Excel Hacks, 2nd Edition

Credits

About the Authors

David and Raina Hawley provide business applications, software, development, consultancy, training, and tutoring in all aspects of Excel and VBA for Excel through OzGrid Business Applications in Western Australia.

David Hawley has spent the last 15 years creating business applications using Excel and VBA for Excel on a day-to-day basis. He produces a monthly newsletter containing information on the use of Excel and VBA for Excel. He runs and maintains one of the largest Excel forums in the world on the OzGrid web site.

Raina Hawley lectures in industry and in the college education system, and is a registered workplace assessor. Raina runs the OzGrid office, administration, consultancy, development, and training side of the business, and works in Excel solutions alongside her husband.

David and Raina offer hundreds of Excel Add-Ins and business software designed for data analysis in all industry areas through their web site at http://www.ozgrid.com. The web site contains over 50,000 pages of free Excel information. They live in Bunbury, Western Australia, with their two children.

Contributors

The following people contributed their hacks, writing, and inspiration to this book:

• Andy Pope is a programmer working in London. He has been using computers since the mid ’80s. His current role involves writing customized solutions for reporting projects utilizing the MS Office products via VBA. Andy also runs his own web site (http://www.andypope.info). His contributions to the Excel community have been recognized by Microsoft, which has awarded Andy with MVP status for the past four years.

• Dennis Wallentin has been working as an independent Excel consultant since the late ’80s. He utilizes MS Excel and other tools to develop professional solutions for all sizes of companies, including the public sector both in Sweden and internationally. He is currently focused on Visual Studio Tools for Office System (VSTO). Dennis has a Masters in Business and Management Accounting. He runs an English web site (http://www.excelkb.com) and a blog (http://xldennis.wordpress.com).

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, we would like to thank our parents, Walter and Beryl Fenlon and Mike and Marlene Hawley, for without their love and support, we never would have made it through.

Thanks must also go to the team at O’Reilly, first and foremost Brian Sawyer, for all the hard work that he has put into this book. Andy Pope and Dennis Wallentin must be thanked also for the hacks they contributed, and we have to mention all the visitors to our web site and forum, who helped us to identify some of the most common issues that people face.

We would also like to say a special thanks to all moderators and Oz MVPs on our free Q/A forum who share their time and knowledge in such an unselfish way. Finally, we must thank Aleisha and Kate, as always, our inspiration. Their understanding and extra efforts to be good while the book was in progress will be remembered!!