2Advanced Lesson 5: Advanced Data Management

Excel can import data, or bring it in from other sources and file formats. Importing data is useful because it prevents you from having to rekey it.

You can import a text file containing data that is delimited, or separated by a comma or other character. Excel uses that character to divide the text into columns.

2Advanced Lesson 5: Advanced Data Management

You can also import data from a Web page. To do so, you must create a Web query, which opens a Web page and then imports one or more tables of data from the Web page into your workbook.

When you use a Web query, you can specify which parts of the Web page you want to import, as well as how much formatting you want to keep.

A Web query create a link to the Web page. This allows you to keep the information as current as possible.

2Advanced Lesson 5: Advanced Data Management

Before you export, send, or share data with others, you can use the Document Inspector to remove hidden data or personal information that is stored in the document or document properties from a worksheet.

2Advanced Lesson 5: Advanced Data Management

You can save useful information as part of a workbook, such as the name of the author, or source, comments about the workbook, worksheets included in the workbook, and the last date the workbook was modified. Each piece of information is called a property.

You can use the Document Information Panel to view, add, and edit the document properties easily while you work on the document.

2Advanced Lesson 5: Advanced Data Management

If you create many workbooks that are similar to each other, you can use a template, which is a workbook that is used as a basis for new workbooks, to save time.

You can use built-in templates, or create your own user-defined template.

2Advanced Lesson 5: Advanced Data Management

If you decide to convert a workbook to or from an earlier version of an Excel workbook, you can use a tool called the Compatibility Checker, which ensures that a workbook is compatible with earlier versions of Excel so that you can avoid the loss of data.

2Advanced Lesson 5: Advanced Data Management

You can create a fixed-layout format of your file that is easy to share and print, but which cannot be modified.

In order to do this, you must install the Save as PDF (Portable Document Format) or XPS (XML Paper Specification) add-in for the Microsoft Office 2007 system. After you install the add-in, you can export your file to PDF or XPS format to preserve document formatting when the file is viewed online or printed.

2Advanced Lesson 5: Advanced Data Management

A macro is a sequence of actions that you record and then play back with a single command.

Macros improve efficiency because they allow you to perform, or carry out, several commands in one step.

If you decide that you want to use macros in your documents, or to allow others to do so, you must save your workbook in a macro-enabled format first.

2Advanced Lesson 5: Advanced Data Management

When you run a macro, you play back all the actions that you recorded in one step. You can run a macro from the Macro dialog box, but it is faster to use the keyboard shortcut, or set of keys that perform a task, that you specified when you created the macro.

2Advanced Lesson 5: Advanced Data Management

You can create a summary worksheet to consolidate, or combine, data from multiple worksheets.

Summary worksheets contain formulas that include references to cells on multiple sheets. They are useful because they contain all the essential data you need in a single location, each with its fully functioning formulas.