Here is a very quick, very short excel tip. Add the “select objects” tool to Quick Access Toolbar.

In excel 2003 and earlier, this button is available in the bottom left corner (on the drawing toolbar) so that whenever you are working with charts or drawing shapes, you could easily select multiple objects and drag, align, format them. But in Excel 2007 the tool bars have vanished and “Select Objects” tool was moved to a sub-menu inside home ribbon. Going there everytime you need to format a bunch of objects is a huge waste of time. Instead, you can save time by adding this tool to Quick Access Toolbar like this:

Related: Quick Access Toolbar Customization tips & tweaks | More Quick Excel Tips

What tools you have in Quick Access Toolbar? Share your QAT tips & tricks using comments

In this and next 3 posts, we will learn how to make a Dynamic Dashboard using Microsoft Excel.

At the end of this tutorial, you will learn how easy it is to set up a dynamic dashboard using excel formulas and simple VBA macros.

[Click here for large version of the image]

Introduction:

The dashboard also demonstrates the standard approach I use in all of my models which is to incorporate three key sheets in addition to the data and analysis tabs.

These are:

• Home page
• Inputs (or drivers)
• Helpsheet

The dynamic dashboard can be downloaded here [mirror, ZIP Version]

The dashboard file works in Excel 2007+. Pls. enable macros to get it work.

The plan is to break this dashboard tutorial down into four parts over the next four weeks. If further topics fall out as a result of discussions either Chandoo or I will pick them up and if necessary post further parts.

• Part 1: Introduction & overview
• Part 2: Dynamic Charts
• Part 3: VBA behind the Dynamic Dashboard a simple example
• Part 4: Pulling it all together

I would like to take a quick opportunity to give credit for some of the elements of functionality in the model:

• Boxcharts – Chandoo [Link]
• Scrolling report – Chandoo [Link]
• Competitor analysis – Chandoo [Link]
• Use of camera tool – Chandoo [Link]
• In cell microcharts – Chandoo [Link]
• Helpsheet – John Walkenbach

Okay so lets get started with an overview:

What is the objective of the report?

The Dynamic Dashboard is intended to provide pertinent summary information to aid management decision making. Combining a high level of flexibility within each report and then allowing the user to choose which reports to include and where to position them allows an enormous amount of flexibility over the message to be communicated.

What does this Dynamic Dashboard do?

The dynamic dashboard allows the user to select a report from the range of reports within the model and decide where to position it on the page. The user can select “hide” to hide a report that they do not want to see or select “view” to preview it prior to choosing its position.

• Clicking on either the hyperlink name or the report image will take you to the report.
• Each report is highly flexible allowing the user to cut the data in many ways to show management the most pertinent information.

Overview of Dashboard Tabs:

Home Page

I always include a homepage in my models and often set an auto_open routine to select this as the first page seen on opening. The Home page is designed to present the contents of the model to the user and provide links to each page for easy navigation.

The Dynamic Dashboard

This is the main tab for pulling together the dashboard and will be covered in parts 3 and 4.

Inputs

This is the page for all validation lists and drivers.

Help Sheet

Once again a sheet that is in all of my models. This user form based help sheet provides the user with a quick help function and complements the accompanying user notes. I find it helpful to lay it out in tab order.

This is how the Help user form looks once opened. The user can either choose the topic from the dropdown or by clicking next.

Chart 1 and 2 : Flexible pie charts

Dynamic pie charts with the option to select the KPI, period and product/salesperson to be analyzed. These are covered in part 2.

Chart 3 & 4: Flexible line charts

Dynamic line charts with the option to select the KPI, period and product/salesperson to be analyzed. These are also covered in part 2.

Chart 5: Box Chart

Details on how to create these box charts.

Chart 6: Scrolling Report of KPIs

Chandoo’s blog on how to create this scrolling report can be found here. Micro charts which is of my favorite blogs from Chandoo are covered here.

