10 Supercool UI Improvements in Excel 2010

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Today I want to introduce Excel 2010 to you. Excel 2010 is the latest version of spreadsheet software from Microsoft, set to be released for sale in late 2010. On Nov 18th, MS released the public beta of Excel 2010 [download here] along with other Office productivity software.

Excel 2010 has several improvements compared to earlier version – Excel 2007. In this post, I want to highlight some of the User Interface improvements made in Excel 2010 that are very exciting and fun to use.

Preview before pasting

Preview before pasting
This is another cool feature in Office 2010. When you have some data to paste, now you can preview the paste live before choosing an option. See the illustration to understand how this works.

Collapse Ribbon using a button

Collapse Ribbon using a button
Now you can collapse the ribbon using this simple button. No need to double click on ribbon menus to collapse the ribbon.

Bye bye Office button, welcome back “File” menu

Bye bye Office button, welcome back
With excel 2010, MS is bringing back the “file” menu. When I started using excel 2007, it took me a week to get used to the office button. Now, thankfully the file menu is back.

Double click on chart items to format them

Double click on chart items to format them
With Excel 2010, you can again click on chart items (like labels, data series, axis, titles etc.) to open the format dialog. This is a nice improvement. Of course, the dialogs are still 2007 like.

Search inside filters (oh, this feels recursive)

Search inside filters (oh, this feels recursive)
When you set auto filters in excel 2010, now you can use a little search bar inside the filter to select the items you want to filter. This makes life lot more simpler for those of you aksing questions like “so how many are from alabama?”

Tables show filters even when you scroll down

Tables show filters even when you scroll down
Another interesting improvement is that when you make a data table in excel 2010, you will see filters and sort options even when you scroll down.

Excel 2010 UI less flashier than 2007

Excel 2010 UI less flashier than 2007
Excel 2010 UI looks considerably better and less stressful than 2007. The colors are dull and subtle. The icons don’t call for attention unless you want to do something. The menus / ribbons feel smoother and slicker. [Learn to use Excel Ribbon with this Free e-Book]

All new print previews

All new print previews
The print previews are now part of backstage. Printing seems much more easier with excel 2010 than earlier versions.

You can customize ribbon

You can customize ribbon

With Excel 2010, you can customize the ribbon very easily (you can do that in Excel 2007 too, but it is bit more intricate). Just go to Excel options and select “customize ribbon” option. You can make your own ribbon menus and add the buttons / tools you prefer.
[Originally this point read “you can select multiple objects…” but as my good friend Jon pointed, it was a mistake. So I have deleted that part and added a new improvement]
You can select multiple objects using mouse, again
In excel 2003 and earlier, if you had to format multiple objects (like charts, drawings, clip arts etc.) you could use the “select objects” from drawing toolbar (the icon that looks like a mouse pointer). Sadly, MS removed this feature in Excel 2007, so to format multiple objects, we had to manually click on each object while holding SHIFT key. Now, the select objects is back. This can be a time saver if you work with several charts or shapes at a time.

Slicers to filter pivot tables with ease

Slicers to filter pivot tables with ease
And of course, the much touted slicers. Slicers are easy to use and make analysis more fun. See the demo.

Have you tried Excel 2010 ?

Did you try excel 2010? If not download it from MS site. Give it a try and let us know what you think about it.
What are the features that you liked / hated?

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14 Responses to “How many ‘Friday the 13th’s are in this year? [Formula fun + challenge]”

  1. in C3=2016
    in C4=3
    in C5=1 (the first next year with three Friday the 13ths)

    =SMALL(IF(MMULT(--(MOD(DATE(C3+ROW(1:1000),COLUMN(A:L),13),7)=6),ROW(1:12)^0)=C4,C3+ROW(1:1000)),C5)

    formula check in the next 1000 years

  2. Brian says:

    This will generate a table of counts of Friday the 13th's by year. If I didn't screw it up the next year with three is 2026.

    I created a simple parameter table with a start date and end date that I wanted to evaluate. That calculates the number of days and generates a list of those days. Then filter and group. The generation of the list in power query (i.e. without populating a date table in excel) is pretty cool, otherwise this isn't really doing anything than creating a big date and filtering/counting.

    let
    Source = List.Dates(StartDateAsDate, Days2, #duration(1,0,0,0)),
    ConvertDateListToTable = Table.FromList(Source, Splitter.SplitByNothing(), null, null, ExtraValues.Error),
    AddDayOfMonthColumn = Table.AddColumn(ConvertDateListToTable, "DayOfMonth", each Date.Day([Column1])),
    AddYearColumn = Table.AddColumn(AddDayOfMonthColumn, "Year", each Date.Year([Column1])),
    AddDayOfWeekColumn = Table.AddColumn(AddYearColumn, "Day of Week", each Date.DayOfWeek([Column1])),
    FilterFriday13 = Table.SelectRows(AddDayOfWeekColumn, each ([DayOfMonth] = 13) and ([Day of Week] = 5)),
    Friday13thsByYear = Table.Group(FilterFriday13, {"Year"}, {{"Number of Friday the 13ths!", each Table.RowCount(_), type number}})
    in
    Friday13thsByYear

    • Brian says:

      With the parameters replaced by values should you want to play along at home. This runs for 20 years starting on 1/1/2016.

