Today lets close some gaps.
Recently I saw this interesting chart on Economist Daily Charts page. This chart is based on World Economic Forum’s survey on how women compare to men in terms of various development parameters. First take a look at the chart prepared by Economist team.
So what are the gaps in this chart?
This chart fails to communicate because,
- All country charts look same, thus making it difficult to spot any deviations.
- We cannot quickly compare one country with another on any particular indicator.
- It does not provide a better context (for eg. how did these countries perform last year?)
But criticizing someone’s work is not awesome. Fixing it and making an even better chart, that has awesome written all over it. So that is what we are going to do.
Fixing the gaps in Gender Equality chart
First take a look at the improved chart. Play below video.
Step 1: Getting the data for this chart
Although folks at Economist have not included source data, the good people at WEF have provided detailed PDF reports (2013, 2012) where all the data is naked and waiting for us, analyst to pounce and go nuts.
I copy pasted table in to Excel.
While 2012 data loaded alright, 2013 loaded in a weird fashion.
So we move to step 2.
Step 2: Cleaning the data
I feel dirty every time I clean a piece of data 😉
But I also like it (cleaning part, not feeling dirty part). I learn some techniques when I am working with messy, sticky and disorganized data sets.
The 2013 data is pasted in to Excel in this format.
From this, we need to transform our data to:
If we know magic, we could point our wand at the table and say something like, Mobiliarbus Datum.
Alas. We are muggles. So lets rely on the most potent magic we know: Excel formulas. Using INDEX + MATCH combination, we can easily convert 2013 data to the format we want.
The actual formula to fetch overall rank (2nd item in the list for each country) is,
=INDEX(gaps2013,MATCH($B5,gaps2013,0)+1)
Explanation:
- gaps2013 is the range where all the 2013 gender gap survey data is copied
- B5 contains the name of the country for which we want the data.
- +1 because we want to get rank, not country name.
For more, read how to get VLOOKUP + 1 item.
Step 3: Set up form controls
Now that we have sparkling clean data, lets create necessary form controls on our output sheet.
We need 2 controls.
- A combo-box (drop-down) control so that user can select what field to sort the report on.
- A set of option buttons to specify which average to compare.
The combo-box is set up to use the list of values shown aside.
Related: Introduction to Excel Form Controls.
Lets link these to 2 cells, named sortCol & avgType on a different sheet. Call this sheet as calculations. All our formulas will go here.
Step 4: Find sort order based on the selected column
This is the tricky part. I am going to give highlights here and point you to a link where you can learn more.
- Fetch the column we want to sort in a range of cells.
If sorting a number column:
- Make the column unique by adding a very small running fraction.
- This ensures that if our data has duplicates, still our formula works.
- Find the sort order of each item using RANK() formula.
- Refer to Sorting KPIs using Formulas article for more on this technique.
If sorting a text column:
- Find the sort order using COUNTIF() formula.
- Refer to sorting text using formulas article.
Step 5: Re-arrange all data in the sort order
Using INDEX formula, rearrange all data according to the sort order.
Step 6: Calculate % change values
Based on 2012 & 2013 scores, calculate % change and place them in the last 5 columns.
Step 7: Calculate averages
Calculate averages (both G20 & all country values) for all the columns and place them somewhere on your calculations worksheet.
Related: Calculating the average of every nth item.
Step 8: Create charts
Here is the process for creating chart for Overall Score (2013). The same process is used to create all the charts.
- Select all the numbers in overall score column.
- Create a bar chart
- Select vertical axis and press CTRL+1 to format it.
- Select “Categories in reverse order.”
- Adjust series gap to 25%
- Set horizontal axis min to 0 and max to 1 and remove the axis.
- Remove vertical axis, grid lines
- Remove title
- Fill chart background & plot background with no color.
- Set chart outline to no outline.
- And you are done!
See the demo aside to understand the process.
Step 9: Add average as secondary series to the chart
Calculate which average to use in the chart based on the avgType value. And fetch that number to a cell.
Now add average to the chart as a line. This can be done by,
- Adding average point to the chart as second series
- Converting this series to scatter (XY) plot.
- Adjusting the X & Y values of the average point.
- Adding 100% positive (or negative) error bar
- Formatting the error bar to make it look like a line.
- Removing any axis, grid lines added in the process.
Step 10: Oh wow, this is getting long. Have a coffee
I guess this is now a fairly long process. But closing gender gaps (or gaps in the gender gap chart) is never easy. So have a cup of coffee or tea. Rejuvenate and come back.
Step 11: Create all other charts
Follow the same process and create rest of the charts.
One easy way to create rest of the charts is,
- Copy the first chart and paste it elsewhere.
- Select the bars and edit the range address in the formula bar.
- Select the average point and edit that too.
- Adjust axis if needed.
- And you are done!
