Contextures News

Fix Excel Numbers That Don't Add Up

Feb 2, 2016

Solve macro warning mysteries, create a stopwatch, and more, in this week's Excel news. Visit my Excel website for many more tutorials and videos.

 -  Debra -  ddalgleish @ contextures.com

Mysterious Macro Warnings

Have you ever tried to save a workbook, and a warning message appeared, like the one shown below? It's warning you about macros, but if you go to the View tab, and click Macros, there's nothing in the list. Or, you might get a file from someone else, and it asks if you want to enable macros, but you can't find any macros in it.

This can happen if you record a macro in a file, and then delete it. The macro is removed, but the module where it was stored is not automatically deleted. Or, there might be code on the worksheet modules (right-click a sheet tab, and click View Code). That code doesn't show up in the Macro list, but it runs when something happens on a worksheet.

To see how to get rid of the lefover modules, you can watch my short video, or read the instructions. And make a backup of that file, before you delete anything!

Fix Numbers That Don't Add Up

If you've imported data from the web, and things don't look right, see how to fix Excel numbers that don't add up, This technique uses the Paste Special - Add feature, and I made a short video to show the steps.

Excel Articles

Here are a couple of Excel articles I read recently, that you might find useful.

Excel Stopwatch -- If you need to keep track of time, Sumit Bansal shows how to build a stopwatch in Excel. There is a basic version of the stopwatch, and a fancier one for ToastMasters. (Level - Intermediate/Advanced)

Better Charts -- Ann K. Emery explains how to simplify your charts, and emphasize the key information, by using text and colour.. (Level - All)

More Excel Articles -- Find links to more articles in the latest Excel Weekly Roundup on my Contextures blog -- you'll see an animated chart with a dinosaur chasing a human.

And for a bit of humour, read the weekly collection of Excel tweets,

Paper Decorating

I saw this paper marbling craft online, and decided to test it, before trying the craft with my grandkids. It's good to be prepared! I made a little tray out of tin foil, filled it with a layer of shaving foam, and put drops of food colouring on top. Next, I carefully swirled the colour through the foam, and it looked like a horrible mess. I put a piece of light cardboard on top, and pressed gently. Then, I pulled the paper off, placed it on a sheet of tin foil, and used an old CD case cover to scrape off the foam. Voila! Marbled paper, that look better than I expected.

If you're going to try this, I'd suggest wearing gloves, so you don't end up with marbled hands!

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