Excel Video 479 Formatting in the Excel Data Model

We’ll work on formatting in the Excel Data Model in Excel Video 479 today. If you’re a long time Pivot Table user, you’re familiar with changing number formats using the Value Field Settings menu. Today we’ll change the formatting for numbers and dates in the Excel Data Model so that the Pivot Table automatically has the correct format.

You might be wondering why I bother to change the formatting in the Excel Data Model when it’s not much harder to change the formatting in Value Field Settings. The real key is that I can use the Excel Data Model in Power View, Power Map, and Power BI, not just PowerPivot. I’m controlling the formatting in the Excel Data Model so that the data is prepared for any of those applications.

This is the first example of preparing, structuring, and formatting data in the Excel Data Model to use in other applications. In the next Excel Video we’ll deal with a date sorting issue. I look forward to seeing you then.