Over the last month we have seen some 52, Excel Tips, Tricks, Cheats & Hacks presented by some of the best Excel practitioners on the net:
Excel Tips, Tricks, Cheats & Hacks – Microsoft MVP Edition
Excel Tips, Tricks, Cheats & Hacks – Chandoo.org Excel Ninja Edition
Excel Tips, Tricks, Cheats & Hacks – Notable Excel Sites Edition
Excel Tips, Tricks, Cheats & Hacks – Readers Prequil
In this final post I am presenting a compilation of Readers Contributions.
These have been compiled from comments on the above 4 posts and submissions sent directly to me.
I hope you enjoy the following Excel Tips, Tricks, Cheats & Hacks – Readers Edition
001. Toggle the Absolute/Relative $ Sign in Formulas using F4 – Desk Lamp
Instead of typing $AA$12 simply type AA12 then press F4.
Press F4 to Toggles through the sequence: AA12 -> $AA$12 -> AA$12 -> $AA12 -> AA12
You can read about Absolute vs Relative Cell References here
002. Current Region – Peter Carr
My favorite tip is the CurrentRegion of a range.
CurrentRegion is the contiguous range of cells starting from a cell, and moving out in all directions until an entire blank row or column is reached.
The current Region of the Yellow Cell above is the Red Outlined Area
Keyboard
From the keyboard you can do this by pressing Ctrl+* or Ctrl+A, which is a shortcut for GoTo, Special, Current Region.
VBA
In VBA you can use the Range.CurrentRegion property
If there is a block of data in B4:F10 with blank rows & columns around it
Dim myRange as Range
myRange = Range(“C8”).CurrentRegion
will set myRange to $B$4:$F$10
To identify the number of rows in a contiguous region.
e.g. intNumberOfRows = Range(“FirstCell”).CurrentRegion.Rows.Count
003. Select the Current Region using the QAT – Christine
In addition to the techniques described by Peter above, you can select the Current Region by adding an Icon to the Quick Access Toolbar.
Click on any cell and then click on the icon or use Alt+4
004. Find the Alt-Shortcut Key Number for the QAT – Hui
In the “Select the Current Region using the QAT” post above, Christine showed us how to use the Current Region Icon 
to quickly select the current Region. But how do we know it is the 4th Icon?
The Alt Number is Position dependent, in the example above the Current Region Icon is the 4th Icon from the Left in the QAT and so it is accessed by Alt+4
But by simply pressing the Alt key, Excel will show you the shortcut numbers for the QAT and all other Tabs
So we can see that the Select the Current Region icons is yes, No 4 and so Alt+4 is required to activate it
We can also see that the Record a Macro icon is number 08. To use that You use Alt+08 (Using the Number keys, not the numeric keypad)
Using Alt also shows you all the Tab shortcuts as well
005. Stay on the Current Cell after you press Enter – MF
Typically when entering data as you press the Enter key, Excel advances the current cell to the next cell as defined in the File, Options, Advanced, Editing Options menu
To stay on the current cell Simply press Ctrl+Enter instead of Enter
You can set your default move direction or disable Move Selection permanently by changing the option in the File, Options, Advanced, Editing Options menu:
006. Close a File Shortcut – Johnathan Cooper
Simply pressing Ctrl+W closes the current file
If the file has changed since the last save you are given the option to Save the file before it closes
007. Keyboard Shortcuts – Chirayu
Hide columns – CTRL + 0
Apply Filter (alternative) – SHIFT + CTRL + L
Clear Filter – ALT + D + F + S
Drag Down – CTRL + D
Drag Right – CTRL + R
Drag Up – ALT + E + I + U
Drag Left – ALT + E + I + L
Value Paste – ALT + E + S + V
Format Paste – ALT + E + S + T
You can find a comprehensive list of Keyboard Shortcuts at: Chandoo.org Keyboard Shortcuts
008. Use AutoCorrect to write formula – Wynn Hopkins
My favorite trick is using AutoCorrect to help write INDEX MATCH formulas..
Copy the following line into AutoCorrect and then use iii as the text to replace
=INDEX( DblClk_to_Select_Column_to_return, MATCH( DblClk_Single_Lookup_Cell, DblClk_Lookup_Column, 0),0)
This way whenever you need INDEX MATCH you just type iii and AutoCorrect kicks in and you are 3 double clicks away from a robust formula.
