Download the add-in from Fake Data — Sam Radakovitz
Today, a review of a free Excel add-in from Sam Radakovitz. This add-in will help you to change you data before sending it to someone. You can mask names, change numbers, and so on.
Table of Contents
(0:00) Introduction
(0:34) URL to download add-in
(1:00) Alter data in Excel
(1:13) Remove last name from names
(1:25) Change cities to other city names
(1:43) Change all numbers to randomize them
(2:36) Change first names to other names
(2:52) Wrap up
Today, a review of a free Excel add-in from Sam Radakovitz. This add-in will help you to change you data before sending it to someone. You can mask names, change numbers, and so on.
Table of Contents
(0:00) Introduction
(0:34) URL to download add-in
(1:00) Alter data in Excel
(1:13) Remove last name from names
(1:25) Change cities to other city names
(1:43) Change all numbers to randomize them
(2:36) Change first names to other names
(2:52) Wrap up
Transcript of the video:
Learn Excel from MrExcel podcast episode 2360.
Obfuscate Data in Excel. Hey, welcome back to the MrExcel netcast.
I am Bill Jelen. This is the all-nighter edition.
It is about four hours away from the launch of the Delta IV Heavy rocket. Launch is at 2:12 AM.
on August 27th.
We are staying up to watch that launch and recording a couple of videos here as we go. Obfuscate.
To hide, conceal, camouflage, change, or obscure.
A great free tool from Sam Radakovitz on the Excel team.
I will put that URL down in the YouTube description.
Say you have some data and you need to send that data to someone. Maybe you are sending it to me.
Or maybe you're sending it to a co-worker and you want to hide the real information.
You might be asking about a formula but you just need to change the data.
So you get this add-in from Sam and it provides a great little Ribbon tab here. Click the little lightning bolt.
It is between Home and Insert tabs.
The tools in the Alter Data tab. I have a series of sales rep names there.
I choose those names and I can choose to keep the beginning.
I will get the first name but it will X out the last name.
Or if I want to keep the last name and hide the first name. It is very easy. Now these are wild.
Here I have a series of cities and I want to change the city.
Rather than just have it scramble the letters, which is what a lot of tools would do, Sam recognizes that these are cities and he replaces them with other cities. Isn't that wild?
Out here there is a cost column. I can obfuscate that.
I have buttons to Increase or Decrease. Sam's tip: Click increase a few times.
Click decrease a few different times.
Then it will really randomize it. So: increase three times.
Then maybe decrease once. I love to see the algorithm.
So here I am starting out with 100 all the way down.
If I just click increase it looks like its anywhere from nine to 22 percent up.
Here at fifteen hundred if I click Increase. Again about that nine to 22 percent.
So it appears Sam is taking the original number, keeping it as a whole number.
Which is great. And increasing it.
So here are some cities. Just like before, if we randomize those.
States. We'll select some states and click randomize. And we get other states.
First names.
If he recognizes them as first names they'll replace it with other first names. How cool is that?
If it's just random words, and Sam doesn't recognize those, then Randomize.
That is going to get us just different letters. What a great tool! And the price is right.
Absolutely free!
Hey, if you like tips like this, please down below the video, Like, Subscribe, and Ring that Bell.
Feel free to post any questions or comments down in the comments below.
Thank you for stopping by.
We'll see you next time for another netcast from MrExcel.
Obfuscate Data in Excel. Hey, welcome back to the MrExcel netcast.
I am Bill Jelen. This is the all-nighter edition.
It is about four hours away from the launch of the Delta IV Heavy rocket. Launch is at 2:12 AM.
on August 27th.
We are staying up to watch that launch and recording a couple of videos here as we go. Obfuscate.
To hide, conceal, camouflage, change, or obscure.
A great free tool from Sam Radakovitz on the Excel team.
I will put that URL down in the YouTube description.
Say you have some data and you need to send that data to someone. Maybe you are sending it to me.
Or maybe you're sending it to a co-worker and you want to hide the real information.
You might be asking about a formula but you just need to change the data.
So you get this add-in from Sam and it provides a great little Ribbon tab here. Click the little lightning bolt.
It is between Home and Insert tabs.
The tools in the Alter Data tab. I have a series of sales rep names there.
I choose those names and I can choose to keep the beginning.
I will get the first name but it will X out the last name.
Or if I want to keep the last name and hide the first name. It is very easy. Now these are wild.
Here I have a series of cities and I want to change the city.
Rather than just have it scramble the letters, which is what a lot of tools would do, Sam recognizes that these are cities and he replaces them with other cities. Isn't that wild?
Out here there is a cost column. I can obfuscate that.
I have buttons to Increase or Decrease. Sam's tip: Click increase a few times.
Click decrease a few different times.
Then it will really randomize it. So: increase three times.
Then maybe decrease once. I love to see the algorithm.
So here I am starting out with 100 all the way down.
If I just click increase it looks like its anywhere from nine to 22 percent up.
Here at fifteen hundred if I click Increase. Again about that nine to 22 percent.
So it appears Sam is taking the original number, keeping it as a whole number.
Which is great. And increasing it.
So here are some cities. Just like before, if we randomize those.
States. We'll select some states and click randomize. And we get other states.
First names.
If he recognizes them as first names they'll replace it with other first names. How cool is that?
If it's just random words, and Sam doesn't recognize those, then Randomize.
That is going to get us just different letters. What a great tool! And the price is right.
Absolutely free!
Hey, if you like tips like this, please down below the video, Like, Subscribe, and Ring that Bell.
Feel free to post any questions or comments down in the comments below.
Thank you for stopping by.
We'll see you next time for another netcast from MrExcel.
