Zhuge-Liang
New Member
- Joined
- May 11, 2007
- Messages
- 43
Greetings,
I know this board is primarily for asking questions, however i sometimes see answers to questions i had never even thought of asking, and that is why this forum is so great. There are probably more ideas here than our collective imaginations.
Actually that doesn't make a lot of sense. Forget I said that please. Anyway, I just had a brainwave. If you come across a great idea, or figure something out, whether by pure accident or by sheer hard work, why not post a message on here to let other people know how to do it. I am sure lots of people like to practice with Excel.
________
Well I am going to start the trend with "slide controls"
Rather than entering numerical data (for example) in to a cell, why not try using scrollbars. They are a fun novelty that can be used for many different purposes. (i am using excel 2003) not the new weird 2007 version.
1. open a worksheet
2. go to "view" - "toolbars" - "control toolbox" and open it.
3. Select "scrollbar" from the list of controls available to you. just click the button
4. click the worksheet and drag your mouse in any direction to create a scroll bar.
5. Release the button.
6 you can drag this scrollbar around the worksheet
Please note, you are currently in design mode, so you slider wont move. Keep it that way for now.
7. right click on the slider and select "properties"
8. you can change some settings here.
autoload - yes
locked - no
low change - this is the numerical increment every time an arrow on the scrollbar is clicked. default is 1
large change- similar to above. this is when the slider is dragged. set to above 1.
link to cell. see #9
9 The "link to cell". select a cell in your worksheet that will be referenced from your slider. For now, we will use Cell "B7". just enter B7 in the "linked to" section in the properties window you have open"
10. Close the properties window
11. return to the control toolbox. you are going to exit the design mode in order to be able to use your slider
12. click on the leftmost icon in the control toolbox "exit design mode". It looks like a brown pencil stuck in a blue triangle.
13. click on you slider. you should be able to drag the scroll bar to the left and right, or up and down (depending on the direction you gave during the design stage).
14. can you see the number changing in cell "B7" as you move the slider.
______
fun idea.
make several slider controls and have them linked to cells a2 , b2, c2, d2, e2
cells a3 b3, c3, d3, e3 and lower (to about 100 for example) could be a simple maths formula based on the initial slider result. (eg. a3 could be =a2+1). Just something simple.
ok, so you now have a2:e100 set with data. A1, b1, c1, d1, e1 can be named. A B C D E will do fine.
highlight all of the data and create a line chart.
use the sliders to change the data going through the chart. it should update instantly when yo umove the slider bar.
try changing the chart type. bubble are good.
have fun and experiment
I know this board is primarily for asking questions, however i sometimes see answers to questions i had never even thought of asking, and that is why this forum is so great. There are probably more ideas here than our collective imaginations.
Actually that doesn't make a lot of sense. Forget I said that please. Anyway, I just had a brainwave. If you come across a great idea, or figure something out, whether by pure accident or by sheer hard work, why not post a message on here to let other people know how to do it. I am sure lots of people like to practice with Excel.
________
Well I am going to start the trend with "slide controls"
Rather than entering numerical data (for example) in to a cell, why not try using scrollbars. They are a fun novelty that can be used for many different purposes. (i am using excel 2003) not the new weird 2007 version.
1. open a worksheet
2. go to "view" - "toolbars" - "control toolbox" and open it.
3. Select "scrollbar" from the list of controls available to you. just click the button
4. click the worksheet and drag your mouse in any direction to create a scroll bar.
5. Release the button.
6 you can drag this scrollbar around the worksheet
Please note, you are currently in design mode, so you slider wont move. Keep it that way for now.
7. right click on the slider and select "properties"
8. you can change some settings here.
autoload - yes
locked - no
low change - this is the numerical increment every time an arrow on the scrollbar is clicked. default is 1
large change- similar to above. this is when the slider is dragged. set to above 1.
link to cell. see #9
9 The "link to cell". select a cell in your worksheet that will be referenced from your slider. For now, we will use Cell "B7". just enter B7 in the "linked to" section in the properties window you have open"
10. Close the properties window
11. return to the control toolbox. you are going to exit the design mode in order to be able to use your slider
12. click on the leftmost icon in the control toolbox "exit design mode". It looks like a brown pencil stuck in a blue triangle.
13. click on you slider. you should be able to drag the scroll bar to the left and right, or up and down (depending on the direction you gave during the design stage).
14. can you see the number changing in cell "B7" as you move the slider.
______
fun idea.
make several slider controls and have them linked to cells a2 , b2, c2, d2, e2
cells a3 b3, c3, d3, e3 and lower (to about 100 for example) could be a simple maths formula based on the initial slider result. (eg. a3 could be =a2+1). Just something simple.
ok, so you now have a2:e100 set with data. A1, b1, c1, d1, e1 can be named. A B C D E will do fine.
highlight all of the data and create a line chart.
use the sliders to change the data going through the chart. it should update instantly when yo umove the slider bar.
try changing the chart type. bubble are good.
have fun and experiment
