Grouping and Outlining

[S.J. Ring]

I have a spreadsheet set-up to allow operations personnel
to enter units of production for a month and calculate
the monthly sales value of the production. In addition I
have a life to prior month calculation in front of that
and a total column at the back end. To look something
like this:

A B C D E F G
H I J K L M N
O P Q
1 Unit Contracted LTD May-04
Mar-04 Apr-04 May-04
Jun-04 Jul-04 Total Complete
2 Item Cost Units Qualitity Value
Qualitity Value Qualitity Value
Qualitity Value Qualitity Value
Qualitity Value Qualitity Value
3 Widget 1 5.5 10 5 27.5 1
5.5 1 5.5 3 16.5 0 0
0 5 27.5
4 Widget 2 10.95 5 2 21.9 0
0 1 10.95 1 10.95 2
21.9 0 4 43.8

I want the operations people to be able to hide or expand
the individual monthly column pairs. However when I use
manual grouping each month gets folded into a higher
level group and when using auto outlining, it hides the
qualnity column for each month but leaves the value
column unhidden.

Not sure if I'm being clear enough, but any help will be
appreciated.

 

[RagDyeR]

Didn't exactly follow your question.
However, it sounds like it's a common problem concerning grouping, or, the
*misunderstanding* of how grouping works.

As an example, select the entire columns A, B, and C, then,
<Alt> <Shift> <RightArrow>

Then, select E, F, and G, and do the same
<Alt> <Shift> <RightArrow>

You have just created two groups, with the + and - signs above columns D,
and H.
When you condense these groups, the signs remain above these two columns,
which will *always* remain visible.
This is because they are the "total" or " summary" columns, which *must*
exist between each group.

Now, select E, F, and G again, and this time do a
<Alt> <Shift> <LeftArrow>
To eliminate the second group.

Now, select *D *, E, and F, and again
<Alt> <Shift> <RightArrow>

You see what happened.
You just enlarged the first group because XL will not create two groups
without a summary column (or row) between them.

Of course, with A:F now a single group, you could select B, C, and D, and
<Alt> <Shift> <RightArrow>
To create a nested *sub* group, *within* the main group, which is not
considered *2* separate groups by XL.

Depending on how you have set up your data, you could perhaps insert blank
columns between your significant columns, in order to manually create the
groups you desire.
--

HTH,

RD
==============================================
Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so all may benefit!
==============================================




I have a spreadsheet set-up to allow operations personnel
to enter units of production for a month and calculate
the monthly sales value of the production. In addition I
have a life to prior month calculation in front of that
and a total column at the back end. To look something
like this:

A B C D E F G
H I J K L M N
O P Q
1 Unit Contracted LTD May-04
Mar-04 Apr-04 May-04
Jun-04 Jul-04 Total Complete
2 Item Cost Units Qualitity Value
Qualitity Value Qualitity Value
Qualitity Value Qualitity Value
Qualitity Value Qualitity Value
3 Widget 1 5.5 10 5 27.5 1
5.5 1 5.5 3 16.5 0 0
0 5 27.5
4 Widget 2 10.95 5 2 21.9 0
0 1 10.95 1 10.95 2
21.9 0 4 43.8

I want the operations people to be able to hide or expand
the individual monthly column pairs. However when I use
manual grouping each month gets folded into a higher
level group and when using auto outlining, it hides the
qualnity column for each month but leaves the value
column unhidden.

Not sure if I'm being clear enough, but any help will be
appreciated.