Macabacus Manual

Transcription

Macabacus Manual

Macabacus Manual
Applies to the following and subsequent versions:
8.4.0
October 2016
Macabacus Manual
Copyright © 2016 Macabacus, LLC. All rights reserved.
If this publication is distributed with software that includes an end user agreement, this publication, as well as the software
described in it, is furnished under license and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of such license. Except as
permitted by any such license, no part of this publication (whether in hardcopy or electronic form) may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the prior
written consent of Macabacus, LLC. Please note that the content in this publication is protected under copyright law even if it is not
distributed with software that includes an end user license agreement.
This publication and the information herein is furnished AS IS for informational use only, is subject to change without notice, and
should not be construed as a commitment by Macabacus, LLC. Macabacus, LLC assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors
or inaccuracies that may appear in the informational content contained in this publication, makes no warranty of any kind (express,
implied, or statutory) with respect to this publication, and expressly disclaims any and all warranties of merchantability, fitness for
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Macabacus and the Macabacus logo(s) are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Macabacus, LLC in the United States
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All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Page ii
Table of Contents
1.
2.
3.
Getting Started ................................................................................................................................ 1
1.1
Preface .............................................................................................................................................. 1
1.2
Installation ........................................................................................................................................ 2
1.2.1 Install Macabacus ................................................................................................................. 2
1.2.2 Uninstall Macabacus ............................................................................................................. 2
1.3
Initial Setup ....................................................................................................................................... 3
1.4
Office 2007 Limitations .................................................................................................................... 5
Core Functionality ........................................................................................................................... 6
2.1
General Usage Tips .......................................................................................................................... 6
2.2
Exporting from Excel ........................................................................................................................ 8
2.2.1 Export Methods ...................................................................................................................... 8
2.2.2 Export Behavior ...................................................................................................................... 9
2.2.3 Export Options ..................................................................................................................... 10
2.3
Linking to Excel ............................................................................................................................... 12
2.3.1 Macabacus vs. Native Office Linking ................................................................................ 12
2.3.2 How Linking Works .............................................................................................................. 13
2.3.3 Managing Excel Links .......................................................................................................... 14
2.4
Libraries........................................................................................................................................... 16
2.4.1 Overview ............................................................................................................................... 16
2.4.2 Using Library Content & Templates .................................................................................... 16
2.4.3 Sample Library ..................................................................................................................... 18
2.4.4 Publishing Content & Templates ........................................................................................ 18
2.4.5 Library Manager ................................................................................................................... 20
2.5
Color Palette ................................................................................................................................... 22
2.6
Standard Sizes ................................................................................................................................ 23
2.7
Enterprise Configuration ................................................................................................................ 24
2.7.1 Shared Settings .................................................................................................................... 24
2.7.2 Shared Libraries ................................................................................................................... 27
2.8
Back Up / Import / Reset Settings ................................................................................................. 28
Excel Tools .................................................................................................................................... 29
3.1
Formatting ....................................................................................................................................... 29
3.1.1 Cycles Overview ................................................................................................................... 29
3.1.2 Colors ................................................................................................................................... 29
3.1.3 Number Formats .................................................................................................................. 33
3.1.4 Borders ................................................................................................................................. 35
3.1.5 Alignment ............................................................................................................................. 36
3.1.6 Fonts ..................................................................................................................................... 37
3.1.7 Other Formatting .................................................................................................................. 38
3.1.8 Custom Styles ...................................................................................................................... 38
3.1.9 Paintbrush ............................................................................................................................ 39
3.1.10 Footnotes ............................................................................................................................. 40
3.2
Rows / Columns / Sheets .............................................................................................................. 41
3.2.1 Rows & Columns .................................................................................................................. 41
3.2.2 Sheets ................................................................................................................................... 45
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3.3
4.
Formulas & Data ............................................................................................................................. 47
3.3.1 Fast Fill ................................................................................................................................. 47
3.3.2 Modify Formulas .................................................................................................................. 47
3.3.3 Copy / Paste ......................................................................................................................... 48
3.3.4 Evaluate Functions .............................................................................................................. 49
3.3.5 Min / Max ............................................................................................................................. 50
3.4
Financial Modeling ......................................................................................................................... 51
3.4.1 Replicate Module ................................................................................................................. 51
3.4.2 Summary Statistics ............................................................................................................. 52
3.4.3 Quick CAGR .......................................................................................................................... 53
3.4.4 Model Library ....................................................................................................................... 53
3.4.5 Insert Symbol ....................................................................................................................... 55
3.5
Auditing ........................................................................................................................................... 56
3.5.1 Precedents / Dependents .................................................................................................... 56
3.5.2 Visualization Tools .............................................................................................................. 59
3.5.3 Discussions (beta) ............................................................................................................... 61
3.6
Charting ........................................................................................................................................... 64
3.6.1 Quick Charts ......................................................................................................................... 64
3.6.2 Chart Size & Position ........................................................................................................... 68
3.6.3 Data Labels .......................................................................................................................... 69
3.6.4 Other Charting Tools ........................................................................................................... 70
3.7
Super Find ....................................................................................................................................... 73
3.8
Publishing........................................................................................................................................ 75
3.8.1 Quick Export ......................................................................................................................... 75
3.8.2 Prepare to Share .................................................................................................................. 76
3.8.3 Creating a PDF ..................................................................................................................... 78
3.9
View & Interface .............................................................................................................................. 79
3.9.1 View ...................................................................................................................................... 79
3.9.2 Print Areas ............................................................................................................................ 79
3.9.3 Workspace ........................................................................................................................... 80
3.10 File Operations ................................................................................................................................ 82
3.10.1 Quick Save ............................................................................................................................ 82
3.10.2 Workbook Optimization ....................................................................................................... 82
3.11 Cell Comments ............................................................................................................................... 85
3.12 Keyboard ......................................................................................................................................... 86
3.12.1 Shortcuts .............................................................................................................................. 86
3.12.2 Disabled Keys ....................................................................................................................... 87
3.13 Undo/Redo ...................................................................................................................................... 89
PowerPoint Tools .......................................................................................................................... 90
4.1
Presentation Automation ............................................................................................................... 90
4.1.1 Overview ............................................................................................................................... 90
4.1.2 Macabacus-Enabled Templates ......................................................................................... 90
4.1.3 Configure Your Template .................................................................................................... 92
4.1.4 Publish Your Template ........................................................................................................ 95
4.1.5 Use Your Template .............................................................................................................. 95
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4.2
4.3
5.
New Presentations & Slides ........................................................................................................... 96
Agendas .......................................................................................................................................... 97
4.3.1 Overview ............................................................................................................................... 97
4.3.2 Agenda Options ................................................................................................................... 97
4.3.3 Getting Started with Agendas ............................................................................................. 98
4.3.4 Section Titles ....................................................................................................................... 98
4.3.5 Integration with Native Sections ......................................................................................... 99
4.4
Slide Numbering ........................................................................................................................... 100
4.4.1 Slide Number Visibility....................................................................................................... 100
4.4.2 Number Sequence ............................................................................................................. 100
4.4.3 Legacy Slide Numbers ....................................................................................................... 101
4.5
Slide Stamps ................................................................................................................................. 102
4.6
Presentation Proofing .................................................................................................................. 103
4.7 Linking to Excel ............................................................................................................................. 106
4.8
Linking to PowerPoint .................................................................................................................. 107
4.8.1 Overview ............................................................................................................................. 107
4.8.2 Working with Links............................................................................................................. 107
4.8.3 Migrating Links .................................................................................................................. 107
4.9
Working with Shapes .................................................................................................................... 109
4.10 Working with Colors ..................................................................................................................... 114
4.11 Airplane Mode ............................................................................................................................... 115
Word Tools .................................................................................................................................. 116
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1. Getting Started
1.1 Preface
Contents of This Manual
This manual includes descriptions of most of the tools and features included in Macabacus add-ins for
Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Word, including both their intended usage and customization, as
applicable. Unless otherwise noted, the descriptions of Macabacus functionality contained herein apply
to the full version of Macabacus, not Macabacus Lite. While some sections of this manual describe
functionality common to both Macabacus and Macabacus Lite, those descriptions may have limited
applicability to Macabacus Lite.
Who Should Read This Manual?
This manual is intended for Macabacus software end users and IT, training, presentation technologies, or
other administrators who oversee the deployment of Macabacus software within their organizations.
Using This Manual
Throughout this manual, we refer to controls—buttons, menus, etc.—on the Macabacus tabs in Excel,
PowerPoint, and Word. Such references are expressed as: Macabacus > [Button/Menu Name]. We use
the same text style to denote shortcut keystrokes, file names/paths, and dialog controls. If only the
referenced control’s icon is visible on the Macabacus tab, the text shown in this documentation is the text
that appears at the top of the tooltip visible when you mouse over the control.
Most Macabacus tools for Excel have associated keyboard shortcuts. Where these tools’ shortcuts are
cycles or toggles, a appears next to the tool name. Where we consider a tool’s shortcut to be essential
for maximizing productivity, a appears next to the tool’s name.
Throughout this manual, we refer to Excel, PowerPoint, and Word collectively as “Office applications.”
Such references implicitly exclude Outlook and any other Office application for which Macabacus is not
installed.
Chapter 1 | Getting Started
Page 1
1.2 Installation
1.2.1 Install Macabacus
For problems installing Macabacus, please refer to the troubleshooting guide.
1. Download the Installer
Download the installer named Macabacus20XX.exe from the Macabacus downloads page. Verify
that the version downloaded corresponds to the version of Office installed on your computer.
2. Run the Installer
Ensure that you have the requisite permissions to install Macabacus on your computer.
Administrator privileges are required. Seek IT support if you are unable to install Macabacus.
“Over-the-Shoulder” Installs
If an administrator performs an “over-the-shoulder” install for you, you may need to log out of
Windows and log back in, in order for the installation to finish.
The installer will prompt you to download and install any of the following Microsoft components (i.e.,
prerequisites) required by Macabacus that are missing on your system. If the installer is unable to
download or install a prerequisite for any reason, click the applicable link below to download the
prerequisite directly from Microsoft and install the prerequisite before attempting to install
Macabacus again.
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 (x86 and x64)
Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Tools for Office Runtime (x86 and x64)
Windows Installer 3.1
3. Activate or Evaluate
If you have not previously used Macabacus, Macabacus will prompt you for an email address upon
starting Excel, PowerPoint, or Word. Enter either (a) the email address of an authorized user to
activate Macabacus, if you have already purchased a subscription, or (b) the email address you
expect to use for managing your Macabacus subscription if you later decide to purchase Macabacus,
to initiate your free trial.
You can activate Macabacus at any time by clicking the Macabacus > Activate button and entering a
valid email address or legacy activation code. If you are a corporate user and your email address is
not recognized when you try to activate, ask your Macabacus account administrator to configure your
access.
1.2.2 Uninstall Macabacus
Uninstall Macabacus via the Control Panel just as you would any other Windows software program.
Uninstalling does not remove the folder C:\Users\%USER NAME%\AppData\Roaming\Macabacus and
certain registry entries so, you may wish to remove those items manually.
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1.3 Initial Setup
This initial setup guide walks you through the generally recommended sequence for configuring
Macabacus’ most important settings. Exactly how you configure Macabacus depends on your use case—
customize Macabacus to suit your personal preferences, or to meet the needs of your organization.
Most application-level Macabacus settings can be configured in the Application Settings dialogs in Excel,
PowerPoint, and Word. Office-level settings, which Macabacus uses across all three Office applications,
can be configured in the Common Settings dialog. The Application and Common Settings dialogs are
accessed from the Macabacus > Settings menu in Excel, PowerPoint, and Word. There are also dozens of
other settings that you can configure as you use the tools to which they apply.
In the table below, we have specified the applicability of each setting to each type of user using the
following icons:
= “applicable,” = “possibly applicable,” and = “not applicable.” Macabacus Pro
subscribers can ignore the PowerPoint and Word settings.
Setting
Enterprise
Personal
Comments
Excel
Shortcuts
Customize Macabacus’ shortcut keystrokes to your
preferences or to deconflict with another add-in.
Accelerator
Keys
Accelerator keys activate tabs within the Ribbon. For example,
keying Alt>B activates the Macabacus tab, by default. You can
change these accelerator keys—perhaps to avoid conflicts
with another add-in—in the Application Settings dialog for
each Office application. Note that Microsoft reserves most
accelerator keys for native functions.
Color Palette
The Macabacus color palette is used across Office
applications. Be sure that the colors it contains meet your or
your organization’s requirements.
Color Cycles
Color Cycles are used in Excel to cycle through customizable
font, fill, border, and chart colors with successive shortcut
keystrokes.
AutoColors
Specific font colors are used to differentiate various types of
cell content, including inputs, partial inputs, formulas,
worksheet links, etc.
Default Font &
Border Colors
The default font and border colors are black, but can be
changed if other colors are required.
Number
Format Cycles
Macabacus installs many pre-configured number formats,
which can be customized to suit your needs.
Custom Styles
Configure custom styles that modify multiple cell formatting
properties—similar to native Excel styles—and apply them with
keyboard shortcut cycles.
Presentation
Template
Configure a Macabacus-enabled presentation template to
work with Macabacus’ presentation automation tools.
Library
Templates
Publish any presentation, model, or document templates to a
Macabacus library so that they are accessible to all users.
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Setting
Enterprise
Personal
Comments
Library
Content
If you have slides, shapes, images, or charts that you expect to
reuse often, publish them to a Macabacus library so that they
are accessible to all users.
Active
Template
Once you have configured and published your Macabacusenabled presentation templates, select one as the active (i.e.,
default) template.
Standard
Sizes
Define standard widths/heights for charts, images, and other
shapes used in your presentation and document layouts.
Standard Sizes should generally conform to the dimensions of
placeholders in your Macabacus-enabled presentation
template.
Slide Stamps
Slide stamps are confidentiality markings on slides in your
Macabacus-enabled template, such as “DRAFT” or “For
Internal Use Only”.
Default Stamp
Select a slide stamp to be applied by default to slides in a
newly created Macabacus-enabled presentation.
New
Presentation
Behavior
Select which “special” slides (e.g., title page) and sections (i.e.,
flysheets) are included by default in new Macabacus-enabled
presentations. You can also specify whether you want to use
the active Macabacus-enabled template for new presentations
created using native PowerPoint functionality.
Shared
Settings
Share certain Macabacus settings and content/template
libraries across your organization to facilitate uniformity in
presentations/documents and standardize the Macabacus
experience for all users.
Page 4
1.4 Office 2007 Limitations
Overview
Excel, PowerPoint, and Word 2007 lack important functionality found in later versions. This means that
some Macabacus features may not be available or may not work the same in Office 2007. These
inconsistencies should not generally preclude Macabacus’ use in Office 2007, but are detailed below for
full disclosure. If you are still using Office 2007, we strongly recommend upgrading. Macabacus will
drop support for Office 2007 when Microsoft does.
Excel 2007 Limitations

Some charting tool options are not available.
PowerPoint 2007 Limitations

PowerPoint’s Undo functionality may not behave as expected after using some Macabacus tools.

New agenda tools introduced in Macabacus for PowerPoint v3.0 are not available in PowerPoint
2007.

Proofing tools cannot inspect charts.

Proofing tools cannot inspect SmartArt shapes.

Highlighting selected text is not possible.

Some context menus do not include Macabacus tools.

With the Insert Content dialog open, PowerPoint may remain open even after closing all
presentations.

Template Wizard will not close automatically when the presentation template is closed.

When updating a chart linked to an Excel chart, the chart’s original y-axis number formatting may not
be preserved if it differs from the number formatting in the source chart.

When updating a chart linked to an Excel range, chart data for the chart will not be activated.

Some ribbon controls’ enabled state may not refresh automatically upon closing presentations.

Certain Airplane Mode functionality is unavailable.
Word 2007 Limitations

Word’s Undo functionality may not behave as expected after using some Macabacus tools.

Importing Excel ranges as charts is not possible.

Highlighting selected text is not possible.

Some context menus do not include Macabacus tools.

With the Insert Content dialog open, PowerPoint may remain open even after closing all
presentations.

When updating a chart linked to an Excel chart, the chart’s original y-axis number formatting may not
be preserved if it differs from the number formatting in the source chart.

When updating a chart linked to an Excel range, chart data for the chart will not be activated.

