Adding and Formatting Graphic Objects.
The buttons on the Drawing toolbar enable you to create lines, arrows, shapes, and text boxes that are displayed and print as part of a worksheet or a chart sheet. You can display the Drawing toolbar by using the toolbar shortcut menu or by clicking on the Drawing button. The Objects.xls workbook is open. In the standard toolbar, click on the Drawing button to display the Drawing toolbar. You can use these tools to draw by using click, hold & drag method. A text box object will be added to the worksheet for you. When you add objects to a worksheet or chart, each object is on an individual layer. The layers are stacked in the order in which they are added. This stacking order is most noticeable when objects overlap each other. Because the top object covers a portion of the objects beneath it, you can obtain different effects by creating overlapping objects. You can change the order of the drawn objects at any time by selecting an object and clicking on Draw in the Drawing toolbar. From the Draw menu, you choose Order, and then select one of the options given. With the other object still selected, click on Draw. Choose Order, Send to Back. Click away to deselect the object.
When you select an object, then press the Tab key, Excel cycles through all of the objects on the worksheet, including the embedded chart.
Graphic objects can be formatted just as you would format chart items- - by selecting the object and clicking on any one of the formatting buttons on the Drawing toolbar. You can also double-click on an object to which you want to apply formatting to display the Format AutoShape dialog box. E.g. Draw a line and Select it. Click on the Line Style button. Select the 3pt line style. Click on the Line Color drop-down arrow. Select the line color.
Three-dimensional effect can be added to any drawn object by selecting the object and clicking on the 3-D button on the Drawing toolbar. A pop-up menu displays 20 different three-dimensional effects. Create a text box, select it and click on the 3-D button. Select the 3-D style indicated by the red arrow. (done) you can double-click on the border of the text box to format it. Therefore you can also select an object and delete by pressing the Delete key. You can select multiple objects in order to delete it as well as grouping them. Grouping enables you to move, resize, or format several objects at once.
Enhancing Worksheets and Charts with Graphics
You can use Excel’s drawing tools to create graphic objects that enhance and highlight your worksheet data. You can also use the drawing tools to create items on an embedded chart or a chart sheet. Graphic objects become part of the worksheet, and print with the worksheet data and any embedded charts. E.g. creating graphic objects to highlight data. Click on Oval button and draw over data cell in the worksheet data. By default, the oval is a filled object. As a result, it covers the numbers in the worksheet. To have the numbers show through the object, you need to change the Fill Color option to No Fill. Click on the Fill Color drop-down arrow. Select No Fill to display the numbers through the oval. Now you can draw lines connecting the cell figure and the chart then creating a Text Box. You can also use the drawing tools to add objects to your chart sheets, just as you added objects to the embedded chart.
Single and Multiple Level Data Sorting
A list is an organized collection of related information. Lists are usually arranged in a column-and-row format as a labeled series of rows that contain similar data. Common examples of lists are telephone books, checkbooks, and personal phone directories.
In Excel 2000, a list must contain at least one column, which represents one category of information. Each column is identified by a title called a column label. Column labels should contain a font, data type, alignment, formatting, pattern, border, or capitalization style that differs from the data contained in the rows beneath them. A row in a list is called a set of data. Each set of data contains information from one or more related columns. For example, a set of data in the telephone book contains the name, address, and phone information for one individual.
Sorting is used to organize the sets of data in your list alphabetically, numerically, or chronologically. When you sort a list, Excel arranges the rows according to the contents of one or more columns. If you want to rearrange the sets of data in your list according to the information contained in only one column, you can perform a quick sort using the Sort Ascending or Sort Descending buttons. E.g. select a cell, in the standard toolbar, click on the sort Descending button. Excel automatically selects the entire list for sorting. It also compares the top rows of the list for formatting differences. If it finds that the top row is formatted differently from the following rows, Excel identifies that row as a column label and excludes it from the sort.
You can use the Edit, Undo Sort command to undo a sort immediately after it has been performed. Once you have issued another command, however, the Edit, Undo Sort command is no longer available. If your list is in no particular order and you want to assign an order to it, then you can number the sets of data in your list. By numbering the sets of data, you can easily return the list to its original order without relying on the Edit, Undo Sort command.
In lists, several sets of data might contain some of the same information. For instance, two or more employees might have the same last name. Sorting the list by the data contained in one column might not provide enough order because of the “ties” that occur with repeated information. To break these ties, the Data, Sort command enables you to sort by multiple columns of information. E.g. select the cell choose Data, Sort. In the Sort dialog box, display the Sort By drop-down list. Select LAST. Display the first Then By drop-down list, and select FIRST. Verify that Ascending is selected, and then click on OK. When you perform a sort, that sort order is maintained as a “tie-breaker” f or the next sort. Suppose that you sort a list alphabetically by last and first names, then sort again by hours employed. If there are ties in the number of hours employed, those ties will be arranged in the previous sort order, alphabetically by last and first name. Consecutive sorts enable you to sort your lists by more than the three columns you can specify in the Sort dialog box in consecutive sorts, you must perform the sorts for the least important order first, then work your way up to the most important sort order. E.g. sort primarily by Hours, with a sub-sort on the Hourly Rate information. Any ties that remain will maintain the order from the previous sort (by last name, then by first name). Choose Data, Sort. (the sort dialog box maintains the settings of the last sort) In the Sort By drop-down list, scroll down and select HRS. click on Descending to sort by most to least. From the first Then By drop-down list, select HOURLY RATE and click on Descending. Click on Ok.
The Sort dialog box enables you to specify three columns by which to sort a list. The Sort By drop-down list specifies the primary sort order, the first Then By drop-down list specifies the secondary sort order, and the second Then By drop-down list specifies the last sort order. E.g. on three-level sort on the Payroll worksheet, primarily by Hours, then by Hourly Rate. Any ties that remain will be sorted by employee numbers. Choose Data, Sort Observe that in the Sort By dialog box, the previous settings are maintained. In the second Then By drop-down list, select EMP#. Verify that Ascending is selected and click on Ok.
Feel free to drop any question you may have.
Regards,
BEM T CELESTINE
