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Version 7.0 available. New feature: Filtering pivot tables automatically with the Master Cell value.

SlideFab 2 version 7.0 adds a small new feature which is a great leap forward for building simple Excel models: A new feature to filter pivot tables. With this it is possible to avoid VBA coding to change the pivot filter, like it was used in this old blog post for creating category trees. And this new feature also removes the need to write aggregating formulas for all those, who did not use the VBA snippet in the first place.

This means that it is much simpler to mass produce PowerPoint slides based with Excel charts, when these charts are Excel pivot table charts, which automatically change when the filtering is changed.

Read More »Version 7.0 available. New feature: Filtering pivot tables automatically with the Master Cell value.

Version 6.0 available. New “focus changes” feature for waterfall charts. Some bug fixes

SlideFab 2 version 6.0 adds a small new feature to Excel/PowerPoint waterfall charts and also brings a few bug fixes.

The waterfall “focus changes” feature when using the PowerPoint Chart Export Mode helps to make smaller changes more visible without having to adapt the y-axis manually. It makes sense when the totals are so huge in comparison to the changes that the changes will be merely visible as flat lines only. This feature determines the maximum and minimum values of the waterfall and then adapts starting and end point of the y-axis. It works like like zooming in on the changes.

Read More »Version 6.0 available. New “focus changes” feature for waterfall charts. Some bug fixes

Case Study: Maintenance-free Excel workbook for simplifying the slide creation process using Dynamic Array Formulas

Client: Consulting boutique for work and organizational psychology

Type of engagement: Commissioned work

Objective: Redesigning and rebuilding a slow and cumbersome legacy Excel model for automatic zero maintenance slide creation with SlideFab

Read More »Case Study: Maintenance-free Excel workbook for simplifying the slide creation process using Dynamic Array Formulas

How to create resilient Excel models using spilling Dynamic Array Formulas for automation purposes – and not just only for SlideFab

When it comes to programming most coders or programmers accept that code and data need to be separated. “Avoiding hard-coding” is a common best practice in this regard. Unfortunately, when it comes to Excel this idea hasn’t prevailed yet. Even when it comes to VBA coding within Excel many developers still rely on intermingling code into huge XLSB files, wondering why performance and maintainability are so poor. However, this post is not about writing VBA add-ins for Excel (using XLAM files).

This post is about keeping data and calculation logic (instead of code) separate within mere Excel files. Basically an outrageous idea, as “dragging formulas” and “adapting ranges” are instantaneous associations for most Excel users once input data changes. I will explain how Dynamic Array Formulas will help to build highly robust Excel models which will adapt to changes in the raw data automatically.

Accordingly, the concepts provided here are ideal for Excel calculations that need to last, like survey evaluations or corporate reporting. Both have in common that data structure remains rather similar while new surveys or new months are just around the next corner, respectively.

Disclaimer: What you will find here is my personal opinion based on more than 10 years of Excel and VBA experience. You might have a different opinion. But maybe you will learning something new nevertheless 😉

Read More »How to create resilient Excel models using spilling Dynamic Array Formulas for automation purposes – and not just only for SlideFab

Version 5.0 available. New scaling feature. Some bug fixes

SlideFab 2 version 5.0 adds a new scaling feature to shrink or stretch shapes based on factors calculated in Excel. This is really helpful to gain even more control over mass-produced slides and presentation.

Up to this point SlideFab was mainly focused on exporting content from Excel to PowerPoint. Let it be texts, charts, images or something else. Some dynamics were available with the Shape Condition feature, which allows to remove shapes based on an Excel formula outcome.

With this new version SlideFab has entered the world of manipulating PowerPoint shapes through scaling. Now, it is possible to provide separate scaling factors for horizontal and vertical dimensions. By setting the anchoring point both horizontally (left vs right vs neither) and horizontally (top vs bottom vs neither) the user gets control on how the scaling will be applied.

Read More »Version 5.0 available. New scaling feature. Some bug fixes

Tools for exporting or connecting from Excel to PowerPoint

There are plenty of reasons to connect Excel with PowerPoint. Often this is about keeping numbers or charts up-to-date. In other cases it is about creating data-driven slides automatically. For both cases there are various add-ins available. The following list contains a selection of tools for exporting or connecting from Excel to PowerPoint.

Read More »Tools for exporting or connecting from Excel to PowerPoint

8 Articles about creating PowerPoint slides from Excel using VBA

The internet is full of articles, blog entries and recommendations dealing on how to create PowerPoint slides from Excel using VBA. As Excel and PowerPoint seem to be quite as old as the internet itself, the amount of information is enormous.

Additionally, there is a huge group of people asking for help in forums like reddit or stackoverflow. Quite often they show pieces of VBA code found somewhere on the internet. And then, of course, they struggle to adapt the code to their own problem.

How can it be that the offer of help is so huge but the need for individual support is even greater? Is it really so easy to create PowerPoint slides from Excel using VBA? The following list gives an overview of what is available on the internet regarding this topic. But, of course, there is much more available through web search.

Read More »8 Articles about creating PowerPoint slides from Excel using VBA

Version 3.0 available. Logical Audit, simplifying chart features and more

This update to version 3.0 brings various new features to SlideFab:

  1. A new logic audit feature which lets SlideFab search for inconsistencies in the automation setup. This helps to detect issues before running the Slide Making process.
  2. The newly introduced Excel Charts Export Mode from version 2.0 got an upgrade. It is about series sorting and elimination of empty entries.
  3. A more sophisticated error checking during Slide Making gives feedback if something went wrong.

And last but not least, this new version incorporates a couple of bug fixes.

This new version is available at the download page. Already installed SlideFab updates automatically.

Read More »Version 3.0 available. Logical Audit, simplifying chart features and more
This is still picture from the video explaining the five different chart relevant Export Modes

Linking / exporting charts from Excel to PowerPoint using 5 different Export Modes of SlideFab

When creating recurring PowerPoint slides based on Excel workbooks, there are 5 different SlideFab Export Modes to choose from. This video elaborates on how to choose and employ the right Export Mode. The video shows how to set up the Excel model and the PowerPoint slide template for the use of SlideFab.

Read More »Linking / exporting charts from Excel to PowerPoint using 5 different Export Modes of SlideFab
Mood image highlighting new version 2.0 of SlideFab 2

SlideFab 2 version 2.0 available. New features, higher robustness.

This update to version 2.0 brings various new features to SlideFab:

  1. A new chart export modes for allowing more flexibility in the output presentation
  2. A helpful feature to edit the path to multiple linked charts at once
  3. A killer button to end all Excel processes

and a few things more.

Apart from these novelties the versioning was improved to distinguish the kind of update: For feature updates like this one, the major number left of the dot increases. For smaller updates and bugfixes the minor number counts. Accordingly, this version is not 1.12 but 2.0.

This new version is available at the download page. Already installed SlideFab updates automatically.

Read More »SlideFab 2 version 2.0 available. New features, higher robustness.