The following video tutorial is an in-depth look at Excel Tables.
I show you how to create a Table and then explain 10 awesome features that will save you lots of time when working with your data. The Tables feature is available in Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2011 for Mac. This video is a step-by-step guide and the file I work with in the video can be downloaded below.
Video Tutorial
Download File
What is an Excel Table?
Tables are a feature in Excel that let you convert a range of data into an organized list called a table. They help automate many repititive tasks such as formatting, sorting, filtering, and summarizing your data. Tables bring a new and intuitive way to write formulas using structured references. They also integrate with Excel's most powerful tools including charts, pivot tables, remove duplicates, PowerPivot, and more.
10 Awesome Reasons to Use Excel Tables
There are a lot of great benefits to using tables. Here are the 10 that I explain in the video.
- Formatting | 1:55
- Table Names | 2:44
- Sorting & Filtering | 3:15
- Auto Expansion & Navigating | 4:35
- Total Row | 6:34
- Remove Duplicates | 7:18
- Create Unique List | 7:53
- Pivot Table Integration | 8:33
- Chart Integration | 10:24
- Table Formulas | 11:26
The video also shows some incredible new features for Excel 2013 including Recommended Pivot Tables and Recommened Charts.
Additional Resources & Videos
Here are some additional videos and articles that helped me learn tables. Please let me know if you have any others to add to the list.
Videos
Excel Tables Feature (Excel as a Database) | Excel Is Fun (18:29)
Create an Excel Table With a Specific Style Applied | Contextures (2:14)
Microsoft Excel 2013 Timeline Video | Excel and Access (8:50)
Chandoo Explains Structured Table Reference | Mr. Excel and Chandoo (5:52)
Absolute References in Structured Table Formulas | Excel Campus (7:17)
Articles
Creating an Excel Table | Contextures
Save Time With Excel 2007 Tables | MyOnlineTrainingHub
Learn Excel Data Tables | Chandoo
Why you should use structured references in tables | Zack Barresse
Absolute Formula References in Structured Tables | Excel Campus
Working with Microsoft Excel tables in VBA | Zack Barresse
Overview of Excel tables | Microsoft
Books
eBook Version – Excel Tables Book
Paperback version – Excel Tables Book
How Do You Use Tables?
Do you use Tables? Why or why not? Please leave a comment below. And don't forget to subscribe to my free email newsletter below to get more articles like this and learn Excel.
Jon is there an updated article for Tables? This has been my favorite go to article on Tables and the one that opened my eyes to their power, but it is dated 2013 and it’s now 2023. Thanks
Excellent and clear. I had some data that was sorted in the wrong order, so I tried to be clever by pasting it two rows below the main data and then sorted it properly and deleted the empty row. Then I couldn’t get the table to include the new data! Deleting it and re-pasting it next to the existing data worked. Might be worth emphasising.
Also lots of points show up differently on 365 for Mac. Without having to say everything twice, is there a way of giving a guide (maybe afterwards) to say/show where a particular command/button is on a Mac?
Hi Jon,
Thank you for having free Excel tutorial content that is clear and very easy to understand.
A suggestion – unless it already exists – would be a tutorial of Excel Best Practices for organizing raw data and worksheets in a workbook.
Your workbook for this Excel Tables Tutorial is a good example. In the begining you show the creation of an Excel Table from some data on a sheet. Later as you pull back and we can see the worksheet tabs, one can see a “Raw Data” worksheet which is not the worksheet you created that first table on.
It left me wondering about the layout of that workbook and whether the data you did create tables for was pulled from the raw data worksheet to the other sheets and if so why.
Lance