This post describes how to open a new instance of Excel. The post was initially prompted by a question from a reader in 2018; they had recently upgraded to Excel 2016 from Excel 2010 and were struggling to open multiple instances of the Excel application. Since the original post, I have identified more quick ways … Read more
The blog archives contain posts detailing how to list files in a folder (including subfolders) using VBA and legacy Excel 4 function. These posts receive a lot of search traffic through Google, so I know this is an area people are interested in. Using Power Query to list files in a folder is the easiest … Read more
Data doesn’t always come in one single file, or from one download. Therefore, we have to find a way to stitch multiple files together so we can use it as if it were a single data source. This might be cost center reports, monthly data extracts, product profiles, survey data, etc. Basically, it applies to any … Read more
Tables are one of the most powerful features of Excel. Controlling them using VBA provides a way to automate that power, which generates a double benefit 🙂 Excel likes to store data within tables. The basic structural rules, such as (a) headings must be unique (b) only one header row allowed, make tables compatible with … Read more
As Power Query records transformation steps, it includes many hardcoded values within the M code. For example, if we filter a column to select all values greater than 50, the 50 is a hardcoded value in the M code. For something more dynamic, that we can easily change, we use Power Query parameters. Obviously, we … Read more
Named ranges are a useful feature of Excel. We often use them to build more complex tools that we may share with other users. Therefore, those named ranges become a critical part of our spreadsheet. Unfortunately, if those users modify or delete the named ranges, it may break the calculations. So, in this post, I … Read more
We’ve looked at a few Power Query transformations in this series, but now we are going much further. In this post, we look at the simple Power Query transformations available from the main menus. Unfortunately, we can’t cover everything in this post; there are just too many options available. Also, more complex Power Query transformations … Read more
The term “rounding difference” commonly describes something insignificant; it rarely raises cause for concern. However, when you discover that Excel rounding and Power Query rounding are different, you suddenly realize that it can be a bigger issue than you first thought. This post explains the different rounding methods in Excel and Power Query, and how … Read more
The old proverb is that “a bad workman blames his tools”. As Excel is such a popular tool, it gets a lot of blame when the person using it is actually at fault. However, it is not always a person who is to blame; Excel can calculate the wrong results all by itself! In this … Read more
This week, while working on a project, I wanted to hide a worksheet in Excel. However, I didn’t want users to unhide it or even know it was there. I wanted to make the Excel sheets very hidden (i.e. invisible to other users). I’m sure many users know how to hide a sheet. However, most … Read more