Advanced list solutions are easy thanks to Excel’s Table object. If you need a dynamic list, try one of these techniques. The article Five ways to take advantage of Excel list features showed five ...

Sync your drop-down menus with table headers using this robust, auto-expanding Named Range trick.

Traditional methods for creating dynamic drop-down lists in Excel, such as using INDIRECT or named ranges, often come with significant limitations. These approaches can break when tables are renamed, ...

Q. I currently keep a static to-do list, and I would like to update it to be more dynamic. Do you have any advice? A. Microsoft Excel is best known for crunching numbers, but it’s also a powerful tool ...

Build multi-table data models with Power Pivot to upgrade your Excel workflow. Replace flat files and use DAX variables for ...

Excel created pivot tables to improve upon its convoluted, weak reporting features (which are still available). The pivot table is actually a collection of tools that Excel uses to help you create ...

Users will appreciate a chart that updates right before their eyes. In Microsoft Excel 2007 and Excel 2010, it’s as easy as creating a table. In earlier versions, you’ll need the formula method.

Excel used to be the poor schmuck’s database, with spreadsheets that just sort of sat there. You could create something more sophisticated with LOOKUP functions, but they were a huge hassle to set up.

Excel has hundreds of features, and I still discover new ones every year. Some solve very specific problems, while others become so useful that they quietly earn a place in every workbook I create.

Placing spreadsheet data into a table quickly formats it and makes it easy to work with and analyze. Here’s how to use this basic yet powerful Excel tool. Tables are one of the fundamental tools in ...