Microsoft Office Excel for EngineersExcel Primer

Created By: Darren Henry, Director of Product Marketing Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation

©2009 Dassault Systèmes, All Rights Reserved

This document outlines many of the commands reviewed in the SolidWorks screencast Microsoft Office Excel Tips for Engineers

Data PopulationQuickly populate adjacent cells with series of values

Saturday Sunday Monday TuesdayJanuary

Cell Addressing

To lock down the cell location insert a dollar sign "$" in the cell address.

Equation How Excel interprets the address=A5 relative addressing=$A$5 equation will always reference cell A5 no matter where it is copied=$A5 equation will always reference column A, but will adjust the row number as it is copied=A$5 equation will always reference row 5, but will adjust the column letter as it is copied

Darren's Tips: Use the F4 key to quickly cycle through the various address combinations

In formulas, Excel uses relative addressing by default. As you copy formulas through your spreadsheet it will adjust the cell locations.

Data Validation (List)Location: Data →Data Validation

Possible Uses:Prompting for options and accessoriesSelecting languages, units, or styles

Example:Color hexadecimalBlue 16711680

Color Red Green Blue HexadecimalBlack 0 0 0 0Red 255 0 0 255Orange 255 128 0 33023Green 0 255 0 65280Blue 0 0 255 16711680Purple 255 128 255 16744703Turquoise 0 255 255 16776960White 255 255 255 16777215

Use Data Validation to make user friendly pick lists

Darren's Tips: The list used for validation must reside on the same worksheet as the cell being validated. The "Source" field of a Data Validation list can utilize "IF" functions to add another level of customization.

Data Validation (List)

Prompting for options and accessoriesSelecting languages, units, or styles

Darren's Tips: The list used for validation must reside on the same worksheet as the cell being validated. The "Source" field of a Data Validation list can utilize "IF" functions to add another level of

IFSyntax: IF(logical_test,value_if_true,value_if_false)

Possible Uses:

Cast

er?

$STA

TE@

Cast

er<1

>

Example: Yes R

Use IF to conduct conditional tests on values and formulas. Returns one value if a condition you specify evaluates to TRUE and another value if it evaluates to FALSE.

Millions of uses, from conditional formulas based on dimensions, to part number prefixes based on options. When driving CAD models with Excel, use IF functions to control whether a component is suppressed or resolved.

Darren's Tips: You can nest up to six IF functions, but if there is more than three, consider storing data in a table and use Vlookup.

Darren Henry:Here an IF function suppresses or resolves a caster component based on a user's choice. Type in "No" in cell B11 to see the change.

CONCATENATESyntax: CONCATENATE (text1,text2,...)

Possible Uses:Piecing together part numbers

Material Length Hole spacingExample: SS 12 1.5

Special Character- Part Number SS-12-1.5

Text1, text2, ... are 1 to 30 text items to be joined into a single text item. The text items can be text strings, numbers, or single-cell references.

Darren's Tips: You can explicitly type in any symbols that separate prefixes and suffixes, but I find if you list them in individual cells, it aids in edit-ability

&Syntax: "Text1"&" Text 2"

Possible Uses:Piecing together part numbers

Darren's Tips: Remember to add " " Space between variables when desired

material Length hole spacingExample: SS 12 15

Part Number SS - 12 - 15

Easy way to concatenate text strings

Darren Henry:Here we used a simple formula with & to piece together a part number. We explicitly typed in the dashes and spaces.

VLOOKUP

Possible Uses:

Example: Color hexadecimalBlack 0

Color Red Green Blue HexadecimalBlack 0 0 0 0Red 255 0 0 255Orange 255 128 0 33023Green 0 255 0 65280Blue 0 0 255 16711680Purple 255 128 255 16744703Turquoise 0 255 255 16776960White 255 255 255 16777215

Syntax: VLOOKUP(lookup_value,table_array,col_index_num,range_lookup)

Searches for a value in the leftmost column of a table, and then returns a value in the same row from a column you specify in the table.

Use instead of writing nested IF statements, finding part number prefixes and suffixes, finding correct hexadecimal color code, etc

Darren's Tips: Watch out for unwanted spaces in the first column, excel will not find a match if there is and extra space in the text string. You can Vlookup from different worksheets, so organize your tables by storing data on other worksheets

Darren Henry:Vlookup is locating the color in the table and then returning the corresponding value in the 5th column.

Trace PrecedentsFound under Formulas-> Trace Precedents

Possible Uses:Making your formulas easy to troubleshoot

material Length hole spacingExample: SS 12 15

Special Character- Part Number SS-12-15

Draws arrows to show cell dependencies. Great tool to help understand where a cell's value originates.

Darren's Tips: Use Trace Precedence, Show Formulas, and simple double clicking to help understand which cells have equations and where they come from. The arrows will be removed when saving or you can use the Remove Arrows command when you are done.

Darren Henry:click on cell and chooseFormulas ->Trace Precedents

INTSyntax: INT(number)Rounds a number down to the nearest integer.

Possible Uses:Use when calculating number of instances in patterns

Example 1: Number Integer2.8 2

Example 2: overall length 18hole spacing 3.5

number of holes 5

Darren's Tips: INT does not round up, so accurate hole calculations may require multiple formulas

Custom ViewsFound under Views --> Custom Views…Quickly toggle betweens showing your control panel, and the entire design table

Darren Henry:a few custom views have been created. Go to View->Custom View to see them.

CONVERTSyntax: CONVERT(number,from_unit,to_unit)

Use Convert to convert a number from one unit of measurement to another.

Possible Uses:

Heat Converter2400 J equals 2.275 BTU

Great for any type of Engineering calculation. Allow the user of the spreadsheet to specify the type of units they are familiar with, and convert all data to suite.

Darren's Tips: Specify the from_unit and to_unit in cells, so they can be changed quickly.

Darren Henry:Convert was used in this cell to calculate the value of BTUs

Darren Henry:Enter any value in this cell and it will be converted from Joules to BTUs

Paste SpecialLocation: Available from Right Mouse Button, once a cell has been selected for copy

Possible Uses:Update price sheets or quantities in BOMs

Price New Price Multiplier$100.00 0.9$150.00$200.00$250.00$300.00$350.00

Enables the user to copy more than a cells value. Includes the ability to copy data validation restrictions as well as perform bulk mathematical tasks.

Darren Henry:Select cell D20 and choose Copy, then highlight the prices and use Paste Special, Multiply. All the numbers will be multiplied by 0.9

Copying from PDF filesMany product spec sheets and property tables are available as PDF files. Often you may copy the data for use with 3D CAD models.

In Adobe Acrobat, when selecting large amounts of tabular data, use the right mouse button option: "Copy as Table" to aid in copying the data