New 2010 Microsoft Excel beta

Anybody keen to try out the new 2010 MS Excel? You can download a copy from this link http://us2.office2010beta.microsoft.com/default.aspx?culture=en-US

Select entire Pivot Table using VBA

We can select the entire Pivot Table by using the special command called TableRange2. The following codes is to select the entire Pivot Table and paste it to another location (like a blank worksheet).

Sub copy_Pivot_Table()

'Used range is a command readily avaiable in Excel VBA.
ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Sheet1").UsedRange.Clear

'The code below is to identify and perform a copy of Pivot Table.
'TableRange2 is a special command that refers to the entire Pivot Table
With Worksheets("Report")
.PivotTables("PivotTable2").TableRange2.Copy
End With

With ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Sheet1")
.Activate
.Range("A4").PasteSpecial Paste:=xlPasteAll
.Range("A4").PasteSpecial Paste:=xlValues
.UsedRange.Columns.AutoFit
End With

End Sub

How to protect part of an Excel worksheet

If you are using the intranet to view your report and would like to have a copy downloaded neatly into Excel, you can consider using Excel Web query. It is a tool that will help you retrieve data from the web and present it into Excel. With web query, you can even get update at regular interval if the data changes all the time. Watch this video to find out how to set it up.

An alternative to IF formula

If you have tried to use eight nested IF formula in a single cell, you will find that it does not work. Because the limit is 7 if in one cell. But that doesn't mean there is nothing you could do. You can consider using the LOOKUP formula which can take in more than 7 conditions. See this LOOKUP page for more details.

How to Use Excel to Choose the Right Fund for Your Insurance Policies

When was the last time you reviewed your investment-linked policy? For me, it was about two to three years back. I was disappointed at the review because I discovered that the investment tied to my insurance policy was making losses. I took a bet and switched to a fund based on pure gut feel. There was no detailed analysis on all the funds to make sure that the fund I have chosen was the best option.



The market indices (e.g Straits Times Index) tell you whether the funds are performing better or worse than the previous indices and do not offer any insight or analysis to decide whether it is worthwhile to hold on to the unit trust or switch to another.



It was an uphill task to review the funds' performance again this year. Every unit trust has its own set of numbers and flipping through the annual report to make comparison across all the funds was a pain and highly confusing. After making comparison across the unit trusts on the income earned, I moved on to review the funds valuation. In the midst of reviewing, I decided to refer back to my income analysis. Guess what? I have lost track of the analysis done earlier. It was very frustrating and I almost gave up until an Excel-lent idea struck me. Why not make the comparison with Excel?



Putting them on tables was a great way to compare the performance across funds. I could scroll left and right to find out the funds ranking. However, moving from one end of the table to another became a strain after some time. In the end, I decided to develop a one page dashboard ...

Using Excel to access databases

One of my uses of Macro is to retrieve records from databases such as sql, Dbase, Access, etc. While MS Query in Excel could do the job pretty well, the database files cannot be shift to other folders. With Macro, this become a possibility. But the main reason for using Macro is I could retrieve records from more complex databases without using additional software. And since my clients like the records to be presented in Excel, this approach becomes a perfect option for me. Accessing databases using macro is relatively easy with ADODB. All you need is a connection, a sql link and a command to present the records in Excel. Take a look at this ADODB page written specially for this purpose.

Business Report on Customer Satisfaction

I have created a business report on Customer Satisfaction after studying the findings that were published in The Straits Times, a newspaper publication in Singapore. I did it because I could not conclude anything from the results which are in numbers. Take a look and let me know which is better. To request for a copy of the report, go to this business report page.