Outlines Grouped Data

Before

After

Preparing the Workbook

In order to make this feature easy to use, you must do two things to your excel set up.

(1) Put the group and ungroup buttons into your quick launch area.   

• In MS Excel 2007-2013 open the Data tab in the ribbon bar.  Right click on the Group button and select Add to Quick Access Toolbar. Do the same for Ungroup.
• In MS Excel 2003 you‘ll have to rely upon shortcut keys Alt-Shift-RightArrow to Group and Alt-Shift-RightArrow to Ungroup.

(2)  Change the direction which summary rows are displayed.

• In MS Excel 2007-2013 click the Data tab, in the Outline group, click the Outline dialog box launcher. Clear the Summary rows below detail check box.
• In MS Excel 2003 on the Data menu, point to Group and Outline, and then click Settings. Clear the Summary rows below detail check box.

Setting Row Levels

To set row levels, you can think of it as setting the ‘indent‘ for each row.  Simply select the rows you wish to change the level on, and select the Group or Ungroup button to move the row level left or right. 

Excel Outlines Grouped Data