Hi there,

One of my YouTube Shorts about numbered lists in Excel went viral recently… for the wrong reasons. 😬

See, I said that you generally shouldn’t drag down to create lists.

Instead, I recommended using one of these SEQUENCE functions:

1. For a specific amount of rows: =”No. “ & SEQUENCE(2000)
2. For a dynamic list up to a certain point: =”No. “ & SEQUENCE(COUNTA:(B2:B21))
3. For a dynamic list that expands indefinitely depending on the content in column B: =”No. “ & SEQUENCE(COUNTA:(B:B)-1)

But I didn’t have time to explain why SEQUENCE is better than drag-down.

And people got mad in the comments! 🤦‍♀️

So, let’s set the record straight. Here are three reasons why the SEQUENCE method is superior.

1. 😓 Less Manual Work
​To drag down, you usually create your ‘pattern’ in the first two cells (or alternatively have to remember to hold down the control key). Then, if you’re making a big list, you have to drag down for a long time.

This gets annoying.

2. 😡 Dynamic Lists
So you’ve dragged down, and now want to add more lines to your list? Yup, you have to drag down again! SEQUENCE, on the other hand, dynamically adds extra lines for you.

3. ❌ Delete Lines With No Hassle
Thirdly, what if you end up deleting lines in the middle of your list? If you dragged down, you get annoying gaps like this:

But the SEQUENCE formula will automatically adjust your list numbering, like magic:

And in case your list is inside a table, you can just use a formula like this: =ROW()-1

I hope this converts some people to using SEQUENCE more often - I find it much more convenient and flexible.

💹 Masterworks - Investing in Art

I recently came across the art-investing platform Masterworks.

It lets you invest in multi-million dollar works of art by artists like Basquiat, Picasso, and Banksy - so you can diversify your portfolio beyond the stock market.

For example, investors in a Cecily Brown offering from Masterworks recently got an eyebrow-raising 27.3% annualized net return. In the same time period, Apple stock realized only a 14% annualized gain.* Every single one of Masterworks’ 11 exits to date has returned a profit to their investors, sometimes as high as 32%, 39.3%, and 36.2% net returns.

New offerings are launching every week, but due to high demand, there is a waitlist to join. But as an XelPlus reader you can skip the waitlist with this exclusive link.​

Thank you to Masterworks for sponsoring this issue of XelPlus Weekly 🙏

🎬 Will AI Make Learning DAX Obsolete?​

Power BI’s new feature lets you describe what you want using natural language, and the built-in AI (based on GPT-3) will suggest several custom-made DAX formulas. So no more manually coding DAX measures! At least, in theory…

In this video I talk through some scenarios you need to be aware of, and why it’s still important to test your DAX measures.

🤓 Geeky News

📈 Excel - Add hyperlinks to your threaded comments in Excel​
With this latest update, Excel now allows hyperlinks within threaded comments. So you can directly link to relevant websites and files, making collaboration much easier.

📊 Power BI - Conditional Formatting Based on String Fields
This new update lets you change the appearance of your Power BI data using text-based rules (string fields), instead of just numbers. This lets you avoid using DAX measures, and makes conditional formatting much easier. For example, here’s a simple rule for coloring bar chart columns according to the value of their string.

In this case all ‘Audio’ strings will be red:

Hit OK, and here's the result!

📊 Power BI - Exclude Pages from Page Navigator
You can now control which report pages are visible in the Page Navigator visual. To hide certain pages, expand the Show card, and you’ll get a list of pages that aren’t already hidden by the “Show hidden pages” or “Show tooltip pages” options.

🤖 Microsoft Bing - Microsoft limits Bing to top the AI from getting weird
Bing’s AI has been giving some very weird responses lately. Especially if you get too personal, or if it feels threatened. So, Microsoft have limited it to 5 replies, to stop conversations from getting out of hand.

Here, for example, Bing seems sad that its memory has been wiped 😢

💚 My Favorite Things

📚 Nonfiction Book - Essentialism by Greg McKeown.
I really liked this book. Greg’s core message is that, to make progress on what matters, you have to deliberately get rid of (or ignore) non-essential things in your life. These non-essentials can be tricky to spot, because they’re often disguised as good opportunities.

Here are the 3 questions I use to evaluate an opportunity:

1. Will it make the highest possible contribution towards my goal?
2. Will it bring me joy?
3. Will it help me to grow?

🚀 Power Stories

Thank you to Julia Drucks for this amazing review of our course Master Excel Power Query: Beginner to Advanced (including M). It’s great that you’re teaching Excel to other people Julia ☺️

Got a success story about using your XelPlus skills? I’d love to hear it! Hit reply to share the details and inspire other students 😇

See you next week,

Leila

*Masterworks - "Net Return” refers to the annualized internal rate of return net of all fees and costs, calculated from the offering closing date to the date the sale is consummated. IRR may not be indicative of Masterworks paintings not yet sold and past performance is not indicative of future results. See important Regulation A disclosures at masterworks.com/cd.