Microsoft Excel can be used by professionals that deal with a lot of data to organize their work and perform quick computations. Because of its user-friendly tools, it is one of the most widely used spreadsheet programs across a wide range of industries. You can utilize the grouping function, one of these tools, to speed up your job.
In this tutorial, we’ll cover the benefits of data grouping in Microsoft Excel, how to do it yourself, frequently asked questions about the functions, and a list of hints to help you get around the data grouping process.
This Tutorial Covers:
- What is outlining data in excel
- Why is it helpful to outline data in Excel
- How to do outline data in Excel
- How to collapse a group of cells
- How to collapse a group of columns
- How to remove the outline
- What is outlining (group) data in excel?
Outlining data in Excel is a way to organize data by creating a hierarchical structure of groups and subgroups. This is achieved by grouping rows or columns of data together, and then using Excel’s outlining feature to expand or collapse the groups as needed. The outlining feature automatically creates summary rows or columns for each group to show totals or other aggregate data. Outlining data is useful when working with large datasets as it allows for easier analysis and presentation of the data.
- Why is it helpful to outline data in Excel?
Data outlining in Excel is beneficial since it improves the efficiency of your work and the organization of your documents. In order to analyze data groupings without having to read through every cell, you can also build summaries.
The group function can also be used for the following things:
- Instead of hiding cells, come up with another strategy.
- Instead, than using numerous tabs, keep all your data in one document.
- Clear the screen of extraneous information, such as schedules and calculations.
- The spreadsheet can be expanded and contracted in different places.
- How to do outline data in Excel?
Your data will be easier to read if you outline it using Excel outline feature.
The steps to outline data in Excel are described below:
Step 1: Sort the information first by the Country column.
Step 2: On the “Data” tab, under the “Outline” section, click “Subtotal”. By doing so, the “Subtotal” window will open.
Step 3: Select the Country column, which serves as the outline for our worksheet, in the “Subtotal” pane.
Implement the Count function. Select the boxes next to Quantity, Revenue, and Profit. Select OK.
The outcome is shown below.
4. How to collapse a group of cells?
To collapse a group of cells, you can simply click the minus sign next to the group header. When you collapse a group, Excel hides the rows or columns in that group, which allows you to focus on other parts of the data. You can also use the numbers next to the plus and minus signs to collapse or expand groups by level.
For example, clicking the number 2 will collapse the group to show only the subtotals.
Clicking the number 1 will display only the Grand Count
Clicking the number 3 will show everything in the group.
5. How to collapse a group of columns?
Follow these instructions to collapse a set of columns:
Step 1: For example, select column A and B.
Step 2: Click “Group” in the “Outline” section of the “Data” tab.
A plus sign will appear if you click the minus sign above column B and C. The outcome is shown below.
6. How to remove the outline?
Follow these instructions to remove the outline:
Step 1: Click any cell within the data set.
Step 2: Click on the “Data” tab, under the “Outline” section, click “Ungroup”, then select “Clear Outline”.
Alternatively, on the “Data” tab, under the “Outline” section, click “Subtotal”, “Remove all” or you can uncheck which you don’t want to outline.
The result looks like this:
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