Step 12: Put everything together
Create a nice table like structure in your output tab and put everything together. Re-size and position the charts as needed. Make sure the colors are nice. Add conditional formatting to highlight column being sorted and you are done!
Missing Steps
I have deliberately omitted a few steps in this process to keep it simple. For those of you with a keen eye:
- Using conditional formatting data bars for the % change column.
- Turning on / off last column in the report based on sort selection using conditional formatting.
- Adding data labels to the country names based on the sort selection.
Download this Excel chart
Click here to download this Excel chart. Play with it. Explore the chart settings, formats, formulas and controls to understand it better.
Conclusions – What does the Gender Inequality Chart say?
After all this analysis, 2 things are clear.
- In most countries, women have high equality with men when it comes to health or education.
- The real gap seems to be in politics & economical development of women.
While this may seem like common sense, it also means, World Economic Forum people should measure inequality on some more parameters. There is little point tracking and analyzing indicators related to health or education (especially in OECD or Western countries).
What do you think?
Want to fill gaps in your Excel knowledge
While no one appreciates gender inequality, we all love awesomeness inequality. There is nothing wrong in wanting to be more awesome than your peers. And here is how you can be unmatched…
- Using Panel charts to understand data
- Spot matrix charts – alternative to radars
- Analyzing performance of stocks using charts
- Suicides & Murders data – interactive analysis
- Visualizing world education rankings
- Survey data analysis with in-cell charts
Want some challenge… How would you analyze this data?
If you want some challenge, go ahead and download the file. It has all the data for 2012 & 2013. Analyze it and share with me your charts. You can email me at chandoo.d@gmail.com or upload your files somewhere and post the links in comments. I would love to see how you can analyze and present this data.
39 Responses to “11 very useful excel keyboard shortcuts you may not know”
You asked about a favorite keyboard shortcut: I often right click the navigation arrows at the bottom of an Excel workbook to get a list of the worksheets. I can click the one I want without having to scroll left or right.
I regularly use the networkdays(x,y,z) function to show the number of working days between two given dates. To exclude public holidays I reference a list of dates ("z" in the above reference) which I periodically update to reflect upcoming non-working days. To keep the sheet looking tidy for other users, I like to hide this column when I'm done, and then unhide it when I update the sheet.
With 40 separate workbooks to edit, these shortcuts make it a breeze...
? Hide selected column: CTRL+0 [zero]
? Unhide hidden column(s) within selection: CTRL+SHIFT+) [closed parenthesis]
If an "Autofit Selection" keyboard shortcut (not just a key sequence) existed, I'd be as happy as a clam!
you can use Alt+o+c+a to autofit selection
Is there a way to auto arrange the column width as you enter the data. Without a macro
You may use alternative key of hide the selected cell by ---print + H key
Unhide---prnt+U keys
You may use alternative key of hide the selected cell by ---print + H key
Unhide---prnt+U keys
[...] 11 very useful excel keyboard shortcuts you may not know [...]
[...] 11 very useful excel keyboard shortcuts [...]
[...] an Excel Conditional Formatting Rock Star 11 very useful excel keyboard shortcuts 73 Free Designer Quality Excel Chart Templates Tracking mutual fund / Stock portfolios using Excel [...]
Hello Chandoo, thanks for sharing this information. With some of the shortcuts I seem to have difficulties as they do not seem to work on the German keyboard.
Can you maybe verify that those combos are only working with the keyboard setup you are using? What would be a good source to lookup combinations for other layouts?
Regards, 1xoid1
@1xoid1 ... Thanks for visiting PHD and taking timeout to ask your question. Unfortunately all my German can be summarized to one phrase: "guten tag".
I wont be able to help you, but I can request other readers to respond. So if you know German or use German keyboard and can answer 1xoid1's question, then you get a free donut.
Guten Tag 🙂
To Sam Krysiak.
Shortcut to Autofit Selection (assuming you mean autofit columns). If you right click toolbar, click customise. From Commands tab/Categories select Built-in Menus.
In Categories window scroll down and select Columns and drag drop it onto toolbar. Then click the new toolbar Columns button and drag drop Autofit button onto your toolbar (note Autofit for Columns will no longer appear in your menus, only on toolbar).
Remove Columns button from toolbar (if you want to keep clutter down) drag and drop it off of your toolbar.
Close Customise box.
Now to Autofit columns just press "Alt" then "A".
Comment 8 correction - 2nd paragraph should read
"In Commands window...
@1xoid1:
Read the following text as follows: The key ,[;] is the one right to the M on the German keyboard. Here are the differences you have to know when using a German keyboard:
2. Press strg .[:] for inserting the current date (and strg shift .[:] for inserting current time)
3. Press strg ,[;] to copy values from cell above
8. Press strg shift –[_] to apply an outline border
10. Press strg-shift S to activate the font drop down (Schriftgroesse)
11. Press strg-shift G to activate the font size (Groesse)
Number 10 and 11 do not work with Excel 2007 anymore, but strg-shift-P shows the font tab of the cell format dialogue in Excel 2007.
