Removing duplicate data is like morning coffee for us, data analysts. Our day must start with it.
It is no wonder that I have written extensively about it (here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).
But today I want to show you a technique I have been using to dynamically extract and sort all unique items from a last list of values using Pivot Tables & OFFSET formula.
This is how it goes…,
Step 1: Select your data & Create a pivot table
Just select any cell and insert a pivot table. Very simple right?
Step 2: Drag the field(s) to row label area of pivot
Like this.
Make sure you have turned off grand totals and sub-totals as we just need the names. And sort the pivot table.
Step 3: Create a named range that refers to the pivot table values
Using OFFSET formula, we can create a named range that refers to pivot table values and grows or shrinks as the pivot is refreshed. Assuming the pivot table row values start in cell F6, write a formula like,
=OFFSET($F$6, 0,0,COUNTA($F:$F)-1,1) and map it to a name like lstProducts.
The formula gives us all the values in column F, starting F6. The COUNTA($F:$F)-1 ensures that we get only row labels and not the title (in this case Product Names).
Step 4: Use the named range in formulas etc. as you see fit
That is all. Nothing else.
Just make sure that you refresh the pivot table whenever source data changes.
Download example file with this technique
Click here to download an example file and play with it to understand how this works.
How do you deal with duplicate data?
In my work, I come across duplicate data all the time. I have been using pivot table based technique with great success. It is fast, reliable and easy to setup. The only glitch is that you need to refresh the pivot tables whenever source data changes. However, you can automate this by writing a simple macro.
What about you? How do you deal with duplicate data? Share your techniques, tips & ideas using comments.
8 Responses to “Top 5 keyboard shortcuts for Excel Charts”
As far as I remember (checked, again, 2 minutes ago) in my "Excel 2013" in order to select various chart elements I need to use the Arrow keys and not the TAB key.
Practically, the TAB key does nothing (within a Chart).
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Michael (Micky) Avidan
Thanks for pointing this out. This is how I remember it too, but when I was recording the video yesterday, only TAB key worked. MS must have changed the keys in Excel 2016. I have edited the post to include both keys.
The key navigation on charts is different in 2016.
TAB cycles through a layer of objects (SHIFT+TAB cycles backwards)
ENTER move down a layer
ESC moves up a layer
So on a column chart with title/legend/data labels if you select the plotarea the TAB will go through Title > Legend > Plotarea.
ENTER at plotarea will then select Vertical axis. Tab will take you through
Horizontal axis > gridlines > Series > Horizontal Axis.
ENTER with series selected will then allow you to TAB through individual data points and data labels.
If you ENTER on datalabels you can TAB through each data label.
ALT + F1 : to create default chart
ALT+E S T = CTRL + ALT + V, T : I find that easier to remember
I second what Michael already said about TAB and arrow keys. I can't help but think if this is related to the "," or ";" as separator. I prefer to use the chart tools - layout- drop down box, anyway.
Got to be F11 for instant charting. Highlight your data , hit F11 and voila! ?
Ctrl+1 is the most important chart shortcut. In fact, it works for any Excel object: whatever is selected, Ctrl+1 opens the task pane or dialog to format that object.
Somewhere along the line, maybe when Excel 2016 came out, the arrow keys stopped working to cycle through the elements of a chart. But what works is holding Ctrl while clicking the arrow keys. I haven't gotten used to the Tab and other keys, but as long as Ctrl+Arrow works, I'm good.
And F4 used to be so helpful when formatting a lot of charts. But since Excel 2007 came out, it has been mostly useless. It used to remember a whole set of changes at once, so I get that the newer modeless dialogs make that impractical. But now it only seems to work with formatting of lines and borders, and maybe fills. I find myself writing a lot of VBA one-liners in the Immediate Window to handle these tedious formatting tasks.
after clicking on a chart, is there a shortcut key to copy it?
Thank you for the Alt E S T - tip. This is more than a time saver. Because of dynamic charts or de-activated external references to data when you make the charts, you often have empty charts that are otherwise impossible to format. So this shortcut helps adressing that. I will work with it more and see if there remain some obstacles.