      let
      Source = List.Dates(#date(2016,1,1), 7300, #duration(1,0,0,0)),
      ConvertDateListToTable = Table.FromList(Source, Splitter.SplitByNothing(), null, null, ExtraValues.Error),
      AddDayOfMonthColumn = Table.AddColumn(ConvertDateListToTable, "DayOfMonth", each Date.Day([Column1])),
      AddYearColumn = Table.AddColumn(AddDayOfMonthColumn, "Year", each Date.Year([Column1])),
      AddDayOfWeekColumn = Table.AddColumn(AddYearColumn, "Day of Week", each Date.DayOfWeek([Column1])),
      FilterFriday13 = Table.SelectRows(AddDayOfWeekColumn, each ([DayOfMonth] = 13) and ([Day of Week] = 5)),
      Friday13thsByYear = Table.Group(FilterFriday13, {"Year"}, {{"Number of Friday the 13ths!", each Table.RowCount(_), type number}})
      in
      Friday13thsByYear

  3. Alex Groberman says:

    =MATCH(3,MMULT(N(WEEKDAY(DATE(C3+ROW(1:100)-1,COLUMN(A:L),13))=6),1^ROW(1:12)),)+C3-1

    • David N says:

      It should be pointed out that Alex's solution, unlike some others, has the additional advantage of being non-array. My solution was nearly identical but with -- and SIGN instead of N and 1^.

      =C3-1+MATCH(3,MMULT(--(WEEKDAY(DATE(C3-1+ROW(1:25),COLUMN(A:L),13))=6),SIGN(ROW(1:12))),0)

  4. SunnyKow says:

    Sub Friday13()

    Dim StartDate As Date
    Dim EndDate As Date
    Dim x As Long
    Dim r As Long

    Range("C7:C12").ClearContents
    StartDate = CDate("01/01/" & Range("C3"))
    EndDate = CDate("31/12/" & Range("C3"))
    r = 7
    For x = StartDate To EndDate
    If Day(x) = 13 And Weekday(x, vbMonday) = 5 Then
    Cells(r, 3) = Month(x)
    r = r + 1
    End If
    Next
    End Sub

    • SunnyKow says:

      Calculate next year with 3 Friday 13th. Good for 100 years different from year entered in cell C3

      Sub ThreeFriday13()

      Dim StartDate As Date
      Dim EndDate As Date
      Dim x As Long
      Dim WhatYear As Integer
      Dim Counter As Integer

      Range("E7").ClearContents
      StartDate = CDate("01/01/" & Range("C3") + 1)
      EndDate = CDate("31/12/" & Range("C3") + 100)
      Counter = 0

      For x = StartDate To EndDate
      If WhatYear Year(x) Then
      WhatYear = Year(x)
      'Different year so reset counter
      Counter = 0
      End If
      If Day(x) = 13 And Weekday(x, vbMonday) = 5 Then
      Counter = Counter + 1
      If Counter = 3 Then
      WhatYear = Year(x)
      Exit For
      End If
      End If
      Next
      Range("E7") = WhatYear

      End Sub

      • SunnyKow says:

        *RE-POST as not equal did not show earliuer
        Calculate next year with 3 Friday 13th. Good for 100 years different from year entered in cell C3

        Sub ThreeFriday13()

        Dim StartDate As Date
        Dim EndDate As Date
        Dim x As Long
        Dim WhatYear As Integer
        Dim Counter As Integer

        Range("E7").ClearContents
        StartDate = CDate("01/01/" & Range("C3") + 1)
        EndDate = CDate("31/12/" & Range("C3") + 100)
        Counter = 0

        For x = StartDate To EndDate
        If WhatYear NE Year(x) Then
        WhatYear = Year(x)
        'Different year so reset counter
        Counter = 0
        End If
        If Day(x) = 13 And Weekday(x, vbMonday) = 5 Then
        Counter = Counter + 1
        If Counter = 3 Then
        WhatYear = Year(x)
        Exit For
        End If
        End If
        Next
        Range("E7") = WhatYear

        End Sub

  5. Devesh says:

    I've a doubt with using array formula here.
    In sample workbook, I tried to replicate the formula again.
    =IFERROR(SMALL(IF(WEEKDAY(DATE($C$3,ROW($A$1:$A$12),13))=6,ROW($A$1:$A$12)),$B7),"")
    For this I selected C7 to C12, and typed the same formula and pressed ctrl+alt+Enter. But in all cells it is taking $B7 (and not $B7, $B8, $B9.... etc)
    and since it is array formula I can't edit individual cell.
    Please guide.
    Thanks

  6. Pablo says:

    Hi Chandoo,
    Cool stuff. You need to clarify that the answer of 5 represents the 1st month in the year that has a Friday the 13th, and not the number of Fridays the 13th in the year. Subtle, but important difference.
    Thanks,
    Pablo

  7. Micah Dail says:

    I like the MMULT() function far more, but here's how I would have tackled it. It uses an EDATE() base and MODE() over 100 years. I'm assuming that 100 years is enough time to catch the next year with 3 friday 13th's. Array entered, of course.

    {=MODE(IFERROR(YEAR(IF((WEEKDAY(EDATE(DATE(C3, 1, 13), ROW(INDIRECT("1:1200"))))=6), EDATE(DATE(C3, 1, 13), ROW(INDIRECT("1:1200"))), "")), ""))}

  8. Jason Morin says:

    Finding all the Friday the 13ths in a Year:

    =SUMPRODUCT((DAY(ROW(INDIRECT(DATE(C3,1,1)&":"&DATE(C3,12,31))))=13)*(TEXT(ROW(INDIRECT(DATE(C3,1,1)&":"&DATE(C3,12,31))),"ddd")="Fri"))

  9. jmdias says:

    {=sum(if(day.of.week(DATe($YEAR;{1;2;3;4;5;6;7;8;9;10;11;12};13);1)=6;1;0))}
    just list the years

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