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To this point in the blog, I've covered most of the new features that we've added to Excel 2007, but I wanted to quickly mention a couple of tools that folks use in Excel and where they can be found in Excel 2007 – specifically, the Solver and the Analysis ToolPak (ATP) Add-Ins.
Enabling Excel Add-Ins
First, a quick detour, since I haven't covered this in great depth previously: enabling these add-ins is done through the Office Button | Excel Options | Add-Ins, which is where all Add-In management takes place. Once there, selecting "Excel Add-ins" from the Manage drop down and clicking "Go..." will allow you to enable both the Solver and ATP.
Solver
Once you've enabled Solver, Excel will auto-install the Add-in if it is not already installed, and then it will be available on the Data ribbon in Excel. We haven't made many changes to Solver this release, but we have updated it to work with many of the new limits in Excel 2007 – most notably the increased row and column limits.
(Click to enlarge)
Analysis ToolPak
Just like Solver, once you've enabled the Analysis ToolPak, it will show up on the Data ribbon in the Analysis group, under a button called "Data Analysis." Unlike Solver, we have done some major work with the ATP this release to move the formulas that have been part of it in previous versions of Excel into the core Excel calculation engine, but the functionality available through the Data tab has remained the same (again, with updates for increased limits).
Comments: (24) Collapse
Sam
Thanks for your code. I shall use it.
Steve
Solver seemed to install for me but it doesn't show up on the Data ribbon.
I am missing the entire Analysis group on the Data tab.
Sam - "1/72 th of an inch or some thing crazy like that."
That crazy thing is called a point. It has been so called for centuries by typesetters.
What is crazy here is the use of "character width" as a unit of measure, since it is variable.
This is perhaps not the best place to post, but I have a question about the MSFT "Excel Addin for SSAS" and its future in relation to Office 2007.
I can see that the new Pivot Table functionality makes the addin largely redundant...but what about the ability to construct "free form" reports? Is there going to an equivalent for Excel 2007 or is the intention to rely on SSRS to provide this type of complex report construction?
Personally, I would have hoped that the Analysis Toolpak would have become automatically "included" in Excel - just like all the other functions. I don't really understand why it exists as a separate add-on.
I know I will run into (minor) difficulties when sharing workbooks that use the ATP with other users - and I resist using the ATP functions except when necessary...
So why is ATP a separate add-in anyway?
I followed the instructions for ATP and solver but there I have no "Analysis" group in the Data ribbon. What should I do? Aside from reinstalling the whole program.
Hi all – thanks for the comments.
To everyone that commented on problems getting solver installed/working - there were known issues with the public beta, but things should work pretty well in the beta refresh coming very soon. My mistake for not mentioning it – please give it a whirl in the beta refresh.
SteveA – What are you gardening? I am a big fan of heaths and heathers. With respect to the units we use for row/col sizes … our metric is based on the average character size for the default font, so not only is it inconsistent wrt width/height, but it varies across fonts/systems. Perhaps a better approach is to use Ctrl+A, then resize one row and one column with the mouse. The pixel size shown in parenthesis should allow you to get things squared up pretty easily. Sam and others have also provided suggestions.
A User – thanks for the feedback.
Francis – thanks for the feedback. Feel free to email me with specific suggestions.
Harlan, yes the former ATP functions will now act like the rest of the function library wrt internationalization. See the comments in this post: blogs.msdn.com/.../483205.aspx
Shawn S – the formulas in the ATP have been built-in as native functions this release. See blogs.msdn.com/.../483205.aspx.
JP3 – Excel 2007 comes with a series of new fuctions that allow you to create free-form reports against multi-dimensional data sources. See this post and the next four for details: blogs.msdn.com/.../483205.aspx
Dave
Well you asked. I am completely redoing my back garden after removing an outdoor swimming pool (not such a good idea with UK weather). Plan to have some small fruit trees, raised beds for vegetables, and a mixture of shrubs and perennials. Familar problem though, requested features from the whole family exceed the limited space available.
Perhaps row/col size should be made consistant in a future release of Excel. But Sam's macro works just fine (thanks again Sam).
An easy solution to the metric question would be to allow users to enter pixel values in the Column Width/Row Height dialogs as follows:
User enters: 30 -> old metrics
User enters: 30px -> pixels!
Word lets users manually enter any unit of measurement they please*, even mixing various ones in a dialog.
* With the notable exception of parsecs and furlongs.