Dealing with massive amounts of data on your Microsoft Excel 2010 worksheets can be really messy. Particularly when you want to select some values for financial analysis and skip other entries, the job can be really frustrating. In a long spreadsheet, one with hundreds of thousands of rows, where the entries to be skipped from an operation are spread in a random fashion, a Microsoft Excel slicer can be of great use to you.

It is not difficult at all to use slicers in Microsoft excel. Slicers have a set of buttons that allow you to filter the data in the Power Pivot tables. With the Slicers, you do not need to open individual lists and in the drop down look for the exact item that you want to filter out. Slicers hence make it simple and easy to manage your data filtering in Excell’s Power Pivot. In addition there is a clear labeling on the slicer that shows how the data has been filtered. This features helps you see which items have been left out and how the filtering process has been done.

While using a regular slicer to filter multiple entries, you cannot see the details of filtered items. Instead the slicer displays only that the data has been filtered. It does not show which items are left out and by what rule. To see the details you would have to drop the menu down and see the residual items. Like many programs there are slicers of different levels that operate on multiple levels of complexity. So, you can go for the one that fulfils the requirements for your job and tasks.

Typically, the slicers used in Power Pivot are associated with it since the beginning. Still, it is possible to use an independent or online slicer and then attach it to the Power Pivot in your computer as you work on it. Most people use the slicers already attached to Power Pivot. You have a choice to suit yourself.

A typical Power Pivot slicer has the following set of buttons:

  1. A slicer header: this is an indication of the categories if the items being dealt with.
  2. A filtering button: this is not selected and shows the items that are not being filtered.
  3. Another filtering button: this is selected and shows the items included in the filter
  4. A clear button: by clearing you remove the filter from the data
  5. The scroll bar and border moving buttons allow you to fix the visible dimensions on the screen for your use.

Using tips:

In order to use the slicers in Microsoft Excel, make sure you have a created a slicer and it is attached to PowerPivot; also you should have made a copy of the slicer and have it associated too. Use a slicer that already exists and attach it to another Power Pivot. As mentioned you can also create a separate slicer and then attach the stand alone to Power Pivot for further usage of the filtering component. Also note that each slicer you create is specified for one PowerPivot page, and for a different file, you would have to create a different slicer and get it attached to that particular file. Cumbersome in the beginning it might be, but as you get the hang of it, you would realize the effort is completely worth it. Luckily, in some cases you can share the slicers. This can be done when in a single report you have a number of PowerPivots. In such a scenario, you can share a filter for all of

Formatting Slicers

Working with slicers does not have to be dry and boring against the stereotypical concept of numeral data and Excel spreadsheets. You can format an existing slicer too, by following simple steps:

Click on the slicer that you want to give a different look. From here you can find the “slicers tools” option and click on the options button. You will be presented with some available styles and for further designs you can click “more” button given and access further styles for your slicer. On and off you can change the look and avoid the monotony which is very prominent in this kind of work, as any Excel consultant or financial analyst can tell you. Enjoy as you learn to excel in Microsoft Excel. If the article was not enough, if you think you might need professional Excel Consultant Help, but are not quite sure, maybe you are not sure if you can afford it. That is easy to determine, contact our corporate office in the Irvine area of Orange County California. We offer a free consultation, no obligation, and based on the consultation we can provide a free estimate. You can then determine if you need professional help, and if the cost is right. No sales pressure, either you need our help or you do not, no worries. If you do move forward, we have developer offices across the globe, from Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Oakland, Oregon, Ohio, Dallas, Georgia, North and South Carolina, New York, Virginia, New Jersey, then off to Manchester, London, and Sydney. So chances are we have a developer office near you.