Last week, we had a lovely poll on what are your favorite features of Excel? More than 120 people responded to it with various answers. So I did what any data analyst worth his salt would do,
- I downloaded all the 120+ comments data
- I home brewed a large cup of coffee and started gulping it.
- I started analyzing the comments
So here are the top 10 features in Excel according to you.
1. Excel Formulas
63 people (50%) said Formulas are their favorite feature in Excel. Of course, you can say, Formulas & Functions are Excel!!! . They are what Excel is made of. But then again, a surprising fact is very few people actually know how to use formulas. Most people would Excel as a glorified notepad or ledger – just to type data. Once you understand the power of formulas, then you can be an irresistible analyst. Your boss & colleagues will be all over you for insights & information, much like the girls in Axe commercials.
Resources to learn Excel formulas:
- Introduction to Excel formulas – video
- Top 10 formulas for aspiring analysts
- 51 everyday Excel formulas – explained
2. VBA, Macros & automation
55 people said VBA is what makes them use Excel. VBA stands for Visual Basic for Applications, is a special language that Excel speaks. If you learn this language, you can make Excel do crazy things for you, like generate and email monthly reports automatically while you are busy reading this article.
Macros, little VBA programs are what you write to achieve this. Learning VBA can be quite fun, challenging & extremely rewarding experience. Once you learn VBA, suddenly your company will find you invaluable, thanks to all the time & effort you will be saving due to automation.
Resources to learn VBA:
3. Pivot Tables
53 people said they love Pivot tables. They save you a ton of time, let you create complex reports, charts & calculations all with few clicks. No wonder so many people love them.
Pivot tables are ideal tools for managers & analysts who always have to answer questions like,
- What is the trend of sales in last 6 months?
- Who are our top 10 customers?
- Which button do I press for strong latte?
May be not the last one, but Pivot tables can answer almost any business question if you throw right data at them.
Resources to learn Pivot tables:
- Introduction to Pivot tables
- Top 5 Pivot table tricks & tips
- Pivot tables – detailed information, examples & tutorials
4. Lookup Formulas
25 people said lookup formulas (VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, INDEX, MATCH etc.) are their favorite feature of Excel. Lookup formulas help you locate any information in your workbooks based on input criteria. By knowing how to write lookup formulas, you can build dashboards, make interactive charts, create effective models & feel pretty darn awesome.
Resources to learn lookup formulas:
- What is VLOOKUP formula, how to use it?
- Comprehensive guide to Excel lookup formulas
- VLOOKUP quiz – how well do you know it?
5. Excel Charts
Excel charts help you communicate insights & information with ease. By choosing your charts wisely and formatting them cleanly, you can convey a lot. I guess, most people hate Excel charts (hence it is at 5th position), because they are hard to work with. You can loose a whole afternoon formatting the wedges of a pie chart. But thanks to resources like Chandoo.org, you know better to make a column / bar chart and be done in 5 minutes.
Resources to learn Excel charts:
- How to select right type of charts for your data
- Creating combination charts
- More charting principles & charting tutorials
6. Sorting & Filtering data
If Microsoft ever needs few extra billions of cash, they just have to turn sorting & filtering features in Excel to pay-per-use. These ad-hoc analysis features are so powerful & simple that any aspiring analyst must be fully aware of them.
Resources to learn sorting & filtering features:
- Filter by selected cell’s value & other cool tips
- Sorting pivot tables in anyway you want
- SUBTOTAL formula and using it with filters
- Introduction to Advanced filters
- More sorting tips | filtering tips
7. Conditional formatting
Conditional formatting is a hidden feature in Excel that can make your workbooks sexy. Just add some CF to highlight your data and you will turn boring into interesting. With new features like data bars, color scales & icon sets, conditional formatting is even more powerful.
Resources to learn conditional formatting:
- Introduction to conditional formatting
- Conditional formatting basics – Video
- Conditional formatting – top 5 tips
- More tips & tutorials on conditional formatting
8. Drop down validation & form controls
Right from my 3.5 years old daughter to CEO of a company, Everyone loves to be in control. So how can you make your workbooks interactive, so that end users can control the inputs ?
By using form controls & drop down lists of course.
Resources to learn dropdown lists, form controls:
- How to create an in-cell drop-down box for entering values?
- Introduction to Excel form controls
- Making your charts, workbooks & dashboards interactive – detailed guide
9. Excel Tables & Structural References
Excel tables, a new feature added in Excel 2007 is a very powerful way to structure, maintain & use tabular data – the bread and butter of any data analysis situation. With tables, you can add or remove data, set up structural references, connect them to external sources (SQL server, ODBC etc.), add them to data models (Excel 2013 onwards), link them to PowerPivot (Excel 2010 onwards), format automatically, filter & sort with ease and still be out of office before lunch break. It is a pity Microsoft did not call them pixie dust or magic mix.
Resources to learn Excel tables:
- Introduction to Excel tables
- Using Excel tables – Introduction video
- Using structural references – video
- More tips & tutorials on Excel tables
10. PowerPivot, Data Explorer & Data Analysis features
Although Excel in itself is quite powerful, it struggles to analyze certain types of data,
- Combining multiple tables and creating reports from them
- Processing data from difference sources and getting output to Excel
- What if analysis, scenarios & optimization
This is where add-ins like PowerPivot, Data Explorer and Analysis toolpak come in to picture. They let Excel do more, just like bat-mobile lets batman kick more ass.
Resources to learn more:
- Introduction to PowerPivot
- Introduction to DAX & PowerPivot measures
- Using Solver in Excel
- More on PowerPivot | data explorer
Learn all these features & more in one place
If you are looking to master all these top 10 features (and more) in one place, I highly recommend enrolling in my online classes. These training programs offer a step-by-step, in-depth, practical instruction on all areas of Excel, VBA, Dashboards & PowerPivot so that you can be awesome at your work. Click on below links to learn more.
