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Recent articles

Published 
4 min read

Combining chart types, adding a second axis 

<p>It's often helpful to create charts that compare different types of data. For example, you might want to compare overall revenue with the number of units sold. To do that you need to know how to use different chart types in one chart and how to use a secondary vertical axis to plot values that are in a different value range. Read more to learn how. (Sample workbook included)</p>
Published 
2 min read

Using crosstab queries in reports 

<p>A well designed database stores data in a normalized format with dates defined in a field so that new data is simply added as additional records. However, people want to see data with dates grouped by columns. This can be done by using a crosstab query. However, when creating reports based on crosstab queries, we need to control the specific column names that are returned by the query. Otherwise, the report cannot refer to the query's fields.</p>
Published 
1 min read

Quick Trick: Resizing column widths in pivot tables 

<p>Who could be better than a Business Intelligence analyst at teaching us a thing or two about Excel? We asked our own number-crunching wizard Stacey Armstrong to share some Excel tricks she's learned along the way. In this first one, she shows us how to change the default width of a column in a pivot table. Knowing this is especially helpful when you're working with data that that makes a row really long.</p>
Published 
1 min read

Grouping emails by conversations 

<p>Have you ever had to find an email that was part of a long thread--an email with lots of replies about the same topic? For example, your boss might have asked for the results of last month's important meeting, and you know Sherry sent an email outlining them, but then you remember that Todd followed hers with more information. If you group your emails into conversations, you can find the emails you want more quickly.</p>
Published 
2 min read

Using a Combo Box to search as you type 

<p>Here's a neat trick that you can use to filter a Continuous or Split form while your users are typing in a Combo Box. As the user types, the form filter updates to display full or partial matches for the value entered. This example uses a slightly modified version of the Northwind 2007 Template, available for download from Microsoft. The "Customer List" form is a Split form that displays a list of all customers. We want to allow users to filter this list to easily find a customer, even without knowing the full customer name.</p>
Published 
5 min read

Working with the Toshiba Portégé Z830 

For the past few weeks I have been working with the sleek and stylish Toshiba Portégé Z830. The Portégé Z830 is one of the lightest 13” PC on the market, weighing in at just under 2.5 pounds, and incredibly thin at just 16 mm (a literal hair over 0.6”). The Portégé Z830 is an Ultrabook