Quick detour #2: Working with currencies made easy …
Before I dive into PivotTables, I thought I would mention an Excel 12 feature that resulted from collaboration with our international subsidiaries. Users that work outside North America (and even some users that work within North America) build a lot of spreadsheets that contain multiple currencies. To make this easier for folks, we’ve turned the “$” (or Currency Style) button into a split-button drop-down that contains a list of different currencies the user can select. The feature is pretty straightforward – if a user presses the button, it applies the default currency style in the same fashion as current versions of Excel. If the user presses the drop-down arrow on the button, they see a list of other common currencies that they can choose from.
(Click to enlarge)
In the same way the default currency style varies from country to country (for example, it is $ in the US, Pounds in the UK, Euros in most of Europe, Yen in Japan, etc.), the list of other currencies the users will see will vary from country to country (they will be specific to the user’s locale). We are working closely with our international subsidiaries to ensure that each locale has the most useful set of currency options for their users.
The “More…” option at the bottom of the drop down opens the Format Cells dialog to the Number tab.
Next week, PivotTables.
