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Let's say you're waiting for colleagues to submit the latest data. You need to check if the files came in. And if the data is complete. So you start opening files one by one. It's tedious. And completely avoidable. When Microsoft released the new IMPORTCSV function, I wasn't ready to throw Power Query out the window. It still handles far more sources and does things this new function simply can't. But it got me thinking. What if you could peek at a CSV without fully loading it? Just enough to know: did the file arrive? Is the data complete? So I built a simple tracker that does exactly that. Give it your file paths (local or SharePoint) and it checks your files. No opening required. At a glance you can see:
In the video, I walk you through how the whole thing works. Download the template here and adapt it to your setup. (For now, you need to be part of Office Insiders.) ๐ฒ Turn Your Commute into a PromotionDid you know you can watch XelPlus courses on your phone? Even offline. Download the Teachable app, log in, and your courses are right there. You can download lessons and watch them completely offline. No wifi needed. Waiting rooms. Flights. That 40-minute commute where you're just staring out the window. How to get started:
Your progress syncs automatically. Start on your computer. Pick up on your phone. Right where you left off. ๐ค Geeky News๐ Power BI reports just got a visual upgradePower BI Desktop is getting a modern makeover in preview. New reports will look polished right out of the box. Wider canvas, cleaner charts, smoother lines, slicers that default to dropdown. Basically, a lot of the formatting you used to do manually is now done for you, handled via the base theme or visual presets. To try it: Options > Preview features > Modern visual defaults and customizing theme improvements. ๐ธ๏ธ Faster file search in Word, Excel and PowerPoint onlineMicrosoft is rolling out a small but useful update to the web versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Start typing a filename in the search bar on the homepage and matching files pop up instantly in a dropdown. No more scrolling through a sea of recent files trying to spot the right one. Rolling out now to commercial Microsoft 365 users. ๐ Google Calendar gets a smarter time zone pickerScheduling across time zones just got a little less painful. Google Calendar now lets you search by city or country when setting a time zone, instead of scrolling through that endless dropdown list. Works everywhere you pick a time zone in Calendar. Rolling out now to all Google accounts, starting with rapid release. ๐ Not sitting for hours anymoreClaudia is a financial accountant who was manually capturing invoices every single month. After the Automate Excel course, that process runs itself. Think about your own work. What's the task you do on repeat, every week or every month, that you know shouldn't take that long? That's exactly what this course is for. See you next week, Leila When you're ready, here are some ways we can help: ๐ Join 400,000+ members in our coursesโ ๐บ Get free tutorials on YouTubeโ ๐ฅ Train your whole team with our courses. Team pricing and progress tracking - reply for details. This newsletter contains affiliate links, which give us a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for your support! |
XelPlus is a leading online education company, providing training courses for Excel, Power BI, Finance, and Google Sheets. XelPlusโ bestselling courses are popular among financial analysts, CFOโs, and business owners. Technology is changing fast. We help our members turn confusion into confidence with every skill learnt.
Excel's chart formatting menu is dangerous. Not because it's bad. Because it gives you too many options. And some of them have no place in a professional report. Take this social media trend: pasting images directly into your chart bars. Looks creative. Gets lots of views on YouTube. But would you put that in front of your manager? In just a few extra clicks, the same data can look like this: Same logos. Matching brand colors. Just used with intention. ๐ Watch: How to build this chart in just...
Excel remembers things you teach it. That's not AI. It's a Custom List. And it's been hiding in Excel Options the whole time. That's how you get to automatically fill down months or days of the week. And you can build your own: team names, department codes, project phases - anything you type over and over. Excel learns the order too. So "Mon, Tue, Wed..." or your custom categories fill in automatically. The list lives on your device, not in the file. Set it up once. Use it in every workbook,...
You know that feeling when you're staring at two lists in Excel, trying to spot what's missing? Maybe a product catalog. A list of invoices versus payments. Or a guest list like the below: Whatever it is... checking which one is on the first list but not on the second is.... very slow. And you will miss something. There's a faster way. One conditional formatting rule, and Excel flags every mismatch for you. The second something changes, the highlighting updates too. About a minute to watch....