August 2016 updates for Get & Transform in Excel 2016 and the Power Query add-in

excel 2016 includes a powerful new set of features based on Power Query technology, which provides fast, easy data gathering and shaping capabilities and can be accessed through the Get & Transform section on the Data ribbon.

Today, we are pleased to announce eight new data transformation and connectivity features that have been requested by many customers.

These updates are available as part of an Office 365 subscription. If you are an Office 365 subscriber, find out how to get these latest updates. If you have Excel 2010 or Excel 2013, you can also take advantage of these updates by downloading the latest Power Query for Excel add-in.

These updates include the following new or improved data connectivity and transformation features:

• Enhanced SAP HANA connector—allow multi-select of values for variables and parameters.
• Enhanced OData connector—option to import Open Type columns from OData feeds.
• Enhanced Access DB connector—new Select Related Tables button to “” in the Navigator dialog.
• Option to generate Step Names in English within the Query Editor.
• Description for Query Steps within the Query Editor.
• Extract Week, Day or Month name from a Date/Time column from the Query Editor.
• Merge Dates and Times into a Date/Time column from the Query Editor.
• Extract Start/End of Hour from a Date/Time or Time column from the Query Editor.

Enhanced SAP HANA connector—allow multi-select of values for variables and parameters

With this update, users can now select more than one value for a given variable or parameter when leveraging the SAP HANA connector. This can be achieved via the Navigator dialog.

Enhanced OData connector—option to import Open Type columns from OData feeds

The OData connector now supports importing Open Type columns from OData feeds. Prior to this update, such columns were not supported in Power Query. This option is exposed under the Advanced Options section in the OData connector dialog.

Enhanced Access DB connector—new Select Related Tables button to “” in the Navigator dialog

We improved the Access Database connector to enable users to easily select related tables by adding the Select Related Tables button into the Navigator dialog. The behavior when clicking this button is the same as for all other databases that already support this capability—it selects all tables that have a direct relationship to any of the already selected tables.

Option to generate Step names in English within the Query Editor

When creating new Steps in the Query Editor based on transformations from the ribbon, the default Step Names will be based on the transformation name (i.e., SplitColumns, FilteredRows, etc.). These step names will be localized to the current installation language for Excel.

With this update, we introduced a new option to allow users to change this default behavior so that auto-generated step names use the English name for that transformation. This allows users to contribute to a single Excel report using multiple localized desktop versions, but keep the Step names recognizable by all parties (i.e., all in English by default). The new configuration setting is available under Data > New Query > Global > Regional Settings for non-English installations.

Description for Query Steps within the Query Editor

We also introduced a new Description field for Query Steps within the Query Editor, which gives the users an option to document and provide comments for their query transformations. The new Description field can be accessed from the right-click menu on any Query Step > Properties… command.

Extract Week, Day or Month name from a Date/Time column from the Query Editor

With this update, the users can now extract the Week, Day or Month names from a given Date/Time column. We’ve made this available from the Query Editor ribbon—either via the Transform tab, to modify an existing column, or via the Add Column tab, to insert a new one.

These two options can be found under Date > Day > Name of Day and Date > Month > Name of Month respectively. Note that the Day and Month names are localized according to the local setting for your current file (available under Data tab of the ribbon > New Query > Query Options > Current Workbook > Regional Settings for your Excel workbook).

Merge Dates and Times into a Date/Time column from the Query Editor

Another new transformation this month allows users to combine a Date column and a Time column into a single Date/Time column. This can be achieved by selecting those two columns and clicking Combine Date and Time under Date or Time menus in the Transform or Add Columns tabs respectively.

Extract Start/End of Hour from a Date/Time or Time column from the Query Editor

The last new data transformation this month allows users to easily extract the Start or End of an Hour based on a Date/Time or Time column. These two options can be found under the Time > Hour menu in the Transform and Add Column tabs.

How do I get started?

Excel 2016 provides a powerful set of capabilities for fast, easy data gathering and shaping, which is available under the Get & Transform section on the Data ribbon. Updates outlined in this blog are available as part of an Office 365 subscription. If you are an Office 365 subscriber, find out how to get these latest updates. If you have Excel 2010 or Excel 2013, you can also take advantage of these updates by downloading the latest Power Query for Excel add-in.