Some ribbon controls’ enabled state may not refresh automatically upon closing presentations.
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2. Core Functionality
2.1 General Usage Tips
The following guidelines apply to using Office with Macabacus, specifically; using Office with add-ins,
generally; or using Office, generally.
Multiple Instances
For reliable performance, ensure that only a single instance of each Office application (i.e., Excel,
PowerPoint, and Word, as applicable) is running. To do this, go to the Details tab in Task Manager and
confirm that excel.exe, powerpnt.exe, and winword.exe appear only once. Add-ins cannot reliably
determine to which instance of an Office application to refer when multiple instances are running. Some
Macabacus tools display warning message when multiple instances are detected, while others may fail
silently.
Multiple instances are most common in Excel 2010 and earlier versions, and are sometimes used to
display multiple workbooks in separate windows (so that two workbooks can be viewed on two separate
monitors). Subsequent versions of Excel use a single document interface (SDI) which obviates the need
for multiple instances because workbooks are now shown in separate windows with their own interfaces.
In fact, it is very difficult to run multiple instances simultaneously in Office 2013 and later. Accordingly,
multiple instances are rarely a problem in Office 2013 and later.
Terminal Servers
When running Office applications in a terminal server or Citrix environment, rather than locally,
multiple running instances of Office applications are common. When Macabacus detects these
environments, it ignores multiple instances to allow the requested operation to proceed. However,
this may result in unexpected behavior if Macabacus cannot determine to which instance to refer.
Elevated Applications
If one Office application is running with elevated privileges (i.e., run as administrator) while another is not,
the two apps will not be able to “see” each other (for example, when exporting from Excel to PowerPoint).
If Macabacus reports that an Office application is not open, even though it clearly is, check whether one
app is running with elevated privileges while the other is not.
Interoperability Between Applications
Some Macabacus operations involve cross-communication between Office applications, such as
updating PowerPoint shapes linked to Excel. While Macabacus will start Office applications when
required if they are not already running, it is preferable—for performance and stability—to have the
required Office applications running already, before Macabacus requires them.
SharePoint
Do not open Office files read-only from SharePoint. Unfortunately, read-only may be the default in your
environment, but you should explore the many workarounds described on the Internet.
Protected View
Most add-in operations are unavailable while workbooks, presentations, and documents are open in
Protected View, indicated by a yellow warning bar below the ribbon.
Chapter 3 | Core Functionality
Page 6
Worksheet Protection
Some Macabacus tools may not behave as expected when the worksheet on which they are performing
an operation is protected. Some Macabacus tools prompt you to unprotect sheets, and others do not. If
you unprotect a worksheet after being prompted by Macabacus to do so, Macabacus cannot re-protect
the sheet after the operation is complete. Protection must be manually reapplied.
Shared Workbooks
Do not share workbooks using Excel’s native sharing capability (Review > Share Workbook). Shared
workbooks suffer a loss of functionality and create problems for add-ins trying to work with them. Shared
workbooks display “[Shared]” in the application window title.
Cell Selection
Limit the cells in your selection to those cells with which you actually need to work before performing
certain Macabacus operations. Macabacus may inspect or modify each cell in your selection individually,
and when you select an entire column to modify a single cell in that column, for example, the operation
may take longer than necessary.
Calculation Settings
For optimal Excel performance in most scenarios, use the following calculation settings:



Calculation mode set to “Automatic except for data tables”;
Iterative calculation enabled;
Maximum iterations set to 100.
Some Macabacus tools disable calculations while performing computationally intensive operations, and
then re-enable calculations when complete. Other Macabacus tools do not. If Macabacus seems to be
slowing down Excel, ensure that your calculation settings are configured as above.
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2.2 Exporting from Excel
One of Macabacus’ most popular features is the ability to export Excel ranges (cells) and charts into
PowerPoint presentations and Word documents with a professional look. These tools overcome
numerous limitations of using native Office functionality to paste Excel data into presentations and
documents.
You can export ranges and charts from Excel to PowerPoint presentations and Word documents in a
variety of forms using convenient keyboard shortcuts, or buttons on the Macabacus tab within the Export
group. Alternatively, in PowerPoint and Word, Excel ranges and charts can be imported into your
presentations and documents using the buttons on the Macabacus tab within the Import group.
Import and Export
Although you can both export Excel ranges/charts to PowerPoint/Word and import Excel
ranges/charts from within PowerPoint/Word, the results are identical. We will focus on exporting
here to avoid complicating the discussion of these features.
Multiple Instances
When multiple instances of Office applications are running, add-ins cannot reliably determine which
instance to reference. Therefore, to performing certain operations like exporting cells to PowerPoint,
Macabacus requires single instances of applicable Office applications. Multiple instances are most
common in Excel 2007 and 2010, but are rarely a problem in subsequent versions.
2.2.1 Export Methods
There are several ways to export Excel ranges and charts to PowerPoint/Word.
Export as Picture
Export the selected cell range or chart to your PowerPoint presentation or Word document as an
enhanced metafile picture.
Recommendation
Unless you are exporting a single cell’s value as text, exporting cells and charts as pictures is
generally the preferred way to export, as pictures produce the most reliable and expected result.
Macabacus automatically hides error checking and cell comment indicators (the little green and red
triangles in the corners of cells), and blue Page Break Preview borders, before copying cells to be pasted
into PowerPoint/Word as pictures. When the export operation is complete, Macabacus reverts these
settings to their original states.
Export as Table
Export the selected cell range to PowerPoint/Word as a table. You may prefer this option if you plan to
make formatting changes to the data in PowerPoint/Word that you do not intend to reflect in the source
workbook.
Page 8
Export as Embedded Workbook
Export the selected cell range or chart to PowerPoint/Word as an embedded workbook. This option
allows you to make changes directly to the underlying data/chart from within PowerPoint/Word, although
this is not generally recommended.
Export as Chart
Export the selected cell range or chart to PowerPoint/Word as a chart. Exporting cells in this manner may
be preferable when you do not wish to include the chart in your workbook. However, it is generally a best
practice to include the chart in your workbook, format it to your liking, and export it as a picture. When
exporting charts in this manner, you may prefer this option if you plan to make formatting changes to the
chart in PowerPoint/Word that you do not intend to reflect in the source workbook.
Export as Text
In Word, you can import the text in a single cell in line with other text. This is useful when writing memos
that contain lots of data sourced from your spreadsheets that can be updated with just a few mouse
clicks. In PowerPoint, you can also import text in a single cell into a selected shape, but the entire text
within the shape will be replaced with the cell’s text, making this useful in fewer circumstances.
Unfortunately, PowerPoint is not built to support single-cell inline text linking.
2.2.2 Export Behavior
Active Presentation/Document/Workbook
When exporting from Excel and multiple presentations/documents are open, Macabacus pastes the
exported cell range/chart from into the active presentation/document. When importing from Excel in
either PowerPoint or Word, Macabacus will choose the range/chart selected in the active Excel workbook.
Destination Shapes
A shape that is selected in PowerPoint or Word upon an import/export operation is called the “destination
shape.” Whether or not a destination shape is selected, and the type of destination shape, if any,
determines placement and sizing of the pasted range/chart on the destination slide or in the destination
document.
PowerPoint Placement
What is a Placeholder?
To understand destination shapes in PowerPoint, it is important to understand PowerPoint
placeholders. In PowerPoint, a placeholder shape is a box with a dotted outline, designed for the
placement of content on the slide. The placeholder shape is most commonly used for text, although
other types of placeholders may accommodate other content types. Text placeholders usually
contain placeholder text that disappears when you begin typing within the placeholder. A placeholder
can only accept the type of content for which it is designed. For example, you cannot place a picture
in a text placeholder; there are other placeholder types that can accommodate pictures.
Placement of pasted objects in PowerPoint is summarized as follows:

If any destination shape is selected, the pasted object (e.g., picture, table) will be inserted onto the
slide at the top left position of the destination shape.

If the destination shape is a placeholder that accepts the type of shape being pasted, then the pasted
object is inserted into the placeholder.
Page 9

If the destination shape is a placeholder that does not accept the type of shape being pasted, then the
pasted object is positioned on top of the placeholder.

If the destination shape is NOT a placeholder, but another type of shape, then the pasted object
replaces the destination shape, and the destination shape is deleted.

If no destination shape is selected, then the pasted object is placed either at the center or top left
corner of the slide, depending on your import/export settings (see below).
Word Placement
Placement of pasted objects in Word is summarized as follows:

If a destination shape is selected and that shape is an inline shape, the pasted object is inserted into
the document at the same point as the destination shape, and the destination shape will be deleted.

If a destination shape is selected and that shape is a floated shape, the pasted object is inserted into
the document at the same top left coordinates as the destination shape, and the destination shape
will be deleted.

If no destination shape is selected, then the pasted object is placed either in line with text at the
cursor, or floated over text, depending on your import/export settings (see below).

If the destination shape is a table and more than one cell—or the entire table—is selected, the
placement described above applies. If a single cell in a Word table is selected, the pasted object is
inserted into that cell.
Size Matching
When a destination shape is selected in PowerPoint or Word, you can match the width, height, both width
and height, or neither dimension of the pasted object to the destination shape. These options are set with
checkboxes labeled Width and Height on the Macabacus tab in the Import group in PowerPoint and Word,
and in the Export group in Excel. If no destination shape is selected, pasted objects will be inserted at
their original sizes.
Exporting Pictures
When exporting charts or cells to PowerPoint/Word as pictures, Macabacus transparently changes the
zoom level of the source sheet to 100% before copying the chart or cells, and then restores the zoom
level to its original value once the operation is complete. This may result in pictures that do not exactly
match what you see in Excel if your zoom level is not already set to 100%, because text wrapping and
chart elements may display differently at different zoom levels. This occasionally happens with charts,
but is less common with cell ranges. If this happens, ensure that your chart or cells appear correctly at
100% zoom prior to exporting to PowerPoint/Word.
2.2.3 Export Options
The Import/Export tab on the Common Settings dialog lets you specify a number of behavioral and
formatting preferences.
Recolor Fonts
A properly built spreadsheet will use font color coding to highlight the nature and/or function of cells.
These colors are specified in Macabacus’ AutoColor settings. While color coding your spreadsheets is
good practice, these colors have no place in your presentation materials. With this option enabled,
Macabacus recolors fonts of exported cells that use Recolor colors to your default font color (usually
black) upon exporting, without affecting colors in the source workbook.
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Remove Gridlines
The use of gridlines in Excel is a personal preference. Rarely should they appear in presentation
materials, however. When you export cells as a picture with this option enabled, Macabacus excludes
gridlines from the picture without affecting the visibility of gridlines in the source workbook.
Remove Outer Border
With this option enabled, Macabacus removes any outer border on an exported Excel chart prior to
pasting into PowerPoint/Word, without affecting the appearance of the chart in the source workbook.
Check for Formula Errors
With this option enabled, Macabacus scans cells to be exported for formula errors. If any errors are
found, Macabacus will notify you. This way, you can avoid unexpected #DIV/0! and other errors in your
PowerPoint and Word outputs.
Scale Chart Fonts
When exporting a chart from Excel to PowerPoint or Word as a chart object, and the pasted chart object is
resized to match the size of a destination shape , you may observe that, while the chart itself is resized
properly, data labels and other fonts on the chart appear too big or too small. If this occurs, enable this
option to additionally scale font sizes to better conform to the resized chart. You can specify minimum
and maximum font sizes for pasted chart objects for Macabacus to use when scaling fonts.
Default Destination Application
You can specify the default destination application (PowerPoint or Word) so that if both PowerPoint
presentations and Word documents are open when exporting from Excel, Macabacus knows to which
application it should export ranges/charts.
Switch to Target Application
When exporting ranges/charts from within Excel to PowerPoint or Word and this option is enabled,
Macabacus will switch to the destination presentation or document upon export.
Copy Appearance
When exporting a range/chart as a picture, you can specify whether you want the picture to resemble its
display on screen, or appear as it will look when printed. In practice, there may be little or no visual
difference between the two.
PowerPoint Placement
When exporting cells/charts to PowerPoint and no destination shape is selected, you can specify whether
pasted objects are inserted at the center of the slide or at the top left corner of the slide.
Word Placement
When exporting cells/charts to Word and no destination shape is selected, you can specify whether you
want the pasted object inserted in line with text or floated over text.
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2.3 Linking to Excel
One of Macabacus’ most popular features is the ability to link PowerPoint and Word to cell ranges and
charts in Excel. When you export a range/chart to PowerPoint/Word, Macabacus links the pasted
shape—a picture, table, chart, etc.—to the source range/chart. If you later modify the underlying Excel
data, you can update the linked shape in PowerPoint/Word with the click of a button to reflect the new
data.
2.3.1 Macabacus vs. Native Office Linking
Problems with Native Office Linking
Linking between Excel and PowerPoint/Word is possible with native Office functionality, but the
limitations of this functionality render it practically useless. These limitations include:

Unreliable linking — Native Office links to Excel are easily broken because Office links to a cell range
address, not the range itself. Suppose you copied range A1:A5 in your source workbook and then
pasted it as a link in PowerPoint. Now, when you insert a single row above original cell A1 in your
source workbook, the link still refers to cells A1:A5, rather than A2:A6, as we would expect.

Undesirable output formatting — When you paste cells as links natively in PowerPoint/Word, any
features or formatting present in the source range will be present in the output. This includes font
color-coding, red cell comment indicators, green formula inconsistency indicators, blue page break
preview borders, and gridlines. These features and formatting have no place in your presentationquality materials.

Bloated file size — When pasting cells or charts into PowerPoint/Word as links, you must paste
embedded workbooks. If you have a presentation with twenty tables and charts linked to Excel, you
will have twenty copies of the source workbook embedded within your presentation. This may
increase the file size of your presentations and documents considerably.
Advantages of Macabacus Linking
Linking with Macabacus has a number of important advantages over native Office linking:

Reliable linking — When Macabacus links to a cell range, it links to the range object itself rather than
the range address. This results in robust links that can only be broken if the linked range is deleted
altogether or the source workbook is moved, renamed, or deleted. To do this, Macabacus uses range
names that refer to linked ranges and are independent of their actual addresses. This is the same
approach used by leading vendors of similar linking technologies (e.g., FactSet/DealMaven).

Control over output formatting — Macabacus can automatically recolor certain fonts to your default
font color (typically black), hide gridlines, hide cell comment and formula inconsistency indicators,
hide blue page break preview borders, hide chart borders, and more when exporting cells to
PowerPoint/Word to give your output a professional appearance. Many of these options are
customizable, and can be turned off if not desired.

Smaller file sizes — Macabacus lets you export cells to PowerPoint/Word as linked pictures that are
much smaller in size (in terms of bytes) than embedded workbooks.

Version control — Macabacus automatically detects the source range or chart in open workbooks to
provide a seamless linking experience in a variety of workflow scenarios. Macabacus also checks for
newer versions of the source workbook by inspecting the file name, among other properties, of other
workbooks in the same folder. If potentially newer versions of the source workbook are found,
Macabacus prompts you to relink to a newer workbook or update from the original source workbook.
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Appending version numbers to your workbooks names (e.g., “Model v2.xlsx”) or dates will help
Macabacus identify newer versions of source workbooks.

