Excel University Blog

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Add-Ins

Split Delimited List into Rows

By Jeff Lenning | June 6, 2018 |

This is the second of two related posts that demonstrate how to use Power Query to deal with rows and delimited lists. In the first post, we combined rows into a delimited list. In this post, we’ll do the opposite and convert a delimited list into rows. Well, what are we waiting for … let’s…

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Combine Rows into a Delimited List

By Jeff Lenning | May 31, 2018 |

This is the first of two related posts that demonstrate how to use Power Query to deal with rows and delimited lists. In this first post, we’ll combine rows into a delimited list. In the second post, we’ll do the opposite and convert a delimited list into rows. Well, what are we waiting for ……

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How to Build a PivotTable with the Data Model

By Jeff Lenning | February 22, 2018 |

Traditional PivotTables are an incredible feature of Excel, but, they are not without limits. Many of the typical restrictions are removed when you use the data model rather than a single Excel table. If you’d like to learn how to build a PivotTable using the data model, and learn what the data model is, strap…

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One-Click Data Model Date Table

By Jeff Lenning | January 31, 2018 |

Using the Data Model (or Power Pivot) helps us build some amazing PivotTables. A date table (or calendar table) is integral to most data models as they allow us to group reports by various date periods and use a wide variety of time intelligence functions. Although there are many ways to build such a date…

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Data preview by Jeff Lenning

Get & Transform: An Alternative to Reformat Macros

By Jeff Lenning | June 16, 2016 |

Excel 2016 includes a set of features called Get & Transform. In previous versions of Excel, these capabilities were included in the Power Query Add-In. In this post, we’ll see how a Get & Transform Query can be used as an alternative to a VBA macro. Overview Here is the scenario. We export data out of…

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Use Power Query to Create a Drop-Down List without Duplicates

By Jeff Lenning | June 8, 2016 |

In this post, we’ll create a drop-down that contains a unique list of choices derived from a column that contains duplicate values. This may sound familiar as we previously accomplished this with a PivotTable. However, the Power Query feature that’s built-in to Excel 2016 makes this process easier. Objective We have a data table that contains RepID,…

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Perform Approximate Match and Fuzzy Lookups in Excel

By Jeff Lenning | April 11, 2013 |

This post explores Excel’s lookup functions, approximate matches, fuzzy lookups, and exact matches.  The built-in Excel lookup functions, such as VLOOKUP, are amazing. When implemented in the right way for special projects or in recurring use workbooks, they are able to save a ton of time. The VLOOKUP function alone has saved countless hours in…

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