• Learn more about what’s new in Excel 2016.
• Join our Excel community on Facebook and Twitter.
• Send us your ideas for other improvements on our Excel UserVoice page.

—The Excel team

Beck Helps Women Excel in Engineering

Jayne Beck uses excel  her own life experience to encourage girls to pursue careers in engineering.

At the 12th annual Siemens “Introduce a Girl to Engineering” event in West Chicago, IL, in March, Jayne Beck showed a group of 100 girls what stuffed animals, cheesecake, music, perfume, airplanes, medical equipment, motors, and cell phones all had in common. It’s easy, she explained. The designs all depend on the creativity and skills of engineers.

Once considered a male profession, Beck and other women like her are breaking the stereotype. Beck, the Motor Control Center Order Engineering Manager at the Siemens facility in West Chicago, part of Siemens Corp., Washington, has been an engineer for 35 years. Her story, though, goes back even further.

“My dad was a plant manager of a very small company. He would take me with him to work on Saturdays and let me run manual brake presses and let me make things with scraps of sheet metal,” Beck said. “I had girl toys, but also lots of boy toys. My parents didn’t believe in stereotypes. I liked playing with Legos, building blocks, Lincoln Logs—toys more associated with boys, especially in the 1960s.”

Her first aspiration was to become an architect. “I did well in science and math. A high school counselor told me engineering was the same as architecture,” she said. “This is not really true, but I believed it and began to pursue engineering.”

13 NOV EXCEL MANAGEMENT, INC. HELPS YOU FIGHT NEGATIVITY

You cannot allow yourself to be controlled by negative emotions, especially if you have ambitious professional objectives. Here at excel Management, Inc., we understand that everyone has doubts and negative thoughts from time to time, so we would like to offer some recommendations which will help you overcome them.

First, keep in mind that there are many other people experiencing similar emotions. This is a comforting thought when times are particularly tough, and it will also help you summon the energy to take positive action.

Also, remember that your assumptions about why you are struggling may be flawed. In other words, we at Excel Management, Inc. believe that setbacks and failures are great learning opportunities. You can’t afford to waste time assuming that there are others who are causing your failures. Don’t blame anyone else for your predicament.

It’s also good to remember that every story has more than one aspect to it. There is a positive way to view every situation, which is why it is up to you to find it. When you assume the most uplifting view of your circumstances, you will feel better about your position and find ways to improve.

We at Excel Management, Inc. hope you will utilize these concepts to power through challenging times. We encourage you to control your negative emotions so you can proceed toward your objectives.

Download Microsoft Excel Repair tool

The Microsoft excel file repair utility restores data from a corrupted workbooks and worksheets. And software exports information to Microsoft Excel director file later. Excel Repair Toolbox (Download - EULA) can save a recovered data into new XLSX files. The heuristic search algorithm allow finding data for any damaged file. Main capabilities of the Microsoft Excel file repair tool include:

• Repair data in MS Excel 95, MS Excel 98, MS Excel 2000, MS Excel XP, MS Excel 2003, MS Excel 2007, MS Excel 2010, MS Excel 2013, MS Excel 2016.
• Repair data from cells.
• Repair all formulas from cells, including functions.
• Repair internal and external links by name.
• Repair cell formatting (font, number format, line style, fill pattern, text orientation and alignment).

Microsoft Excel file repair tool capabilities:

• Repair table styles.
• Repair number format of cells (with the exception of colors used in number formats).
• Repair worksheets.
• Repair column widths.
• Repair row heights.
• Repair cell colors.
• Repair cell border colors.
• Heuristic search algorithm applied to data in files.
• Export data directly to Microsoft Excel.
• Intuitive, easy-to-use interface.
• Excel file repair software download compatible with Windows 98, NT 4.0, 2000, Me, XP, Vista, 7, 8/8.1 and Windows 10.

