For most of us, the prospect of inheriting a large, undisclosed sum of money is bleak. But we have high probability of inheriting a complex Excel workbook with 19 worksheets and 2300 rows of data and 195 formulas. The kind where entire rainbow colors are used to color code accounts receivable statuses. Then what do we do? We spend a whole afternoon (and then the rest of the month) breaking our head trying to figure out why the total revenues are only $ 41.2 million when profits are $ 99.23 million.
So how do we deal with our inheritance?
Here is a quick tip to help you get started. Disable “Direct editing mode“.
What is direct editing mode?
By default Excel lets you edit a cell’s value (or formula) directly inside the cell. So if a cell contains the formula =C1+D3 and you double click on it, you will be able to edit the formula right inside the cell.
But many a times, we are only interested in knowing which cells a formula refers to.
So what happens when you disable direct editing mode?
When you double click on a cell (with formula), Excel will take you to the cells that are referred to in the formula. So in the above example, upon double click Excel selects both C1 and D3 cells.
See a demo to understand how this works:
How to Disable Direct Editing Mode?
Very simple. Click on Office Button > Excel Options > Advanced. From here, uncheck “Allow editing directly in cells” option. This is in the “Editing Options”. See aside.
Things to keep in mind:
- This method also highlights any named ranges you have defined.
- This method also works for references in other sheets (as long as no cell in current sheet is referred)
- For example: if a cell in Sheet1 has the formula =Sheet2!A1+Sheet2!A2 then upon double click, Excel will take you to Sheet2 and selects both A1, A2.
- If a cell has the formula =Sheet2!A1+D3, then Excel will only select D3 (since D3 is in the current sheet).
Do you inherit Excel Workbooks? How do you audit / maintain them?
During my job as a business analyst, I used to deal with Excel files made by others all the time. So understanding and debugging others formulas is something I would do regularly.
Now as a consultant, I often get big, complex Excel workbooks and I have to understand them before doing any customizations.
My favorite techniques for dealing with inherited workbooks are,
- Using F9 key to evaluate portions of formulas
- Using CTRL+` (backquote key) to show all formulas and then go thru them
- Using formula auditing technique as discussed in this post
- Using trace dependents / precedents tools in Formula ribbon.
- Understanding and dealing with Excel formula errors
What about you? How do you deal with your inheritance? Go ahead and share techniques, shortcuts and ideas with us thru comments.
Now if you will excuse me,
I need to go. I have to reply to an email from one Mr. James Chui, an Offshore banker from Nigeria, who claims he has large quantities of undisclosed money waiting to be inherited. 😉
21 Responses to “How to Filter Odd or Even Rows only? [Quick Tips]”
Infact, instead of using =ISEVEN(B3), how about to use =ISEVEN(ROW())
So it takes away any chance of wrong referencing.
I like Daily Dose of Excel
I like it.
Just a heads up, you do need to have the Analysis ToolPak add-in activated to use the ISEVEN / ISODD functions. An alternative to ISEVEN would be:
=MOD(ROW(),2)=0
rather than use a formula, couldn't you enter "true" in first cell and "false" in the second and drag it down and than filter on true or false.
Just for clarification, is Ashish looking to filter by even or odd Characters or rows?
so many functions to learn!
Nice support by chandoo and team as a helpdesk. Give us more to learn and make us awesome. Always be helpful.......
In case you want to delete instead of filter,
IF your data is in Sheet1 column A
Put this in Sheet2 column A and drag down
=OFFSET(Sheet1!A$1,(ROWS($1:1)-1)*2,,)
(This is to delete even rows)
To delete odd rows :
=OFFSET(Sheet1!A$2,(ROWS($1:1)-1)*2,,)
If your numbered cells did not correspond to rows, the answer would be even simpler:
=MOD([cell address],2), then filter by 0 to see evens or 1 to see odds.
I sometimes do this using an even simpler method. I add a new column called "Sign" and put the value of 1 in the first row, say cell C2 if C1 contains the header. Then in C3 I put the formula =-1 * C2, which I copy and paste into the rest of the rows (so C4 has =-1 * C3 and so forth). Now I can just apply a filter and pick either +1 or -1 to see half the rows.
Another way, which works if I want three possibilities: in C2 I put the value 1, in C3 I put the value 2, in C4 I put the value 3, then in C5 I put the formula =C2 then I copy C5 and paste into all the remaining rows (so C6 gets =C3, C7 gets =C4, etc.). Now I can apply a filter and pick the value 1, 2, or 3 to see a third of the rows.
Extending this approach to more than 3 cases is left as an exercise for the reader.
Another way =MOD(ROW();2). In this case, must to choose betwen 1 and 0.
[...] How to Filter Even or Odd rows only [...]
very different style Odd or Even Rows very easy way to visit this site
http://www.handycss.com/tips/odd-or-even-rows/
Thanks for the tip, it worked like magic, saved having to delete row by row in my database.
Thanks!
Thankssssssssssssssss
Hi Chandoo- First of all thanks for the trick. It helped me a lot. Here I have one more challenge. Having filtered the data based on odd. I want to paste data in another sheet adjacent to it. How can I do that?
For Example-
A 1 odd
B 3 odd
C 4 even
D 6 even
I have fileted the above data for odd and want to copy the "This is odd number" text in adjacent/next sheet here. How can I do that. After doing this my data should look like this
A 1 odd This is odd number
B 3 odd This is odd number
C 4 even
D 6 even
Hi! Could you please help me find a formula to filter by language?
Thank you!
Chandoo SIR,
I HAVE A DATA IN EXCEL ROWS LIKE BELOW IS THERE ANY FORMULA OR A WAY WHERE I CAN INSTRUCT I CAN MAKE CHANGES , MEANS I WANT TO WRITE ONLY , THE FIG IS FRESH, BUT IN BELOW ROW IT WILL AUTOMATICALLY TAKE THE SOME WORDS FROM FIGS AND MAKE IN PLURAL FORM , WHILE USING '' ARE'' LIKE BELOW
The fig is fresh - row 1
Figs are fresh - row 2
The Pomegranate is red - row 3
Pomegranates are red - row 4
=IF(EVEN(A1)=A1,"EVEN - do something","ODD - do something else") with iferron (for blank Cell)