A quick way to copy formula down hundreds of rows.

If you have 2 columns with 1000 rows each (say column A and B) and you created a formula in the first row (e.g. in column C). In most cases, you would have copied the formula throughout the 1000 rows by dragging the formula down. And one problem you faced is that you would take quite a while to drag to the 1000th row. In addition, you are likely to drag beyond the 1000 rows and have to back track.

Now, there is a simpler way. It just take 2 seconds to copy the formula down 1000 rows, or even 10000 rows. What you have to do is to move your mouse cursor to the bottom right corner of the formula cell in column C until a cross appears. Then double click on your left mouse button. Excel will make reference to the cells to the left of the formula cell (Column B in this case) and copy the formula all the way down to the last row (reference to column B). And you are done.

Enjoy your weekend.

The power of Pivot Table (Part VIII)

My apologies for not blogging for the past 2 days. I have to attend a conference on coporate planning and was busy preparing for my presentation for the conference. I was also trying to meet some project schedules.

I guess this should be the last posting on Pivot Table. There are too many things to cover on Pivot Table that I can spend 2 full days sharing with you all that I know. Having said that, I didn't want to bore you with more details until you have played around with those that I have posted in the last 2 weeks.

Do you know that Excel Pivot Table can give you the raw data that make up a particular result in one single step?
For example, if you are to double click on any one of the Sum of Amount cells, Excel will present the string of records that make up that number in another new worksheet. It will give you all the other details including fields that are not even presented in the pivot table. This is a wonderful function because it allows you to drill down to the most basic details. I don't think crystal report or Business Objects provide that. I may be wrong though.

The power of Pivot Table (Part VII)

Let's have something simple today. Now if you have a pivot table that shows two attributes on the left column of the pivot table, i.e. Customer Name followed by Promotion as per our pivot table we created in PART V. Do you know that you could hide the details such as those under promotion?

1. What you need to do is to double click on a particular customer name and the promotion details are hidden.
2. To unhide the details, double click on customer name again and the details under promotion appear.