PIVOT TABLE CREATION:

Set up your data in Excel so it is in a format that you can use for a pivot table.

Create a pivot table with that data Change the pivot table report to reflect different views on the same data.

The data we'll work with in this example is an Excel table that has two months of daily sales data for a team of four sales people, broken down by product. The first few rows are shown below:

In fact, this spreadsheet extends down for 688 rows of sales data, for all of January and February. So while you might look at the data in the table above and think "I could summarise that quickly by hand or with a few clever formulas", the likelihood is that it would all get too much - and would certainly take too long to do by hand. That's where pivot tables are by far the best solution - you'll be able to convert this data in under a minute,

and be able to get different summaries with a few clicks of the mouse. Getting started with Pivot Tables - make sure your data is ready There are some important rules you need to follow if you want to create a pivot table from your data:

You need to have a your data organised in columns with headings. These headings will be used when you create the pivot table, and things will get very confusing without headings.

Make sure there are no empty columns or rows in your data. Excel is good at sensing the start and end of a data table by looking for empty rows and columns at which point it stops.
o

A quick tip to check if your data is formatted in one contiguous range (a fancy term way of saying "one block of data") is to click a single cell in the table then press SHIFT+* (or CTRL+SHIFT+8). This

automatically selects the whole table. You'll then see

if you have any problems with the layout of your table.

o

Note that empty cells are OK. What isn't OK is a whole row or a whole column of empty cells.

Consistent data in all cells.

o

If you have a date column, make sure all the values in that column are dates (or blank).

If you have a quantity column, make sure all the values are numbers (or blank) and not words.

At this point, if everything is looking OK, you're ready to move on to the next step. Create a blank Pivot Table To start your pivot table, follow these steps:

Click on a cell in the data table. Any cell will do, provided your data meets the rules outlined above. In fact, at this point it's all or nothing - select the whole table or just one cell in the table. Don't select a few cells, because Excel may think you are trying to create a pivot table from just those cells.

Click on the Insert menu and click the PivotTable button:

The

following

dialog

box

will

appear:

Note that the Table/Range value will automatically reflect the data in your table (you can click in the field to change the Table/Range value if Excel guessed wrong).

Alternatively, you can choose an external data source such as a database (we'll cover that another day!)

Also notice that you can choose where the new PivotTable should go. By default, Excel will suggest a New

Worksheet, which I think is the best choice unless you already know you want it on an existing worksheet.
o

Be warned that if your data changes a lot, or you find yourself changing the Pivot Table layout a lot, then refreshing the data in your Pivot Table can result in the Pivot Table changing shape and covering a larger area. If you have data or formulas in that area, they'll disappear. Therefore, putting a Pivot Table on the same page as data or other information can cause you real headaches later on, and thats' why New Worksheet is the recommended option.

Once you've completed your selections, click OK. Assuming you chose the New Worksheet option, Excel will create a new worksheet in the current workbook, and place the blank PivotTable in the worksheet for you. You are now ready to design your Pivot Table. Designing your PivotTable layout.

When you switch to the worksheet with your new Pivot Table, you'll notice three separate elements of the Pivot

Table on the screen, starting with the PivotTable report itself:

Then you'll see the Pivot Table Field List and under that the field layout area. Note that it should show the column

headings

from

your

data

table.

To create the layout, you need to first select the fields you want in your table, and then place them in the correct location.
o

You can check the boxes for the fields you want to include, and Excel will guess which area each field should be placed in. However, the Pivot Table is recalculated each time you check one of the boxes which can slow you down, especially if Excel places a field in the wrong place.

Therefore, I recommend you drag and drop each field to the area you want it to be.

As an example, here are the Field List and the Field Layout area above with the fields in place to show a report with:
o

Each day down the left, with each sales person listed separately for each day

o o

Items shown across the top. The total quantity of items sold for each cell in the Pivot Table.

Here

is

how

to

layout

this

report:

The

report

that

this

generates

looks

like

this:

Notice how the Pivot Table has automatically created a list of the sales people for each day covered in the source data.

VLOOK UP

VLOOKUP Example Note: Refer to the image above for more information on this example. The syntax of the VLOOKUP function is covered in detail on page two. =VLOOKUP("Widget",D4:E9,2,False)

"Widget" - this VLOOKUP function is looking for the price of Widgets. D4 : E9 - it is looking for this information in the data table located in cells D4 to E9. 2- VLOOKUP is looking for the price in the second column of the table. False - indicates that only an exact match to the lookup _value "Widget" will be accepted.

The VLOOKUP function returns the results of its search - $14.76 - in cell D1.

Run Code from a Module

As a beginner to Excel VBA, you might find it difficult to decide where to put your VBA code. The Create a Macro chapter illustrates how to run code by clicking on a command button. This example teaches you how to run code from a module.

