Microsoft Excel

2 minute read

Excel Challenge 21: Unpivoting Data Within a Table

Claudia Buckley

Claudia Buckley

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What Excel tools do you use when your data isn’t laid out in a way that helps you extract the data you want easily? That’s the situation presented in this month’s Excel challenge.

Download your challenge data!

Start working on the Excel challenge with this data workbook.

To get started,

  1. Watch the challenge video. 
  2. Download the Excel worksheet. 
  3. Complete the challenge task.
  4. Share your solution, discuss, or ask for help in our Slack channel.

The Challenge

Here’s the scenario: 

Our business has 22 suppliers of various products and services. In this table, the monthly expense amounts are shown, and column B shows the Payment Terms we’ve agreed to.

This information is all very useful, but sometimes it’s overwhelming when you only want to look at expenses in a particular category. For example, what if we only wanted to see:

  • suppliers who invoiced us in June, or
  • suppliers who require payment in advance (PIA)?
  • What about combining more than one criteria?

I’m excited to share my favorite method for solving this challenge. But maybe yours is better than mine. 

Admittedly, there are lots of ways you could go about this. Maybe it involves using old-school formulas, dynamic array formulas, or some other Excel feature. 

We have a whole library full of Excel tips and tricks where you can pick up clues or ideas to work this out. Tell us what method you would use before I share my solution next week!

Download your challenge data!

Start working on the Excel challenge with this data workbook.

We hope you'll enjoy working on this challenge!


The Solution


 

We hope you enjoyed taking part in this challenge.

Do you have an Excel brainbuster you came across recently? How did you solve it? Join our Slack channel and share it with me! Maybe we'll feature it (and you šŸ˜‰) on an upcoming monthly GoSkills Excel challenge!

Stay tuned to the GoSkills Excel Resource hub for more Excel tutorials, and check out our range of expert-led Excel courses for all skill levels to further sharpen your skills.

 


If you enjoyed this challenge, you’ll love our Basic and Advanced Excel course which will help you learn more essential formulas, functions, and practical, real-world Excel skills. 

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Join the Excel conversation on Slack

Ask a question or join the conversation regarding Excel challenges on our Slack channel.

Claudia Buckley

Claudia Buckley

Claudia is a certified Microsoft Office Expert (Excel Specialist), project manager, and business skills instructor at GoSkills who has spent over 20 years in employee professional development. Claudia has a Masters Degree in Business Administration and a Diploma in Educational Psychology. In her spare time, she listens to audiobooks and is an amateur genealogist. View her profile here.