Many of us start using Excel to keep track of something. And along way, we realize that Excel has a powerful feature called formulas, using which we can automate a lot of things. BOOM! Before we realize, we are in the thick of VLOOKUPs and SUMIFs.
But, along way, we also pick up a few bad habits or believe a few myths. Today, lets bust 10 Excel formula myths that we hear often.
1. Shorter Formulas are Better
I think it is human tendency to shorten and optimize things. We take great pride if we can shrink a task that takes 10 minutes to 12 seconds. But is it the case with Excel Formulas?
In my opinion, any formula that does the job is better. It does not matter how short or long the formula is. Often, we can come up with a reasonable formula in few minutes, but we waste several hours trying to shorten it. Time that could be used for better things like impressing your boss or shipping a product.
2. IF Formulas are Bad
I dont know where this comes from, but I hear it often. Oh, why use IF formula, as if it is going to slow down the computer drastically. Well, for most cases, we are dealing with reasonably sized data and Excel is fast enough to calculate formulas whether they are IFs or REPTs or something else.
So go ahead and use IF formula, if that is what you need to use.
3. VLOOKUP is slower
Ok, here is another one. For some reason people believe that VLOOKUP is slower than alternatives like INDEX+MATCH, OFFSET+MATCH, MATCH, Array formulas. Well, in my private tests, I found mixed results. VLOOKUP performance is almost same as that of other alternatives for small and medium (10000 rows) sized data sets.
Of course, if you have a workbook with million rows, then you should spend time looking for the fastest formula. Otherwise, just use VLOOKUP and be done.
4. Helper Cells, Helper Columns are Lame
Again, another myth that has no reason to exist. Each Excel sheet has 17179869184 cells and there is no reason why we should not use a few to support us in our formulas or models. Use helper cells, they keep your worksheet simple and easy to understand.
5. Formulas should start with = sign only
Do you know that you can start a formula with + or – sign too?
Well, you can type -SUM(1,2,3) to get -6 in a cell.
Similarly, you can type +SUM(1,2,3) to get 6 in a cell.
PS: You can also begin a formula with @ sign. I am not sure if there are more…
PPS: You can put ‘ before the formula if you just want to show the formula instead of running it. So if you write ‘=SUM(1,2,3), Excel would show =SUM(1,2,3) in a cell (instead of 6)
6. Formulas cannot refer to other Excel Workbooks
Well, that is not correct. You can refer to data in other workbooks in an Excel formula. For eg.
=SUM(sales.xlsx!q1Sales,2000,$H$2:$H$13)
will sum up the named range q1Sales in Sales.xlsx workbook, the value 2000 and the cells H2:H13
Remember, if your workbook is closed, you need to put the full path, like this:
=SUM(‘C:\full\folder\path\sales.xlsx’!q1Sales,2000,$H$2:$H$13)
PS: Certain formulas do not work with closed workbooks.
7. Formulas should be written in a cells only
Well, this is wrong. You can use formulas in named ranges, conditional formatting, data validation. You can also assign formulas to drawing shapes, chart elements (like titles, labels etc.).
See these examples:
5 ways to use formulas in Conditional Formatting
Custom Data Validation with Excel Formulas: Example 1, Example 2, More
Make your charts smarter with Formulas
8. We cannot copy a formula without changing references
Of course you can. If you want to have the same formula as in the cell above, just press CTRL+’
You will get the same formula and you can modify it as you want.
If you want to have the same formula elsewhere, just go to the formula cell, press F2, select everything (SHIFT+HOME), copy (CTRL+C).
Now go to the target cell and press F2 and paste (CTRL+V)
9. Formulas cannot do ‘x’…
May be they cannot feed your cat or take your dog for walk or change a nappy. But there is a formula for almost everything. And Excel team at Microsoft is adding new formulas in each version. It wont be long before a =ChangeNappy(kidname, <optional dispose nappy>) appears. Well, may be.
But the best part is, you can create your own formulas, called as User Defined Functions. And once you start doing that, there is no limit to the possibilities. You can create a CONCAT() to add up a bunch of text values, a NETWORKINGDAYS() to calculate working days based on a custom weekend setup or anything. [More UDF Examples]
10. Formulas are difficult to learn
Only if you think so.
Excel formulas are very powerful and very easy to learn. You need to start slow and go one step at a time. It might take a while to wrap your head around the referencing styles and various formulas.
But once you learn a few simple formulas, rest of them will be easy to learn. And before you realize, you are in the thick of VLOOKUPs and SUMIFs.
Oh, wait, I said that already. But then who says we cannot repeat. That is another myth!
What myths you hear about Excel Formulas?
Thanks to all your emails, comments and forum discussions. I hear about a lot of myths and bad habits all the time, when it comes to Excel. I found that giving in to these myths limits our ability to do more.
What about you? What myths you have heard when you started learning Excel? Please share using comments.
Learn More About Excel & Excel Formulas
If you just started using Excel, then you are at the right place. Go thru below links to learn more.