1. Open the Visual Basic Editor. 2. Click Insert, Module.

3. Create a procedure (macro) called Cyan.

Sub Cyan()

End Sub

4. The sub changes the background color of your worksheet to cyan. To achieve this, add the following code line.
Cells.Interior.ColorIndex = 28

Note: instead of ColorIndex number 28 (cyan), you can use any ColorIndex number. To run the procedure, execute the following steps. 5. Click Macros.

6. Select Cyan and click Run.

Result:

Note: code placed into a module is available to the whole workbook. That means, you can select Sheet2 or Sheet3 and change the background color of these sheets as well. The Add a Macro to the Toolbar program illustrates how to make a macro available to all your workbooks (Excel files). Remember, code placed on a sheet (assigned to a command button) is only available for that particular sheet.

Create a Macro
Developer Tab

To turn on the Developter tab, execute the following steps. 1. Right click anywhere on the ribbon, and then click Customize the Ribbon.

2. Under Customize the Ribbon, on the right side of the dialog box, select Main tabs (if necessary). 3. Check the Developer check box.

4. Click OK. 5. You can find the Developer tab next to the View tab.

Command Button

To place a command button on your worksheet, execute the following steps. 1. On the Developer tab, click Insert. 2. In the ActiveX Controls group, click Command Button.

3. Drag a command button on your worksheet.

Assign a Macro

To assign a macro (one or more code lines) to the command button, execute the following steps. 1. Right click CommandButton1 (make sure Design Mode is selected). 2. Click View Code.

The Visual Basic Editor appears. 3. Place your cursor between Private Sub CommandButton1_Click() and End Sub. 4. Add the code line shown below.

Note: the window on the left with the names Sheet1, Sheet2 and Sheet3 is called the Project Explorer. If the Project Explorer is not visible, click View, Project Explorer. To add the Code window for the first sheet, click Sheet1 (Sheet1). 5. Close the Visual Basic Editor. 6. Click the command button on the sheet (make sure Design Mode is deselected). Result:

Congratulations. You've just created a macro in Excel!

Visual Basic Editor

To open the Visual Basic Editor, on the Developer tab, click Visual Basic.

The Visual Basic Editor appears.

Macro Recorder
The Macro Recorder, a very useful tool included in Excel VBA, records every task you perform with Excel. All you have to do is record a specific task once. Next, you can execute the task over and over with the click of a button. The Macro Recorder is also a great help when you don't know how to program a specific task in Excel VBA. Simply open the Visual Basic Editor after recording the task to see how it can be programmed. Unfortunately, there are a lot of things you cannot do with the Macro Recorder. For example, you cannot loop through a range of data with the Macro Recorder. Moreover, the Macro Recorder uses a lot more code than is required, which can slow your process down.

Record a Macro

1. On the Developer tab, click Record Macro.

2. Enter a name. 3. Select This Workbook from the drop-down list. As a result, the macro will only be available in the current workbook.

Note: if you store your macro in Personal Macro Workbook, the macro will be available to all your workbooks (Excel files). This is possible because Excel stores your macro in a hidden workbook that opens automatically when Excel starts. If you store your macro in New Workbook, the macro will only be available in an automatically new opened workbook. 4. Click OK.

5. Right mouse click on the active cell (selected cell). Be sure not to select any other cell! Next, click Format Cells.

6. Select Percentage.

7. Click OK. 8. Finally, click Stop Recording.

Congratulations. You've just recorded a macro with the Macro Recorder!

Run a Recorded Macro

Now we'll test the macro to see if it can change the number format to Percentage. 1. Enter some numbers between 0 and 1. 2. Select the numbers.

3. On the Developer tab, click Macros.

4. Click Run.

Result:

See the Macro

To take a look at the macro, open the Visual Basic Editor.

Note: the macro has been placed into a module called Module1. Code placed into a module is available to the whole workbook. That means, you can select Sheet2 or Sheet3 and change the number format of cells on these sheets as well. Remember, code placed on a sheet (assigned to a command button) is only available for that particular sheet.

Swap Values
This example teaches you how to swap two values in Excel VBA. You will often need this structure in more complicated programs as we will see later.

Situation: Two values on your worksheet.

Place a command button on your worksheet and add the following code lines:

1. First, we declare a variable called temp of type Double.

Dim temp As Double

2. We initialize the variable temp with the value of cell A1.

temp = Range("A1").Value

3. Now we can safely write the value of cell B1 to cell A1 (we have stored the value of cell A1 to temp so we will not lose it).
Range("A1").Value = Range("B1").Value

4. Finally, we write the value of cell A1 (written to temp) to cell B1.

Range("B1").Value = temp

5. Click the command button two times. Result: