Part IV: Using Advanced Excel Features
584
On the CD
You can find the workbook used in the preceding examples on this book’s CD-ROM. The file is named
outline example.xlsx.
Keep in mind the following points about worksheet outlines:l A worksheet can have only one outline. If you need to create more than one outline, move
the data to a new worksheet.
l You can either create an outline manually or have Excel do it for you automatically. If you
choose the latter option, you may need to do some preparation to get the worksheet in the
proper format. You can read later in this chapter how to use both methods.l (^) You can create an outline for either all data on a worksheet or just a selected data range.
l You can remove an outline with a single command. (Read how in the upcoming section,
“Removing an outline.”) However, the data remains.
l You can hide the outline symbols (to free screen space) but retain the outline. I show you
how in this chapter.
l An outline can have up to eight nested levels.
Worksheet outlines can be quite useful. If your main objective is to summarize a large amount of
data, though, you may be better off using a pivot table. A pivot table is much more flexible and
doesn’t require that you create the subtotal formulas; it does the summarizing for you automati-
cally. The ultimate solution depends upon your data source. If you’re entering data from scratch,
the most flexible approach is to enter it in a normalized table format, and create a pivot table.
Cross-Reference
I discuss pivot tables (and normalized data) in Chapters 34 and 35. n
Creating an Outline
This section describes the two ways to create an outline: automatically and manually. Before you
create an outline, you need to ensure that data is appropriate for an outline and that the formulas
are set up properly.Preparing the data
What type of data is appropriate for an outline? Generally, the data should be arranged in a hierar-
chy, such as a budget that consists of an arrangement similar to the following:Company
Division
Department
Budget Category
Budget Item