Chart 7: Scrolling Comparison Chart

Details on how to create this scrolling chart.

Chart 8 : Executive Summary

A simple executive summary. Please see Chandoo’s article on a twitter board for an alternative view.

So that was an overview of the model and its main tabs.

What Next?

Next week we will look at  Part 2 of this series and learn how to construct dynamic charts.

Download the complete dashboard

Go ahead and download the dashboard excel file. The dynamic dashboard can be downloaded here [mirror, ZIP Version]

It works on Excel 2007 and above. You need to enable macros and links to make it work.

Added by PHD:

Myles has taken various important concepts like Microcharts, form controls, macros, camera snapshot, formulas etc and combined all these to create a truly outstanding dashboard. I am truly honored to feature his ideas and implementation here on PHD. I have learned several valuable tricks while exploring his dashboard. I am sure you would too.

If you like this tutorial please say thanks to Myles.

Related Material & Resources

• Excel Dashboards – Tutorials & Templates Section of PHD
• 6 Part Tutorial on Making KPI Dashboards in Excel
• Recommended Product: Jorge Camoes’ Dashboard Training Kit

This is a guest post by Myles Arnott from Clarity Consultancy Services – UK.

In this week’s excel links,

Importing Text to Excel – All you need to know

When we work with external data, often the data is in a text file. Excel has a useful feature called “Text to Columns” that can help us take any text file and put the content in spreadsheet in a way we want. Jan Karel Pieterse, Microsoft Excel MVP rounds up the Import Text features in Excel in a very useful and informative article. Read it to learn various tricks and hidden features of text to columns utility.


Data Pig’s New Book on Excel and Access – First Chapter Free

Mike Alexander of Data Pig has a new book called The Excel Analyst’s Guide to Access. You can pre-order the book today. Mike has posted the complete first chapter online on his blog for all of us to read and gain some cool access wisdom. Go!


How to use custom lists to change the sort order

Some of you may know that when you write “Jan”, “Feb” in 2 cells and fill down, the rest of the cells automatically get “Mar”,”Apr”…,”Dec”. This is because they are defined as lists in Excel. We can add more lists to excel to help us in auto-fills. For eg. you can add the list of products (or projects or employees) to excel as a custom list. Once the values are in custom list, we can use the list order to sort our tables in custom order too. Debra shares a little tip on how to do this. Read more about this on Contextures website.


Why stacked bar charts are not such a good idea

Tony from Support Analytics dissects a stacked column chart and tells us why stacking may not be a very good idea. He proposes using a line chart or panel chart instead. Read the commentary so that you can avoid such mistakes in future.


Transferring data within VBA Macros

Doug from Newton Excel Bach has an informative article on how to use variables in VBA. If you write / work with macros I recommend reading this post to understand some of the key ideas on variable scope.

Do you want to share an excel tip or idea?

Pls. send me an email or post a comment and I will be glad to share interesting ideas and articles with our readers here.

The spreadcheats series has been wildly successful. I am compiling all this useful information and articles in to one big post so that anyone can follow the links and become good in Excel. Read on,

[Note: This is not for beginners. If you know what a formula is, you would enjoy this 31 articles]

1: Insert Line Breaks in a Cell

Press ALT+Enter keys in a cell to make a new line inside the cell. [Read this]

2: Select all cells in a range

Use these keyboard shortcuts to select all the cells in a range or group. You can find 90 more shortcuts on that page. [Read this]

3: Using Mouse in Excel

Many of us know at few keyboard shortcuts. But what about mouse short-cuts? Read this post to learn interesting mouse shortcuts that can boost your productivity. [Read this]

4: Using Mouse in Excel – Part 2

In the second part of Mouse shortcuts, we explore double click tricks in Excel. [Read this]

5: Save time by using chart templates

In this spreadcheat, learn how to make your own chart templates and re-use them to save time. [Read this]

6: Make ToC (Table of Contents) in Excel – and other tricks

We all run in to large excel workbooks one time or other. Read this post to find out how you can manage when you have a large file. [Read this]

7: How to print spreadsheets one just one page?