More export options — With Macabacus, you can export a cell range or chart to PowerPoint/Word
and paste it as a picture (recommended), table, chart, embedded workbook, or text, as applicable. In
Word, specifically, you can export the value of a single cell as in-line text within a paragraph, which is
extremely useful for authoring memos containing spreadsheet data—something that cannot be
achieved using native Office linking.
2.3.2 How Linking Works
Linking to Cells
To understand how Macabacus links to cells, it is first important to understand range names (or “defined
names,” if you prefer). Range names refer to a cell or range of cells, and are normally managed using
Excel’s native Name Manager. They are commonly used in formulas like =SUM(FirstQuarterSales), where
the name “FirstQuarterSales” refers to cells C5:F5, for example. Suppose we insert a row above row 5.
Now, the name “FirstQuarterSales” refers to cells C6:F6. By using the range name “FirstQuarterSales,” we
can ignore the actual address of the cells to which the name refers, which can change as you
insert/delete rows/columns or otherwise change the structure of your workbook.
When you export a range to PowerPoint or Word, Macabacus automatically links to the range by defining
a unique, hidden name for the range in the source workbook. Hidden names are not visible in Excel’s
Name Manager, so you cannot view these names there, but you can view hidden names in Macabacus’
Name Scrubber. Macabacus then stores the unique name within the destination PowerPoint presentation
or Word document so that Macabacus knows where to find the linked cells when you want to work with
links (e.g., update links, view the source) in those applications.
Since Macabacus links to a range name, which reliably refers to the source range object (unless the range
was deleted altogether), rather than the source range’s unreliable address, you can safely modify the
structure of your source workbook without affecting link integrity. In addition, when you save your source
workbook as a new version, all range names created by Macabacus for linking purposes carry over to the
new version (as do all names), making it possible to relink previously linked objects in PowerPoint/Word
to the new source workbook.
Now, what if we want to add a column to the right of the source range, so that our output in PowerPoint
shows six columns instead of five? Since range names created by Macabacus for linking work like any
other range name, this is simply an exercise in working with native Excel functionality—you simply insert
the new column within the source range, rather than next to it.
Link Autodetection & Version Control
If a workbook open in Excel has the same name as the workbook to which a shape or other object is
originally linked, Macabacus linking operations (Update Link and View Source) look in that workbook first
for the source range/chart. This workbook’s file path may be different from the path to the workbook to
which you originally linked, which is common when “saving up” your source workbooks (e.g., renaming
from “Model v1.xlsx” to “Model v2.xlsx”), working with local versions of source workbooks shared using
cloud storage services (e.g., Box), and in other scenarios.
If the source range/chart is found in an open workbook with the same name as the source workbook,
Macabacus looks no further. However, if the source range/chart is not found in that workbook,
Macabacus looks in all other open workbooks. If multiple open workbooks contain the source
range/chart, Macabacus will use the most recently modified workbook. If Macabacus does not find the
source range/chart in any open workbook, it will attempt to open the source workbook from its last
known file path. Prior to opening the source workbook to update links, specifically, Macabacus checks
the source file’s folder for newer versions of the source file.
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If the workbook in which the source range/chart is ultimately found does not have the same file path as
the workbook to which you originally linked, Macabacus transparently re-links to the former workbook.
2.3.3 Managing Excel Links
Multiple Instances
If you have multiple instances of your Office applications running, Macabacus (and add-ins, generally)
cannot reliably determine which instance to reference. Therefore, when performing certain
operations like updating links and viewing link sources, Macabacus requires that a single instance of
each applicable Office app is running. You can check whether you have multiple instances running in
Task Manager on the Details tab, and multiple instances are most common in Excel 2007 and 2010.
This is rarely an issue in Excel 2013 and later, as Microsoft now consolidates Excel instances.
Updating Links
Select one or more linked shapes in PowerPoint or Word and click the Macabacus > Update Link button.
Neither the source workbook nor Excel need to be open to update linked shapes; Macabacus will open
them as required. If you have appended version numbers (generally recommended) or dates to your file
names (e.g., “My_Model_v4.xlsx” or “Balance Sheet 2015-12-31.xlsx”), Macabacus automatically searches
for file names with more recent version numbers and dates in the same folder as the current source
workbook. If any potentially newer versions of the source workbook are found, Macabacus prompts you
to relink to them when updating links. For Macabacus to find newer versions of source workbooks,
version numbers and dates must appear at the end of the file name. If you use a date in your file name,
the date must be separated from the rest of the file name by a space or underscore character.
Limitations of Version Control
Version control uses Microsoft technology that limits the fully qualified file name to less than 260
characters, and the directory name to less than 248 characters. Also, version control is not currently
supported in SharePoint.
Editing Links
Select one or more linked shapes in PowerPoint or Word and click the Macabacus > Edit Link button. This
opens the Edit Link dialog that allows you to change the source workbook, source range, source chart, or
linked shape type. For example, you can use this dialog to relink a linked shape to a newer version of the
source workbook, and change the linked shape from an embedded workbook to a picture. Links do not
update automatically after editing them—you must initiate a link update separately.
View Source
Select one or more linked shapes in PowerPoint or Word and click the Macabacus > View Source button.
Macabacus will navigate to the source range or chart. If the source workbook is not already open,
Macabacus will open it.
Break Link
Select one or more linked shapes in PowerPoint or Word and click the Macabacus > Break Link button.
This removes the link between the shape and its underlying Excel data.
Managing Multiple Links
In PowerPoint and Word, you can manage multiple linked shapes with the Manage Links dialog, accessed
by clicking the Macabacus > Manage button. With the Manage Links dialog you can perform the
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operations described above on multiple linked shapes at once. For example, you would use this dialog to
relink all linked shapes in a presentation to a newer version of the source workbook.
Source Range Address
The Source Range column in Manage Links dialog shows the address of the cell(s) to which an object
in PowerPoint or Word is linked. Because Macabacus links to the range object itself, rather than the
range address, this address is strictly for informational purposes and may be incorrect at times.
Think of this address as a “last known” address.
Find / Replace
When you move or rename folders containing presentations and documents with Macabacus links, those
links may no longer point to the correct source files. To point links to the correct files after moving or
renaming folders, use the Find/Replace tab in the Manage Links dialog. Specify the old text in source file
paths you want to replace, and the new text you want to replace it with. You can perform this operation
on all links within the active presentation or document, or all presentations and documents in a folder.
You should spot check the results of your find/replace operation once it is complete.
To minimize the risk of inadvertent mislinking in a large number of files caused by an improper
find/replace operation, you must be a Macabacus account administrator or a Windows administrator to
perform a find/replace operation on all presentations or documents in a folder. This feature is not
available in SharePoint computing environments.
Find / Replace Text
When performing a find/replace operation on all presentations or documents in a folder, be as explicit
as possible in your find/replace inputs—use longer strings—to minimize the risk of unintended
replacement. Also, note that Macabacus does not check the validity of new paths to source files
created by your find/replace operation.
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2.4 Libraries
2.4.1 Overview
Macabacus libraries are repositories for content and templates intended for frequent reuse that facilitate
the standardization and preparation of materials produced by you or your organization. Up to three
libraries can be created with Macabacus—a personal library intended for use by a single Macabacus user,
a team library to be shared by users in a group, and a company library to be shared by all users in an
organization. Macabacus libraries are similar to PowerPoint’s native Slide Library, except that (a)
Macabacus requires neither the Professional Plus version of Office nor SharePoint to deliver such
functionality, and (b) Macabacus lets you add more than just slides to the library.
What’s in a Library?
A Macabacus library may contain four types of content:
Slides
PowerPoint slides that are commonly used in presentations, such as team pages, bios,
and “creds” (tombstone) pages
Shapes
Office shapes that are commonly used in presentations, workbooks, and documents,
such as Harvey Balls, clip art, etc.
Images
Collections of images that are commonly used in presentations, workbooks, and
documents, such as company logos and head shot photos
Charts
Collections of pre-formatted charts that are pre-populated with dummy data and
commonly used in workbooks, presentations, or documents, such as waterfall charts,
Marimekko charts, etc.
A Macabacus library may contain three types of templates:
Presentation
Templates
PowerPoint presentation template (.potx) files used to define layouts, formatting, etc.,
for your presentations
Model
Templates
Financial or other models intended for use as starting points when building new models
in Excel
Document
Templates
Word document templates such as fax cover pages
The term “template” is used here loosely, as “template” normally refers to .xltx/.xltm and .dotx/.dotm files
in the context of Excel and Word, respectively.
2.4.2 Using Library Content & Templates
Inserting Content
Click the Macabacus > Library Content button in PowerPoint, Excel, or Word to open the Library pane,
which shows the content in all three of your libraries. The types of content available in the Library pane
vary with the Office application in which you opened the Library pane. For example, slide content is only
viewable in the Library pane when opened in PowerPoint. Available content is displayed as thumbnail
images that provide convenient previews of content items as you browse them. You can mouse over
slide and chart thumbnails for a larger preview. Library images are displayed on a checkered background,
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so that you can determine if
transparency is supported, as you
would expect to occur in certain
illustration file formats (.png, and
.emf). Use the toggle buttons at
the top of the pane to toggle the
visibility of libraries and content
types. The search bar is a fast,
powerful tool to help you find what
you are looking for, and searches
pre-indexed slide and other text
very quickly.
To insert content into your
presentation, workbook, or
document, select the content in the
Library pane and click the Insert
button. Macabacus will insert the
content at the current selection.
When inserting shapes, images,
and charts into PowerPoint with a
placeholder pre-selected,
Macabacus places the content into
the placeholder if the placeholder
accepts the type of content being
inserted. When inserting charts
into Excel, the inserted chart and
its dummy data are added to the
workbook on a new worksheet.
In PowerPoint, when you click
native buttons for inserting
pictures and charts, either on the
ribbon or in some content
placeholders, Macabacus can
override the native behavior and
open the Library pane instead,
showing images or charts, as
appropriate. If the Library pane is
already open, then clicking these
buttons results in native behavior
(so, you can always click twice for native behavior). These settings are enabled by default, and can be
changed in the Application Settings dialog on the Library tab, if desired.
Linking to Content
You can optionally link slides or shapes inserted into PowerPoint via the Library pane to their source
presentations, so they can be updated with a click of the same Macabacus > Update Link button used to
update Excel links. To link inserted slides and shapes, check the Link to Source checkbox in the Library
pane. Linking to image content is not possible. Read more about linking with PowerPoint slides/shapes.
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Linked Slide Example
A slide highlighting recent deals is published to your company library. This slide is updated quarterly,
and is used frequently in presentations. An analyst begins drafting a presentation including this slide
on June 20, but by the time the presentation is ready for print on July 5, the slide is outdated. With
the click of a button, the analyst can replace the outdated slide with the library’s updated version.
Using Templates
Presentation templates in your libraries are used by several of Macabacus for PowerPoint’s presentation
automation tools, and require specific configuration in order to work with these tools. You “use” a
presentation template in your library by setting it to the “active” template, as discussed in another section
of this manual. Spreadsheets and document “templates,” on the other hand, are simply collections of
useful workbooks and documents intended to serve as starting points or building blocks for creating
financial models or a new fax cover page , for example. You use model and document templates by
accessing them from the Macabacus > New menu in Excel and Word.
2.4.3 Sample Library
When Macabacus is run for the first time after installation, or when Macabacus does not detect a
personal library folder upon starting Office applications, Macabacus will automatically create a personal
library and populate it with sample content and templates to demonstrate the functionality of libraries
and other tools. Macabacus normally creates this library in your Documents folder, and its contents are
copied from the installation files found at C:\ProgramData\Macabacus\Macabacus 20XX\Sample
Library.
When the Macabacus software is subsequently updated, the newest versions of sample library content
will reside in the ProgramData folder above, but your existing personal library folder will not be updated.
Accordingly, you may be confused if you are reading a description of Macabacus-enabled templates in
this manual, but the sample template in your personal library does not conform to the description. In
these cases, you should refer to the sample files in your ProgramData folder, or reset your personal library
(more on that below).
Sample content and templates are provided for demonstration purposes, only, and are not considered
part of Macabacus software. They may be removed, replaced, or modified as desired.
2.4.4 Publishing Content & Templates
Content and templates are added to a library by “publishing” them. When publishing content and
templates, Macabacus prompts you for the destination library. If a folder path to the selected library has
not yet been specified, Macabacus will prompt you to select a folder for the library. For team and
company libraries, this will typically be a folder on a shared network drive.
Adding Slides to a Library
First, create a presentation containing only those slides you want to add to the library. Each slide should
have a descriptive title for identification and searchability purposes. Then, click the Macabacus >
Settings > Libraries > Publish Content > Publish Slides button in PowerPoint to publish slides in the active
presentation to the desired library. The file name of the presentation will serve as the description of the
slide collection that is visible to end users in some Macabacus interfaces.
You can add multiple presentations to libraries. Therefore, it is not necessary to place all content slides
into a single presentation. You may prefer to use multiple presentations to group similar slide content.
For example, if you want to add ten team pages and ten “creds” pages to a library, it makes sense to
break these into separate team page and “creds” page presentations, with ten slides in each.
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Adding Shapes to a Library
First, create a presentation containing only those shapes you want to add to the library (placeholder
shapes will be ignored). Each shape should be assigned a name in the PowerPoint Selection Pane that
describes that shape's form, function, or intended use. Shape names are used for identification and
searchability. Then, click the Macabacus > Settings > Libraries > Publish Content > Publish Shapes button
in PowerPoint to publish shapes in the active presentation to the desired library. The file name of the
presentation will serve as the description of the shape collection that is visible to end users in some
Macabacus interfaces.
You can add multiple presentations to libraries. Therefore, it is not necessary to place all content shapes
into a single presentation. You may prefer to use multiple presentations to group similar shape content.
Adding Images to a Library
First, create a folder containing only those images—such as company logos, headshot photos, and other
reusable imagery—that you want to add to the library. Each image’s file name should describe the image,
as file names are used for identification and searchability. Then, click the Macabacus > Settings >
Libraries > Publish Content > Publish Images button in PowerPoint, Excel, or Word to publish the image
folder to the desired library. The original folder’s name will serve as the description of the gallery visible
to end users in some Macabacus interfaces.
You can add multiple image galleries (folders) to libraries, so it is not necessary to place all images into a
single folder. You may prefer to use multiple folders to group similar images. For example, if you want to
add 100 company logos and 15 head shot photos to a library, it makes sense to organize these images in
separate logo and head shot folders. Also, if you have hundreds of logos to publish, you could break
them into folders named A-G Logos, H-M Logos, and so on.
Adding Charts to a Library
First, create a workbook containing only those charts you want to add to the library using the following
guidelines:






