Excel University Blog
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Power Query
Historically we have been able to get PDF data into Excel using a standard copy/paste or some third-party tools. Now we have another option. We can use Power Query to retrieve values from PDF files. This post walks through the basics. Video Objective We have a PDF file, perhaps it looks like this: We…
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In this post, I’ll answer a question I received from Sara about how to create a drop down with each worksheet name and reference it in a formula to retrieve values from the selected sheet. As this is Excel, there are a variety of alternatives to accomplish this. In this post, I’ll demonstrate one such…
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In this post, we’ll discuss one approach for retrieving the first occurrence (or min date) after a specified date. Let me back up. Michael asked for a way to find the first occurrence of an office visit (a date) after the date of being discharged from the hospital (and within 30 days). As this is…
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This post will demonstrate how to insert the same few items into a list and create a new row for each item (or each combination, if multiple items). For example, let’s say we have a list of some sort … we’ll use a list of T-Shirts for this illustration. We have a few T-Shirt options…
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In this post, we’ll discuss a way to simulate using VLOOKUP to return multiple matching rows and/or columns. What do you mean by “simulate” Jeff? Well, VLOOKUP is designed to return a single value, not multiple values. That is, VLOOKUP scans down the lookup range and stops at the first matching row … ignoring any…
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A few years ago, I wrote a post about how to perform fuzzy lookups using the “Fuzzy Lookup Add-In for Excel.” However, this capability is now available in Power Query!! Wait, what? Yes! Performing a fuzzy match is so much easier and far more intuitive in Power Query. This post walks through the basics ……
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Microsoft recently updated the built-in tools for retrieving stock quotes into Excel. If you’re typing closing prices into Excel manually, my recent California CPA Magazine article may be able to help you get it done faster. Specifically, it talks about how the Stock data type retrieves current quotes and related information, and how Power Query…
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In this post, we are going to use the data model to improve our reporting process. This is the fourth post in the Stop Wasting Time series, and this is where everything we’ve learned comes together. By the time we have finished this post, updating our report will be extremely easy. In fact, it will…
Read More We are in the middle of a series called Stop Wasting Time, where we are learning about Excel features that help us improve how we update a report. In the beginning of our journey, we were updating the report manually. Now, as we’ve learned more, we’ve been able to automate parts of it. That is,…
Read More This is the second post in the Stop Wasting Time series. In this post, we learn how Power Query can help us update our report in less time. After all, why would we want to spend more time than necessary updating it? That is called “wasting time” and we just don’t like wasting such a…
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