Use the little trick in print settings to print any worksheet on just one page. [Read this]

8: Write better formulas by knowing the difference between relative and absolute references

Quick, what is the difference between A1 and $A$1? If you said 2 dollars, you are the right person to read this article. Learning the differences and usages of various reference types in Excel is important if you want to write better and simpler formulas. [Read this]

9: Remove duplicate items using formulas

Learn how to remove duplicates, identify unique values etc. using formulas in this article. [Read this]

10: Introduction to VLOOKUP Formula (and MATCH, OFFSET Formulas)

VLOOKUP remains one of the most important and very useful formulas in Excel. Learn how to write vlookup formulas by reading this article. [Read this]

11: Introduction to 3D References in Excel (a tutorial on Employee Satisfaction Surveys in Excel)

In this tutorial, we will explore a feature called 3D References in Excel and build an employee satisfaction survey form in Excel. [Read this]

12: Introduction to SUMPRODUCT formula

Learn how to use SUMPRODUCT to find sum of values that meet more than one condition. [Read this]

13: Introduction to ROWS and COLUMNS formulas

One of my recent favorites, ROWS() formula is very useful to generate sequential numbers in Excel. [Read this]

14: Calculate Moving Average in Excel

Use excel formulas and relative references to calculate moving average from your data. [Read this]

15: Introduction to FREQUENCY formula

We use FREQUENCY formula in Excel to generate statistical distribution of a set of values in this example. [Read this]

16: How to understand and fix excel formula errors

If you are ever perplexed by #N/A, #NAME! and said #$#@ to excel, this is the article for you. Read it to learn what these errors actually mean and how to fix them. [Read this]

17: Quick tip to Debug Complex Excel Formulas

Use Function key F9 to debug lengthy and complex excel formulas. Select a portion of the formula and press F9 to instantly evaluate that portion and see the result. Read this article to find out how to use this trick. [Read this]

18: Use Find / Replace tool to change formulas

Learn how to use Find / Replace tool in Excel to quickly edit formulas and change them. [Read this]

19: Introduction to COUNTIF and SUMIF Formulas

COUNTIF and SUMIF are very simple yet very powerful formula tools for anyone using Excel. In this article, explore these formulas and learn to use them. [Read this]

20: Introduction to Array Formulas in Excel

Array formula is like a mega formula that would work on an entire range of cells and return another range of cells. They are useful for scenarios where the output we need is not one value but a set of values. In this introductory example, learn how to write your first array formula. [Read this]

21: Introduction to Excel Conditional Formatting

Excel conditional formatting is your way of telling excel to highlight / change formatting of cells that meet certain criteria. This is a good way to draw attention to few points from a large table. Learn how to use Excel CF in this introductory article. [Read this]

22: Introduction to Excel Camera Tool

In this article, learn about Excel Camera (or Snapshot) tool which is useful for making a live snapshot of a range of cells. [Read this]

23: Introduction to Excel Pivot Tables

Pivot tables are a powerful way to analyze and report your data. In this introductory post, you will find all the basics of pivot tables and learn some tricks. [Read this]

24: Introduction to Excel Goal Seek

Goal Seek is opposite of formulas. In formulas we tell excel a bunch of values and excel finds the result. In goal seek, we tell excel what the result should and excel tells us what kind of parameters should be given. This is useful to find, for eg. Your retirement nest egg value … [Read this]

25: Introduction to Combination Charts in Excel

Learn how to combine 2 different chart types in to one chart in this article. [Read this]

26: Make a Dynamic / Interactive Chart using Data Filters

Do you know that we can use data filters to filter charts as well as data? Well, in this article, you can learn a powerful yet simple trick to make a dynamic chart in Excel using data filters alone. [Read this]

