- •About the Author
- •About the Technical Editor
- •Credits
- •Is This Book for You?
- •Software Versions
- •Conventions This Book Uses
- •What the Icons Mean
- •How This Book Is Organized
- •How to Use This Book
- •What’s on the Companion CD
- •What Is Excel Good For?
- •What’s New in Excel 2010?
- •Moving around a Worksheet
- •Introducing the Ribbon
- •Using Shortcut Menus
- •Customizing Your Quick Access Toolbar
- •Working with Dialog Boxes
- •Using the Task Pane
- •Creating Your First Excel Worksheet
- •Entering Text and Values into Your Worksheets
- •Entering Dates and Times into Your Worksheets
- •Modifying Cell Contents
- •Applying Number Formatting
- •Controlling the Worksheet View
- •Working with Rows and Columns
- •Understanding Cells and Ranges
- •Copying or Moving Ranges
- •Using Names to Work with Ranges
- •Adding Comments to Cells
- •What Is a Table?
- •Creating a Table
- •Changing the Look of a Table
- •Working with Tables
- •Getting to Know the Formatting Tools
- •Changing Text Alignment
- •Using Colors and Shading
- •Adding Borders and Lines
- •Adding a Background Image to a Worksheet
- •Using Named Styles for Easier Formatting
- •Understanding Document Themes
- •Creating a New Workbook
- •Opening an Existing Workbook
- •Saving a Workbook
- •Using AutoRecover
- •Specifying a Password
- •Organizing Your Files
- •Other Workbook Info Options
- •Closing Workbooks
- •Safeguarding Your Work
- •Excel File Compatibility
- •Exploring Excel Templates
- •Understanding Custom Excel Templates
- •Printing with One Click
- •Changing Your Page View
- •Adjusting Common Page Setup Settings
- •Adding a Header or Footer to Your Reports
- •Copying Page Setup Settings across Sheets
- •Preventing Certain Cells from Being Printed
- •Preventing Objects from Being Printed
- •Creating Custom Views of Your Worksheet
- •Understanding Formula Basics
- •Entering Formulas into Your Worksheets
- •Editing Formulas
- •Using Cell References in Formulas
- •Using Formulas in Tables
- •Correcting Common Formula Errors
- •Using Advanced Naming Techniques
- •Tips for Working with Formulas
- •A Few Words about Text
- •Text Functions
- •Advanced Text Formulas
- •Date-Related Worksheet Functions
- •Time-Related Functions
- •Basic Counting Formulas
- •Advanced Counting Formulas
- •Summing Formulas
- •Conditional Sums Using a Single Criterion
- •Conditional Sums Using Multiple Criteria
- •Introducing Lookup Formulas
- •Functions Relevant to Lookups
- •Basic Lookup Formulas
- •Specialized Lookup Formulas
- •The Time Value of Money
- •Loan Calculations
- •Investment Calculations
- •Depreciation Calculations
- •Understanding Array Formulas
- •Understanding the Dimensions of an Array
- •Naming Array Constants
- •Working with Array Formulas
- •Using Multicell Array Formulas
- •Using Single-Cell Array Formulas
- •Working with Multicell Array Formulas
- •What Is a Chart?
