STUDENT MANUAL

Microsoft® Office
Excel® 2016:
Part 2

™
 Microsoft® Office
Excel® 2016: Part 2
Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2
Part Number: 091056
Course Edition: 1.1

Acknowledgements
PROJECT TEAM

Author Media Designer Content Editor

William Kelly Brian Sullivan Michelle Farney

Logical Operations wishes to thank the Logical Operations Instructor Community, and in particular Mickey Curry, Dawn Hunter,
Gary Leenhouts, Carol Marion, and Elizabeth Robinson, for their instructional and technical expertise during the creation of this
course.

Notices
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Microsoft® Office Excel®
2016: Part 2

Lesson 1: Working with Functions................................... 1

Topic A: Work with Ranges............................................................. 2
Topic B: Use Specialized Functions............................................... 14
Topic C: Work with Logical Functions........................................... 20
Topic D: Work with Date & Time Functions................................... 32
Topic E: Work with Text Functions................................................ 38

Lesson 2: Working with Lists.........................................47

Topic A: Sort Data........................................................................ 48
Topic B: Filter Data....................................................................... 57
Topic C: Query Data with Database Functions...............................66
Topic D: Outline and Subtotal Data...............................................71

Lesson 3: Analyzing Data..............................................79

Topic A: Create and Modify Tables............................................... 80
Topic B: Apply Intermediate Conditional Formatting..................... 92
Topic C: Apply Advanced Conditional Formatting......................... 99

Lesson 4: Visualizing Data with Charts....................... 109

Topic A: Create Charts............................................................... 110
| Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 |

Topic B: Modify and Format Charts....................................................... 119

Topic C: Use Advanced Chart Features..................................................130

Lesson 5: Using PivotTables and PivotCharts...................... 143

Topic A: Create a PivotTable................................................................. 144
Topic B: Analyze PivotTable Data.......................................................... 157
Topic C: Present Data with PivotCharts................................................. 167
Topic D: Filter Data by Using Timelines and Slicers...............................174

Appendix A: Microsoft Office Excel 2016 Exam 77-727...................... 185

Appendix B: Microsoft Office Excel 2016 Expert Exam 77–728............189

Appendix C: Microsoft Excel 2016 Common Keyboard Shortcuts........ 193

Appendix D: Financial Functions......................................................... 195

Appendix E: Working with Graphical Objects.......................................201

Topic A: Insert Graphical Objects..........................................................202
Topic B: Modify Graphical Objects........................................................ 207
Topic C: Work with SmartArt.................................................................213

Appendix F: Using Array Formulas...................................................... 219

Topic A: Use Array Formulas................................................................ 220

Mastery Builders................................................................................. 231

Glossary............................................................................................. 237
Index.................................................................................................. 241
About This Course

Whether you need to crunch numbers for sales, inventory, information technology, human
resources, or other organizational purposes and departments, the ability to get the right
information to the right people at the right time can create a powerful competitive
advantage. After all, the world runs on data more than ever before and that's a trend not
likely to change, or even slow down, any time soon. But with so much data available and
being created on a nearly constant basis, the ability to make sense of that data becomes
more critical and challenging with every passing day. You already know how to get Excel to
perform simple calculations and how to modify your workbooks and worksheets to make
them easier to read, interpret, and present to others. But, Excel is capable of doing so much
more. To gain a truly competitive edge, you need to be able to extract actionable
organizational intelligence from your raw data. In other words, when you have questions
about your data, you need to know how to get Excel to provide the answers for you. And
that's exactly what this course aims to help you do.
This course builds upon the foundational knowledge presented in the Microsoft® Office Excel®
2016: Part 1 course and will help start you down the road to creating advanced workbooks
and worksheets that can help deepen your understanding of organizational intelligence. The
ability to analyze massive amounts of data, extract actionable information from it, and
present that information to decision makers is at the foundation of a successful organization
that is able to compete at a high level.
This course covers Microsoft Office Specialist exam objectives to help students prepare for
the Excel 2016 Exam and the Excel 2016 Expert Exam.

Course Description
Target Student
This course is designed for students who already have foundational knowledge and skills in
Excel 2016 and who wish to begin taking advantage of some of the higher-level
functionality in Excel to analyze and present data.

Course Prerequisites
To ensure success, students should have completed Logical Operations’ Microsoft® Office
Excel® 2016: Part 1 or have the equivalent knowledge and experience.

Course Objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to leverage the power of data
analysis and presentation in order to make informed, intelligent organizational decisions.
You will:
• Work with functions.
| Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 |

• Work with lists.

• Analyze data.
• Visualize data with charts.
• Use PivotTables and PivotCharts.

The CHOICE Home Screen

Logon and access information for your CHOICE environment will be provided with your class
experience. The CHOICE platform is your entry point to the CHOICE learning experience, of
which this course manual is only one part.
On the CHOICE Home screen, you can access the CHOICE Course screens for your specific
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Each CHOICE Course screen will give you access to the following resources:
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Visit your CHOICE Home screen often to connect, communicate, and extend your learning
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How to Use This Book

As You Learn
This book is divided into lessons and topics, covering a subject or a set of related subjects. In most
cases, lessons are arranged in order of increasing proficiency.
The results-oriented topics include relevant and supporting information you need to master the
content. Each topic has various types of activities designed to enable you to solidify your
understanding of the informational material presented in the course. Information is provided for
reference and reflection to facilitate understanding and practice.
Data files for various activities as well as other supporting files for the course are available by
download from the CHOICE Course screen. In addition to sample data for the course exercises, the
course files may contain media components to enhance your learning and additional reference
materials for use both during and after the course.

| About This Course |

 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 |

Checklists of procedures and guidelines can be used during class and as after-class references when
you're back on the job and need to refresh your understanding.
At the back of the book, you will find a glossary of the definitions of the terms and concepts used
throughout the course. You will also find an index to assist in locating information within the
instructional components of the book.

As You Review
Any method of instruction is only as effective as the time and effort you, the student, are willing to
invest in it. In addition, some of the information that you learn in class may not be important to you
immediately, but it may become important later. For this reason, we encourage you to spend some
time reviewing the content of the course after your time in the classroom.

As a Reference
The organization and layout of this book make it an easy-to-use resource for future reference.
Taking advantage of the glossary, index, and table of contents, you can use this book as a first
source of definitions, background information, and summaries.

Course Icons
Watch throughout the material for the following visual cues.

Icon Description

A Note provides additional information, guidance, or hints about a topic or task.

A Caution note makes you aware of places where you need to be particularly careful
with your actions, settings, or decisions so that you can be sure to get the desired
results of an activity or task.
LearnTO notes show you where an associated LearnTO is particularly relevant to
the content. Access LearnTOs from your CHOICE Course screen.
Checklists provide job aids you can use after class as a reference to perform skills
back on the job. Access checklists from your CHOICE Course screen.
Social notes remind you to check your CHOICE Course screen for opportunities to
interact with the CHOICE community using social media.

| About This Course |

1 Working with Functions
Lesson Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Lesson Objectives
In this lesson, you will work with functions. You will:
• Use range names in formulas.
• Learn function syntax.
• Analyze data with logical functions.
• Work with data & time functions.
• Work with text functions.

Lesson Introduction
You already know how to get Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016 to perform simple
calculations to make your job easier. However, manually entering formulas will take you
only so far. The most commonly used functions in Excel may not be enough to handle
complex data analysis needs. As you progress with Excel, and as you are called upon to
provide a deeper understanding of your organization's data to decision makers, you'll need
to know how to ask Excel more complex questions about your data and to get the answers
you expect.
Of course, the more complex your data analysis tasks are, the more complexity you're likely
to need in your formulas and functions. This means that you'll need to know how to "talk"
to Excel at a higher level to get the most out of your data. As with mathematics in general,
and all forms of computer programming, understating the language Excel speaks is the key
to having productive conversations with Excel and getting the answers you need.
2 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

TOPIC A
Work with Ranges
Working with formulas and functions that calculate results from cells within one worksheet can be
difficult enough; working with multiple worksheets and workbooks can seem downright impossible.
To make it easier for you and others that utilize the work you do, Excel 2016 enables you to name
ranges for use in functions and formulas. This provides a way for you to read a formula or function
more naturally because these names are often based on existing titles used in the worksheet. In
addition, with very large worksheets, navigation can take some time and cell and range names give
you a way to navigate the worksheet much faster.

Cell and Range Names

Cell and Range Names Cell names and range names are exactly what they sound like. They are meaningful names you assign to
a given cell or range to make it easier to both understand what calculations are being performed in a
formula and to reuse the references for a number of purposes. Take a look at the following image,
which shows two versions of the same formula: one using cell references and one using names.

Figure 1-1: The same formula using cell references and names.

Now, imagine that you open this workbook months, or even years, after you created it. At first
glance, which formula is easier to interpret? And, if you share this workbook with a colleague, which
would make it clearer to the workbook recipient what he or she is looking at? It's pretty clear how
powerful a feature this is.
Note: Cell and range references aren't the only items you can name in Excel. You can name
other objects, such as tables and even formulas themselves. Collectively, the names you assign to
all of these items are known as defined names.

In short, cell and range names are concise, descriptive names you can assign to cells or ranges for
the purpose of making formulas easier to read and maintain. You can assign a name to both
contiguous ranges and noncontiguous ranges. Names refer to absolute references by default, but you
can change those to relative references to facilitate the reuse of formulas.
Note: It may be a good idea to indicate in a name whether the reference is absolute or relative,
as the name will be displayed precisely as you created it, regardless of which type of reference it
contains.

Although you can come up with an incredible array of different names, there are some rules you
must follow:
• Names must begin with a letter, an underscore, or a backslash.
• After the first character, names can contain letters, numbers, periods, and underscores.
• Names cannot contain spaces.
• Names cannot be the same as a cell or a range reference. For example, you cannot use A1 as a
name.

Lesson 1: Working with Functions | Topic A

 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 3

• Names have a defined scope, either to a worksheet or a workbook, and must be unique within
that scope.
• Names can contain up to 255 total characters.
• Excel does not recognize casing differences for names. So, within the same scope, you cannot,
for example, create both SalesTotals and salestotals as names.
• You can use a single letter as a name, but you cannot use either C or R, either uppercase or
lowercase, as these are used as shorthand for selecting an entire row or an entire column in other
Excel features.

Names and the Name Box

There are several methods you can use to create names in Excel 2016. The most direct of these is to Names and the Name
use the Name Box. To name a cell or a range, you can simply select the desired cell or range and Box
then type the desired name in the Name Box. Once you've created named cells and ranges, you can
access those cells and ranges from the Name Box drop-down menu. This is a quick way to select a
cell or range that you've already named. Additionally, if you manually select a named cell or range on
a worksheet, the name, not the cell reference, appears in the Name Box. Names created in the
Name Box, by default, have "Workbook" as their scope.

Figure 1-2: Named ranges in the Name Box.

The New Name Dialog Box

You can also name cells or ranges by using the New Name dialog box. The advantage here is that The New Name Dialog
you have greater control over configuring precisely what the name refers to. You can access the Box
New Name dialog box by selecting Formulas→Defined Names→Define Name.

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4 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

Figure 1-3: The New Name dialog box gives you greater control over naming cells and ranges.

The following table describes the various elements of the New Name dialog box.

New Name Dialog Box Enables You To

Element

Name field Enter a name for the cell or range.

Scope drop-down menu Assign a scope to the name. This can be either the entire workbook
or a particular worksheet. You cannot create two identical names
within the same scope. You can, however, create identical names for
both a worksheet and the workbook containing that worksheet. On
the worksheet, the name that has the worksheet as its scope will take
precedence. On all other worksheets, the name that has the
workbook as its scope will take precedence.
Comment field Enter a brief description of the named cell or range to help clarify its
purpose.
Refers to field View or edit the name's reference. Whatever cell or range is selected
when you open the New Name dialog box will be displayed as an
absolute reference in the Refers to field by default.

The Create from Selection Command

The Create from Another method you can use to name ranges is the Create from Selection command. This
Selection Command command enables you to quickly and easily create a single range name or multiple range names at
once, based on the range you currently have selected. The Create from Selection command does
not work for naming individual cells. By default, named ranges you create by using this command
have "Workbook" as their scope.
When you select a range and then select the Create from Selection command, Excel opens the
Create Names from Selection dialog box, which enables you to select the cells from which Excel
will create the names. This feature works best for ranges with clearly defined content types and
appropriately labeled rows and columns. You may get unexpected results or error messages if labels
don't align with Excel's naming conventions. If you use the Create from Selection command when
a range in a single row or column is selected, Excel will create a single named range. If a range that
covers multiple rows and columns is selected, Excel will create a series of named ranges based on
the cell selection and the option you check in the Create Names from Selection dialog box. The
cells from which Excel creates the names are not included in the range reference for the named
ranges. The Create from Selection command is available in the Defined Names group on the

Lesson 1: Working with Functions | Topic A

 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 5

Formulas tab. You can also use the Ctrl+Shift+F3 keyboard shortcut to open the Create Names
from Selection dialog box.

Figure 1-4: Use the Create from Selection command to quickly create multiple named ranges.

The Name Manager Dialog Box

As most workbooks are dynamic, changing documents, it stands to reason that you will likely have The Name Manager
to edit named cells and ranges from time to time. For example, if you need to add rows to a range of Dialog Box
data, you will likely want your named ranges to include the new rows. As such, Excel 2016 includes
the Name Manager dialog box, a tool you can use to view and manage all of the named objects in
your workbooks. From here, you can rename, edit, and delete existing defined names, and access the
New Name dialog box to create new named cells or ranges. You cannot, however, change the
scope of an existing cell or range name by using the Name Manager dialog box. To do this, you
can delete the existing name and create a new one with the desired scope. The Name Manager
dialog box also displays a Filter command, which you can use to filter the display of existing names.
Use the Filter command, for example, to view only those names that have the entire workbook as
their scope, names that have a particular worksheet as their scope, or names containing errors. You
can access the Name Manager dialog box by selecting Formulas→Defined Names→Name
Manager.

Lesson 1: Working with Functions | Topic A

6 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

Figure 1-5: The Name Manager dialog box.

Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and
job aids on How to Name and Edit Ranges.

Lesson 1: Working with Functions | Topic A

 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 7

ACTIVITY 1-1
Naming and Editing Ranges

Data File
C:\091056Data\Working with Functions\Current Projects.xlsx

Before You Begin

You are on the Windows 10 desktop.

Scenario
You are a Regional Sales Manager at Develetech Industries, a manufacturer of home electronics
based in the fictitious city and state of Greene City, Richland (RL). Develetech is known as an
innovative designer and producer of high-end televisions, video game consoles, laptop and tablet
computers, and mobile phones. Develetech is a mid-sized company, employing approximately 2,000
residents of Greene City and the surrounding area. Develetech also contracts with a number of
offshore organizations for manufacturing and supply-chain support. You have been asked to total
regional data by quarter. To help yourself and others quickly identify the data being totaled, you
decide to use range names in order to create the totals for each region and quarter.
Inform students that they
Note: Activities may vary slightly if the software vendor has issued digital updates. Your will be using the same
instructor will notify you of any changes. workbook for multiple
activities. This is done to
consolidate the number
of data files students
1. Open Excel and the Current Projects.xlsx workbook. would have to open for
a) Open Excel 2016. each activity.
b) From the Start screen, select Open Other Workbooks. Notify students of any
c) Select Browse. changes to activities
d) Navigate to C:\091056Data\Working with Functions and open the file Current Projects.xlsx. based on digital software
updates issued by the
2. Use the New Name dialog box to create a named range in the Quarter 1 column. software vendor.
a) Verify that you are on the Region worksheet.
b) Select cell B4 and then press Ctrl+Shift+Down Arrow to select the entire range in column B.
c) Select Formulas→Defined Names→Define Name. Let students know that
d) In the New Name dialog box, in the Name field, verify Quarter_1 is listed. Ctrl+Shift+Down Arrow
e) From the Scope drop-down menu, ensure that Workbook is selected. is the keyboard shortcut
for selecting all
f) Ensure that the Refers to field displays the following range reference: =Region!$B$4:$B$7 and contiguously populated
select OK. cells below the selected
g) Select Close. cell or range.
This is a good
3. Use the Name Box to create a named range in the Quarter 2 column. opportunity to quiz the
a) Select cell C4:C7 and select the Name Box, type Quarter_2 and press Enter. class to see if they know
what the significance of
the text "Region!" is
before the range
reference. The answer:
It is the worksheet
reference for the range.

Lesson 1: Working with Functions | Topic A

8 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

b) Verify the new range name for Quarter_2 is listed in the Name Box.

4. Use the Create from Selection command to create a named range in the Quarter 3 and Quarter 4
columns.
In step 4a, ensure that a) Select the range D3:E7 and then select Formulas→Defined Names→Create from Selection.
students select the b) In the Create Names from Selection dialog box, ensure that the Top row check box is checked and
range D3:E7, including then select OK.
the headings for Quarter
c) Select the Name Box drop-down arrow and verify that the two additional named ranges exist,
3 and Quarter 4.
confirming that the names appear as expected.

5. Use the Create from Selection command to create named ranges for the Region rows simultaneously.
a) Select the range A4:E7.
b) Select Formulas→Defined Names→Create from Selection.
c) In the Create Names from Selection dialog box, ensure that the Left column check box is checked
and then select OK.
d) Verify that Excel created four unique named ranges for the Region rows.

Lesson 1: Working with Functions | Topic A

 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 9

6. Navigate to a range and verify the correct total.

a) From the Name Box drop-down list, select South.

Note: You may also use the Go To dialog box to navigate to ranges by
pressing F5.
b) Verify that Excel selected the quarterly values for the range South in B5:E5.
c) With this range selected, note the Total for the range in cell F5 and verify that the same total
appears on the Status Bar for the Sum function.

7. Edit the range names for the quarterly columns to make them a bit shorter.
a) Select Formulas→Defined Names→Name Manager. In steps 6c-6e, ensure
b) In the Name Manager dialog box, select the Quarter_1 named range and then select Edit. that students use an
underscore character as
c) In the Edit Name dialog box, in the Name field, type Qtr_1 and then select OK.
there are cells for
d) Change the named range Quarter_2 to Qtr_2. QTR1:QTR4.
e) Edit the Quarter_3 and Quarter_4 named ranges to Qtr_3 and Qtr_4 respectively.
f) Close the Name Manager dialog box.
g) Examine the Name Box and verify that the names have changed as expected.

8. Save the workbook to the C:\091056Data\Working with Functions folder as My Current Projects.xlsx

Cell and Range Names in Formulas

Although it's certainly helpful to be able to name a range or a cell for easy navigation, the real power Cell and Range Names
of this feature lies in the ability to easily identify references in formulas and to quickly and accurately in Formulas

Lesson 1: Working with Functions | Topic A

10 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

insert references into multiple formulas. Once you've defined a name, you can simply use the name
in place of a standard cell or range reference in any formula or function.

Figure 1-6: Named cells and ranges make it easy to identify the purpose of formulas and to enter
cell and range references accurately.

As with many of the features and functions in Office applications, Excel provides several ways to
perform a task. In Excel, inserting cell and range names in formulas and functions is one such task.
The most common, though certainly not the only, methods for entering cell and range names are
manually typing the name in a formula or function, using the Use in Formula command, and using
the Formula AutoComplete feature. Let's look at each of these in some detail.

Manually Entering Cell or Range Names

The most direct method for including cell or range names instead of references in formulas or
functions is to simply type them. Wherever you would normally enter a cell or range reference, you
can type a defined name instead. The formula will reference the cell or range by name just as it
would if you typed the cell or range reference, and your calculation results will be the same.
Note: It is important to note that you can still type the cell or range references for a named cell
or range in a formula, and they will still appear as cell or range references.

You can also manually select a cell or range that you've applied a name to directly on a worksheet to
enter it into a formula just as you would with any unnamed range or cell. When you do this, Excel
automatically displays the name, not the reference, though.

The Use in Formula Command Method

The Use in Formula Excel 2016 includes a ribbon command you can use to insert cell and range names into formulas
Command Method and functions: the Use in Formula command. As with manually typing a cell or a range name, you
can use this method anywhere you would normally enter a range or cell reference in a formula.
Instead of typing the name, you simply select the Use in Formula command, and then select the
desired defined name from the drop-down menu. You can access the Use in Formula command by
selecting Formulas→Defined Names→Use in Formula.

Figure 1-7: The Use in Formula command displays all valid defined names for use in formulas
and functions.

From the Use in Formula drop-down menu, you can also select Paste Names, which opens the
Paste Name dialog box. This provides you with yet another option for selecting a named cell or
range. The added benefit here is that there is a keyboard shortcut, F3, that you can use to quickly
open the Paste Name dialog box.

Lesson 1: Working with Functions | Topic A

 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 11

The Formula AutoComplete Method

You already know the Formula AutoComplete feature can help you enter functions into worksheet The Formula
cells without having to type the full function name. Well, the Formula AutoComplete feature can AutoComplete Method
also help you enter range and cell names into formulas and functions, and it works in the exact same
way. As you type a formula or a function into a cell, whether directly into the cell or by using the
Formula Bar, and you begin to type a cell or range name, the Formula AutoComplete feature
automatically opens the same pop-up menu that appears when you type a function name. You can
select any valid named cells or ranges from the pop-up menu to enter into the formula or function.
The pop-up menu automatically filters the available defined names just as it would Excel functions.
You can differentiate between functions and defined names in the Formula AutoComplete feature
by viewing the icon next to each option. Functions will display the Insert Function icon,
whereas defined names will display an icon that looks like a paper tag. Once you've entered the
cell or range name, you simply continue entering the rest of the formula or function as you normally
would.

Figure 1-8: Adding a range name by using the Formula AutoComplete feature.

Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and
job aids on How to Use Defined Names in Formulas and Functions.

Lesson 1: Working with Functions | Topic A

12 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

ACTIVITY 1-2
Using Defined Names in a Formula

Before You Begin

The My Current Projects.xlsx workbook is open.

Scenario
Now that you have created named ranges for the various columns, you will use them to enter
functions to provide your supervisor with the total sales by representative for the first quarter. This
makes it easier for any person reviewing your work to identify where the values originate in the
worksheet.

1. Use an existing range in a function.

a) Verify that you are on the Region worksheet and select cell F4 and type =SUM(
b) Select Formulas→Defined Names→Use in Formula→North.
c) Type ) and press Enter to complete the function.
d) Verify that the total for the North region is entered.

2. Enter a range name with the Formula AutoComplete method.

a) Select cell F5, if necessary.
b) Type =SUM(so
c) From the Formula AutoComplete pop-up menu, double-click South or press Tab.

d) Type ) and press Enter to complete the function.

3. Replace cell references with range names.

a) Select the range F6:F7.
b) Select Formulas→Defined Names→Define Name drop-down arrow→Apply Names.
c) Make sure that only East and Wast are selected and select OK.

Note: The Apply Names dialog box has a built-in sticky function. This means
that more than one range name may be selected. Simply deselect any range
name not needed, or select all ranges and allow Excel to choose the correct
range name.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 13

d) Verify that the range names East and West are applied to cells F6 and F7, respectively.

4. Save the workbook and keep the file open.

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14 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

TOPIC B
Use Specialized Functions
You are already familiar with the most basic functions and formulas in Excel. You're also likely
aware that there are far more complex tasks you can perform in Excel beyond adding up rows and
columns and multiplying the sum by some other figure. To that end, you will need to use specialized
functions to perform advanced calculations.
Excel contains a large set of built-in functions in several categories that will allow you to go beyond
basic mathematics and perform operations on specialized types of data such as text, dates, and
times. In this topic, you will learn the syntax of specialized functions to perform calculations on a
variety of worksheet data.

Function Categories
Remind students that You will find every built-in Excel function in the Function Library group on the Formulas tab.
they can explore all Here, the vast collection of available functions is organized into task-related categories. There are 13
function categories in standard categories of included functions, and this can be expanded by installing certain Excel add-
the Function Library and ins.
through Insert Function.
Note: You have to access several of these categories via the More Functions drop-down menu
in the Function Library group, as well as by selecting the Insert Function command.

The Excel Function Reference

The Excel Function While it is certainly advantageous to be familiar with the purpose and syntax of functions you
Reference regularly work with, you will likely run into situations in which you need to use functions you are
unfamiliar with or in which you need to identify which function serves a given purpose. In these
cases, you'll want a fast, easy way to look up such information. Fortunately, Excel 2016 provides you
with a powerful resource to do so: the Excel function reference. The function reference is not a separate,
discrete tool; it is a Help resource available online. The function reference is basically a Help article
that lists all Excel functions by category and describes each in detail. Each function's entry includes a
general description of the function's task, any special considerations you should keep in mind
regarding its use, a description of the function's syntax and arguments, and examples of the function
in use. You can access the function reference by searching for Excel functions by category using
either the Tell me field on the ribbon or the Search field in the Excel 2016 Help window. The
Excel 2016 Help window is accessible by selecting the File tab and selecting the Microsoft Excel
Help button on the right side of the Title bar or by pressing F1.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 15

Figure 1-9: Use the Excel function reference to examine any function in detail.

Note: The Insert Function dialog box also provides some assistance for identifying the correct
function to use for particular tasks, although it is much less detailed than what is available in the
function reference. Because of this, you may find it helpful to use the Insert Function dialog
box to identify the correct function and then look up that function in the function reference to
see detailed information about it.

Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and
job aids on How to Locate Functions by Using the Excel Function Reference.

Comparison Operator Basics

Before examining the syntax of more Excel functions, there is a group of operators you may not yet Inform the students that
be familiar with in terms of Excel: comparison operators. You might, however, remember these as you will be covering
the mathematical symbols that indicate conditions such as one figure being greater than or less than comparison operators in
another. As you advance in your understanding of Excel functions, you will find that these greater detail in the topic
comparison operators form the basis for using many of Excel's functions and take advantage of on using text and logical
functions. This
many of its features. For now, it will be enough to simply understand what these comparison
introduction is just
operators mean. The following table briefly describes what each of the operators means in Excel enough for the students
functions. to be able to understand
using functions such as
Comparison Operator Meaning SUMIF and
AVERAGEIF.
= Equal to
< Less than

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16 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

Comparison Operator Meaning

> Greater than
<= Less than or equal to
>= Greater than or equal to
<> Not equal to

Function Syntax
Function Syntax By now, you have likely familiarized yourself with the syntax for a number of basic Excel functions
This is a good and have had some opportunity to use them regularly. You'll remember that a function's syntax
opportunity to facilitate a defines the structure of the function and identifies the required and optional arguments you can use
discussion on the value to complete it. As you advance in your Excel proficiency, you'll want to add to your lexicon of
of some of the more familiar functions so you don't have to frequently look up functions as you develop your
specialized Excel workbooks. Here is an overview of some of the most commonly used Excel functions you may not
functions. Of key already be familiar with.
importance here is the
difference between Remember that, in Excel function syntax, arguments in bold are required and arguments within
using Excel as a simple square brackets ( [ ] ) are optional. In addition, remember that all arguments are separated by
calculator and using it as commas.
a data analysis tool.
Let students know this is The COUNTIF Function
only an introduction to
function syntax and that Syntax: =COUNTIF(range,criteria)
more functions will be Use COUNTIF, one of the statistical functions, to count the number of cells that meet a criterion.
discussed later in the For example, suppose you have a list of customers and one of the columns included the city where
course. each customer is located. With the COUNTIF function, you can count the number of times a
particular city appears in the list.

Figure 1-10: The COUNTIF function calculating the number of times Greene City appears in the
customers list.

Note: The criteria argument must be enclosed in quotation marks ( " " ) if it contains text,
mathematical operators, or comparison operators. This is common among the various functions
that contain the criteria argument.

The TODAY Function

Syntax: =TODAY()
This function enters the current date in a cell. Unlike other functions, the TODAY function does
not have any arguments. This functions result is termed volatile, which means that it changes every
time the worksheet recalculates. For example, you may need to calculate the difference between a
given date (order date, shipping date, or hire date) and today's date. Each time the workbook is
opened, the function updates to the current date, thus updating the difference between the dates.

Automatic Workbook Calculation

By default, Excel 2016 automatically recalculates the values returned by a formula or function if the
data feeding the formula or function changes. In many cases, this functionality is preferred by users.
However, in large workbooks with thousands of rows or columns of data and a large number of
interdependent formulas, automatic recalculation can take anywhere from a few seconds to more
than a minute. If you need to update multiple values in such a workbook, the automatic calculation

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functionality can actually hinder your efforts; while Excel is recalculating, you are unable to work in
your worksheets. In these cases, you may want to temporarily disable automatic workbook
calculations, revise the necessary data, and then update the workbook calculations. You can also
choose to keep automatic workbook calculations turned off and manually update calculations by
using the Calculate Now command found on the ribbon in the Calculation group of the
Formulas tab, when updates are necessary.
The following table describes Excel's calculation options.

Calculation Option Description

Automatic Recalculates all dependent formulas every time you make a change to
a value, formula, or name. This is the default calculation setting.
Automatic Except for Recalculates all dependent formulas—except data tables—every time
Data Tables you make a change to a value, formula, or name.
Manual Turns off automatic recalculation and recalculate open workbooks
only when you explicitly do so.
Calculate Now Manually recalculates all open worksheets, including data tables, and
updates all open chart sheets when Manual calculation is selected.
Calculate Sheet Manually recalculates the active worksheet and any charts and chart
sheets linked to the active worksheet.

Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and
job aids on How to Use Specialized Functions.

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18 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

ACTIVITY 1-3
Locating and Using Specialized Functions

Before You Begin

The My Current Projects.xlsx workbook is open.

Scenario
You are an HR Generalist for Develetech Industries. You have been provided with an Excel
workbook containing the hire dates of various employees. Your manager has asked you to find out
what functions to use in order to determine which employees have a tenure of over 20 years with
the company. You need to first find a function that will insert today’s date, calculate the number of
years an employee has been with the company based on that date, and count the number of
employees that meet the 20 year criteria. To count the number of employees that meet the 20 year
criteria, you will use the COUNTIF function using the Insert Function dialog box.
This activity focuses on Find out how to:
locating and using
specialized functions. • Insert today's date.
These functions will be • Count the number of employees with 20 years of service.
discussed in more detail
later in the lesson.
1. Determine which function will insert the current date.
a) Select the Employees worksheet and verify that cell B3 is selected.
b) On the ribbon, select the Tell Me search box and type "insert current date"
c) Select Get Help on "insert current date".
d) Select the Help topic, Insert the current date and time in a cell.
If necessary, direct e) Read the Help topic on inserting the current date and close the Excel 2016 Help window.
students to resize and f) In cell B3, type =TODAY() and press Enter.
expand the Excel 2016
Help window. 2. Calculate the years of service values for each employee.
a) Select cell C8.
b) Enter the formula, =($B$3-B8)/365 and press Enter.
Date Calculations c) Select cell C8 and double-click the AutoFill handle to fill in the remaining years of service through
cell C37.

Note: Remember the AutoFill handle is the black square in the bottom-right
corner of any cell or range, and when you place your mouse on it, it turns into
a black plus sign.

3. Determine the number of employees with over 20 years of service.

a) Select cell B5.
b) Select Formulas→Function Library→Insert Function.
c) Select the Or select a category drop-down arrow and select Statistical.
d) From the Select a function list box select COUNTIF and select OK.
e) In the Function Arguments dialog box, verify that your cursor is in the Range text box. Select the
range C8:C37 and then press Tab.
Verify that you are f) In the Criteria text box, type >=20 and select OK.
selecting the COUNTIF
function and not the Note: Note that Excel will enclose your criteria in double quotes.
COUNTIFS function.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 19

g) Verify that five employees have a tenure over 20 years.

Note: Because the current date changes there may be more than five
employees with a tenure over 20 years.

4. Save the workbook and keep the file open.

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TOPIC C
Work with Logical Functions
Comparing and testing values, whether numbers, text, dates, or times can be a useful tool to analyze
data. The logical functions in Excel provide a method for testing various conditions to calculate a
result of a value, text, or a calculation which enable you to ask questions of your data. In this topic,
you will analyze data with logical functions.

Logical Functions
One of the keys to data analysis is the ability to ask Excel questions about your data and get the
answers you need. Perhaps the most foundational set of tools to do this is the collection of logical
functions available in Excel. Logical functions enable you to ask questions of your data, for which
Excel can return one of two values: TRUE or FALSE. Logical functions also enable you to perform
calculations when certain conditions are met or to perform different calculations based on a variety
of criteria.
By adding simple logic decision making to your formulas and functions, you can begin to gain a
whole new perspective on the information available in your raw data. Before diving into the
operators and syntax associated with logical functions, you'll need to look at a new type of cell data:
logical values.

Logical Values
You are already familiar with the four basic types of data that can be entered into Excel cells:
numeric values, text/labels, formulas/functions, and dates and times. When working with logical
functions and comparison operators in Excel, you will encounter a new type of data: logical values.
The only values that Excel can return when you apply a logical test to your data are TRUE or
FALSE. This actually forms the basis for all logic used in computer programming and why the
binary numbering system is so critical to how computers operate. In Excel, these logical values serve
the same purpose as they do for programmers, establishing whether or not given criteria have been
met.
Logical values may look like text, but they are quite different in both appearance (for the most part)
and behavior. First, logical values are always displayed in capital letters, which distinguishes them
from standard text strings. In fact, if you enter "true," "false," "True," or "False" in a cell, Excel
automatically converts the text to logical values and displays them in uppercase letters. In order to
even be able to enter these as standalone text strings, you must format the cell for text only, or use
text functions/formulas to enter the text.
Second, logical values behave similarly to numeric values in functions and formulas, and in some
cases are treated as either a 1 or a 0. And, logical values can be used as arguments in certain
functions, as well as be returned by Excel as the result of a function performing a logical test.
Note: The IF, AND, and OR functions discussed later in this topic all perform logical tests and
can result in either TRUE or FALSE.

Comparison Operators
This section is a more Comparison Operators
complete examination of One other key component of working with logical functions that you need to examine before diving
the comparison
operators than the
into specific logical functions and their syntax is comparison operators. Comparison operators behave
Comparison Operator similarly to mathematical and reference operators in that they tell Excel which specific task to
Basics section in the perform. You use comparison operators to examine two values to see if they meet a specific logical
previous topic. condition. If the values meet the logical condition, the operation returns a logical value of TRUE; if

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 21

the values do not meet the logical condition, the operation returns a logical value of FALSE. For
example, say you have the value 10 in cell A1, and the value in B1 is 15. If you use comparison
operators to ask Excel if the value in cell A1 is greater than the value in cell B1, Excel would return
the logical value FALSE.
The following table describes the syntax and purpose of the comparison operators in Excel.

Name Comparison This Comparison Operator Determines Whether or Not

Operator

Equal to = The specified values are the same.

Greater than > The first value is greater than the second value.
Less than < The first value is less than the second value.
Greater than or equal >= The first value is greater than or equal to the second
to value.
Less than or equal to <= The first value is less than or equal to the second value.
Not equal to <> The specified values are different.

IF Function
Syntax: =IF(logical_test,value_if_true,value_if_false) The IF Function
The IF function returns one value if the logical test you enter as an argument is true, and it returns a
different value if the logical test is not true. You would use this function, for example, to determine
a sales rep's commission if, and only if, he or she met a particular sales goal.
In the function's syntax, logical_test is the condition you would like to test; for example, are
employee X's sales more than $1 million? You can use any item that returns a logical value for this
argument: cells, ranges, or arrays populated with logical values; simple logical statements; or even
other logical functions. Excel returns the result of the value_if_true argument if the logical
condition is met. It returns the result of the value_if_false argument if the logical condition is not
met. Either of these arguments can contain numeric values, references, text, or even formulas and
functions. Text strings in either the value_if_true or the value_if_false argument must be enclosed
in double quotation marks. ( " " ). If you do not enter a value in these arguments, they return the
numeric value zero (0).
Let's take a look at a couple of examples of the IF function in worksheets. In this first example, sales
reps will receive a 9-percent commission on their annual sales if those sales meet or exceed the
$6,500 threshold. Otherwise, they will not receive a commission.

Figure 1-11: The IF function performing a calculation as a result of the test.

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Note: Note the use of absolute cell references for both the Sales Goal and Commission Rate. If
you do not use absolute cell references for these cells when the formula is copied from one row
to the next, they will shift to the next row as well. You should also be aware that you can use cell
and range names instead, as they act as absolute cell references as well.
In this example, the logical_test argument asks Excel to examine the value in cell F7 to determine
if it is greater than or equal to the sales goal in B3. If it is, Excel should multiply the value in cell F7
by the commission rate in cell B4. If it is not, Excel should display the text "No commission." As
the logical test returns a value of TRUE, Excel performs the calculation in the value_if_true
argument and returns the result in the cell. Now let's see what happens when the formula is copied
to the next rep's row. In this case, as the value in cell F8 is less than the sales goal, meaning the
logical test returns a value of FALSE, Excel displays the text, "No Commission".

Figure 1-12: The IF function displaying text as a result of a false test.

Keep in mind that you don't always need an IF function to perform a calculation. You could simply
use it to answer the question "Does each sales rep get a commission?" Here's what you would enter.

Figure 1-13: The IF function displaying text answering a yes/no question.

Or, you can simply ask the IF function to return the value in a particular cell if the condition is met.
In this last example, assume the sales reps get a flat $500 commission only if their sales exceed
$6,500.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 23

Figure 1-14: The IF function displaying a value as a result.

Here, because the value_if_true argument contains a cell reference, the function returns the value
in cell B4 when the logical test returns the value TRUE. Also, as the value_if_false argument has
been left off, the function returns a value of zero (0) in cases where the logical condition was not
met.
Note: You must include the second comma in the IF function arguments if you want the
function to return 0 when the logical condition isn't met. Otherwise, it will return a value of
FALSE.

Functions Similar to the IF Function

There are several other useful functions that can perform calculations based on the logical
comparisons.

Function Name Function Definition Function Arguments

SUMIF You use the SUMIF function to sum SUMIF(range,criteria, [sum_range])

the values in a range that meet criteria
that you specify.
SUMIFS The SUMIFS function, one of the SUMIFS(sum_range,criteria_range1,
math and trig functions, adds all of its criteria1,[criteria_range2,criteria2], ...)
arguments that meet multiple criteria.
COUNTIF Use COUNTIF, one of the statistical COUNTIF(range,criteria)
functions, to count the number of cells
that meet a criterion.
COUNTIFS Use COUNTIFS to count cells using COUNTIFS(criteria_range1,criteria1,
multiple criteria. [criteria_range2,criteria2]…)
AVERAGEIF Use the AVERAGEIF function to AVERAGEIF(range,criteria,
return the average of all the cells in a [average_range])
range that meet a given criterion.
AVERAGEIFS Use the AVERAGEIFS function to AVERAGEIFS(average_range,criteri
return the average of all the cells that a_range1,criteria1,
meet multiple criteria. [criteria_range2,criteria2], ...)

In the function's syntax, range is the range of cells to which the criteria is applied, criteria is the
condition that must be met, and sum_range or average_range is the range of cells from which to
add or average values if you want that range to differ from the one specified in the range argument.

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If you do not specify a range for the optional sum_range or average_range argument, the
function sums or averages the qualifying values from the cells specified in the range argument.

AND Function
The AND Function Syntax: =AND(logical1, [logical2], ..., [logical30])
Let students know that The AND function returns the logical value TRUE when all arguments entered in the function are
the AND function is often true and returns the logical value FALSE if any one or more of the arguments are not true. You
used in conjunction with
would use this function, for example, to determine if a sales rep has fulfilled all requirements to
the IF function as a
nested function which
receive a commission bonus or to determine if an applicant has met all requirements to qualify for a
will be discussed later in loan.
this topic. In the function's syntax, logical1 is the first logical test you wish to apply. Technically, only one
argument is required in the AND function, but typically more than one is used; if you only wish to
perform a single logical test, you could simply enter a formula containing the single logical test. The
AND function can contain up to 30 arguments, all of which must either return a logical value, or be
a cell or range reference or an array containing logical values. In addition to using comparison
operators to return a logical value, you can also use mathematical statements as arguments. For
example, 1+1=2 would return a logical value of TRUE.
For the following examples, assume cell A1 contains the value 10, cell A2 contains the value 15, and
cell A3 contains the value 20.

Figure 1-15: Various AND function examples.

OR Function
The OR Function Syntax: =OR(logical1, [logical2], ..., [logical30])
Let students know that The only difference between the OR function and the AND function is that the OR function will
the OR function is often return a logical value of TRUE if any one of the arguments evaluates to TRUE. It contains the same
used in conjunction with
arguments, can support the same number of arguments, and the arguments can be the same items as
the IF function as a
nested function, which
with the AND function. If all of the arguments in an OR function are not true, the function will
will be discussed later in return the logical value FALSE. You would use this function, for example, if you wanted to identify
this topic. sales reps who achieved at least one out of a set of multiple sales targets.
For the following examples, assume cell A1 contains the value 10, cell A2 contains the value 15, and
cell A3 contains the value 20.

Figure 1-16: Various OR function examples.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 25

NOT Function
Syntax: =NOT(logical1)The NOT function is a logical function used to reverse the value The NOT Function
determined by a logical comparison. If the comparison within the NOT function is determined to
be true, the NOT function returns a value of FALSE. If the comparison is determined to be false,
the function returns a value of TRUE. A common example of the NOT function is to reverse the
behavior of another function.
For the following example, assume cell A1 contains the value 10, cell A2 contains the value 15, and
cell A3 contains the value 20.

Figure 1-17: Various NOT function examples.

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26 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

ACTIVITY 1-4
Working with Logical Functions

Before You Begin

The My Current Projects.xlsx workbook is open.

Scenario
Heading the sales team at Develetech, you have recommended a compensation structure such that a
4 percent bonus will be given to all salespersons who meet their targets. Additionally, a bonus of 1
percent will be given for each business with sales greater than $85,000. You also want to count the
number of times an employee achieves the category goal. You will use logical functions to quickly
and easily calculate these bonuses.

1. Enter a function to calculate the 1 percent goal bonus for employees.

a) Select the Bonus worksheet.
b) Verify that cell J8 is selected and type =IF(
c) On the Formula Bar, select Insert Function.
d) In the Logical_test text box, type G8>=H8 and press Tab.
You may wish to instruct e) In the Value_if_true text box, type G8*$C$4 and press Tab.
students to move the f) In the Value_if_false text box, type 0 and select OK.
Function Arguments g) AutoFill the formula in cells J9:J11 to calculate the goal bonus for the remaining employees.
dialog box just below the
h) Verify a goal bonus has been earned by all but one employee.
row you are working on
to act as a guide.

2. Enter a formula to calculate the category bonus, 1 percent of the sum of any category above the
category goal, for the employees.
Note that we are using
>85,000 and not a) Select cell K8 and type =$C$4*SUMIF(
referring to a cell b) On the Formula Bar, select Insert Function.
reference as we would c) In the Function Arguments dialog box, in the Range text box, type C8:F8 and press Tab.
normally do because we d) In the Criteria text box, type >85,000 and select OK.
want students to
understand how the e) AutoFill the formula in cells K9:K11 to calculate the category bonus for the remaining employees.
SUMIF function works
without adding operators
to reference the cell, as
">"&$C$5.

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f) Verify all employees except one received a category bonus.

3. Enter a function to calculate the number of times each employee received a category bonus.
a) In cell L8, type =COUNTIF(C8:F8,">"&$C$5) and press Enter.

Note: The ampersand (&) character used here concatenates the greater than
(>) operator enclosed in quotes and the cell reference together, joining the
criteria argument for Excel to evaluate as >85,000. The ampersand character
is discussed in text functions later in this lesson.
b) AutoFill the formula in cells L9:L11 to calculate the number of category bonuses for the remaining
employees.
c) Verify counts of each category bonus.

4. Save the workbook and keep the file open.

Nesting
The key to combining multiple calculations into a function in a single cell is nesting. Nesting is, Nesting
simply, using a function as an argument within another function. Whatever value the nested
function returns becomes the value the main function uses for the argument. This works much like
including a reference to the value in a cell in a formula or function. Nesting enables you to craft
highly complex functions that perform a wide variety of calculations or perform multiple logical
tests in order to achieve a single result in a single cell.
Excel enables you to nest more than one function within the same larger function, and you can nest
functions within nested functions. In fact, Excel 2016 supports up to 64 levels of nesting. A
function nested within another function is referred to as a second-level function. A function nested
within the nested function is called a third-level function, and so on.

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Figure 1-18: Nesting enables you to use the value returned by one function as an argument in
another function.

Nested Function Syntax

Nested Function Syntax As is the case with all other Excel functions, the key to understanding nested functions is
understanding nested function syntax. Because the particular syntax of any one nested function
depends on the particular syntax of the first-level function and all of the other functions you wish to
nest, this section will mainly focus on presenting a couple of examples of nested functions and then
breaking down the syntax into chunks to examine the specific calculation.
Before looking at a few examples, however, there are some important points to keep in mind
regarding nested functions in general:
• Any function used as an argument must return a value of the same data type as is required for
the argument.
• You do not include the equal sign ( = ) before a nested function, but all remaining function
syntax is the same as it usually is for the function. You still must include the equal sign before the
first-level function.
• Each function, both the first-level function and all nested functions, must have a complete set of
parentheses. These can become tricky to track, but they must all be present.
Now, let's take a look at two examples.
In this first example, the user is trying to determine if members of a group of sales reps qualify for a
bonus. The bonus is based on meeting two criteria: having sales greater than $3,000 and having sold
more than 2,000 units of product. It's easy to use an IF function to determine whether or not
someone qualifies for a bonus based on a single criterion, but what about two criteria? For this, you
can nest an AND function within an IF function.

Figure 1-19: Two AND logical tests nested within an IF function.

Here, we are simply using the AND function as the logical_test argument in the IF function. So
the logical test includes both conditions stipulated by the AND function. As Jack has met only one
of the conditions set out in the AND function, the IF function returns a value of FALSE.
Remember that the logical_test argument can be either a logical test or a logical value. As the

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 29

argument evaluates to the logical value FALSE, the IF function returns the value_if_false value,
which in this case is "No Bonus."
Note: Note that the AND function contains a complete set of parentheses and is fully contained
within the space between the IF function's opening parenthesis and the IF function's first
comma. This makes sense, as the entire AND function is the IF function's first argument. The
IF function ignores the comma within the AND function's parentheses, as it is only looking for
the value returned by the AND function.

In this second example, the user is calculating commission payments for a group of sales reps. But
the particular commission rate depends on the sales volume generated by each rep. If the rep's sales
are less than $2,000, he or she receives a 5-percent commission. If sales are between $2,000 and
$4,999, the commission rate is 7 percent. If sales are $5,000 or more, the rep receives a 9-percent
commission. If this were only a matter of two different rates, a simple IF function would suffice.
But how do you add the second logical test? You nest one IF function within another.

Figure 1-20: An example of a nested IF function in the value_if_false argument.

Let's break down the function's syntax. If this had been a case of applying one of two commission
rates, say either 5 or 7 percent, the function would have looked like this:
=IF(B2<2000,B2*0.05,B2*0.07)
But there is a third condition. Instead of telling Excel to multiply any value greater than $2,000 by a
single value, you have to specify a second logical test. This second logical test, on its own, would
typically look something like this:
=IF(B2<5000,B2*0.07,B2*0.09)
This function should be included as the third argument in the original function, without the leading
equal sign, to get this:
=IF(B2<2000,B2*0.05,IF(B2<5000,B2*0.07,B2*0.09))
You may want to show
If you were to read this function aloud, it would sound something like, "If the value in cell B2 is less LearnTO Use Wildcard
than 2,000, then multiply it by 5 percent; else, if the value is less than 5,000, multiply it by 7 percent; Characters in
otherwise, multiply it by 9 percent." You do not need to include a logical argument for the value References and
being greater than or equal to 5,000 as the first two logical arguments already include all values that Formulas from the
don't match that description. CHOICE Course screen
or have students
It is easy to see how nesting can quickly become highly complex. If you break the first-level function navigate out to the
and all nested functions down into chunks and carefully think about what each function's syntax is Course screen and
asking Excel to do, you can read or write nearly any combination of nested functions. watch it themselves as a
supplement to your
Note: To explore other methods of writing powerful formulas and functions, access the instruction. If not, please
LearnTO Use Wildcard Characters in References and Formulas presentation from the remind students to visit
LearnTO tile on the CHOICE course screen. the LearnTOs for this
course on their CHOICE
Course screen after
class for supplemental
information and
additional resources.

Lesson 1: Working with Functions | Topic C

30 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

Guidelines for Combining Functions

Note: All of the Guidelines for this lesson are available as checklists from the Checklist tile on
the CHOICE Course screen.

As long as you understand the syntax of all functions you wish to nest, you can combine up to 64
levels of functions within a single first-level function. But you must carefully follow/understand
these guidelines:
• To nest a function within another, include the nested function as an argument in the first-level
function. Subsequent, lower-level functions can be nested within the nested function(s).
• You must include the equal sign ( = ) for the first-level function.
• Do not include an equal sign for any of the nested functions. The rest of the syntax for all nested
functions remains the same.
• All functions, nested or otherwise, must include a full set of parentheses.
• Higher-level functions ignore the commas within the parentheses of nested functions. Those
commas separate only the arguments for the associated function.
• Any function used as an argument must return a value of the same data type required for the
argument.
• You can combine nested functions and other calculations within a single argument. For example,
an argument that needs to be a numeric value can be made up of a function multiplied by a
constant or by the value in a cell.
• You can include more than one nested function within a single argument.

Lesson 1: Working with Functions | Topic C

 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 31

ACTIVITY 1-5
Combining Functions

Before You Begin

The My Current Projects.xlsx workbook is open.

Scenario
You are pleased with the progress of your bonus worksheet. Now that you have calculated the goal
and category bonuses, as well as counted the number of category bonuses, you want to test to see
which employees will be awarded with a Winner's Club vacation. If employees exceed their targets
and get a bonus in two or more business categories, they will be rewarded with a Winner's Circle
vacation.

1. Enter a nested formula to test whether employees receive the Winner's Circle vacation.
a) Verify that the Bonus worksheet is selected and select cell N8.
b) Type =IF(AND( and then on the Formula Bar, select Insert Function.
c) In the Function Arguments dialog box, in the AND function, verify that your cursor is in the Logical1
text box.
d) Type J8>0 and press Tab.
e) In the Logical2 text box, type L8>1
f) On the Formula Bar, select the IF function.

Note: The Function Arguments dialog box will change from the AND function
arguments to the IF function arguments.
g) In the Function Arguments dialog box, select the Value_if_true text box, type "Winner's Circle" and
press Tab.
h) In the Value_if_false text box, type "" and select OK.

Note: There are no spaces between the double quotes.

i) AutoFill the formula in cells M9:M11 to calculate the honor for the remaining employees.

2. Verify that only Mullins is awarded the Winner's Circle achievement.

3. Save the workbook and keep the file open.

Lesson 1: Working with Functions | Topic C

32 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

TOPIC D
Work with Date & Time Functions
Excel's date and time functions are often used by business analysts, human resources professionals,
and project managers, who all frequently deal with scheduling and analyzing data for particular
periods of time. But there are also a couple of handy functions for simply entering the current date
or time. In this topic, you will work with of some of the more commonly used date and time
functions.

The TODAY Function

The TODAY Function Syntax: =TODAY()
This function enters the current date in a cell. This function has no arguments. As such, this
functions results are known as volatile. That means that whenever the workbook is opened and
Excel calculates all formulas and functions within the workbook that the date will update to the
current date. Simply enter it into a cell to return the current date in whatever date format you have
applied to the cell. You can use the value returned by this function to perform other calculations
related to durations of time.
Excel uses a serial number system to represent dates and times. January 1, 1900 is represented by the
number 1. Each day after that increases by one whole number. So, January 12, 1900 is represented
by the number 12. This is how Excel is able to display dates in a number of different formats as the
underlying serial number is always the same.

Figure 1-21: The TODAY function in cell B1.

Note: If you do not wish the date to update when the workbook is opened simply enter a static
date or press CTRL+; to insert the current date.

The NOW Function

The NOW Function Syntax: =NOW()
Like the TODAY function, this function has no arguments; it simply returns the current date and
time in the cell you enter it into. You can use the value returned by this function to perform other
calculations related to durations of time.

Figure 1-22: The NOW function is entered in cell B1.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 33

Note: When you enter the NOW function in a cell, Excel automatically formats the cell with a
custom cell format used to accommodate both the date and the time. Here is the format: m/d/
yyyy h:mm. Although the format displays only a single m for month and a single d for day, dates
will appear in cells with both numbers for months and dates that contain two digits. If you alter
the format to a different date or time format, you will alter the value in the cell.

The DATE Function

Syntax: =DATE(Year,Month,Day) The DATE Function
A function similar to TODAY and NOW is the DATE function. The DATE function returns the
serial number for the date entered in the arguments. Although the DATE function technically
returns the specified date's serial number, it displays the date in whatever date format is applied to
your worksheet cells.
In the DATE function's syntax, the Year argument is the four-digit year you wish to enter, the
Month argument is the calendar month represented in numbers from 1 to 12, and the Day
argument is the desired date. You use the DATE function largely to make calculations using other
date and time functions, as using plain text or simply entering the date and time values can return
errors.

Figure 1-23: The serial number of the date 7/22/2016.

The NETWORKDAYS Function

Syntax: =NETWORKDAYS(start_date,end_date,[holidays]) The NETWORKDAYS
The NETWORKDAYS function returns a count of the number of work days between two specific Function
dates. You would use this function, for example, to determine how many working days you'll have
to complete a project from now until a specific date in the future, or to calculate how much of a
particular benefit employees have accrued. In the function's syntax, the start_date argument is the
first date of the range for which you wish to count the number of work days. The end_date
argument is the last day of the range. The optional holidays argument enables you to exclude
known holidays so they are not counted as work days. The NETWORKDAYS function
automatically excludes weekends from the calculation.
Note: In the United States, typical workdays are Monday-Friday and the weekend days are
Saturday and Sunday. If you need to specify different working and weekend days use the
NETWORKDAYS.INTL function.

In the following example,the number of working days are being counted in a project that starts on
July 18, 2016 and ends on December 16, 2016. The project team will all be off every other Friday
beginning at the end of July and running through August. The cells in the range B2:B6 have all been
entered manually, but you can just as easily use the DATE function.

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34 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

Figure 1-24: The number of working days between the project start and end dates accounting for
holidays.

The WEEKDAY
Function The WEEKDAY Function
Syntax: =WEEKDAY(serial_number,[return_type])
Description: Returns the day of the week corresponding to a date. The day is given as an integer,
ranging from 1 (Sunday) to 7 (Saturday), by default. You can specify what day of the week is
assigned 1.
Required argument:
• Serial_number: A sequential number that represents the date of the day you are trying to find.
Dates should be entered by using the DATE function, or as results of other formulas or
functions. For example, use DATE(2016,5,23) for the 23rd day of May, 2016. Problems can
occur if dates are entered as text.
Optional argument:
• Return_type: A number from 1 to 7 identifying the day of the week that is marked as day 1, the
day of the week marked as day 2, and so on. The first three return types are listed in the
following; the remaining return types are 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17. Each change the
designated first day of the week.
• 1 or omitted returns the numbers 1 for Sunday through 7 for Saturday.
• 2 returns the numbers 1 for Monday through 7 for Sunday.
• 3 returns the numbers 0 for Monday through 6 for Sunday.
In the following example, the date (8/26/2016), which is a Friday, is entered into cell B1. What day
of the week is this date assuming you count from Sunday? The answer would be 6, as seen in cell
B3. This is the default action of Excel; however, you can change the day of the week that you begin
counting from by adding a return type. For example, the return type of 2 begins counting on
Monday instead of the default Sunday. In this example, the day of the week would be 5, as seen in
cell B4.

Figure 1-25: The WEEKDAY Function.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 35

The WORKDAY
The WORKDAY Function Function
Syntax: =WORKDAY(start_date, days, [holidays])
Description: Returns a number that represents a date that is the indicated number of working days
before or after a date (the starting date). Working days exclude weekends and any dates identified as
holidays.
Required arguments:
• Start_date: A date that represents the start date.
• Days: The number of non-weekend and non-holiday days before or after start_date. A positive
value for days yields a future date; a negative value yields a past date.
Optional argument:
• Holidays: An optional list of one or more dates to exclude from the working calendar, such as
state and federal holidays and floating holidays. The list can be either a range of cells that contain
the dates or an array constant of the serial numbers that represent the dates.
Use the WORKDAY function to exclude weekends or holidays when you calculate invoice due
dates, expected delivery times, or the number of days of work performed. While most people will
enter dates as text, this can cause problems, so it is recommended that you enter dates using the
DATE function. In the following example, the start date of a project is entered in cell B2 and the
project length is 150 days, as entered in cell B3. Additional non-working days are entered in B4:B6.
Excel uses the WORKDAY function to calculate the end date of the project (B7).

Figure 1-26: The WORKDAY Function.

The ISOWEEKNUM Function

Syntax: =ISOWEEKNUM(Date) The ISOWEEKNUM
The ISOWEEKNUM function returns the number of the week in the year for the date entered. All Function
weeks begin on a Monday. Week one starts on Monday of the first week of the calendar year that
contains a Thursday. Generally, this means that week 1 is the week that contains January 1st. If you
are in a manufacturing industry you might use this function to know the week number or you might
see it beside the weeks of a monthly calendar.

Figure 1-27: The ISOWEEKNUM of a date.

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36 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

ACTIVITY 1-6
Work with Date & Time Functions

Before You Begin

The My Current Projects.xlsx workbook is open.

Scenario
Based on the excellent work you did to calculate employee bonuses, you have now been asked to
calculate the number of work days between the start and end of a project taking into account several
seasonal shut down days that will occur within the project dates. In order to do this you will use the
NETWORKDAYS function.

1. Select the Project Details worksheet and verify the project dates are entered for the project.
a) The project dates should match the following:

2. Enter the NETWORKDAYS function to calculate the total work days for the project.
a) Verify that cell B9 is selected.
b) On the Formula Bar, select Insert function.
c) In the Insert Function dialog box, from the Or select a category drop-down list, select the Date &
Time category.
d) From the Select a function list box, select the NETWORKDAYS function.
e) Select OK.
f) In the Start_date text box, type or select cell B4 and press Tab.
g) In the End_date text box, select cell B5 and press Tab.
h) In the Holidays text box, select the range, B6:B8 and select OK.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 37

i) Verify the total work days for the project.

Time permitting, instruct
students on creating
additional date functions
by calculating the
number of weeks or
months for the total work
days.

3. Save the workbook and keep the file open.

Lesson 1: Working with Functions | Topic D

38 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

TOPIC E
Work with Text Functions
As you work with Excel, you will either enter data yourself or be provided with raw data from varied
systems. You will be asked to perform calculations to produce the desired results for yourself or
management. Excel's text functions let you manipulate text in cells to extract portions of text to
other cells or combine them to produce full names or addresses.

The LEFT Function

The LEFT Function Syntax: =LEFT(text,[num_chars])
The LEFT function returns the first character or characters in a text string, based on the number of
characters you specify. For example, if the full name Mark Thompson was in cell A2, you could use
the LEFT function in cell B2 to extract the first four characters of that text resulting in a cell with
the first name Mark.

Figure 1-28: The LEFT Function returns the first four characters from cell A2.

The FIND Function

Syntax: =FIND(find_text,within_text,[start_num])
To extract text from cells that contain values of varying characters, Excel also includes the FIND
function. The FIND function locates one text string within a second text string, and returns the
number of the starting position of the first text string from the first character of the second text
string. For example, if a cell contains a full name in the format, Last name, First name, with the
FIND function nested within the [num_char] argument of the LEFT function you can locate the
comma (,) separating each name and return the comma and all characters before the comma.
Normally, you would want to remove the comma from the result, therefore, we modify the LEFT
functions [num_char] by subtracting one character from the result (the comma) by entering, -1.

Figure 1-29: The FIND function locates the comma and returns the text before the comma.

The RIGHT Function

The RIGHT Function Syntax: =RIGHT(text,[num_chars])

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 39

The RIGHT function returns the first character or characters in a text string, based on the number
of characters you specify. For example, if the full name Timothy Darius was in cell A3 you could use
the RIGHT function in cell C3 to extract six characters from the right of that text resulting in a cell
with the last name Darius.

Figure 1-30: The RIGHT function displaying the result of the last six characters of text.

Convert Text to Columns

The Text to Columns Feature Wizard
The Text to Columns feature in the Data Tools group on the Data tab of the ribbon is another
method of splitting text. This feature splits a single column of text into multiple columns. For
example, you can create first and last name columns from one column of full names. When used,
this feature starts the Convert Text to Columns Wizard. The wizard's three steps let you select how
the text should be treated as a group, what character separates the text, and the destination of the
text in other columns.

Figure 1-31: The Convert Text to Columns Wizard.

The MID Function

Syntax: =MID(text,start_num,num_chars) The MID Function

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40 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

The MID function returns the characters from the middle of a text string, starting at the position
you specify, based on the number of characters you specify. For example, various man made
acronyms or codes can be separated into their respective parts. Imagine your organization has
multiple campuses and several, multi-floored buildings on each campus. A campus/building/floor
code could be built, such as C1BAFL01, and you could be asked to extract the building identifier
(BA) from a list of codes. The MID function can perform this operation by looking at the text in
cell A2 starting at the third character, and returning the next two characters.

Figure 1-32: The MID function extracting characters from the middle of text.

The CONCATENATE Function

The CONCATENATE Syntax: =CONCATENATE(text1,[text2], ...)
Function One of the most powerful text functions available in Excel 2016 is the CONCATENATE function.
This function enables you to concatenate, or join together, text strings from multiple cells into a
single cell. This function can save you massive amounts of time when you need to pull together data
from multiple cells that already exists in your worksheets. Say you've been placed in charge of
updating your organization's personnel records, which the human resources department saves in
Excel workbooks. You've been asked by HR to change the format in which names are entered.
Previously, first and last names were entered into separate columns within the worksheets, but now
HR would prefer full names entered into a single column. The CONCATENATE function is
perfect for tasks such as this.
In the function's syntax, text1 is the only required argument, which represents the first string of text
you wish to include in the new cell. You can add up to 254 other arguments for a total of 255 joined
text strings. You can manually type text or numerical values as arguments, and you can use cell
references to include text entered into cells. The CONCATENATE function will include empty
spaces (leading spaces, trailing spaces, and spaces between words and values in cells) when it joins
text strings together. If you wish to include spaces where none are present in the original data, you
can use an empty space enclosed in double quotation marks ( " " ) as an argument.
The following examples illustrate several methods of using the CONCATENATE function.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 41

Figure 1-33: The CONCATENATE function joining first and last name without spaces.

In this first example, notice the CONCATENATE function joined the text strings from cells A2
and B2 together in cell C2, and that there is no space between the first and the last name. This is
because there are no leading or trailing spaces in either cell A2 or B2, and because we didn't include
one in the function. Now let's modify this function to include a space between the names.

Figure 1-34: The CONCATENATE function joining first and last name with a space.

Here, the CONCATENATE function placed a space between the first and the last name because
the empty space has been included as an argument. In this last example, you see the
CONCATENATE function used to join text from more than two cells and add a character
manually.

Figure 1-35: The CONCATENATE function joining first name, last name, and suffix with spaces
and punctuation.

Text Concatenation with

Text Concatenation with the Ampersand the Ampersand
Another way to concatenate text strings and numeric values from worksheet cells is to use the
ampersand ( & ) operator in formulas. By using this method, you can still include either cell
references or text and values entered in double quotation marks to join text strings. This is how the
aforementioned first and the third examples would work if you used the ampersand operator in
formulas instead of the CONCATENATE function.

Figure 1-36: The Ampersand character joining first and last name with a space.

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42 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

Figure 1-37: The Ampersand character joining first name, last name, and suffix with spaces and
punctuation.

Other Text Functions

Many times, data that comes from sources such as text files, mainframes, or databases can store data
in various formats. When this data is rendered in Excel it can often make reading the data difficult
because the data can be combined with other text or simply displayed in uppercase or lowercase
letters. Excel contains three text functions that are very useful for formatting text to display it in the
desired format. The UPPER, LOWER, and PROPER functions are described below. These
functions are all similar in that they only have a text argument. In addition, these functions are
extremely helpful when nested in the CONCATENATE function.
The UPPER Function
The UPPER Function
Syntax: =UPPER(text1)
Description: The UPPER function converts a text string to uppercase or capitalizes all the text in a
string.

Figure 1-38: The UPPER function capitalizing all text.

The LOWER Function

The LOWER Function
Syntax: =LOWER(text1)
Description: The LOWER function converts a text string to lowercase or capitalizes all the text in a
string. The LOWER function does not change characters in text that are not letters.

Figure 1-39: The LOWER function displaying all text in lowercase.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 43

The PROPER Function

The PROPER Function
Syntax: =PROPER(text1)
Description: The PROPER function converts a text string to proper case, meaning that the function
capitalizes the first letter in a text string and converts the other letters to lowercase.

Figure 1-40: The PROPER function capitalizing the first letter of text and making all other letters
lowercase.

Lesson 1: Working with Functions | Topic E

44 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

ACTIVITY 1-7
Working with Text Functions

Before You Begin

The My Current Projects.xlsx workbook is open.

Scenario
You are an HR Generalist at Develetech Industries. Your company has a large campus with multi-
floored buildings. In order to locate an employee in any building of the campus you have been asked
to extract various parts of data from text provided to you by your manager. The first two characters
of the code are campus notation, the next two characters represent the building code, and the last
four characters comprise the floor location. In order to do this, you will use text functions.

1. Select the Campus Information worksheet.

2. Extract the campus code, the first two characters, from the combined field.
a) Verify that cell D2 is selected.
b) Select Formulas→Function Library→Text→LEFT.
c) In the Text text box, type or select cell C2 and press Tab.
d) In the Num_chars text box, type 2 and select OK.
e) Verify that the campus code was extracted.

3. Extract the building code, the third and fourth characters, from the combined field.
a) Select cell E2.
b) Select Formulas→Function Library→Text→MID.
c) In the Text text box, type or select cell C2 and press Tab.
d) In the Start_num text box, type 3 and press Tab.
e) In the Num_chars text box, type 2 and select OK.
f) Verify that the building code was extracted.

4. Extract the floor code, the last four characters, from the combined field.
a) Select cell F2.

Lesson 1: Working with Functions | Topic E

 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 45

b) Select Formulas→Function Library→Text→RIGHT.

c) In the Text text box, type or select cell C2 and press Tab.
d) In the Num_chars text box, type 4 and select OK.
e) Verify that the floor code was extracted.

5. Concatenate the personnel names in the first name, last name format.
a) Select cell G2.
b) Type =CONC and press Tab to use Formula AutoComplete.
c) In the text1 argument, select or type A2 and type a comma ( , )
d) In the [text2] argument type " " and type a comma ( , )

Note: There is a space between the two quotation marks.

e) In the [text3] argument, select or type B2 and type a right parenthesis ) to complete the function and
press Ctrl+Enter.
f) Verify the personnel name appears in the first name and last name format.

6. AutoFill in the remaining rows of data.

a) Select cells D2:G2 and double-click the AutoFill handle of cell G2.
b) Verify that the campus, building, floor, and full names are listed for all personnel.

7. Save the workbook and then close the file.

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46 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

Summary
In this lesson, you created advanced formulas by using range and cell names instead of references,
by examining the syntax of commonly used specialized functions, and by writing logical, date &
time, and text functions. You are just beginning to unlock Excel's potential as a data analysis tool,
which will take you far beyond using Excel as a mere calculator and data storage tool. By building
this foundational knowledge of Excel formula syntax, you are taking the first steps to true Excel
mastery.
Encourage students to
use the social How do you think using defined names will benefit you as you create future workbooks?
networking tools A: Answers will vary, but many students will likely find using defined names faster and easier than typing
provided on the CHOICE or selecting ranges. Also, organizations that consistently encourage people to use defined names will
Course screen to follow enjoy the benefit of users being able to share workbooks that are easy to interpret. This could be a
up with their peers after
boon to productivity by preventing unnecessary meetings, emails, and phone calls.
the course is completed
for further discussion How do you plan to incorporate the use of varied functions in your workbooks?
and resources to support
continued learning. A: Answers will vary, because you can use Excel for various reasons, so the data can be text- or value-
based. In addition, the analysis of various data types means that you will need to use many
specialized functions to extract or calculate results based on testing the data.

Note: Check your CHOICE Course screen for opportunities to interact with your classmates,
peers, and the larger CHOICE online community about the topics covered in this course or
other topics you are interested in. From the Course screen you can also access available
resources for a more continuous learning experience.

Lesson 1: Working with Functions |

2 Working with Lists
Lesson Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Lesson Objectives
In this lesson, you will work with lists. You will:
• Sort data.
• Filter data.
• Query data with database functions.
• Outline and subtotal data.

Lesson Introduction
Organizing and presenting your data in a logical and coherent manner is just as important as
working with functions to analyze that data. In this lesson, you will use Microsoft® Office
Excel® 2016 to sort, filter, and subtotal data. These functions help you organize your data
for better analysis and presentation, in addition to the functions you learned in the previous
lesson.
48 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

TOPIC A
Sort Data
Raw data is often entered into Excel worksheets in random order, or at least not in the order you
need for a particular data analysis task. For example, sales data may be entered chronologically, but
you may need to examine information related to particular products or store locations. Or, you may
need to review employee data based on hire date, but the entries are listed alphabetically by
employee last name.
In this topic, you will learn to sort data. By reordering your data, you can more easily locate and
interact with specific entries, even in massive worksheets with tens of thousands of entries. Your
raw data can be in many formats, such as text, dates, and values that Excel can sort alphabetically or
numerically.

Sorting
Sorting Sorting is, quite simply, reordering the data in your worksheets based on some defined criteria, such
as alphabetically or from highest value to lowest value. Sorting enables you to put data entries in a
sequence that makes sense for a particular task. In Excel, you can sort by row or by column, but an
overwhelming majority of sorting is done by column because of the way most people enter
worksheet data. You can sort on a single row or column, or apply multiple sorts to the same set of
data. Additionally, you can sort either range or table data. Excel can sort data based on a number of
different values, such as numeric, alphabetical, date and time, and even by cell color or conditional
formatting criteria. If you add data to a sorted range or table, you can re-sort it to accommodate the
new entries.
It is important to keep in mind that when you sort data, you are not changing the raw data in your
worksheets; you are merely changing the display of the data. So, while you may sort on one
particular column in a worksheet, say by numeric value, after the sort, each entry (individual row)
will have the same data across the entire row. The rows will just appear in a different order based on
the sort criteria. This preserving of data integrity is what makes sorting a powerful, useful feature.
Note: It's a best practice to select only a single cell within a column or row when sorting. When
you do this, Excel will automatically preserve the integrity of your data as described. However, if
you select an entire column or row and then sort, Excel prompts you to include the surrounding
data in the sort. If you do not expand the selection to include the surrounding data, Excel will
not maintain your data integrity.