27: Make a Dynamic / Interactive Chart using INDEX Formula

Learn how to set up a dynamic or interactive chart using INDEX formula and Camera tool in Excel. [Read this]

28: Make Collapsible Charts using Group – Outline Tools

We can collapse / expand charts using the group and outline tools in Excel. Learn how to set up such a collapsible chart in Excel. [Read this]

29: Showing Chart Labels in Different Colors – Charting Tricks

Learn how to use custom cell formatting codes to show chart labels in different colors based on a criteria. [Read this]

30: Advanced Data Validation Tricks in Excel – Part 1

In part 1 of excel data validation tricks, we will learn how to use excel formulas to control the way data validation works. [Read this]

31: Advanced Data Validation Tricks in Excel – Part 2

In part 2 of data validation tricks, we will learn how to prevent duplicate data entry using data validation formulas. [Read this]

Happy learning

1. Data sheet structure for Preparing P&L using Pivot Tables
2. Preparing Pivot Table P&L using Data sheet
3. Adding Calculated Fields to Pivot Table P&L
4. Exploring Pivot Table P&L Reports
5. Preparing Quarterly and Half yearly P&L using grouping option
6. Budget V/s Actual report using Pivot

This is continuation of our earlier post Adding Calculated Fields to Pivot Table P&L.

Now that we have P&L report as PivotTable, in this post we will explore excel features to make various types of reports.

Making Reports by Geography / State /City or Month:

You can make Geography-wise , State-wise, City-wise or Monthly P&L with just few clicks. You just need to drop the required field to the column area of your PivotTable.

Want more? – You can prepare Geography wise P&L for the month of Dec.2009

Keep exploring the power of Filters and use them in various combinations to make report on required parameters.

Making Report of Top 5 Stores based on a Parameter

Okay I have got something more for you, How about finding top five stores based on Gross Margin % or Bottom 5 Stores based on Operating Profit %

Add “Store” Filed to Column area of Pivot Table. Now right click on store filed > Click on Filters > Choose Top 10

Choose your options From Drop Down Menu

Above shows you to calculate Top 5 based on Gross Margin%, go ahead and try to find out Bottom 5 based on Operating Profits%

Define KPIs and Make Reports Based on them

By adding some more calculated fields you can calculate various KPIs from the same set of Data.

City wise KPI is just example , you can calculate them on any other parameter as we have done with PivotTable P&Ls above. Use these formulas to calculate these KPIs

Sales per SFT = Sales / ‘Store Area’
Rent per SFT = Rent / ‘Store Area’
Utilities per SFT = Utilities / ‘Store Area’
Consumable % = Consumables / Sales

Then you can prepare a KPI report like this:

Download Excel File with these Pivot Tables

Click here to download Explore PivotTable P&L.xls with these PivotTables [mirror].

What Next?

In the next part of this series, we will learn how to use “grouping dates in Pivot Tables” feature to prepare quarterly and half-yearly reports. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, make sure you have read the first 3 parts of this series – Data sheet structure, Preparing P&L Pivot Table, Adding Calculated Fields.

Also check out the Excel Pivot Tables – Tutorial, Pivot Table Tricks, Grouping Dates in Pivot Reports articles to get more ideas.

Added by PHD:

• Please share your feedback and ideas for this series using comments. Yogesh and I will reply to your questions. Also, say thanks if you like the idea and want to learn more.
• Sign-up for PHD E-mail newsletter because you will get updates as new posts are live.

Yogesh is an accountant with 13 years of experience in India and abroad. His specialties are budgeting and costing, supplier accounting, negotiation of contracts, cost benefit analysis, MIS reporting, employees accounting. He writes about excel at http://www.yogeshguptaonline.com/

Now, to calculate the dates in a month that meet this clause, we need an “exclusive OR” formula or what geeks call as “XOR” operation.