- •Understanding How Excel Handles Charts
- •Creating a Chart
- •Working with Charts
- •Understanding Chart Types
- •Learning More
- •Selecting Chart Elements
- •User Interface Choices for Modifying Chart Elements
- •Modifying the Chart Area
- •Modifying the Plot Area
- •Working with Chart Titles
- •Working with a Legend
- •Working with Gridlines
- •Modifying the Axes
- •Working with Data Series
- •Creating Chart Templates
- •Learning Some Chart-Making Tricks
- •About Conditional Formatting
- •Specifying Conditional Formatting
- •Conditional Formats That Use Graphics
- •Creating Formula-Based Rules
- •Working with Conditional Formats
- •Sparkline Types
- •Creating Sparklines
- •Customizing Sparklines
- •Specifying a Date Axis
- •Auto-Updating Sparklines
- •Displaying a Sparkline for a Dynamic Range
- •Using Shapes
- •Using SmartArt
- •Using WordArt
- •Working with Other Graphic Types
- •Using the Equation Editor
- •Customizing the Ribbon
- •About Number Formatting
- •Creating a Custom Number Format
- •Custom Number Format Examples
- •About Data Validation
- •Specifying Validation Criteria
- •Types of Validation Criteria You Can Apply
- •Creating a Drop-Down List
- •Using Formulas for Data Validation Rules
- •Understanding Cell References
- •Data Validation Formula Examples
- •Introducing Worksheet Outlines
- •Creating an Outline
- •Working with Outlines
- •Linking Workbooks
- •Creating External Reference Formulas
- •Working with External Reference Formulas
- •Consolidating Worksheets
- •Understanding the Different Web Formats
- •Opening an HTML File
- •Working with Hyperlinks
- •Using Web Queries
- •Other Internet-Related Features
- •Copying and Pasting
- •Copying from Excel to Word
- •Embedding Objects in a Worksheet
- •Using Excel on a Network
- •Understanding File Reservations
- •Sharing Workbooks
- •Tracking Workbook Changes
- •Types of Protection
- •Protecting a Worksheet
- •Protecting a Workbook
- •VB Project Protection
- •Related Topics
- •Using Excel Auditing Tools
- •Searching and Replacing
- •Spell Checking Your Worksheets
- •Using AutoCorrect
- •Understanding External Database Files
- •Importing Access Tables
- •Retrieving Data with Query: An Example
- •Working with Data Returned by Query
- •Using Query without the Wizard
- •Learning More about Query
- •About Pivot Tables
- •Creating a Pivot Table
- •More Pivot Table Examples
- •Learning More
- •Working with Non-Numeric Data
- •Grouping Pivot Table Items
- •Creating a Frequency Distribution
- •Filtering Pivot Tables with Slicers
- •Referencing Cells within a Pivot Table
- •Creating Pivot Charts
- •Another Pivot Table Example
- •Producing a Report with a Pivot Table
- •A What-If Example
- •Types of What-If Analyses
- •Manual What-If Analysis
- •Creating Data Tables
- •Using Scenario Manager
- •What-If Analysis, in Reverse
- •Single-Cell Goal Seeking
- •Introducing Solver
- •Solver Examples
- •Installing the Analysis ToolPak Add-in
- •Using the Analysis Tools
- •Introducing the Analysis ToolPak Tools
- •Introducing VBA Macros
- •Displaying the Developer Tab
- •About Macro Security
- •Saving Workbooks That Contain Macros
- •Two Types of VBA Macros
- •Creating VBA Macros
- •Learning More
- •Overview of VBA Functions
- •An Introductory Example
- •About Function Procedures
- •Executing Function Procedures
- •Function Procedure Arguments
- •Debugging Custom Functions
- •Inserting Custom Functions
- •Learning More
- •Why Create UserForms?
- •UserForm Alternatives
- •Creating UserForms: An Overview
- •A UserForm Example
- •Another UserForm Example
- •More on Creating UserForms
- •Learning More
- •Why Use Controls on a Worksheet?
- •Using Controls
- •Reviewing the Available ActiveX Controls
- •Understanding Events
- •Entering Event-Handler VBA Code
- •Using Workbook-Level Events
- •Working with Worksheet Events
- •Using Non-Object Events
- •Working with Ranges
- •Working with Workbooks
- •Working with Charts
- •VBA Speed Tips
- •What Is an Add-In?
- •Working with Add-Ins
- •Why Create Add-Ins?
- •Creating Add-Ins
- •An Add-In Example
- •System Requirements
- •Using the CD
- •What’s on the CD
- •Troubleshooting
- •The Excel Help System
- •Microsoft Technical Support
- •Internet Newsgroups
- •Internet Web sites
- •End-User License Agreement
Part IV: Using Advanced Excel Features
Sharing User Interface Customizations
In the Excel Options dialog box, the Quick Access Toolbar tab and the Customize Ribbon tab both have an Import/Export button. You can use this button to save and open files that contain user interface customizations. For example, you might create a new Ribbon tab and want to share it with your office mates.
