5 Excel Grouping And Outlining Tips
Keep your Excel spreadsheet organised by making use of grouping and outlining. Not only will information be registered easier, you will find that these subtle tricks help to engage your audience’s attention and refocus attention to the right parts. Here are 5 Excel grouping and outlining tips to learn:
- Adding Group
Select the cells you wish to consolidate into a group and locate the ‘Data’ tab. Under the ‘Data’ tab, search for Group. Keep adding to the group with the same steps until you are satisfied with the finished result. If you wish to clear away the groups or outline, simply reselect the relevant cells and locate the ‘Ungroup’ option from the ‘Data’ tab.
- Colour
Once you have created a list, you can add colour to them. Select your list and press Alt+ to choose visible cells. Once done, you can apply colour to these visible cells by choosing a colour from ‘Fill Colour’ icon, which can be located on the formatting toolbar. Simple but visually engaging, it helps to refocus your attention and works exceptionally well with data.
- Data Subtotal
For better data organisation, one of the most common Excel grouping and outlining tips garnered from professionals would be to make use of the Subtotal function. Locate your ‘Data’ tab and choose ‘Outline Group’. Once you have done so, select the ‘Subtotal’ command to open up it’s dialog box. Select the column that is to be used as a reference for your worksheet outline at the ‘At each change in field’ section. Choose the list of functions that are made available for subtotaling in the ‘Use function’ section. And finally, use the ‘Count’ function to tally up the numbers. Choose where you wish the subtotals to appear in and click Ok to subtotal- your data will then be rearranged accordingly.
- Show/Hide
Choose the cell area of the group in which to hide, then select the ‘Data’ tab and locate ‘Outline Group’. You should be able to locate the ‘Show detail/Hide detail’ commands and select them. After which, the relevant changes will appear in the form of symbols. Minus symbols will hide the details of your group by collapsing it. Plus symbols will expand and reveal the details of your group.
- Ungroup
Ungrouping can be done by following the steps mentioned in step 1. However, if you wish to ungroup only select cells, you can select just the cells you wish to ungroup and reselect the ‘Data’ tab before choosing the ‘Ungroup’ command. If you wish to ungroup all of the groups you have in your outline, then select ‘Clear outline’ from your ‘Ungroup’ command section. However, do note that this will not remove the subtotal function. In order to do so, you will be required to open the ‘Subtotal’ dialog box once again and select ‘Remove All’. This will not only ungroup your data, it will also remove the subtotal function at the same time.
These are 5 Excel grouping and outlining tips to practice on your spreadsheet. With these simple functions, you will be able to create visually appealing data reports without having to overcomplicate the layout. Why not try applying some of these techniques out yourself and see what you can create from them?