Use ROWS() and COLUMNS() formulas to generate numbers in a sequence [quick tip]

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Here is a quick excel formula tip to start your week.

Use ROWS() and COLUMNS() formulas next time you need sequential numbers.

What does ROWS() excel formula do?

ROWS excel formula takes a range as an argument and tells you how many rows are there in that range. For. eg. ROWS(A1:A10) gives 10.

How can you use ROWS() formula to generate sequential numbers?

Simple. Assuming you want to have the sequential numbers in range B1:B10, in B1 write =ROWS($B$1:B1) and copy down the formula in the range in B1:B10. You will now have sequential numbers in that range.

But this is lame. I could just enter the numbers myself.

You are right. Using the ROWS () to just generate sequential numbers is lame.

But in most scenarios, we need sequential numbers to do something else (like passing them to an INDEX or OFFSET formula). Often we use helper column with the sequential numbers to do this. But by using ROWS() formula, you can remove the need for helper column and easily scale your formulas.

See this example:

Actual question on PHD forums: Fill down a formula with increment

 Hi, I need help on filling a formula down with a constant increment. I would like the first cell to be ‘=+B1’ the next to be ‘=+B4’ the next to be ‘=+B7’ etc… so that the increment is 3. How can this be accomplished?

Actual answer using ROWS()

in Column C, write: =+offset($b$1,rows($C$1:C1)*3,0)) and copy down

There are lots of interesting uses for ROWS() formula.

Similarly, you can use COLUMNS() formula when your data is across columns.

PS: I just crossed my personal record for hard disk crashes in a week. Now my work laptop is on the bed too.

PPS: There are more than 100 posts on the PHD Forums already. Lots of interesting questions and answers to day to day excel problems.

PPPS: Posting will be thin this week. I have composed the next installment of project management and spreadcheats series during the weekend. But the posts are in the work laptop. So wait (and pray)

PPPPS: Have a fun week ahead. 🙂

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28 Responses to “2010 Calendar – Excel Template [Downloads]”

  1. [...] Download and print the calendars today. You can add notes to individual dates or complete … [...] Uni Ego / Free 2010 Calendar – Download and Print Year 2010 Calendar today [...]

  2. William says:

    Afternoon,

    I have one similar calander that I added conditional formatting to so that I could highlight any planned factory holidays. I think i "borrowed" the formula from another calander so I won't post it here.

    I also added week numbers to it using the formula =WEEKNUM(MAX(C6:I6)) Where C6:I6 is the range of dates in that give week. It works fine on most of the months but return strange values on other months (Week 6 in October?) I can't see any logic behind why it does this.
    Any suggestions for an alternative formula to give the week numbers?

    Regards,

    William

  3. Miguel says:

    Hi Chandoo,
    I've added a new feature on your spreadsheet.
    This control can be useful for all the sheets where you need to check dates.

    Cheers

    http://cid-69a78592a23a8438.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/2010-calendar%5E_Miguel.xls

  4. Nimesh says:

    Hi Chandoo,

    Nice calendar.
    Till now whichever calendar I saw in Excel, it contained only the outline sheet.
    Good to see monthly views and the mini view too.
    Liked the mini view much. 🙂

    -Nimesh

  5. Chandoo says:

    @William: This weeknum may be because the input dates to max are not properly formatting as excel dates.

    Good tip on the conditional formatting and holidays btw...

    @Migueal: Now that is super awesome. This is the reason why I love to blog. Readers will always one up me with such cool alternatives. Thank you for sharing this with us.

    @Nimesh: You are welcome 🙂

  6. Shish says:

    is it possible to get the Notes section on the outline page to display the notes added to the month page for a specific date?

    So if you add thing for January 2nd, and then select January 2nd those notes appear on the outline page

  7. Chandoo says:

    @Shish... You can do that using some formula magic. I would not recommend pushing excel to that as outlook / google calendar / icalc etc. do exactly that much more elegantly.

  8. Jörg says:

    Happy christmas to all of you!
    This is really awesome. The nicest calender I've seen for Excel. I also like Miguels version of the sheet.

    Just one "feature" is missing to me. As I live in Germany - where weeks start on Monday - I'd like to change this. Could someone please give me a hint how to do this?

    Thanks in advance

    Jörg

  9. Pedro says:

    Hi Chandoo, I’ve added some new features on your spreadsheet with your permission.

    Check it here:
    http://cid-6b219f16da7128e3.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/Calendar%5E_Pedro.xlsm

    Miguel, this calendar is translated to Spanish language.

    Jörg, this new approach allows us to start weeks on Monday.

    Also it's possible to start weeks on Sunday if you enable Excel macros and push the arrows.
    Best Regards,
    Pedro.

  10. Chandoo says:

    @Pedro.. superb stuff.. thanks for sharing the file with all of us.

