The Listifier

Your data is in Excel,
but is it accessible to both you and the computer?

There are two general ways to organize information in Excel. The first way is to create a list, which has headings arranged across the top row:

Heading1	Heading2	Heading3
data	data	data
data	data	data
data	data	data
data	data	data

If you've ever used Excel to make a simple mailing list, then you've probably done things this way:

Name	Address	City	State	Zip
data	data	data	data	data
data	data	data	data	data
data	data	data	data	data
data	data	data	data	data

The second way to organize information is commonly seen in reports, such as those you receive by email. We'll call this table format (though you might also see it referred to as a grid or crosstab format) . In this format, headings are placed across the top, and across the left side:

		Column Heading	Column Heading	Column Heading
Row Heading	Row Heading	data	data	data
Row Heading	Row Heading	data	data	data
Row Heading	Row Heading	data	data	data
Row Heading	Row Heading	data	data	data

This last format is wonderful for the eyeball, but bad for the computer. Why? If you've used Excel, you'll appreciate its ability to filter data (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HA011127901033.aspx explains the different ways to use Excel's built-in tools to filter and find information in a list) . You might also take advantage of Excel's wonderful PivotTable feature (http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/using/excel_pivot_tables_collins.mspx provides an excellent example of how a PivotTable can be used to easily create complex reports. When you look at that page, please notice that the source data is in list format, not table format!).

Data that's in table format is impossible to
effectively sort, filter, or use in a PivotTable.

You can use the free Listifier for Excel add-in to turn your table-formatted data into list-formatted data.