To learn more about Excel Table objects, read 10 reasons to use Excel’s table object. Send me your question about Office I answer readers’ questions when I can, but there’s no guarantee.

How to create an interactive dashboard in Microsoft Excel Now that you have a basic idea about interactive dashboards in Microsoft Excel, let’s check them out in action.

Drop-down lists in Excel let you create a list of valid choices that you can select for a given field. We'll show you how to use tables, named ranges, formulas, data validation, and table styles.

Creating Running Totals in Regular Ranges To create a running total in an Excel range that isn't formatted as an Excel table, you need to use a combination of absolute and relative references.

Users will appreciate a chart that updates right before their eyes. In Microsoft Excel 2007 and Excel 2010, it's as easy as creating a table. In earlier versions, you'll need the formula method.

The Gauge chart is known as a dial or speedometer chart. Learn how to create a Gauge Chart in Microsoft Excel by following this tutorial.