Excel questions

[tommy]

I'm an Excel idiot, trying to teach the program to myself, with limited success so far. A couple of dumb questions that I can't figure out on my own:

1. When constructing a table, how do you label your columns across the top (that is, as true column headings or titles) rather than have them constitute line 1 of your table?

2. Once you establish the headings/titles of your columns, how do you make them appear on each subsequent page automatically, so you don't have to re-type them on each page?


Thanks!

[devilmacdawg]

I'm an Excel idiot, trying to teach the program to myself, with limited success so far. A couple of dumb questions that I can't figure out on my own:

1. When constructing a table, how do you label your columns across the top (that is, as true column headings or titles) rather than have them constitute line 1 of your table?

2. Once you establish the headings/titles of your columns, how do you make them appear on each subsequent page automatically, so you don't have to re-type them on each page?


Thanks!

Which version of Excel are you using?

For #1 - I don't know of a way - I've always given Row 1 over to column headings. For #2, in Page Setup [File > Page Setup], you have an option on the "Sheet" tab for "Print Titles" - you set the rows you want to repeat at the top (letter1:letter2) and you can also set columns you want to repeat at the left of the page (number1:number2). This is for all pre-2007 versions.

As an aside, why did they go and eff up Excel in the 2007 version? Really? I can't even get formulae to anchor properly right now. Granted, I've moved beyond being an analyst, but I still need to do analyses in the course of my job, and it's really annoying that I can't sort revenue by client without jacking up my formulae (which are sumifs and vlookups anchored on the 1st column - I sort by revenue, and it doesn't keep the reference to the column to its left). Any tips?

[colchar]

I'm an Excel idiot, trying to teach the program to myself, with limited success so far. A couple of dumb questions that I can't figure out on my own:

1. When constructing a table, how do you label your columns across the top (that is, as true column headings or titles) rather than have them constitute line 1 of your table?

2. Once you establish the headings/titles of your columns, how do you make them appear on each subsequent page automatically, so you don't have to re-type them on each page?


Thanks!

I am not very good with Excel either so I can't answer #1. But, for #2, I usually just copy and paste the headings/titles (you might also have to resize the columns if they were resized on the original page).

[tommy]

Which version of Excel are you using?

For #1 - I don't know of a way - I've always given Row 1 over to column headings. For #2, in Page Setup [File > Page Setup], you have an option on the "Sheet" tab for "Print Titles" - you set the rows you want to repeat at the top (letter1:letter2) and you can also set columns you want to repeat at the left of the page (number1:number2). This is for all pre-2007 versions.

As an aside, why did they go and eff up Excel in the 2007 version? Really? I can't even get formulae to anchor properly right now. Granted, I've moved beyond being an analyst, but I still need to do analyses in the course of my job, and it's really annoying that I can't sort revenue by client without jacking up my formulae (which are sumifs and vlookups anchored on the 1st column - I sort by revenue, and it doesn't keep the reference to the column to its left). Any tips?

I'm using Excel for Mac 2004, which is what came loaded on my Mac I bought in 2007.

Your suggestion as to #2 was perfect - exactly what I needed. Thanks.

As to your questions, like I said, I'm an Excel idiot. You're way beyond me . . .

[Indoor66]

As an aside, why did they go and eff up Excel in the 2007 version? Really? I can't even get formulae to anchor properly right now. Granted, I've moved beyond being an analyst, but I still need to do analyses in the course of my job, and it's really annoying that I can't sort revenue by client without jacking up my formulae (which are sumifs and vlookups anchored on the 1st column - I sort by revenue, and it doesn't keep the reference to the column to its left). Any tips?

Maybe 'cause some MS Wonk thinks he can improve a product he really doesn't understand?

[gus]

I'm an Excel idiot, trying to teach the program to myself, with limited success so far. A couple of dumb questions that I can't figure out on my own:

1. When constructing a table, how do you label your columns across the top (that is, as true column headings or titles) rather than have them constitute line 1 of your table?

2. Once you establish the headings/titles of your columns, how do you make them appear on each subsequent page automatically, so you don't have to re-type them on each page?


Thanks!

#1 - you can't, but you can hide the row and column headers from view. tools->options->view and unselect "row & column headers"

#2- In addition to the printing tip, if you'd like the column headers to stay on the screen when scrolling, use "Windows -> freeze panes"

[gus]

Which version of Excel are you using?

For #1 - I don't know of a way - I've always given Row 1 over to column headings. For #2, in Page Setup [File > Page Setup], you have an option on the "Sheet" tab for "Print Titles" - you set the rows you want to repeat at the top (letter1:letter2) and you can also set columns you want to repeat at the left of the page (number1:number2). This is for all pre-2007 versions.

As an aside, why did they go and eff up Excel in the 2007 version? Really? I can't even get formulae to anchor properly right now. Granted, I've moved beyond being an analyst, but I still need to do analyses in the course of my job, and it's really annoying that I can't sort revenue by client without jacking up my formulae (which are sumifs and vlookups anchored on the 1st column - I sort by revenue, and it doesn't keep the reference to the column to its left). Any tips?

huh. I use 2003 at work. What changed with 2007? the instructiosn (http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/excel/HA102376681033.aspx?pid=CH100648451033) make it seem similar, but with added sort criteria.

My first guess is that you're not selecting the entire table, or have a blank column? Sorting has always been wacky - I usually have a column of values 1 .. whatever, so it's easy to sort back to the original order.

[Redrock]

I'm not an expert in excel but... For 1 I don't think you can get rid of the 1, 2 and A, B notation but using "Freeze Panes" on the Windows pull down menu will give you row and column headers. For 2 go to the File pull-down menu and open Page Setup. Go to the Sheet menu and you can fill in "Rows to repeat at top" and "Columns to repeat at left."