to create collapsible rows in Excel. I had a worksheet that listed student’s names and information. My friend wanted a +/- sign at the beginning of each row representing different groups of students that could be clicked to reveal grades for various classes. The Group function in Excel presented the perfect solution to this situation.

One method often used to collapse rows or columns in Excel is by using the Group function.

Go to the Data tab, select the rows or columns you want to group, then select the Group icon (located in the Outline are). This will result in a button being placed to the left of the row number column and allow you to instantly collapse or hide the grouped rows. To ungroup the rows simply hit the Ungroupbutton (also in the Outline area).

You can use keyboard shortcuts to improve your speed and efficiency when applying this method. First, select the Row or Column range, then;

To group:
<Shift> <Alt> <RightArrow>

To ungroup:
<Shift> <Alt> <LeftArrow>

To retain the Groups, but toggle hide/unhide the symbols:
<Ctrl> <8>
(Using the "8" that's under the function keys, *not* from the num keypad.)

Another option to group rows would be to apply Subtotals to your range. You'll get those outlining symbols and even a subtotal row between each group. The Subtotals button is also in the Outline section of the Data tab.

I’ve created a short how to video to show you exactly how to collapse rows in Excel. Check it out below:

So that’s how you expand or collapse a group of cells in Excel. Pretty easy, huh?

-Nick

Easily Grouping Columns and Rows in Excel

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Macro to Export Hyperlinks from Excel to Word

In this tutorial I am going to show you how to write a VBA macro to export hyperlinks from Excel to Word. I’m all about automation and efficiency and this is another real world example. I used this macro to quickly create a table of the world’s observation wheels for my latest website.

What you will learn by reading through this tutorial:

How to create a VBA macro to send data from Excel to Word
How to export hyperlinks from Excel
How to find the last row of data in an Excel sheet using a macro
How to paste hyperlink into Word using a macro
How to make a webpage from an Excel file

To begin, we have an Excel sheet with names in column A, some of them are hyperlinks to webpages and some of them are not. Hit Alt + F8 and create a new macro, I named mined Tables. It’s time to begin coding.

The first thing we need to do is create a new instance of Microsoft Word and make it visible:

Dim appWD As Word.Application

Set appWD = CreateObject("Word.Application")

appWD.Visible = True

Next, let’s find the last row that contains data within our active Excel spreadsheet (my sheet is called “Data”):

Sheets("Data").Select

Dim FinalRow As Integer

FinalRow = Range("A9999").End(xlUp).Row

Now we add some error handling - if there is no data then quit the program, otherwise continue on:

If FinalRow = 0 Then

Exit Sub

Else

As a check, I like to have a message box pop-up displaying the total number of rows with data:

MsgBox "Number of rows is " & FinalRow

Now it’s time to tell Word to create a new document. We’ll also add our header text by using TypeText. TypeParagraph inserts a new paragraph by going to the next line:

appWD.Documents.Add

appWD.Selection.TypeParagraph

appWD.Selection.TypeText Text:="[table caption= List of Observation Wheels]"

appWD.Selection.TypeParagraph

appWD.Selection.TypeText Text:="Name,Height(m)"

Next, we’ll create a For...Next loop to cycle through every row and look to see if there is a hyperlink in column A. If there is a hyperlink, we want to copy it, if not then we still want to copy any text in the cell.

Dim hyperlink1 As String

Dim i As Integer

For i = 2 To FinalRow

If Range("A" & i).Hyperlinks.Count > 0 Then

'if there is a hyperlink

appWD.Selection.TypeParagraph

hyperlink1 = Range("A" & i).Hyperlinks(1).Address

appWD.ActiveDocument.Hyperlinks.Add Anchor:=appWD.Selection.Range, Address:=hyperlink1, SubAddress:="", ScreenTip:="", TextToDisplay:=Range("A" & i)

appWD.Selection.TypeText Text:="," & Range("B" & i)

Else

'If no hyperlink

appWD.Selection.TypeParagraph

appWD.Selection.TypeText Text:=Range("A" & i) & "," & Range("B" & i)

End If

Next 'i

Finally, we can add any text at the bottom of the document and close the if and sub statements.

'end the table

appWD.Selection.TypeParagraph

appWD.Selection.TypeText Text:="[/table]"

End If

End Sub

You may have noticed I began and ended with [table] and [/table]. I installed a Wordpress plugin on my website that enables me to easily insert sortable tables into my webpage without any major html coding involved. So now I can run my macro on my spreadsheet, copy the result it spits out into Word, and paste the text into my website. Here is the end result, a sortable table of all large observation wheels found throughout the world! Pretty cool huh?