Wikipedia defines XOR as,

The logical operation … exclusive or (symbolized XOR, EOR), … results in a value of true if exactly one of the operands has a value of true. A simple way to state this is “one or the other but not both.”

Now, XOR or exclusive Or is a fairly common logical test, but there is no straight forward formula to test this. Instead we have to use a lengthy combination or AND, OR and NOT formulas to arrive at XOR.

For eg. assuming you want TRUE only when one of the two logical conditions A or B is TRUE,

you have to write,

=OR(AND(NOT(A),B),AND(A,NOT(B))) [Afterall, that is how XOR operation is defined to begin with]

Now, that seems like an awful formula. May be there is a better formula after all?!? One that is less crazier than the HR clause of ACME Co.

Well, there is.

If you observe closely, XOR is nothing but <> (not equal to sign). So, instead of going nuts writing the lengthy ANDORNOT combination, you can simplify the formula to,

=A<>B and it gives the same outcome.

So, the formula to find whether a given date (in cell A1) qualifies for bonus allowance,

=IF((WEEKDAY(A1)=6)<>(MOD(DAY(A1),5)=0),"Pay Bonus","Pay Regular")

More about logical formulas in Excel

AND Formula | OR Formula | NOT Formula | 51 common excel formulas

Do you XOR in real life?

There have been few occasions when I had to XOR in my worksheets. I found that writing the correct formula can be a bit tricky depending on how crazy the rule is. But almost always a combination of <>, NOT, AND and OR worked for me well.

What about you? Do you write formulas that involve complex IF clauses?

1. Data sheet structure for Preparing P&L using Pivot Tables
2. Preparing Pivot Table P&L using Data sheet
3. Adding Calculated Fields to Pivot Table P&L
4. Exploring Pivot Table P&L Reports
5. Preparing Quarterly and Half yearly P&L using grouping option
6. Budget V/s Actual report using Pivot

This is continuation of our earlier post Preparing Pivot Table P&L using Data. We have learned to prepare Pivot Table P&L. The report prepared in last post has all the major data to prepare a P&L but it is not a complete P&L report. Now we will add calculated fields to make it a complete P&L. We will also format data points to make it a complete P&L report.

We need the following extra values in our P&L

• Gross Margin = Sales – Cost of Goods Sold
• Gross Margin % = Gross Margin / Sales
• Operating Expenses = Rent + Personnel Cost + Utilities + Consumables + Misc Exp
• Operating Profit = Gross Margin – Operating Expenses
• Operating Profit % = Operating Profit / Sales

Making these extra fields in Pivot Table using Calculated Fields Features:

Click on PivotTable Tools > Calculated Items to define a new calculated field. [tutorial: how to add calculated fields to pivot tables]

Check out below screencast. Just replace the Field Names and Formulas to add the rest of the calculated fields.

Once you have added all the calculated fields to Pivot Table, these will start showing at the end of PivotTable. You will need to drag them to their respective position on P&L

Now you are almost ready with your P&L report, only few steps more to format data are required. You may have noticed that % Fields are showing as zero as of now. This is because they are formatted as numbers instead of percentages.

Do not use standard cell formatting to format them, instead use Value Field Setting Option to format pivot table fields. This one is useful as it will show data always as per the format set for particular field. Use Percentage format for % fields and Accounting Format for other value fields.

Few More steps like formatting certain fields as bold and italics and your PivotTable P&L is ready, you can play with is as any other pivot table and start presenting on various dimensions with few clicks

Make sure that you have correctly setup “Preserve Cell Formatting on update” option under pivot table options. This will help you retain the same format while you play with your PivotTable P&L.

The Final Profit & Loss Pivot Report

Once you finish all the formatting and settings, this is how the final report should look like:

Download the profit and loss report excel file

Download the excel file and play with it to understand the techniques discussed in this post.

What Next?

In the next part of this series, we explore this pivot table further, Continue reading.