- Excel, VBA & Dashboard training programs
- Excel & Dashboard training programs
- PowerPivot training program (next batch in July, 2013)
Or if you prefer face-to-face training & live in USA, you are in awesome luck. I am visiting USA this summer to conduct advanced excel & dashboards masterclasses in Chicago, New York, Washington DC & Columbus OH.
Click here for details & to book your spot.
14 Responses to “How to Add your Macros to QAT or Excel toolbars?”
We have only just got excel 2007 so this is helping me navigate my way through the differences cheers.
For Macro's i always add a Command Button, rename it something obvious, change the colour of it and finally add the following to its View Code section.
Application.Run "MAcro1"
This way anyone opening the file knows what to do if i ever win the lottery and dont make it in 🙂
Hi,
Good article. But I have this problem.
1) Customized QAT with a macro. Macro name = MacroX
2) Runs OK from original location (e.g. C:\TestLoaction1\TestFile.xls)
3) Copy past file to new location (e.g. C:\TestLoaction2\TestFile.xls)
Menu button now fails:
Cannot run the macro "C:\TestLoaction1\TestFile.xls'!MacroX' The macro may not be available in this workbook...
Of course the code is there, and macros are enabled.
Could get it to work after deleting and recreating macro custom buttons. So have to re-assign macro to QAT button every time I move the file?
If I put a form button on he worksheet and assign the macro to that, it's location independent.
Any ideas?
Thanks
@Ron
What you have said is correct
Macros within a worksheet are stored within the worksheet and hence follow it.
Macros referenced by a button in the QAT or elsewhere are locaed in a file and if that file is moved the linkages don't follow.
The easiest way around this is to store all your macros in a location that doesn't move and is in fact reloaded everytime that Excel starts and that is called the Personal.xlsx/b file.
These are refered to several time at Chandoo.org or have a read of
http://www.rondebruin.nl/personal.htm
or
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/deploy-your-excel-macros-from-a-central-file-HA001087296.aspx
In Excel 2003 and prior versions, a button added to the Toolbar maintained a DYNAMIC link to the file (e.g. Personal.xlsb) holding the assigned macro, such that if the file was relocated for any reason (by using Excel's native Save As command rather than just moving it via Windows Explorer), the link between the button and the file was updated.
I expected the same to occur with Excel 2007+, but alas, Microsoft in their infinite wisdom have removed another feature useful to advanced users (just as they did by removing the ability to design your own buttons)!!
So having just done some reorganisation of my files, I now have to remove and recreate every friggin macro button on my QAT (I have lots) - what a pain in the proverbial!!
Hi Hui,
Thanks for the help, that's really useful.
1) The macros I'm adding are for one specific Excel application, so I really wanted the macros to follow the file
2) I didn't want to have to pass other files around too and have users installing those - either Personal.xlsx/b or as an Add-In.
3) I realise now that the QAT additions will appear for other Excel workbooks in which I don't want the macros available.
So, it looks like I need to keep it local, by using a button on the worksheet. Unless you can suggest any way of adding to menus just for a specific workbook.
Thanks again for your help. Great site, so I'll be signing up for the emails.
Ron
I know I'm a little late jumping on this post, but wondering if anyone knows how to add a UDF to the QAT? I've saved my UDF in my personal workbook, but it does not show up in my list when I choose Macros when customizing my QAT. Suggestions? Thanks!!
@Cheryl: UDFs cannot be accessed like Macros. You can use them from other macros or from worksheet cells as formulas...
@David: If you save your macros file and then install it as an add-in then it will be always available for you.
The instructions work great when you are creating a new file, and it is still open. I find that I can't access macros after I've saved a file as an xlam and closed it. When I reopen the xlam, either by browsing to it, or by having it set to open as an addin using Excel Options, the macros are no longer available in the macros list when I go to edit the QAT. Any way around that?
[...] Add this macro as a button to Quick Access Toolbar [...]
I need to create a button that will run a macro. Once you click the button it needs to open up a browser asking you to select a report/file. Once you select the file, it will run the macro on the selected file and then save it as a new report with a name and the current date. I created the macro to sort/modify the report but I do not know how to do what I mentioned above. I hope this makes sense.
I'm having trouble adding a macro to the QAT. I've done everything up to step 5 but my macro isn't showing up. What am I doing wrong?
[...] Add Macros to Quick Access Toolbar (works in Excel 2003 & above) [...]
Hi,
Thank you for the explanation. Very useful for a recent switcher from office 2003 to office 2010.
My follow-up question is: in Excel (or ppt) 2010, can you customize the macro button that you put in the QAT?
In office 2003, once you chose the custom button for your Macro, you could then edit pixel by pixel the said button.
For instance, I've created 2 Macros in PPT that are converting all my slides to either English or French language, so I'd like one button to show EN and the other FR... that would be more meaningful that any of the possible "custom" office 2010 buttons
I read all the post and one important aspect to the QAT was never mentioned. That is, you have a macro driven worksheet that you want to share with other. You have customized the QAT with two icons to run the macros (VBA programs in reality). However, when the others receive the workbook, the icons are no where to be found. It's my understanding those "customized buttons" have been saved to an outside file, Excel.qat. QUESTION: Could one simply attach that file to your email, along with the worksheet, and tell the recipients to copy that file to correct location on their computer - C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office|\
Would the customize macro buttons then appear in the worksheet and, more importantly, work? Thanks for your thoughtfulness and thanks for well written instructions Chandoo!
MortW