I have a spreadsheet where one column is a date, and I've sorted and subtotalled on that column. If you know what i'm talking about, you'll know this creates a new column with 'dd/mm/yyyy count' entries in it, and inserted in the date column against each of these is the count for that day
What do I need to do to get a simple graph that shows count against date ?
please please pretty please ?
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Sorry, I'm still clinging to 2003, but isn't it a matter of highlighting the data you want on the chart by dragging with the mouse and then hitting the 'chart wizard' button? - or is that another feature that got trashed in 2007?
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I use Excel all the time and I can inform you that I don't go all the way! It is a brilliant tool for me at basic level, but I have tried to go 'deeper' when in a moment of madness, but have since decided to sit on the fence regarding charts etc.
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Spamcan - thats it, so what I would want form that example would be 'Engineering total' and 'Human resources total' on the x-axis, with the values of 465000 and 189000 on the graph, but none of the stuff inbetween
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OK, so in Excel 2003 I'd select the two totals and the two values by holding the CTRL key down and clicking the mouse in the 4 relevant squares, then hit the 'chart wizard' button and select the appropriate chart style, tweaking where necessary manually once the chart is plonked on the spreadsheet
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Just use the "outline symbols" on the left margin to hide the data you do not want to use in your graph.
See paragraphs at bottom of page here (link for Excel 2003 but valid for excel 2007 )
office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/about-subtotals-HP005203092.aspx
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Cheers chaps, and a gold star to John H
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If it's just a question of the number of transactions per day, I wouldn't bother subtotalling and counting the days. As long as the dates were in Excel-recognisable format, I'd make a pivot table with dates as row headings and a count of dates as the value.
After that, make the appropriate graph with F11.
Then, if you are at work, tell your (Excel incompetent) boss that you can do it but it is rather complicated and will take you the rest of the day, which you spend surfing the net and wasting time posting on forums.
Simon
Last edited by: SimonB on Thu 19 Jan 12 at 12:39
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>> As long as the dates were in Excel-recognisable format, I'd
>> make a pivot table with dates as row headings and a count of dates as
>> the value.
>>
>> After that, make the appropriate graph with F11.
>>
>> Then, if you are at work, tell your (Excel incompetent) boss that you can do
>> it but it is rather complicated and will take you the rest of the day,
>> which you spend surfing the net and wasting time posting on forums.
>>
>> Simon
ooooohhhhh pivot tables, now you're talking. ;-)
They do make it very easy to produce rafts of different graphs from the same source data very quickly, once you've got your head round them, I never found the need to point that out to my boss either....
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Yes the very word pivot tables carries a mystique and seems to terrify most managers.
Best used is such phrases as "Yes I could get at that info. but I'll have to create a pivot table. Could perhaps manage it by the end of the week if pushed or would you prefer to do it yourself.'
Users should be sworn never to divulge to anyone in authority how ludicrously easy they are to use
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The last big project I worked on we made it even more complicated - but easier for the end user - results data was stored and continuously updated in an Oracle database, this was then pulled into Excel pivot tables via MS Query. This meant you could update progress by hitting 'update' in the pivot tables, this imported new data, and then a new raft of charts could be produced from the pivot table. More pie charts than you could shake a stick at.
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>> I use Excel all the time and I can inform you that I don't go
>> all the way! It is a brilliant tool for me at basic level, but I
>> have tried to go 'deeper' when in a moment of madness, but have since decided
>> to sit on the fence regarding charts etc.
>>
There's loads and loads of functions in Excel I've never used, should think it's the same for most users.
Looks like somebody's done some fancy spreadsheets here for building estimates:-
www.estimators-online.com/samples-detail?type=single-storey-extension
Last edited by: spamcan61 on Thu 19 Jan 12 at 19:06
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Without wishing to state the obvious, but I often find a simple Google search helps me when I'm trying to push the envelope of my excel skills !
Please dont take this as a sarcastic "Let me google that for you" type comment, but for a long time it just never occurred to me and ever since I have solved most things I want to do.
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Excel 2007 question - spamcan61
