Excel Check Boxes, Even Simpler Way

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Add check-boxes to Excel - Form ControlsIn how to get tickmarks in excel, Jon (the Peltier, not the Stewart) commented,

[…] Better yet, use real checkboxes, so the user can change them with the mouse.

That got me thinking,

  • Who is this user we keep talking about 😕
  • Why not ?!?

In excel, you can add a check-box to spreadsheet using developer tools. See to the right:

But what if you needed a whole bunch of check-boxes?

Well, you could add one check box and copy paste the same a bunch of times. Only problem will be, all of them will refer to the same cell. Thus you check one, you check all. Checking out all might be a good option if you are in a party without a date. But, in excel, you need to be a bit more specific, no?

excel-check-boxesSo, I created a bunch of check boxes, each linked to one separate cell. And now, being the good, caring and lovable person I am, I have placed them for download. So go ahead and get your bunch of check boxes, while the supplies last.

Once you have the file, all you need to do is, copy paste as many check boxes to your workbook as you want (there are a total of 30 in there). Change the display text to whatever fancies you at the moment. And you are good to go.

Download the excel check boxes here.

*

I can imagine 2 colleagues in a cube farm talking,

Colleague 1: Wtf, the checkboxes don’t work.
Colleague 2: Didnt you get them from Chandoo.org?
Colleague 1: No, I added them myself.
Colleague 2: No wonder 😛

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13 Responses to “Using pivot tables to find out non performing customers”

  1. David Onder says:

    To avoid the helper column and the macro, I would transpose the data into the format shown above (Name, Year, Sales).  Now I can show more than one year, I can summarize - I can do many more things with it.  ASAP Utilities (http://www.asap-utilities.com) has a new experimental feature that can easily transpose the table into the correct format.  Much easier in my opinion.

    David 

    • Chandoo says:

      Of course with alternative data structure, we can easily setup a slicer based solution so that everything works like clockwork with even less work.

  2. Martin says:

    David, I was just about to post the same!
    In Contextures site, I remember there's a post on how to do that. Clearly, the way data is layed out on the very beginning is critical to get the best results, and even you may thinkg the original layout is the best way, it is clearly not. And that kind of mistakes are the ones I love ! because it teaches and trains you to avoid them, and how to think on the data structure the next time.
     
    Eventually, you get to that place when you "see" the structure on the moment the client tells you the request, and then, you realized you had an ephiphany, that glorious moment when data is no longer a mistery to you!!!
     
    Rgds,

  3. JMarc says:

    Chandoo,
    If the goal is to see the list of customers who have not business from yearX, I would change the helper column formula to :  =IF(selYear="all",sum(C4:M4),sum(offset(C4:M4,,selyear-2002,1,columns(C4:M4)-selyear+2002)))
     This formula will sum the sales from Selected Year to 2012.

    JMarc

  4. Elias says:

    If you are already using a helper column and the combox box runs a macro after it changes, why not just adjust the macro and filter the source data?
     
    Regards

  5. RichW says:

    I gotta say, it seems like you are giving 10 answers to 10 questions when your client REALLY wants to know is: "What is the last year "this" customer row had a non-zero Sales QTY?... You're missing the forest for the trees...
    Change the helper column to:
    =IFERROR(INDEX(tblSales[[#Headers],[Customer name]:[Sales 2012]],0,MATCH(9.99999999999999E+307,tblSales[[#This Row],[Customer name]:[Sales 2012]],1)),"NO SALES")
    And yes, since I'm matching off of them for value, I would change the headers to straight "2002" instead of "Sales 2002" but you sort the table on the helper column and then and there you can answer all of your questions.

  6. Kevin says:

    Hi thanks for this. Just can't figure out how you get the combo box to control the pivot table. Can you please advise?
     
    Cheers

  7. Kevin says:

    Thanks Chandoo. But I know how to insert a combobox, I was more referring to how does in control the year in the pivot table? Or is this obvious?  I note that if I select the Selected Year from the PivotTable Field List it says "the field has no itens" whereas this would normally allow you to change the year??
     
    Thanks again

  8. Kevin says:

     
    worked it out thanks...
    when =data!Q2 changes it changes the value in column N:N and then when you do a refreshall the pivottable vlaues get updated 
     
    Still not sure why PivotTable Field List says “the field has no itens"?? I created my own pivot table and could not repeat that.

  9. Bermir says:

    Hi, I put the sales data in range(F5:P19) and added a column D with the title 'Last sales in year'. After that, in column D for each customer, the simple formula

    =2000+MATCH(1000000,E5:P5)

    will provide the last year in which that particular customer had any sales, which can than easily be managed by autofilter.

    • Bermir says:

      Somewhat longer but perhaps a bit more solid (with the column titles in row 4):

      =RIGHT(INDEX($F$4:$P$19,1,MATCH(1000000,F5:P5)),4)

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