Added by PHD:

• Please share your feedback and ideas for this series using comments. Yogesh and I will reply to your questions. Also, say thanks if you like the idea and want to learn more.
• Sign-up for PHD E-mail newsletter because you will get updates as new posts are live.

Yogesh is an accountant with 13 years of experience in India and abroad. His specialties are budgeting and costing, supplier accounting, negotiation of contracts, cost benefit analysis, MIS reporting, employees accounting. He writes about excel at http://www.yogeshguptaonline.com/

Special thanks to all the commenters on the original post. Without you I couldn’t have learned these shortcuts.

Here is the complete list of excel keyboard shortcuts.

• Shortcuts for Selection
• Shortcuts for Editing
• Shortcuts for Navigation
• Shortcuts for Formatting
• Shortcuts for Formulas
• Shortcuts for Excel Options
• Shortcuts for Auto Complete
• Shortcuts for Everything Else

Note: I have *ed some of the most important shortcuts. These are very useful and extremely time saving ones. You may want to remember a few to boost your productivity.

Thanks to the contributors

Here is a list of people who contributed these shortcuts.

Vipul, Dau, Stružák, Paul, Eliavs, Pavel S, Fabrice, Noone, Clarity, Jp, Pascal, Jair, Yoav, Nimesh, Bill, Patricia, Mike, Iesmatauw, Chrisham, Harvey, Pranav, Rohit Choudhary, Rohit1409, Rickard, Sachin, Gerald Higgins, Ericlind, Zzz, Felipe, Sridhar, Halva, Catherine, Lavkesh Bhatia, Rick Rothstein, Vishal Haria, Ak, Daniel Ferry, Mehdi Raza.

Thank you

Share your shortcuts

I know this post is unusally lengthy. But I wanted the list to be as comprehensive as possible. If you know some shortcuts that are not listed, please share them using comments.

Click here to sign-up for excel school

(on a lighter note, if excel school were to be a pie, we wouldn’t be having this conversation )

How many students have joined the school?

At the time of writing this post (Around 11pm on Feb 16) we have 94 students signed up. That is quite a bit more than what I expected. While I am a tiny bit scared, I am very keen to help as many more people as possible. So, go ahead and join the program, because I don’t know when I will re-open it.

Clarification about PayPal:

Few people have e-mailed me and asked, “I don’t have PayPal account, how do I sign-up?”.

Well, you don’t need a PayPal account if you use the one-time payment option. All you have to do is click on the link that says “Continue without creating a paypal account”. See this screenshot.

(You must create a PayPal account if you choose monthly payment option. This will give you ability to review your payment every month.)

When is it closing exactly?

I will be closing new registrations by 11:59 PM (Pacific Time) on today. Pacific time is GMT-8:00. See the below list to know when exactly the registration closes at your time zone.

Will the school re-open later this year?

That is my plan. But I don’t know if my kids permit me to fool around too much. You see, by then they would be talking.

So, Sign-up already!

Click here to sign-up for excel school

Bonus Excel Tip: How to convert times from one time zone to another?

Just because 100 people are joining excel school doesn’t mean that rest 7,900 of you should read a sales pitch. So here is a bonus tip.

If you want to convert times from one time zone to another (like above), you can use simple date arithmetic.

1. Enter the date and time you want to convert in a cell (say in A1)
2. Now, let us say you want to convert this to time zone 6 hours ahead of it.
3. Simply write the formula =A1 + 6/24 to get the time in new time zone.
4. Hint: change +6/24 to -7/24 if you want time in a zone that is 7 hours behind.

That is all. Happy time traveling.

PS: You would need a real time machine if you miss the dead line for excel school sign-up. You know what to do.

To switch between ribbon tabs or to change to a particular tab, you can use mouse scroll-wheel. Just place mouse pointer on a ribbon tab, and scroll-down or up using your mouse’s scroll-wheel and you can switch between tabs.

Learn more ribbon tips, free ribbon e-book, a bunch of bite sized quick excel tips