There are a couple of things about sorting that you should keep in mind. First, you cannot clear
sorting, but you can use the Undo command to revert sorted data to its previous state. Second,
when you save and close workbook files, you save sorts along with it. So, if you want to undo a sort,
you must do it before saving and closing the file or before performing more actions than your undo
settings allow you to undo. You can access the sort commands in the Sort & Filter group on the
Data tab.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 49

Figure 2-1: The same Excel worksheet both unsorted and sorted.

Clean Data
When performing sorting or any other list-related function, it is best to have clean data. You will
sometimes need to clean your data before you can sort it. To do this, make sure your list has a
heading row and no blanks. The list should have a header row and the header row should be
formatted differently than the rest of the data. Adding bold formatting to the headings is sufficient
to prevent Excel from accidentally treating your heading row as a row of data to sort. The list should
have no blank rows or columns separating sections of the data. Excel will stop sorting a list at the
point where it finds a blank row or column. Keeping your list contiguous is a good example of clean
data.

Multiple Column/Row Sorting

When you sort on multiple columns or rows, it's important to consider that all of the columns or Multiple Column/Row
rows on which you're sorting, except for the last one you sort on, should contain some duplicate Sorting
entries. Otherwise, the sort is of no value. Consider the simple example in the following figure.

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Figure 2-2: Sorting on multiple columns or rows enables you to organize your data in
increasingly meaningful ways.

In this example, the dataset is sorted in ascending order on three different columns. First, it is sorted
by Department, then by Office Location, and then by Extension. This sort can provide some
analytical value because there are multiple entries with duplicate values in the first two columns the
data is sorted on. For example, you can quickly find an employee's extension by locating their
Department and Office Location quickly.

Quick Sorts
Quick Sorts There are two general categories of sorting in Excel: quick sorts and custom sorts. Quick sorts enable
Although users can you to easily sort the data in a range according to a set of predefined criteria. By using quick sorts,
access quick sorting you can sort data one column at a time, in ascending or descending order, according to the type of
options for data ranges content stored in the column. For example, if the column contains text, you can sort by alphabetical
when filtering is turned order. If the cells contain numeric values, you can sort lowest to highest, or highest to lowest. If the
on, that is not mentioned cells contain dates, you can sort based on chronological order. With quick sorts, you can sort only
here. This is because by column, not by row. To perform this operation, you will need to turn on AutoFilter by selecting
filtering isn't introduced
Data→Sort & Filter→Filter or Home→Editing→Sort & Filter.
until the next topic. This
functionality will be
addressed there.

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Figure 2-3: Use quick sorts to easily reorder your range data.

Note: Ranges or lists of data that need to be sorted should have a distinct heading row so that
Excel does not inadvertently sort the heading row along with the rest of the data. Formatting the
heading row bold is all that is needed to avoid problems.

Custom Sorts
To sort your range data by using more highly defined criteria than is possible by using quick sorts,
you can define a custom sort. Custom sorting enables you to sort by row or column, to sort on
multiple rows or columns simultaneously, and to define specific sort criteria. In addition to the sort
criteria that are available by using quick sorts, custom sorts enable you to sort based on cell and font
color, and based on conditional formatting icons.
Each specific criterion you assign to a custom sort is called a level. Excel evaluates and sorts your
data based on the order in which you assign sort levels to the data. You can add, delete, edit, and
reorder sort levels. Custom sorting is only possible by using ribbon commands.
Note: You cannot apply both column and row sorting to the same data range.

The Sort Dialog Box

You use the Sort dialog box to define and manage your custom sorts. You can access the Sort The Sort Dialog Box
dialog box by selecting Data→Sort & Filer→Sort.

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Figure 2-4: The Sort dialog box displaying multiple sort levels for a data range.

Note: Because sorting is such a useful function, you can also access the Sort dialog box by
selecting Home→Editing→Sort & Filter→Sort.

The following table describes the functions of the various Sort dialog box elements.

Sort Dialog Box Element Description

Add Level button Adds new blank sort levels to a custom sort.
Delete Level button Removes the currently selected sort level from a custom sort.
Copy Level button Creates a copy of the currently selected sort level and places it
immediately after the selected level.
Move Up/Move Down buttons Enables you to reorder the sort levels in a custom sort.
Options button Opens the Sort Options dialog box.
Column/Row drop-down menu Use this to select the column or the row upon which to sort
your data. Setting your sort options determines whether you
sort by row or column.
Sort On drop-down menu Use this to select the criteria by which you want to sort your
data.
Order drop-down menu Use this to determine the order in which Excel will display
sorted data; for example, alphabetical or oldest to newest. The
options that the Order drop-down menu displays depend on
the selections you make in the Column/Row drop-down
menus and the Sort On drop-down menus.
Defined sort levels The sort levels appear in the order in which Excel will evaluate
and apply data sorting.

The Sort Options Dialog Box

The Sort Options Dialog Use the Sort Options dialog box to determine whether Excel will sort by column or row, and to
Box define the precedence Excel applies to capitalization while sorting. When the Case sensitive check
box is unchecked, Excel gives precedence to capital letters. When the Case sensitive check box is
checked, it gives precedence to lowercase letters. The Orientation section has two options. The
default, Sort top to bottom, sorts by column and the Sort left to right option sorts by row. You
can access the Sort Options dialog box by selecting the Options button in the Sort dialog box.

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Figure 2-5: Use the Sort Options dialog box to assign sorts to rows or columns and to define the
precedence Excel applies to capitalization.

Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and
job aids on How to Sort Data.

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54 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

ACTIVITY 2-1
Sorting Data

Data File
C:\091056Data\Working with Lists\Develetech Lists.xlsx

Before You Begin

Excel 2016 is open.

Scenario
You are an HR Generalist with Develetech Industries and your manager has asked you to organize
the employees list. You want to quickly look up employees in various ways by sorting data. The
employees list contains data that will allow you to sort by name, date, department and office
location.
Inform students that they
will be using the same
workbook for multiple 1. Sort the employees list by Last Name.
activities. This is done to a) In Excel, open the workbook Develetech Lists.xlsx.
consolidate the number
of data files students b) Verify that the Employees worksheet is selected.
would have to open for
c) Verify that cell A1 is selected, and on the Data tab, in the Sort & Filter group, select Sort A to Z.
each activity.
d) Confirm that the employees list is sorted by Last Name.

e) Select cell D1 and select Data→Sort & Filter→Sort.

f) Select the Sort by drop-down arrow and select Department.
g) Select OK.

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h) Verify that the employees list is sorted by Department.

2. Sort the employees list by Last Name, then by Department, and then by Extension.
a) Select Data→Sort & Filter→Sort.
b) Observe that Excel maintained the previous sort on Department.
c) Select the Sort by drop-down arrow and select Last Name.
d) Select Add Level.
e) Select the Then by drop-down arrow and select Department.
f) Select Add Level again.
g) Select the last Then by drop-down arrow and select Extension.
h) Verify that Excel is sorting by Last Name and Department alphabetically and that Extension is sorted
smallest to largest and then select OK.

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i) Confirm that the employees list has been sorted by Last Name, then by Department, and then by
Extension.

3. Save the workbook as My Develetech Lists.xlsx and keep the file open.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 57

TOPIC B
Filter Data
Though sorting can help you locate and review data in large worksheets, it does nothing to cut down
on the number of displayed entries. Even with ordered data, you may often still need to sift through
large volumes of data to find what you're looking for, which can be challenging and time consuming.
In this topic, you will learn to filter data, which limits the rows of data you have to review in order
to find what you are looking for.

Filtering
As with the sorting feature, you can use the filtering feature to make data far easier to work with. Filtering
While sorting rearranges your data based on particular defined criteria, filtering removes from view
any data entries that do not match the specified criteria. When you filter data in Excel, you do not
affect the actual data entries; you alter only how Excel displays your data. It is important to note that
filtering affects entire worksheet rows. If you have data in a range or a table next to data that you
filter, rows that are suppressed from view in the data you're filtering are also suppressed from view
in the adjacent tables or ranges.
You can filter data ranges in Excel, and you can filter on more than one column. However, you can
filter only by column, and not by row. You can combine sorting and filtering to fine tune the display
of your data. Typically, when you combine sorting and filtering, it's a best practice to filter first and
then sort just the data you wish to work with. You can toggle filtering on and off for ranges by
selecting any cell within the desired range and select Data→Sort & Filter→Filter.
Note: When you turn on filtering for a data range, you also activate quick sorting functionality
for the range. Be sure that you select either only a single cell within the range or the entire data
range when turning on filtering for a range. If you select only certain columns within a range
when turning on filtering, when you use quick sorts to sort the range, columns not included in
the selection when you turned on filtering will not sort with the rest of the data. Remember that
the Filter command is also located on the Home tab by selecting Home→Editing→Sort &
Filter→Filter.

Unlike sorting, filtering can be cleared at any time to re-display all rows that the filtering temporarily
suppressed. When you apply functions to or search through filtered data, Excel applies the function
to or searches through only the data that is displayed. When you clear filters, Excel applies the
function to or searches through the entire dataset.

Figure 2-6: Filtering data removes all non-pertinent entries from view, making it easier to review
and work with your data.

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Caution: Filtering data and hiding rows or columns can have a wide range of effects on the Cut
and Copy commands. When cutting or copying and then pasting data from filtered datasets or
datasets with hidden columns or rows, always ensure that your pasted values appear as expected.

AutoFilters
AutoFilters AutoFilters enable you to quickly filter range data or datasets based on unique cell entries or applied
cell formatting in a column. AutoFilter options appear in two ways: as check boxes or as pop-up
menu options in the header row drop-down menu of ranges that have filtering turned on. You use
the list of check boxes to filter based on cell values. Checked items will appear in the filtered dataset;
unchecked items will not. You can check or uncheck any number of entries for each column, and
you can search for specific entry values to pare down the list of AutoFilter options. The search
functionality for AutoFilter values is dynamic, so Excel filters the AutoFilter options as you type
each character of your search term.
You use the pop-up menu options to filter cells based on font or fill color, or based on icon sets.
Again, for whichever formatting criteria you select in the pop-up menu, Excel will display rows
containing that particular formatting; all other rows are hidden. You can use AutoFilters to filter
blended criteria. In other words, you can filter by cell value and by formatting in the same column,
but you can filter based on only one formatting criterion at a time.
The AutoFilter feature is most useful in columns that contain multiple duplicate entries or
formatting options. Excel will display only one check box for each unique data entry (up to 10,000
unique values) in the column and one formatting option for each unique formatting element.
Columns that you have applied filtering to will display a slightly different header row down-arrow.
For unfiltered columns, the header row down-arrow looks like this: ; in filtered columns, it looks
like this: .

Figure 2-7: AutoFilters enable you to quickly filter datasets based on unique column entries or
cell formatting.

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Note: Two visual changes appear in Excel to let you know that filtering has been applied. The
row labels change color to blue, as well as the status bar indicates the number of records found
after applying a filter.

Custom AutoFilters
In addition to using the default AutoFilters available in Excel, you can customize AutoFilters to
filter datasets according to specific criteria. You can use custom AutoFilters to filter by such criteria as
a particular range of numeric values, text entries that begin with a particular character, or all entries
made before or after a particular date. The custom AutoFilter options available to you depend on
the type of data stored in the column. You can access these options by selecting either Text Filters,
Number Filters, or Date Filters from the header row drop-down menu of ranges that have
filtering turned on. Selecting any of these options from the drop-down menu opens a secondary
menu. In the secondary menu, some of the filter options have no configurable parameters, such as
filtering for the top or bottom 10 percent of numerical values, so selecting them will simply apply
the filter. Others do need to be configured, so, when you select them, Excel opens the Custom
AutoFilter dialog box.

The Custom AutoFilter Dialog Box

Use the Custom AutoFilter dialog box to configure the parameters for some of Excel's custom The Custom AutoFilter
AutoFilters. The options available in the Custom AutoFilter dialog box vary depending on the type Dialog Box
of data in the column. You can set one or two parameters in the Custom AutoFilter dialog box.
For example, if you'd like to filter for a certain range of numeric values, you would enter the top and
bottom values of the desired range. You can also select whether Excel should filter data based on
entries that meet both defined criteria or based on meeting only one of the two criteria. If you don't
enter a value in the lower fields, Excel ignores them.

Figure 2-8: Use the Custom AutoFilter dialog box to set the parameters for custom AutoFilters.

The following table describes the function of the various elements of the Custom AutoFilter dialog
box.

Custom AutoFilter Dialog Box Allow You To

Element

Filter selection drop-down Select the specific custom AutoFilters you wish to apply to your
menus dataset. Typically, Excel automatically populates the top menu
with the filter you selected to open the Custom AutoFilter
dialog box.

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Custom AutoFilter Dialog Box Allow You To

Element
And/Or radio buttons Choose between requiring both filter parameters or applying the
filter to entries matching either one or the other. Choosing And
will narrow the results and choosing Or will expand the results.
Parameter entry text fields/ Define the specific criteria for the search. You can manually type
drop-down menus the entries or select them from the drop-down menu, which is
populated with the column's data entries.

Advanced Filtering
Advanced Filtering Excel's built-in AutoFilter functionality is a fast and easy way to pare down large volumes of data
into manageable, easy-to-view chunks. However, there will likely be times when you will need to
filter your data based on much more complex criteria than the AutoFilter options can support. In
these cases, you can create advanced filters. When you filter data by using Excel's Advanced
filtering command, you enter filter criteria directly on the worksheet containing the dataset you want
to filter. Advanced filtering uses a set of filter operators that are similar to Excel's comparison
operators. Although you can filter the original dataset in its original location, you can also ask Excel
to return the filtered dataset in a different location within the workbook. This provides you with
both an unfiltered and a filtered view of your data simultaneously. You can access the Advanced
filter command by selecting Data→Sort & Filter→Advanced.

Figure 2-9: The Advanced filtering command enables you to filter your data using highly
complex, user-defined criteria.

Note: Applying advanced filtering to a range with filtering (AutoFilter) turned on automatically
turns off filtering.

The Criteria Range

The Criteria Range As previously mentioned, to use advanced filtering, you enter the desired filter criteria directly on
the worksheet containing the dataset you wish to filter. The area on the worksheet in which you do
this is called the criteria range. To properly enter filter criteria in the criteria range, you must follow
the correct protocol. Here are the requirements for creating a valid criteria range:
• It is a best practice to have the criteria range be located directly above the dataset you wish to
filter.
• The criteria range must contain the same column headings as the columns in the dataset.
• Criteria entered into cells on the same row in the criteria range use the AND operator. In other
words, rows displayed in the filtered dataset must meet all of the specified criteria in the criteria
range row.
• Criteria entered in different rows use the OR operator.
• Each criterion that you wish to include by using the OR operator must be in its own row in the
criteria range.

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• You can enter more than one filter operator in the same column. Not all columns have to
include a filter operator.
• There must be at least one blank row between the criteria range and the dataset you wish to
filter.

Figure 2-10: Use the criteria range to specify advanced filtering criteria.

Filter Operators
To define the criteria for advanced filtering, you use filter operators. These function very much like
the comparison operators you use to create logical functions. Filter operators help you narrow your
search for specific data, and you can use these in nearly any combination.

Filter Operator What It Does

= Filters data based on an exact content match. As Excel interprets the equal sign
as the beginning of a formula or function, you must enclose the = operator in a
set of double quotation marks ( " " ). So, if you want to filter for all entries that
include the text "NY," you must enter the filter criteria as "=NY" To filter for
an exact numerical match, you can simply enter the numerical value.
< Filters for numerical or date and time values that are less than the defined
criteria.
> Filters for numerical or date and time values that are greater than the defined
criteria.
<= Filters for numerical or date and time values that are less than or equal to the
defined criteria.
>= Filters for numerical or date and time values that are greater than or equal to the
defined criteria.
<> Filters for numerical, textual, or date and time values that are not equal to the
defined criteria.
? Serves as a wildcard character for a single character in the same position as the
question mark. So, if you want to filter a list of employee numbers that begin
with "100," but can have any number as the last digit, you could type 100? as the
filter criterion.
* Serves as a wildcard character for multiple characters in the same position as the
asterisk. So, if you want to filter a list of product names for entries that begin
with the letter S and end with the letter L, you could enter "=S*L" as the
criterion. In this case, both "sail" and "stool" would appear in the filtered
dataset.

Note: You cannot use cell or range references to define advanced filter criteria. You must
manually enter values in the criteria range.

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Note: Be aware that there may be some occasions where you do not need to enter an equal sign
( = ) operator. Simply entering your criteria may constitute that criteria equals what you are
looking to find.

Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and
job aids on How to Filter Data.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 63

ACTIVITY 2-2
Filtering Data

Before You Begin

The My Develetech Lists.xlsx file is open.

Scenario
As an HR Generalist at Develetech Industries, you were asked to sort the employees list. Now you
are being asked which employees are in specific offices and departments. In order to find this
information, you will filter the employees list.

1. Filter the data for all employees in the PB4 Office Location.
a) Select cell A1 and select Data→Sort & Filter→Filter.
b) Select the Office Location AutoFilter drop-down arrow and uncheck Select All.
c) Select PB4 and select OK.
d) Verify that only the Office Location PB4 is shown.

2. Filter for management and marketing employees.

a) Select the AutoFilter drop-down arrow for Office Location and select Clear Filter from "Office
Location".
b) Select the Department AutoFilter drop-down arrow and uncheck Select All.
c) Select Management and Marketing and then select OK.
d) Verify that the Management and Marketing departments are shown.

3. Create an advanced filter for employees in either engineering or facilities.

a) Select the Department AutoFilter drop-down arrow and select Clear Filter from "Department".

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b) Select the Department AutoFilter drop-down arrow again and select Text Filters→Custom Filter.

c) Select the Parameter fields drop-down arrow on the first row and select Engineering.
d) Select the Or option.
e) Select the Filter selection drop-down arrow on the second row and select equals.
f) Select the Parameter fields drop-down arrow on the second row and select Facilities.

g) Select OK.

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h) Verify that the Employees list has been filtered for the Engineering and Facilities departments.

4. Save the workbook and keep the file open.

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TOPIC C
Query Data with Database Functions
After sorting and filtering your data, you may want to perform calculations on the data. Similar to
advanced filters, you can use database functions. These functions allow you to find the data you are
looking for and perform calculations all in one step. If your company has thousands of products,
customers, or data entries of any kind, database functions can help you find specific items in the
dataset and perform calculations to sum or average subsets of that data. In this topic, you will query
data with database functions.

Database Functions
Database Functions Excel 2016 provides you with a powerful set of functions that can help you drill down into your
data to ask highly focused questions: database functions. Database functions enable you to perform
calculations on ranges of data based on specific criteria. Essentially, these allow you to perform
calculations on particular data by incorporating a database-query-like level of functionality. Basically,
you query the dataset to find a particular value or set of values, and then perform some calculation
on only the specific data.
Mathematically speaking, the calculations that database functions perform are similar to their
standard counterparts. Database functions, essentially, combine the functionality of Excel functions
with the functionality of advanced filters. Database functions use the same operators that advanced
filters use to identify the specific data you wish to perform a calculation on. To enter criteria for
database functions, you must follow the same rules as you do for creating advanced filters.
A flat file list in Excel can also be considered a database. A column of data in a database is known as
a field and a row of data is either an entry or a record.

Figure 2-11: The database function in cell G5 returns the average sales for sales greater than or
equal to a quantity of 100 and a unit price greater than $5.00.

The following table lists all of the database functions in Excel 2016.

Function Name Function Definition

DAVERAGE Averages the values in a column in a list or database that match your
criteria.
DCOUNT Counts the cells containing numbers in the field (column) in the database
that match your criteria.
DCOUNTA Counts nonblank cells in the field (column) in the database that match
your criteria.

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Function Name Function Definition

DGET Extracts from a database a single record that matches your criteria.
DMAX Returns the largest number in the field (column) in the database that
match your criteria.
DMIN Returns the smallest number in the field (column) in the database that
match your criteria.
DPRODUCT Multiplies the values in the field (column) in the database that match
your criteria.
DSTDEV Estimates the standard deviation based on a sample from selected
database entries.
DSTDEVP Calculates the standard deviation based on the entire population of
selected database entries.
DSUM Adds the numbers in the field (column) in the database that match your
criteria.
DVAR Estimates the variance based on a sample from the selected database
entries.
DVARP Calculates variance based on the entire population of selected database
entries.

Database Function Syntax

You can distinguish database functions from their counterparts because the function names all begin Database Function
with the letter "D." The database function equivalent of the SUM function is the DSUM function, Syntax
and the database function equivalent of the AVERAGE function is the DAVERAGE function. All
database functions have the same three arguments, which are all required. Let's look at the DSUM
function as an example.
Syntax: =DSUM(database,field,criteria)
The DSUM function calculates the sum of values within a range that all meet the specified criteria.
In the function's arguments, database is the reference to the range of cells that make up the entire
dataset. This range should include column labels (headers). In addition, you can use range names in
place of the database argument.
The field argument specifies the column that the function will perform a calculation on. You can
include this argument in one of three ways. The first is by enclosing the column label in double
quotation marks (example: "Total Sales"). The second is by entering the cell reference of the cell
containing the column label. Or, in the third and final way, you can simply refer to the column by its
numerical place in the dataset. So, if you want the function to perform the calculation on the third
column in a table or dataset, you could enter 3 as the field argument.
The criteria argument specifies the criteria range. You enter this argument as a range of cells; the
range must include the duplicate header row and all criteria you wish to include. It does not have to
include the empty row between the criteria range and the dataset.
Note: All the database functions in Excel contain the same arguments.

Let's take another look at the previous example, which uses the DAVERAGE function.

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Figure 2-12: The DAVERAGE function.

As you can enter the field argument in three different ways, this function could be entered in any of
the following ways:
=DAVERAGE(A4:E62,E4,A1:E2)
=DAVERAGE(A4:E62,"Total Sales",A1:E2)
=DAVERAGE(A4:E62,5,A1:E2)
In the first example, the field argument is specified by the cell name. The second example uses the
columns label's. The third example specifies the argument by the column's position in the dataset.
As the Total Sales column is the fifth column in the dataset, you can simply enter 5 to define the
field argument.

Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and
job aids on How to Use Database Functions.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 69

ACTIVITY 2-3
Using Database Functions

Before You Begin

The My Develetech Lists.xlsx file is open.

Scenario
As a sales manager at Develetech Industries, you want to analyze the second quarter sales figures in
order to identify the impact of sales in various regions across the nation. You want to know the total
sales and average sales in the quarter where sales in the Northeast and Southeast were less than
$1,000. In addition, calculating the total and average sales for the month of May will aid in your
national sales analysis. You decide to use database functions to calculate the totals and averages
utilizing the range name Q2Sales to simplify the formula.

1. Calculate the total and average sales in the northeast and southeast where sales were less than
$1,000.
a) Select the Quarter 2 Sales worksheet.
b) Verify that cell J2 is selected and type =DSUM(
c) From the Formula Bar, select Insert Function.
d) In the Function Arguments dialog box, in the Database text box, select Formulas→Defined
Names→Use in Formula→Q2Sales.
e) Press Tab and in the Field text box, select or type H4, and press Tab.

Note: Remember that the field is the column of data you wish to summarize. In
the data file, you can also total any region.
f) In the Criteria text box, select or type A1:H2 and select OK.

Note: Advanced queries and database functions set up the criteria area in the
same manner. The criteria area comprises at least three rows above the list
with the headings from the list copied into row one. The following rows are
used for the comparison criteria. Be sure to leave a blank row between the
criteria area and the list.
g) Verify that total sales for the Northeast and Southeast region, where sales were less than $1,000, is
$32,839.

h) Select cell K2 and enter =DAVERAGE(Q2Sales,H4,A1:H2)

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i) Verify the average total sales for the Northeast and Southeast region, where sales were less than
$1,000, is $6,568.

2. Edit the criteria to calculate the total and average sales for May.
a) Select cells C2:D2 and press Delete.
b) Select cell B2 and enter May
c) If necessary, adjust the width of column J and verify the total and average sales for May.

3. Save the workbook and keep the file open.

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TOPIC D
Outline and Subtotal Data
As you have worked with Excel, you have learned how to hide rows and columns of data to present
a summary view of the data for reporting purposes. In addition, as you enter data, you may want to
periodically summarize the data, by region or quarter for example, rather than creating a grand total
for all regions or quarters. In this topic, you will learn how to outline and subtotal your data which
may be especially useful when you are working on a spreadsheet with a large amount of data.

Outlines
Outlining is the process of grouping rows and columns to create a hierarchy called an outline. In an Outlines
outline, subtotaled datasets are arranged into groups of varying levels of detail that you can expand
or collapse depending on how much detail you want to see. For example, if you want to carefully
analyze individual data entries for the worksheet, you would want to expand all levels in the
hierarchy so that all populated cells appear in the worksheet. But if you want to present summary
data to your supervisor on a per-region basis, you may want to display only the subtotal rows that
contain the summary information.

Figure 2-13: Outlines enable you to control how much detail is displayed in worksheets
containing subtotals.

Outlines can contain up to eight levels of detail. Each level is nested within the previous level. The
level buttons along the top of the Outline panel enable you to instantly change the view of your
worksheet to display only the summary information of that level. The higher the number of the level

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button, the more detailed a view of your data you will see. Data subsets are represented in the
outline by square brackets. These brackets display plus and minus buttons that enable you to
collapse and expand individual data subsets as desired.
The commands to manually create outlines are found on the Data tab, in the Outline group.

The SUBTOTAL Function

The SUBTOTAL Before you look at two key elements of Excel functionality that will help you analyze your data on a
Function more granular level, it will be helpful to look at a different type of Excel function, one that lies at the
If students ask, inform core of this functionality: the SUBTOTAL function. SUBTOTAL functions are a specific set of Excel
them that the focus of functions that perform calculations on subsets of data.
much of the rest of this
topic is on using Note: Although it is important to have an understanding of how SUBTOTAL functions work in
SUBTOTAL functions terms of syntax, most users take advantage of them through ribbon commands and other UI-
through the ribbon and based functionality, as opposed to manually typing them into cells.
the user interface.
The most common calculation you will likely make using SUBTOTAL functions is not, surprisingly,
finding subtotals. Take a look at this example to get a sense of how useful these functions can be.

Figure 2-14: The SUBTOTAL Function.

In this example, a range of sales data has been sorted by quarter. To find the sales totals by quarter,
extra rows have been added in the worksheet. Normally you would simply use the SUM function to
calculate each quarter's total sales, which are subtotals of the company's overall sales. This is simple
enough to do if you're dealing with a relatively small worksheet, but this could quickly become quite
a chore in larger ones. So, having a function that can perform the subtotal calculation on a very large

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dataset can be quite advantageous. The example shown here shows the SUBTOTAL function used
in place of the SUM function.
Technically speaking, the SUBTOTAL function is a single function that calls one other function out
of a set of available functions, such as SUM, AVERAGE, MAX, and MIN, depending on the
specific calculation you want Excel to perform. It then performs the selected function on the range
or ranges you stipulate in the arguments. Here is the function's syntax:
=SUBTOTAL(function_num,ref1,[ref2],...,[ref254])
In the function's syntax, the reference arguments, ref1, ref2, and so on, simply tell the function
which ranges to perform the calculations on. The function_num argument calls the specific
function you want to use to calculate your subtotals. You express this argument as a single numeric
value of 1 to 11, or 101 to 111. Of the available functions the SUBTOTAL function can call, there
are two different groups, hence the two sets of possible values for the function_num argument.
These are two identical sets of functions: if you enter a value from 1 to 11 as the argument, the
selected function will include hidden values (because of hidden rows or columns in your worksheet);
if you enter a value from 101 to 111 as the argument, the selected function will ignore hidden values.
The following table outlines the functions each value in the function_num argument calls.

function_num Argument function_num Argument Called Function

(Includes Hidden Values) (Ignores Hidden Values)

1 101 AVERAGE
2 102 COUNT
3 103 COUNTA
4 104 MAX
5 105 MIN
6 106 PRODUCT
7 107 STDEV
8 108 STDEVP
9 109 SUM
10 110 VAR
11 111 VARP

So, if you have a large set of data in column A of a worksheet, and you want the subtotal for the
first 20 values, you would enter the following function: =SUBTOTAL(9, A1:A20). If you wanted
to find the average value of that same range, you would enter =SUBTOTAL(1,A1:A20). If that
range contained hidden rows that you wanted to ignore while performing the same calculations, you
would use 109 and 101 for the function_num arguments, respectively.

The Subtotals Feature

As previously mentioned, although it's good to have a grasp of the SUBTOTAL function's syntax, it The Subtotals Feature
isn't necessary to manually enter these functions. This is because Excel 2016 includes several
features that enter the appropriate function for you automatically. One of these is the Subtotals
feature. Selecting the Subtotals command enables you to automatically perform SUBTOTAL
function calculations on subsets of data within a particular dataset. The Subtotals feature does not
work on tables which you will learn about in the next lesson.
Two of the most important things to remember about the Subtotals feature are that it is most
effective when you have included column headers in the dataset and when you have already sorted
your data by some specific criteria, such as a region or financial period for which you wish to

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calculate subtotals. This is because the Subtotals feature looks for changes in the column entries of
one column, and then performs the desired calculation on the corresponding values in another
column.

Figure 2-15: The Subtotals feature applied to a dataset. Here, the data is sorted by quarter and
the Subtotals feature has applied the SUM function to the values in the Total Sales column.

The Subtotal Dialog Box

The Subtotal Dialog Box You can use the Subtotal dialog box to perform SUBTOTAL function calculations on data ranges
without having to manually enter the desired SUBTOTAL function. From here, you specify the
criteria by which Excel will organize subsets of data, select the desired function, and select the
column on which the calculation will be performed. The Subtotal dialog box also includes several
options for configuring the display of subtotals. You can access the Subtotal dialog box by selecting
Data→Outline→Subtotal.

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Figure 2-16: Use the Subtotal dialog box to configure your subtotal calculations.

The following table describes the function of the various elements of the Subtotal dialog box.

Subtotal Dialog Box Enables You To

Element

At each change in drop- Select the criteria by which to organize subsets of data. You do this
down menu by selecting the column that contains the desired entries. For
example, you can tell Excel to perform subtotal calculations on data
entries based on a particular region, department, or product.
Remember to first sort your data on the column you will select in the
At each change in drop-down menu, and then apply the subtotal
calculation.
Use function drop-down Select the desired SUBTOTAL function.
menu
Add subtotal to menu Select the column on which you wish to perform the calculation.
Like the At each change in drop-down menu, this drop-down
menu is populated with the column headers in the selected dataset.
Replace current subtotals Decide between replacing existing subtotals with new subtotal
check box calculations or including multiple subtotals in your dataset.
Page break between Place a page break after each subtotal so you can print each subset of
groups check box data separately.
Summary below data Include a summary row at the bottom of the dataset. This will
check box include the grand total from all of the individual subtotals.
Remove All button Clear all subtotals and subsets from the original dataset.

Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and
job aids on How to Summarize Data with the Subtotal Feature.

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ACTIVITY 2-4
Using Subtotals to Summarize Data

Before You Begin

The My Develetech Lists.xlsx file is open.

Scenario
As a data analyst for Develetech Industries, it is your responsibility to analyze the 2016 sales data.
You have been asked to provide subtotals for the total sales of each region. You decide to use the
subtotal feature to group each region and sum total sales.

1. Use the Subtotal feature to sum total sales for each region.
a) Select the 2016 Sales worksheet.

b) Select cell B1 and Sort A to Z.

c) Select Data→Outline→Subtotal.
d) From the At each change in drop-down menu, select Region.
e) In the Use function field, verify that Sum is selected.
f) In the Add subtotal to field, verify that Total Sales is selected.

g) Select OK.

2. Manipulate the subtotal outline to show only the regional totals.

a) Next to row 18, select the minus button.

b) Select the outline level in the rows outline area.

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c) AutoFit column F, if necessary, and verify the subtotals for each region and grand total of sales.

3. Save the workbook and then close the file.

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Summary
In this lesson, you learned to sort, filter, and subtotal data. Learning to extract subsets of your raw
data can be an invaluable analysis tool. When data is organized in smaller groups, it is often easier
and faster to analyze.
Encourage students to
use the social How do you think sorting and filtering will benefit you with current or future workbooks?
networking tools A: Answers will vary, but filtering data quickly to find answers to simple questions can be very useful.
provided on the CHOICE
Course screen to follow How do you plan to incorporate the Subtotal feature in future workbooks?
up with their peers after
A: Answers will vary, but data that is limited to the number of items in a category, for example, account
the course is completed
types, regions, states, or products are good candidates for sorting and grouping your data in order to
for further discussion
and resources to support provide totals or averages to your values.
continued learning.
Note: Check your CHOICE Course screen for opportunities to interact with your classmates,
peers, and the larger CHOICE online community about the topics covered in this course or
other topics you are interested in. From the Course screen you can also access available
resources for a more continuous learning experience.

Lesson 2: Working with Lists |

3 Analyzing Data
Lesson Time: 1 hour

Lesson Objectives
In this lesson, you will analyze data. You will:
• Create and modify tables.
• Apply intermediate conditional formatting.
• Apply advanced conditional formatting.

Lesson Introduction
As you progress with the features of Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016, you see that many of
its features build on the concepts and topics introduced in the previous lessons. You have
already learned that data analysis is an integral part of what you can do with Excel.
As you have learned, manipulating raw data for analysis can be done in many ways, and each
method has its merits. In this lesson, you will learn how to create tables to make reviewing
data easier. In addition, you will learn how to format data in order to show highs, lows, or
trends.
80 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

TOPIC A
Create and Modify Tables
While most work in Excel does not require much formatting to present a well-organized, good-
looking worksheet, one feature known as tables can have a huge visual impact on how your data is
presented. In the previous lesson, you learned how to work with lists by sorting and filtering and
this topic on creating and modifying tables builds on that knowledge. By converting your raw data
into tables, you will be able to take advantage of additional reporting features without affecting any
of the data you have entered into your worksheets.

Tables
Tables In Excel, a table is simply a dataset composed of contiguous rows and columns that Excel treats as a
single, independent object. Excel tables contain robust functionality that enables you to organize,
change the display of, and perform calculations on worksheet data quickly and easily. Regardless of
how many ways you manipulate your table data, the raw data you initially entered remains intact.
You can create tables from existing ranges, or create empty tables and then populate them. You can
also revert tables to simple ranges.
As with cells and ranges, you can apply defined names to tables for ease of reference. When you
create a table, Excel automatically assigns it a generic name, such as Table1 or Table2, but you can
change this to suit your needs. You can also expand existing tables to accommodate additional data,
and you can insert or delete columns and rows within tables, just as you can in a range.

Figure 3-1: Data in an Excel table.

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Note: Named tables must adhere to the same naming conventions as other named elements.