  11. Pedro says:

    Hi Chandoo, for dates before March 1, 1900 our calendars are wrong.
    In Microsoft Excel, DATE, EOMONTH, WEEKDAY functions return an incorrect result between Monday, January 1, 1900 and Wednesday, February 28, 1900.
    See this page: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/214326/en-us/
    Microsoft Excel incorrectly assumes that the year 1900 is a leap year in all Excel versions.
    That's the reason why our calendar versions only work from March, 1, 1900 until December, 31, 9999.
    Your comments are welcome.
    Pedro.

  12. Chandoo says:

    @Pedro.. Thanks for pointing that out. wow... This reminds me of the Joel Spolsky's first BillG review - http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/06/16.html (read it, I am sure you would love it.) when Bill out of blue asks about date time implementations for VBA (which Joel is the program manager for...)

    Thanks for sharing the URL too... Here is a specially made, chocolate sprinkled, extra fluffy donut for you 🙂

  13. Pedro says:

    Hi Chandoo, thanks a lot for the donut but I prefer it without chocolate!

    Always it's good to know a little history of Excel.
    The Joel Spolsky’s last BillG Excel review was about the "Hall of Tortured Souls"
    (See this Excel 95 Easter Egg here: http://www.eeggs.com/items/719.html)

    Do not miss the humor!

  14. Pedro says:

    @Chandoo.. I just return with a new calendar version.
    http://cid-6b219f16da7128e3.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/calendar-pedrowave.xltx

    It helped me to practice conditional formatting, formulas to show check boxes, data validation drop down list, find out Thanksgiving Day's date for any year, how to find dates of public holidays using Excel, all reading your wonderful posts!

  15. Pedro says:

    Perpetual Calendar Spanish version starting weeks on Monday:
    http://cid-6b219f16da7128e3.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/calendario-pedrowave.xltx
    Main characteristics:
    - Not macros.
    - Select a year from 1900 to 9999 with a dropdown listbox.
    - All date fields with the real date format.
    - Easy language change of day of the week and month names because are also dates.
    - Hide Saturdays and/or Sundays.
    - Week starting on Sunday or Monday.
    - Week and month numbers.
    - Hyperlink between sheets.
    - Consistent colors to Holidays, Diary and Events dates.
    - Easy change of Holidays by country.
    - Include 80 World Days and you can add more.
    - A diary with my birthday and 50 more programable appointments.
    - Check box to hide individual dates or all.
    - Holidays, diary and events text are showed on each month's sheet.
    - Ranges defined with Name Manager variables.
    I'll appreciate if you make me some suggestions to improve this calendar.
    Pedro.

  16. Joco1114 says:

    Please, I need help!
    I like all calendar from Pedro, thank you for them. Let me show my problem:

    I have 2 excel cells (for example AE12 and AE13) which mean the starting and the ending date of my duty. I need a macro to insert sheets with label YEAR. MONTH (for example 2010. August or similar) with the proper datas between the two dates. Is it possible?

    Thank you for reading me and sorry about my terribel english! 🙂

  17. Peter says:

    Hello Pedro,

    Thanks so much for the modified calendar template. I love the extra functionality you added. Is there any way you could upload an unlocked version? I wanted to change some of the comments and data validation so I could use it for one of my applications.

    As for feedback on potential improvements, with all the additions you made the file runs pretty slow. I'm sure this has to do with all the interconnectivity between the various tabs, but if there is a way to use less memory via more efficient formulas or something else I think this would make it easier to use. I have a brand new computer and with it running alone the response was pretty slow. One of the changes I'm making is changing the order of the months to match my company's fiscal year, so maybe something to automate a change like that could be useful.

    Cheers,

    Peter

  18. Pedro Wave says:

    Peter, my calendars are unlocked but you need Excel 2007 and 2010 versions to open them.

    Now I return with a new Programmable Task Calendar:
    http://cid-6b219f16da7128e3.office.live.com/view.aspx/.Public/Calendario%20de%20Tareas.xlsx

    Wath an introductory video here:
    http://pedrowave.blogspot.com/2010/10/programmable-task-calendar.html

    This new calendar allows to select the start month to match the school and fiscal year.

  19. ASA says:

    This is great stuff Chandoo and company

    Wanted to know if someone had built something similar

    I need to store one Excel Sheet on this calendar that has all the holidays

    US Holidays appear in RED
    UK Holidays appear in Blue
    Meetings appear in Green
    Submissions appear in Orange

    Is there a way I can store the list in a separate worksheet and all the calendars get updated with this?

    Thanks

  20. divya says:

    please tell me "how to convert Rs.10000/- in to words through excel formula

  21. [...] is all! http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/12/11/2010-calendar-excel-template-downloads/ See more Templates at http://www.vertex42.com/ Share this:Like this:LikeBe the first to like this [...]

  22. Kerisa says:

    Greetings,

    Thanks for this wonderful excel vacation tracker. I notice that the tracker only has three months November, December and January 2015, however, I would like to add the other ten months for 2014. Can you please instruct me on how I can add the other months?
    Thanking you in advance.

  23. kanu bhatia says:

    Hi Chandoo,
    Calendar: can this be printed as single sheet 8.5x11 inch per month
    kanu

  24. Rahul says:

    WOW! I just searching some of like this, that help me.
    Thank you for sharing.

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