If you liked filtering data in the last Excel Video, you’ll really like the added advantages of filtering data in a Table shown in Excel Video 265. Once you format your data as Table, you’ll automatically get the drop-down arrows with all of the filtering and sorting plus several added benefits. I’ll discuss three of those added benefits in today’s Excel Video.
The first benefit of formatting your data as a Table is the automatic formatting that comes with Tables. Watch how fast it is for me to change every other row in my Table from blue to red. How long would it take you to do that in Excel without Tables?
The second benefit is the Total Row that you can add to Tables. It’s easy to sum, count, and do a variety of mathematical functions in the Total Row. In Tables with a Rotal Row, as soon as you filter you have all of the totals you need without any additional formulas.
Finally, watch what happens when I scroll down in a Table. The header row replaces the normal ABC column headings, making it much easier to stay in the correct column in a big Table. Even better, in Excel 2010 the drop-down arrow stays in the heading, allowing you to access the drop-down from any place in a Table. This example only has 100 rows, but if your Table has 10,000 rows, the ability to sort and filter without always going back to the top of your Table is very convenient.
If you haven’t played with Tables in Excel watch the Tables playlist covering Excel Videos 30-43. There are all kinds of tricks to make managing a lot of data much easier.