AutoCorrect is found in the File, Options, Proofing Menu
Contributor: Wyn Hopkins
009. Fill Blanks in a Data Table before use in a Pivot Table – RobD
When building pivot tables, it helps to have a full column of like values, so if you have a set up such as:
Where the data area has blank cell
Use this handy VBA
‘Change the MyCol value to match your value
Becomes…
Note: The code copies the text above the blank cell, and so the user must be careful that this is a valid assumption
010. Fill Blanks in a Data Table before use in a Pivot Table II – Jomili
Extending the technique shown above, Jomili supplied some VBA code that does the same as 007 above, except that it handles Multiple Columns at once as well as allowing Formulas to be converted to Values in the final result
So
becomes
by using this code:
011. QAT Copy/Paste Shortcut – Ian Watkins
By assigning the Copy, Paste Values and Paste Formulas Icons to positions 1, 2 & 3 of the Quick Access Toolbar
Instead of doing a big move of my hand from Ctrl+C to Alt+2, I can just move a finger from Alt+1 t copy
Click on the new cell and press Alt+2 or Alt+3 without moving my hand
Speeds things up quite a bit!
012. Customize Markers in a Chart – Chandeep
Customizing markers in a chart – http://www.goodly.co.in/customize-markers-in-a-chart/
013. Charting Hacks to work faster – Chandeep
Charting Hacks to work faster – http://www.goodly.co.in/5-charting-hacks-to-help-you-work-faster/
014. Seven Date formulas to make life easy – Chandeep
7 Date formulas to make life easy – http://www.goodly.co.in/date-formulas-in-excel/
015. Customised scrollbar using VBA – Chandeep
Customised scrollbar using VBA – http://www.goodly.co.in/customized-scroll-bar-in-excel/
016. Adding Direct Legends – Chandeep
Adding Direct Legends – http://www.goodly.co.in/how-to-add-direct-legends-to-the-chart/
017. Excel Ninja Menu – Krishna Khemraj
Select a cell or range then move till the 4-way cross appears.
Then Right-Click and drag the selection to another place in the worksheet then, like a ninja, a menu full of skills and throwing stars pops up allowing me to do all kinds of awesomeness.
When you click the fill box on a Date and Right Click and Drag it down, a lot of amazing Date options pop up.
018. Copy & Paste Filtered Data Only – Patricia
If you try to copy subtotaled data (and in earlier Excel versions filtered data), when you paste it all the data displays instead of just the summarized data.
To get around this, select your summarized data, click on Find and Select tab and then select Go to Special.
Click Visible cells Only and click Ok.
Now paste and you will see that only the summarized data has been copied.
You can also go CTRL+G and then click the Special icon at the bottom of the dialog box.
019. Clear Filters for the Current Column – Graham
With a table that is filtered, ensure the active cell is in the header of a filtered column and hit ALT + Down Arrow + C to clear the filter for the current column
020. Names Formula Tips – Pedro Paulo
You can bring up the Name Manager in Excel by pressing Ctrl+F3.
This lists the names used in your current workbook, and you can also define new names, edit existing ones or delete names from the Name Manager.
You can define several named ranges using data that’s arranged in neat tables. Excel creates named ranges from your selection and uses your data headings as the new names.
Make sure your data has headings (top row, left column, bottom row or right column) as these will turn into the names of your named ranges
Select the data including headings, press Ctrl+Shift+F3, in the dialog box select where your headings are (top row, left column, bottom row or right column) and click Ok.
Field Names which include spaces will be replaced with underscores
eg: Account Code will become the Account_Code named formula
021. Avoid Division by Zero – Ian Wilson
If a formula returns a number value, the Iferror() function can be used to isolate a returned value of zero.
You just need to utilize reciprocals:
1/(1/x) = x, however, if x = 0, then the function is an error.
My most common use of this feature is to return a blank instead of a 0.
=iferror(1/(1/sum(range)),””)
This could also be used to avoid division by 0 or replace 0s with a string.