Each worksheet in the workbook should contain only a single chart, its chart data, and any
instructions you want to provide for the user.
In the chart data, clearly identify which cells contain “dummy” data that should be replaced, perhaps
by changing the cells’ font or fill colors.
Using Excel’s Selection Pane, give each chart a name that describes its type, layout, or intended use
to help users identify and find charts more easily in the Library pane.
Ensure there is no extraneous information in the workbook you are publishing, such as unused range
names, unused styles, links to other workbooks, etc. You may consider using some of Macabacus’
workbook optimization or Prepare to Share tools in this step.
The workbook should not contain chart sheets.
See the workbook containing charts that installs with Macabacus as part of the sample library for
examples, if desired.
When you are ready, click the Macabacus > Settings > Libraries > Publish Content > Publish Charts button
in Excel to publish the charts in the active workbook to the desired library.
Adding Templates to a Library
To add a presentation, model, or document template to a library, click the Macabacus > Settings >
Libraries > Publish Master, Publish Model, or Publish Document buttons, respectively, in PowerPoint,
Excel, or Word. The template you are publishing need not be open. Macabacus will prompt you for the
library and document group to which you want to publish. Document groups provide a way to organize
your templates, and you can create as many document groups as you like. The “Sample Models” menu
visible under the Macabacus > New menu in Excel after installing Macabacus is an example of a
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document group. A large organization might create separate document groups for different business
units.
Republishing
You can republish content and templates using the same processes described above. Ensure that any
content files/folders being republished have the same name as those that were originally published to
ensure that the old versions are overwritten. Macabacus will prompt you to confirm your intent to
overwrite existing library content/templates.
Content Links
Slides and shapes published to a library are invisibly tagged with information that supports linking
from other presentations. Therefore, when making changes to library content, such as republishing,
use the Migrate Links tool to ensure that link information is not accidentally removed.
2.4.5 Library Manager
The Library Manager dialog (pictured on the next page) is used to view, remove, and rename library
content, as well as set the folder path for each library. Access the Library Manager from the Macabacus
> Settings > Libraries menu in PowerPoint, Excel, or Word. Making changes on the Company tab in
Library Manager requires that either (a) the user be a Macabacus account administrator, or (b) the host
Office application be run as a Windows administrator.
Broken Links
Deleting a presentation from a library breaks any links to slides/shapes in that presentation.
Reset Your Personal Library
To reset all content and templates in your personal library to the sample library content/template installed
with Macabacus, click the Reset button in Library Manager. A reset can only be performed on your
personal library, not the team or company libraries. It may be a good idea to back up your personal library
folder by simply making a copy of it, prior to resetting the library, so that you can subsequently reverse
these changes, if desired. If you want to reference a file in the sample library that has been deleted, you
may not need to reset your personal library at all. The file you want to reference can be found at
C:\ProgramData\Macabacus\Macabacus 20XX\Sample Library (the ProgramData folder may be hidden).
Working Offline
You can work with your remote library content and templates even when disconnected from the Internet
or the network on which remote libraries are stored. When Macabacus is unable to connect to a remote
library, it will use a locally cached version of the library instead. Macabacus automatically caches remote
libraries at the frequency you specify in the Library Manager dialog (the default is every seven days). This
setting can be shared as part of enterprise configuration so that remote libraries will be cached at the
desired frequency for all Macabacus users. Automatic caching, when required, occurs in the background
upon starting Excel, PowerPoint, or Word.
When inserting cached library content using the Library pane in PowerPoint, the option to link inserted
slides and shapes to the library is disabled. A message in the Library pane notifies the user when cached
content is displayed.
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2.5 Color Palette
Microsoft replaced the 56-color palette with Themes in Office 2007, which are generally more difficult for
professional users to work with for two reasons: (a) with themes, colors you want to work with are no
longer consistently available at the application (e.g., PowerPoint) level, but are instead properties of
workbooks, presentations, and documents; and (b) you may only specify up to eight colors in your theme;
Microsoft determines the others colors for you—like them or not.
Macabacus overcomes these Office deficiencies with fixed, fully customizable color palettes that are
always available in Excel, PowerPoint, and Word. This allows greater consistency in the formatting of
models, presentations, and documents produced by you or your organization. These palettes may
contain up to 56 colors, and you can create an unlimited number of color palettes to support different
business units in your organization. Macabacus palettes are conveniently accessible via button/menu
controls on the Macabacus tab for changing font, fill, and border colors.
Macabacus installs with a
default 56-color palette, which
you should customize to your
preferences in the Common
Settings dialog accessible from
the Macabacus > Settings menu.
The Import Colors button lets
you customize your color palette
quickly. In Excel, set the fill
colors of a range of cells as you
want them to appear in your
palette. The Macabacus palette
includes 7 rows and 8 columns,
which is the recommended size
of this range. Then, select the
range and click the Import
Colors button. Macabacus will
populate the palette based on
the fill colors in your selection.
The Import Colors feature is not
available if the Common
Settings dialog was opened in
PowerPoint and Word.
Be sure that your palette
includes colors used in financial
modeling, such as blue for
inputs, green for worksheet
links, etc. Macabacus color
palettes can be shared across
your organization using Shared
Settings. Macabacus color
palettes and Office themes are
not mutually exclusive, and may
be used in tandem.
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2.6 Standard Sizes
Standard Sizes let you quickly conform cells, charts, and other shapes to the height and width dimensions
used in your presentation and document layouts.
Macabacus assigns default
dimensions to Standard Sizes,
but you should generally
customize these dimensions to
the width and height of
placeholders in your
presentation template. If you do
not have a template, you can
easily build one around
Macabacus’ default Standard
Size dimensions.
Standard Size dimensions can
be modified in the Common
Settings dialog accessible from
the Macabacus > Settings menu.
Dimensions can be adjusted
manually in inches or
centimeters, or set to the size of
a selected object in Excel,
PowerPoint, or Word. Clicking
the Default Size button restores
the size to Macabacus’ default
dimensions.
In Excel, charts can be
conformed to Standard Sizes
from the Macabacus > Charts >
Apply Standard Size menu, or
from the Chart and Plot Size
dialog at Macabacus > Charts >
Chart and Plot Size. Cells can
be conformed to Standard Sizes
from the Macabacus > Cells >
Apply Standard Size menu. You can also display a temporary Standard Size rectangle from the
Macabacus > Guides menu that helps you to resize charts and cells manually.
Cell Resizing Accuracy
Due to Microsoft Office limitations, Macabacus may be unable to size cells to the exact dimensions
of a Standard Size, and further manual adjustment may be required (perhaps with the help of a guide
rectangle). This is because the units of measurement for cells do not convert predictably into
standard units of measurement (e.g., inches, points).
In PowerPoint, shapes can be conformed to Standard Sizes from the Macabacus > Resize To > Standard
Size menu. You can also display a temporary Standard Size rectangle from the Macabacus > Insert Guide
menu that helps you to resize shapes manually.
Standard Size settings can be shared across your organization using Shared Settings to ensure greater
uniformity in the models, presentations, and documents produced by your organization.
Page 23
2.7 Enterprise Configuration
2.7.1 Shared Settings
Overview
Shared settings are those Macabacus settings that can be set by an administrator for use by all
Macabacus users in an organization, in order to facilitate uniformity in the formatting of materials
produced across your organization, and to standardize the Macabacus experience for all users. Shared
settings may include certain Macabacus settings which are applicable to specific Office applications, and
Macabacus settings common to all Office applications. Not all Macabacus settings are eligible for
sharing, as some Macabacus tools should always be customizable by end users. Shareable settings are
listing in the following table.
Administrator Privileges
End users without administrator privileges will be unable to make changes to Macabacus settings
that are shared. Keep this in mind when selecting which settings to share.
Common Settings
Color Palette
A fixed color palette used to standardize colors across Office applications,
workbooks, presentations, documents, and organizations.
Standard Sizes
Pre-defined rectangular dimensions used to conform the sizes of Office shapes
and Excel ranges to your organization's presentation/document layouts.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Shortcut keystrokes for Macabacus tools in Excel and Word.
Tab Accelerator
Keys
Keys that activate the Macabacus tabs in the Office ribbon, which can be
customized to avoid conflict with other add-ins. For example, H is the
accelerator key for the Home tab.
Company Library
Path
Folder path to the company library containing reusable content and templates.
Library Cache
Frequency
Frequency with which remote (network) libraries are cached locally for working
with library content and templates offline.
Software Updates
Enable/disable notification of Macabacus software update availability.
Send Usage
Statistics
Enable/disable sending usage statistics to Macabacus for better technical
support and product improvement.
Show Beta Tools
Show tools in the ribbon or other Macabacus interfaces that are in beta testing,
and which may be removed or changed extensively in subsequent releases.
Support Email
An internal support email address used to handle Macabacus support inquiries
internally.
PowerPoint Settings
Page 24
New Presentation
Slides
Sets which specially designated slides (e.g., cover page, table of contents, legal
notices, etc.) are automatically included when creating new presentations using
a Macabacus-enabled template.
Override Native
New Presentation
When enabled, Macabacus applies the Standard Slides templates to new
presentations created using native PowerPoint methods (such as keying Ctrl N),
and automatically inserts any specified, specially designated slides.
Agenda
Settings related to agenda (i.e., table of contents) behavior and appearance.
Slide Stamps
A collection of words or phrases (e.g., CONFIDENTIAL, DRAFT, For Internal Use
Only) that can be added to multiple slides in a presentation at once.
New Presentation
Default Stamp
The default stamp, if any, that will be automatically applied to slides in a new
presentation.
Excel Settings
Color Cycles
Collections of colors through which cell font, fill, and border colors are cycled
when the applicable shortcuts are keyed repeatedly.
AutoColor Settings
The font color scheme used for coloring cells based on their contents (e.g.,
inputs, links to other sheets, external data, etc.).
Default Colors
The default font and border colors (typically black) used for cell font recoloring
and cell border coloring, respectively.
Number Format
Cycles
Number formats like percentages and currencies applied to cells using Number
Format Cycles.
Custom Style
Cycles
Cells styles that modify multiple cell formatting properties (e.g., number format,
colors, and border styles) and are applied to cells using Custom Style Cycles.
Configuring Shared Settings
First, ensure that the Macabacus settings you intend to share are customized as desired on your
computer. Your local Macabacus settings are what will be published for others to use. Next, open the
Enterprise Configuration dialog by clicking the Macabacus > Settings > Enterprise Configuration button in
Excel, PowerPoint, or Word. To prevent unauthorized changes, the Enterprise Configuration dialog will not
open unless the Office application is run as an administrator. In the Enterprise Configuration dialog, add
a checkmark next to the Macabacus settings you want to share across your organization.
Publishing Shared Settings
Publish to the Cloud
The easiest way to share Macabacus settings across your organization is to publish them to the cloud,
where they are stored on Macabacus’ server. Once you have selected the Macabacus settings to share
as described above, select the Publish to Cloud option in the Enterprise Configuration dialog and click the
Publish Now button.
Page 25
The next time users within your organization sign into the Macabacus add-in in Excel, PowerPoint, or
Word, Macabacus will automatically download your shared settings from the Macabacus server and
make them immediately available.
To make changes to shared settings, open the Enterprise Configuration dialog, check/uncheck the
desired settings, and click the Publish Now button. The existing shared settings stored in the cloud will
be overwritten with the new settings.
Publish to the Server
Alternatively, you can publish your shared Macabacus settings to a location on your network. This option
is more technically involved, and you may require assistance from an IT professional. Once you have
selected the Macabacus settings to share as described above, select the Publish to Network option in the
Enterprise Configuration dialog and click the Publish Now button.
If you are publishing shared settings for the first time, or Macabacus cannot find an existing shared
settings configuration file, clicking the Publish Now button will generate a shared settings configuration
file (an XML file) on your computer. The path to this file will be shown in the Enterprise Configuration
dialog. Move this file to a network location accessible to all Macabacus users and update the path in the
Enterprise Configuration dialog using the Browse button.
Network Access
End users require read access to the network location of the shared settings configuration file.
Once you have moved the shared settings configuration file to an appropriate network location, the end
users’ computers need to know where the file is located. This is accomplished via a registry key—shown
in the Registry section of the Enterprise Configuration dialog—that instructs Macabacus where to find the
configuration file. This registry key must be replicated on each Macabacus user’s computer. The next
time users start Office applications for which Macabacus is installed, Macabacus will automatically
import shared settings from the path specified in the registry if there is an update. Upon closing the
Enterprise Configuration dialog, this registry key will be created/updated on the administrator’s computer.
Distributing Registry Changes
See this Microsoft article or this one for information on how to distribute registry changes across
your network.
When updating shared settings, the existing configuration file will be replaced with the new information.
As long as the path to the file has not changed, you do not need to update the registries of your users. If
you need to change the location of or rename the shared settings configuration file, click the Browse
button to locate the file and close the dialog to update the registry on your local machine. Then, distribute
this registry change to other computers on your network.
Other Publishing Options
If your organization has a small number of Macabacus users and limited IT support, and publishing to the
cloud is not possible because you are using activation codes, you can share Macabacus settings across
your organization by configuring Macabacus on a single PC, then back up your settings to an XML file.
Email this file to other Macabacus users with instructions to import settings from this file. Note that
users will not be prevented from making changes to these settings and are not required to implement
them.
Page 26
2.7.2 Shared Libraries
See Section 3.4 for how to configure shared libraries.
Page 27
2.8 Back Up / Import / Reset Settings
Back Up Settings
Backing up your Macabacus settings allows you to import them on another computer, avoiding the need
to tediously configure Macabacus the same way on multiple computers. Note that back-up and import
operations do not involve library content and templates—you must back them up separately, if desired.
If you elect to send usage data to Macabacus (enabled by default) and your computing environment
supports communication with Macabacus’ server, most Macabacus settings will be uploaded
automatically to Macabacus’ server—the “cloud”—when you modify them in the Application Settings and
Common Settings dialogs, among other places.
Trial Mode
If Macabacus is in trial mode, settings will not back up automatically to the cloud. You must create a
Macabacus account by purchasing a subscription and activate Macabacus to use this feature.
If you chose not to send usage data to Macabacus, your computing environment does not support
communication with Macabacus’ server, Macabacus is in trial mode, or for any other reason, you can
manually back up your settings to an XML file by clicking the Back Up button on the Macabacus >
Settings > Back Up/Import/Reset menu.
Import Settings
You can import settings saved to the cloud or an XML file by clicking the Macabacus > Settings > Back
Up/Import/Reset > Import button. Additionally, you can download settings saved to the cloud as an XML
file from within your Admin Console.
Reset Settings
If you need to revert to Macabacus’ default settings, click the Reset button found on the same menu. Any
shared settings published by your organization will overwrite the default settings upon reset.
Restarting Office Apps May Be Required
If you import or reset Macabacus settings in one Office application (e.g., Excel), you may need to
restart other Office applications (e.g., PowerPoint) before changes to your settings are reflected in
those applications.
Keyboard Shortcuts
To restore shortcut keystroke settings backed up in earlier versions of Macabacus, click the Restore
Settings button on the Macabacus > Settings > Keyboard menu. To reset shortcut keystrokes, use the
Shortcut Manager.
Page 28
3. Excel Tools
3.1 Formatting
3.1.1 Cycles Overview
At the core of Macabacus’ formatting functionality are cycles. Cycles expedite most cell formatting
operations, eliminating nearly 100% of the time required to perform them in most cases. For example,
repeating the Fill Color Cycle shortcut keystroke three times will apply a different fill color to the selected
cells with each keystroke. When the last format in the cycle is reached, keying the cycle’s shortcut again
will apply the first format in the cycle. All cycles can be triggered using keyboard shortcuts, although you
can alternatively apply any cycle format using buttons on the Macabacus tab (for example, the
Macabacus > Format > Color > Fill Colors menu).
Configuring a Cycle
Limit styles, colors, etc. in each cycle to six to reduce cycling time and improve workbook
readability/consistency. Sort items in each cycle by decreasing frequency of use for faster modeling.
