Are they actually connected?


You’re tracking the numbers. But do they mean anything?

📚 More hours studying.

📈 More money on ads.

💤 More steps before bed.

Are they actually making a difference, or are you just hoping they are?

Most people guess.

Smart ones use a simple Excel function to find out.

It’s called RSQ, and it tells you how much one thing affects another.

Never heard of it? You’re not alone.

We ran a quiz last week and only 10% of our community got it right. 👀

When you do get it, everything changes.

No more gut feel or eyeballing charts. Just clear, math-backed answer to:

“How much of an impact is it making?”

We break it down in our blog post:

  • What RSQ really tells you (in plain English)
  • When it works (and when it doesn’t)

📁 Free workbook so you can try it right now.

The second you use it, you'll stop guessing—and start seeing the truth behind your numbers.

👉 Show me how it works

Learn How to Create Professional Online Courses in PowerPoint

We all know PowerPoint as a presentation tool. But did you know there’s a whole side of PowerPoint you might never have explored?

One of them is creating educational materials, from interactive presentations to dynamic online courses with branching, quizzes, and role-play simulations — all with a modern, polished design.

Download a free expert guide, “How to Create a Training Course in PowerPoint,” to learn everything you need to know to create your first online course, even if you’ve never done it before.

What’s inside:

✅ Step-by-step instructions for designing training content in PowerPoint

✅ Expert tips and tricks to make your course look professional

✅ Additional resources for course designers at any level

Download the guide for free →

Many thanks to iSpring for sponsoring this newsletter.

🤓 Geeky News

📊 Excel Data Types now more visible

Data Types in Excel let you pull extra info about:

💱 Currencies

🏦 Stocks

🗺️ Geography

Example: Enter a currency pair like EUR/USD, apply the Currencies data type, and boom - you’ve got a live exchange rate pulled straight from the web.

Cells with these data types get a slick little icon, so you know they’re “special.” Click it, and a whole preview panel opens up with hidden info inside.

But up till now, the formula bar stayed totally clueless.

That’s changing. Microsoft is rolling out value tokens.

Now, you’ll see a visual cue in the formula bar and in edit mode when a cell contains a rich data type.

(Kinda similar to Google Sheets' smart chips. 🧐)

No more wondering if the cell is just text or secretly packed with rich data. Less risk of accidental overwriting and breaking the linked connection.

Small change for now, with a promise of more to come.

🤖 AI News Roundup

A lot's happening in the AI world. Here's your chance to catch up.

🖼️ ChatGPT gets a new image model

Dead giveaways of an AI-generated image? Six fingers and wonky text. It might be a thing of the past, as ChatGPT replaces DALL-E 3 with GPT-4o image generation. It promises cleaner, more photorealistic results and actually readable text.

🧠 Copilot gets “deep reasoning” powers

Microsoft rolls out two new AI agents, "Researcher" and "Analyst". They're supposed to pull off multi-step research and complex analysis. Available (for now) to early-access M365 Copilot users.

💬 New Copilot interface

Meanwhile, Copilot Chat is getting a facelift. Chat history moves to the left panel, making it look more like ChatGPT. You can also switch between the "Quick" and "Think Deeper" modes for faster or more thoughtful replies.

You'll find a similar experience in the new Copilot app that's just now rolling out to all Windows 11 users.

🌈 New Gemini Model from Google

Not to be outdone, Google announced that it's latest model, Gemini 2.5, is also a "reasoning" model, capable of handling complex prompts.

Plus, it's integrating Gemini into Chrome browser and even the Windows taskbar.

🗺️ Did You Know?

If you never used rich data types, you can see them in action here:

🌍 The Fastest Way to Research Country Data in Excel #shorts

No more googling, no AI needed. Pull the country details in just a few clicks

👏 Power Stories

Still stuck updating reports manually? You’re not alone. Sepp was in the same boat - juggling spreadsheets and chasing outdated stats across his company.

He decided enough was enough. And enrolled in Fast Track to Power BI.

We regularly make statistics in the company that always had to be updated manually and were shared with a time delay. I wanted to change that. With this course, I can now quickly create very powerful dynamic reports for the employees.
Sepp Koch, Controller

This is what leveling up looks like: faster reports, less manual work, and more time for the stuff that matters.

Got a success story of your own using your XelPlus skills? Hit reply to share it, and inspire others to power up too 💥

See you next week,

Leila

Want more?

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Leila Gharani - XelPlus

XelPlus is a leading online education company, providing training courses for Excel, Power BI, Finance, and Google Sheets. XelPlus’ bestselling courses are popular among financial analysts, CFO’s, and business owners. Technology is changing fast. We help our members turn confusion into confidence with every skill learnt.

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