022. Text to Columns Shortcut – Vishal Onkar
When working with lots of Text or CSV Files you invariably end up using the Text to Columns function repeatedly
This can be accessed by the ALT+D+E keyboard shortcut
023. Convert a Month in Words to a Month Number – Denys calvin
To convert a month in words (i.e., “August”) to its number (i.e., “8”), use, at least, the first three letters of the word in the following formula: =MONTH(“mmm”&1)
=Month(“March”&1) returns 3
=Month(“Mar”&1) returns 3
024. Trace Precedent/Dependents – Prashant99
Trace precedent cells Ctrl+[
Trace dependent cells F5+Enter or Ctrl+]
025. Resize Columns – Target
I routinely get sheets with data all smashed up which I hate and I’ve never been able to find a shortcut to do this.
To get around this I use the following VBA and assign a shortcut key (CTRL+Q)
It can be a nuisance if I’ve intentionally hidden columns, but the convenience far outweighs the inconvenience
026. Format Table Header Row – Ronnie
I use Tables many times a day and have a simple macro to give me a consistent Table format
The VBA Code:
027. Quickly Jump to Range – Efand
Type the range address directly in the Name Box and then press Enter to select it.
e.g: type A3:A6 will select its ranges without using any clicking and dragging
If you select a Range say B3:B6, then type a Name in the Name Box “From_Date“, Excel sets up a Named Formula referring to that range
If the Named Formula already exists, eg: From_Date, Typing From_Date into the box will take you to it.
You can also use the Drop Down next to the Name Box to select existing Named Ranges
028. Easily delete all Non-Formula cells – Martin
To easily delete all none-formula entries in a worksheet in one go:
Goto Home, Find & Select, Constants
This selects all cells that do not contain a formula.
Then just hit the delete button and you are done!
029. Reset all Cell Comments to the Same Style – Hui
To Reset all Cell Comments to the Same Style simply copy this code into a code module in your workbook
Edit the style parameters to suit your need
Run the code with F5
Closing
Many many thanks to the Microsoft Excel MVPs, Chandoo.org Ninja’s & My Favorite Excel Websites Authors for the 52 and You for the 29 Excel Tips, Tricks, Cheats & Hacks that have been showcased over these past 5 posts.
I hope you get to to revue all the tips and pass comments and appreciation back to the authors as appropriate.
I will re-run this series in May 2017 so keep a list of your new Excel Tips, Tricks or Hacks handy.
If you have any Excel Tips, Tricks or Hacks, Don’t be afraid to share them below in the comments:
49 Responses to “Introduction to Slicers – What are they, how to use them, tips, advanced techniques & interactive reports using Excel Slicers”
Great article!
If you want to learn a bit more about using slicers in VBA, head over here:
http://jkp-ads.com/articles/slicers03.asp
Hi
I downloaded cube-formula-slicer-selection.xlsx.
Why is 'Report Connections' grayed out?
Great article!! Thank you very much... This post is one of the most helpful for my job!
Great Introduction. Thanks very much.
Wow! trying to use this on the reports that I have now. I really liked that Quantity and Amount Bar graph used on the pivot-multi tab, but for the life of me, I can't seem to replicate it from scratch. Help please?
[…] http://chandoo.org/wp/2015/06/24/introduction-to-slicers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email… […]
This is awesome! I will favorite this page in my blog, http://www.exceltoxl.com
Since I've known slicers about 2-3 yrs ago, I've pretty much used them in every damn report I do. Everyone that sees it for the first time is like "This is the best thing ever. Did you do that using excel or something else?" 😀 My bosses are so used it that when they see a report from someone else that doesn't have slicers they send it to me to redo it :).
Couple of tips:-
Tip 1:
If for lack of space or say you want ability to search within a filter due to numerous values being present but still want it to connect to multiple pivot tables or charts then
1. Setup a pivot table with just the report filter
2. Create a slicer with the same field and tie that to all the pivot tables/charts that you want.
3. Just place it some out of sight.
Now you have a dropdown with all your values with search option plsu it is also connected to all your charts and pivot tables.
TIP 2:
In Excel 2013, slicers can be used with just plain tables as well. Not limited to pivot tables.
Congrats!
Nice content : )
Very comprehensive. Explained in an extremely simple way. I have been using Slicers for a while, but still learnt new things from this post. Thanks for sharing. Best wishes.
Awesome Explanation !!