Macabacus formatting cycles always start at the beginning of the cycle. This ensures that you can reach
the third style in a cycle by keying the cycle’s shortcut exactly three times, without pausing to give
consideration to the existing formatting of the selected cell(s). The alternative approach calls for
inspecting the existing format of cells and then determining how many keystrokes are required to reach
the desired cycle, and which format to apply next in the cycle. This involves greater processing time by
you and Macabacus, and is ultimately slower (although more intuitive to some).
In this manual you will find
symbols next to tools whose shortcut keystrokes perform cycles.
3.1.2 Colors
Macabacus includes several cycles and other tools for coloring cell fonts, cell backgrounds, cell borders,
and chart elements. Colors can be customized in the Application Settings dialog on the Colors tab. When
customizing these colors, you can choose from any color in your Macabacus color palette. If you wish to
include a color in your cycle that is not available in your palette, you must first modify your palette to
include that color.
When cycling through colors in a cycle using a keyboard shortcut, and the last color in the cycle is
reached, repeating the keystroke applies the first color in the cycle. While color cycles are intended for
use with shortcut keystrokes, you can also access the colors in your color cycles under the Macabacus >
Format > Color menu.
Font Colors
Blue-Black Toggle
Alternate the font color of selected cells between blue and your default font color (typically black) using
the Blue-Black Toggle. Blue and black are the font colors used most often in financial modeling, where
blue is used to denote inputs and black is used for formulas that reference only cells within the same
worksheet. The blue color used by the Blue-Black Toggle cannot be customized.
Ctrl
;
Default
shortcut
Chapter 5 | Macabacus for PowerPoint
Page 29
Font Color Cycle
The Font Color Cycle consists of several customizable font colors that you most frequently use in your
modeling. Key the Font Color Cycle shortcut to apply the next font color in the cycle to all selected cells.
Ctrl
‘
Default
shortcut
Default Font Color
The default font color is used for optionally recoloring fonts when exporting cells to PowerPoint/Word
and generating PDFs. Black is the default font color, which can be customized.
Recolor Colors
Recolor colors are font colors that Macabacus will recolor to the default font color when exporting cells
to PowerPoint/Word and generating PDFs. Normally, these colors will be similar or identical to your
AutoColor colors. You can customize your Recolor colors in the Application Settings dialog.
No AutoColor Colors
In some cases, you may not want an AutoColor operation (discussed below) to override existing font
colors that have special meaning. For example, if you colored a numeric input red as a reminder to
update it later, you would not want AutoColor to change the number’s font color to blue. To avoid
unintended AutoColoring, add red to the list of No AutoColor colors in the Application Settings dialog.
When you later perform an AutoColor operation, cells with red fonts will not be modified. When
customizing your No AutoColor colors, note that just one or two colors may be sufficient.
AutoColor
In financial and other types of modeling, font colors are commonly used to visually characterize cell
values and formulas. For example, numeric inputs are typically colored blue. Macabacus lets you create
an AutoColor scheme that defines which font colors to use for cells containing numeric inputs, partial
inputs, formulas that reference cells on the same worksheet, formulas that reference cells in other
worksheets and workbooks, hyperlinks, and formulas that contain external data functions (e.g., FactSet or
CapIQ “pulls”). The default AutoColor scheme installed with Macabacus reflects the finance industry
standard, but you can modify these colors as desired. In practice, your AutoColor colors may be the same
as or similar to those in your Font Color Cycle.
What is a Partial Input?
Partial inputs are formulas that contain one or more inputs, or “hardcoded” values, such as
=A1+12.34. This formula is effectively an input because we have hardcoded the value 12.34 into the
formula. Accordingly, you might expect AutoColor to apply the same font color to this cell that it
applies to normal input cells (those containing just a number). If so, specify the same color for inputs
and partial inputs in your AutoColor scheme. Alternatively, assign a unique color for partial inputs.
Whether a formula is a partial input can be subjective. The formula in the example above is clearly a
partial input, but what about the formula =CHOOSE(2,A1,A2,A3)? Does the value “2” constitute a
partial input? Macabacus’ AutoColor algorithm makes that determination for you, and you may not
always agree with it. If this happens often, you can disable AutoColoring for partial inputs by
removing the partial inputs color from your AutoColor scheme.
Macabacus ignores the values 0, 1, 100, 1000, and 1000000 in formulas when checking for partial
inputs.
Page 30
AutoColor Selection
Apply the AutoColor scheme to all cells in the selected range.
Ctrl
Alt
A
Default
shortcut
AutoColor Sheet
Apply the AutoColor scheme to the active worksheet.
Ctrl
Alt
S
Default
shortcut
AutoColor Workbook
Apply the AutoColor scheme to the entire active workbook.
Ctrl
Alt
Q
Default
shortcut
AutoColor on Entry
With this feature enabled, Macabacus will automatically color cell fonts according to your AutoColor
scheme as you enter cell values and formulas.
Performance Considerations
AutoColor on Entry may slow down some operations involving large numbers of cells, and may
adversely impact Undo/Redo behavior. For this reason, AutoColor on Entry is disabled by default.
AutoColor Cycle
The AutoColor Cycle is comprised of the customizable font colors in your AutoColor scheme. Key the
AutoColor Cycle shortcut to apply the next font color in the cycle to all selected cells.
Ctrl
Alt
.
Default
shortcut
Fill Colors
Fill Color Cycle
The Fill Color Cycle consists of several customizable cell fill colors that are most frequently used in your
modeling. Key the Fill Color Cycle shortcut to apply the next fill color in the cycle to all selected cells.
Ctrl
Shift
K
Default
shortcut
Alternate Shading Cycle
Shade odd/even rows/columns in the selection the default shading color. Because Macabacus uses
conditional formatting to achieve alternate shading, alternate shading will persist as rows/columns are
inserted and removed. Alternate shading can be cycled using a keyboard shortcut, or applied using the
buttons on the Macabacus > Format > Color > Row/Column Shading menu.
Note that conditional formatting is “volatile,” and may slow down Excel when used extensively or applied
to very large cell ranges. You can alternatively apply alternating row/column shading using traditional
(i.e., non-conditional) formatting with Macabacus’ Modify Rows and Modify Columns tools.
Page 31
Ctrl
Alt
R
Default
shortcut
Default Shading Color
The default fill color is used to shade alternate rows/columns. Light gray is the default font color, which
can be customized.
Border Colors
Border Color Cycle
The Border Color Cycle consists of several customizable border colors that you most frequently use in
your modeling. Key the Border Color Cycle shortcut to apply the next border color in the cycle to all
selected cells. Note that Border Color Cycle only changes the color of existing borders and will not add
new borders to selected cells.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
“
Default
shortcut
Default Border Color
The default border color is the border color applied when using border style cycles and the Sum Bar tool.
Black is the default border color, which can be customized.
Chart Colors
Chart Color Cycle
The Chart Color Cycle consists of several customizable chart colors that you most frequently use in
charting. Key the Chart Color Cycle shortcut to apply the next chart color in the cycle to the selected chart
element.
Chart properties that can be colored using this tool include series fill color, series line color, data point fill
color, chart area fill color, plot area fill color, gridlines color, and legend fill color. We recommend adding
only your most frequently used chart colors (including perhaps a gridline color) to the Chart Color Cycle to
limit cycle time.
Ctrl
Alt
C
Default
shortcut
Chart Series Colors
You can recolor series in selected charts to your customized series colors by clicking the Macabacus >
Charts > Recolor Series button. This is a quick way to apply your preferred color scheme, without having
to deal with Office’s more cumbersome chart templates. If you specify six chart series colors, and your
chart has seven series, for example, the Series 1 color will be applied to Series 7.
If you use a default custom chart template (a .ctrx file), these colors should generally match the series
colors in the template. Some Macabacus Quick Charts apply the Chart Series Colors, overriding the
native color theme or colors configured in a default custom chart template.
Page 32
3.1.3 Number Formats
Number Format Cycles
A number format cycle includes one or more number formats. Simply repeat a cycle’s shortcut keystroke
to apply the next format in the cycle to selected cells. Macabacus comes pre-loaded with carefully
selected number formats that we think you will find useful for each cycle.
The number formats in each cycle can be customized on the Numbers tab of the Application Settings
dialog. Check the Align numbers right box on the Numbers tab to automatically align numbers to the right
of the cell when applying number formats using these cycles. Check the Italicize percentages box on the
Numbers tab to automatically italicize fonts when applying percentage number formats.
International Currencies
A single dollar sign (“$”) in a number format instructs Excel to apply the currency symbol (e.g., “€”,
“£”) set in Windows. To ensure that currencies are formatted in USD, regardless of your Windows
currency symbol setting, replace all occurrences of “$” with “[$$]” in your currency number formats.
General Cycle
Example: 1,000; 1,000.0; 1000
Ctrl
Shift
!
Default
shortcut
Local Currency Cycle
Example: $345; $1,234.5; $15.75
Ctrl
Shift
$
Default
shortcut
Foreign Currency Cycle
Example: €500.0; ¥20,000; £14.5
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
$
Default
shortcut
Percent Cycle
Example: 49.9%; 150bps; L+350
Ctrl
Shift
%
Default
shortcut
*
Default
shortcut
Multiple Cycle
Example: 8.9x; 1.25x
Ctrl
Shift
Date Cycle
Example: 9/30/2016; 2016-09-30; Sep 30, 2016
Ctrl
Shift
@
Default
shortcut
Page 33
Binary Cycle
Example: Yes/No; Y/N; On/Off; True/False
Ctrl
Shift
Y
Default
shortcut
:
Default
shortcut
Ratio Cycle
Example: 1.23:1; 6/10
Alt
Shift
Decimal Adjustment
Thousands and Decimal Separators
For optimal Increase/Decrease Decimals performance, ensure that your thousands and decimal
separator (e.g., “,” and “.”) settings in Excel match your system separator settings.
Increase Decimals
Increase the number of decimal places shown for numeric values in selected cells. Repeat to continue
increasing the number of decimal places shown.
Ctrl
,
Default
shortcut
Decrease Decimals
Decrease the number of decimal places shown for numeric values in selected cells. Repeat to continue
decreasing the number of decimal places shown.
Ctrl
.
Default
shortcut
Shift Decimal Left
Shift the decimal point to the left for all numeric inputs within the selected range of cells. This has the
same effect as dividing by 10. Repeat to continue shifting the decimal point to the left. Note that this
operation works on numeric inputs, only, and will not modify formulas.
Alt
Shift
<
Default
shortcut
Shift Decimal Right
Shift the decimal point to the right for all numeric inputs within the selected range of cells. This has the
same effect as multiplying by 10. Repeat to continue shifting the decimal point to the right. Note that this
operation works on numeric inputs, only, and will not modify formulas.
Alt
Shift
>
Default
shortcut
Page 34
3.1.4 Borders
Border Style Cycles
You can modify the style of individual cell borders, without affecting other cell formatting, using
convenient border style cycles. Repeat the keystrokes below to cycle a particular border through several
line styles selected in the Application Settings dialog on the Miscellaneous tab. Although you can add as
many line styles to the border style cycle as you like, we recommend including no more than four such
styles, with “None” as the last style in the cycle. The same styles apply to the Border Top, Border Bottom,
Border Left, Border Right, and Border Outline cycles.
The border color applied when using the following border style cycles is the default border color, which is
black by default, and can be customized in the Application Settings dialog on the Colors tab.
Border Top Cycle
Apply a top border with the default border color to selected cells. Repeat to cycle through customizable
line styles and thicknesses and remove the border. When multiple cells are selected, only the top border
of the entire selection is modified.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
Default
shortcut
Border Bottom Cycle
Apply a bottom border with the default border color to selected cells. Repeat to cycle through
customizable line styles and thicknesses and remove the border. When multiple cells are selected, only
the bottom border of the entire selection is modified.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
Default
shortcut
Border Left Cycle
Apply a left border with the default border color to selected cells. Repeat to cycle through customizable
line styles and thicknesses and remove the border. When multiple cells are selected, only the left border
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
Default
shortcut
Border Right Cycle
Apply a right border with the default border color to selected cells. Repeat to cycle through customizable
line styles and thicknesses and remove the border. When multiple cells are selected, only the right border
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
Default
shortcut
Border Outline Cycle
Apply an outline border with the default border color to selected cells. Repeat to cycle through
customizable line styles and thicknesses or to remove the border. When multiple cells are selected, only
the outside border of the entire selection is modified. Our default Ctrl+Shift+& shortcut keystroke
overrides Excel’s native outline border shortcut to improve upon native functionality and avoid duplicative
shortcuts.
Page 35
Ctrl
Shift
&
Default
shortcut
No Border
Remove all borders from selected cells. This is a native Excel shortcut and is only mentioned here for
completeness.
Ctrl
Shift
_
3.1.5 Alignment
Alignment Cycles
Alignment cycles include commonly used formats for horizontally and vertically aligning content within
cells. Alignment cycles are normally triggered with a keyboard shortcut, and are also accessible from the
Macabacus > Format > Alignment menu.
Center Cycle
Cycle through horizontal centering styles.
Ctrl
Shift
C
Default
shortcut
Horizontal Cycle
Cycle through horizontal alignment styles.
Ctrl
Shift
H
Default
shortcut
Vertical Cycle
Cycle through vertical alignment styles.
Ctrl
Shift
V
Default
shortcut
Indentation
Left Indent Cycle
Increase the left indent of selected cells. Repeat the shortcut keystroke to increase the indent, up to the
maximum indent specified on the Miscellaneous tab of the Application Settings dialog. When the
maximum indent level is reached, the indent returns to zero upon the next shortcut keystroke.
Ctrl
Shift
I
Default
shortcut
Right Indent Cycle
Increase the right indent of selected cells. Repeat the shortcut keystroke to increase the indent, up to the
maximum indent specified on the Miscellaneous tab of the Application Settings dialog. When the
maximum indent level is reached, the indent returns to zero upon the next shortcut keystroke.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
I
Default
shortcut
Page 36
3.1.6 Fonts
Font Style
Font Style Cycle
Cycle the font of selected cells through customizable styles (e.g., Arial, Georgia, Times New Roman) by
repeating the shortcut keystroke below. Font styles within the cycle can be edited on the Styles tab in the
Application Settings dialog, and are directly accessible from the Macabacus > Format > Font > Font Style
menu.
Ctrl
Alt
O
Default
shortcut
Font Size
Font Size Cycle
Cycle the font of selected cells through customizable sizes by repeating the shortcut keystroke below.
Font sizes within the cycle can be edited on the Styles tab in the Application Settings dialog, and are
directly accessible from the Macabacus > Format > Font > Font Size menu.
Alt
Shift
G
Default
shortcut
Increase Font
Increase the font size of selected cells by one point. Continue increasing font size with successive
shortcut keystrokes. The native increase font size operation in Excel applies a single font size to all cells
in the selection, which can result in unexpected font size changes. Macabacus is smarter, incrementing
font size for each cell in the selection, regardless of initial font size.
Ctrl
Shift
F
Default
shortcut
Decrease Font
Decrease the font size of selected cells by one point. Continue decreasing font size with successive
shortcut keystrokes. The native decrease font size operation in Excel applies a single font size to all cells
in the selection, which can result in unexpected font size changes. Macabacus is smarter, decrementing
font size for each cell in the selection, regardless of initial font size.
Ctrl
Shift
G
Default
shortcut
Increase Table Size
Increase cell font, height, and width proportionally. This differs from simply increasing font size in that
cell width is adjusted automatically rather than fixed.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
F
Default
shortcut
Decrease Table Size
Decrease cell font, height, and width proportionally. This differs from simply decreasing font size in that
cell width is adjusted automatically rather than fixed.
Page 37
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
G
Default
shortcut
3.1.7 Other Formatting
Underline Cycle
Cycle through the four native underline styles (single, single accounting, double, and double accounting).
Ctrl
Shift
U
Default
shortcut
Case Cycle
Cycle text in selected cells through sentence, title, upper, and lower case.
Alt
Shift
C
Default
shortcut
List Cycle
Cycle through ordered and unordered lists styles. Available list styles include discs, dashes, numbers,
uppercase/lowercase letters, and uppercase/lowercase Roman numerals.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
L
Default
shortcut
Leader Dots
Add leader dots to text in selected cells. Repeat the shortcut keystroke to remove the leader dots.
Leader dots are sometimes used as a visual aid to help the reader align text labels at the left of a financial
statement with the first number to the right.
Alt
Shift
L
Default
shortcut
Sum Bar
Insert sum bars into selected cells. Repeat the shortcut keystroke to remove sum bars. Sum bars use
the default border color (typically black), which can be customized. Sum bars help avoid inadvertently
adding rows above a cell with a SUM formula without including the added rows in the sum.
Ctrl
Shift
M
Default
shortcut
Wrap Text
Toggle on/off text wrap in selected cells.
Ctrl
Shift
W
Default
shortcut
3.1.8 Custom Styles
You may already be familiar with Excel's native styles, accessible from the Home tab, that are used to
format one or more cell properties (e.g., fonts, colors, number formats). These styles are workbook
properties, rather than Excel properties, making them unsuitable for use in organizations where
consistency in the appearance of spreadsheets is required.
Page 38
Macabacus lets you create your own styles that combine multiple cell formatting properties, similar to
native styles. Unlike native styles, however, Macabacus styles are always available in Excel, regardless of
the workbook you have open, and can be applied using keyboard shortcuts. Macabacus styles include all
of the important formatting possibilities of native Excel styles, and allow you to additionally specify:

