Taking Excel to the Next LEVEL!

Hi All,

I have not been to active on this forum. I have been searching around but there are so many topics that its overwhelming.

I want to take my excel to the next level. I am an engineer and have created some great excel sheets. Nothing super fancy but using if then statements and vlookups to automatically identify variables in calculations. My calculations are usually 5 sheets with about 80 lines per sheet to give an idea.

I want to create easy to use calculators that cannot be edited so my employees can use them and I don't have to worry about the formulas being modified. I know I can lock cells, but I really want to take my excel work to the next level.

I am wondering if you suggest any specific posts here, youtube videos and/or training courses?

I want to create worksheets that look like this
Capture1.JPG
This is from Tim Ferris' book 4 hour work week.

Mine currently look like this
Capture2.JPG

Any help, direction, guidance is much appreciated!

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My 2 cents ...

In this situation, I would start with the overall design / look of the worksheet. Then .. once the "look" is right ... I would dig into the formulas, macros, etc. I believe doing it in this manner will reduce the number of times you will find yourself
changing the locations (cells, rows, columns) for your formulas, etc.

I have found for my purposes, it is usually best to ignore the first few columns on the left side of the worksheet. Begin everything starting in Col C or E. That way if you need to add something in and it absolutely must go on the left side
of your main project, you have a few blank columns to work with and won't (hopefully) have to shift everything to the right and re-write all your formulas / macros to match. Having a few empty rows at the top of the project is also a good idea
for the same reasons. You can always shrink the empty cols / rows down or even hide them if they aren't being used. And, when you hide all the grid lines, the left and top sides will be blank making the overall look even better.

As for the graphics you are desiring to see in your projects .... that is simply an effort of experimenting to see what looks good. Search the internet for examples of what others have done to get the grey matter going. It is doubtful you will
ever create the perfect presentation on your first try. It will takes experimentation, several edits (at a minimum) and ALOT of frustration. You know what you want but creating it is another matter. Guess that is why there are graphic artists for hire ?

One aspect of the design that I try to adhere to is exactly what you've posted as an example. The invoice is using only three colors and alot of white, plus no grid lines. Excellent in my minds eye. Using too many colors in such a small area cheapens the
presentation for the user. Think kindergarten ?

The use of lots of white is relaxing to the eyes. Regardless of what you are creating, my opinion is that you are creating a "tool" not an entertainment item. A tool needs to be simplified, easy to use and navigate and gets the job done. That's all - nothing more. If it has alot of unnecessary colors, buttons, bells, whistles and those neat fancy moving thing-a-ma-bobs .... it is getting back into kindergarten entertainment and not EXCEL which is a tool.

As I said ... my 2 cents. Best wishes.

Learn how to use tables. Simple and saves so much time when writing formulas and referencing data.

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Sorry for the misunderstanding. When you said you 'wanted your projects to look like this' .. thought you were referencing just the overall design.

Regarding how / what to learn ... it really depends on the individual. The FOR FREE approach would include forums such as this one (and there are others as well) where you can search for what you are needing and when you run into a problem there are tons of folks to help you through.

YOU TUBE is another great resource. You can search for what you want and the 'visual representations' are great to "see how it's done". Most of the videos fail to include the actual code where you can copy and paste .. or download a copy of the code from their website. So ... the only downside that I have found is having to type the code manually while the video is on pause.

There are several good websites dedicated to EXCEL / VBA with tons of example code and download projects. You'll gain alot of ideas, knowledge and experience from those.

Ultimately, returning to this forum to ask for assistance when you get into a problem will overcome those learning curves. You indicated you are an engineer by trade .. so presumably you'll be able to tackle this learning curve well on your own and with assistance from the Forum members.

So what's left ? Jump in ... search for what you are needing and give it a go. Persevere and return here for assistance. It will be rough at first - most Forum members are reluctant to create your project for you (there is a commercial section for that where you can pay to have someone create a project). However, if you give it the ole college try and present your attempted code - the assistance will come.

Good luck !

Thank you! I will do just that. I am also open to traditional online classes, paid is not out of the question.

What keywords should I search for to get the right videos and tutorials?

• I need to find out how to establish a backend and front end that are not editable. (key word: I'm not sure here)
• Do I need to learn macros? (kw: macros)
• Should I consider creating separate excel sheets for code references? And then link them or is this too complicated, should the code references be inside each of the excel sheet? (kw: references? dynamic references?)
• What about setting up an access database? (kw: access spreadsheets?
• And creating dynamic figures and charts? (kw: dynamic chart?)

I appreciate your help here. Ive started my search and am overwhelmed with irrelevant information. Really I am not sure as to what the excel terminology are for different things so its hard to search.

Thanks again!!

From the picture you posted, it looks like you are using excel as some kind of database. If this is the intention, I suggest you should learn SQL- a universal language of relational databases. You can use SQL in any programming language. Any application worth of its salt keeps data in some kind of database.

Really I am not sure as to what the excel terminology are for different things so its hard to search.

I experienced the same problem at first. I can't explain how to shorten the curve. For me it simply came in time. After you search a number of times, the key terms come to mind and you'll start to
include these terms in your search. It will make finding the information easier and faster.

Thank you all!

Just thought I would update everyone and if anyone happened to come across this thread.

I found excel classes on Skill Share. Haven't tried them yet but seems to be a good source for structured classes.

Cheers!