All other shortcuts should work on a German keyboard exactly as Chandoo described them.
More information needed? Download a complete list with all shortcuts for Microsoft Excel in German (for free):
http://www.freeware-download.com/downloaddetails/5655.html
@Chandoo: please do not send a donut, unless you are able to attach one to an email. Otherwise the donut might be able to walk by itself, when it arrives here in Germany...
I forgot to mention:
For all readers using an English keyboard: Chip Pearson offers a comprehensive list of Excel shortcuts on the English keyboard:
http://www.cpearson.com/excel/ShortCuts.aspx
[...] your own keyboard shortcuts in Excel 2007, knowing a few keyboard shortcuts in excel is a huge help. Lyte Byte describes a nifty way to create your own key board shortcuts in [...]
[...] Select a bunch of cells and click on the Sigma symbol on the standard tool bar. Alternatively you can use Alt+= keyboard shortcut. [...]
I do some data entries column A,column B ,Column C , A and B have 10 to 12 digit codes , C has the names ; Kindly suggest me a format or formula for excel to avoid duplication of entries in all the the three columns.
Regards,
Prashant
@Prashant... You can use conditional formatting to highlight duplicate entries in the three columns. That way whenever you type a dupe value in a cell the formatting would highlight the values so that you can avoid the error.
check this post for more on using this way to handling duplicates: http://chandoo.org/wp/2008/03/13/want-to-be-an-excel-conditional-formatting-rock-star-read-this/
If you are looking for a way to remove duplicates from an existing range, you can try one of the various techniques we have described here. Try these tips:
http://chandoo.org/wp/2008/11/06/unique-duplicate-missing-items-excel-help/
http://chandoo.org/wp/2008/08/01/15-fun-things-with-excel/
[...] good alternative (although manual) is to use keyboard shortcuts CTRL + ; or CTRL + : to insert current date and time in the active cell. Since this places the [...]
Your site doesn't correctly work in safari browser
Hi GesyimmeliA: Can you tell me which version of Safari on which OS has this problem. I use Macbook at home and loaded the site quite often in Safari and never seen any layout or content issues. Are you facing any script issues while posting comments or somethings like that ?
Hey Chandoo. Great site. Learning lots.
My favorite Excel shortcut has got to be Alt+Down when over an autofilter drop down. Learning that changed my life. That was one of the last things I needed to use a mouse for. Changed my life.
[...] are a big advocate of keyboard shortcuts. I think learning a handful of keyboard shortcuts can improve your productivity tremendously, [...]
My favourit keyboard shortcut is control and 1 (use the 1 above the letters on the keyboard, not the number pad) for format cells.
Favourite shortcut: alt + shift + right/left arrow for grouping/ungrouping!
[...] Select a bunch of cells and click on the Sigma symbol on the standard tool bar. Alternatively you can use Alt+= keyboard shortcut. [...]
[...] clicking on these: excel keyboard shortcuts, excel mouse tips & tricks, excel productivity tips part 1 & part [...]
Martin Williamson thanks for the autofit tip! You rock.
In order to generate charts/bar graph with a single key:
1. Select the data
2. Press F11
3. Magic.... 🙂
F3 = Paste a Name or the entire list of Names
Crtl + F3 = Name Manager
Crtl + : = Inserts current time.
F12 = Save As
Mistake!
Crtl + Shift + : = Inserts current time.
SIR U R THE BEST PERSON WHO SHARES A WONDERFULL AND IMPORTANT TIPS IN EXCEL. THANKS AND KEEP ROCKING.
How do i hide / unhide a work sheet using the keyboard.
Great!
Other useful excel shortcuts
http://webtutorialplus.blogspot.com/2012/01/excel-quick-tip-useful-encoding-hotkeys.html
input in one cell 1a23bc output in two cell one of 123 and other one is abc how to possible, please help me.
Hey cool shortcuts but excel have more shortcuts then you listet.
i find a big database of supportet shortcuts for Excel 2007 here
http://www.veodin.com/excel-2007-shortcuts/
[...] INTEREST Date with my sheet – 10 tips on using date / time in excel http://chandoo.org/wp/2008/07/29/excel-keyboard-shortcuts/ [...]
Great article with some very useful follow-up comments and tips.
One simple question … how do you vertically align the drop-down filter button in a cell with a larger than normal height?
It’s easy enough to do so with a cell’s contents but the drop-down filter button stubbornly remains at the bottom and I need it at the top!
I’ve looked everywhere and haven’t located an explanation to what I am sure is considered an Excel basic.
Cheers