Cell width and/or height;

Text case (e.g., sentence, title, upper, or lower case);

A default cell value;

A default cell comment.
Macabacus styles are added to one of eight Custom Style Cycles. For example, you might name one of
these cycles “Header Cycle” and populate it with frequently used table header formats. Your Custom
Style Cycles appear on the Macabacus > Format menu, and can be triggered using a keyboard shortcut.
Custom Style Cycles can be managed on the Styles tab of the Application Settings dialog, accessed from
the Macabacus > Settings menu. Here, you can create new styles from scratch, capture the formatting of
the selected cell in a new style, or create a new style using an existing Macabacus style or native Excel
style as a starting point. You can also edit existing styles, reorder styles within cycles, add or remove
styles from cycles.
When ordering the custom styles in a cycle, consideration should be given to each style’s expected
frequency of use and the number of formatting properties that each style modifies. In general, styles that
are used more frequently should appear early in the cycle and styles used less frequently should appear
later in the cycle to reduce the number of shortcut keystrokes required to apply styles, on average. In
addition, you should generally arrange styles that modify fewer cell formatting properties early in the
cycle and those that modify more formatting properties later in the cycle.
Custom Style Cycle 1-8
Cycle through customizable cell styles.
Ctrl
Alt
1-8
Default
shortcut
3.1.9 Paintbrush
Paintbrush lets you copy and apply cell formatting, without using the Windows clipboard, and is a
lightweight, flexible alternative to Macabacus Styles, which are more purpose-specific (e.g., number
formats, borders) and require configuration. The clipboard is overwritten every time you perform a native
Windows copy/cut operation, so it is not suited for copying styles that you expect to use routinely, but
perhaps not immediately. Paintbrush lets you copy and store formatting styles for longer periods, and is
unaffected by native Windows copy/cut operations, so the styles you need are always a shortcut
keystroke away.
You can edit the maximum number of styles recorded with Paintbrush on the Miscellaneous tab of the
Application Settings dialog. Once the limit is reached, new captured styles will push out older styles (first
in, first out—FIFO).
Capture Paintbrush
Capture the style of selected cells for later application.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
C
Default
shortcut
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Apply Paintbrush
Cycle through captured paintbrush styles to apply them to selected cells.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
P
Default
shortcut
Clear Paintbrushes
Remove all existing paintbrushes and start over with a new canvas.
3.1.10 Footnotes
Toggle Footnotes
Use the Toggle Footnotes shortcut (or menu button) to quickly superscript numbers at the end of cell text,
making them appear as footnotes. Repeat the operation to remove superscripting.
Macabacus recognizes footnotes with or without a single space between the last letter in the cell text and
the trailing number (e.g., “Other items 2,” “Other expense 4”), footnotes encapsulated in square brackets
and parenthesis (e.g., “(2),” “[3]”) at the end of cell text, and multiple footnotes (e.g., “(2)(3),” “2,3”).
When applying superscript formatting natively, Excel may automatically adjust row heights, which can be
annoying. Macabacus keeps row height constant when using the Toggle Footnotes tool.
Ctrl
Shift
^
Default
shortcut
Hide Footnotes
This tool hides footnotes at the end of cell text by changing the font color of the superscripted text to
match the fill color of the cell containing the text. The footnote is not actually removed, just hidden. For
example, suppose you have added footnotes to your model, but the explanatory text to which the
footnotes refer appears on your PowerPoint slide, rather than in your model. If you want to print out your
model for review without pasting it into PowerPoint, you can hide the footnotes which do not refer to
explanatory text. Access this tool from the Macabacus > Format > Footnotes menu.
Show Footnotes
Show footnotes after hiding them by changing the font color of superscripted text to the font color of the
first character in the containing cell. Access this tool from the Macabacus > Format > Footnotes menu.
Footnote Checker
Footnote Checker verifies that footnotes appear in sequential order, such that no numbers are skipped,
and also checks the relative positioning of footnotes to ensure that lower numbered footnotes (e.g., 1, 2)
appear in top left cells and larger numbered footnotes (e.g., 8, 9) appear in bottom right cells.
You can perform this check on the currently selected range or on all print areas in the active workbook.
When you perform this check on all print areas, each print area is inspected individually, so that footnotes
in one print area are not compared to footnotes in another print area. You can also specify whether
footnotes should be ordered from left to right, then top to bottom, or vice versa.
Note that Macabacus cannot check footnotes in textboxes overlaid on the spreadsheet as they are not
part of cell text. Access this tool from the Macabacus > Format > Footnotes menu.
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3.2 Rows / Columns / Sheets
3.2.1 Rows & Columns
Shortcut Tip
Default keystrokes to manipulate columns are generally the same as those used to manipulate rows,
but additionally include a Ctrl key press.
Cell Size
Row Height Cycle
Cycle through customizable row heights. Repeat the keystroke to apply the next row height in the cycle.
Alt
Shift
PgUp
Default
shortcut
Column Width Cycle
Cycle through customizable column widths. Repeat the keystroke to apply the next column width in the
cycle.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
PgUp
Default
shortcut
AutoFit Height
Adjust row height to fit cell contents.
Alt
Shift
PgDn
Default
shortcut
AutoFit Width
Adjust column width to fit cell contents.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
PgDn
Default
shortcut
Resize to Standard Size
Proportionally resize column widths and/or row heights of selected cells such that their cumulative
dimensions match those of a pre-defined Standard Size. Select a Standard Size on the Macabacus >
Cells > Resize To > Standard Size menu.
Resize to PowerPoint Selection
dimensions match those of the selected PowerPoint shape. This tool is accessed by clicking the
Macabacus > Cells > Resize To > Selection > PowerPoint Selection button.
Resize to Word Selection
dimensions match those of the selected Word shape. This tool is accessed by clicking the Macabacus >
Cells > Resize To > Selection > Word Selection button.
Page 41
Cell Resizing Accuracy
Due to Microsoft Office limitations, Macabacus may be unable to size cells to the exact width/height
of a Standard Size or PowerPoint/Word selection. Further manual adjustment may be required,
perhaps with the help of a guide rectangle. This is because the units of measurement for cells do not
convert predictably into standard units of measurement (e.g., inches, points).
Guide Shapes
Guides are rectangle shapes overlaid on your worksheet that provide visual cues for adjusting the sizes of
cells manually. To insert a guide, select a size from the Macabacus > Guides menu. Available sizes
include customizable Standard Sizes, a selected shape in PowerPoint or Word, or selected cells or charts
in Excel.
Copy & Paste
Copy Row/Column Info
Capture row and column information (size, hidden state, and grouped state) from the selected range for
pasting to another range.
Ctrl
Alt
J
Default
shortcut
Paste Row/Column Info
Applies previously captured row and column information (size, hidden state, and grouped state) to the
selected range.
Ctrl
Alt
K
Default
shortcut
Insert & Delete
Insert Row
Insert a new row. If multiple rows are initially selected, the number of rows inserted will equal the number
of rows initially selected.
Alt
Shift
Insert
Default
shortcut
Insert Column
Insert a new column. If multiple columns are initially selected, the number of columns inserted will equal
the number of columns initially selected.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
Insert
Default
shortcut
Delete Row
Delete the selected rows. Entire rows do not need to be initially selected.
Alt
Shift
Delete
Default
shortcut
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Delete Column
Delete the selected columns. Entire columns do not need to be initially selected.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
Delete
Default
shortcut
Grouping & Visibility
Group Row
Group selected rows. Entire rows do not need to be initially selected.
Alt
Default
shortcut
Shift
Group Column
Group selected columns. Entire columns do not need to be initially selected.
Alt
Default
shortcut
Shift
Ungroup Row
Ungroup any grouped rows in the selected range. Entire rows do not need to be initially selected.
Alt
Default
shortcut
Shift
Ungroup Column
Ungroup any grouped columns in the selected range. Entire columns do not need to be initially selected.
Alt
Default
shortcut
Shift
Hide Row
Group and collapse selected rows. Entire rows do not need to be initially selected.
Alt
Shift
Home
Default
shortcut
Hide Column
Group and collapse selected columns. Entire columns do not need to be initially selected.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
Home
Default
shortcut
Unhide Row
Expand grouped rows in the selected range. Entire rows do not need to be initially selected.
Alt
Shift
End
Default
shortcut
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Unhide Column
Expand grouped columns in the selected range. Entire columns do not need to be initially selected.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
Default
shortcut
End
Expand All Rows
Expand all grouped and collapsed rows on the active worksheet.
Alt
Shift
=
Default
shortcut
Expand All Columns
Expand all grouped and collapsed columns on the active worksheet.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
=
Default
shortcut
Collapse All Rows
Collapse all grouped rows on the active worksheet.
Alt
Shift
n
d
Default
shortcut
Collapse All Columns
Collapse all grouped columns on the active worksheet.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
-
Default
shortcut
Proper Hide
Replace hidden rows/columns (i.e., those with height/width equal to zero) with grouped and collapsed
rows/columns in the active worksheet. Grouping and collapsing rows/columns is a better practice than
simply hiding them.
Ctrl
Alt
H
Default
shortcut
Reverse Columns/Rows
Reverse Columns
Reverse Columns reverses the order of selected columns, using the first row of dates found in the
selection as the basis for reordering. This is especially useful for reordering periods in financial
statements from oldest to newest or vice versa. For example, financial statements downloaded from the
Internet often have the most recent periods on the left, and the oldest on the right. In financial modeling,
however, we typically prefer later periods on the right to support projections. Macabacus lets you reverse
the order of entire columns, or the order of columns in a smaller selection of cells, only.
Native Excel functionality supports reordering columns similarly, but if any cell formulas refer to the
reordered data, those references will be incorrect after reordering. Macabacus, on the other hand,
preserves formula references to reordered cells so that columns can be safely reversed, without breaking
formulas. This tool is accessed via the Macabacus > Cells > Reverse Columns button.
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Reverse Rows
Reverse Rows reverses the order of selected rows, similar to Reverse Columns. This tool is accessed via
the Macabacus > Cells > Reverse Rows button.
Batch Modification
Modify Rows
Perform formatting, insertion, and deletion operations on multiple rows at once. For example, you can
insert 2 rows every other row for the next 50 rows, apply a certain style to the last of every 3 rows for the
next 100 rows, or change the row height of every other row to 5. The Modify Rows tool is most useful
when you would otherwise need to manually perform operations on a very large number of rows.
Modify Columns
Modify Columns works the same as Modify Rows, except that it works on columns.
3.2.2 Sheets
Navigate Sheets
First Sheet
Go to the first sheet in the active workbook. This can be very useful when navigating workbooks with a
large number of sheets. You can also access this tool with the Macabacus > Cells > Navigate > First
Sheet button.
Ctrl
Alt
Home
Default
shortcut
Last Sheet
Go to the last sheet in the active workbook. This can be very useful when navigating workbooks with a
large number of sheets. You can also access this tool with the Macabacus > Cells > Navigate > Last
Sheet button.
Ctrl
Alt
End
Default
shortcut
Next Sheet
Loop forward through sheets in the active workbook. Repeat the keystroke to continue looping. When
keyed on the last sheet in the workbook, this shortcut will navigate to the first sheet. You can also access
this tool with the Macabacus > Cells > Navigate > Next Sheet button. We recommend using this shortcut
instead of Excel's native Ctrl + Page Down shortcut for navigating between sheets.
Ctrl
Alt
PgDn
Default
shortcut
Previous Sheet
Loop backward through sheets in the active workbook. Repeat the keystroke to continue looping. When
keyed on the first sheet in the workbook, this shortcut will navigate to the last sheet. You can also access
this tool with the Macabacus > Cells > Navigate > Previous Sheet button. We recommend using this
shortcut instead of Excel’s native Ctrl + Page Up shortcut for navigating between sheets.
Page 45
Ctrl
Alt
PgUp
Default
shortcut
Move Sheets
Move Sheets Left
Move selected sheets to the left in the sheet order. This tool can move multiple sheets at a time,
including worksheets, chart sheets, or a combination of both. If the left-most selected sheet is the first
sheet in the workbook, keying this shortcut will move the selected sheet(s) to the end of the workbook.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
N
Default
shortcut
Move Sheets Right
Move selected sheets to the right in the sheet order. This tool can move multiple sheets at a time,
including worksheets, chart sheets, or a combination of both. If the right-most selected sheet is the last
sheet in the workbook, keying this shortcut will move the selected sheet(s) to the beginning of the
workbook.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
M
Default
shortcut
Buried Sheets
“Buried” sheets are hidden worksheets and chart sheets that can only be unhidden programmatically—via
VBA code or an add-in like Macabacus. Burying a sheet can be useful for hiding information from users
of your workbook, but should not be used to protect sensitive information.
Bury Selected Sheets
Hide selected sheets in the active workbook so that they can only be unhidden programmatically by
clicking the Macabacus > Cells > Buried Sheets > Bury Selected Sheets button.
Bury Hidden Sheets
Hide all hidden sheets in the active workbook so that they can only be unhidden programmatically by
clicking the Macabacus > Cells > Buried Sheets > Bury Hidden Sheets button.
Dig Up Buried Sheets
Unhide all buried sheets in the active workbook to make them visible by clicking the Macabacus > Cells >
Buried Sheets > Dig Up Buried Sheets button.
Unhide Sheets
Macabacus replaces Excel’s native Unhide dialog used to unhide hidden sheets with an enhanced version
that allows you to (a) unhide multiple sheets at once, (b) unhide “buried” (i.e., xlSheetVeryHidden) sheets,
and (c) resize the dialog to show more sheets or better view sheets with long names. Access this dialog
from any native button normally used to unhide sheets, or from the Macabacus > Cells menu.
Page 46
3.3 Formulas & Data
3.3.1 Fast Fill
Macabacus’ Fast Fill Right/Down tools are similar to Excel’s native Fill Right/Down functions, but far more
versatile. With Fast Fill, you need not select the range you wish to fill; Macabacus will automatically
determine how far right/down to fill, based on the presence of data surrounding the active cell. Fast Fill
will also automatically skip empty spacer columns/rows between columns/rows of data. This tool also
integrates and builds upon Excel’s Fill Series Dates functionality, letting you enter a wide range of date
formats, including those natively supported by Excel (e.g., 4Q13, 2014E, etc.), filling the selected range
appropriately.
Fast Fill Right
Intelligently fill data right.
Ctrl
Shift
R
Default
shortcut
Fast Fill Down
Intelligently fill data down.
Ctrl
Shift
D
Default
shortcut
3.3.2 Modify Formulas
Error Wrap
Adjust formulas of selected cells to replace errors from existing formulas with custom error messages
(e.g., “NM,” “NA”) or values (e.g., 0) using an IFERROR wrapper. Repeat this keystroke to remove the
IFERROR wrapper. Macabacus can prompt you for an error message or value each time, or you can set a
default message/value to use automatically. Error Wrap options can be set on the Model tab in the
Application Settings dialog.
Ctrl
Shift
E
Default
shortcut
Comment Formula
This tool prepends an apostrophe to formulas in selected cells to make formulas appear as text. Repeat
the Comment Formula shortcut keystroke or click its ribbon button again to remove the apostrophes and
restore the original formulas.
Ctrl
Alt
‘
Default
shortcut
Clean Cells
This tool trims extraneous spaces from cell formulas and values—double spaces, leading/trailing spaces,
spaces between operators, etc. Extra spaces sometimes appear in imported data, preventing you from
sorting or otherwise processing data. They can also result in unsightly data/text misalignment that
requires correction before publishing. Macabacus cannot remove some extraneous spaces in formulas
referencing other workbooks and worksheets.
Page 47
Additionally, this tool removes worksheet names from formulas where not required. For example,
Macabacus will change a formula on Sheet1 that reads =Sheet1!B3 to =B3, since the self-referenced
sheet name in the formula is unnecessary.
Ctrl
Shift
L
Default
shortcut
Unapply Names
Replace defined names in a formula with their corresponding cell references.
Anchor Formula
Anchor each cell reference in selected cells’ formulas to the referenced range. Repeat the operation to
change the anchor point. For example, =A1, =$A$1, =A$1, =$A1.
Ctrl
F2
Default
shortcut
Flatten Selection
Convert formulas in the selected range to values and color fonts according to AutoColor settings.
Ctrl
Shift
#
Default
shortcut
Flip Sign
Invert the sign of numeric inputs and multiply formulas by -1 in the selected range. This is useful when
changing the sign convention of expenses in an income statement, for example.
Ctrl
Shift
N
Default
shortcut
3.3.3 Copy / Paste
Paste Exact
Paste copied cells exactly, preserving original formula cell references.
Ctrl
Alt
E
Default
shortcut
Paste Duplicate
Paste copied cells preserving original formulas, except to maintain formulaic relativity within the pasted
region. This can sometimes be a more intuitive alternative to Paste Exact.
Ctrl
Alt
D
Default
shortcut
Paste Number Formats
Paste number formats only.
Ctrl
Alt
F
Default
shortcut
Page 48
Paste Links
Paste links to copied cells. This is similar to Excel’s native Paste Link, except that Macabacus (a)
provides a convenient keyboard shortcut, (b) does not paste links to empty cells, (c) more reliably applies
number formats from the copied range, and (d) applies AutoColor font colors to the pasted range if
AutoColor on Entry is enabled.
Ctrl
Alt
Default
shortcut
L
Paste Transpose
Transpose paste copied cells as links, number formats, or exact formulas.
Ctrl
Alt
T
Default
shortcut
Paste Insert
Insert copied or cut cells at the current selection. If you have copied/cut an entire row/column,
Macabacus automatically inserts as many rows/columns as are required to accommodate the pasted
rows/columns. If you have not copied/cut an entire row/column, Macabacus will prompt you for whether
you want to insert rows or columns to accommodate the cells to be pasted.
For example, suppose you cut two entire rows and move the cursor up several rows to your intended
insertion point. Upon the Paste Insert operation, Macabacus will insert two rows above the insertion
point, paste the cut rows, and delete the original cut rows. Using native Excel functionality, you would
have to manually insert the two rows above the intended insertion point before pasting, which involves
twice as many keystrokes.
Ctrl
Alt
Default
shortcut
I
Copy Row/Column Info
Capture row and column information (size, hidden state, and grouped state) from the selected range for
pasting to another range.
Ctrl
Default
shortcut
J
Alt
Paste Row/Column Info
Applies previously captured row and column information (size, hidden state, and grouped state) to the
selected range.
Ctrl
Alt
K
Default
shortcut
3.3.4 Evaluate Functions
Macabacus can replace certain Excel functions within your formulas with the cell references or values to
which they evaluate, simplifying formulas and making it easier to understand and audit models. Although
Macabacus’ formula evaluation tools are extremely effective, Macabacus may be unable to evaluate
certain formulas. If Macabacus cannot evaluate a formula, or if the evaluated formula does not produce
the same result as the original formula, Macabacus will revert to the original formula and notify you.
Page 49
Simplify Formula
Replace multiple Excel functions in selected formulas at once with the cell references or values to which
those functions evaluate. You can specify which functions Simplify Formula replaces in the Formulas >
Evaluate Functions > Options menu.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
Default
shortcut
V
Evaluate TRANSPOSE()
Replace a TRANSPOSE formula array with direct links to source cells.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
Default
shortcut
T
Evaluate INDIRECT()/INDEX(MATCH())
Replace these Excel functions in formulas with the cell references to which they evaluate.
Evaluate CHOOSE()/OFFSET()/HLOOKUP()/VLOOKUP()/IF()/MIN()/MAX()
Replace these Excel functions in formulas with the cell references or values to which they evaluate.
3.3.5 Min / Max
Go to Min
Go to the cell with the minimum value in the selected range, or if only one cell is selected, in the
contiguous range. This is a quick way to find a 52-week low in raw stock price data, for example. You
can also access this tool with the Macabacus > Formulas > Go To Min button.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
<
Default
shortcut
Go to Max
Go to the cell with the maximum value in the selected range, or if only one cell is selected, in the
contiguous range. This is a quick way to find a 52-week high in raw stock price data, for example. You
can also access this tool with the Macabacus > Formulas > Go To Max button.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
>
Default
shortcut
Page 50
3.4 Financial Modeling
3.4.1 Replicate Module
Replicating a module is an efficient way to reuse a piece of analysis or part of a model, or “module.” For
example, you can quickly replicate a P&L for each of ten business segments and sum the segment P&Ls
into a single consolidated P&L. Macabacus can replicate a module multiple times on the same
worksheet, or on separate worksheets, creating
exact copies of the original module.
To Replicate a Module in Excel
1. Select the cell range to be replicated,
including all components to be copied such
as titles, column headers, item labels, etc.
The module to be copied must be a
contiguous range of cells.
2. Click the Macabacus > Formulas > Replicate
Module button.
3. Specify your desired settings in the Replicate
Module dialog (pictured). See below for a
description of various Replicate Module
settings. These settings will be retained for
the next time Replicate Module is used.
Same Worksheet
When replicating modules on the same
worksheet as the original module, Macabacus
inserts newly created modules directly below the
original module, inserting rows as necessary.
You can specify how many rows of separation
are desired between each new module in the
Replicate Module dialog.
Separate Worksheets
When replicating modules on separate
worksheets, Macabacus will add a new
worksheet for each replicated module, using the
base name you specify to name new
worksheets. For example, if your chosen base
name is “Balance Sheet,” then new worksheets
will be named Balance Sheet 1, Balance Sheet 2, etc.
Sum Copies
You can choose to sum each new module created into the original module. Note that Macabacus will
intelligently decide which items to sum, adding up numeric inputs but ignoring dates and text.
Page 51
3.4.2 Summary Statistics
When performing a comparable companies/acquisitions analysis, it is customary to include summary
statistics (e.g., min/max, mean, median) below the data set as shown in the image below. Macabacus
automates this process, and can populate these statistics with the click of the button.
First, select the data for which you want to compute statistics, as shown above. The first column in your
selection is the column in which the statistic labels (e.g., “Min,” “Average”) will go. Next, click the
Macabacus > Formulas > Summary Statistics button to insert the summary statistics. Macabacus will
insert enough rows to
accommodate the summary
statistics to ensure that no
cells below the data are
overwritten.
Macabacus will intelligently
conform number formatting of
the resulting statistics to the
number formatting of your
selected data. If number
formats in only the first row of
your data include percent
signs, multiple indicators (“x”),
etc., Macabacus will apply
these formats to only the first
row of the statistics, as shown
above. If each row of your
data uses the same number
formats, then Macabacus will
apply those formats to each
row of the statistics.
Summary Statistics is
customizable. You can select
which statistics to compute
and change the labels for each
statistic on the Model tab of
the Application Settings
dialog. For example, you could
Page 52
change the AVERAGE function’s label from “Average” to “Mean.” You can also choose to ignore
currencies when computing statistics, since statistical analysis on certain currency data (e.g., market
capitalization, stock price) for a set of companies may be meaningless.
3.4.3 Quick CAGR
Macabacus can quickly
insert compound annual
growth rate (CAGR)
formulas, so you don’t have
to remember the formula or
manually count periods.
Just place the cursor in a
cell where you want to insert
a CAGR, click the
Macabacus > Formulas >
Quick CAGR button, and
Macabacus will intelligently
determine which cells to the
left or above are to be
included in the CAGR
formula by analyzing
surrounding data. In
addition to an annual CAGR,
you can compute quarterly and monthly CAGRs.
3.4.4 Model Library
Macabacus’ Model Library is a collection of model templates intended for reuse. There are three
separate Model Libraries; a personal library intended for an individual user, a team library shared by
members of a team, and a company library shared by all Macabacus users in an organization that can
maximize workforce efficiency and standardize modeling practices. Models can be accessed from the
Macabacus > New menu, and Macabacus installs with several of its popular model templates included in
the personal Model Library.
Page 53
To publish to the company model library or make changes to that library in Library Manager, either (a)
activate Macabacus using the email address of a Macabacus account administrator, or (b) run Excel
as a Windows administrator. This prevents unauthorized changes by end users.
Adding Models
Models can be published to the personal, team, or company library by clicking the Macabacus > Settings
> Libraries > Publish Model button in Excel, PowerPoint, or Word. You will be prompted to select a
workbook to publish, and to specify a document group to which the model should be published. If the
path to the library to which you are publishing is not set, Macabacus will prompt you to choose a library
folder.
Page 54
Shared Models
Models in the team and company libraries should reside in server locations available to Macabacus
users with read access.
Deleting Models
The Library Manager dialog (shown above) can be used to view and manage all models in the libraries,
and is accessed from the Macabacus > Settings > Libraries menu in Excel. Select the models you wish to
remove and click the Delete button.
3.4.5 Insert Symbol
Insert symbols commonly used in financial models, presentations, and documents from the Macabacus >
Insert Symbol menu. Available symbols are shown below. Relative to inserting symbols with Excel's
native Symbol dialog, which can require digging through hundreds of symbols to find the right one, this
approach is much quicker. Also, you can use accelerator keystrokes to reach the desired symbol on the
Macabacus tab, so you don't even have to use the mouse.
$
€
£
–
×
÷
…
•
§
©
™
®
¥
¢
B
Δ
Page 55
3.5 Auditing
3.5.1 Precedents / Dependents
Navigate
You have probably used Excel’s
native Trace Precedents/
Dependents tools and
discovered the limitations of
their utility. Macabacus’ Pro
Precedents and Pro
Dependents—the most
advanced auditing tools of
their kind—make tracing
precedents/dependents very
simple and are absolutely
essential for any power user.
Pro Precedents
Pro Precedents allows you to
effortlessly navigate an audited
formula’s inputs. When you
activate Pro Precedents, a
dialog opens displaying the
addresses and values of all
cells used in the calculation of the audited cell. Selecting a precedent cell range in the dialog using the
up/down arrow keys or the mouse navigates to the precedent range, whether it is outside of the visible
range on the same worksheet, on another worksheet, or even in another workbook.
With the Evaluate Functions & Groups option enabled, Pro Precedents evaluates Excel functions (e.g.,
SUM) and expressions grouped by parentheses within formulas individually, letting you analyze complex
formulas piece-by-piece. In other words, you can see what a portion of your formula is contributing to the
overall result. If Macabacus is able to evaluate certain Excel functions as cell references, selecting the
function in the Pro Precedents dialog will navigate to that cell range. If you are wondering what cell that
HLOOKUP, VLOOKUP, OFFSET, CHOOSE, INDIRECT, or INDEX(MATCH) function is actually pulling from,
Pro Precedents can show you. The Evaluate Functions & Groups option is disabled by default to avoid
confusion for those who do not understand it; enabling this option is highly recommended.
You can also drill down on precedents using intuitive, tree-based navigation. If a precedent cell or
evaluated function/group has precedents, it will be marked with a symbol. Press the right arrow key to
expand the tree and trace precedents one level deeper. Use the left arrow key to move back up one level
in the precedents tree. You can open the Pro Precedents dialog, navigate multiple levels of precedent
cells, and close the dialog without ever using your mouse.
Pro Precedents has several keyboard shortcuts for repositioning and resizing the dialog. Key Ctrl+Up,
Ctrl+Down, Ctrl+Right, and Ctrl+Left to move the dialog. Key Ctrl+Home and Ctrl+End to position the
dialog at the top left and bottom right corners of the screen, respectively. Key Shift+Up, Shift+Down,
Shift+Right, and Shift+Left to resize the dialog.
Pro Precedents cannot process 3D formulas, which are relatively uncommon. If Pro Precedents does not
seem to be working as expected, the problem is likely too many unused range names in your workbook.
Try running Macabacus’ Name Scrubber tool, then try again.
Page 56
Ctrl
Shift
[
Default
shortcut
Pro Dependents
The Pro Dependents dialog navigates an audited cell's dependencies similar to how Pro Precedents
navigates precedents. Other features include:



