On Friday, we learned how to transpose a table of data using Excel formulas.
In comments of that post, Joey gave us an interesting tip.
Might I recommend an alternative that involves no array formulas, is easier to debug and less computationally intensive.
1) Highlight area to be transposed and copy
2) Paste special -> Paste Link, somewhere else on the sheet
3) Highlight new area and Find/Replace “=” with “xxx”
4) Copy new area, paste special –> transpose
5) Find/Replace “xxx” with “=”
Now you have a direct link to the cell with no fancy formula required (link)
This is quick, easy to use & lovely way to transpose data.
So let me explain this in detail.
6 Steps to transpose a table of data
by using Copy, Paste, Find & Replace
- Copy your original data & paste links to it in a blank place (CTRL+ALT+V and L)
- Select this new data & Press CTRL+H
- Replace all = with x=
- Copy again & paste special > transpose in another blank area
- Press CTRL + H again and Replace all x= with =
- You are Done!
See below tutorial to understand how this works:
Thanks Joey…,
Special thanks to Joey for suggesting this method. It is a testament to our readers’ awesomeness.
If you enjoyed this tip, say thanks to Joey.
More tricks using Paste Special, Find Replace etc.
For a few more tricks & clever uses of paste special, find replace, go to special, check out these links:
- Quickly fill blank cells in a table using Paste Special
- Extract portions of text using Find Replace
- Use Paste Special to format charts quickly
- Quickly change formulas using Find Replace
- Compare row differences using Go to Special
- Delete Blank rows using goto special
- More tips on using Paste Special, Go to Special & Find Replace
8 Responses to “Introducing PHD Sparkline Maker – Dead Simple way to Create Excel Sparklines”
This looks like it could be very useful for a project I'm putting together right now, thank you so much. Quick & silly question, how do I copy & paste the sparkline as a picture?
Question answered. For anyone else:
Select chart>Hold Shift key & select Edit/Copy Picture>Paste
[...] more information about PHD Sparkline Maker, please read this article and to learn more about Sparklines, read this article from Microsoft Excel 2010 blog. Also there [...]
Am I right in thinking that the y-axis is set automatically by excel?
That makes it possible to get the column chart not to start at zero.
Andy - yes, it is currently set to 'auto', which defaults to a zero base for positive values, but you can change that by left-clicking the chart, then choosing (in Excel 2007):
"Chart Tools/Layout/Axes/Primary Vertical Axis/More Primary Vertical Axis Options"
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: When manually editing a chart's minimum/maximum axis values, PLEASE be sure there's a valid reason and that doing so won't skew the message shown by the data (e.g. by exaggerating differences). If in doubt, go back and read Tufte. (W.W.T.D.?)
[...] gridlines, axis, legend, titles, labels etc.) and resize it so that it fits nicely in a cell [example]. This is the easiest and cleanest way to get sparklines in earlier versions of excel. However this [...]
thanks for the work creating the template!!!!
looks good