What connects a problem-solving attitude and love of Excel? Well, turns out, a lot.

Hi there! You're reading Between the Sheets, and today we’re exploring:

• My in-depth interview with fellow MVP, Oz du Soleil
• Summing cells by color
• Visual calculations in Power BI

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🎬 Mohawked charts, pickled functions, Excel wish lists - the Oz interview is up

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​This video is different (and longer) than our usual YouTube content, but I hope you give it a watch because Oz offered up some great insights with his usual flair.

I've known Oz for a few years now, so I was super excited when he accepted my invite to come to Austria.

We really got into it, covering a range of topics, from light-hearted (as you see in the heading) to some deeply personal and very real stories (thank you, Oz, for your openness and, as always, keeping it 💯).

Thanks to anyone in the YouTube community who sent in a question. We tried to tackle as many of them as possible.

We talked about the role of an MVP (Microsoft's Most Valued Professional):

• what personality is best suited for the "MVP life" (hint: it's not for someone who says: "it can't be done" or "Excel's not for that");
• how do you get the visibility and recognition in the Excel community to be awarded the MVP title (contrary to popular belief, it's not (just) YouTube);
• what it takes to make a living out of your Excel skills and how to stay motivated as a self-employed creator,

and much, much more.

Obviously, we also talked Excel. Find out which function Oz thinks is as out of place as a pickle with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? 🥪+🥒=❓

Recording the interview was lots of fun! Here's a special peek behind the scenes, just for our "Behind the Sheets" subscribers. Check it out if you're curious!

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🎨 Quick Excel Tip - Sum cells based on color

When talking in the video about the features we'd like Excel to have, I mentioned summing by color.

Currently it's possible with VBA - check out this video if you want to learn how.

The alternative methods are not dynamic, but get the job done in a pinch.

You can either use Excel's Find & Replace or Autofilter:

▪️ Find & Replace

Use Ctrl+F to open the Find dialog, select color with "Choose Format From Cell," and click "Find All."

Select all found cells, close the dialog, and the sum appears in the status bar, ready to copy and paste (Ctrl+V) as a fixed value.

▪️ Autofilter

Filter by cell color and apply this formula for summing:

=SUBTOTAL(9,B2:B11)

The '9' indicates a SUM (you can also do other aggregations with SUBTOTAL), and B2:B11 is our range with some cells highlighted.

This method sums only visible (filtered) cells (in this case the blue ones), which must be copied and pasted as values (Ctrl+Shift+V) to preserve the color-specific sum.

Neither method dynamically updates sums when cell colors change.

So, if Microsoft is reading - we're waiting for a function! 😉

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🤓 Geeky News

📊 DAX in Power BI just got easier

The February release of Power BI brought us visual calculations.

This is great news for anyone who transitioned to Power BI from Excel and misses the ability to reference cells directly.

You can now perform calculations directly on visuals, using the fields used to build the visual.

Start by selecting a visual and click on "New calculation".

A new view will open, with the visual preview, a formula bar, and a matrix, which shows the data in the visual.

Visual calculations come with a set of dedicated new functions, but you can also use the ready templates, which you simply populate with your field names.

The templates include some common calculations, such as moving average, difference to previous, percentage of parent, etc.

These calculations are typically complex to write in DAX and difficult to bend your mind around.

Here, you utilize the matrix grid, you see the context in front of your eyes - it's much more intuitive what's happening.

Of course, there are still scenarios where you will want to use "normal" DAX, but the first encounter with Power BI and DAX is now much less scary.

If you want to try them out, got to File > Options & Settings > Options > Preview features and enable Visual calculations.

📝 New Sticky Notes are coming - test them in OneNote

The upgraded Sticky Notes app now includes exciting features such as one-click screenshots and automatic source capture.

Click the Screenshot button to capture the active window and automatically save the link on your note for easy reference. You can easily get back to the source of the information.

It also captures the active window as a source when copying text or typing a note, which you can dismiss if irrelevant.

Here's a cool feature: your previous notes will rise to the top when you return to the same website or app later, helping you to stay organized.

Currently in preview for Microsoft 365 Insiders, you can access it from OneNote. You can also bring it up with the shortcut Win+Alt+S.

Still, I miss the days when you could keep sticky notes on your desktop without the app taking up space on the taskbar.

💻 Cool browser updates

🌈 Chrome is introducing an "IP Protect" feature. It will hide your IP address from some websites to reduce cross-site tracking.

When you visit one of those websites, your IP address will be replaced by the address of a Google proxy server.

It's not yet generally available - still in the early stages - but could be an interesting addition for the privacy conscious among us.

🪟 Edge has added an "Upload from mobile" feature. Whenever you click an upload button on any website and are taken to the File Explorer, you can now choose to "Upload from mobile".

This will open a QR code that you can use to pair your phone with the PC. Then simply select the files and upload them directly to the website (a backup copy will also be saved in a dedicated subfolder in Downloads).

If you're using a different browser on mobile, you are limited to 10 files per session (but you can pair again after you disconnect). There are no limits if you're pairing Edge with Edge. You don't need to sign in to your Edge account to use it.

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👏 Power Stories

That's an impressive badge collection, Paul! 💪

Thank you for your continuous support, and congratulations on constant upskilling and investing in your professional development. I trust it's paying dividends. 😊

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

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