Excel Tips


Use Formulas for Chart Labels in Excel »

July 18, 2023

Excel 2013 introduces a new feature where the chart labels can come from other cells on the worksheet.


Get Ideas from Artificial Intelligence »

July 17, 2023

A new artificial intelligence feature debuted in Office 365 in early 2018. Originally called Insights, the feature was re-branded as Ideas and moved to the far right side of the Home tab of the Ribbon by September of 2018.


Chart Two Series with Differing Orders of Magnitude »

July 14, 2023

I’m trying to create a combo chart that shows revenue and gross profit percentage. In Excel 2010, the legend shows that both items are in the chart, but I can see only the Revenue series on the chart.


Hide Subtotals From Chart in Excel 2013 »

July 13, 2023

My data has subtotals that cause spikes in the chart.


See Detail on Large & Small Data Points »

July 12, 2023

For our monthly sales and operations planning meeting, I plot the forecast and actual for 30 model lines. Some of the models sell 30,000 a month and some sell 300 a month. No one can make out the detail on 80% of the models.


Add a Trendline to a Chart »

July 11, 2023

Retail guru Ron Martin suggests using a daily chart to track your progress toward a goal. His typical chart shows your progress toward the goal as well as where you need to be to remain on track.


Move Small Pie Slices To Second Chart »

July 10, 2023

All of the tiny pie slices really make the chart hard to comprehend.


Prevent the Drop to Zero »

July 7, 2023

I’ve built formulas to create a chartable range. I want to show how the fund balances have been increasing for three years. All of a sudden, the points for future months look like someone spent all the money, dropping to zero.


Explode One Slice of the Pie »

July 6, 2023

What is the point of an exploded pie? It doesn’t look any better than a pie.