We’re almost done with our New Excel Business Charts Course and it’s looking great! I'm currently reviewing the final videos. Meanwhile, the team is busy finalizing the cheat sheets, lesson notes, and quick guides.

This morning, I reviewed the lecture "How to Pick the Right Chart". And wow! It took me right back to my corporate job, staring at the screen, wondering, "How on earth do I make this data tell a story?!". There was SO MUCH to show.

Picking the right chart might seem easy, but there’s a lot to think about. Here’s an example from the course to show you what I mean:

Let's say your boss comes to you and hands over this data. Your task is to present it at the next department meeting.

The data shows this year’s employee satisfaction scores, broken down by department.

You start with what feels natural - a column chart.

But then you notice it's too long and it would be better to show it as a bar chart.

Then you decide to sort it so it's clear how the departments rank.

It looks great!

As you're about to copy and paste the chart in the PowerPoint slide, your boss walks up and comments, "Would be great to see how the scores compare to last year".

No problem!

You grab the data for 2023, and expand your chart range to include it.

Suddenly your straightforward chart looks cramped and confusing. It's not easy to compare departments anymore. It's also not obvious which department is now doing worse.

You don't feel good showing it like this - it's just too messy. You need something that can handle the complexity of the data.

You take a coffee break ☕

That's when it hits you!

After a few quick calculations and some clicking, voilà, the perfect chart!

Not only can it show the differences between this year and last year for each department, but it ALSO brilliantly highlights progress or regressions.

If you like reading The Economist, maybe you’ve seen this kind of graph before. It’s called a dumbbell chart.

This example shows that picking the right chart sometimes means trying different things. Being flexible. AND keeping your eyes open for a chart that fits just right.

And don't worry, you don’t have to learn hundreds of charts.

In the business world, just a few kinds of charts are really important and useful. In our upcoming Business Charts in Excel course, we'll make sure you know these charts well.

You'll get templates for every chart we show, like the dumbbell chart. So, if you present data or create charts at work, watch your inbox next week. I'll be sending you an exclusive early bird discount, plus a special bonus we’re busy preparing.

Now on to geeky news.

​

🤓 Geeky News

🕸️ Autofill & Paste Special in Excel for the Web

Microsoft continues to improve the Excel for the Web experience.

It now added some features that have long been a mainstay in the desktop app.

• Drag & Drop to insert or replace columns and rows

Select a column or row and, move the cursor to the side of the selected area. When the cursor changes to a hand icon, move the selection to where you want it.

⚠️ The default behavior is to insert the column/row. If you want to replace instead, hold down the Shift key before you drop (you get a handy tooltip to remind you). It's the other way in Desktop. The Web experience seems more intuitive.

• Autofill & Flash Fill

When you move the cursor to the bottom right corner of the selected cell, you should see a plus symbol. When you hold down and drag, you can now decide if you want to copy cells, fill series or use Flash Fill.

• Paste Special

When you copy any cell or range in Excel for the Web, you now get several Paste Special options. Look for them in the Home ribbon or in the right-click menu.

You can paste values only (Ctrl+Shift+V), formulas only, formatting only, column widths, create link to source or transpose rows and columns.

With both Autofill and Paste Special, there are currently fewer options than in Desktop. Still, it's a step in the right direction.

📊 Automatic mobile layout Power BI

One of the strengths of Power BI is its versatility.

You can access reports and dashboards from many entry points - in the browser, in Teams, in Excel, or on the mobile.

How you design for desktop and for mobile differs, though. If you wanted to give your audience a good mobile experience, you had to design two layouts.

It wasn't difficult. Power BI lets you easily switch between the desktop and mobile views. You can then use your existing report to create a layout optimized for mobile devices.

Now it's even easier.

When you switch to the mobile view, simply press the Auto-create button to generate an optimized design.

Of course, you can then tweak it some more. Delete and resize elements as needed.

But this way you get a head start, saving time and effort.

Enable "Auto-create mobile layout" in Options > Preview features to test it out.

It's one of the many updates in the March release of Power BI. It includes more updates to some of the newer features, like on-Object interaction and visual calculations. It also brings enhancements to visuals like Azure maps and matrix.

The Power BI team is busy making the app more intuitive and the visuals more customizable. Expect more updates to come.

​

👏 Power Stories

Kalani shared a lovely comment in our Fast Track to Power BI course.

Reading her comment made our day. It's wonderful to know that the way we fit the pieces together in our courses really hits home.

I know that feeling. You're trying to learn something new and it just doesn't click. It's like there's a piece missing. And it can be frustrating. I've been there myself, struggling through many trainings.

In our courses, we aim to reduce student frustration by providing many puzzle pieces. The problem is too many pieces might also confuse. The challenge is in finding the balance. I'm happy to hear we got it right.

Our courses also continue evolving even after the initial launch. We try to keep up with software updates (Power BI keeps us particularly busy in that regard - see Geeky News 🤓). That also goes for student feedback.

We value your comments, your questions and your engagement.

See you next week,

Leila

Want more?

▶️ Subscribe on YouTube​

🖇️ Follow us on LinkedIn​

🥇 Join 400,000+ students in our courses​

📣 Want to sponsor Between the Sheets? Get in touch here.

This newsletter contains affiliate links, which give us a small commission on any purchase made at no cost to you. This helps us run Between the Sheets and bring you updates like this. Thank you for your support!