Q. I usually like Excel PivotTables, but because they don’t allow me to do certain things, such as delete cells or insert new columns or rows, I’m wondering if there is a reasonable alternative? A.

You use Office Excel 2010, the spreadsheet software from Microsoft, to create complex documents that can contain tables. Access 2010, the database software from Microsoft, also contains tables. If you ...

If you record daily sales data in Excel, it may be impossible to explain variances from day to day. Instead, it may make more sense to summarize the data by week to spot trends and explain variations.