Tackling Excel's Table Feature (Completed)

In this comprehensive session, Excel expert David Ringstrom, CPA goes deep into the Table feature, which was first introduced in Excel 2007. The Table feature offers numerous opportunities to vastly improve the integrity of your spreadsheets as well as reduce the maintenance involved with your spreadsheets.

David demonstrates every technique at least twice: first, on a PowerPoint slide with numbered steps, and second, in the subscription-based Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) version of Excel. David draws your attention to any differences in the older versions of Excel (2021, 2019, 2016 and earlier) during the presentation as well as in his detailed handouts. David also provides an Excel workbook that includes most of the examples he uses during the webcast.

Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based product that provides new feature updates as often as monthly. Conversely, the perpetual licensed versions of Excel have feature sets that don't change. Perpetual licensed versions have year numbers, such as Excel 2021, Excel 2019, and so on.

Who Should Attend
Practitioners seeking to use Microsoft Excel more effectively by way of the Table feature, as well as anyone looking to improve the integrity of their spreadsheets.

Topics Covered

• Applying different filter settings with just a couple of mouse clicks using the Custom Views feature
• Avoiding the need to write repetitive formulas using Excel's Data Table feature
• Building a dynamic range name to enable the referential integrity of a table, while eliminating frustrating conflicts that tables can pose
• Capitalizing on keyboard shortcuts to make navigating within a table easier
• Creating an in-cell list by way of Excel's Data Validation feature, and then automating the addition of new items with a table
• Customizing table styles in Excel
• Determining whether formulas within tables use cell references or field names
• Discovering two different ways to locate tables anywhere within a workbook
• Eliminating the need to manually resize charts when data is added—automate this with tables instead
• Filtering multiple lists on a single worksheet using the Table feature
• Future-proofing VLOOKUP by using Excel's Table feature versus referencing static ranges
• Identifying the feature conflict that arises when you utilize tables within Excel workbooks

Learning Objectives

• Identify common data integrity risks that the Table feature eliminates
• Describe the nuances of the Table feature so you can use it effectively
• Recognize how to apply Excel's Table feature to simplify data analysis

Level
Basic

Instructional Method
Group: Internet-based

NASBA Field of Study
Computer Software & Applications (2 hours)

Program Prerequisites
A basic understanding of Excel.

Advance Preparation
None