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Excel & QI Macros FAQS

Most Common Questions Asked About Excel

General Excel Questions

How do I flip my data?

Use Copy to copy your data
Switch to another spreadsheet or a blank area in your existing sheet and use Paste Special (Transpose)
Check the transpose button and you'll get the data transposed.

How do I turn off or change a macro short key?

Go to Tools, Macro, Macros - Select the macro you want to change and then click Options. A Macro Options window will open and allow you to edit the short key.

General Excel Chart Questions

How do I get the right number of decimal points?

Excel, by default, formats every number as "General". To show the right number of decimal points:

select the cells with your data
Click on Format-Cells and choose Number
Set the number decimal points and click OK.
Use the QI Macros to draw your chart. The macros key off the cell formats to choose the precision.

Excel tries to make the X axis show actual duration. Microsoft calls this "time-scale" format.

Resolution

Click on the Chart pull down menu and

Select Chart Options-Axes-X Axis and c

Check "Category" instead of Time-Scale

Click OK.

Alternate: Check to make sure your dates have the correct years. When you enter 12/31 then 01/01, you'll get 12/31/04 and 01/01/04.

You can also convert your dates to text using Excel's TEXT formula shown at the top of this data sheet:

Then just copy your data (e.g., defects) over to the adjoining cells and run the chart using the new labels:

How do I average the occurrence of text values like "employee", "employees"?

You can't average text values. You must first count or summarize them. There are two Excel tools to help you do this:

COUNTIF

This is great for counting strings embedded in comment fields. In any cell, use the formula:
=countif(A:A,"=employee")
The "*" acts as a wild card character to match any cell in column A that contains "employee".

Pivot Table Report

Select Data-Pivot Table Report and let Excel's wizard guide you to summarize the text any way you want.

For more information about pivot tables, check out our PivotTable Wizard.

My chart won't copy to Word or Power Point.

Most charts will easily copy and paste into Microsoft Word or Power Point. However, some users have had problems copying the Histogram into Power Point or Word 2007. If you have trouble follow these steps:

In Excel, select the chart and choose Edit/Copy
In Word or Power Point choose Edit then Paste Special.
- In Power Point - select one of the Picture Options instead of Excel Chart Object.
- In Word - select Excel Chart Object, jpg or try some of the other options if these don't work.

Other

Can you make new tools or customize the QI Macros for me?

Sure. Just use the form below to email us a detailed description of what you want. We will evaluate what you're asking and give you a fixed price quote for the work.

We can save you lots of time.