Next Generation Excel: Modeling In Excel For Analysts And MBAs (For MS Windows And Mac OS), 2nd Edition

Chapter 24

Group and Outline Data

Grouping and outlining in Excel enables you as an analyst to view different levels of information on demand. You can either reveal all the information or hide certain levels of information by collapsing different levels of data. When you have a large spreadsheet you can collapse the data and show only the subtotals. This is an effective tool for presentation and analysis.

You can create these outlines for your data so that you can show or hide levels of detail with a single click. You can click the outline symbols, , , , and display only the rows or columns that present summaries or headings for sections of your data. You can also use the symbols to see details for individual summaries or headings. Excel allows you to create an outline of up to eight levels.

This is important for the preparation of the data:

• The data for an outline should be a continuous range. Each column should have a label in the first row and there should not be blank rows or columns within that range.
• When the range contains a function, such as SUM, you can automatically outline the data.
• If you wish to outline columns, make sure that the range has labels in the first column on ...