1. Excel Tutorials for Beginners – 10 videos to start your Excel Journey
2. Excel Formula e-book – 75 Excel Formulas, explained in plain English
3. Excel Formulas – Examples & Demos – More than a 100 examples on Excel formulas
4. Excel School – Online Excel Training Program by Chandoo. With 23 hours of video lessons and downloadable excel files, you will master every aspect of Excel, very soon.
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13 Responses to “Gantt Box Chart Tutorial & Template – Download and Try today”
Hi Chandoo
As one of your students I have followed your detailed example through with great success. However, Excel is acting in an unexpected way and I wonder if you could take a look?
http://cid-95d070c79aef808e.office.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/Gantt%20Box%20Chart.xlsm
On my version, I have to type 40239 (Which equates to 2 Mar 2010) to get the chart to display 31 May 2010 (which should be 40329)!!??
Have I done something wrong or is Excel acting up?
Thx
Oli
PS Your example file in 2007 displays correctly.
Hi,
I like this idea a lot, but I agree the name is a little drab.
As an American I may just be seeing things, but to me the combination of lines and bars on your chart looks like a bunch of cricket bats.
Maybe you could work that into a catchier name. 🙂
Cheers!
Here is some code I use to keep the axis synched.
It may be useful to some of your readers
It is based on a comment I saw on Daily Dose of Excel.
Function SynchGanttAxis(Cname, lower, upper)
'Sets the X min and X max for Category axis
Application.Volatile
On Error Resume Next
'
'Top Horizontal Axis
With ActiveSheet.Shapes(Cname).Chart.Axes(xlCategory, 1)
.MinimumScale = lower
.MaximumScale = upper
End With
'Bottom Horizontal Axis
With ActiveSheet.Shapes(Cname).Chart.Axes(xlValue, 2)
.MinimumScale = lower
.MaximumScale = upper
End With
End Function
Function SynchVerticalAxis(Cname, lower, upper)
Application.Volatile
On Error Resume Next
' Excel 2007 only
'Right hand vertical axis
With ActiveSheet.Shapes(Cname).Chart.Axes(xlValue, 1)
.MinimumScale = 0
.MaximumScale = upper
End With
End Function
@Oli.. Can you check your file again.. I see 40329...
@Dave: Even I saw things.. the bars actually looked like lollipops. How about calling this lollipop chart - now that would be yummy and goes along the tradition of naming charts after eatables (bar, pie, donut...)
@Bob: Superb stuff... thanks for sharing 🙂
Hi Chandoo
This looks really good and I think it can also be applied to show project phases / milestones.
Question: Thinking further could this be amended to display a project lifecycle (Idea through to Implementation say 7 phases) on one bar / row? Just imagine 20 projects within a programme all on one chart one bar each showing their respective lifecycle stages i.e. on one page.
Idea: As the Gantt Box Chart this is quite intensive to set up re formatting etc how about the added extra of once you have completed this to "Save as template" i.e. saves the formatting and layout of the chart as a template so you can apply to future charts. Simple to do and will save the time formatting etc again and again and again.
Therefore tip: Click on your chart demo and then click on Save As template icon (2007) - edit file name and click on save. Ready to use / apply via Templates in Change Chart Type window.
Thanks and be very interested if the lifecycle question can be resolved
Mike
How embarrassing.
I was obviously suffering from numerical dyslexia. I was one of those days.
@Mike H: You can easily make this chart to work like a generic project lifecycle plan chart. All you have to do is,
1. in a separate sheet define the steps of lifecycle and various dates in a table (with 5 columns for each of the projects you have).
2. now use a control cell to input the project name you want to show in the chart
3. based on the input, use OFFSET Formulas to get the correct data
4. Rest is same as the tutorial above
For more info on the dynamic charting visit http://chandoo.org/wp/tag/dynamic-charts/ and http://chandoo.org/wp?s=OFFSET
Your solution is really smart but in the en Excel isn't meant to do stuff like this. I, as a former PM, always thought is was frustrating that you had to do stuff like this for something simple like a Gantt chart. So I built Tom's Planner. And would like to plug it here. I think it really solves the problem you are trying to solve in the most efficient way. Check out http://www.tomsplanner.com for a free account or play around with the demo.
Hi there,
Chandoo - this is really a very nice and helpfull chart - I adopted it, so I can report a forecast or the delay of a certain task (coming from my role as an auditor for projects).
One topic I´m currently struggeling with: I do have a project lasting for lets say 12 month. For a management reporting, I want to have kind of snapshot, lets say one month back and 2 month in the future. I tried with the offset formula, but failed. Any idea?
Thx
Lopi
[...] Ein viel geliebter Klassiker ist die Erstellung von GANTT-Diagrammen mit Excel. Wir hatten das Thema wiederholt schon hier. Chandoo.org hat sich mal wieder mit einer neuen Variante hervorgetan: Das GANTT-Box-Chart. [...]
[...] [...]
Hi Chandoo - fantastic xls. One thing I can't figure out how to do is adjust the alignment of the vertical axis. I would like to left align so that I could indent to represent sub tasks. Can that be done? Or is there a better way?
I've been trying to work out if there's a way to show weekends on the graph. The closest thing I've got is to add them on a secondary axis, but then I haven't been able to keep both axis lined up together! Any ideas?
Following on from this - is it possible to show things like holidays?