I have joined this blog recently. Brilliant tools are available that I started using in my day to day work. Brilliant site. Thanks heaps.
[…] Read the full article here: Introduction to Slicers – What are they, how to use them, tips, advanced techniques & interact… […]
Oh wow. I've only just started using Excel 2010 and had no idea this even existed. It makes dynamic charts so much easier!
You are my Hero! I am working with PowerPivot due to the huge amount of data I have and could not use my usual tricks to get the scatter chart title to change. For some reason the CUBE function wouldn't work (who knows why, I don't have time to dig into it now) but your "dummy" solution did.
thankyouthankyouthankyou!
Clare
On a normal PivotTable filter, you can choose whether to allow multiple items to be selected or not. Is that possible with slicers (in Excel 2010)? I've had a look through the options and not found a way to do it yet!
Hi Stevie... this is not possible with slicers.
Just hold down control when you're choosing them...can then either click another (without control) and it will show only the new one, or click the filter with the red 'x' to revert back to all options.
Not a limitation that can be placed on the slicer but still a potential workaround depending on your needs.
Very comprehensive note on slicer. I haven't yet used ms excel 2010, but learnt Slicer tool very well
How should I apply Slicer in excel 2010 version, not able find options
as directed, could you please tell me that step by step
@Arif
In Excel 2010 slicers could only be applied to Pivot tables/Charts not Regular tables
@Arif
In Excel 2010 slicers could only be applied to Pivot tables/Charts not Regular tables
I have a longitudinal line graph with the count of exams scored at each level(1-4). I need a longitudinal line graph that shows the percentage for each level. I made my pivot with the count in the field settings with a calculation of % of row total. This works great until you add a slicer fo that you can look at one level at a time. When I do this, it shows as 100% because it seems to lose the rest of the row calculations. How can I set it up to show the percent. I do not have the option of adding it to my data table. I am using straight Pivot, not PowerPivot.
@Mary
I'd suggest asking the question in the Chandoo.org Forums http://forum.chandoo.org/
Attach a sample file with an example of what you are after, even hand drawn
Hi, thanks for these tips. Is it possible to link a slicer to *different data sets*? All my data sets have a "year_opened" and "month_opened" fields, and I'd like do a single filter and update everything at once. Is that possible?
Hi,
Can someone tell me how to format a date field in a slicer to tell July 2016 instead of 07/31/2016?
Thanks in advance.
Great post - easily explainable for non excel whiz.
Thanks for the slicers post. I'm knew to this feature so don't be to harsh on me 🙂
In the example bar chart graph: "Quantity breakup by Customer Profession and & Product category" you get a different picture depending on which area is chosen "East, Middle, North, South, West". That part I get. But the graph itself doesn't specify which region you are in.
Is it possible to put the filtered criteria into the Chart title. For example if I chose West, the title would read "Quantity breakup by Customer Profession and & Product category - West".
Is that possible? Just curious. Thanks
It is possible...I have this on a number of my reports.
1) create a pivot table with just the column your slicer is set on
2) assign the slicer to that pivot table
3) create a string in cell B3 (or wherever):
="Quantity breakup by Customer Profession & Product Category- "&A3
(assuming that A3 is the cell that the chosen region appears in)
4) click (once) on the graph title, then in the formula bar type =B3
As you change the slicers, B3 will update as will the chart title.
Couple of tips:
1) if you need to have a new line for the title, use CHAR(10) e.g.
="Quantity breakup by Customer Profession & Product Category"&CHAR(10)&A3
(this will have the region on a new line)
2) if multiple regions will be chosen, I've added in an IF statement
=IF(COUNTA(A3:A10)>1,"Multiple Regions",A3)
(I'm sure there are ways to concatenate the strings but for mine it could get up to 20 and that just gets ridiculous for the graph heading)
Just Wow
I am trying to create a duplicate dashboard using data in one workbook and creating a new workbook to place in a shared file for my coworkers. I have created a separate worksheet in the original workbook for the new pivot charts and slicers I want to use in the new workbook/dashboard. I don't want all of the source data in the new workbook, as it is very large. I am having trouble making new slicers work. They work in the original workbook, but when I copy them to the new workbook they don't work. Am I going about this the right way or is there an easier way?
