Harald Staff Excel Tips & Excel Web Radio

Microsoft Excel tips and sample file from Microsoft Excel expert, Harald Staff. Excel FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), web radio streaming example.

-- Excel FAQs

-- Video: Excel FAQ - Column Headings Show Numbers

-- Excel Web Radio

-- About Harald

Excel Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The original Excel FAQ list on this website was compiled by Harald Staff, who was a Microsoft Excel MVP for several years. Every month or so, Harald re-posted that list in the old Excel newsgroups, to help people find quick answers to their questions.

With Harald's kind permission, I published his Excel FAQ list here, and have made many additions and updates over the years. Sadly, Harald passed away in December 2020, and he will be missed.

Here are the links to all of the Excel FAQ pages on the Contextures website.

Excel Application and Excel Files

Answers to frequently asked questions about the Excel application and Excel files. For example,
- Why does Excel say that my file has links?
- "Why do the column headers show numbers, instead of letters?

Worksheet Functions and Formats

Get answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Excel worksheet functions and Excel formatting. For example,
- Is there a formula that will round a value to the nearest increment of 5, or to the nearest quarter?
- Can I format a cell to blink or flash when a condition is met?

Dates and Times

Answers to frequently asked questions about Excel date and time calculations. For example:
- How do I subtract time?
- How do I add 3 months to an Excel date?

Macros, VBA Functions

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Excel macros and Excel VBA. For example:
- How do I get the Developer tab on the Excel Ribbon?
- How do I run a macro every time a certain cell changes its value?

Pivot Tables and Pivot Charts

How to fix common problems with Excel Pivot Table and Pivot Charts. Answers to frequently asked questions; source data, refresh, chart formatting and more. For example,
- How do I get row headings to repeat in a pivot table?
- How do I clear old values from a pivot table's drop down lists?

Video: Excel FAQ - Column Headers Show Numbers

One of the common questions that Harald answered in his Excel FAQs was this one:

Why do column headers show numbers instead of letters?

To see why this happens, and see how to switch the column headings back to letters, watch this short video tutorial.

Excel Web Radio

Get a bit of entertainment while you work in Excel. Harald Staff created this Excel Web Radio Streaming sample file, that you can download, and try it for yourself.

How to Use Excel Web Radio

Harald’s web radio Excel workbook is small (47 kb), and easy to use.

After you download the zipped Excel file (link below), unzip it, and then follow these steps:

Open the Web Radio file, and enable macros.
Double-click on one of the radio station names in column A
That runs a few lines of code, to play that station, in the embedded Windows Media Player.
You can add or remove stations in the list, to suit your musical taste (or lack of taste)

excel web radio

Move the Embedded Player

If you want to move the embedded player, follow these steps.

First, if you don’t see a Developer Tab on the Excel Ribbon, follow these steps to show it:

Right-click on the Excel Ribbon
Click Customize the Ribbon
In the list at the right, add a check mark beside Developer.
Click OK, to close the Excel Options window.

Next, follow steps to move the embedded player:

Click the Excel Ribbon’s Developer tab
In the Controls group, click Design Mode
The embedded player disappears, but click where it was
You’ll see the outline of the selected player
Point to the outlined player
When a 4-headed arrow pointer appears, drag the player to a new location on the worksheet
- NOTE: The outline will disappear while you drag
To see the player again, click Design Mode on the Developer Tab

Get the Workbook

You can click this link to download Harald’s Web Radio sample file. The file is zipped, and in Excel xls format. There is VBA code in the workbook, so you’ll see a warning if you open the file.

About Harald Staff

Harald Staff was an Excel expert, and received the Microsoft Excel MVP award for several years. I had the pleasure of meeting Harald at a couple of the MVP Summits in Seattle, in 2001 and 2003 (a couple of photos are below).

Always willing to share his knowledge, Harald answered thousands of Excel questions in the old Microsoft Excel newsgroups. Many of the questions appeared over and over again, as new people arrived in the newsgroups, seeking help.

To help everyone save time, Harald compiled a list of those frequently asked questions (FAQs), and gave his kind permission for me to publish the FAQ list on my Contextures site.

Besides being an Excel expert, Harald also worked in broadcasting, in his home country, Norway. You can see some of his credits on the Harald Staff entry in the IMDb website.

Sadly, Harald passed away in December 2020, much too soon, and he will be missed.

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NOTE: These Excel tips and examples are provided "as is" for the purpose of illustrating Excel techniques. It is expected that readers will use these examples to develop their own solutions. There is no support provided for these solutions, and no warranty of usability is provided or implied.

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