Ctrl
Edit formulas “live” – Edit a dependent cell’s formula directly in the formula box by either clicking
into the formula box or keying F2. When you are done editing the formula, key Enter to apply the
new formula, or Esc to cancel editing. If the new formula no longer references the audited cell, the
dependent node is removed from the tree.
Check for chart dependencies – Pro Dependents lists as a dependency any chart whose series
reference the audited cell. Note that data label references to the audited cell cannot be shown as
dependencies.
Check for name dependencies – Pro Dependents list as a dependency a range name that refers to
the audited cell.
Shift
]
Default
shortcut
Last Audited Cell
Navigate back to the last cell audited using Pro Precedents or Pro Dependents.
Ctrl
Shift
\
Default
shortcut
Troubleshooting
Pro Precedents/Dependents will not trace my formula
1. Is the audited formula a 3D formula referring to the same range on multiple worksheets (e.g.,
=SUM(Sheet1:Sheet3!C5))? Macabacus cannot process 3D formulas at this time.
2. Does the audited formula contain unqualified structured table references (e.g., =SUM([Sales]))?
Macabacus can only process fully qualified structured table references (e.g., =SUM(DeptSales[Sales])
in formulas at this time. Fully qualified structured table references must also reference tables within
the same workbook.
3. Most often, Macabacus is unable to parse the audited formula because your workbook contains
hundreds or thousands of unused range names that you don't use or even know about. Go to the
Macabacus > File > Optimize menu and open Name Scrubber. Remove any unused names by clicking
the Clean Names button and performing a Deep Clean, or remove names manually from the list. If
you are satisfied that hidden names are not in use, delete them, too. Note that some add-ins,
including Macabacus, use hidden names for legitimate purposes (e.g., linking), so be careful when
deleting them.
4. If you are still experiencing difficulty, email [email protected] with the information requested
here. You should also include a copy/paste of the audited formula or, if at all possible, attached the
affected workbook.
I cannot see the Pro Precedents/Dependents dialog
Macabacus remembers the last position of the Pro Precedents/Dependents dialogs. Sometimes, these
dialogs can appear outside of your screen’s viewable area. This can happen if you are working in Excel
on a large docking station screen, undock your laptop and begin working on the laptop’s smaller screen.
Page 57
Use the Ctrl+Home or Ctrl+End shortcuts immediately after executing Pro Precedents/Dependents to
bring the hidden dialog back into view.
The Up/Down arrow keys do not navigate the precedents/dependents
If keying the Up/Down arrow keys does not navigate the precedents and dependents in the Pro
Precedents and Pro Dependents dialogs, respectively, and instead causes the cursor to move up/down
one row on the worksheet, another add-in may be causing this condition. We have only observed this
conflict with the Workshare add-in, specifically, although other add-ins might produce the same result.
Disable the Workshare or other conflicting COM add-in to resolve the problem.
Show All Arrows
Show All Precedents
Excel natively traces precedents only for the active cell in a selection of multiple cells. Macabacus, on the
other hand, shows precedent trace arrows for all selected cells at once. If you repeat this keystroke
before changing the cell selection, Macabacus clears the trace arrows.
Ctrl
Alt
[
Default
shortcut
Show All Dependents
Excel natively traces dependents for only the active cell in a selection of multiple cells. Macabacus, on
the other hand, shows dependent trace arrows for all selected cells at once. This is a useful check to
perform before deleting cells that helps avoid unintentional #REF! errors upon deletion. If you repeat this
keystroke before changing the cell selection, Macabacus clears the trace arrows.
Ctrl
Alt
]
Default
shortcut
Clear Arrows
Clear trace arrows from the active worksheet.
Ctrl
Alt
\
Default
shortcut
Page 58
AutoTrace
AutoTrace Precedents
You can automatically show precedent trace arrows for the active cell as you navigate among cells by
enabling AutoTrace Precedents. AutoTrace Precedents can be toggled on and off using the shortcut
below, or with a checkbox on the Macabacus > Trace menu.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
[
Default
shortcut
AutoTrace Dependents
You can automatically show dependent trace arrows for the active cell as you navigate among cells by
enabling AutoTrace Dependents. AutoTrace Dependents can be toggled on and off using the shortcut
below, or with a checkbox on the Macabacus > Trace menu.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
]
Default
shortcut
3.5.2 Visualization Tools
Uniformulas
You probably—and often—key the familiar F2 > Escape > Arrow sequence repeatedly to inspect formulas
in adjacent cells for consistency. The Uniformulas tool performs a similar check in far fewer keystrokes
by highlighting adjacent cells with the same formulaic structure and in the same contiguous range as the
audited cell.
Ctrl
Q
Default
shortcut
In the example below, we perform the Uniformulas operation on the cell computing gross margin in the
first period. This selects adjacent cells in the same contiguous range with the same formulaic structure,
as shown. The cell computing EBIT margin in the third period is not selected, however, because its
formulaic structure differs from that of adjacent cells. This could (and in this case, does) indicate a
formula error.
The Uniformulas tool is best accessed via shortcut keystroke, but can also be accessed via the
Macabacus > Visualize > Uniformulas button. You can set the Uniformulas tool to enter Edit Mode on the
audited cell (as shown above)—similar to keying F2—from the Application Settings dialog. When this
feature is set, the Uniformulas tool behaves like an enhanced version of the familiar F2 > Escape auditing
sequence.
Page 59
Formula Flow
Formula Flow helps you visualize the formula structure of your spreadsheets to quickly identify errors and
other inconsistencies. Formula Flow uses the following rules to apply the turquoise patterns shown in the
example below:

Uninterrupted horizontal line patterns in a contiguous range of cells indicate that formulas are
consistent across columns.

Uninterrupted vertical line patterns in a contiguous range of cells indicate that formulas are
consistent down rows.

Uninterrupted horizontal and vertical line (i.e., crosshatched) patterns in a contiguous range of cells
indicate that formulas are consistent both horizontally and vertically.

Darker turquoise shading indicates a formulaic inconsistency within the inspected range (you can
sometimes see Excel's green “inconsistent formula” indicators in the corner of these cells, too).
As you change the contents of cells visualized using Formula Flow, the visualization updates
automatically. Access this tool from the Macabacus > Visualize menu. Remove this visualization by
performing an Undo operation, or click the Macabacus > Visualize > Clear Visualizations button.
Dependency Density
Dependency Density allows you to visualize link density as measured by the relative number of
dependents for each cell in the selection. In financial modeling, horizontally adjacent cells often have the
same number of dependents. Thus, you would expect the Dependency Density visualizer to generally
produce the same orange shading intensity within a row of cells.
Access this tool from the Macabacus > Visualize menu. Remove this visualization by performing an Undo
operation, or click the Macabacus > Visualize > Clear Visualizations button.
Page 60
Magnitude Map
Magnitude Map is an improvement on Excel’s native conditional formatting color scale that utilizes more
intuitive coloring when working with data containing both positive and negative numbers. This tool is
great for identifying outliers, as cells with the largest magnitudes (positive or negative) are shaded darker.
Access this tool from the Macabacus > Visualize menu. Remove this visualization by performing an Undo
operation, or click the Macabacus > Visualize > Clear Visualizations button.
3.5.3 Discussions (beta)
Overview
Discussions are a flexible way to have conversations within workbooks using chat-like functionality that
streamline the process of model review and improve quality control, minimizing errors. Multiple team
members can contribute to discussions, attach supporting references (i.e., “back-ups”) such as files, links
to websites, screen shots, and more. Discussions are linked to specific cells or ranges of cells, providing
an audit history that “tells the story” behind an assumption or calculation.
Beta Notice
Discussions are a beta feature that is currently available for Excel 2013 and 2016, only. This feature
may be extensively modified or removed altogether in subsequent releases.
There are many ways to incorporate discussions into your modeling workflows; below is an example:
Example Usage
A Summer Analyst—an intern—is tasked with a comparable acquisitions analysis by his Associate.
Because the Summer Analyst is inexperienced, the Associate insists that the intern source every data
point and explain every assumption. As the Summer Analyst builds the analysis, he sources each data
point using Macabacus’ Discuss pane by either adding a source file, a link to the source web page, or a
screen shot of the applicable information. Where he must use his judgement, he explains his rationale
behind an assumption by adding a text message in the Discuss pane.
Page 61
When the analysis is complete, the Associate opens the model for review and also opens the Discuss
pane. The Associate can clearly see all of the source materials used in the analysis, as well as
explanations behind the assumptions made by the intern. As the Associate reviews the model, she has
comments and questions on the inputs in certain cells, such as “I think this value is too high, let’s use
12%” and “where does this number come from?” She records these thoughts in Macabacus’ Discuss
pane, which links her comments to the cells to which they refer, and sends the workbook back to the
Summer Analyst for follow-up.
Using the Discuss Pane
Start a Discussion
In the Discuss pane, click the New Discussion button to begin a new discussion regarding the selected
cell(s). The discussion will remain linked to the selection cell(s), even as you change the structure of your
workbook by inserting rows, for example. Messages, files, links, and screen shots that you add to the
discussion appear in blue balloons, while those contributed by others appear in gray balloons.
Add a Text Message
To add a text message to the discussion, click the New message button in the Discuss pane. In the text
box that appears, type your message and key Ctrl+S to save the message to the discussion. You can also
apply bold, italics, and underline formatting to your message using the Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I, and Ctrl+U shortcuts,
respectively. Key the Esc to cancel adding a message.
Add/View Files
You can add files to a discussion—perhaps to source your data—by dragging files into the Discuss pane
or clicking the appropriate button to add them using a file picker dialog. If you intend for other to access
these files, be sure they reside on a shared network drive, rather than your computer. Alternatively, you
can check the Embed files box to embed files directly into your workbook, so that they always accompany
the workbook. Note that embedding files increases the file size of your workbook.
To view a file in a discussion, right-click a file and select Open File from the context menu.
Add/View Links
To add a link to a web page, copy the page’s address from your browser’s address bar to the clipboard
and click the Paste web address button in the Discuss pane. After a brief delay, and if connected to the
Internet, Macabacus will normally display the web page’s title and icon that shows in your browser’s tab.
To view a web page in a discussion, right-click the link and select Follow Link from the context menu.
Add Screen Shots
To add a screen shot to the discussion, first take the screen shot using Window’s Snipping Tool or other
software, then copy the screen shot to the clipboard. In the Discuss pane, click the Paste screen shot
button to insert the screen shot in line with other messages in the discussion. Use the pen and
highlighter tools at the bottom of the Discuss pane to add boxes or highlights, respectively, to the pasted
image to draw attention to certain information within the screen shot.
Screen shots are embedded within your workbook and, accordingly, contribute to file size (although
typically not as much as embedding files). Use smaller screen shots to minimize the impact on file size.
Page 62
Deleting Discussions
When you delete a discussion, Macabacus will remove any embedded files and screen shots associated
with that discussion from the workbook.
Unread Messages
When another user adds a message to a discussion, it appears in bold font at the top of the Discuss pane
until you read the discussion, at which point the bold formatting is removed. This is similar to how
Outlook and Gmail display read/unread messages.
Page 63
3.6 Charting
3.6.1 Quick Charts
Creating many of the charts commonly used by finance and consulting professionals with native Excel
functionality alone can be complex and tedious. Macabacus automates much of this complexity,
reducing it to just a few mouse clicks with Quick Charts. All Quick Charts are 100% native—no proprietary
objects are used to create them that would render them unusable by anyone who does not have
Macabacus installed.
When you create a new Quick Chart, a preferences dialog presents you with several orientation, sizing,
formatting, and labeling options depending on the type of chart you are creating. Each Quick Chart dialog
has an Example button that will populate a new Quick Chart with sample data to help you quickly
understand the required chart data structure. Macabacus remembers your Quick Chart dialog
preferences, and loads them the next time you create a similar chart. For most Quick Charts, Macabacus
also builds some options directly into the worksheet containing the chart. These in-worksheet options let
you customize the appearance of the chart even after it is created, and whether or not you have
Macabacus installed.
Because Macabacus adds calculations and in-worksheet chart options to the workbook when building
most Quick Charts, most Quick Charts are created on new worksheets so that these modifications do not
interfere with the structure of the worksheet containing the original chart data.
Waterfall Chart
Waterfall charts, also known as bridge charts, are often used to show adjustments driving changes in a
single metric (e.g., net income) from one period to another.
To insert a waterfall chart, click the Macabacus > Charts > Waterfall Chart button. Chart options let you
display labels in different positions—like centered on data points or above/below adjustments depending
on whether adjustments are positive or negative. You can customize the three colors used in waterfall
charts, and optionally show “bridge lines” connecting the tops/bottoms of columns shown in the chart to
facilitate visual interpretation of the chart.
$60
$14
$55
Adj. 6
End
$4
$50
$12
$45
$8
$40
($8)
$30
$30
($5)
$20
$10
$0
Start
Adj. 1
Adj. 2
Adj. 3
Middle
Adj. 4
Adj. 5
Page 64
Football Field Chart
Football field charts, also known as floating bar/column charts, are often used to display valuation ranges
computed using different valuation methods (e.g., P/E, EV/EBITDA, DCF).
To insert a football field chart, click the Macabacus > Charts > Football Field Chart button. These charts
can be oriented as either bars (extending horizontally) or columns (extending vertically). You can
optionally show average and median lines that extend the width or height of the chart, as applicable,
showing the average/median value of all ranges shown in the chart. The “bonus line” lets you include a
similar line at a value you specify, such as a price target or offering price.
$14.00
$12.75
$12.00
$12.00

$10.00

$8.50
$11.00
Offer $10.50

Median $8.88
$10.00

$8.00
$8.75
$9.00
Range 5
Range 6
$8.00
$7.00
$6.00
$6.00
$6.00
$4.00
Range 1
Range 2
Range 3
Range 4
Median $8.88
Range 1
$6.00
$10.00
Range 2
$8.00
Range 3
Range 4
Offer $10.50
$12.75
$7.00
$8.50
$6.00
Range 5
$10.00
$8.75
Range 6
$12.00
$9.00
$11.00

$4.00
$6.00
$8.00

$10.00
$12.00
$14.00
Stacked Column Chart
Macabacus’ stacked column chart is similar to those you create natively in Excel, except that you can (a)
optionally include totals at the tops of the columns, (b) show percentages rather than amounts in the data
labels (advisable when showing the vertical value axis and column totals), (c) omit data labels for small
values where label text would otherwise overflow the bounds of the associated data point (i.e., block), and
Page 65
(d) automatically apply your Macabacus chart series colors. To insert a stacked column chart, click the
Macabacus > Charts > Stacked Column Chart button.
$160
$140
$120
$128
19.5%
$135
$131
8.9%
13.7%

39.6%
$100
$80
$139
39.3%
38.9%
38.3%
$60
$40
$20
47.3%
51.9%
56.1%
42.2%
2015
2016
2017
2018
–
Butterfly Chart
Butterfly charts, also known as tornado charts, are often used to compare similar metrics for two
companies, business units, etc.
To insert a butterfly chart, click the Macabacus > Charts > Butterfly Chart button. You can orient the chart
with categories (e.g., sales, net income) on the left axis, or down the middle of the chart separating the
two series of data being compared. Several data label positioning options are also available.
When you orient the butterfly chart with category labels in the middle, Macabacus can handle chart data
in multiple units. For example, the first section (e.g., top half) of the chart might include income
statement figures in dollars, and a second section (e.g., bottom half) might include key summary metrics,
like margins and growth rates. To tell Macabacus where sections begin and end, leave the second and
third columns in the chart data blank. Macabacus will treat the label in the first column as a section title
and apply additional formatting to distinguish it from other category labels.
Company A
Company B
$205
Revenue
$174
$160
Gross Profit
$142
$148
EBITDA
$126
$113
EBIT
$111
$95
Net Income
$88
$47
Capex
$39
Page 66
Company A
Company B
Revenue
$205
$174
Gross Profit
$160
$142
EBITDA
$148
$126
EBIT
$113
$111
Net Income
$95
$88
Capex
$47
$39
Marimekko Chart
Marimekko charts, also known as Mekko charts, are two-dimensional stacked charts popular among
consultants. They combine the functionality of both stacked column and stacked bar charts, displaying
data in blocks that vary in both height and width. These charts are notoriously difficult to construct using
native Excel functionality, and a third party solution like Macabacus is usually required to generate them.
Several options let you customize the text that appears block data labels, how that text is formatted, and
omit labels for small blocks where label text would otherwise overflow the block bounds. Many of these
options are located on the worksheet containing the chart, so that they can be customized even after the
chart has been created.
Block % of Category
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
0%
10%
Seg A
Seg B
Seg C
Seg D
Delta
$45
Delta
$33
Delta
$26