Table Components
There is a basic set of table components that Excel tables can, but don't necessarily have to, contain. Table Components
By default, Excel tables contain a header row and appear with banded rows. You can toggle the
display of these and other components on or off to suit your needs and to provide access to or
suppress various functionality.

Figure 3-2: An Excel table with most of its components displayed.

The following table describes the various components of Excel tables, along with their functions.

Excel Table Component Description

Header row Displays column labels for the table and provides you with access to
some of Excel's table-organization functionality.
Header row drop-down Displays a drop-down menu that provides you with access to commands
arrow you can use to organize and change the display of your table data.
Total row Displays the results of column-specific calculations and provides you
with access to some of Excel's built-in table summary function capabilities.
Total row drop-down Displays a drop-down menu that provides you with quick and easy
arrow access to functions for performing calculations on table-column data.

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Excel Table Component Description

Banded rows These make it easier to view individual rows of data by applying
different formatting to alternating table rows.
Banded columns These make it easier to view individual columns of data by applying
different formatting to alternating table columns.
First column Sets off the display of the first column of data by applying specific
formatting (typically bolding) to it.
Last column Sets off the display of the last column of data by applying specific
formatting (typically bolding) to it.
Sizing handle Enables you to manually increase or decrease the size of a table.
Generally speaking, changing the size of an Excel table does not affect
the entries in any of the cells you either add to or remove from the table.
But, cell formatting is affected. For example, if you add cells to a table
by using the sizing handle to increase the size of a table, the new cells
inherit the table's formatting. If you remove those same cells from the
table using the sizing handle, the formatting reverts. This only applies,
however, to the table's formatting; formatting you manually added to the
cells may not change.

The Create Table Dialog Box

The Create Table Dialog You can use the Create Table dialog box to convert simple ranges of data into tables. From here,
Box you can confirm the range selection you wish to convert into a table or modify that range to ensure
that the correct data becomes part of the table. The Create Table dialog box also enables you to
decide whether or not you wish to include the top row of the selected range in the new table as a
header row. Typically, you would do this if the selected range contains column labels in the top row.
You can access the Create Table dialog box by selecting Insert→Tables→Table.

Figure 3-3: Use the Create Table dialog box to convert raw data into a table.

Note: Another way to create a table is to use the Format as Table command located on the
Home tab in the Styles group. This command lets you format a list as a table by choosing the
style first and then confirming where the data is for your table. The only difference between the
two commands is that Format as Table lets you choose a table style before the table is created.

The Table Tools Design Contextual Tab

The Table Tools Design The Design contextual tab contains various commands and options that are specific to working
Contextual Tab with tables. It appears when you select a worksheet table, or any part of a table, and disappears when
you select outside the table. The Table Tools contextual tab group contains only one tab, the
Design tab, which is divided into five command groups.

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The following table identifies the types of commands and options contained in the various groups
on the Table Tools Design contextual tab.

Figure 3-4: The Table Tools Design contextual tab.

Table Tools Design Contextual Contains Commands or Options For

Tab Group

Properties Resizing and naming worksheet tables. This group also displays
the name of the currently selected table.
Tools Removing duplicate values from tables; converting tables back
into ranges; creating PivotTables out of tables; and adding
filtering objects, known as slicers, to tables.
External Table Data Exporting table data to external applications and managing data
links with external sources.
Table Style Options Toggling the display of table components on or off.
Table Styles Applying styles to Excel tables.

Table Styles and Quick Styles

Like cell styles, table styles are particular configurations of formatting options you can apply to your Table Styles and Quick
worksheet tables. Table styles help make your tables more visually appealing and easier to read. Styles
Table styles can consist of font, border, and fill formatting, and you can create your own customized
table styles or select from among a variety of preconfigured table styles, which are known as quick
styles.

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Figure 3-5: A highly stylized Excel table.

The New Table Style Dialog Box

The New Table Style You can use the New Table Style dialog box to create and save custom table styles. From here, you
Dialog Box can select which table component you wish to apply formatting to; access the Format Cells dialog
box to configure the desired font, border, and fill formatting; and name and save your custom styles.
To access the New Table Style dialog box, on the Design tab of the Table Tools contextual tab,
in the Table Styles group, select the Table Styles gallery's More button, and then select New
Table Style.

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Figure 3-6: The New Table Style dialog box.

Quick Analysis
Quick Analysis
You've likely already noticed the little icon that appears whenever you select multiple populated
cells, or a combination of populated and empty cells, on your worksheets. This icon is the Quick
Analysis button, which provides you with access to a set of commands for quickly performing a
variety of common data-analysis tasks. Among these is the ability to quickly convert a range to a
table. Excel 2016's Quick Analysis tools appear in a pop-up gallery when you select the Quick
Analysis button. This gallery is divided into a series of five tabs that each display a set of Quick
Analysis commands related to a particular type of analysis. These commands are, to a degree,
context specific, and so can change depending on the current selection. Pointing the cursor at the
various commands in the Quick Analysis gallery displays a live preview of what applying that
option would look like.

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Figure 3-7: Quick Analysis tools display live previews when you point the mouse pointer at them.

Note: When you create a table using the Quick Analysis tools, Excel does not display the
Create Table dialog box, which enables you to verify or change the cells that will be included in
the table. Using the Quick Analysis method automatically coverts the entire selected range into a
table.
The following table describes the types of Quick Analysis tools you will find on the various Quick
Analysis gallery tabs.

Quick Analysis Gallery Contains Commands For

Tab

Formatting Applying conditional formatting to the current selection.

Charts Creating charts out of the current selection.
Totals Automatically inserting various functions to perform calculations on the
current selection.
Tables Converting the current selection to a table or inserting a PivotTable.
Sparklines Inserting graphical data-analysis objects into the selected cells based on
their values.

Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and
job aids on How to Use Quick Analysis Tools.

Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and
job aids on How to Create and Modify Tables.

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ACTIVITY 3-1
Creating and Modifying Tables

Data File
C:\091056Data\Analyzing Data\Develetech Sales.xlsx

Before You Begin

Excel 2016 is open.

Scenario
As an administrative assistant to the vice president of sales at Develetech Industries you have been
asked to create a report of the third quarter sales. The third quarter sales report should delineate
each of the quarter's records. You decide the best way to present this data is to create a table from
the data.
Inform students that they
will be using the same
1. In Excel, open the workbook Develetech Sales.xlsx. workbook for multiple
activities. This is done to
2. Convert the data for the third quarter sales in to a table. consolidate the number
of data files students
a) On the Quarter 3 Sales worksheet, verify that there are no blank rows or columns within the dataset.
would have to open for
b) With cell A1 selected, select Insert→Tables→Table. each activity.
c) In the Create Table dialog box, ensure that the range listed is =$A$1:$F$21.
d) Verify that the My table has headers check box is selected and select OK.

3. Apply a quick style to the table.

a) If necessary, select any cell within the table to display the Table Tools Design contextual tab.
b) Select the Table Tools Design contextual tab, then in the Table Styles group, select the More button.

Mention to students that

they may choose their
own table style.

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c) Select Table Style Medium 12 from the Medium section, in the Table Styles gallery.

4. Add a new sales entry to the table and a new column.

a) Select cell A22 and type Q3 and press Tab.

Note: As you enter the new record Excel automatically formats the row
according to the table style.
b) Enter the remaining values for the entry in row 22.
• B22: West
• C22: Desktops
• D22: 327
• E22: 7,668

Note: While a cell in the table is selected, when you scroll down the worksheet
Excel will change the column headings from A-F into the column headings of
your table.
c) Select cell F1 and enter Total Sales

5. Remove the duplicate Northeast region data for cameras from the table.
a) Verify that the table is selected and select Table Tools Design→Tools→Remove Duplicates.

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b) In the Remove Duplicates dialog box, verify that My data has headers is selected and that all
columns are selected.

c) Select OK.
d) Verify that one duplicate value was found and removed from the table and select OK.

6. Create a defined name for the table.

a) Select the Table Tools Design contextual tab, if necessary, then in the Properties group, select the
Table Name text box and type Q3Sales_tbl

b) Press Enter.

7. Save the workbook as My Develetech Sales.xlsx and keep the file open.

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ACTIVITY 3-2
Using Summary Functions in Tables

Before You Begin

The workbook My Develetech Sales.xlsx is open.

Scenario
The vice president is pleased with your work on the third quarter sales. Now the vice president
wants to know the total sales for each row of the table and for the Southwest region, and by each
product in the Southwest region. You decide the best way to accomplish this is to enable the total
row for the table and to filter for the Southwest region.

1. Calculate the Total Sales for each table row, multiplying quantity times price.
a) Select cell F2 and type = and select cell D2.
b) Type * and then select cell E2 and press Enter.
c) Verify that Excel automatically calculated the formula for the remaining table rows.

Note: When you create an Excel table, Excel assigns a name to the table and
to each column in the table. When you add formulas to an Excel table, those
names can appear automatically as you enter the formula and select the cell
references in the table instead of manually entering them. These are called
structured references.

2. Enable the Total Row for the table.

a) With any cell of the table selected, select Table Tools Design and in the Table Style Options group,
select the Total Row check box.
b) Select cell F22 and select the Total Row drop-down arrow.
c) Verify that the function Sum is selected.
d) Select any cell within the table to close the drop-down menu.

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e) Verify the total for the quarter is $35,594,122.

3. Filter the third quarter sales for the Southwest region.

a) Select the Region AutoFilter drop-down arrow in cell B1 and uncheck the Select All check box.
b) Select the Southwest check box and select OK.
c) Verify the third quarter totals for the Southwest region.

4. Save the workbook and keep the file open.

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TOPIC B
Apply Intermediate Conditional Formatting
In Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 1, you learned basic conditional formatting can be applied to
ranges of data to highlight data outliers and compare data as a set. Learning additional conditional
formatting options beyond the basics is the next step to help you analyze data trends. In this topic,
you will learn to apply intermediate conditional formatting.

Custom Conditional Formats

In addition to the preconfigured conditional formatting options available in Excel 2016, you have
the option of creating completely custom conditional formats to suit your needs. The tools available
in Excel enable you to create specific rules you can use to apply conditional formatting and to tailor
the display of conditionally formatted cells using an incredible array of options. You can start with
one of Excel's pre-formatted options and then adjust it to better suit your needs. Or, you can create
sets of rules and formatting options completely from scratch. In addition to the built-in cell
formatting options and the data bars, color scales, and icon sets, you can use nearly any of Excel's
cell formatting options, such as number, font, and border formatting, to format cells that meet the
conditions you set. The cell formatting options not available for use as conditional formats are those
on the Alignment and Protection tabs in the Format Cells dialog box.

The New Formatting Rule Dialog Box

The New Formatting The New Formatting Rule dialog box enables you to create fully customized conditional
Rule Dialog Box formatting rules and to customize the display of cells that meet the given criteria. The New
Formatting Rule dialog box is divided into two sections: the Select a Rule Type list and the Edit
the Rule Description section. The New Formatting Rule dialog box is accessible by selecting
Home→Styles→Conditional Formatting→New Rule.

Figure 3-8: Add new conditional formatting rules by using the New Formatting Rule dialog box.

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The Select a Rule Type list displays six categories of rule types from which you can select the
general kind of rule you wish to use to apply conditional formatting. The following table provides
some detail on what these categories represent.

Rule Type Will Apply Formatting to Cells

Format all cells based on Based on the relative values of the data in a range. This is the same
their values rule type used by data bar, color scale, and icon set conditional
formatting.
Format only cells that Based on both the type of data contained in a specified range and
contain the specific values. You can use this rule type to format cells based
on criteria such as numerical values, specific text entries, particular
dates, or cell errors.
Format only top or bottom Containing values that fall within a specified percentage of the top
ranked values or bottom range of values. For example, you can apply formatting
to the top 5 percent of values or the bottom 22 percent of values.
Format only values that Containing values that are either above or below the average value
are above or below average of all data in the selected range. You can also use this rule type to
apply formatting to values that fall either above or below the first,
second, or third standard deviation.
Format only unique or Containing data that is either unique in the specified range or that
duplicate values duplicates values in other cells in the specified range.
Use a formula to That pass a logical test specified by a formula or function.
determine which cells to
format

The Edit the Rule Description section displays the commands and options you will use to
configure the parameters of whichever rule you select and to customize the display of cell
formatting. The commands and options that appear in the Edit the Rule Description section vary
dramatically depending on the rule type you select in the Select a Rule Type list. Typically, you will
be presented with options for setting the particular values or content types Excel will use as
thresholds/identifiers to apply the selected formatting. The specific formatting options also vary
greatly, but selecting several of the rule types will prompt Excel to display the Format button in the
Edit the Rule Description section. Selecting the Format button opens the Format Cells dialog
box, providing you with access to a wide array of formatting options. You can access the New
Formatting Rule dialog box by selecting Home→Styles→Conditional Formatting→New
Rule.

The Conditional Formatting Rules Manager Dialog Box

You can use the Conditional Formatting Rules Manager dialog box to add, delete, edit, and The Conditional
manage conditional formatting rules in your workbooks. The Conditional Formatting Rules Formatting Rules
Manager dialog box contains a number of commands, components, and options that provide you Manager Dialog Box
with a high level of control over your conditional formatting rules. From here, you can
simultaneously manage all conditional formatting rules present in an entire workbook. You can
access the Conditional Formatting Rules Manager dialog box by selecting
Home→Styles→Conditional Formatting→Manage Rules.

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Figure 3-9: Use the Conditional Formatting Rules Manager dialog box to manage all conditional
formatting within a particular workbook.

The following table describes the various elements of the Conditional Formatting Rules
Manager dialog box.

Conditional Formatting Description

Rules Manager Dialog Box
Element

Show formatting rules Enables you to select which workbook element to display applied
for drop-down menu formatting rules for. This can be for the currently selected range of
cells, for any of the worksheets in the workbook, and for particular
objects like tables.
New Rule button Opens the New Formatting Rule dialog box, which you can use to
create a new conditional formatting rule.
Edit Rule button Opens the Edit Formatting Rule dialog box, which enables you to
edit the currently selected rule. This is essentially the same as the New
Formatting Rule dialog box, only you use it to edit existing
conditional formatting rules.
Delete Rule button Deletes the currently selected rule.
Move Up and Move Use these to change the order of rule precedence.
Down buttons
Rule (applied in order Displays all of the specific rules applied to the selection in the Show
shown) column formatting rules for drop-down menu.
Format column Displays a preview of the specific formatting associated with each
rule.
Applies to column Displays the cell or range to which each rule applies.
Stop If True check boxes Enables you to select how far down the list of displayed rules to stop
applying formatting. You use this feature if you need to open a
workbook in an earlier version of Excel that does not support the
same type or the same number of conditional formatting rules. For
example, if you have five conditional formatting rules applied to a
particular worksheet, but you have the workbook containing that
worksheet open in an older version of Excel that supports only three
rules, you could check the Stop If True check box for the third rule
to tell Excel to apply only the top three rules.

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Rule Precedence
The Conditional Formatting Rules Manager dialog box displays all rules applied to the selection Rule Precedence
in the Show formatting rules for drop-down menu in order of rule precedence. This is the order in
which Excel evaluates and applies conditional formatting to the cells. Rules that appear above other
rules have a higher precedence.
Where there are no conflicts, all conditional formatting applied to the same range of cells will appear
simultaneously. Where there are conflicts, Excel will default to displaying the formatting with a
higher precedence. For example, let's say you apply two conditional formatting rules to the same
cell, and both of the formats indicate applying a background fill, one blue and one red, to the cells.
In cells containing data that matches the criteria of both rules, Excel will display the formatting that
has a higher precedence in the Conditional Formatting Rules Manager dialog box. This is
because a cell cannot have two different background fills applied to it at the same time. However,
you can, for example, display a data bar on top of a cell background. If those are the two formats
applied to a cell, both will appear in the cell and the precedence is moot.

Figure 3-10: Here, most cells meet the criteria for the rule applying blue fill formatting, but only
two cells meet the criteria for the red fill formatting. As the red fill formatting rule has
precedence, the red fill appears in cells that meet its rule's condition.

Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and
job aids on How to Apply Intermediate Conditional Formatting.

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ACTIVITY 3-3
Applying Intermediate Conditional Formatting

Before You Begin

The workbook My Develetech Sales.xlsx is open.

Scenario
As the vice president of sales for Develetech Industries you have collected the 2016 sales data and
organized it for each of the quarters, regions, and products. You want to find out which regions and
products are above the average. In order to accomplish this task, you decide to apply conditional
formatting.

1. Apply conditional formatting in order to see total sales that are above the average.
a) Select the Total Sales worksheet.
b) Select the range C2:C21.
c) Select Home→Styles→Conditional Formatting→New Rule.
d) In the New Formatting Rule dialog box, from the Select a Rule Type list, select Format only values
that are above or below average.
e) In the Edit the Rule Description section, in the Format values that are drop-down list, verify that
above is selected.
f) Select the Format button.
g) In the Format Cells dialog box, select the Fill tab.
h) Select the Fill Effects button and in the Shading styles section, select the option Vertical.
i) In the Fill Effects dialog box, on the Gradient tab, in the Variants section, select the upper right
variant and select OK.
j) In the Format Cells dialog box, select OK.

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k) In the New Formatting Rule dialog box, select OK.

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l) Verify that the conditional formatting has been applied to the sales data that are above the average
of $6,171,490.

Note: Note that the average of the selected range will appear on the status bar
if Average is enabled. Right-click the status bar to customize its settings.

2. Save the workbook and keep the file open.

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TOPIC C
Apply Advanced Conditional Formatting
Applying conditional formatting to worksheets is a convenient way to help users quickly make sense
of the data in a particular column. But applying conditional formatting using some of the more
common methods can be limiting. Many users simply apply conditional formatting to the same
range of cells they ask Excel to evaluate. But, what if you want Excel to examine and evaluate the
data in one column, but then apply the specified conditional formatting to another column? Or,
suppose you wish to format the cells in numerous columns based on criteria in a different column.
In Excel, you can create a formula to evaluate a condition and when that condition is met, you can
apply formatting. In this topic, you will learn to apply conditional formatting based on formulas.

The Use a Formula to Determine Which Cells to Format Rule

Typically, when you apply conditional formatting to a range of cells, say a particular column of data, The Use a Formula to
you're asking Excel to evaluate the entries in that range and then apply the specified formatting to Determine Which Cells
any cell that meets the specified criteria. Any of the basic, preconfigured conditional formatting to Format Rule
rules, and most of the rules available in the New Formatting Rule dialog box, are well-suited to
performing this task. But applying formatting to cells based on the data entered in other cells will
require the use of formulas or functions. This means you'll need to select the Use a formula to
determine which cells to format option in the New Formatting Rule dialog box when you go to
define the conditional formatting rule.

Figure 3-11: Excel enables you to define your own custom rules for the application of conditional
formatting.

This option is, essentially, an IF function that Excel uses to determine which cells to apply
formatting to. Excel treats any formula or function you enter in the Format values where this
formula is true field like the logical_test argument in a standard IF function. The difference here

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is that the value_if_true argument is the application of the specified conditional formatting,
whereas the value_if_false argument is not applying the specified formatting. To get a better idea of
how this works, let's take a look at an extremely simple example, one in which we ask Excel to
highlight the number of years an employee, in this case a sales rep, has been with the company if
more than 10 years.

Figure 3-12: An example of highlighting the number of years an employee has been with the
company if greater than 10 years.

Note: As with entering formulas or functions in worksheet cells, you must add the equal sign
( = ) before the formula or function in the Format values where this formula is true field.

Here, we are using a formula to apply formatting to the same cell Excel is evaluating. In this
example, if you were to read aloud the "IF" function Excel is applying, it would sound something
like "If the value in cell D2 is greater than 10, then apply the formatting. Otherwise, don't apply the
formatting." Obviously, this is a task Excel could easily perform using one of the preconfigured
Highlight Cells Rules from the Conditional Formatting drop-down menu. But, let's say we want
to use the value in cell D2 to apply the formatting to the sales rep's name instead of the value itself.
That would look something like the following image.

Figure 3-13: An example of highlighting the sales rep's name if the number of years the
employee has been with the company is greater than 10 years.

The only difference between the first example and this example is that we highlighted cell A2, not
cell D2, before creating the conditional formatting rule. So, although the formula is still looking to
cell D2 to perform the logical test, Excel is applying the conditional formatting to cell A2. This
forms the basis for using formulas to apply conditional formatting to cells other than those Excel
evaluates. In order to apply the same formatting across a much wider range of cells, you'll first need
to consider how absolute and relative references come into play.
Note: Although the main focus of this topic is on using formulas and functions to apply
conditional formatting to multiple columns simultaneously and to cells other than the ones Excel
evaluates, it is important to understand that you can also use formulas and functions to create
custom formatting rules when the existing conditional formatting options don't suit your needs.

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Cell References and Conditional Formatting

Excel provides you with several options for applying a conditional formatting rule to more than one
cell, row, or column at a time. You can select the entire range to which you wish to apply the
formatting before defining the rule, or you can use the Format Painter or the Paste Special
options to copy and paste the formatting to other cells once you've already defined the rule. But
there is an extremely important consideration to keep in mind when doing this: whether you select
the entire range first or you copy the formatting later, Excel treats the operation as if you were
dragging (or copying and pasting) the formatting to the new cells. This means that, as with reusing
formulas and functions themselves, absolute and relative cell references become extremely
important once you begin to reuse conditional formatting rules. When you define your conditional
formatting rule, you must think in these terms or you won't get the results you desire. Let's take a
look at a few examples to see how this works.
In this first example, we are trying to apply the same conditional formatting we did for the
salesperson that has been with the company greater than 10 years. We used the Format Painter to
apply the conditional formatting rule to the remaining cells in the first column.

Figure 3-14: An example of using Format Painter to apply conditional formatting.

Clearly, there is an issue as salespersons who have been with the company less than 10 years are still
highlighted. This is because the reference to cell D2 in the formula is an absolute reference. Excel is
looking to that cell for all of the cells in column A when applying the rule. To resolve this, simply
change the reference to cell D2 from an absolute reference to a relative reference.

Figure 3-15: An example of changing an absolute reference to a relative reference.

Now the rule is behaving as you'd expect it to. However, things get a bit more complex when you
try to apply the same conditional formatting rule to more than one column at a time. Continuing
with this example, let's say we now want to use the same rule to apply formatting to both the
Salesperson name and Employee ID based on the values in column D. If we simply copy the
formatting to the second column without changing the formula, this would be the result.

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Figure 3-16: An example of applying conditional formatting to more than one column at a time.

Although Excel applied the correct formatting in column A, it did not do so in column B. This is
because both the column and the row are relative references for cell D2 in the formula. Keep in
mind that regardless of how you apply the conditional formatting rule to the range, Excel treats it as
if you entered it in cell A2 and then dragged it down column A and then across to column B. For all
of the cells in column B, Excel is looking to the values in column E, not column D. As all of those
values are well above 10, Excel applied the formatting to all of the cells in column B. In this
example, we want Excel to always look in column D to find the value to evaluate. We also want it to
look for the values per salesperson, so the row will need to change. Because of this we need to use a
mixed reference that locks the column reference but allows the row reference to change. To get this
example working the way we want it to, the formula would look like the following.

Figure 3-17: An example of using a mixed reference to apply conditional formatting.

When using formulas or functions to apply conditional formatting across ranges of cells, always
think in terms of dragging the formula or function from the first cell to all others, and then write
your cell and range references accordingly.

Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and
job aids on How to Use Formulas and Functions to Apply Conditional Formatting.

Guidelines for Applying Conditional Formatting to Cells Based

on Values in Other Cells
Note: All of the Guidelines for this lesson are available as checklists from the Checklist tile on
the CHOICE Course screen.

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Although you can use formulas and functions to apply conditional formatting to wide ranges of
data, when doing so based on data in other cells, you must keep absolute and relative references in
mind. Excel treats all conditional formatting rules applied in this manner as if they were entered into
a single cell and then dragged across the rest of the range. When applying conditional formatting to
cells based on data stored in other cells:
• You must use a formula or a function to define the conditional formatting rule.
• You must enter the formula or function in the Format values where this formula is true field
in the New Formatting Rule dialog box.
• The formula or function must begin with an equal sign ( = ).
• If you are applying the rule to a single cell, you can use either a relative or an absolute reference
to the evaluated cell in the formula or function.
• If you are applying the rule to multiple cells in a single column and the rule will be evaluating the
data in only a single cell, you must use an absolute reference to the evaluated cell in the formula
or function.
• If you are applying the rule to multiple cells in a single column and the rule will be evaluating the
associated data stored in multiple rows in another column, you must use a mixed reference that
locks the column for the evaluated cells, but that is relative for rows, in the formula or function.
• If you are applying the rule to a range that includes multiple rows and columns and the rule will
be evaluating the associated data stored in a single cell, you must use an absolute reference for
the evaluated cell in the formula or function.
• If you are applying the rule to a range that includes multiple rows and columns and the rule will
be evaluating the associated data stored in multiple rows in another column, you must use a
mixed reference that locks the column for the evaluated cells, but that is relative for rows, in the
formula or function.

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ACTIVITY 3-4
Using Logical Functions to Apply Conditional
Formatting

Before You Begin

The workbook My Develetech Sales.xlsx is open.

Scenario
As the sales manager for Develetech Industries you want to recognize sales personnel that have
been with the company for ten or more years. You have created a workbook with each of the sales
persons and their tenure calculated. You decide to use a formula to apply conditional formatting to
the salesperson name and Employee ID.

1. Apply conditional formatting to the salesperson names based on their tenure with the company.
a) Select the Sales Tenure worksheet.
b) Select cells A2:A11.
c) Select Home→Styles→Conditional Formatting→New Rule.
d) From the Select a Rule Type list box, select the Use a formula to determine which cells to format
rule.
e) Select the Format values where this formula is true text box and type =$D2>10

Note: Using the mixed reference in this formula prevents the column from
changing when this rule is copied to the Employee IDs later in this activity.
f) Select the Format button.
g) In the Format Cells dialog box, select the Fill tab, if necessary, and in the last row of the Background
Color section, select Light Green which is the fifth color from the left, and select OK.

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h) In the New Formatting Rule dialog box, select OK.

i) Verify that correct fill formatting has been applied to the salesperson names who have been with the
company greater than 10 years.

2. Apply the same formatting to the employee IDs.

a) If necessary, reselect A2:A11, AutoFill right to B2:B11.

Note: Remember that the AutoFill handle is in cell A11 after the range A2:A11 is
selected.

a) Select the AutoFill icon and select Fill Formatting Only.

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b) Verify the correct fill formatting has been applied to the employee IDs.

3. Verify the Conditional Formatting Rules Manager updated the rule to include the range B2:B11.
a) If necessary, select A2:B11, and select Home→Styles→Conditional Formatting→Manage Rules.
b) In the Conditional Formatting Rules Manager dialog box, in the Show formatting rules for drop-down
list Current Selection is selected and in the Applies to section the range =$A$2:$B$11 is displayed.

c) Select Close.

4. Save the workbook and then close the file.

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Summary
In this lesson, you learned to create and modify tables, and you learned multiple ways to apply
conditional formatting. The ability to create and summarize data quickly using tables to present that
data in a professional manner is an important skill. Another important skill is the ability to highlight
key values in your data through the use of conditional formatting. Excel provides many different
methods of analyzing your data because every business need is different.
Encourage students to
What advantages do you see tables providing in addition to data ranges? use the social
A: Answers will vary, but students are likely to find the built-in sorting, filtering, and summary functions of networking tools
tables easier to use than the alternative options for data ranges. Students may wish to apply their own provided on the CHOICE
formatting instead of relying on Excel's table style options. Course screen to follow
up with their peers after
What tasks will Excel's advanced conditional formatting options make easier for you in your current role? the course is completed
for further discussion
A: Answers will vary, largely depending on the student's role and organization. Some users will find it and resources to support
useful to be able to easily display overall data patterns to a general audience. Others will likely use continued learning.
conditional formatting to search for and identify anomalies in their data that could affect calculation
accuracy for critical computations. Some users may find the ability to apply multiple rules to the same
dataset helpful when looking to assign resources to particular issues or projects, or to identify
personnel who require various levels of training or support.

Note: Check your CHOICE Course screen for opportunities to interact with your classmates,
peers, and the larger CHOICE online community about the topics covered in this course or
other topics you are interested in. From the Course screen you can also access available
resources for a more continuous learning experience.

Lesson 3: Analyzing Data |

4 Visualizing Data with
Charts
Lesson Time: 1 hour

Lesson Objectives
In this lesson, you will visualize data with charts. You will:
• Create charts.
• Modify and format charts.
• Use advanced chart features.

Lesson Introduction
Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016 provides you with powerful features to help you organize
and analyze your data. As you become more familiar with these features, you'll find you can
ask Excel a vast array of questions and get the answers you need. However, not everyone
who you report to or present data to will have the same comfort level or expertise when it
comes to viewing worksheets. Viewing information in the form of ranges of data entries is
simply not natural for many people. You may find yourself presenting information to large
audiences on a regular basis. In these cases, you don't want people scanning lines of data on
a worksheet when you're trying to present. You want to give them a simple, easy-to-digest
view of important data so they can quickly understand what's really important.
In short, you need a way to generate visual representations of your data. Excel 2016 includes
some handy functionality that can convert your raw or analyzed data into visually clear, easy-
to-interpret diagrams with just a few steps. Taking the time to understand how this
functionality works will give you the ability to generate high-impact visuals to present to
nearly any audience, nearly any time, almost instantly.
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TOPIC A
Create Charts
Charts are a great way to interpret data, as many people need to see data visually to comprehend it
better. Plotting data in charts can make spreadsheets less confusing when incorporated in your
workbooks. In this topic, you will learn to create charts.

Charts
Charts Charts are graphical representations of the numeric values and relationships in a dataset. Charts help
worksheet viewers to quickly and easily interpret the data in a worksheet. Excel charts update
automatically when you update the data feeding them. And, some chart types contain animation
functionality that helps worksheet viewers more easily discern overall patterns in the changing data
as you update it.

Figure 4-1: A pie chart on an Excel worksheet.

In this figure, while you can tell from the values in the Total Sales (in millions) column what the
sales are for each market, the pie chart to the right of the data is much easier to interpret. With just a
glance, you can tell that Western sales are greater than the other three regions, and that they account
for more than a third of all sales. Getting this information from the raw data would require a bit of
analysis and some calculating.

Chart Basics
Chart Basics Although there is a wide variety of charts available to display a number of different types of data in
Excel 2016, most of the chart types follow the same basic conventions. Most of the commonly used
chart types in Excel plot data along two axes: the X axis and the Y axis. The X axis is the one that
runs horizontally along the chart. It is typically used to represent a category of information, such as
fiscal quarter or department. The Y, or vertical, axis is typically used to represent values within your
dataset, such as sales totals or number of products shipped. The objects displayed in the chart, such
as bars, columns, or lines, typically represent the individual items, or series, for which you wish to
represent the data, such as particular regions or individual sales reps.
Because Excel pulls data from your worksheets to create charts, it's important to understand how
Excel reads your data in order to create them. Excel pulls the elements plotted along the X axis, or

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the categories, from your column labels. It identifies a data series based on the row labels from the
selected dataset. Excel reads the values in the remaining cells as the values to plot against the Y axis.

Figure 4-2: Using simple sales data to chart relative sales by region.

Note that, in the figure, the categories along the X axis correspond to the worksheet column labels,
which in this case are fiscal quarters. The data series, represented by the columns on the chart,
represent different regions, which Excel pulled from the row labels. The data entered into the
remaining cells are the values against which the series are plotted.
Of course, not all charts work exactly like this, but most of the commonly used charts do. The most
notable exceptions are the pie chart, which you will typically use only to chart a single column of
data, and the bar chart, which essentially turns a column chart on its side.

Chart Types
Excel 2016 includes 15 different chart types, each of which is ideal for displaying a particular type of Chart Types
data or set of relationships. Each type of chart contains a variety of specific subtypes that you can
use to tailor the presentation of your data. You can access the chart types and subtypes in the Insert
Chart dialog box, which you can use to insert charts into your worksheets. You can access the
Insert Chart dialog box by selecting the Insert→Charts→dialog box launcher, or by selecting
the More option from any of the chart type drop-down menus in the Charts group on the Insert
tab.

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Figure 4-3: Use the All Charts tab on the Insert Chart dialog box to select the desired chart type
and subtype to suit your needs.

The following table describes the ideal uses for the various Excel chart types.

Chart Type Is Best Used to Display

Column Relationships among values in a number of categories or changes in values

over time.
Line Trends in data over a period of time at consistent intervals; for example,
quarterly or annually.
Pie The relative size of values compared to the whole and to other parts of the
whole. This is the best chart to use when you are charting only a single
column or row of data.
Bar Relationships among values in a number of categories.
Area Relationships among values in a number of categories over time with visual
emphasis on the magnitude of each data category.

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Chart Type Is Best Used to Display

X Y (Scatter) The relationship between two categories of measured data, as opposed to
one category of measured data across evenly spaced periods of time. Use this
chart type to determine if there is a trend in the relationship between two
sets of variables.
Stock The change in stock prices over time or other similar fluctuating sets of
values, such as daily or annual temperatures.
Surface Three-dimensional representations of data. Typically, you would use a
surface chart when working with three sets of data. An example of this
would be charting the relative change in density of several materials, at a
variety of temperatures, over a period of time.
Radar The aggregate relational sizes of multiple data categories in terms of multiple
criteria. For example, you could use a radar chart to track the popularity of a
particular item in multiple countries for each year in a decade.
Treemap A hierarchical chart; it shows a hierarchical view of your data and how the
parts of hierarchy compare in size to each other.
Sunburst Visual comparisons of relative sizes, similar to Treemap. The difference with
Sunburst is showing the links between groups and sub-groups.
Histogram A column chart that shows frequency data. The difference is that each
column represents a range of values (called a bin) instead of a single value.
Box & Whisker Statistical information about a set of data; the distribution of data into
quartiles, highlighting the mean and outliers.
Waterfall A running total as values are added or subtracted. It's useful for
understanding how an initial value (for example, net income) is affected by a
series of positive and negative values.
Combo Relationships among values of widely differing ranges of data. For example,
if you want to chart both unit sales measured in thousands of units on the
same chart as sales in billions of dollars, you could use a combo chart so that
both sets of values, which are on vastly different scales, can be displayed
simultaneously. Combo charts are also referred to as dual-axis charts.

Chart Insertion Methods

Before inserting a chart into a worksheet, you should select the dataset the chart will be based on. If
you select a single cell within the desired dataset, Excel will try to guess at the proper range. This
does not always generate the desired outcome, however, so it's a best practice to manually select the
desired dataset.
It's important to remember to include row and column labels in your selection and to have your data
entered correctly. For example, the categories you want plotted along the X axis should be your
column labels, and the desired data series should be the row labels. Once you have ensured that your
data is properly entered on the worksheet, and you have selected the desired range, you have four
general options for inserting a chart: the Quick Analysis tools, ribbon commands, the Insert Chart
dialog box, or inserting the default chart type. For either of the middle two methods, simply select
the desired chart type and subtype from the Insert Chart dialog box or from the chart type drop-
down menus in the Charts group on the Insert tab.
If you know you will be inserting the same type of chart a number of times in your workbook, you
can set that chart type as the default chart type. Then you can use one of two keyboard shortcuts to
instantly create the default chart type out of any selected dataset.