Unfortunately, some data types and objects cannot be recovered from a damaged Microsoft Excel worksheet. The list is as follows:

• Repair sorting settings
• Repair any objects, such as pictures, diagrams, notes and other
• Repair print settings
• Repair conditional formatting
• Repair data validity
• Repair hyperlinks
• Repair calculation settings
• Repair merged cells
• Repair range, worksheet and workbook protection
• Repair asian phonetic blocks
• Repair comments
• Recover VBA macros

Screenshots Gallery (click to enlarge)

   

Requirements: Microsoft Excel should be installed on your computer (though this is not essential)

Note:

• Excel Repair Toolbox is not open source software or a freeware tool. Excel Repair Toolbox not include donate inside. This is a software with a free DEMO easy version. The tool is not distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) or GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). Our software development project team has invested a lot of time and efforts into making it a remarkably efficient product and we have no intention to distribute it as a free tool. You need download Microsoft Excel repair software and use it

Identifying Duplicate Values in an Excel List

From time to time, you may need to identify duplicate values with a list in excel . Modern versions, including Excel 2007 and later, provide this capability with just a few mouse clicks.

For good measure, I'll also describe a worksheet function-based approach that works in any version of Excel.

As shown in Figure 1, you can easily identify duplicate invoice numbers in a list. To do so:

• Select the range of cells you wish to test. One way to do so is to click on a single cell and then press Ctrl-A.
• On Excel's Home tab, choose Conditional Formatting, Highlight Cells Rules, and then Duplicate Values.
• Click OK within the Duplicate Values dialog box to identify the duplicate values.
• Duplicate values in the list will now be identified.

Figure 1: Excel's Conditional Formatting feature makes it easy to identify duplicate values in a list.

 

You can then isolate just the duplicates, as shown in Figure 2:

• Right-click on one of the duplicate cells, choose Filter, and then Filter by Selected Cell's Color.
• This collapses the list to show just the duplicate values, which you can copy and paste to another worksheet, or otherwise manage, as shown in the inset in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Excel 2007 and later offer the ability to filter cells based on color.

 

To remove the conditional formatting, one approach is to click the Conditional Formatting button, choose Clear Rules, and then Clear Rules from Entire Worksheet, as shown in Figure 3.

 

Figure 3: You can easily clear conditional formatting from a worksheet in Excel 2007 and later.

 

If you're using Excel 2003,  you don't have the ability to filter by color, but you can isolate duplicate values by way of the COUNTIF worksheet function. COUNTIF has two arguments:

• Range: This is a range of two or more cells that you wish to test.
• Criteria: The value that you're seeking within the range.

Building on the example shown in Figure 1, you can add the following formula to cell C2:

 

=COUNTIF(A:A,A2)

 

Once you've entered the formula, double-click on the Fill Handle in cell C2 to copy the formula down the column. The Fill Handle is the little notch that most users drag down a column when copying formulas.

 

You can then filter the list for any values greater than 1:

 

Excel 2007 and later

1. Click on cell A1 and then choose Filter on the Data tab of Excel's ribbon.
2. Click the Filter arrow in cell C1, choose Number Filters, and then Greater Than.
3. Enter 1, and then click OK to filter the list to for duplicate values.

Excel 2003 and earlier  

1. Click on cell A1, then choose Data, Filter, and then AutoFilter.
2. Click the Filter arrow in cell C1 and then choose Custom.
3. Change Equals to Greater Than, Enter 1, and then click OK.
4.  
5. Read Part 2 of this series to learn more ways to identify duplicate items an Excel spreadsheets.

Excel 2010 Pivot Tables

MS excel 2010: Create a pivot table

This Excel tutorial explains how to create a pivot table in Excel 2010 (with screenshots and step-by-step instructions).

See solution in other versions of Excel:

• Excel 2013
 
• Excel 2011 for Mac
 
• Excel 2010
 
• Excel 2007
 
• Excel 2003

Question: How do I create a pivot table in Microsoft Excel 2010?

Answer: In this example, the data for the pivot table resides on Sheet1.

Highlight the cell where you'd like to see the pivot table. In this example, we've selected cell A1 on Sheet2.

Next, select the Insert tab from the toolbar at the top of the screen. In the Tables group, click on the arrow under thePivotTable button and select PivotTable from the popup menu.

A Create PivotTable window should appear. Select the range of data for the pivot table and click on the OK button. In this example, we've chosen cells A1 to D13 in Sheet1.

Your pivot table should now appear as follows:

Next, choose the fields to add to the report. In this example, we've selected the checkboxes next to the Order ID andQuantity fields.

Next under the Values box, click on the "Sum of Order ID" and drag it to the Row Labels box.

Finally, we want the title in cell A1 to show as "Order ID" instead of "Row Labels". To do this, select cell A1 and type Order ID.

Your pivot table should now display the total quantity for each Order ID as follows: