MS Excel 2007 Vs Ms Excel 2003

One thing that surely distinguish MS Excel 2007 from the 2003 version is the number of rows and columns one can see in a worksheet. Excel 2007 allows 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns! Wow, that’s great. I can simply use Excel 2007 for my big tables instead of doing Text-to-Access conversion process. This is really good especially if one is downloading data files from external systems.

New graphical tools and options are also present (there’s a lot of difference here, default graphs in 2007 are better than 2003).

Have you seen also the “Ribbon”? I like this new utility, though it consumes a lot of space as my toolbar, it shows all common Excel functions! It’s just like picking the right product you want in a specific time in one store.

Other relatively better function is calculation, which is a lot faster than the predecessor. Formula bar and conditional formatting allowed better usage. Can you imagine, you can now resize your formula bar! Take advantage also with the new PivotTables and some of its new functions.

I believe that Excel 2007 changed dramatically versus the 2003 version. As far as usefulness is concerned, I recommend using it, though it may take some time to master the locations of some functions, it will surely worth the try. It has powerful tools and features which you can use to analyze and manage your data with ease.

Excel 2007: Ribbon

An important feature of the Excel 2007 new design is the Ribbon. Note that this feature is also present in Word, PowerPoint, Access, and parts of Outlook. It runs across the top of the program window and replaces the menu and toolbar. Commands and features are now grouped together to reflect the way they are used. This means I have to do less searching around as I work, sounds interesting.

The ribbon has three main parts: the tabs, groups, and commands. The tabs sits across the top and each represents an activity area. Groups are sets of related commands displayed on tabs. Commands can be buttons, a menu, or a box where we enter information.

It also has two additional features that help users to get work done quickly and easily. The Office Button, which replaces the File menu, and the Quick Access Toolbar which you can customize with whatever commands you like. Wow, great isn’t?

Along with the new look come new keyboard shortcuts called access keys. These access keys directly relates to the tabs, commands and other things that we see on the screen. These are used by pressing the ALT key, followed by another key or a sequence of other keys.

Excel 2007: PivotTables

Everyone knows how PivotTable works. It’s like turns thousands and hundreds of data into small, concise reports that tell you exactly what you need to know.

In Excel 2007, creating the Pivot is much like the 2003 version. First, you need to have a clean data. You need to review your source data first before clicking the Pivot button. Remember that there should be no empty columns within the data that you are using for the PivotTable report. Try as much also not leave empty rows.

When your data is ready, place the cursor anywhere in the data, or you may select just the data you want to use in the report. Then, on the Insert tab, in the Tables group, click PivotTable, and then click PivotTable again. The Create PivotTable dialog box opens. Select a table or range is already selected for you. The Table/Range box shows the range of the selected data. New Worksheet is also selected for you as the place where the report will be placed (you can click Existing Worksheet if you don’t want the report placed in a new worksheet).

You create a PivotTable report by moving any of the fields to the layout area for the PivotTable report. You do this either by selecting the check box next to the field name, or by right-clicking a field name and selecting a location to move the field to.

Don’t worry about building a report incorrectly. Excel makes it easy to try things out, to see how data looks in different areas of the report. If a report isn’t how you want it at first, it doesn’t take long at all to lay out data another way, to move pieces around to your satisfaction, or even to start over again if you want.

To remove a field from a report, clear the check box beside the field name in the PivotTable Field List. To remove all the fields from the report so that you can start over, on the Ribbon, on the Options tab, in the Actions group, click the arrow on the Clear button, and then select Clear All.