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Keyboard Shortcut Inserts

Alt+F1 The default chart type on the same worksheet the dataset is on.
F11 The default chart type on a new worksheet.

Note: You set the default chart type for Excel by right-clicking the desired chart subtype from
the Insert Chart dialog box, and then selecting Set as Default Chart. This is an application-
level setting, so what you set here will be the default chart type for any workbook file until you
change the default chart type.

Recommended Charts
Recommended Charts Excel 2016 includes a handy feature to assist you with selecting the most appropriate chart subtype
when inserting charts: Recommended Charts. Based on the dataset you select, Excel 2016 uses an
algorithm to determine which of the chart subtypes would best suit your needs. You have access to
Recommended Charts in two places: the Quick Analysis tools and from the Recommended
Charts tab in the Insert Chart dialog box.

Figure 4-4: You can access Recommended Charts from the Quick Analysis tools or from the
Insert Chart dialog box.
The Insert Chart Dialog
Box
It may be a good idea to The Insert Chart Dialog Box
caution students that
some of the As previously mentioned, the Insert Chart dialog box is one of the methods you can use to insert
recommended charts charts into a worksheet. The Insert Chart dialog box is divided into two tabs: the Recommended
Excel displays could Charts tab and the All Charts tab. From the Recommended Charts tab, you can view a list of the
contain functionality they chart subtypes Excel recommends for you based on the dataset you select. You can also view a live
are not yet familiar with, preview of what each of the recommendations would look like if you inserted them. The All Charts
such as PivotCharts.

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tab enables you to browse through all of the available chart types and subtypes so you can select the
appropriate chart subtype yourself. The All Charts tab also displays a live preview of each of the
choices. On the All Charts tab, these live previews also include variations on the chart subtypes
with various formatting options applied to them.

Figure 4-5: The All Charts tab on the Insert Chart dialog box.

Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and
job aids on How to Create Charts.

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ACTIVITY 4-1
Creating Charts

Data File
C:\091056Data\Visualizing Data with Charts\Annual Sales.xlsx

Before You Begin

Excel 2016 is open.

Scenario
As a marketing analyst for Develetech Industries, the sales team has given you the Annual Sales
workbook. The sales manager has asked you to build charts for the data in the workbook to be used
in the annual company meeting.
Inform students that they
will be using the same
workbook for multiple 1. In Excel, open the workbook Annual Sales.xlsx.
activities. This is done to
consolidate the number 2. Create a clustered column chart from the quarterly sales data.
of data files students
a) Verify that the Quarterly Sales worksheet is selected and select the range A1:E5.
would have to open for
each activity. b) Select Insert→Charts→dialog box launcher.
c) Explore the Recommended Charts by selecting the chart thumbnails.

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d) Select the first recommended chart, a Clustered Column chart and select OK.

e) Verify that the clustered column chart was created.

3. Create a line chart from the monthly sales of laptops.

a) Select the Sales Trends worksheet and then select the range A1:A13.

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b) Hold Ctrl and select C1:C13.

c) Select Insert→Charts→Insert Line or Area Chart and select Line, the first 2-D line chart variant.

4. Create a pie chart from the sales comparison data.

a) Select the Sales Comparison worksheet and select the range A1:B5.

b) Select the Quick Analysis button and then select the Charts tab.
c) Hover over the various chart types and select the Pie chart type.

5. Save the workbook as My Annual Sales.xlsx and keep the file open.

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TOPIC B
Modify and Format Charts
Although you can create charts with just a few mouse clicks, the default chart configurations aren't
always exactly what you need to present your data. Depending on your audience and the venue, you
may want to include more or less information than the default configurations include, present your
data with organizational branding, or simply make your charts larger or easier to read.
Excel 2016 provides you with a vast array of options when it comes to modifying and formatting
your charts. By configuring the display of your charts, you take full control over the message your
charts convey and their overall visual impact. A well-formatted chart can mean the difference
between simply delivering information and making an impact on your audience.

Modification vs. Formatting

Modifying and formatting charts go hand-in-hand. Although many people use these terms Chart Modifications
synonymously, they are actually two different things. Modifying a chart includes making changes
such as moving chart elements, adding or removing chart elements, turning the display of particular
data on or off, and changing the chart type. Think of modifying a chart as working with the display
of data. You modify a chart to change the audience's understanding of the information you're
presenting.

Figure 4-6: This chart has been modified to make the data easier to interpret.

Formatting refers to altering the overall look and feel of a chart. Formatting a chart typically Chart Formatting
includes tasks such as changing the color scheme or the font, and altering the size of the chart. You
format a chart to comply with branding standards or to convey a particular mood or feel.

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Figure 4-7: This chart has been formatted to comply with branding guidelines.

Chart Elements
Chart Elements Chart elements are the individual objects that can appear on charts and that convey some level of
information to a viewer about the chart's data. While all Excel charts contain at least one chart
element, by default, the various chart types display different chart elements. For example, while bar
and column charts typically display an X axis and a Y axis, surface charts display three axes. Pie
charts don't contain axes as they deal with only a single column of data. Each chart element serves a
different role in visually communicating information about data and trends.

Figure 4-8: Chart elements help the audience interpret chart data.

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Chart Elements Guidelines

Note: All of the Guidelines for this lesson are available as checklists from the Checklist tile on
the CHOICE Course screen.

Formatting charts has relatively little impact on an audience's ability to interpret your data.
Modifying chart elements, on the other hand, can have a significant impact. As a general rule, it's
best to include only those chart elements that are absolutely necessary for conveying meaning.
Cluttered charts can muddy your main point and make the chart confusing to view, which is exactly
what you create charts to avoid. However, some chart elements do actually help add meaning. Until
you gain an intuitive sense of what chart elements to include for various purposes, you may want to
consider adding chart elements that you feel will help your target audience interpret your data,
analyzing your chart, and then removing anything that doesn't directly contribute to the message you
intend to deliver. When analyzing your charts, ask yourself questions, such as:
• If I remove the gridlines, will the chart still convey meaning?
• Do I need a legend? Can I remove the legend and use data labels instead?
• How much precision do I need for axis labels?
• Do the axes really need titles?
• Will using a three-dimensional layout enhance visual appeal or distort proportions?
• Does including the data table aid understanding?
• Do I really need major and minor tick marks on the axes?
Note: Before finalizing your charts, keep the old adage "less is more" in mind. If the
audience needs an element to acquire meaning, keep it. Otherwise, remove it.

The Chart Tools Contextual Tab

You can access many of the commands you will use to modify and format your charts on the Chart The Design Tab
Tools contextual tab. Similar to other contextual tabs, the Chart Tools contextual tab appears
whenever you select a chart or a chart element, and it disappears when you select a worksheet
element outside the chart. The Chart Tools contextual tab contains two tabs that each contain task-
related groups and commands for working with your charts. Let's take a look at the various
command groups on both of these tabs.

Figure 4-9: The Design tab.

Use the commands on the Design tab to quickly change the overall look and feel of your charts.

Design Tab Command Contains Commands For

Group

Chart Layouts Adding or removing individual chart elements, and quickly configuring
the display of all chart elements according to predefined configurations.
Chart Styles Quickly formatting a chart by using predefined sets of formatting
options.
Data Changing the chart's dataset range and switching the row and column
data. Keep in mind that this does not switch the data that is displayed on
the X axis with the data that is displayed on the Y axis. This switches the
categories with the data series.

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Design Tab Command Contains Commands For

Group
Type Changing the chart type.
Location Moving charts to different worksheets within a workbook.

The Format Tab

Figure 4-10: The Format tab.

Use the commands on the Format tab to configure chart formatting.

Format Tab Command Contains Commands For

Group

Current Selection Selecting particular chart elements and accessing the Format task pane.
Insert Shapes Inserting or changing shapes on worksheets.
Shape Styles Configuring formatting options for chart elements.
WordArt Styles Configuring formatting options for chart text.
Arrange Changing the front-to-back placement of chart elements and configuring
the orientation of chart elements.
Size Changing the size of charts and chart elements.

The Format Task Pane

The Format Task Pane You can use the commands available in the Format task pane to fine-tune the overall formatting of
your charts. Excel 2016 opens the Format task pane when you select Format→Current
Selection→Format Selection from the Chart Tools contextual tab. It will display with a slightly
different name depending on the chart element you currently have selected. For example, if you
have one of the axes selected, it will appear as the Format Axis task pane; if you have the chart title
selected, it will appear as the Format Chart Title task pane.
The Format task pane also displays a different configuration of tabs and commands based on the
chart element you have selected. At the highest level, depending on your current selection, it may
display two tabs that essentially divide the formatting commands between text and other objects.
Under each of these tabs is a series of other tabs that further divide the commands into functional
groups. Within these lower-level tabs is a series of expandable sections that display the commands
and options you will use to apply specific formatting to the selected chart element.

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Figure 4-11: The Format task pane displays different sets of commands and options depending
on which chart element you currently have selected.

The following table describes the various elements of the Format task pane.

Format Task Pane Description

Element

Title Displays variations of the Format task pane's title depending on the
chart element that is currently selected.
Task Pane Options Provides you with access to options for moving, resizing, or closing the
drop-down arrow Format task pane.
Options drop-down Opens a drop-down menu that enables you to select different chart
arrow elements for formatting purposes. This is essentially the same menu you
can access by selecting the Format→Current Selection→Chart
Elements drop-down arrow from the Chart Tools contextual tab.
Changing the selection changes the task pane's title and the displayed
tabs and commands.
High-level tabs Divide the formatting commands into functional groups at the highest
level. Essentially, these divide the formatting commands and options
between object formatting tasks and text formatting tasks. If a chart
element doesn't contain text, the Format task pane displays only a single
option at this level of the hierarchy.
Low-level tabs Divide the formatting commands and options at a more granular level
than the high-level tabs. The low-level tabs available are dependent upon
your current selection.
Command sections You can expand or collapse these task-specific sections to access or hide
the specific commands and options you will use to format chart
elements.
Commands and options Enable you to apply formatting options to the selected chart element.

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The Chart Tools Buttons

The Chart Tools Buttons Whenever you select a chart in Excel, Excel displays a set of three buttons near the top-right corner
of the chart area. You can use these three buttons to quickly access some of the most commonly
used commands for formatting and modifying Excel charts. Selecting any of these three buttons
opens either a menu or a gallery containing commands or options for configuring the currently
selected chart.

Figure 4-12: Use the chart tools buttons to quickly access common formatting and modification
options.

The following table describes the commands or options available from each of the chart tools
buttons.

Chart Tools Button Selecting This Button

Chart Elements button Opens a menu that enables you to toggle on or off, as well as modify
various chart elements.
Chart Styles button Opens a gallery providing you with quick access to various chart
styles and color schemes.
Chart Filters button Opens a menu that enables you to quickly toggle on or off the display
of chart series, chart categories, or individual elements within either
of these. From this menu, you can also toggle on or off the display of
series labels and category labels.

The Select Data Source Dialog Box

The Select Data Source You will use the Select Data Source dialog box to manage Excel chart data. From here, you can
Dialog Box edit the entire dataset feeding the chart, or you can edit the data feeding any of the individual data
series. You can also remove from or add back to the chart any of the individual data series, reorder
how the data series appear on the chart, or switch the chart's X and Y axes. You can access the
Select Data Source dialog box from the Chart Tools contextual tab by selecting
Design→Data→Select Data.

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Figure 4-13: Use the Select Data Source dialog box to manage the data displayed by Excel charts.

Chart Animations
As previously mentioned, when you update the data associated with a chart, the chart itself also
updates. In Excel 2016, these changes are animated to help worksheet developers and viewers get a
clearer sense of how the changes affect the overall values and relationships in the chart. This
functionality can also enable you to create dynamic, animated charts by using some of the add-ins
available for Excel 2016.

Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and
job aids on How to Modify and Format Charts.

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ACTIVITY 4-2
Modifying and Formatting Charts

Before You Begin

The workbook My Annual Sales.xlsx is open.

Scenario
As a marketing analyst, you have shared your initial charts with your manager. Your manager has
suggested you modify and format these charts for a better presentation at the annual company
meeting.

1. Change the layout of the clustered column chart on the Quarterly Sales worksheet.
a) Select the Quarterly Sales worksheet and if necessary, select the clustered column chart.
b) On the Chart Tools contextual tab, select Design→Chart Layouts→Quick Layout and then select
Layout 9 from the gallery.

2. Modify the chart style of the Laptops line chart on the Sales Trends worksheet.
a) Select the Sales Trends worksheet and if necessary, select the line chart.

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b) On the Chart Tools contextual tab, select Design→Chart Styles→More button and from the gallery
select Style 12.

3. Change the chart type of the pie chart on the Sales Comparison worksheet to a 3-D pie chart.
a) Select the Sales Comparison worksheet and if necessary, select the pie chart.
b) On the Chart Tools contextual tab, select Design→Type→Change Chart Type.
c) From the Pie category, in the Change Chart Type dialog box, on the All Charts tab, select the
second variant 3-D Pie and select OK.

4. Apply a chart style to the pie chart.

a) On the Chart Tools contextual tab, select Design→Chart Styles→More button and from the gallery
select Style 1.

b) Select the Chart Elements button and hover over Data Labels. Select the arrow that appears to
the right and select More Options from the menu.

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c) In the Format Data Labels task pane, in the Label Options section, select the Percentage check box
and deselect the Value check box.

d) Close the Format Data Labels task pane.

5. Change the default titles on the column chart on the Quarterly Sales worksheet.
a) Select the Quarterly Sales worksheet and if necessary, select the clustered column chart.
b) On the Chart Tools contextual tab, select Format→Current Selection→Chart Elements drop-down
arrow and select Chart Title.

c) Select the Formula Bar and type Quarterly Sales and press Enter.
d) Select the vertical Axis Title label on the left side of the chart, type Sales and then press Enter.

Note: You may notice that the text is entered in the Formula Bar.

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e) Select the horizontal Axis Title label at the bottom of the chart, and type 2016 and then press Enter.

6. Move and resize the Quarterly Sales clustered column chart.

a) Point to the chart area surrounding the chart. Using the move pointer click and drag the chart so
that the upper-left of the chart covers cell G3.

Note: It is good practice to leave at least one row and one column of space
around the edges of charts.

b) Point the cursor to the bottom-right resize handle until the mouse changes to a resize pointer.
c) Click and drag to enlarge the chart to cover cell P20.

7. Save the workbook and keep the file open.

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TOPIC C
Use Advanced Chart Features
Have you ever needed to graphically display two widely different sets of data simultaneously? For
example, you may wish to show how unit sales correlate to overall sales totals within the same chart.
It's likely that the figures for total sales are much higher than they are for the number of units sold;
after all, many items cost far more than a dollar these days. Putting both figures on the same chart
would likely make at least one of the data series difficult to read. Or suppose you want to display
future projections for your datasets on the same chart you display the data itself. Without the future
data, how can you create chart elements that visually convey the information you wish to share?
What if you have to create a lot of these charts? Does all of this mean a lot of extra data entry,
calculation, and formatting?
Fortunately, Excel 2016 includes a wide range of advanced charting features that enable you to
display widely varying sets of data together, include forecasting trends on your charts, and reuse
highly stylized or formatted charts again and again. It almost goes without saying that this level of
functionality means you can quickly make an impact on nearly any presentation without having to
put a lot of time and effort into doing so.

Dual-Axis Charts
Dual-Axis Charts A dual-axis chart is, simply, a chart that displays two sets of information on the same chart. This can
be in the form of a dual-Y-axis chart, which displays two data series simultaneously, or a dual-X-axis
chart, which displays two sets of categories simultaneously. By far, dual-Y-axis charts are used more
frequently than dual-X-axis charts. But dual-X-axis charts can be useful for particular types of
charts, such as bubble charts or XY (scatter) charts. Excel supports dual-axis charts only for 2-D
chart types; they do not work with 3-D chart types. Additionally, you can create a chart with a
secondary X axis only if it already has a secondary Y axis.
The main advantage to dual-axis charts is the ability to not only display two different sets of data
simultaneously, but also to format the different sets of data independently of each other. This means
you can make the various data series easily visually distinguishable from each other and display them
within the same amount of space using different scales. For example, you can simultaneously display
unit sales figures, which may range in the thousands, with total sales figures, which could range in
the billions of dollars for expensive equipment. Clearly the data that is expressed in billions of units
would be far easier to see within the same Y axis scale than the data with figures in the thousands. In
fact, those figures may not even be visible with such a drastic difference in scale. When you format
one or more data series as a different chart type than the original data series, the chart is known as a
combo chart. Excel 2016 automatically adjusts the scale of secondary Y axes when the data values for
the series you use to create them are drastically different than the values in the remaining series. But,
you must apply other visual formatting manually.

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Figure 4-14: Dual-axis charts enable you to simultaneously display and independently format
various sets of data within the same space.

You may want to show

Note: If you're interested in using your Excel charts in external applications, presentations, or LearnTO Save an Excel
other forms of media, access the LearnTO Save an Excel Chart as a Picture presentation Chart as a Picture from
from the LearnTO tile on the CHOICE course screen. the CHOICE Course
screen or have students
navigate out to the
Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and Course screen and
watch it themselves as a
job aids on How to Create a Dual-Axis Chart.
supplement to your
instruction. If not, please
remind students to visit
Forecasting the LearnTOs for this
course on their CHOICE
In addition to creating secondary axes to display various data series or categories simultaneously, Course screen after
Excel includes a chart feature that can help you forecast trends in your data. Forecasting is the process class for supplemental
of using the trends that exist within past data to predict future outcomes. By its nature, forecasting information and
can never be entirely accurate, as one can never precisely predict all possible future outcomes. As a additional resources.
general rule, the more you forecast out into the future, the less accurate your forecasts become.

Trendlines
In Excel, trendlines are chart elements that can graphically represent both the current trends that Trendlines
exist within your data and past or future forecasts of those trends. You can add trendlines to any of
the following non-stacked, 2-D chart types: column, line, bar, area, stock, XY (scatter), and bubble.
You can name and format trendlines to make them easier to view on charts or to adhere to
organizational branding standards. To access the options for adding trendlines to your charts, select
the desired chart to display the Chart Tools buttons, select the Chart Elements button, point the
cursor at the Trendlines check box, and then select the arrow that appears to the right of it.

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Figure 4-15: Trendline on an Excel chart.

Trendline Types
You can use different types of trendlines to display and forecast data trends depending on the type
of data you wish to analyze. Excel provides you with six options for adding trendlines to your
charts.

Trendline Type Use This to Display or Forecast Data That

Exponential Increases in rate of change at an ever-faster rate over time.

Linear Is linear in nature. When you graph linear relationships, the resulting graph is a
straight line that represents a trend that holds steady, or that increases or
decreases by a steady rate.
Logarithmic Has a rapidly increasing or decreasing rate of change that eventually levels out.
Polynomial Fluctuates over time.
Power Increases in rate of change at a steady rate over time.
Moving average Fluctuates randomly over time. Use this type of trendline to smooth out
random patterns of values to give viewers a sense of the overall average change
in values over time.

The Format Trendline Task Pane

The Format Trendline You will use the Format Trendline task pane to apply formatting and effects to your chart
Task Pane trendlines and to change the type of trendlines in your charts. You can access the Format
Trendline task pane by selecting the desired trendline, and then, on the Chart Tools contextual
tab, select Format→Current Selection→Format Selection.

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Figure 4-16: The Format Trendline task pane.

Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and
job aids on How to Work with Trendlines.

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ACTIVITY 4-3
Creating a Dual-Axis Chart

Before You Begin

The workbook My Annual Sales.xlsx is open.

Scenario
In addition to the previous charts you have created, your manager has asked you to build some more
complex charts. You have been provided with a workbook that contains the second and third
quarter monthly totals and their percentage of total sales for the year thus far. Your manager has
heard about combo charts and wants to display total sales on one axis and percentage of total sales
on another. In addition, with only six months of recorded data, your manager would like to see a
projection of what the next three months might look like. You decide to add a trendline to forecast
this trend.

1. Create a combo chart from the monthly totals.

a) Select the Monthly Totals worksheet.
b) Select the range A1:C7.
c) Select Insert→Charts→dialog box launcher.
d) In the Insert Chart dialog box, select the All Charts tab and then select Combo.
e) In the Choose the chart type and axis for your data series section, in the % of Total Sales row,
select the check box for Secondary Axis.

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f) Select OK.

2. Modify the chart title and include axis titles for each Y axis.

a) Select the Chart Elements button and hover over Axis Titles. Select the arrow that appears to
the right and select Primary Vertical and Secondary Vertical.

b) On the left side of the chart, select the Vertical (Value) Axis Title. Type = and select cell B1, then
press Enter.
c) On the right side of the chart, select the Secondary Vertical (Value) Axis Title. Type = and select cell
C1, then press Enter.

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d) Select the Chart Title and type Monthly Totals and then press Enter.

3. Add a trendline to the total sales series.

a) On the Chart Tools contextual tab, select Format→Current Selection→Chart Elements drop-down
arrow and select Series "Total Sales".

b) Select the Chart Elements button and hover over Trendline. Select the arrow that appears to the
right and select More Options.
c) In the Format Trendline task pane, verify that the Trendline Options high-level tab is selected and

then, if necessary, select the Trendline Options low-level tab.

d) In the Trendline Options section, verify that Linear is selected. In the Forecast group, select the
Forward text box, type 3 and then press Enter.

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e) Verify that the trendline has been added to the chart, forecasting three periods forward.

4. Save the workbook and keep the file open.

Chart Templates
Working with advanced charting features can require quite a bit of chart formatting and Chart Templates
modification. And, it's likely you'll need to reuse at least some of your charts for multiple purposes,
projects, or periods. So, you would certainly benefit from the ability to save all of the formatting and
modification work that went into creating your charts for use in future workbooks. This can be
especially helpful if you've painstakingly formatted chart elements to adhere to organizational
branding guidelines and will frequently need to create charts that follow them. Fortunately, Excel
provides you with the ability to save charts as chart templates that you can apply to other datasets in
the same workbook or to datasets in other workbooks.
Like other Excel templates, a chart template is a type of file that stores a chart type and all of the
associated formatting you've applied to it. The file extension for Excel 2016 chart templates is .crtx.
Excel stores chart templates in a subfolder in the Microsoft Templates folder named Charts. Once
saved, you can access chart templates from the Templates tab in either the Insert Chart dialog box
or the Change Chart Type dialog box, just as you can any other chart type. This is true only if you
save your chart templates in the Charts folder. Do not save chart templates in any other folder if
you wish to access them from the dialog boxes.

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Figure 4-17: Chart templates available for use in the Change Chart Type dialog box.

Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and
job aids on How to Create and Use Chart Templates.

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ACTIVITY 4-4
Creating a Chart Template

Before You Begin

The workbook My Annual Sales.xlsx is open.

Scenario
You like the look and feel of the chart you created to forecast monthly sales. You know that you'll
be creating similar charts for other sales periods. Instead of creating and manually adding elements
to your charts each time you create them, you decide to create a chart template from the chart that
you can apply to future datasets.

1. Verify that you are on the Monthly Totals worksheet, and if necessary, select the Monthly Totals combo
chart.

2. Save the chart as a template.

a) Right-click the chart and then select Save as Template.
b) In the Save Chart Template dialog box, ensure the Charts folder is selected.

Note: Excel should automatically direct you to the Charts folder. The label
<User> in the chart templates path image will be your user name. The
AppData folder is typically a hidden system folder, so you will not see the
folder browsing through File Explorer, although you can type AppData in the
address path to go to that folder directly.

c) In the File name field, type Trendline Chart Template.

d) Verify the Save as type is Chart Template Files(*.crtx), and then select Save.

3. Test the new chart template.

a) Select the Projected Sales worksheet.
b) Select the range A1:C7.
c) Select Insert→Charts→dialog box launcher.
d) In the Insert Charts dialog box, select the All Charts tab, and then select the Templates category.

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e) In the My Templates section, select the Trendline Chart Template and select OK.

f) Verify that Excel created a dual-axis combo chart with a trendline.

4. Save and close the workbook.

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Summary
In this lesson, you presented your data graphically using charts. You did this by creating charts to
display your data in various types. You initially learned to create basic charts like column, bar, line,
and pie charts. You then learned to format and modify those charts along with the ability to build
advanced charts such as combo charts, and to include trendlines making charts easier to read and
interpret. Providing your audience members with a visual snapshot of your data enables them to
quickly recognize trends in your raw data, make easy comparisons, and focus on your message.
Encourage students to
What are a couple of reasons for which you anticipate including charts in your workbooks? use the social
A: Answers will vary, but many users will likely find charts useful for regular meetings at which status networking tools
updates are frequently presented. The use of charts is a quick and easy way to demonstrate provided on the CHOICE
progress. Also, users are likely to find charts helpful when breaking down overall and periodic figures, Course screen to follow
up with their peers after
such as at end-of-year events or when reviewing the success of a particular initiative or product.
the course is completed
What uses will you have for Excel's advanced charting features in your current role? for further discussion
and resources to support
A: Answers will vary, and some students may not have a need to use advanced chart features currently. continued learning.
Now that students are aware of the these chart features they may use them in the future. Users who
frequently track multiple figures simultaneously, especially figures that vary drastically in scale, will
likely wish to present quarterly or annual figures to large audiences by using combo or dual-axis
charts. For users in industries that track long-term performance such as with financial or investment
firms, including trendlines in charts will be a simple way to display estimated future trends.

Note: Check your CHOICE Course screen for opportunities to interact with your classmates,
peers, and the larger CHOICE online community about the topics covered in this course or
other topics you are interested in. From the Course screen you can also access available
resources for a more continuous learning experience.

Lesson 4: Visualizing Data with Charts |

5 Using PivotTables and
PivotCharts
Lesson Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Lesson Objectives
In this lesson, you will analyze data with PivotTables, PivotCharts, slicers, and timelines.
You will:
• Create a PivotTable.
• Analyze PivotTable data.
• Present data with PivotCharts.
• Filter data using timelines and slicers.

Lesson Introduction
You've already seen the way Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016 functions and how features
such as sorting, filtering, and summary functions can help you drill down into your data to
get answers to very specific questions. Although using these features is often a good option
for attaining specific answers, these aren't necessarily the best options if you need to
frequently change the questions you're asking of your data. To change the question you're
asking when using functions, sorting, and filtering, you often need to rewrite functions,
adjust criteria, or re-filter you data; sometimes, you even need to use several of these
methods at the same time. You certainly could take this route, but it isn't the most efficient
way to re-query your data to get the variety of answers you need. If you work in a high-
paced, data-intensive environment, you simply may not have the time needed to recalculate
every time a supervisor asks you a different question. You need something a little more
dynamic.
Excel 2016 includes a powerful feature that enables you to ask any number of questions of
your data; get detailed, specific answers; and do it all over again in just a matter of moments.
By taking advantage of this functionality, you can get critical, time-sensitive organizational
intelligence to the people who need it quickly, easily, and with a high-level of flexibility.
144 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

TOPIC A
Create a PivotTable
To take advantage of the functionality and flexibility of PivotTables, you must first understand how
to create them. Although this is a relatively simple process, you must also know a bit about the type
of data that works best for PivotTables. By taking a few moments to gain this foundational level of
understanding, you'll be preparing yourself to create useful, effective PivotTables that you can use to
analyze your raw data in incredibly fine detail.

Pivoting
Pivoting Simply put, pivoting, in Excel, is a way to manipulate, rotate, or turn large amounts of data into a
summarization of that data. You and your organization collect and track data for the express
purpose of gaining insight and information from that data to make decisions. When you ask
questions of your data, you get information about what products or services your customers prefer
and which ones they do not. In this course, you have learned to create functions, sort, filter,
summarize and subtotal data in order to gain perspective on your data. Pivoting enables you to view
your data from a variety of new perspectives.
To pivot your data, Excel summarizes your values by row and column. Data that can be grouped,
like company names, cities, states/provinces, product codes and names are good examples of items
that can be used as row or column headings. Values are data that can be summarized, averaged, or
calculated for a percentage. Examples of values include quantities, prices, and counts of values both
numeric and text based. Take the following example: the raw data on the left contains a contiguous
list of data and each row in that data, which can be called a record, identifies a unique entry to the
list. When Excel pivots the raw data, the state/province data is grouped as row labels and the values
of total sale are summarized. This provides a concise report of your data that can also be formatted,
sorted, and filtered further to gain more insight. This report quickly answers the question of what
are the total sales for each state/province.
Note: As with filtering and sorting, pivoting does not affect your raw data; it only modifies your
view of the data.

Here's a look at how the previous example would work in a worksheet. The list is a set of order
transactions by various companies in different locations purchasing items with different quantities
and price.

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Figure 5-1: Pivoted data provides sales totals at a glance.

PivotTables
A PivotTable is a dynamic Excel data object that enables you to analyze data by pivoting columns and PivotTables
rows of raw data without altering the raw data. PivotTables are effective for summarizing large
volumes of data according to two or more criteria to return specific answers to your questions.
PivotTables combine some of the most powerful and useful types of Excel functionality, such as
sorting, filtering, summary functions, and subtotals, to give you an incredible level of control over
how you view your data.
When you create a PivotTable, Excel enables you place it on the same worksheet as the original
data, or you can insert it on a new worksheet. Once the PivotTable is created, you can re-pivot, re-
sort, re-summarize, and re-filter your data any number of times without affecting the original
dataset. In addition to pivoting columns and rows, you can nest columns and rows within one
another to create a hierarchy, much as you do when using subtotals. You can expand or collapse
levels of the hierarchy to view more or less detail in your PivotTables. And you can use any of the
available summary functions to summarize your pivoted data for a variety of purposes. You can also
create PivotTables out of either data in the same workbook, or data from other workbooks and
external data sources.

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Figure 5-2: A PivotTable containing a hierarchy of raw data. In this example, Company, Total
Sale, State/Province, and Months are all column labels in the original dataset.

Recommended PivotTables
A quick way to get started with PivotTables is to use Recommended PivotTables. When you use this
feature, Excel determines PivotTable layouts based on your data. From this starting point, you can
change the arrangement of fields in the PivotTable for additional analysis of your data.
Recommended PivotTables is accessible from Insert→Tables→Recommended PivotTables.

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Figure 5-3: Examples of Recommended PivotTables.

Transactional Data
There is an extremely important consideration for you to keep in mind when creating and working Transactional Data
with PivotTables: your data format. PivotTables are designed to work with, and work best with, raw
transactional data. Transactional data is not summarized in any way, so it does not contain row labels,
only column labels. Columns in a transactional dataset are also known as fields. The best way to
visualize transactional data is to examine the root word "transaction." In a transactional dataset, each
transaction, or entry, is located in its own separate row. To carry on the example from earlier of sales
transactions at a variety of locations, each sale, regardless of when or where it took place, would be
entered as an individual row of data. The dataset columns represent the specific elements of each
transaction: date, time, location, amount, and so on.
In a summarized dataset, even a raw one, the data has already been compiled in some way and will
have row labels as well as column labels. For example, you may have raw sales data for each sales
rep in your organization. Because each rep has his or her own row of data, the dataset would likely
contain the total of each person's sales, as opposed to each sale regardless of the rep. Although you
can create PivotTables from summary data, they will never give you as much granular insight into
your data as PivotTables created from transactional data.

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Figure 5-4: Transactional data shows each event, whereas summary data compiles it in some
way.

Note: It makes more sense to view your data as two types: values to summarize and values to
group. Values of dates, times, quantity, price, etc. are good examples of values that can be
summarized. Values of cities, states, companies, accounts, etc. are examples of values that can be
grouped.

The Create PivotTable Dialog Box

The Create PivotTable You use the Create PivotTable dialog box to insert PivotTables into your worksheets. From here,
Dialog Box you can select the desired dataset, include a reference to a named range or table, or select a
connection to an external data source. You can also select a location for the PivotTable, which can
be on the same worksheet as the dataset or on another worksheet in the same workbook. You can
access the Create PivotTable dialog box by selecting Insert→Tables→PivotTable.

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Figure 5-5: The Create PivotTable dialog box.

The PivotTable Fields Task Pane

Once you create a PivotTable, you will use the PivotTable Fields task pane to configure the The PivotTable Fields
PivotTable and perform data analysis tasks. Excel automatically opens the PivotTable Fields task Task Pane
pane when you insert a PivotTable in a worksheet. The top half of the pane, the Choose fields to
add to report list, displays a list of all of the fields (columns) from the original dataset; Excel pulls
the names for these from the column labels. The bottom half of the pane, the Drag fields between
areas below section, displays a series of four areas that you use to configure the PivotTable. By
dragging the various fields to the various areas, you configure the structure of the PivotTable and
select the values upon which Excel performs calculations.
As PivotTables are, by default, dynamic, you can drag fields to the various areas of the PivotTable
Fields task pane as necessary and your PivotTable will update automatically. You can move the
fields around as often as you like, and you can include more than one field in each area. When you
drag more than one field into the same area, Excel creates a hierarchy in the PivotTable with items
on top of the area representing higher levels in the hierarchy. This works much like using subtotals
and outlines in ranges.
Each field that you have dragged into an area displays a field drop-down arrow. This provides you
with access to context menus and dialog boxes that enable you to configure your PivotTables
further.

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Figure 5-6: Use the elements of the PivotTable Fields task pane to configure the structure of
PivotTables.

The following table provides a brief description of the various elements of the PivotTable Fields
task pane.

PivotTable Fields Task Description

Pane Element

Tools drop-down arrow Provides you with access to a menu that contains various
preconfigured PivotTable Fields task pane layouts. Select from
among these options to customize the PivotTable Fields task pane
to suit your needs. From the Tools drop-down menu, you can also
alter the order in which your fields appear within the Choose fields
to add to report section of the PivotTable Fields task pane.
Field check boxes These enable you to add or remove fields from the various areas.
Checking a field's check box adds it to an area, whereas unchecking it
removes the field from all areas. You have no control over where
Excel places a field when you check its check box, so many users
prefer to simply drag the fields to the desired areas.

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PivotTable Fields Task Description

Pane Element
Field drop-down arrow Selecting a field's drop-down arrow displays a context menu that
provides you with various options for configuring your PivotTables.
For example, you can move fields to another area (again, this can also
be done simply by dragging the field to another area), move fields
within a hierarchy, or access the Field Settings or Value Field
Settings dialog boxes.
FILTERS area Drag fields here to include field values as filter criteria for the
PivotTable.
COLUMNS area Drag fields here to create columns out of the unique entries in a field.
ROWS area Drag fields here to create rows out of the unique entries in a field.
VALUES area Drag fields here to have Excel perform calculations on or summarize
their values.

You may want to show

Note: To learn how to use field entries to filter your PivotTable data, access the LearnTO Add LearnTO Add a Report
a Report Filter to an Excel PivotTable presentation from the LearnTO tile on the CHOICE Filter to an Excel
course screen. PivotTable from the
CHOICE Course screen
or have students
Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and navigate out to the
Course screen and
job aids on How to Create a PivotTable.
watch it themselves as a
supplement to your
instruction. If not, please
remind students to visit
the LearnTOs for this
course on their CHOICE
Course screen after
class for supplemental
information and
additional resources.

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ACTIVITY 5-1
Creating a PivotTable

Data File
C:\091056Data\Using PivotTables and PivotCharts\Sales Data.xlsx

Before You Begin

Excel 2016 is open.

