Microsoft Office

Creating and Using
Worksheet Outlines
If you use a word processor, you may be familiar with the concept of an outline.
Most word processors (including Microsoft Word) have an outline mode
that lets you view only the headings and subheadings in your document. You
can easily expand a heading to show the text below it. Using an outline makes
visualizing the structure of your document easy.
Excel also is capable of using outlines, and understanding this feature can make
working with certain types of worksheets much easier for you.
IN THIS CHAPTER
Introducing worksheet outlines
Creating an outline
Using outlines
Introducing Worksheet Outlines
You can use outlines to create summary reports in which you don’t want to show
all the details. You’ll find that some worksheets are more suitable for outlines
than others. If your worksheet uses hierarchical data with subtotals, it’s probably
a good candidate for an outline.
The best way to understand how worksheet outlining works is to look at an
example. Figure 26.1 shows a simple sales summary sheet without an outline.
Formulas are used to calculate subtotals by region and by quarter.
Figure 26.2 shows the same worksheet after the outline was created. Notice that
Excel adds a new section to the left of the screen. This section contains outline
controls that enable you to determine which level to view. This particular outline
has three levels: States, Regions (each region consists of states grouped into categories
such as West, East, and Central), and Grand Total (the sum of each region’s
subtotal).
Figure 26.3 depicts the outline after clicking the 2 button, which displays the
second level of details. Now, the outline shows only the totals for the regions (the
detail rows are hidden). You can partially expand the outline to show the detail
for a particular region by clicking one of the + buttons. Collapsing the outline to
level 1 shows only the headers and the Grand Total row.
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