Very good post! Helped a lot. Keep up the good work!
how can you prevent multiple selection in a slicer box? In short, in any slicer box, only one entry is allowed and not multiple entries.
Fairly new to forum's, hoping I'm not breaking a rule here, but I found this forum which seems to provide a solution:
https://wessexbi.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/just-one-slice-please/
I have 2 files. (1. .xlsx 2. .xlsm)
1 file contains all the pivot tables and charts. its also macro enabled.
2nd file contains the source data which is a .xlsx file.
but I am unable to run slicer on my 1st file.
can anybody help me out?
chandoo.org: one of my favourite Excel sites for years.
Slicers tutorial: excellent as usual.
Animated gifs: sorry, but REALLY distracting!! Especially with two on the same screen. Is there any way they can be activated only when we click on them, or something?
Hi Team,
I have inserted a slicer to a pivot table with 4 fields...I need to add another field for the same slicer...help me with this..
First of all I would like to say terrific blog!
I had a quick questio in whiich I'd like to ask if you don't
mind. I was intereested to know how you center yourself and clear your head
before writing. I've had a hard time clearing my mind in getting my ideas out there.
I do enjoy writing however it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are generally lost simply just tryying to figure out how
to begin. Any recommendations oor tips? Many thanks!
Hi All
Im trying to connect a slicer to 2 pivot tables with different sources
Both data tables have been sorted and have duplicates
ie
Table 1
Name Week FTe
A 1 7.2
A 2 7.3
B 1 7.3
B 2 7.3
Table 2
Name Month Fte
A Jan 2.6
A Feb 3.2
A Mar 4.4
B Jan 2.2
B Feb 6.4
B Mar 2.2
etc
I have created 2 pivot tables and have sorted it out the way i want with charts etc
Now all i want is to connect the Name Slicer to be connected to both of those pivot tables but problem is they have duplicates and are from different tables/sources
how can i connect/add this to a data model and connect to my name slicer?
Im sure it maybe something simple but minds not with it
So in short 1 to connect 1 slicer to 2 different pivots from different sources but not all pivots (There are dups in both) - as shown in the example
Thank You
Hi H
This is how you can do it. Create a third table with all slicer options (in this case it would be Name column) with one row per unique value. Now add this table to your source list. Then link all two tables via this third table thru Data ribbon > Manage relationships feature. Finally add a slicer on this third table column and link the slicer to both pivot charts.
Please note that you need to construct the tables and charts after data model is created.
See this page for more explanation on how to use relationships - https://chandoo.org/wp/introduction-to-excel-2013-data-model-relationships/
Hi,
Using Cube Value with Slicers is great. I am new to cube value, but it is so powerful. I am stuck on an issue where I want to filter on a slicer for all values except 1 and the slicer has thousands of values. I get #N/A in the results, when trying to do this. Any ideas on how to do an exception calc or how to get around this with the multi select slicer functionality?
Thanks in advance.
Cyleste
@Cyleste... thanks for your comments and welcome to Chandoo.org. You can use DAX to calculate such things as Excel pivot tables alone cannot function like the way you want. You can use DAX formula EXCEPT() to achieve this. For example,
=CALCULATE(SUM(data[sales]), EXCEPT(ALL(data[filter_column]), VALUES(data[filter_column]))) can tell you the sum of [sales] column in the data table by ignoring slicer selected values.
Hope that helps.
Hi Chandoo,
Thank you for your quick reply. I am not familiar with DAX but it sounds like I won't be able to apply the calculation you provided after converting the power pivot to excel formulas via OLAP.
Cyleste
Thanks Chandoo, I like yours tricks & always I use slicers. Regards from México.
Hi Chandoo,
I have a lot of text in the slices (Pivot table). The text is not completely visible. What should I do?
Please Help
Thanks
Hi Girish,
Slicers are useful only for items with short text, for ex: categories, product names etc. For longer values, you are better off using form controls for interaction - Here is an overview of form controls Form Controls – Adding Interactivity to Your Worksheets
Thanks so much for this, it's brilliant! I think it's almost there - I've actually followed the steps on the example linked in my post. I just can't get it to filter properly; it just returns 0 when I add a date into Cell O2. Should I be doing it differently?
slicers dont work with non-admin roles in OLAP Pivot Tables