If excel school were to be a bar, this post is your last call. Come one, come all and order the course now.
Click here to sign-up for excel school
(on a lighter note, if excel school were to be a pie, we wouldn’t be having this conversation :P)
How many students have joined the school?
At the time of writing this post (Around 11pm on Feb 16) we have 94 students signed up. That is quite a bit more than what I expected. While I am a tiny bit scared, I am very keen to help as many more people as possible. So, go ahead and join the program, because I don’t know when I will re-open it.
Clarification about PayPal:
Few people have e-mailed me and asked, “I don’t have PayPal account, how do I sign-up?”.
Well, you don’t need a PayPal account if you use the one-time payment option. All you have to do is click on the link that says “Continue without creating a paypal account”. See this screenshot.
(You must create a PayPal account if you choose monthly payment option. This will give you ability to review your payment every month.)
When is it closing exactly?
I will be closing new registrations by 11:59 PM (Pacific Time) on today. Pacific time is GMT-8:00. See the below list to know when exactly the registration closes at your time zone.

Will the school re-open later this year?
That is my plan. But I don’t know if my kids permit me to fool around too much. You see, by then they would be talking.
So, Sign-up already!
Click here to sign-up for excel school
Bonus Excel Tip: How to convert times from one time zone to another?
Just because 100 people are joining excel school doesn’t mean that rest 7,900 of you should read a sales pitch. So here is a bonus tip.
If you want to convert times from one time zone to another (like above), you can use simple date arithmetic.
- Enter the date and time you want to convert in a cell (say in A1)
- Now, let us say you want to convert this to time zone 6 hours ahead of it.
- Simply write the formula
=A1 + 6/24to get the time in new time zone. - Hint: change
+6/24to-7/24if you want time in a zone that is 7 hours behind.
That is all. Happy time traveling.
PS: You would need a real time machine if you miss the dead line for excel school sign-up. You know what to do.

















9 Responses to “Show forecast values in a different color with this simple trick [charting]”
While this works in a pinch, it clearly "lightens" the colors of the entire chart. Depending on where you use this, it will be blatantly obvious that you don't know what you are doing and present a poor looking graph.
Why not separate the data into different segments when charting and have as many colors as you have data points? You might have to create a new legend and/or repeat the chart in "invisible ink", but it would be cleaner and more consistent when new or updated data becomes available.
While I think I agree that doing it "properly" via a second series is preferable, I don't necessarily agree that making the entirety of the "future" (data, gridlines, and even the axis) semi-transparent is "poor looking". I think it could be seen as adding more emphasis to the "future-ness" of the forecast data.
In short, it's another tool for the toolbox, even if it's never needed.
Simply and clever 🙂
Quick & effective, cool. thanks.
I always use the dummy series.
Nice little trick, thanks very much!
Two sets of data better. Control is much better.
You can use the same chart next month to see what is actual and what is forecast.
To use this trick, I think grid lines has to be removed, that will make the graphic much more sharp.
to be honest, i dont understand why there is needed to do this way... in this case horizontal lines will be pale as well. then why a just can't change the color of the line partly???
Great tutorial. Thanks for the tutorial!