Scenario
As the sales manager, you need to track sales. Because Develetech's products are sold across many
regions, you want to be able to analyze the sales data in a number of ways. You decide the best way
to answer your questions now and in the future is to create a PivotTable.

1. In Excel, open the workbook Sales Data.xlsx.

2. Create a PivotTable from the data.

a) Verify that cell A1 is selected.
b) Select Insert→Tables→PivotTable.
c) In the Create PivotTable dialog box, in the Choose the data that you want to analyze section, verify
that the Select a table or range option is selected.
d) In the Choose where you want the PivotTable report to be placed section, verify that the New
Worksheet option is selected and select OK.

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e) Observe that the PivotTable framework is created on a new worksheet.

3. Build the PivotTable report.

a) In the PivotTable Fields task pane, in the Choose fields to add to report section, select the check
boxes for Region and Total Sales.

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b) Verify that Excel builds a PivotTable on Sheet1 depicting the sum of total sales for each region.

Note: Notice that Excel does not retain cell formatting from original data when
creating PivotTable reports.

4. Create a Recommended PivotTable from the sales data.

a) Select the Data worksheet and verify that cell A1 is selected.
b) Select Insert→Tables→Recommended PivotTables.

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c) Examine the various PivotTable options in the Recommended PivotTables dialog box. Select the
second variant, Sum of Total Sales by Region and select OK.

d) Verify that Sheet2 contains the new PivotTable.

Note: This action builds the same PivotTable report on Sheet2 as the first
PivotTable report on Sheet1. Recommended PivotTables are a good way to
get started building your own PivotTable reports.

5. Modify the PivotTable on Sheet2 to include products.

a) In the PivotTable Fields task pane, in the Choose fields to add to report section, select Products.

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b) Verify the PivotTable is updated to include total sales for products in each region.

6. Save the workbook as My Sales Data.xlsx and keep the file open.

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TOPIC B
Analyze PivotTable Data
Now that you have created your PivotTable, you're ready to dive right in and crunch the numbers to
gain the organizational insight that can help you succeed. As with all Excel data analysis tasks,
creating and configuring effective PivotTables is a matter of asking the right questions to glean the
necessary information. When working with PivotTables, this all boils down to structure. You already
know PivotTables enable you to reorganize and re-analyze your data as many times as necessary to
get all of the answers you're looking for. But, how do you translate your questions into a PivotTable
structure? Actually, it's relatively simple.
Excel 2016 provides you with a number of different tools and commands you can use to organize
the structure of your PivotTables. Knowing how these tools work and understanding how
PivotTable structure translates into actionable intelligence are the keys to getting the answers you
seek.

Start with Questions, End with Structure

To create PivotTables that will be useful to you, begin by thinking about the types of questions you
would like your raw data to answer. This is precisely that same type of initial analysis you perform
when determining which functions or formulas to include in worksheets. The only difference here is
that you will use your questions as a basis for organizing your PivotTables, not to enter a function or
a formula. Once you've determined what question you want Excel to answer, you can begin to
design your PivotTable's structure.
There are a couple of items to keep in mind before beginning this process. First, it's typically best to While it is a general rule
create rows and columns out of fields that have a fairly finite set of entries, such as sales reps, of thumb to create rows
and columns from fields
regions, or products; in other words, data that can be grouped easily. You may not, for example, find with relatively small
it very useful to create rows out of dates that occurred over a 10-year span of time as you could end numbers of unique
up with thousands of rows of data. Second, you should create rows out of the field for which you entries, you can let
are primarily interested in determining some fact, and create columns out of your secondary students know that it is
criterion. For example, if you want to know the total sales per product for each sales rep in your sometimes necessary to
department, you would typically create rows out of sales reps (your primary concern) and columns create PivotTables that
out of the products (the items for which you are measuring performance). Then you would ask contain large numbers of
Excel to use the SUM function to total the sales for each rep per product. rows or columns.

Let's take a look at a simple example.

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Figure 5-7: This is the beginning of a table with over 100 entries of sales data.

Now, here's a PivotTable created from the entire dataset that answers this question: What are the
total sales for each sales rep by product?

Figure 5-8: Example of PivotTable showing total sales for each sales rep by product.

Notice that the sales reps are listed by row and the products are listed by column. The PivotTable
returns the total sales, indicating the use of the SUM function, for each sales rep for each product.
Now, let's say you'd like Excel to answer the following question: How many of each product was
sold in each region? As you are primarily concerned with what is happening on a per-region basis,
you would put the regions in rows and keep the products in columns. Then you would ask Excel to
total the quantity sold of each product in each region, indicating the use of the SUM function.

Figure 5-9: Example of PivotTable showing number of each product sold by region.

Notice that the rows and columns in each of these examples represent two of the criteria on which
you are analyzing the data. The values throughout the rest of the table represent the third criterion:
The values you are asking Excel to calculate based on the other two criteria. This is the basic

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structure you will use to create most PivotTables. The three keys to structuring your PivotTables are
to determine the question you want Excel to answer, to visualize the table you wish to create, and
determine what calculation you want Excel to perform.

The PivotTable Tools Contextual Tab

The PivotTable Tools contextual tab displays commands and options that are specific to working The Analyze Tab
with PivotTables. Similar to other contextual tabs, the PivotTable Tools contextual tab appears
when you select a PivotTable and disappears when you select outside the PivotTable. The
PivotTable Tools contextual tab contains two tabs: the Analyze tab and the Design tab.

Figure 5-10: The Analyze tab.

The following table identifies the types of commands you will find in the various groups on the
Analyze tab.

Analyze Tab Group Contains Commands For

PivotTable Accessing the PivotTable Options dialog box, which enables you to change
global PivotTable settings. This group also displays the name of the currently
selected PivotTable.
Active Field Accessing the Field Settings and Value Field Settings dialog boxes,
expanding or collapsing hierarchies in your PivotTables, and drilling down or
up in PivotTables created from databases.
Group Grouping various elements within a PivotTable and managing those groups.
Filter Accessing and managing filtering commands and options.
Data Refreshing PivotTable data when the source dataset has been updated, and
for modifying the dataset that feeds PivotTables.
Actions Clearing filtering, selecting elements of a PivotTable, and moving PivotTables
in your workbooks.
Calculations Configuring PivotTable calculations.
Tools Creating PivotCharts and accessing recommended PivotTables.
Show Toggling the display of PivotTable elements on or off.

The Design Tab

Figure 5-11: The Design tab.

The following table identifies the types of commands you will find in the various Design tab
groups.

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Design Tab Group Contains Commands For

Layout Toggling particular functionality on or off, and for modifying the

overall layout of PivotTables.
PivotTable Style Toggling the display of PivotTable elements on or off.
Options
PivotTable Styles Selecting and configuring PivotTable formatting options.

The Value Field Settings Dialog Box

The Value Field Settings When you select the drop-down arrow of a field in the VALUES area of the PivotTable Fields
Dialog Box task pane, Excel provides you with access to the Value Field Settings dialog box. You will use the
commands and options in the Value Field Settings dialog box to configure the calculations Excel
performs on field data in PivotTables, and to configure how Excel displays the results of those
calculations. The Value Field Settings dialog box is divided into two tabs: the Summarize Values
By tab and the Show Values As tab.

Figure 5-12: The Summarize Values By tab of the Value Field Settings dialog box.

The Summarize Values By tab enables you to select which function Excel uses to summarize the
data in your PivotTables. The available functions here are the same as those available for creating
subtotals and for summarizing table data. For example, you could use the SUM function to find the
total of all values that meet the criteria outlined in the PivotTable rows and columns. Or, you could
use the AVERAGE function to find the average values of the entries that meet the criteria.
Note: The default summary function for numerical values is the SUM function. The default
summary function for all other values is the COUNT function.

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Figure 5-13: The Show Values As tab of the Value Field Settings dialog box.

The Show Values As tab provides you with access to options for how you wish to display your
summarized PivotTable data. By default, the value here is No Calculation, which means the
PivotTable will simply summarize your data according to the function selected on the Summarize
Values By tab. You can also choose to have Excel display the summary data in a variety of other
ways. For example, you may wish to show the summarized data as a percentage of the grand total or
as a percentage of column or row totals. This could be helpful if you want to know what percentage
of your total sales came from a particular region or which sales rep generated the highest percentage
of your total or regional sales. Or, you may wish to show a relative comparison between values. For
example, you may wish to see how far behind the sales leader other sales reps are in terms of total
sales.
One other handy feature of the Value Field Settings dialog box is the Number Format button.
Selecting this will open a scaled-down version of the Format Cells dialog box, which contains only
the Number tab. Use this to change the cell formatting in your PivotTables to accommodate the
various types of values you ask Excel to calculate.

Summarize and Show Combinations

Combining the options from the Summarize Values By tab and the Show Values As tab enables SUM Function Only
you to gain a deeper understanding of the information in your raw data. Here is a simple example
that shows how the summary functions and the Show Values As tab options work together to give
you new perspectives on your data. Take a look at this PivotTable that displays sales totals for sales
reps per region. Here, the sales figures have been dragged to the VALUES area of the PivotTable
Fields task pane, and the default SUM function and No Calculation option are selected.

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Figure 5-14: SUM function only.

Percentage of Total Now take a look at how selecting the % of Grand Total option from the Show Values As tab
changes your view of the data; the summary function is still the SUM function.

Figure 5-15: % of Grand Total option.

Now, you can see what percentage of all sales is composed of each rep's sales in each region. Notice
also that the grand totals for each row and for each column add up to 100 percent of all total sales.
You now have a clear picture of which regions and which sales reps are generating your sales.
Difference From Option Now take a look at what happens when you change the summary function to the AVERAGE
function and change the Show Values As tab option to Difference From. Here, all sales reps' sales
averages are being compared to Hicks' sales, as this rep was the one selected in the Value Field
Settings. You could, however, compare the values to any individual sales rep.

You may want to show

LearnTO Customize the
View of a PivotTable and
LearnTO Enhance a
PivotTable With
Conditional Formatting
from the CHOICE Figure 5-16: Difference From option.
Course screen or have
students navigate out to Notice that there are no values for Hicks, as this reps values are the ones the PivotTable is
the Course screen and comparing the other values to. By looking at this PivotTable, you can see how far behind or ahead
watch it themselves as a of the this rep all other reps are in terms of average regional and overall sales. Here, you see that,
supplement to your Hicks is between the highest and lowest ranges in average total sales. Combining summary functions
instruction. If not, please
remind students to visit
with the Show Values As options is an effective way to gain a deep, granular understanding of the
the LearnTOs for this information hidden in your raw data.
course on their CHOICE
Note: To explore further methods of manipulating your PivotTable data, access LearnTO
Course screen after
class for supplemental Customize the View of a PivotTable and LearnTO Enhance a PivotTable With
information and Conditional Formatting from the LearnTO tile on the CHOICE course screen.
additional resources.

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The GETPIVOTDATA
The GETPIVOTDATA Function Function
Once you have a PivotTable report, you may wish to extract a small portion or generate a summary
of that data if the PivotTable is large. Fortunately, Excel provides the GETPIVOTDATA function
as a way to show data from a PivotTable elsewhere in Excel. For example, you may have configured
a PivotTable to show product sales for your regions and someone asks you what the laptop sales
were in the Southwest region. While you can look at the PivotTable and determine the answer, you
can also use the GETPIVOTDATA function to show this answer in a report on another worksheet.
Syntax: =GETPIVOTDATA(data_field, pivot_table, [field1, item1, field2, item2], ...)
Description: Use the GETPIVOTDATA to retrieve data from a PivotTable report provided that
the data is visible in the report.
Required arguments:
• data_field: The name, enclosed in quotation marks, for the data field that contains the data that
you want to retrieve. For example, "Total Sales".
• pivot_table: A reference to any cell, range of cells, or named range of cells in a PivotTable
report. This information is used to determine which PivotTable report contains the data that you
want to retrieve.
Optional arguments:
• field1, item1, field2, item2: One to 126 pairs of field names and item names that describe the
data that you want to retrieve. The pairs can be in any order. Field names and names for items
other than dates and numbers are enclosed in quotation marks. For example, the pairing of the
Region field and the item Southwest as "Region","Southwest", and the pairing of the Products
field and the item Laptop as "Products","Laptop".
In the following example, the GETPIVOTDATA function entered in B16 retrieves the total sales
for the laptops in the Southwest region.

Figure 5-17: The GETPIVOTDATA Function.

Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and
job aids on How to Analyze PivotTable Data.

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ACTIVITY 5-2
Analyzing PivotTable Data

Before You Begin

The workbook My Sales Data.xlsx is open.

Scenario
You are pleased with the PivotTable reports you have created. You now want to see what other
information you can glean from the PivotTable. You decide to see if you can answer the following
questions:
• What are 4th quarter sales?
• What is the total sales for each quarter by region?
• What are the total sales for each region by product?

1. Modify the PivotTable report on Sheet1 to answer the question, What are the 4th quarter sales values?
a) Select Sheet1 and verify that the PivotTable is selected.
b) In the PivotTable Fields task pane, in Choose fields to add to report, drag & drop Quarter to the
FILTERS area.
c) Verify that Quarter is in cell A1 and a filter is in cell B1.
d) Select the drop-down arrow in cell B1 and select Quarter 4 and then select OK.
e) Verify that Quarter 4 total sales are 1,842,121.272.

2. Clear the filter from Quarter and modify the PivotTable report to answer the question, What are the total
sales by region for each quarter?
a) Select the AutoFilter drop-down arrow in cell B1 and select All and then select OK.
b) In the PivotTable Fields task pane, in the Drag fields between areas below section, drag & drop
Quarter to the COLUMNS area.

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c) Verify that the PivotTable report updates to show you total sales for each region by quarter.

3. Modify the PivotTable on Sheet2 to answer the question, What are the total sales for each region by
product?
a) Select Sheet2 and verify that the PivotTable is selected.
b) In the PivotTable Fields task pane, in the Drag fields between areas below section, drag & drop
Products to the COLUMNS area.
c) Verify that the PivotTable report updates to show you regional sales for each product.

4. Modify the formatting of the PivotTable report.

a) In the PivotTable Fields task pane, in the Drag fields between areas below section, in the VALUES
area, select the Sum of Total Sales drop-down arrow and select Value Field Settings.

b) In the Value Field Settings dialog box, select Number Format.

c) In the Format Cells dialog box, on the Number tab, from the Category list box, select Currency.
d) In the Decimal places spin box type 0, and then select OK.
e) In the Value Field Settings dialog box, select OK.

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f) Verify the PivotTable updated the total sales values with the currency format.

5. Sort the Grand Total values in smallest to largest order.

a) Select one of the Grand Total values in column K.
b) Select Home→Editing→Sort & Filter→Sort Smallest to Largest.
c) Verify that the Grand Totals are sorted in smallest to largest order.

6. Save the workbook and keep the file open.

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TOPIC C
Present Data with PivotCharts
Although PivotTables provide you with an amazing array of options for analyzing your data, they
have one downfall in common with other worksheet data: they can be difficult to read. You know
you can convert the data in your worksheet ranges and tables into visually appealing, easy-to-
interpret charts. You also know that doing so makes it easier for your audience to gather meaning
from all of that data with just a glance. Wouldn't it be nice if you could do the same with PivotTable
data?
The good news is that Excel 2016 provides you with a quick and easy way to translate your
PivotTable data into charts just as you can do with your other data. Taking the time to familiarize
yourself with this functionality will provide you with all of the benefits of Excel charts when it
comes to presenting the data you analyze by using PivotTables.

PivotCharts
Like standard Excel charts, PivotCharts are graphical representations of numeric values and PivotCharts
relationships among those values. The main difference is simply that PivotCharts are linked to
PivotTable data, whereas standard charts are linked to either a range of data or a table. As with
charts, when you alter the data in a PivotTable, PivotCharts update automatically to reflect the
changes. As you drag fields from one area to another, update the PivotTable data, and modify the
summary function and Show Values As options, your PivotCharts will dynamically change to
reflect the changes in the PivotTable.
Excel provides you with many of the same options for formatting your PivotCharts, including the
ability to change chart types, as it does with charts. And, the same considerations apply for deciding
which chart type to select and which chart elements you should include in your PivotCharts. You
use the Insert Chart dialog box to create PivotCharts from PivotTables. To create a PivotChart,
you can access the Insert Chart dialog box from the Charts group on the Insert tab, or by
selecting Analyze→Tools→PivotChart from the PivotTable Tools contextual tab.

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Figure 5-18: A PivotChart and its associated PivotTable.

The PivotChart Fields Task Pane

The PivotChart Fields When you select a cell within a PivotTable, Excel displays the PivotTable Fields task pane.
Task Pane Likewise, when you select a PivotChart or a PivotChart element, Excel displays the PivotChart
Fields task pane. These task panes are essentially the same. The only notable difference is that, on
the PivotChart Fields task pane, the ROWS area appears as the AXIS (CATEGORIES) area and
the COLUMNS area appears as the LEGEND (SERIES) area. Functionally, the two task panes
are virtually identical.

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Figure 5-19: The PivotChart Fields task pane.

PivotChart Filters
One of the added benefits of PivotCharts is that they include their own set of filters, which are PivotChart Filters
linked to the filters on the associated PivotTable. These filters correspond to the fields you drag to
the COLUMNS and ROWS areas in the PivotTable Fields task pane (or the corresponding areas
in the PivotChart Fields task pane), and they display the same filter and sorting options available
on the PivotTable. Whether you filter or sort your data by using the options on the PivotTable or
the options on the PivotChart, Excel updates both objects simultaneously. By right-clicking the
PivotChart filters, you have access to the same context menus that open when you select fields in
the various areas at the bottom of the PivotTable Fields task pane or the PivotChart Fields task
pane.

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Figure 5-20: Changes made with either the PivotTable filters or the PivotChart filters reflected in
both objects.

Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and
job aids on How to Create and Work with a PivotChart.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 171

ACTIVITY 5-3
Presenting Data with PivotCharts

Before You Begin

The workbook My Sales Data.xlsx is open.

Scenario
You are pleased with the modifications you have made to the PivotTable reports you have created.
You know that when you present this data to management they will want to see the data represented
visually. You decide to create a PivotChart from one of your PivotTable reports.

1. Create a PivotChart from the PivotTable on Sheet1.

a) Select Sheet1 and verify that the PivotTable is selected.
b) On the PivotTable Tools contextual tab, select Analyze→Tools→PivotChart.
c) In the Insert Chart dialog box, on the All Charts tab, verify that the Column chart category is selected
and select the fourth subtype, 3-D Clustered Column and select OK.
d) Verify that a 3-D clustered column chart depicts total sales for each region by quarter.

2. Examine the Southwest region, as you can see the total sales in this region are lower than in other
regions.
a) On the PivotChart, select the Region field button drop-down arrow and deselect (Select All). Select
Southwest, and then select OK.

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b) You see that there is a decline in sales after the second quarter in the Southwest region.

Note: When filtering is applied to a PivotChart, the same filtering is applied to

the PivotTable.

3. Create an additional PivotChart for the PivotTable on Sheet2 in order to examine the product sales for
the Southwest.
a) Select Sheet2 and verify that the PivotTable is selected.
b) On the PivotTable Tools contextual tab, select Analyze→Tools→PivotChart.
c) In the Insert Chart dialog box, on the All Charts tab, verify that the Column chart category is selected
and select the fourth subtype, 3-D Clustered Column and select OK.
d) Move the PivotChart next to the PivotTable, as necessary.
e) On the PivotTable, select the Row Labels AutoFilter drop-down arrow in cell A4 and deselect (Select
All). Select Southwest, and then select OK.
f) Verify that the filtering of the PivotTable updated the PivotChart to display total sales of products in
the Southwest region. You can see that sales of music players and printers are low in this region.

4. Modify the design of the PivotChart and explore details of the Southwest region.
a) Select Sheet1 and select the PivotChart, if necessary.
b) On the PivotChart Tools contextual tab, select Design→Chart Styles→Style 8.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 173

Note: You may have to select the More button on the Chart Styles gallery.

c) Double-click any column of the PivotChart.

d) In the Show Detail dialog box, select State and select OK.

e) Move the PivotChart next to the PivotTable, as necessary.

f) Observe that the PivotChart and PivotTable are updated with the states in the Southwest region.

5. Save the workbook and keep the file open.

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TOPIC D
Filter Data by Using Timelines and Slicers
The ability to filter your PivotTables enables you to drill down into your raw data to view the fine
detail that lies within. As you likely have many questions to ask of your data, it can quickly become
tedious to have to open drop-down menus, determine what items are filtered out, clear the filtering,
and then re-filter your data to find the next answer. This is especially true if data analysis is one of
your key functions. If you fall into this category of Excel users, you'll likely appreciate the ability to
quickly and easily re-filter your PivotTables on any number of fields. In addition, the ability to
quickly view the filters applied to the current dataset could come in handy if you're returning to a
worksheet after having not worked in it for a while.
In short, you need some type of tool that gives you a high level of control over PivotTable filtering;
one that is easy to work with and easy to interpret regardless of how many filters you apply to your
PivotTables. Excel 2016 includes such a tool. Gaining an understanding of how this feature works
will give you a greater level of control over your PivotTable filtering and the peace of mind of
knowing that you have filtered your data in precisely the manner you meant to.

Slicers
Slicers Slicers are PivotTable filtering tools that you can link to various PivotTables in your worksheets. You
can create a slicer out of any of the fields associated with a PivotTable, and then use those slicers to
filter each field by any of its unique entries. Although a slicer is typically associated with a single
PivotTable, you can link slicers to multiple PivotTables; this is typically done for PivotTables that
are associated with the same raw dataset. This can be handy, for example, if you want to create
multiple versions of the same PivotTable, create a unique structure for each to answer various
questions about your data, and then filter them by the same criteria simultaneously.
Each unique value in a field appears as a separate button on the associated slicer. By default, slicer
buttons appear highlighted in blue when the filter is inactive, meaning the associated value will
appear in the PivotTable. When the filter is active, meaning the value has been removed from the
PivotTable, the button appears white. When you first create a slicer, all filters are inactive, so all of
the buttons are highlighted in blue. Selecting a slicer button activates all of the other filters, meaning
only the value you selected will appear in the table. This may, at first, seem counterintuitive, but it
makes sense when you think about it in this way: selecting a button displays the associated value in a
PivotTable. To select multiple slicer buttons simultaneously, enable the Multi-Select button or
press and hold down Ctrl while making your selections. Selecting the Clear Filter button
deactivates all filters on a slicer, meaning all values will appear in the PivotTable.
Note: As PivotTables and their associated PivotCharts are connected, any filtering you apply to
one using slicers applies to both automatically.

Slicer buttons may also appear slightly grayed-out. Excel does this when some active filter has
removed the associated values from view. Grayed-out slicer buttons are inactive, as you cannot filter
on values that do not appear in the PivotTable. Clearing the filter that is suppressing the values from
view will reactivate the associated slicer button(s).
The default slicer formatting is blue and white, but you can customize the display of slicers to match
your worksheet formatting. You can place slicers anywhere on your worksheets or resize them as
you like. You can even place copies of slicers in multiple locations. The original slicer and the copies
remain linked, so whatever you do to one affects the others. This is true only of filtering tasks, not
visual formatting.

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Figure 5-21: Use slicers to quickly and easily apply multiple filters to your PivotTables.

The Insert Slicers Dialog Box

You use the Insert Slicers dialog box to create slicers out of the various fields in your PivotTables. The Insert Slicers Dialog
Each field appears as a check box option in the dialog box. To create a slicer out of a particular Box
field, check the associated check box. You can access the Insert Slicers dialog box on the
PivotTable Tools contextual tab by selecting Analyze→Filter→Insert Slicer.

Figure 5-22: The Insert Slicers dialog box enables you to create slicers out of any PivotTable
field.

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The Slicer Tools Contextual Tab

The Slicer Tools You can access the commands you will use to work with PivotTable slicers on the Slicer Tools
Contextual Tab contextual tab. The Slicer Tools contextual tab appears when you select a slicer and disappears
when you select any non-slicer object. It contains only a single tab: the Options tab.
If you select multiple slicers simultaneously, some of the commands on the Slicer Tools contextual
tab remain active and others become deactivated. For example, you can typically resize or apply
formatting to multiple slicers at the same time, but you can only manage slicer connections one at a
time.

Figure 5-23: The Slicer Tools contextual tab.

The following table describes the types of commands you will find in the command groups on the
Slicer Tools contextual tab.

Slicer Tools Contextual Contains Commands For

Tab Group

Slicer Renaming slicers, accessing slicer options, and managing slicer

connections to PivotTables.
Slicer Styles Applying formatting to slicers.
Arrange Configuring the arrangement of slicers on screen. You can use the
commands in this group to order slicers from front to back, align
slicers with other objects, group slicers, and rotate the display of
slicers.
Buttons Modifying the size and alignment of slicer buttons. Changes you make
here can also affect the size of the slicers themselves.
Size Modifying the size of slicers. Changes you make here can also affect
the display of slicer buttons.

The Report Connections Dialog Box

The Report Connections You can use the Report Connections dialog box to manage slicer connections. All PivotTables that
Dialog Box are associated with the same raw dataset can share slicers. These shared slicers affect all PivotTables
that share them, so what you filter in one PivotTable is filtered in all PivotTables that share the
slicer. It is important to note that PivotTables that are associated with the same raw dataset do not
have to share slicers. You can create unique slicers for each one that filters the same fields
independently. It is only the slicers that you connect to multiple PivotTables that will affect them all
simultaneously. You can access the Report Connections dialog box from the Slicer Tools
contextual tab by selecting Options→Slicer→Report Connections. The name of the field
associated with the currently selected slicer appears in the Report Connections dialog box's title
bar.

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Figure 5-24: Use the Report Connections dialog box to manage slicer connections.

Timelines
As with slicers, timelines are PivotTable filtering tools that you can link to various PivotTables in your Timelines
worksheets. You can create a timeline out of any date field associated with a PivotTable, and then
use timelines to filter by any of its unique date entries. Although a timeline is typically associated
with a single PivotTable, you can link timelines to multiple PivotTables; this is typically done for
PivotTables that are associated with the same raw dataset. Use the Report Connections dialog box
to associate a timeline with more than one PivotTable. From the Timeline Tools contextual tab,
select Options→Timeline→Report Connections.
Note: As PivotTables and their associated PivotCharts are connected, any filtering you apply to
one using timelines applies to both automatically.

The default timeline formatting is blue and white, but you can customize the display of timelines to
match your worksheet formatting. You can place timelines anywhere on your worksheets or resize
them as you like.

Figure 5-25: Use timelines to quickly and easily apply date filters to your PivotTables.

The Insert Timelines Dialog Box

You use the Insert Timelines dialog box to create a timeline out of the date fields in your The Insert Timelines
PivotTables. Each field appears as a check box option in the dialog box. To create a timeline out of Dialog Box
a particular field, check the associated check box. You can access the Insert Timelines dialog box
from the PivotTable Tools contextual tab by selecting Analyze→Filter→Insert Timelines.

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Figure 5-26: The Insert Timelines dialog box enables you to create a timeline out of any
PivotTable date field.

The Timeline Tools Contextual Tab

The Timeline Tools You can access the commands you will use to work with PivotTable timelines on the Timeline
Contextual Tab Tools contextual tab. The Timeline Tools contextual tab appears when you select a timeline and
disappears when you select any non-timeline object. It contains only a single tab; the Options tab.

Figure 5-27: The Timeline Tools contextual tab.

The following table describes the types of commands you will find in the command groups on the
Timeline Tools contextual tab.

Timeline Tools Contains Commands For

Contextual Tab Group

Timeline Renaming a timeline and managing timeline connections to

PivotTables.
Timeline Styles Applying formatting to timelines.
Arrange Configuring the arrangement of timelines on screen. You can use the
commands in this group to order timelines from front to back, align
timelines with other objects, and group timelines.
Size Modifying the size of the timeline.
Show Showing or hiding various elements on the timeline.

Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and
job aids on How to Insert and Work with Slicers and Timelines.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 179

ACTIVITY 5-4
Filtering Data by Using Slicers and Timelines

Before You Begin

The workbook My Sales Data.xlsx is open.

Scenario
You are pleased with the modifications you have made to the PivotTable reports and the new
PivotCharts you have created. You realize that the initial questions you asked to analyze your data
were from your own perspective. In order to make the PivotTables and PivotCharts more flexible,
you decide to create a timeline and insert slicers. This will enable you and anyone else to view sales
data in many ways.

1. Insert a timeline to view fourth quarter sales values for the Southwest region.
a) Verify that Sheet2 is selected and move the PivotChart to clearly see the PivotTable, if necessary.
b) Select the PivotTable and on the PivotTable Tools contextual tab, select Analyze→Filter→Insert
Timeline.
c) In the Insert Timelines dialog box, check Order Date and select OK.
d) Move the timeline to clearly see all worksheet objects, if necessary.
e) Select the Time Level drop-down arrow and select Quarters.

Note: Excel groups months into quarters based on the calendar year.

f) Select Q4 of 2016 and verify that both the PivotTable and PivotChart update to show only Q4
values.

2. Insert slicers to filter the PivotTable and PivotChart.

a) Select the PivotTable, if necessary, and on the PivotTable Tools contextual tab, select
Analyze→Filter→Insert Slicer.
b) In the Insert Slicer dialog box, check Salesperson and State, and then select OK.
c) Move the Salesperson and State slicers as necessary to clearly see all worksheet objects.

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3. Using the slicers, filter for sales in New Mexico and Texas for the salesperson Anderson.

a) In the State slicer, select Multi-Select.

b) Select AZ and OK to disable those states.

c) In the Salesperson slicer, select Anderson.

d) Verify the PivotTable and the PivotChart update to show total sales for Anderson in TX in Q4, noting
that Anderson does not have sales in NM.

4. Save and close the workbook.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 181

Summary
In this lesson, you used PivotTables, PivotCharts, slicers, and timelines to analyze and present your
data. The ability to crunch and re-crunch your numbers, ask incredibly detailed questions of your
data, present your results in an easily digestible manner, and do it all over again without affecting
your raw data puts the power of information right in your hands. As the volume of data and the
speed at which organizations generate it continues to grow, your ability to mine actionable
intelligence from it becomes increasingly critical and can give you the competitive edge needed to
succeed.
Encourage students to
How do you see PivotTables and PivotCharts helping you with your regular tasks? use the social
A: Answers may vary, but most students will find the power and flexibility in these tools to be a huge networking tools
benefit over manually entering formulas and then re-entering them to find answers to a different provided on the CHOICE
question. Course screen to follow
up with their peers after
When might you use slicers? the course is completed
for further discussion
A: Answers may vary, but users who often analyze complex datasets with a large number of fields will and resources to support
likely find quick access to filtering tools and easy-to-read filter indicators a huge help when looking for continued learning.
multiple answers to a variety of questions about their data.

Note: Check your CHOICE Course screen for opportunities to interact with your classmates,
peers, and the larger CHOICE online community about the topics covered in this course or
other topics you are interested in. From the Course screen you can also access available
resources for a more continuous learning experience.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 183

Course Follow-Up
Congratulations! You have completed the Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 course. You have
learned how to use powerful functions to manipulate your data and to sort, filter, and query the data
to summarize it in meaningful ways. In addition, you have created tables, applied conditional
formatting and created charts to show data in a visual way. And finally, you learned how to create
PivotTables and PivotCharts as a way to continually analyze your data from many viewpoints.
To gain a competitive edge in today's market, decision makers need to have a keen understanding of
what's happening within their organizations. They need to be able to ask specific questions and get
specific answers even when sifting through massive amounts of data. Becoming proficient at
engaging your data in an ongoing dialogue to find these answers means you'll be able to provide the
decision makers within your organization with the intelligence they need to keep you ahead of the
competition. The more you know about Excel's analysis tools and formula and function syntax, the
better you'll be able to analyze and examine your raw data to find the nuanced patterns and
opportunities that could mean the difference between running with the pack and staying one step
ahead of everyone else.

What's Next?
Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 3 is the next course in this series. In that course, you will build
upon the skills you have acquired by working with multiple worksheets and workbooks, use lookup
functions and formula auditing to troubleshoot your workbooks and fix errors, and to share and
protect workbooks from unwanted changes. You will also learn to automate Excel functions, create
sparklines and map data, as well as to forecast future data. You are also encouraged to explore Excel
further by actively participating in any of the social media forums set up by your instructor or
training administrator through the Social Media tile on the CHOICE Course screen.

Course Follow up
A Microsoft Office Excel
2016 Exam 77-727
Selected Logical Operations courseware addresses Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS)
certification skills for Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016. The following table indicates where
Excel 2016 skills that are tested on Exam 77-727 are covered in the Logical Operations
Excel 2016 series of courses.

Objective Domain Covered In

1. Create and Manage Worksheets and Workbooks

1.1 Create Worksheets and Workbooks
1.1.1 Create a workbook Part 1
1.1.2 Import data from a delimited text file Part 3
1.1.3 Add a worksheet to an existing workbook Part 1
1.1.4 Copy and move a worksheet Part 1
1.2 Navigate in Worksheets and Workbooks
1.2.1 Search for data within a workbook Part 1
1.2.2 Navigate to a named cell, range, or workbook element Part 2, Topic 1-A
1.2.3 Insert and remove hyperlinks Part 1
1.3 Format Worksheets and Workbooks
1.3.1 Change worksheet tab color Part 1
1.3.2 Rename a worksheet Part 1
1.3.3 Change worksheet order Part 1
1.3.4 Modify page setup Part 1
1.3.5 Insert and delete columns or rows Part 1
1.3.6 Change workbook themes Part 1
1.3.7 Adjust row height and column width Part 1
1.3.8 Insert headers and footers Part 1
1.4 Customize Options and Views for Worksheets and
Workbooks
1.4.1 Hide or unhide worksheets Part 1
1.4.2 Hide or unhide columns and rows Part 1
1.4.3 Customize the Quick Access Toolbar Part 1
186 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

Objective Domain Covered In

1.4.4 Change workbook views Part 1
1.4.5 Change window views Part 1
1.4.6 Modify document properties Part 1
1.4.7 Change magnification by using zoom tools Part 1
1.4.8 Display formulas Part 3
1.5 Configure Worksheets and Workbooks for
Distribution
1.5.1 Set a print area Part 1
1.5.2 Save workbooks in alternative file formats Part 1; Part 3
1.5.3 Print all or part of a workbook Part 1
1.5.4 Set print scaling Part 1
1.5.5 Display repeating row and column titles on multipage Part 1
worksheets
1.5.6 Inspect a workbook for hidden properties or personal Part 3
information
1.5.7 Inspect a workbook for accessibility issues Part 3
1.5.8 Inspect a workbook for compatibility issues Part 1
2. Manage Data Cells and Ranges
2.1 Insert Data in Cells and Ranges
2.1.1 Replace data Part 1
2.1.2 Cut, copy, or paste data Part 1
2.1.3 Paste data by using special paste options Part 1
2.1.4 Fill cells by using AutoFill Part 1
2.1.5 Insert and delete cells Part 1
2.2 Format Cells and Ranges
2.2.1 Merge cells Part 1
2.2.2 Modify cell alignment and indentation Part 1
2.2.3 Format cells by using Format Painter Part 1
2.2.4 Wrap text within cells Part 1
2.2.5 Apply number formats Part 1
2.2.6 Apply cell formats Part 1
2.2.7 Apply cell styles Part 1
2.3 Summarize and Organize Data
2.3.1 Insert sparklines Part 3
2.3.2 Outline data Part 2, Topic 2-D
2.3.3 Insert subtotals Part 2, Topic 2-D
2.3.4 Apply conditional formatting Part 2, Topics 3-B, 3-C; Part
1

Appendix A : Microsoft Office Excel 2016 Exam 77-727 |

 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 187

Objective Domain Covered In

3. Create Tables
3.1 Create and Manage Tables
3.1.1 Create an Excel table from a cell range Part 2, Topic 3-A
3.1.2 Convert a table to a cell range Part 2, Topic 3-A
3.1.3 Add or remove table rows and columns Part 2, Topic 3-A
3.2 Manage Table Styles and Options
3.2.1 Apply styles to tables Part 2, Topic 3-A
3.2.2 Configure table style options Part 2, Topic 3-A
3.2.3 Insert total rows Part 2, Topic 3-A
3.3 Filter and Sort a Table
3.3.1 Filter records Part 2, Topic 2-B
3.3.2 Sort data by multiple columns Part 2, Topic 2-A
3.3.3 Change sort order Part 2, Topic 2-A
3.3.4 Remove duplicate records Part 2, Topic 3-A
4. Perform Operations with Formulas and Functions
4.1 Summarize Data by Using Functions
4.1.1 Insert references Part 1
4.1.2 Perform calculations by using the SUM function Part 1
4.1.3 Perform calculations by using MIN and MAX Part 1
functions
4.1.4 Perform calculations by using the COUNT function Part 1
4.1.5 Perform calculations by using the AVERAGE Part 1
function
4.2 Perform Conditional Operations by Using
Functions
4.2.1 Perform logical operations by using the IF function Part 2, Topic 1-C
4.2.2 Perform logical operations by using the SUMIF Part 2, Topic 1-C
function
4.2.3 Perform logical operations by using the AVERAGEIF Part 2, Topic 1-C
function
4.2.4 Perform statistical operations by using the COUNTIF Part 2, Topic 1-C
function
4.3 Format and Modify Text by Using Functions
4.3.1 Format text by using the RIGHT, LEFT, and MID Part 2, Topic 1-E
functions
4.3.2 Format text by using the UPPER, LOWER, and Part 2, Topic 1-E
PROPER functions
4.3.3 Format text by using the CONCATENATE function Part 2, Topic 1-E
5. Create Charts and Objects

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188 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

Objective Domain Covered In

5.1 Create Charts
5.1.1 Create a new chart Part 2, Topic 4-A
5.1.2 Add additional data series Part 2, Topic 4-B
5.1.3 Switch between rows and columns in source data Part 2, Topic 4-B
5.1.4 Analyze data by using Quick Analysis Part 2, Topic 4-A
5.2 Format Charts
5.2.1 Resize charts Part 2, Topic 4-B
5.2.2 Add and modify chart elements Part 2, Topic 4-B
5.2.3 Apply chart layouts and styles Part 2, Topic 4-B
5.2.4 Move charts to a chart sheet Part 2, Topic 4-A
5.3 Insert and Format Objects
5.3.1 Insert text boxes and shapes Part 2, Appendix E, Topic A
5.3.2 Insert images Part 2, Appendix E, Topic A
5.3.3 Modify object properties Part 2, Appendix E, Topic B
5.3.4 Add alternative text to objects for accessibility Part 2, Topics 3-A, 4-B,
Appendix E

Appendix A : Microsoft Office Excel 2016 Exam 77-727 |

B Microsoft Office Excel
2016 Expert Exam 77–
728
Selected Logical Operations courseware addresses Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS)
certification skills for Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016. The following table indicates where
Excel 2016 skills that are tested on Exam 77–728 are covered in the Logical Operations
Excel 2016 series of courses.

Objective Domain Covered In

1. Manage Workbook Options and Settings

1.1. Manage Workbooks
1.1.1 Save a workbook as a template Part 1
1.1.2 Copy macros between workbooks Part 3
1.1.3 Reference data in another workbook Part 3
1.1.4 Reference data by using structured references Part 2, Topic 3-A
1.1.5 Enable macros in a workbook Part 3
1.1.6 Display hidden ribbon tabs Part 1
1.2 Manage Workbook Review
1.2.1 Restrict editing Part 3
1.2.2 Protect a worksheet Part 3
1.2.3 Configure formula calculation options Part 2, Topic 1-B
1.2.4 Protect workbook structure Part 3
1.2.5 Manage workbook versions Part 1
1.2.6 Encrypt a workbook with a password Part 3
2. Apply Custom Data Formats and Layouts
2.1 Apply Custom Data Formats
2.1.1 Create custom number formats Part 1
2.1.2 Populate cells by using advanced Fill Series options Part 1
2.1.3 Configure data validation Part 3
2.2 Apply Advanced Conditional Formatting and
Filtering
190 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

Objective Domain Covered In

2.1.1 Create custom conditional formatting rules Part 2, Topic 3-B
2.2.2 Create conditional formatting rules that use formulas Part 2, Topic 3-C
2.2.3 Manage conditional formatting rules Part 2, Topic 3-B
2.3 Create and Modify Custom Workbook Elements
2.3.1 Create custom color formats Part 1
2.3.2 Create and modify cell styles Part 1
2.3.3 Create and modify custom themes Part 1
2.3.4 Create and modify simple macros Part 3
2.3.5 Insert and configure form controls Part 3
2.4 Prepare a Workbook for Internationalization
2.4.1 Display data in multiple international formats Part 3
2.4.2 Apply international currency formats Part 3
2.4.3 Manage multiple options for +Body and +Heading Part 3
fonts
3. Create Advanced Formulas
3.1 Apply Functions in Formulas
3.1.1 Perform logical operations by using AND, OR, and Part 2, Topic 1-C
NOT functions
3.1.2 Perform logical operations by using nested functions Part 2, Topic 1-C
3.1.3 Perform statistical operations by using SUMIFS, Part 2, Topic 1-C
AVERAGEIFS, and COUNTIFS functions
3.2 Look Up Data by Using Functions
3.2.1 Look up data by using the VLOOKUP function Part 3
3.2.2 Look up data by using the HLOOKUP function Part 3
3.2.3 Look up data by using the MATCH function Part 3
3.2.4 Look up data by using the INDEX function Part 3
3.3 Apply Advanced Date and Time Functions
3.3.1 Reference the date and time by using the NOW and Part 2, Topic 1-D
TODAY functions
3.3.2 Serialize numbers by using date and time functions Part 2, Topic 1-D
3.4 Perform Data Analysis and Business Intelligence
3.4.1 Import, transform, combine, display, and connect to
data
3.4.2 Consolidate data Part 3
3.4.3 Perform what-if analysis by using Goal Seek and Part 3
Scenario Manager
3.4.4 Use cube functions to get data out of the Excel data Part 3
model
3.4.5 Calculate data by using financial functions Part 2, Appendix D

Appendix B : Microsoft Office Excel 2016 Expert Exam 77–728 |

 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 191

Objective Domain Covered In

3.5 Troubleshoot Formulas
3.5.1 Trace precedence and dependence Part 3
3.5.2 Monitor cells and formulas by using the Watch Part 3
Window
3.5.3 Validate formulas by using error checking rules Part 3
3.5.4 Evaluate formulas Part 3
3.6 Define Named Ranges and Objects
3.6.1 Name cells Part 2, Topic 1-A
3.6.2 Name data ranges Part 2, Topic 1-A
3.6.3 Name tables Part 2, Topic 3-A
3.6.4 Manage named ranges and objects Part 2, Topic 1-A
4. Create Advanced Charts and Tables
4.1 Create Advanced Charts
4.1.1 Add trendlines to charts Part 2, Topic 4-C
4.1.2 Create dual-axis charts Part 2, Topic 4-C
4.1.3 Save a chart as a template Part 2, Topic 4-C
4.2 Create and Manage PivotTables
4.2.1 Create PivotTables Part 2, Topic 5-A
4.2.2 Modify field selections and options Part 2, Topics 5-A, 5-B
4.2.3 Create slicers Part 2, Topic 5-D
4.2.4 Group PivotTable data Part 2, Topic 5-B
4.2.5 Reference data in a PivotTable by using the Part 2, Topic 5-B
GETPIVOTDATA function
4.2.6 Add calculated fields Part 3
4.2.7 Format data Part 2, Topic 5-B
4.3 Create and Manage PivotCharts
4.3.1 Create PivotCharts Part 2, Topic 5-C
4.3.2 Manipulate options in existing PivotCharts Part 2, Topic 5-C
4.3.3 Apply styles to PivotCharts Part 2, Topic 5-C
4.3.4 Drill down into PivotChart details Part 2, Topic 5-C

Appendix B : Microsoft Office Excel 2016 Expert Exam 77–728 |

C Microsoft Excel 2016
Common Keyboard
Shortcuts
The follow table lists common keyboard shortcuts you can use in Microsoft® Office Excel®
2016.

Function Shortcut

Switch between worksheet tabs, from left to right. Ctrl+PgDn

Switch between worksheet tabs, from right to left. Ctrl+PgUp
Select the region around the active cell (requires there to be Ctrl+Shift+*
content in the surrounding cells). or
Ctrl+* (from the
number pad)
Select the cell at the beginning of the worksheet or pane. Ctrl+Home
Select the cell at the end of the worksheet. Ctrl+End
Select the cell at an edge of the worksheet. Ctrl+Arrow keys
Insert the current time. Ctrl+Shift+:
Insert the current date. Ctrl+;
Display the Insert dialog box. Ctrl+Shift++
Display the Delete dialog box. Ctrl+-
Display the Format Cells dialog box. Ctrl+1
Select the entire worksheet. Ctrl+A
Apply or remove bold formatting. Ctrl+B
Apply or remove italic formatting. Ctrl+I
Copy the selected cells. Ctrl+C
Cut the selected cells. Ctrl+X
Paste copied content. Ctrl+V
Display the Find and Replace dialog box. Ctrl+F
Display the Insert Hyperlink or Edit Hyperlink dialog box. Ctrl+K
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Function Shortcut

Create a new workbook. Ctrl+N

Close an open workbook. Ctrl+W
Display the Open tab on the Backstage view. Ctrl+O
Display the Print tab on the Backstage view. Ctrl+P
Save the file. Ctrl+S
Repeat the last command or action, if possible. Ctrl+Y or F4 (when the
insertion point is not in
the Formula Bar)
Undo the last command or action. Ctrl+Z
Redo the last undo. Ctrl+Y
Enter data in a cell while keeping it the active cell. Ctrl+Enter
Select all contiguously populated cells in a column from the Ctrl+Shift+Up Arrow
selected cell to the end of the range. or
Ctrl+Shift+Down
Arrow
Select all contiguously populated cells in a row from the selected Ctrl+Shift+Right
cell to the end of the range. Arrow
or
Ctrl+Shift+Left Arrow
Toggle among relative, absolute, and mixed references when the F4
insertion point is in or next to a cell reference in the Formula
Bar.
Open the Save As dialog box. F12
Activate the Tell Me text box. Alt+Q

Appendix C : Microsoft Excel 2016 Common Keyboard Shortcuts |

D Financial Functions
Finance and accounting professionals are most likely to use Excel's financial functions.
These specialized functions are useful for calculating a variety of financial values, such as
payments, interest, and investment values over time. The following are overviews of some
of the more commonly used financial functions not directly covered in the course.
Note: These function overviews assume some prior knowledge of finance.

The FV Function
Syntax: =FV(rate, nper, pmt, [pv], [type])
Description: This function calculates the future value of an investment with fixed, periodic
payments and a fixed interest rate. Here is a breakdown of the function's syntax.
Required arguments:
• rate: The interest rate per period. As with some of the other financial functions, it's
important to be specific about the period here. If the interest rate is 10 percent and
payments are made monthly, the rate value should be 10 percent divided by 12, or
0.10/12. If payments are annual, the rate value would simply be 10 percent, or 0.10.
• nper: The number of periods from now for which you wish to calculate the future value.
Make sure the periods for this argument are the same as those used in the rate argument.
• pmt: The payment made each period. For example, if you invest $200 a month from
your paycheck toward a retirement investment for 20 years, the pmt value should be 200
and the nper value should be 240 (12 months × 20 years).
Note: Although the pmt argument is considered to be required, that's not exactly
true. You could also use the FV function to calculate the future value of a lump-
sum investment. For example, if you put $10,000 in a fixed-rate investment, without
making additional periodic contributions, you could simply enter 10000 in the pv
argument, and leave the pmt argument blank. The FV function would then return
the future value of that lump sum if it sat untouched in the same investment.

Optional arguments:
• pv: The present value of the investment. Use this argument to determine the future value
of a one-time, lump-sum investment into a fixed-rate asset. Or, you can use this in
addition to the pmt argument to determine the future value of an investment in which
you already have money, but plan to add to on a regular basis over time.
• type: Designates when payments are made within a particular period. This argument can
have one of two values: 0 or 1. A value of 0 indicates payments are made at the end of
the given period; for example, the last day of the month. A value of 1 indicates payments
are made at the beginning of the period; for example, the first day of the year. If you do
not enter a value, Excel treats it as 0.
In the following example, assume the investor put $10,000 into an investment with an
annual fixed-rate of return of 8 percent. Also assume the investor plans to contribute
another $1,500 each month for 30 years with payments made at the end of each month.
196 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

The IPMT Function

Syntax: =IPMT(rate, per, nper, pv, [fv], [type])
Description: This function returns the interest payment due for a particular period on an investment
or a loan with regular payments and a fixed interest rate. Here is a breakdown of the function's
syntax.
Required arguments:
• rate: The interest rate per period. It's important to be specific about the payment period here. If
your interest rate is 10 percent and payments are made monthly, the rate value should be 10
percent divided by 12, or 0.10/12. If payments are annual, the rate value would simply be 10
percent, or 0.10.
• per: The period for which you wish to calculate the interest. Take note that this is not a range of
dates or a specific date, but rather the payment number itself. So if payments are monthly on a
four-year investment, the per value will have to be somewhere between 1 and 48. If you're
calculating the interest for the first month of year 2, the per value is 13.
• nper: The total number of payments for the investment. For example, if payments are monthly
on a five-year investment, the nper value is 60. Literally, this is the number of payment periods
for the duration of the investment.
• pv: The principal, or lump-sum, value. This is the present value of all remaining payments.
Note: For all arguments in the IPMT function, use negative numbers for any money you
must pay out, and use positive numbers for any money you take in.

Optional arguments:
• fv: The future value of the investment after all payments have been made. If you do not enter a
value for the fv argument, Excel treats it as zero. This may be easier to think of in terms of a
loan. Typically, you are interested in values associated with paying a loan off in full, so the final,
or future, value is 0.
• Type: Designates when payments are due within a particular period. This argument can have one
of two values: 0 or 1. A value of 0 indicates payments are due at the end of the given period; for
example, the last day of the month. A value of 1 indicates payments are due at the beginning of
the period; for example, the first day of the year. If you do not enter a value, Excel treats it as 0.
In the following example, how much interest a borrower would owe in the first month of the
second year of a five-year, $10,000 loan is being calculated. Payments are due at the end of each
month.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 197

If you were making the same calculation from the bank's perspective, you would have entered -
$10,000 for the principal, as you would have paid the money out to the borrower. Excel would
return $62.50, not -$62.50, because the interest payment would be owed to you from the borrower.
The value 13 is entered for the per argument because the first month of the second year represents
the 13th payment period.

The IRR Function

Syntax: =IRR(values, [guess])
Description: Returns the internal rate of return for a series of cash flows represented by the
numbers in values. These cash flows do not have to be even, as they would be for an annuity.
However, the cash flows must occur at regular intervals, such as monthly or annually. The internal
rate of return is the interest rate received for an investment consisting of payments (negative values)
and income (positive values) that occur at regular periods.
Required argument:
• values: An array or reference to cells that contain numbers for which you wan to calculate the
internal rate of return.
Optional argument:
• guess: A number that you guess is close to the result of internal rate of return; 0.1 (10 percent) if
omitted.
In the following example, cash flow has been recorded for five years including the initial cost of
business. The internal rate of return is calculated over the first three years of business.

The NPER Function

Syntax: =NPER(rate,pmt,pv,[fv],[type])
Description: Returns the number of periods for an investment based on periodic, constant
payments and a constant interest rate.
Required arguments:
• rate: The interest rate per period.
• pmt: The payment made each period that cannot change over the life of the annuity.
• pv: The present value of the investment.
Optional arguments:
• fv: The future value, or a cash balance you want to attain after the last payment is made. If fv is
omitted, it is assumed to be 0.
• type: The number 0 or omitted indicates payments are due at the end of the period, and 1 if the
payments are due at the beginning of the period.

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198 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

In the following example, the number of periods is calculated based on payments made at the
beginning of each payment period with an annual interest rate of 12 percent, a payment of $100 per
period with an initial payment of $1,000, and a future value of the investment of $10,000.

The NPV Function

Syntax: =NPV(rate, value1, [value2], ..., [value254])
Description: The NPV function calculates the net present value of an asset or an investment given
the estimated or known future cash flows and the discount rate per period. In the function's syntax,
rate is the discount rate per period, and the valueX arguments represent the future cash flows. For
this function, the cash flow, or value argument, period must be fixed and the cash flows must occur
at the end of each period.
Note: The NPV function does not take into account the initial cost of the investment, or the
cash flow at Time 0. You must subtract this from the value returned by the NPV function
manually to calculate the actual increase or decrease in net value from the investment.

In the following example, assume an annual discount rate of 9 percent and the given estimated cash
flows.

Notice that the initial cost is not included in the function; this is not factored in. To calculate the
true NPV of the investment, you must subtract the initial cost of the investment from the value
returned by the NPV formula. In this case, the NPV for the investment is $29,589.21.

The PMT function

Syntax: =PMT(rate, nper, pv, [fv], [type])
Description: This function calculates the payments for a loan with a fixed interest rate and fixed
payment periods. You can use this function, for example, to calculate your payments for a fixed-rate
mortgage, auto loan, or student loan. In the function's syntax, here are the required arguments: rate
is the loan's fixed interest rate, nper is the total number of payments for the loan (for example,
monthly payments for a three-year loan occur 36 times), pv is the present value (principal) of the
loan. There are two optional arguments for the function: fv (future value of the loan) and type. The

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 199

fv argument is used to indicate the remaining balance on the loan at the end of the specified period.
Typically, this will be zero (meaning the loan is fully paid off), which is the value if you omit this
argument. If you want to calculate the payments to partially pay off the loan, use the fv argument to
indicate how much should be left over once all of the payments are made. The type argument
indicates whether the payment is due at the end of each payment period (indicated by a zero or by
omitting the argument), or at the beginning of each pay period (indicated by a 1).
Note: When using the PMT function, you must account for how often you plan to make
payments when you enter the values for the rate and nper arguments. So, if the interest rate is 9
percent and you're making monthly payments for three years, the value for rate should be .
09/12, and the value for nper should be 36. If you make annual payments on the same loan,
rate would be .09 and nper would be 3.

In the following example, you want to find the monthly payments for a five year loan for $50,000,
with a fixed 5 percent interest rate.

The PPMT Function

Syntax: =PPMT(rate, per, nper, pv, [fv], [type])
Description: The PPMT function calculates the amount owed against the principal for a particular
period on an investment or a loan with regular payments and a fixed interest rate. The arguments for
the PPMT function are exactly the same as those for the IPMT function. If you add the values
returned for the same period of the same loan by the IPMT function and the PPMT function, you
will calculate the total payment, less any fees, for the period.
Using the previous example, this is what the PPMT function would return for the principal payment
due in the same period.

The PV Function
Syntax: =PV(rate, nper, pmt, [fv], [type])
Description: This function calculates the present value of a loan or an investment, based on a
constant interest rate.
Required arguments:
• rate: The interest rate per period.
• nper: The total number of payment periods in an annuity.
• pmt: The payment made each period that cannot change over the life of the annuity.
Optional arguments:

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200 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

• fv: The future value, or a cash balance you want to attain after the last payment is made. If fv is
omitted, it is assumed to be 0.
• type: The number 0 or omitted indicates payments are due at the end of the period, and 1 if the
payments are due at the beginning of the period.
In the following example, the present value of an annuity is calculated from an interest rate of 8
percent over 20 years with 12 payments each year, and a month end payment of $500.

Appendix D : Financial Functions |

E Working with Graphical
Objects
Appendix Introduction
Although data is king in Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016, there are a number of reasons you
may need to add graphical objects, outside of charts or PivotCharts, to your worksheets.
You may want to simply enhance the visual appeal of your worksheets, or you may wish to
include some type of "infographic" that simply can't be created with a chart. Perhaps you
want to include your company logo in a visible location when sharing your screen with
potential clients. Or, you may wish to include screenshots of relevant computer applications
or websites when presenting related information.
Whatever the case, at some point you'll likely need to rely on graphical support for the data
in your workbooks. Excel 2016 provides you with a number of tools for inserting,
modifying, and even editing a variety of graphical objects that can enhance the visual appeal
of a document and serve as interactive data objects. Understanding what these objects are,
how they work, and how you can integrate them with your data can help you elevate your
workbooks to a new level of sophistication.
202 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

TOPIC A
Insert Graphical Objects
Before you can use graphical objects to enhance the visual appeal of your workbooks or present
your data with greater impact, you must first be able to insert them into your worksheets. Excel
2016 provides you with a variety of tools and commands that enable you to add numerous graphical
objects to your worksheets. Understanding the differences among the types of graphical objects and
the various methods for inserting them is a key first step in using graphical objects to enhance your
workbooks.

Graphical Objects
There are six basic types of graphical objects that you can insert into your workbooks: pictures, clip
art, shapes, SmartArt, WordArt, and screenshots. Each of these is suited to particular purposes. It's
important to understand that these objects, much like charts, are separate objects that lie on top of
worksheets; you do not insert them in cells. All of these graphical objects can be resized, modified,
and moved. Some of them can also contain text or display the content of worksheet cells. You can
access the commands for inserting most graphical objects in the Illustrations group on the Insert
tab. You insert WordArt, however, by selecting Insert→Text→WordArt.

Figure E-1: Graphical objects enable you to add appeal to your worksheets and present data
visually.

The following table describes each of the types of graphical objects in some detail.

Graphical Object Description

Type

Pictures These are image files created outside of Excel, such as images from digital
cameras, pictures downloaded from the web, or graphics and art saved as image
files. Excel 2016 supports a variety of common image file formats.
Clip art Simple artwork graphics or images that are available online, downloaded from
Office.com. Clip art objects behave differently depending on the type of
graphical object you select, but they are all still generically referred to as clip art.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 203

Graphical Object Description

Type
Shapes Simple graphical objects, such as circles, squares, rectangles, text callouts, and
arrows that are generated within Excel and that you manually draw on your
worksheets. Excel 2016 comes loaded with a wide variety of shapes. Shapes can
also display text or the contents of worksheet cells.
SmartArt Preconfigured graphics that you can use as graphical representations of textual
content. You will typically use SmartArt to represent processes, procedures,
cycles, or hierarchies. Common uses of SmartArt include creating organizational
charts and representing sales or business cycles. As with shapes, you can use
SmartArt to display text, but you cannot link cell content to SmartArt graphics.
WordArt Preconfigured sets of text formatting that you can apply to the text in certain
graphical objects. WordArt is customizable, but you cannot apply WordArt to
text or data in worksheet cells; you can only apply it to text in graphical objects.
Screenshots Images taken from the current display of your computer monitor. You capture
these images directly within Excel, which can be of either entire windows or
particular regions of your screen. Excel enables you to screen capture any
currently open windows that are not minimized.

The Insert Picture Dialog Box

You will use the Insert Picture dialog box to insert images saved to your computer or network
directories in your worksheets. From here, you can navigate to and select the image files you wish to
insert. To access the Insert Picture dialog box, select Insert→Illustrations→Pictures.

Figure E-2: The Insert Picture dialog box.

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The Insert Pictures Window

You can use the Insert Pictures window to add online pictures including clip art images, also
known as clips, to your worksheets. From here, you can search for and insert clips using Bing®
Image Search on the web. Bing Image Search uses a copyright filter based on the Creative
Commons licensing system. The Insert Pictures window displays a gallery of thumbnail images for
the items that match your search query. You can also view a slightly larger preview of items returned
in searches by selecting the magnifying glass icon that appears when you point the cursor at one of
the thumbnail images. You can access the Insert Pictures window by selecting
Insert→Illustrations→Online Pictures.

Figure E-3: Use the Insert Pictures window to search for, preview, and insert pictures and clips.

The Shapes Gallery

You will select the particular shapes you wish to add to your worksheets by using the Shapes
gallery. The Shapes gallery is divided into a series of eight categories of related shape types. These
include simple lines and arrows, basic geometric shapes, flowchart elements, and text callout boxes.
Shapes you have recently used in your workbooks appear in the Recently Used Shapes section at
the top of the Shapes gallery. You can access the Shapes gallery by selecting
Insert→Illustrations→Shapes.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 205

Figure E-4: The Shapes gallery.

The Take a Screenshot Command

The Take a Screenshot command enables you to capture an image from an open application on
your computer. You can capture either an entire application window or a particular region of the
screen. The screenshot tool enables you to screen capture open applications that are not minimized
to the task bar. When you select the Take a Screenshot command, Excel opens the Available
Windows gallery from which you can select an open application to capture. This method captures
an image of the entire window of the selected application. To capture only a portion of the
application window, select the Screen Clipping command from the bottom of the Available
Windows gallery. Excel then activates the screen clipping tool, enabling you to select the particular
region of your screen that you wish to capture. The screen clipping tool also enables you to capture
screenshots of your desktop, which is not possible from the Available Windows gallery. You
cannot capture an image of Excel from within Excel. You can access the screenshot tool by
selecting Insert→Illustrations→Take a Screenshot.

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Figure E-5: The Take a Screenshot command.

Text Boxes
Technically speaking, text boxes are essentially the same as shapes. The main differences with text
boxes are that they contain no formatting when you insert them, and they display an insertion point
(cursor) when selected, indicating they are ready for you to enter text. Use text boxes to include
additional information on your worksheets or to call attention to some fact or worksheet element.
To insert a text box, select Insert→Text→Text Box.

Figure E-6: A text box on an Excel worksheet.

WordArt
WordArt is a type of text formatting that you can apply to the text in certain graphical objects within
Excel. By default, when you insert WordArt, Excel inserts it as a text box with the selected WordArt
formatting applied to the text. You can, however, apply WordArt styles to some of the text in some
other graphical objects, such as chart labels and text in shapes. Excel 2016 comes loaded with a
small selection of preconfigured WordArt styles, and you can create custom WordArt styles. To
insert a default WordArt text box, select Insert→Text→WordArt.

Figure E-7: WordArt formatting applied to the text in a text box.

Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and
job aids on How to Insert Graphical Objects.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 207

TOPIC B
Modify Graphical Objects
Inserting graphical objects is a great way to enhance the visual appeal and impact of your
workbooks. However, many of the raw images or basic shapes you insert may not suit your
particular needs. For instance, you may need to ensure that all shapes adhere to your organization's
branding guidelines. Or you may want to remove distracting background elements from images to
focus your audience's attention on only the most important aspects of pictures. Whatever the
reason, taking the time to gain the foundational knowledge needed to modify and edit your graphical
objects will give you the flexibility you need to ensure that your images deliver the proper message
and have the desired impact.
Note: While there are no formal activities for this lesson, a sample data file has been provided to
you so that you can practice adding shapes and connecting them to cell data in the C:
\091056Data\Appendix C folder. Use the graphic_objects.xlsx file to practice adding,
modifying, and connecting data to shapes; one has been included in the workbook as an
example. You can also practice adding images or SmartArt as well. A sample solution file has
been provided in the C:\091056Data\Appendix C\solutions folder.

Pictures and Drawings

There is an important distinction to understand before you modify the graphical objects in your
workbooks. With the exception of SmartArt, although there are several types of graphical objects in
Excel, Excel recognizes only two types of images in terms of editing and modifying graphical
objects: pictures and drawings.
Note: Although, technically, the individual elements of a SmartArt graphic are the same as
shapes, SmartArt has a separate set of tools that you will use to modify your SmartArt graphics.

In terms of modifying graphical objects, Excel considers pictures, screenshots, and some clip art to
be pictures, whereas it considers shapes, text boxes, and some other clips to be drawings. Each has
its own unique set of tools for working with and modifying the various types of graphical objects.

Figure E-8: Excel draws a distinction between drawings and pictures.

The Picture Tools Contextual Tab

Excel displays the Picture Tools contextual tab when you select a graphical object it considers to be
a picture. The Picture Tools contextual tab contains only one tab, the Format tab, which displays

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the tools and commands you will use to edit, modify, and add effects to the pictures in your
workbooks.

Figure E-9: The Picture Tools contextual tab.

The Format tab on the Picture Tools contextual tab is divided into four command groups. Each
of these groups displays functionally related commands for working with pictures in Excel.

Format Tab Group Contains Commands For

Adjust Performing image-correction tasks, compressing the size of pictures, adding

artistic effects to pictures, and removing picture backgrounds.
Picture Styles Adding a variety of style elements to pictures, such as placing borders
around them, adding drop shadows, and adding 3-D rotation and bevel
effects.
Arrange Changing the placement of pictures on worksheets, arranging multiple
images front-to-back, grouping images together, and rotating images.
Size Modifying the size of and cropping pictures.

The Image Editor

The Adjust group on the Format tab of the Picture Tools contextual tab contains a set of
commands and tools sometimes referred to collectively as the image editor. These commands and
tools enable you to perform image editing tasks, such as adjusting the brightness, contrast, or
sharpness of a picture, that you might otherwise need a separate application to perform.

Figure E-10: The Adjust group's image editing tools.

The following table describes the type of image-correction and modification tasks you can perform
by using the tools and commands available in the image editor.

Image Editor Command/ Use This To

Tool

Remove Background tool Remove unwanted background elements from a picture. The
Remove Background tool will attempt to guess at the main subject
of an image and remove all other background elements. You can
also manually select which regions of an image Excel will keep and
which elements it will remove.
Corrections command Adjust the sharpness, brightness, or contrast of an image.
Color command Adjust the color tone or saturation of an image, recolor an image, or
select a particular color to make transparent in an image.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 209

Image Editor Command/ Use This To

Tool
Artistic Effects command Apply a particular artistic effect to an image, such as making an
image look like a pencil sketch, adding a blur effect, adding a
pixelated effect, or turning a color image into a black-and-white
image.
Compress Pictures Reduce the overall file size of your Excel workbook by compressing
command the images it contains.
Change Picture command Replace a picture with another image file.
Reset Picture command Remove any formatting changes you've made to a picture.

The Drawing Tools Contextual Tab

Excel displays the Drawing Tools contextual tab when you select a graphical object it considers to
be a drawing. The Drawing Tools contextual tab contains only one tab, the Format tab, which
displays the tools and commands you will use to edit, modify, and add effects to the drawings in
your workbooks.

Figure E-11: The Drawing Tools contextual tab.

The Format tab on the Drawing Tools contextual tab is divided into five command groups. Each
of these groups displays functionally related commands for working with drawings in Excel.

Format Tab Group Contains Commands For

Insert Shapes Inserting additional shapes, changing the outline (shape) of a shape, and
inserting text boxes.
Shape Styles Applying a variety of preconfigured or custom styles to drawings.
WordArt Styles Applying a variety of preconfigured or custom styles to text you add to
drawings.
Arrange Changing the placement of drawings on worksheets, arranging multiple
drawings front-to-back, grouping drawings together, and rotating
drawings.
Size Modifying the size of drawings.

The Selection Task Pane

Although you can use the commands on the Picture Tools or the Drawing Tools contextual tab
to arrange images front-to-back on your worksheets, Excel 2016 includes a tool that makes doing so
easier: the Selection task pane. The Selection task pane enables you to easily view the front-to-back
order of graphical objects on your worksheets, view which objects are grouped together, change the
order of objects and groups (and individual objects within groups), and hide from view or display
any of the graphical objects on your worksheets.
It may not appear as such when objects are separated from each other, but all objects on a
worksheet are arranged in a front-to-back order as if each exists on its own plane. This fact becomes
evident, however, when you overlap objects onscreen. Objects that are in front of other objects will

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obscure the view of the objects behind them. Objects appear in the Selection pane from top to
bottom as they appear on the worksheet from front to back. In other words, the object at the top of
the Selection task pane is in front of all other objects on the worksheet.
When you group objects together, they behave as one independent object that you can move,
arrange, resize, or modify collectively. You are, however, able to select individual objects within a
group to perform modifications on them separate from the group. Grouped objects appear in the
Selection task pane in a hierarchical fashion with the group existing at the same level as other
independent objects, and the objects in the group appearing one level down in the hierarchy within
the group.

Figure E-12: The Selection task pane.

The following table describes the functions of the various elements of the Selection task pane.

Selection Task Pane Description

Element

Objects list Displays the order of all objects and groups on a worksheet, as well as
the order in which individual objects appear within a group.
Eye buttons Enable you to hide or show any object or group.
Show All button Turns on the display of all objects and groups on a worksheet.
Hide All button Turns off the display of all objects and groups on a worksheet.
Bring Forward and Send Enable you to move objects or groups up or down in the objects list,
Backward buttons which changes their order on the worksheet.

The Format Shape and Format Picture Task Panes

Excel 2016 also provides you with access to two task panes that you can use to fine-tune the
formatting and modification of your graphical objects: the Format Shape task pane and the
Format Picture task pane. Like other task panes, these two task panes are organized into a
hierarchical structure of tabs and expandable command sections, although the Format Picture task
pane does not include high-level tabs as pictures can't contain text. You can access the Format
Shape and the Format Picture task panes by selecting the dialog box launchers from the command
groups in the Picture Tools and the Drawing Tools contextual tabs.

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Figure E-13: Use the commands and the options available in the Format Shape and Format
Picture task panes to work with the graphical objects on your worksheets.

Object Properties
As objects on an Excel worksheet don't exist within worksheet cells, it may seem odd that when you
modify the size of or hide and unhide columns or rows, your objects move or resize along with the
cells. This is actually a default setting that you can change using object properties. Configuring object
properties enables you to control the behavior of objects on worksheets relative to the cells beneath
them, whether or not objects print on printouts, and how worksheet protection affects the objects
on your worksheets. You set object properties using the commands in the Properties command
section on the Size & Properties tab of either the Format Shape or the Format Picture task
pane.

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Figure E-14: Modify object properties to affect the behavior of objects relative to worksheet cells,
when printing worksheets, and when applying worksheet protection.

The following table describes the various options in the Properties command section.

Object Property Option Description

Move and size with cells radio This is the default property for objects in Excel 2016. With this
button option selected, objects on your worksheets will change size and
position when you make adjustments to the cells beneath them.
Move but don't size with cells This option allows objects to move as you adjust cells beneath
radio button them, but maintains their current dimensions.
Don't move or size with cells This option enables you to make adjustments to the cells
radio button beneath worksheet objects without affecting either the
placement or the size of the objects.
Print object check box Determines whether or not objects will print on printed
worksheets.
Locked check box Protects objects from user changes if you have applied
worksheet protection to the worksheet.
Lock text check box Protects the text on objects from user changes if you have
applied worksheet protection to the worksheet.

Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and
job aids on How to Modify Graphical Objects.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 213

TOPIC C
Work with SmartArt
Creating complex graphical representations of textual information can be a daunting task. You must
decide what shapes to include, how to size and format them, and how to arrange them on the
graphic so they make sense. You may know what you would like to communicate, but be unsure of
how to say it visually. So, how do you go about designing and building your graphic? Well, the good
news is that you don't have to do all of the work yourself.
The SmartArt tools within Excel 2016 give you a vast array of options for creating graphics that are
well-suited to a variety of needs. Understanding how to insert SmartArt into your workbooks and
how to decide which layout to use will save you the effort of tirelessly adding and formatting
individual shapes to create a complex graphic.

SmartArt Graphics
SmartArt graphics are visual representations of textual content that typically represent a process, a
cycle, a hierarchy, or relationships. Excel 2016 contains eight different categories of SmartArt
graphics that you can use to display a variety of textual information. In addition, you can download a
number of other SmartArt templates from Office.com. Like other objects, SmartArt graphics are
individual objects that can be moved, resized, arranged, and formatted in a variety of ways.
The following table describes some of the common uses for SmartArt graphics in the various
SmartArt graphic categories.

Figure E-15: A SmartArt graphic.

SmartArt Category Is Used to Create Diagrams for Displaying

List Information that does not need to be shown in sequential order. Lists are
ideal for content such as bulleted lists.
Process Information that needs to be shown in sequential order, such as a
manufacturing process or a task procedure.

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SmartArt Category Is Used to Create Diagrams for Displaying

Cycle A continuous process, such as an annual performance-review system or
annual sales cycles.
Hierarchy Steps in a decision process or an organizational chart.
Relationship How various elements of a system interconnect with each other.
Matrix How various elements of a system relate to the system as a whole.
Pyramid How elements of varying degrees of importance or size relate,
proportionally, to each other as part of the whole.
Picture Content as a combination of text and graphics.

SmartArt Shapes
The individual elements of a SmartArt graphic are known as shapes. This can be a bit confusing as
they share a name with the shapes you manually draw onto your Excel worksheets. Essentially, the
individual elements of SmartArt are the same type of objects as shapes. But to differentiate the two,
from this point forward, the term "shapes" will be used to refer to the objects you manually draw,
and the elements of SmartArt graphics will be referred to as "SmartArt shapes."
It is the SmartArt shapes that display the text in SmartArt graphics. And, although they are typically
formatted in much the same way as other SmartArt shapes in a SmartArt graphic, you can
individually format, move, and resize them to suit your needs. Much as with grouped objects, to
select a SmartArt shape, you first select the SmartArt graphic it is a part of, and then select the
individual SmartArt shape you wish to interact with.

Figure E-16: A SmartArt shape.

The Choose a SmartArt Graphic Dialog Box

You will use the Choose a SmartArt Graphic dialog box to insert SmartArt graphics into your
workbooks. The Choose a SmartArt Graphic dialog box is divided into a series of tabs that
organize the available SmartArt graphics by category. As you select the various categories of
SmartArt in the left pane, the dialog box displays the available SmartArt graphic layouts in the
middle pane as thumbnail images. Selecting one of the thumbnail images displays a preview of the
selected SmartArt layout along with a brief description of its common uses in the right pane. To
display the Choose a SmartArt Graphic dialog box, select Insert→Illustrations→Insert a
SmartArt Graphic.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 215

Figure E-17: The Choose a SmartArt Graphic dialog box.

The Text Pane

There are two methods you can use to add text to your SmartArt graphics. The first is to simply
select the default text on the SmartArt shapes and then enter the text. The second method is to use
the Text pane. With the Text pane open, you can still select the text placeholders directly in the
SmartArt shapes to enter or edit text, but you can also place the insertion point in the various text
placeholders within the Text pane to do the same.
Many SmartArt graphics are hierarchical in nature. This is especially beneficial when creating
graphics for bullet list content and organizational charts. As such, Excel provides you with
functionality to control and arrange the hierarchical relationships among the various bits of text in
your SmartArt graphics. Once you enter text in the Text pane, pressing the Enter key will add a
new text placeholder at the same hierarchical level, both in the Text pane and in the SmartArt
graphic. You can also promote or demote text in the graphic's overall hierarchy. Depending on the
particular SmartArt graphic you're working with, adding more lines of text may simply add bullet
items within a SmartArt shape, or it may add new SmartArt shapes to contain the text. To open the
Text pane, select the SmartArt graphic and then select the control.

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Figure E-18: The Text pane.

The SmartArt Tools Contextual Tab

You will find the commands and tools specific to working with and modifying SmartArt graphics on
the SmartArt Tools contextual tab. The SmartArt Tools contextual tab is divided into two tabs:
the Design tab and the Format tab. The Design tab contains the commands you will use to
configure the overall structure of your SmartArt graphics, and to apply particular style elements to
entire SmartArt graphics.

Figure E-19: The Design tab.

The Design tab on the SmartArt Tools contextual tab is divided into four command groups.

Design Tab Group Contains Commands For

Create Graphic Adding SmartArt shapes to SmartArt graphics, adding additional text
panes to SmartArt shapes, and managing the hierarchical structure of
SmartArt graphics.
Layouts Modifying the overall layout of SmartArt graphics.
SmartArt Styles Changing the overall color scheme of SmartArt graphics and applying
stylistic elements, such as 3-D effects, beveling, and drop shadows, to
SmartArt graphics.
Reset Removing customization from SmartArt graphics and converting
SmartArt graphics to standard Excel shapes.

The Format tab contains the commands you will use to apply formatting to the individual SmartArt
shapes and their text within your SmartArt graphics.

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Figure E-20: The Format tab.

The Format tab on the SmartArt Tools contextual tab is divided into five functional groups.

Format Tab Group Contains Commands For

Shapes Changing the shape of and modifying the size of individual SmartArt
shapes.
Shape Styles Applying preconfigured or customized formatting to individual SmartArt
shapes.
WordArt Styles Applying preconfigured or customized formatting to the text within
SmartArt shapes.
Arrange Configuring the placement of, arranging, and rotating SmartArt shapes.
Size Modifying the size of overall SmartArt graphics or individual SmartArt
shapes.

Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and
job aids on How to Insert and Modify SmartArt.

Appendix E : Working with Graphical Objects | Topic C

F Using Array Formulas
Appendix Introduction
In addition to the functions discussed in the course, Excel provides a type of function to
help you easily reuse formulas throughout thousands of cells.
220 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

TOPIC A
Use Array Formulas
As you have used Excel for some time, you're likely well aware of the advantages of reusing
formulas in worksheets. By copying a formula down a column or across a row, you save yourself the
effort of manually typing the formula in each cell, or even of pasting the formula over and over
again. This works well in smaller worksheets, but what if you had to drag a formula down a column
with 10,000 rows? Although that would be much easier than manually typing a formula 10,000
times, this can still be awkward and time consuming. It seems there should be an easier way to
perform a calculation on a large number of cells simultaneously.
Excel 2016 contains a powerful, yet largely underused, feature that enables you to perform tasks
such as this, and a number of other seemingly complex computations, quickly, easily, and accurately:
array formulas. Gaining a foundational understanding of how to use these powerful Excel formulas
will open new doors to you, help you protect the integrity of your data, and generally make your
Excel working life much easier.

Arrays
In order to understand how array formulas work, you'll need to know what an array is. An array, in
the most basic sense, is simply a group of items. In Excel, an array is composed of the entries in a
group of cells. An array can be made up of cell values from a single row or a single column, which
are referred to as one-dimensional horizontal arrays and one-dimensional vertical arrays,
respectively. An array can also include cell values from multiple rows or columns, in which case it is
known as a two-dimensional array. You may be thinking that arrays sound exactly like ranges, and,
in a sense, that's correct. The key difference between an array and a range is that an array is the
representation of the values in a range in a computer's memory. Put another way, when an array
formula acts upon a range, the range becomes an array. It is the range stored in the machine's
memory so that the machine can perform calculations on it. It is important to keep in mind that
arrays can also exist solely in a computer's memory without first being entered into cells.
Note: You can store arrays by using defined names just as you can create named cells and
ranges.

Array Formulas
Array formulas enable you to perform multiple calculations on cells in an array simultaneously. To
illustrate the power and effectiveness of array formulas, consider the following image.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 221

Figure F-1: Example using formulas and functions.

Here, a formula has been entered in cell D2 to multiply the author's sales by the commission rate.
The formula was copied down the column from cell D2 to cell D7 and then the SUM function was
used in cell D9 to total the commission payments for all authors. This is likely the method you
would have used in the same situation. However, imagine you were trying to do the same for a
publishing company with 5,000 authors. It's easy to see how this could become quite a chore. Now,
consider this example.

Figure F-2: Example using array formulas.

Here, the same total is reached, but without taking all of the extra steps as in the first example. So,
how does one do this? By using array formulas. Here, Excel has been asked to multiply the figures in
column B by the figures in column C, and then to add the products together and display the total in
cell D9. And this was done by using a single formula. Let's take a closer look at how this works.
There are actually two general types of array formulas: single-cell array formulas and multi-cell array
formulas. The aforementioned example illustrated the use of a single-cell array formula, but let's first
look at multi-cell array formulas, as they may illustrate a little bit better how array formulas work.

Multi-Cell Array Formulas

As you may have guessed, you enter multi-cell array formulas in multiple cells, which yields multiple
results for the calculation. Look back at the first example and consider the steps it took to calculate
the commission payment for all authors. First, a simple multiplication formula was entered, and then
it was dragged down so that it could be pasted into the remaining cells in the column. What if you
didn't have to do that? Using multi-cell array formulas, you can calculate the commission payment
for all authors at once, but you have to know how to tell Excel to do this.

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Because array formulas work on arrays (stored values from ranges) instead of just single cells, you
can enter a single array formula into all of the cells in the range D2:D7 at once, and Excel will
calculate the commission payment for all authors simultaneously. To do this, you would select the
entire range D2:D7 and then enter the following formula in the Formula Bar:
=B2:B7*C2:C7
Here, you're telling Excel to multiply the corresponding set of cells from each row together and
place the associated results in the corresponding cells in the range D2:D7. But there's a catch: if you
simply press Enter or Tab to enter the formula, Excel will calculate the result for the active cell
only, leaving the others blank. To enter an array formula in worksheet cells, you must press Ctrl
+Shift+Enter. For this reason, array formulas are often referred to as Ctrl-Shift-Enter, or CSE,
formulas. When this array formula is entered properly, the worksheet will look like the following
example.

Figure F-3: Example using CSE formulas.

There are a couple of key points to mention here. First, notice the curly brackets. Excel
automatically placed them around the formula when it was entered. Those brackets designate an
array in Excel (more on that later). Second, Excel entered the exact same formula in each cell in the
range D2:D7. You cannot change any of the array formulas without changing all of them, and you
must press Ctrl+Shift+Enter if you wish to modify the array formula. This adds a level of
protection for the formulas in your worksheets. Again, there will be more on this later.

Single-Cell Array Formulas

Single-cell array formulas perform multiple calculations on arrays and display the result in a single
cell. In the second example in the previous section, a single-cell array formula was used to both
multiply the sales figures by the rates for each author, and to add those results together to get the
total payment figure, all with a single formula in cell D9.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 223

Figure F-4: Example using single-cell array formula.

Notice here that Excel automatically added the curly brackets around the formula, indicating it is an
array formula. Also take note that the SUM function was used with the range references as
arguments to complete the calculation. The array formula performed the first part of the calculation
just as the aforementioned multi-cell array formula example did, and then it used the SUM function
to add all of the results together. This illustrates the true power of the array formula.
You can use array formulas to save time, ensure formula accuracy, create leaner workbooks that take
up less storage space and refresh calculations more quickly, use less real estate on your worksheets,
and add a level of protection to your workbook calculations.

Array Formula Syntax

As is the case with any formula or function in Excel, understanding array syntax and array formula
syntax lies at the core of mastering array formulas. You'll first look at array syntax and then examine
how that applies to array formula syntax.

Array Syntax
As previously mentioned, arrays are similar to ranges but they exist in a computer's memory as
opposed to existing in a series of worksheet cells. Although you can reference cell ranges in array
formulas, you can also create arrays that exist only in memory. These arrays are known as array
constants. An array constant is simply a series of values, logical values, or text entries stored in
memory (as defined names) or entered directly into array formulas, as opposed to being entered in
cells. Once created, array constants can be used in array formulas just as a constant can be used in a
standard formula. There are four key points of array constant syntax:
• As with array formulas, array constants must be enclosed in curly brackets. There is an important
difference between the two, though: you manually type the curly brackets to create an array
constant.
• To separate entries into columns in an array constant, use commas.
• To separate entries into rows in an array constant, use semicolons.
• If you include text entries in an array constant, they must be enclosed in double quotation marks
( " " ).
Consider the following example:

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The array constant equivalent of this range is {10, 15, 20; 12, 56, 32; 11, 98, 78}.
Note: Keep in mind that array constants don't exist in actual, "physical" cells, so cell and range
references do not apply.

So, rather than taking up worksheet space by populating the numeric values, you can simply use the
array constant. Remember that you can also save an array by using a defined name so you can reuse
it in multiple array formulas.
Note: Array constants saved as defined names do not appear in the Name Box drop-down
menu, but you can manually enter them into formulas or functions, and they do appear in the
Formula AutoComplete drop-down menu.

Arrays in Array Formula Syntax

You create array formulas by using any formula operators or existing functions you would use to
create standard formulas and functions in Excel. The key difference in the syntax of array formulas,
as opposed to standard formulas and functions, is the set of curly brackets that enclose the formula.
Excel automatically places brackets around a formula or function when you enter it by pressing Ctrl
+Shift+Enter.
One other main difference is that you can include ranges and array constants as arguments in array
formulas in order to perform multiple calculations using formula and function operators
simultaneously, without having to copy formulas in multiple cells. Let's look at one more example to
illustrate this point.

Figure F-5: Example of array formula syntax.

This example is slightly more complex than the first one examined. Here, the number of units each
sales rep sold is being multiplied by the cost of the product each rep sells and then that number is
multiplied by each sales rep's commission rate. This is all enclosed in a SUM function, so in one
step, the total sales commissions the organization will have to pay out has been calculated. Let's
break down the syntax:
• The curly brackets tell Excel that this is an array formula, so it can perform operations on related
values from a series of arrays (in this case, ranges).
• The SUM function tells Excel to add a series of values.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 225

• The set of parentheses enclose the arguments for the SUM function as they would for a standard
SUM function.
• The arguments for the SUM function, as this is an array formula, are telling Excel to multiply the
corresponding values in the various columns for each rep. For example, for Fred, the formula
multiplies 12 by 1,500 and then multiplies the product of that calculation by 9 percent. For Amy,
the formula multiplies 87 by 1,700, and then multiplies the product by 8 percent. This carries on
for each rep, and then Excel sums all of those values to provide the total commissions paid of
$60,277.98.
It is also important to remember that you can simply include array constants in array formulas, and
these can be used in place of or in conjunction with range references. Let's say you need to present
the information from the previous example at a sales meeting and you don't want to reveal
commission rates for sales reps to the other people in the room. By using array constants, you can
create the same array formula without the need to display the commission rate data in cells.

Figure F-6: Example using array constants in array formulas.

Notice here that the range reference D2:D6 was simply replaced with the array constant
{0.09;0.08;0.12;0.07;0.09}. This way, the data doesn't need to appear in the worksheet but the array
formula performs the same calculation. Remember that you must manually type the curly brackets
around array constants in array formulas. You must also press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to enter the
formula as an array formula; again, Excel automatically places the outside curly brackets around the
entire array formula.
Let's look at one more simple example of how array formulas can work on entire ranges (arrays) of
data. Let's say you want to multiply one range of values by another range of values, but the values
are contained in multiple rows and columns as in this worksheet.

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Figure F-7: Example of array formulas and ranges of data.

Here, the array formula is multiplying the corresponding values from the range A1:C3 and the range
E1:G3 and returning the products in the cells in A5:C7. The formula systematically multiplies the
value in A1 by the value in E1 and places the result in cell A5. Then it does the same for B1 and F1
and places the result in B5. This carries on until all nine values are calculated and the results are
returned in the associated cells. And it's all done with a single array formula.

Array Formula Rules

You must follow some pretty specific rules when working with arrays and array formulas. While
some of these have been touched upon in the previous sections, here is a recap of the rules that
have already been covered and a few rules that haven't been mentioned yet.

Array Formula Rules

• You must press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to enter an array formula. This is perhaps the most important
rule you should remember about array formulas.
• Excel automatically places the curly brackets around an array formula when you press Ctrl+Shift
+Enter. If you type them in the formula yourself, Excel treats the formula like text. Remember
that all formulas must begin with an equal sign. If you begin a formula with an open curly
bracket, Excel won't know you want to enter a formula.
• You can use any of the built-in functions in Excel as array formulas.

Multi-Cell Array Formula Rules

• You must first select all cells into which you wish to place a multi-cell array formula, and then
enter the formula.
• You cannot edit or delete a multi-cell array formula in just one or only some of the cells
containing it. You must delete or change it in all cells at once.
• You can move an entire multi-cell array formula, but you cannot move only some of the cells
included in the formula.
• You cannot insert or delete rows, columns, or cells in a multi-cell array formula, but you can add
rows or columns to the end of one.

Array Rules
• You must manually enter the curly brackets around array constants.
• In arrays, commas separate entries into columns and semicolons separate entries into rows.
• Arrays can contain numeric values, text, or logical values.
• In arrays, text must be enclosed in double quotation marks ( " " ).
• Array constants cannot contain other arrays, formulas, or functions.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 227

• You can save array constants as defined names, and use those defined names in formulas and
functions just as you would a named cell or range.

Access the Checklist tile on your CHOICE Course screen for reference information and
job aids on How to Use Array Formulas.

Appendix F : Using Array Formulas | Topic A

228 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

ACTIVITY F-1
Using Array Formulas

Data File
C:\091056Data\Using Array Formulas\Author Data.xlsx

Before You Begin

Excel 2016 is open.

Scenario
Company leadership is interested in knowing more about how much value they're receiving from the
company's relationships with its authors. In addition to the information you've already provided,
your supervisor is now asking for detailed information about income based on the number of titles
each of the authors has published through Fuller and Ackerman and the average income the
company has earned per contract year. Specifically, she wants to know:
• How much income has the company generated from each author per title?
• What is the average income per year under contract for all authors?
The purpose of not using You'd like anyone viewing your workbook to be able to easily tell how you arrived at these figures,
the calculated values in so you decide not to use the calculated totals in the Income Earned column to perform the
the Income Earned
column in the
calculations to answer the first question. You also decide to use array formulas to answer both
calculations for the questions to avoid unnecessary copying of formulas.
Income Per Title column
is two-fold. First, it will
make the array formulas 1. In Excel, open the workbook, Author Data.xlsx.
easier for other
workbook viewers to 2. Label a column for income per title and add a new label for average income per contract year.
interpret (as stated in the a) If necessary, select cell H1, type Income Per Title and then press Enter.
scenario). Second, it
b) Select cell J4, type Average Income/Contract Year and then press Enter.
facilitates the use of an
array formula as c) If necessary, adjust the width of column J to accommodate the new label.
opposed to simply
dividing values in the 3. Use a multi-cell array formula to determine the income per title for each author.
Income Earned column a) In the Name Box, type h2:h94 and then press Enter.
by values in the Number
of Titles in Print column Note: Please follow these steps precisely as written. After you type the range
and copying the formula and press Enter, you can simply begin typing the text in the following step.
down the Income Per
You do not need to select anything on-screen first.
Title column.
Let students know they b) Type =(n
are using the Name Box c) From the pop-up menu, double-click No_of_Books_Sold.
to select the range d) Type *se
H2:H94 because the Ctrl e) From the pop-up menu, double-click Sell_Price.
+Shift+Down Arrow
shortcut will select the
entire column, as it is not
populated.

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 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 229

f) Type )/no and, from the pop-up menu, double-click No_of_Titles_in_Print.

g) Press Ctrl+Shift+Enter.
h) Verify that Excel placed curly brackets around the formula and entered it into all of the selected This is a good
cells. opportunity to have one
of the students explain
the syntax of the array
formula.

i) Apply the Currency number format to the cells in column H.

4. Use a single-cell array formula to determine the overall average of income per contract year.
a) Select cell K4.
b) Enter the following formula: =average(Income_Earned/Years_Under_Contract)
c) Press Ctrl+Shift+Enter.
d) Verify that Excel placed curly brackets around the function and then entered it into cell K4. This is a good
opportunity to ask one of
the students to explain
the syntax of the array
function. Reach out to
remote students for their
input as well.

e) Apply the Currency number format to cell K4.

5. Save and close the workbook.

Appendix F : Using Array Formulas | Topic A

Mastery Builders

Mastery Builders are provided for certain lessons as additional learning resources for this
course. Mastery Builders are developed for selected lessons within a course in cases when
they seem most instructionally useful as well as technically feasible. In general, mastery
builders are supplemental, optional unguided practice and may or may not be performed as
part of the classroom activities. Your instructor will consider setup requirements, classroom
timing, and instructional needs to determine which mastery builders are appropriate for you
to perform, and at what point during the class. If you do not perform the mastery builders
in class, your instructor can tell you if you can perform them independently as self-study,
and if there are any special setup requirements.
232 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

Mastery Builder 1-1

Working with Functions

Activity Time: 10 minutes

Data File
C:\091056Data\Working with Functions\Employee Summary.xlsx

Scenario
You are the sales manager for your organization. You are preparing a summary of
employee location information and their hire dates. The company is awarding a gas
grill to all employees with 20 years of service, and a telescope to those with 25 years of
service. You need to figure out which employees on your list will be awarded which
gift.

1. Open Excel 2016, and open the workbook Employee Summary.xlsx.

2. Enter a function in B1 to insert today's date.

3. Create range names for the columns in the dataset based on the column labels.

4. Enter a function to join campus, building, and floor to create Location Code.

5. Enter a function to join First and Last Name with a space between them.

6. Enter a function to calculate the Years of Service.

7. Enter a function to calculate the award given if an employee has greater than or equal to
25 years of service (they will be awarded a telescope). If they have greater than or equal
to 20 years service, they will be awarded a grill.

8. Save the workbook to the C:\091056Data\Working with Functions folder as My Employee

Summary.xlsx and close the file.

Mastery Builders
 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 233

Mastery Builder 2-1

Working with Lists

Activity Time: 10 minutes

Data File
C:\091056Data\Working with Lists\All Employees.xlsx

Scenario
In your role as an HR Generalist, you have a listing of all employees. This list was created in the
order in which the employees were added. You want to sort the employees list to put it in order by
last name. You also want to find out how many employees are from Alaska. In addition, you want a
set of employees that are from either Carbon Creek or Carlin. You decide to perform an advanced
filter and copy the results to another area in order to leave the original list unchanged.

1. Open the workbook All Employees.xlsx.

2. Sort the Employees list by last name.

3. Filter the list for employees living in Alaska.

4. Clear the filter from State.

5. Create a criteria area to search for employees that live in either Carbon Creek or Carlin using the
asterisk ( * ) wildcard.

6. Perform an Advanced Filter and copy the results to cell J4.

7. Save the workbook to the C:\091056Data\Working with Lists folder as My All Employees.xlsx and close
the file.

Mastery Builders
234 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

Mastery Builder 3-1

Analyzing Data

Activity Time: 10 minutes

Data File
C:\091056Data\Analyzing Data\European Sales.xlsx

Scenario
As the European Sales Manager, you are analyzing quarterly sales across Europe. You
want to create a table from the listed data and add in totals for each country as well as
for each quarter. In addition, you want to highlight the countries with the highest total
sales

1. Open the workbook European Sales.xlsx.

2. Insert a table for the European sales data.

3. Enter a Totals heading after Quarter 4.

4. Enter a function that will total each country's quarterly sales.

5. Enable the Total Row option for the table and sum each quarter.

6. Apply conditional formatting to the country names when total sales for the countries are
over $20,000.

7. Save the workbook to the C:\091056Data\Analyzing Data folder as My European

Sales.xlsx and close the file.

Mastery Builders
 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 235

Mastery Builder 4-1

Visualizing Data with Charts

Activity Time: 10 minutes

Data File
C:\091056Data\Visualizing Data with Charts\Sales Summary.xlsx

Scenario
As the sales manager preparing for the upcoming annual sales meeting, you want to create some
charts to include in your discussions. You have totaled the raw sales data by region across each
quarter and want to see the trend for the next two quarters. In addition, you have total sales and
average sales per quarter and you think it would be a good idea to present this data on the same
chart. You decide to create a dual-axis combo chart for this data.

1. Open the workbook Sales Summary.xlsx.

2. Verify that the Summary worksheet is selected and create a 2-D Clustered Column chart from the data
in A1:E6, and move it to G1.

3. Insert a linear trendline for Quarter4 data forecasting forward two periods.

4. Create a dual-axis combo chart from the data in A8:E10.

5. Set the Average/Quarter values on the Secondary Axis and move the chart to B18.

6. Save the workbook to the C:\091056Data\Visualizing Data with Charts folder as My Sales
Summary.xlsx and close the file.

Mastery Builders
236 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

Mastery Builder 5-1

Using PivotTables and PivotCharts

Activity Time: 10 minutes

Data File
C:\091056Data\Using PivotTables and PivotCharts\Quarterly Data.xlsx

Scenario
As the sales manager preparing for the upcoming annual sales meeting, you want to be
able to answer any question from the audience regarding sales performance from any
region, product line, or date. In order to accomplish this task, you decide to create a
PivotTable and PivotChart. To add additional flexibility, you also want to include
slicers and a timeline.

1. Open the workbook Quarterly Data.xlsx.

2. Use the values on the Data worksheet to create a new PivotTable on a new worksheet.

3. Add the following fields to the PivotTable report: Region, Product Line, Line Manager, and
Total Sale.

4. Move the Line Manager field to the COLUMNS area.

5. Create a 3-D Clustered Column PivotChart from the PivotTable and move the chart to I3.

6. In the bottom-right corner of the chart, select the Collapse Entire Field button to
collapse the detail of the report.

7. Insert a timeline for the Date field of the PivotTable and move it to cell I18.

8. Adjust the time level on the timeline to Quarters and select Q1 of 2016.

9. Insert slicers for Region and Sales Rep and move them to cells B12 and E12,
respectively.

10. Using the Sales Rep slicer, filter for the sales rep Anderson.

11. Save the workbook to the C:\091056Data\Analyzing Data with PivotTables and
PivotCharts folder as My Quarterly Data.xlsx and close the file.

Mastery Builders
Glossary

array charts
A range of data that can be entered into a Graphical representations of the numeric
computer's memory and accessed by Excel values and relationships in a dataset.
for data analysis that does not necessarily
have to exist within worksheet cells. combo chart
In Excel, a chart that contains data series
array constants of differing chart types.
A series of values, logical values, or text
entries that are stored in memory or comparison operators
entered directly into array formulas, as A type of Excel operator used to compare
opposed to being entered in cells. particular values to determine whether or
not they meet some specified criteria.
array formulas
A type of Excel formula that allows users criteria range
to perform multiple calculations on cells in In terms of Excel advanced filtering and
an array simultaneously. database functions, the worksheet range
that contains the user-defined criteria to
AutoFilters perform a particular operation.
Preconfigured, common filtering options
that enable Excel users to quickly remove Ctrl-Shift-Enter formulas
from view all data that does not meet some Also known as CSE formulas. An alternate
specified criteria. name for Excel array formulas, as users
must press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to enter an
cell names array formula.
Meaningful names users can assign to
particular cells to make it easier to both custom AutoFilters
understand what specific calculations are User-defined Excel AutoFilters.
being performed in a formula and to reuse
the references for a number of purposes. custom sort
A user-defined sort that can be applied to
chart elements either rows or columns, that can be applied
The individual objects that can appear on to multiple rows or columns
charts and that convey some level of simultaneously, and that can be highly
information to a viewer about the chart's customized.
data.
238 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

database functions worksheets relative to the cells beneath

A set of Excel functions that enable users them.
to perform calculations on ranges of data
based on specific criteria. outline
An Excel feature that enables users to
entry organize datasets into hierarchical groups
An individual row of data in a transactional of varying levels of detail that they can
dataset. An entry represents one single expand or collapse depending on how
transaction, such as a sale. much detail they want to see.

Excel function reference PivotCharts

A Help article that lists all Excel functions Similar to standard Excel charts, these are
by category and describes each in detail. graphical representations of numeric values
and relationships among those values. The
fields key difference between charts and
The columns in a transactional dataset. PivotCharts is that PivotCharts are linked
to the data in PivotTables.
filtering
The process of removing from view any pivoting
data entries that do not match some In Excel, a form of data manipulation that
specified criteria. can take a column of data and pivot it into
a row and vice versa.
forecasting
The process of using the trends that exist PivotTable
within past data to predict future A dynamic Excel data object that enables
outcomes. users to perform data analysis by pivoting
columns and rows of raw data without
level altering the raw data.
In terms of Excel custom sorting, an
independent, specific criterion by which a quick sorts
dataset is sorted. Users can specify multiple Preconfigured sorting options that enable
levels for a custom sort. workbook users to quickly sort data based
on common criteria.
logical values
An Excel data type that expresses whether quick styles
or not particular data meets some specified Preconfigured table styles.
criteria. There are only two logical values in
Excel: TRUE and FALSE. range names
Meaningful names users can assign to
multi-cell array formula particular ranges to make it easier to both
An array formula that performs multiple understand what specific calculations are
calculations on arrays and displays the being performed in a formula and to reuse
results in multiple cells. the references for a number of purposes.

nesting rule precedence

The process of using a function as an The order in which Excel evaluates and
argument in another function or as part of applies conditional formatting rules to
a formula's expression. cells.

object properties shared slicers

Particular Excel object settings that enable Slicers that are connected to and that filter
you to control the behavior of objects on multiple PivotTables simultaneously. Any

Glossary
 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 239

PivotTables based on a common dataset can transactional data

share slicers. Data that represents each individual
transaction, or event, in a series of transactions,
single-cell array formula and that is not summarized in any way, shape,
An array formula that performs multiple or form. Transactional data does not typically
calculations on arrays and displays the result in contain row labels; it includes only column
a single cell. labels.

slicers
Individual Excel objects used to filter the data
in PivotTables.

sorting
The process of reordering worksheet data
based on some defined criteria, such as
alphabetically or from highest value to lowest
value.

SUBTOTAL functions
A specific set of Excel functions that perform
calculations on subsets of data.

Subtotals feature
An Excel feature that enables users to
automatically perform SUBTOTAL function
calculations on subsets of data within a
particular dataset.

summary functions
An Excel feature that automatically performs
SUBTOTAL function calculations in tables.
Users can access this functionality from the
total row down arrows in each column.

table
A dataset composed of contiguous rows and
columns that Excel treats as a single,
independent object.

table styles
Particular configurations of formatting options
users can apply to worksheet tables.

Text pane
An element of the Excel user interface that
enables users to add and edit text on SmartArt
graphics.

timelines
Individual Excel objects used to filter date-
related data in PivotTables.

Glossary
Index

A overview 110
recommended 114
AND function 24
templates 137
arrays
tools buttons 124
constants 223
trendlines 131, 132
defined 220
types 111
formula rules 226
Chart Tools contextual tab 121
formulas 220, 223
comparison operators 15, 20
syntax 223
CONCATENATE function 40
AutoFilters
conditional formatting
custom 59
cell references 101
defined 58
custom 92
automatic workbook calculation 16
custom rules using formulas 99
managing rules 93
C New Formatting Rule dialog box 92
cell names rule precedence 95
defined 2 Conditional Formatting Rules Manager
entering manually 10 dialog box 93, 95
in formulas 9 COUNTIF function 16
Name Box 3 Create from Selection command 4
Name Manager dialog box 5 Create Table dialog box 82
New Name dialog box 3 CSE formulas 222
Use in Formula command 10 Ctrl-Shift-Enter formulas, See CSE
charts formulas
animations 125 Custom AutoFilter dialog box 59
basics 110
combo 130 D
dual-axis 130
data
elements 120
analysis 85
forecasting 131
filtering 174
Format task pane 122
sorting 48
Format Trendline task pane 132
transactional 147
Insert Chart dialog box 114
database functions
insertion methods 113
overview 66
modification vs. formatting 119
syntax 67
242 | Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2

date and time functions 32 G

DATE function 33
graphical objects
image editor 208
E types of 202
Excel function reference 14
I
F IF function 21
filtering Insert Chart dialog box 114
advanced 60 ISOWEEKNUM function 35
AutoFilters 58
criteria range 60 L
custom 59
LEFT function 38
filter operators 61
logical functions
overview 57
comparison operators 20
slicers 174
logical values 20
FIND function 38
overview 20
Formula AutoComplete feature 11
LOWER function 42
formulas
cell names 9
multi-cell array 221 M
range names 9 MID function 39
single-cell array 222 multi-cell array formulas 221
functions
AND 24
categories 14
N
comparison operators 15 Name Box 3
CONCATENATE 40 Name Manager dialog box 5
COUNTIF 16 nesting
DATE 33 defined 27
Excel function reference 14 function syntax 28
financial 195 NETWORKDAYS function 33
FIND 38 New Formatting Rule dialog box 92
IF 21 New Name dialog box 3
ISOWEEKNUM 35 New Table Quick Style dialog box 84
LEFT 38 NOT function 25
logical 20 NOW function 32
LOWER 42
MID 39 O
nesting 27
object properties 211
NETWORKDAYS 33
OR function 24
NOT 25
outlines 71
NOW 32
OR 24
PMT 198 P
PROPER 43 Paste Name dialog box 10
RIGHT 38 pictures and drawings 207
SUBTOTAL 72 PivotCharts
syntax 16 filters 169
TODAY 16, 32 overview 167
UPPER 42 PivotChart Fields task pane 168

Index
 Microsoft® Office Excel® 2016: Part 2 | 243

pivoting 144 Sort dialog box 51

PivotTables sort levels 51
Create PivotTable dialog box 148 Sort Options dialog box 52
creating/structuring 157 Subtotal dialog box 74
customizing 161 SUBTOTAL function 72–74
overview 145 Subtotals feature 73
PivotTable Fields task pane 149
slicers 174 T
transactional data 147
Value Field Settings dialog box 160 tables
PivotTable Tools components 81
Analyze tab 159 Create Table dialog box 82
Design tab 159 defined 80
PMT function 198 table styles
PROPER function 43 New Table Quick Style dialog box 84
quick styles 83
Table Tools Design contextual tab 82
Q Take a Screenshot command 205
Quick Analysis tools 85 text functions 38
Text pane 215
R Text to Columns feature 39
timelines
range names Insert Timelines dialog box 177
Create from Selection command 4 overview 177
defined 2 Timeline Tools 178
entering manually 10 TODAY function 16, 32
in formulas 9 transactional data
Name Box 3 entry 147
Name Manager dialog box 5 fields 147
New Name dialog box 3
Use in Formula command 10
RIGHT function 38 U
UPPER function 42
S Use in Formula command 10
Select Data Source dialog box 124
single-cell array formulas 221 V
slicers Value Field Settings dialog box 160
Insert Slicers dialog box 175
overview 174
Report Connections dialog box 176
shared slicers 176
Slicer Tools 176
SmartArt
graphics 213
shapes 214
SmartArt Tools contextual tab 216
sorting
custom sorts 51
multiple column/row 49
overview 48
quick sorts 50

Index
091056S rev 1.1