Spreadsheet Archives - CFO

Excel Tip: Bars, Scales, and Sets

Excel Tip: Bars, Scales, and Sets

Convert a table of numbers to a visualization.

By Bill Jelen | July 27, 2015

Excel Tip: Double Trouble

Excel Tip: Double Trouble

Removing duplicate datasets.

By Bill Jelen | June 4, 2015

Metric of the Month: Total Cost of the Finance Function

Metric of the Month: Total Cost of the Finance Function

Judged according to the cost of their finance functions, some companies may be wasting millions of revenue dollars on inefficient processes.

By Mary C. Driscoll | May 11, 2015

Excel Tip: Do Not Disturb My Borders

Excel Tip: Do Not Disturb My Borders

How to copy a formula in Excel without changing borders.

By Bill Jelen | May 2, 2014

Spreadsheets: Filtering a Pivot Table with a Formula

Spreadsheets: Filtering a Pivot Table with a Formula

There is really no good way to change the filter with a formula. However, there is a quick fix to remedy the situation.

By Bill Jelen | July 20, 2011

Spreadsheets: Suppressing Cells in a Pivot Table

Spreadsheets: Suppressing Cells in a Pivot Table

The trick in this week's article is using a Microsoft loophole for cells that add up to zero.

By Bill Jelen | July 7, 2011

Spreadsheets: Forecasting Seasonal Data with Excel

Spreadsheets: Forecasting Seasonal Data with Excel

Production forecasting with Excel usually entails using straight-line regression. But you'll need to tweak your formulas if you want to incorporate seasonal sales data into the mix. Here's an easy way to run the numbers.

By Bill Jelen | June 29, 2011

Spreadsheets: Eliminate the Pivot Table Blank Row Snag

Spreadsheets: Eliminate the Pivot Table Blank Row Snag

Blank rows in Excel pivot tables cause the program to default to the counting, rather than sum, function. Here are three quick ways to avoid manually changing functions every time a pivot tables runs into a blank.

By Bill Jelen | June 22, 2011

Spreadsheets: Rank Items in a Pivot Table

Spreadsheets: Rank Items in a Pivot Table

Maybe your Final Four college basketball ranking was scrambled this year, but here's how to fix ranked items in a pivot table when you are using Excel 2010, as well as prior versions.

By Bill Jelen | April 7, 2011

Spreadsheets: Open to Today’s Date

Spreadsheets: Open to Today’s Date

Cut and paste this simple macro into your workbook to make it open on the current date. Then add just a few more lines of code to customize the macro to your liking.

By Bill Jelen | March 16, 2011

Spreadsheets: Arranging Pivot Charts

Spreadsheets: Arranging Pivot Charts

"The goofy pivot-chart interface has driven me crazy for a decade," says Jelen. Here's a way to bring some sanity back to the process.

By Bill Jelen | February 9, 2011

Spreadsheets: Why Pivot Tables Won’t Sum

Spreadsheets: Why Pivot Tables Won’t Sum

Is there any way in Excel 2007 to have a pivot table always default to sum the amounts rather than count them?

By Bill Jelen | November 10, 2010

Spreadsheets: Problems with Pivot Table Labels

Spreadsheets: Problems with Pivot Table Labels

How do you get pivot table row labels to appear in multiple columns instead of one column?

By Bill Jelen | October 6, 2010

Multidimensional Database

Multidimensional Database

Plus, Y2K Solutions

By John Xenakis | April 1, 1998