Click the Import/Export button, and you get two options:
•Import Customization File: You are prompted to locate the file. Before you load a file, you are asked whether you want to replace all existing Ribbon and Quick Access toolbar customizations.
•Export All Customization: You are prompted to provide a filename and location for the file.
The information is stored in a file that has a *.exportedUI extension. Unfortunately, importing and exporting is not implemented very well. Excel does not allow you to save or load only the Quick Access toolbar customization or only the Ribbon customizations. Both types of customizations are exported and imported. Therefore, you cannot share your Quick Access toolbar customization without also sharing your Ribbon customizations.
Customizing the Ribbon
The Ribbon is Excel’s primary user interface. It consists of tabs along the top. When you click a tab, it displays a set of commands, and the commands are arranged in groups.
New Feature
The Ribbon was introduced in Excel 2007, but it could not be customized. Excel 2010, however, makes it fairly easy to modify the Ribbon in a number of ways. n
Why customize the Ribbon?
Most users will have no need to customize the Ribbon. If you find that you tend to use the same command over and over, though — and you are constantly clicking tabs to access these commands — then you might benefit for customizing the Ribbon in such a way that the commands you need are on the same tab.
What can be customized
You can customize the Ribbon in these ways:
• Tabs
•Add a new custom tab.
•Delete custom tabs.
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•Add a new group to tab.
•Change the order of the tabs.
•Change the name of a tab.
•Hide built-in tabs.
• Groups
•Add new custom groups.
•Add commands to a custom group.
•Remove commands from custom groups.
•Remove groups from a tab.
•Move a group to a different tab.
•Change the order of the groups within a tab.
•Change the name of a group.
Note
To restore all or part of the Ribbon to its default state, use the Reset button on the Customize Ribbon tab of the Excel Options dialog box. Click this button to display two options: Reset Only Selected Ribbon Tab, and Rest All Customizations. If you choose the latter, you will also lose any Quick Access toolbar customizations that you made. n
That’s a fairly comprehensive list of customization options, but there are some actions that you cannot do:
•Remove built-in tabs — but you can hide them.
•Remove commands from built-in groups.
•Change the order of commands in a built-in group.
Note
Unfortunately, you cannot customize the Ribbon (or Quick Access toolbar) by using VBA macros. However, developers can write RibbonX code and store it in workbook files. When the file is open, the Ribbon is modified to display new commands. Writing RibbonX is relatively complicated, and beyond the scope of this book. n
How to customize the Ribbon
Customizing the Ribbon is done via the Customize Ribbon panel of the Excel Options dialog box (see Figure 23.4). The quickest way to display this dialog box is to right-click anywhere on the Ribbon, and choose Customize The Ribbon.
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FIGURE 23.4
The Customize Ribbon tab of the Excel Options dialog box.
Customizing the Ribbon is very similar to customizing the Quick Access toolbar, which I describe earlier in this chapter. The only difference is that you need to decide where to put the command within the Ribbon. The general procedure is
1.Use the Choose Command From drop-down list on the left to display various groups of commands.
2.Locate the command in the list box on the left, and select it.
3.Use the Customize the Ribbon drop-down list on the right to choose a group of tabs. Main Tabs refer to the tabs that are always visible; Tool Tabs refer to the contextual tabs that appear when a particular object is selected.
4.In the list box on the right, select the tab and the group where you would like to put the command. You’ll need to click the plus-sign control to expand the tab name so that it displays its group names.
5.Click the Add button to add the selected command from the left to the selected group on the right.
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Use the New Tab button to create a new tab, and the New Group button to create a new group within a tab. New tabs and groups are given generic names, so you’ll probably want to give them more meaningful names. Use the Rename button to rename the selected tab or group. You can also rename built-in tabs and groups.
To rearrange the order of tabs, groups, or commands, select the item and use the Move Up and Move Down buttons on the right. Note that you can move a group into a different tab.
Note
Although you cannot remove a built-in tab, you can hide the tab by clearing the check box next to its name. n
Figure 23.5 shows a part of a customized Ribbon. In this case, I added two groups to the View tab (to the right of the Zoom group): Extra Commands (with four new commands), and Text to Speech (with two new commands).
FIGURE 23.5
The View tab, with two new groups added.
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