2013 - Page 2 of 6 - Office PowerUps

07Aug 2013 by Charlie Nichols No Comments

Calculator function equivalents in Excel

200 level, Excel

[wp_ad_camp_1] [wp_ad_camp_4] Excel calculator functions I took a look at a basic scientific calculator I had in a drawer and I thought it might be interesting to show how each of the buttons on the calculator would work in Excel. So below is my simple inventory of the scientific calculator functions and their equivalent functions in Excel. In the examples below, just assume that the value of “x” is in cell A1. Calculator function list Inverse function $latex x^{-1}$ Excel formula(s) Each of the formulas below achieves the same thing in Excel. =1/A1 =A1^-1 Trig functions $latex sin(x)$ $latex cos(x)$ $latex tan(x)$ $latex sin^{-1}(x)$ $latex cos^{-1}(x)$ $latex tan^{-1}(x)$ Excel formula(s) Each of the formulas below achieves the same thing in Excel as the corresponding calculator button above. =SIN(A1) …

30Jul 2013 by Charlie Nichols No Comments

How to convert text to number values in Excel

200 level, Excel

[wp_ad_camp_1] [wp_ad_camp_4] In Excel, if you have text that represents a number that is not recognized as a number value some Excel formulas may not work correctly. In order to convert a text number into a number value you have a few options. Convert text to number First, you can just multiply the value by 1. This will force the conversion of the text into a numerical value and return the equivalent numerical value. =A1*1 Next, you can use the VALUE formula. You wind up with the same result. =VALUE(A1) Convert Roman Numeral text to number If your text is a Roman Numeral you can convert that to an equivalent numerical value (in decimal). Excel 2013 introduces a function called ARABIC that will convert roman numerals into decimal value equivalents.…

25Jul 2013 by Charlie Nichols No Comments

How to get the formula of a cell in Excel

200 level, Excel

[wp_ad_camp_1] [wp_ad_camp_4] How to get the formula in a cell To get the formula in a cell, the FORMULATEXT function was introduced in Excel 2013. It's as simple as the following. Just reference the cell with the formula you're interested in. =FORMULATEXT(A1) Need to do the same, but in older versions of Excel? If you need to get the formula in a cell in Excel 2003, 2007 or 2010 you can use the pwrFORMULATEXT function. pwrFORUMLATEXT is available in an Excel addin you can download from the link below. You use it the same way as the new function in 2013. =pwrFORMULATEXT(A1) Get the free addin Overall, there are about 50 new worksheet functions in Excel 2013. The addin linked below adds 46 of the 50 functions so your legacy version…

15Jul 2013 by Charlie Nichols 14 Comments

Create a trip calculator with Excel and web services

300 level, Excel

[wp_ad_camp_1] [wp_ad_camp_4] Using Excel, you can create a trip calculator that uses web services to provide dynamic information that is up to date. I created this post after reading a post with a similar theme from Glen Gilchrist. In the example below, you'll see that you can create the trip calculator using Excel functions and without needing to write any code. Note: The illustrations below will work with Excel versions 2003 - 2010 by installing the Excel PowerUps Premium Suite. If you have Excel 2013, you can create this trip calculator without the add-in -- just remove the "pwr" prefix from the function names in the examples below. Excel 2013 already has built in WEBSERVICE and FILTERXML functions! Here's the gist of how we'll put this together For the calculator,…

09Jul 2013 by Charlie Nichols 66 Comments

Send email when specific field changes in SharePoint

SharePoint, SharePoint Designer

[wp_ad_camp_1] [wp_ad_camp_4] How to send email if a specific field changes in SharePoint (versus just any field in the list item) You need to send email when specific field changes in SharePoint, based on a field changing instead of just any field in the list item. SharePoint has provision for users to set up alerts when items in a SharePoint list change. However, sometimes you only want an alert when a specific field changes. For example, you may only want to know when a field such as Target Delivery Date changes. You can set up this email trigger by performing the following (each described more fully further below). 1. Set up a “helper” column that will serve as the basis for keeping track of any pre-change state. 2. Set up…

02Jul 2013 by Charlie Nichols No Comments

Determine whether an InfoPath form is for a new item or existing

InfoPath

Determining whether an InfoPath form is for a New or Existing item Do you need to have a slightly different InfoPath form view depending whether you are showing an existing list item or a new entry? This turned out to be pretty straightforward. In my case I just want to show one of two submit buttons. One that said “Submit Changes” and the other that said “Submit New”, depending on whether this was a new item or existing. I created a new formatting rule for each of the items. On one of them, I triggered the rule when the created date was empty, which indicated that the item hadn’t been created (aka “new”). In the formatting section, I just checked the box for Hide this control. This is what I needed…

25Jun 2013 by Charlie Nichols 40 Comments

Show the most recent comment from SharePoint text fields instead of “view items”

SharePoint

[wp_ad_camp_1] [wp_ad_camp_4] How to show the most recent comment instead of ‘view items’ in SharePoint lists When you set up a SharePoint list you can create a text column that keeps a history of previous entries. You enable this by selecting Yes for the Append Changes to Existing Text column setting. This is handy for a comments field where you need to keep track of user comment history, for example. The problem I’ve had is that when you put this column in a SharePoint view you wind up seeing a hyperlink with the text “view items”. This is not helpful. Further, the link always shows up – even when there are no comments or text in the column. This just makes for way too much clicking back and forth. The…

20Jun 2013 by Charlie Nichols No Comments

Print Column Headings on Every Page in Excel

100 level, Excel

Print column headings on every page in Excel so that every page printed has the labels at the top of the columns. This will save a bunch of flipping back and forth to keep track of what you are reading on subsequent pages. The few steps below are specifically for Excel 2010, but they’ll general apply to your version of Excel too. The key is to get to the Page Setup dialog box where you will specify which row contains your column headings. How to print column headings on every page in Excel 2010 In Excel 2010, go to the Page Layout tab and click Print Titles. This is in the Page Setup group on the ribbon. Go to the Sheet tab on the Page Setup dialog box. Here, you…

18Jun 2013 by Charlie Nichols 12 Comments

TFS Daily Emails

PowerShell

[wp_ad_camp_1] [wp_ad_camp_4] TFS Daily Emails: How to get regular TFS query results into your inbox automatically Team Foundation Server (TFS) allows you to create queries and save them as personal views or team views. You can even set up alerts on individual work items assigned to you so you know when they’re created or changed. However, TFS doesn’t give you a way to get a recurring snapshot of the TFS view you created into your inbox automatically. Sometimes waiting for a change event isn't what you're looking for. I’ve used the process outlined below for TFS daily emails and it’s been working great for me. I’m using a combination of the following: PowerShellTFS 2010Outlook 2010Task Scheduler You may not have the exact same versions as I’m working with, but the…

11Jun 2013 by Charlie Nichols 21 Comments

Display icons in SharePoint lists

SharePoint

[wp_ad_camp_1] [wp_ad_camp_4] How to display status icons in a SharePoint list I needed to display a KPI indicator icon in one of my SharePoint list columns. To display status icons in SharePoint lists in my case, I needed to show a Red/Yellow/Green status symbol. I couldn’t find a setting in SharePoint that made this easy as I had done in Excel and Project before. But then a colleague showed me a little trick that scratched the itch just fine. The setup You’ll need to have a field that carries a value that the user can set. In my case, I created a field called “Status” and made it a drop-down select list with the values “Red”, “Yellow”, and “Green”. Next, I created a calculated field I called “Status Indicator”. The…