Let’s take a whirlwind trip to coolest little capital – Wellington. It is a windy place, so hold on to your hats and spreadsheets.
Almost everyone who spends more than 2 days in Wellington would agree that it is a windy place. But how windy is Welly? In this two part series, we will use Power Query, Excel charts and coffee to answer that question.
But, first let’s start with a joke.
What happens when you throw a boomerang in Frank Kitts Park?
You will have to buy another one, coz you are not getting that one back.
Extracting the wind data
In order to understand how windy Wellington is, we need to get average wind speeds by day for last several days. Let’s get the data for last 2+ years (ie from 1 Jan 2016 to 21 Feb 2018).
There are many places where you can collect latest wind data. But when it comes to historical wind data, surprisingly few resources are available. We can use The National Climate database – CliFlo, to gather wind data. But the interface is confusing and I could only locate gust speeds, rather than average wind speeds over time.
We can use wunderground.com to fetch weather data for up to 13 months at a time.
But we need data for almost 26 months.
Very simple, we can query wunderground twice (or thrice), once per each year.
The historical data query URL looks like this:
https://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/NZWN/2016/1/1/CustomHistory.html?dayend=31&monthend=12&yearend=2016&req_city=&req_state=&req_statename=&reqdb.zip=&reqdb.magic=&reqdb.wmo=
All we had to do is, change 2016 to 2017 & 2018 to get respective data.
The actual data set will be a web page. But we can use power query to extract the portion of page that contains weather information.
On to Power Query – Building our Weather Data Extractor
Note: This is a slightly advanced tutorial on PQ. If you are a beginner, start with Introduction to Power Query and work thru examples on PQ tag page before reading any more.
Getting data from the web – building URL in parts
Open Excel and go to Data > New Query > From Other Sources > Web
For Power BI, this would be Edit Queries > New Source > Web
Switch to “Advanced” mode and enter the URL as parts like below. We will switch the 2016 part to parameters soon, so we could get data for any year easily.
In the navigation pane, select “Table 1” which is the weather table.
Set up a parameter for Year
How would we get data for 2017 or 2018? Simple, we use parameters. These are like variables which can be plugged in to any part of your Power Query process.
In Power Query Editor, go to Home > Manager Parameters > New Parameter and call it Year. Enter the default value as 2016.
Now, go back and edit the source settings for the query and replace 2016s with parameter Year.
Cleaning the weather table
Turns out the weather data table is not clean. Although there are 366 days in 2016 (leap year), Wunderground adds headers for each month. So we end up with 378 rows (excluding the header). Each header contains month name and repeat of all the column names. We can extract the month name & combine that with date and year parameter to create the date for each row.
Here is a quick illustration of what we need to do.
But first, rename the very first column
Notice the first column? It is called as 2016. This is ok if we are interested in just 1 year of data. But if we re-run this query with Parameter=2017, our column heading will change. If you have dabbled with Power Query a few times, you will quickly realize that PQ will get in to a nasty fit anytime column headers change and impact downstream steps.
Simple, we shall rename it as FirstCol.
When you apply the new name, PQ will write this M instruction.
#”Renamed Columns”= Table.RenameColumns(Data1,{{“2016”, “First col”}})
This is not a fool proof solution, as when we change parameter to 2017, there won’t be a 2016 column in that new table.
So, instead, we can ask PQ to rename first column of the table.
You can do this by:
- Note: You need “Formula Bar”. Enable “Formula Bar” by clicking View > Formula bar. This way you can actually see all the M code PQ is cranking up whenever you perform some actions on your data.
- Click on fx button on the formula bar to insert a step. Simply type = Table.RenameColumns(Data1,{{Table.ColumnNames(Data1){0}, “First col”}})
- Press Enter
- Bingo, you have renamed the first column of your query to “First col”. This has no reference to 2016 or any year, so it should work on any table you fetch from that weather data page.
Cleaning the weather data – steps
Just follow these steps to clean the weather data.
- Add a custom column called Month and write this formula = if Text.Length([First col]) > 2 then [First col] else null
- Select Month column and Fill Down (Transform > Fill >Down)
- Select First col and change its type to whole number. This will make all month names as Error
- Remove errors from First col (Right click on column header and choose Remove Errors)
- Add a custom column called Date with the formula = Text.From([First col])&”-“&[Month]&”-“&Year
- Change this column to date type.
- Keep only Temp. (°C)2, Wind (km/h), Wind (km/h)2, Wind (km/h)3, Events, Date columns and remove all other
- Rename first four columns to Avg. Temp, Wind Max, Avg. Wind, Wind Gust
At this stage we have one year of wind and temperature data for Wellington. Time to create getWeatherData() function.
Making getWeatherData function in Power Query
Now that we have a parameterized query, just right click on the query and choose “Convert to Function”
PQ will build the function that can take year as input and return a table of weather data for that year (provided Wunderground.com co-operates)
Now, we just need to run this function three times, once each for 2016, 2017 and 2018 to get all the data.
Go back to Excel
Save your queries, but don’t load them yet. If PQ prompts about data load, select “Connection only” and jump to Excel.
- Create a table with 3 rows and type 2016, 2017 and 2018 in that. Call this table Years.
- Load this table to Power Query (Data > From Table)
- Go to Add Column > Invoke Custom Function and invoke getWeatherData function for each year.
- Expand the weather data tables.
- Done!
At this stage, we have data for all 3 years. You can add some data clean up steps if you want. But all the wind & temperature data is here for us to analyze and visualize.
Download Example Workbook
Click here to download the Wellington Wind workbook. As you can see, I have added few more steps in PQ to clean up the data and include a “Is it windy?” conditional column.
Please note that this workbook is designed in Excel 2016. It may not work in older versions of Power Query. You can replicate most of the steps. Try doing it so that you will learn more about Power Query.
In the next part – Wind in Wellington – few visualizations
In the next part of this tutorial, we will build some visualizations to understand how windy Wellington gets and what is the best time to enjoy the beautiful outdoors.
Stay tuned.
How are you using Power Query? Please post about your power query escapades in the comments section. Also tell me how you went about re-creating the steps in this tutorial. I am all ears.
Why there are no undercover cops in Wellington? Their cover was always getting blown. That is why.
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