Sometimes when you are working with data, you may need to just copy and paste numbers from one range to another. Here is a handy little trick to achieve that.
Use Paste Special > Add operator to paste numbers only.
- Select the source range, press CTRL+C
- Now, go to target range, press ALT+E and then S to activate paste special dialog
- Select “Add” operator (you can press d)
- Click ok.
See this short screen-cast to understand how to do this:
Bonus tips:
Convert numbers from positive to negative:
- Select and copy a bunch of numbers
- Go to an empty cell, press ALT+E and then S and then S (or choose subtract operator)
- That is all. Your numbers are negated now.
Convert from one currency to another instantly:
- Enter the exchange rate in a cell. Copy it.
- Now select all the cells which needs to be converted.
- Press ALT+E and then S and then select Multiply operator (press m)
- That is all. Your currencies are converted. That will be $2.00 plus 1$ per 100.
16 more tricks on how to use paste special
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8 Responses to “Pivot Tables from large data-sets – 5 examples”
Do you have links to any sites that can provide free, large, test data sets. Both large in diversity and large in total number of rows.
Good question Ron. I suggest checking out kaggle.com, data.world or create your own with randbetween(). You can also get a complex business data-set from Microsoft Power BI website. It is contoso retail data.
Hi Chandoo,
I work with large data sets all the time (80-200MB files with 100Ks of rows and 20-40 columns) and I've taken a few steps to reduce the size (20-60MB) so they can better shared and work more quickly. These steps include: creating custom calculations in the pivot instead of having additional data columns, deleting the data tab and saving as an xlsb. I've even tried indexmatch instead of vlookup--although I'm not sure that saved much. Are there any other tricks to further reduce the file size? thanks, Steve
Hi Steve,
Good tips on how to reduce the file size and / or process time. Another thing I would definitely try is to use Data Model to load the data rather than keep it in the file. You would be,
1. connect to source data file thru Power Query
2. filter away any columns / rows that are not needed
3. load the data to model
4. make pivots from it
This would reduce the file size while providing all the answers you need.
Give it a try. See this video for some help - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u7bpysO3FQ
Normally when Excel processes data it utilizes all four cores on a processor. Is it true that Excel reduces to only using two cores When calculating tables? Same issue if there were two cores present, it would reduce to one in a table?
I ask because, I have personally noticed when i use tables the data is much slower than if I would have filtered it. I like tables for obvious reasons when working with datasets. Is this true.
John:
I don't know if it is true that Excel Table processing only uses 2 threads/cores, but it is entirely possible. The program has to be enabled to handle multiple parallel threads. Excel Lists/Tables were added long ago, at a time when 2 processes was a reasonable upper limit. And, it could be that there simply is no way to program table processing to use more than 2 threads at a time...
When I've got a large data set, I will set my Excel priority to High thru Task Manager to allow it to use more available processing. Never use RealTime priority or you're completely locked up until Excel finishes.
That is a good tip Jen...