Charlie
$51
Charlie
$39
Charlie
$31

Bravo
$56
Bravo
$43
Bravo
$38
Alpha
$67
Alpha
$49
Alpha
$41
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Delta
Bravo
$22
Charlie
Bravo
Alpha
$30
90%
Alpha
100%
Category % of Total
Scatter Chart
Macabacus’ scatter chart is similar to those you create natively in Excel, except that Macabacus will (a)
apply the correct text to data labels, (b) intelligently scale the axes to better display the chart data, and (c)
optionally plot a trend line through the data and show the corresponding R-squared value.
Page 67
$13.50
BBB
$13.00
$12.50
R² = 0.6846
FFF
EEE
$12.00
$11.50
$11.00
$10.50
DDD
AAA
CCC
$10.00
$9.50
$4.00
$6.00
$8.00
$10.00
$12.00
Troubleshooting Quick Charts
Charts are among the most complex features in Microsoft Office. Complexity often leads to bugs and
unpredictable results. While Macabacus’ Quick Charts will work as expected for nearly everyone, some
users periodically encounter problems using these tools. If you are having a problem with Quick Charts,
please contact us at [email protected] for help. Include in your email your default chart template
(a .crtx file). To find your default
chart template, open Excel’s Insert
Chart dialog and click the Manage
Templates button (in Excel
2013/2016). You can tell which of
your custom templates is the default
template by right clicking each
custom template in the Insert Chart
dialog—the one with the checkmark is
the default template.
3.6.2 Chart Size &
Position
Macabacus makes it easy to conform
a collection of charts to the same
size, turning what would normally be a
tedious, manual resizing process into
a trivial exercise.
Chart and Plot Size dialog
For precise control over chart sizing
and positioning, use the Chart and
Plot Size dialog. Here, you can apply
Standard Sizes, manually adjust the
dimensions of the chart and plot
areas, fine-tune positioning of the plot
Page 68
area within the chart (which cannot be done with precision natively), and memorize/apply chart sizes.
This tool is accessible from the Macabacus > Charts menu.
Memorize/Apply
Click the Macabacus > Charts > Memorize Chart button to remember the selected chart’s size, plot area
size, and plot area position within the chart, and then apply these properties to other selected charts
using buttons on the Macabacus > Charts > Apply Memorized menu. This is a fast way to conform the
appearance of multiple charts simultaneously.
Resize To
Conform the selected chart to the dimensions of a Standard Size, the dimensions of a shape selected in
PowerPoint or Word, or the selected range in Excel from the Macabacus > Charts > Resize To menu.
When you resize a chart to a selected range of cells, Macabacus prompts you for the range address,
showing the address of cells that were selected prior to selecting the chart as the default option. You can
optionally reposition the chart to the top left coordinates of the range, “fitting” the chart within the
specified range.
Stack Charts
Stack selected charts relative to the first selected chart, and resize them to the dimensions of the first
selected chart. This could come in handy when creating a dashboard, for example. Access this tool
using the Macabacus > Charts > Stack Charts button.
3.6.3 Data Labels
Move Data Labels
Use the Move Data Labels dialog at Macabacus > Charts > Move Data Labels to adjust the position of
data labels on a chart. You can adjust all data labels for a series, or individual data labels. This allows
you to adjust data label positions with precision for pixel-perfect positioning. In contrast, Excel natively
provides no means of adjusting data label position precisely or easily, requiring you to position data
labels individually using imprecise mouse movements.
Label Last Point
Add a data label to the last data point of each series in a line graph by clicking the Macabacus > Charts >
Label Last Point button. You can add a label to the right of, above, or below the last data point, optionally
bold and match the label’s font color to the color of the data series, and show either the value or category
name in the data label.
Replace Missing Labels
Replace missing chart data labels and/or axis labels at Macabacus > Charts > Replace Missing Labels. In
X-Y (scatter) and bubble charts, specifically, Excel does not automatically attach labels to data points.
Macabacus can add text labels to both of these chart types, provided that the source data is properly
formatted.
X-Y Scatter Labels
When creating scatter (X-Y) charts or bubble charts, Excel does not automatically attach the correct
labels to data points. This tool adds the correct data labels to both these chart types, provided that the
chart data is properly structured. Access this tool at Macabacus > Charts > X-Y Scatter Labels.
Page 69
Link Number Formats
Match the number format of data labels to the number formats of source data by clicking the Macabacus
> Charts > Link Number Formats button.
3.6.4 Other Charting Tools
Recolor Series
You can recolor series in selected charts to your customized series colors by clicking the Macabacus >
Charts > Recolor Series button. This is a quick way to apply your preferred color scheme, without having
to deal with Office’s more cumbersome chart templates. If you specify six chart series colors, and your
chart has seven series, for example, the Series 1 color will be applied to Series 7.
Stacked Column Totals
Adding totals to the tops of stacked column charts using native Excel functionality is cumbersome.
Macabacus expedites this process and adds totals with a click of the Macabacus > Charts > Stacked
Column Totals button. This tool contemplates and addresses three possible scenarios:

Totals are already included in the chart data source range. In this scenario, Macabacus ensures that
the totals in the chart are formatted properly and replaces missing labels as needed.

Totals are computed in cells adjacent to the chart data source range, but are not yet included in the
chart data. In this case, Macabacus adds cells containing totals to the chart data source range.

Totals are not found in cells adjacent to the chart data source range. In this scenario, Macabacus
can compute totals for you and add them to the chart.
Growth Arrow
Many column-based charts include growth arrows above the columns showing a CAGR or other growth
rate. Often, these arrows are hastily and imprecisely drawn on top of charts as Office shapes, require
tedious formatting, and do not update when the underlying data changes.
Macabacus can add growth arrows to your stacked column charts as a new data series. To add a growth
arrow, select your stacked column chart and click the Macabacus > Charts > Growth Arrow button. The
resulting dialog presents you with several options for customizing the growth arrow, and your preferences
are saved for the next time you use this tool.
The Growth Arrow dialog computes a CAGR automatically based on the chart data. You can override this
computed CAGR by manually entering a growth rate, or by selecting a cell containing the growth rate you
want to appear in the arrow’s data label. You can adjust the formatting of the arrow and its data label in
this dialog, as well as adjust the position of the arrow to avoid overlap with other chart elements, for
example.
Macabacus lets you add the growth arrow as either a dynamic series linked to worksheet data, or a static
series that does not update when chart data changes. A dynamic series uses formulas to position the
arrow on the chart, just like any normal data-driven chart series. To create a dynamic arrow, Macabacus
adds a few rows to your worksheet (preferably adjacent to the existing chart data) containing formulas
that compute the growth arrow position. A static arrow, on the other hand, is “hardcoded” into the chart,
but can be updated by simply reopening and closing the Growth Arrow dialog. A static arrow may be
appropriate for a “quick-and-dirty” CAGR arrow on a chart whose data you do not expect to change, or if
you want to avoid worksheet changes required by a dynamic arrow.
Page 70
Excel 2010 and 2007 Limitations
Excel 2010 and 2007 are missing some charting features present in newer versions, so some Growth
Arrow features are unavailable in these earlier versions of Excel.
$200
CAGR 14.1%
$150
$100
$50
$116
$90
$99
42.3%
43.3%
43.4%
57.7%
56.7%
56.6%
57.8%
2015
2016
2017
2018
$90
$99
42.3%
43.3%
43.4%
57.7%
56.7%
56.6%
57.8%
2015
2016
2017
2018
$78
42.2%
–
$200
$150
$100
$50
$78
$116
42.2%
–
$200
CAGR 14.1%
$150
$100
$50
$116
$90
$99
42.3%
43.3%
43.4%
57.7%
56.7%
56.6%
57.8%
2015
2016
2017
2018
$78
42.2%
–
Y-Axis Max Format
Apply number formatting to the maximum value on the selected chart’s y-axis, only. Choose from dollars,
euros, pounds, percentages, and multiples on the Macabacus > Charts > Y-Axis Max Format menu. This
turns off y-axis autoscaling, which could result in undesirable chart formatting if the chart’s underlying
data later changes. If the chart data does change, you can click Macabacus > Charts > Y-Axis Max
Format > Re-scale Axis to automatically re-scale the chart appropriately.
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Save Chart as Picture
Save the selected charts as pictures—specifically, PNG images. If no chart is selected, all charts on the
active worksheet will be saved as pictures. When you save multiple charts as pictures, the file name you
specify is the “base” name to which Macabacus will append an index. For example, if you save two charts
as pictures and specify the file name “Chart.png,” Macabacus will name your images “Chart_001.png” and
“Chart_002.png.” Access this tool using the Macabacus > Charts > Save Chart as Picture button, or from
the Save as Picture button on chart context menus.
Chart Color Cycle
See our discussion of this tool above.
Ctrl
Alt
C
Default
shortcut
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3.7 Super Find
Super Find is a replacement for Excel’s native Find functionality that has the following advantages:

Find almost anything in your workbooks, not just text or specific formats.

Quickly select all results at once to perform follow-on actions, such as formatting.

Search within a selection, selected sheets, the active workbook, or all open workbooks.

Display search results in a convenient task pane that is not intrusive or disruptive to your workflow.

Simultaneously search in values, formulas, comments, and hyperlinks.
Find Almost Anything
Super Find combines Excel's native Find functionality with AutoFilter, Go To Special, and other enhanced
functions that facilitate finding almost anything in your workbooks from a single, intuitive interface.
Text
Formatting
Text contains
Text does not contain
Text begins with
Text does not begin with
Text ends with
Text does not end with
Text matches regular expression
Text length equal to
Text length not equal to
Font bold
Font not bold
Font italic
Font not italic
Font underline
Font not underline
Font size equal to
Font size not equal to
Font size less than
Font size between
Font size not between
Font name equal to
Values & Formulas
Value equal to
Value not equal to
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Value greater than
Value greater than or equal to
Value less than
Value less than or equal to
Value between
Value not between
Duplicate values
Unique values
Odd integers
Even integers
Numeric inputs
Formulas referencing another sheet
Formulas referencing another workbook
Formulas referencing blank cells
Formula arrays (e.g., TABLE, TRANSPOSE)
Formula errors (e.g., #DIV/0!, #NAME?)
Named ranges
Dates
Dates (any)
Date equal to
Date before
Date on or before
Date after
Date on or after
Date between
Date not between
Date is year
Date is month
Date is calendar quarter
Date is weekday
Date is weekend
Date is Monday
Date is Tuesday
Date is Wednesday
Date is Thursday
Date is Friday
Font name not equal to
Number format matches selection
Number format equal to
Number format contains
Row height equal to
Row height not equal to
Row height greater than
Row height less than
Column width equal to
Column width not equal to
Column width greater than
Column width less than
Vertical alignment top
Vertical alignment middle
Vertical alignment bottom
Horizontal alignment left
Horizontal alignment center
Horizontal alignment center across selection
Horizontal alignment right
Borders (any)
Borders top
Borders bottom
Borders left
Borders right
Footnotes
Merged cells
Conditional formatting
Odd rows
Even rows
Odd columns
Even columns
Comments
Data validation
Sparklines
Protected Sheets
Super Find requires that worksheets be unprotected in order to be included in search results.
Selecting Results
When Select Mode is set to “Cell,” Macabacus will navigate to the cell selected in the Super Find results
tree. With Select Mode set to “Row” or “Column,” Macabacus will navigate to and select the entire row or
column, as appropriate, containing the cell selected in the tree. Selecting entire rows or columns can be
useful when you want to perform certain operations on the searched data, such as deleting or collapsing
rows/columns.
Click the Select All button to select all cells returned in the search. This can be especially useful if you
want to perform bulk formatting operations on those cells, for example.
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3.8 Publishing
3.8.1 Quick Export
Quick Export allows you to export Excel ranges (cells) or charts to PowerPoint or Word using convenient
keyboard shortcuts described below, or corresponding buttons on the Macabacus tab in the Export group.
Import/Export Functionality
If you are not already familiar with import/export functionality, please review its detailed description.
Default Options
Export Cells As
Set Macabacus to export ranges as pictures (recommended), tables, or embedded workbooks by default.
Export Chart As
Set Macabacus to export charts as pictures (recommended), charts, or embedded workbooks by default.
Note that charts cannot be exported as embedded workbooks if the default target application is set to
Word.
Target Application
You can specify the default target application (PowerPoint or Word) so that if both PowerPoint
presentations and Word documents are open when exporting from Excel, Macabacus knows to which
application it should export cells and charts.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Match Width
Paste the selected Excel range or chart into the default target application, matching the width of any
destination shape and scaling height to maintain a constant aspect ratio. If no destination shape is
selected, the pasted object will be inserted at its original size.
Ctrl
Alt
Default
shortcut
Match Height
Paste the selected Excel range or chart into the default target application, matching the height of any
destination shape and scaling width to maintain a constant aspect ratio. If no destination shape is
selected, the pasted object will be inserted at its original size.
Ctrl
Alt
Default
shortcut
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Match Size
Paste the selected Excel range or chart into the default target application, matching both the width and
height of any destination shape. If no destination shape is selected, the pasted object will be inserted at
its original size. This is generally not a good option when exporting cells and charts as pictures, because
of the potential for image distortion.
Ctrl
Alt
Default
shortcut
Match None
Paste the selected Excel range or chart into the default target application, without matching dimensions
of any destination shape, and instead inserting the pasted object at its original size.
Ctrl
Alt
Default
shortcut
3.8.2 Prepare to Share
Before sending spreadsheets outside your organization,
“sanitize” them with Macabacus. Apply the sanitization
tools described below to protect proprietary or personal
information, check workbook integrity, and tidy up
formatting/appearance. These tools can be accessed
from the Macabacus > Prepare to Share menu. Use the
Prepare to Share dialog to perform several of these
operations at once, on either a copy of the active
workbook (recommended), or the original workbook.
Macabacus will remember your last used Prepare to
Share settings.
Replace formulas with values
Use this option if you want to share data, but not the
underlying methodology used to arrive at the numbers.
Recolor cell fonts
While proper font coloring is important to understanding
how a model works, it looks cleaner to use black fonts
when such understanding is not critical to the recipient.
You should select this option if you are replacing
formulas with values.
Remove cell comments
While cell comments can provide clarity to assumptions
and methodologies used in a model, they may contain
sensitive information or exchanges between colleagues
that are not suitable for external distribution.
Remove defined names
This tool replaces all defined names in formulas with their appropriate cell references, then deletes the
name from the workbook.
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Remove hidden worksheets
Hidden worksheets may contain sensitive information or works-in-progress not suitable for external
distribution. Be sure that removing hidden worksheets does not result in #REF! errors in your model.
Bury hidden worksheets
Hide hidden worksheets so that they cannot be unhidden other than programmatically. This does not
prevent viewing hidden worksheets, but does make it more difficult to view them. When performing this
operation from the Prepare to Share dialog and “Remove hidden worksheets” is checked, hidden
worksheets will be deleted, rather than buried.
Delete hidden rows/columns
Hidden rows and columns may contain sensitive information or works-in-progress not suitable for
external distribution. Be sure that removing hidden rows and columns does not result in #REF! errors in
your model.
Remove charts
Removes all charts from the workbook.
Remove watches/bookmarks
Removes all watches from the workbook.
Check for formula errors
Checks the entire workbook for formula errors, such as #REF!, #VALUE!, and #DIV/0! It is generally
recommended that you check this option when preparing a workbook for distribution. This check is
performed after removing hidden workbooks and hidden rows/columns to catch any errors resulting from
these removals.
Reset all print areas
Remove all print area settings.
Hide gridlines
Hides gridlines on each worksheet in the workbook.
Zoom to 100%
Zoom all worksheets in the workbook to 100%.
Return all sheets to cell A1
Returns the cursor and scroll to cell A1 on each worksheet in the workbook.
Clean cells
Extra spaces sometimes appear in imported data and can prevent you from sorting or otherwise
processing data. They can also result in unsightly data/text misalignment that requires correction before
publishing. This tool trims leading, trailing, and excess (e.g., double) spaces from cells. Note that only
cells containing values, not formulas, will be trimmed.
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Additionally, this tool removes worksheet names from formulas where not required. For example, a
formula on Sheet1 that reads =Sheet1!B3 will be changed to =B3, since the self-referenced sheet name in
the formula is unnecessary.
Attach workbook to email when done
Select this option to have Macabacus attach the workbook modified using Prepare to Share tools to a
new Outlook email. Outlook must be open in order to use this feature. If you choose to modify a copy of
the active workbook, rather than the active workbook itself, and select this email option, Macabacus will
close and discard the duplicate workbook (although it will remain attached to the new email).
3.8.3 Creating a PDF
Use Macabacus to generate PDFs of print areas in your workbooks. There are a few differences between
Macabacus’ PDF functionality and Excel’s native PDF functionality:

Macabacus does not include anything outside of your print areas, since you presumably set print
areas to include exactly what you want to print/publish;

Macabacus can optionally recolor fonts to your default font color (typically black) for more
professional outputs;

Macabacus can optionally scan for formula errors before generating the PDF to avoid
embarrassing mistakes.
PDF options can be set in the Application Settings and Common Settings dialogs.
PDF to Email
PDF print areas from selected sheets and attach the PDF to a new Outlook email. You can optionally
choose to save a copy of the PDF to a folder (see below).
PDF to Folder
PDF print areas from selected sheets and save the PDF to the active workbook’s folder, Desktop,
Documents, or another folder you specify when prompted. You can optionally view the PDF in Windows
Explorer after it has been generated.
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3.9 View & Interface
3.9.1 View
Zoom In
Zoom in selected worksheets by a specified interval. Repeat the keystroke to continue zooming in. The
zoom interval can be set to 5%, 10%, 15%, or 20% in the Application Settings dialog on the Interface tab.
Ctrl
Alt
=
Default
shortcut
Zoom Out
Zoom out selected worksheets by specified interval. Repeat the keystroke to continue zooming out. The
zoom interval can be set to 5%, 10%, 15%, or 20% in the Application Settings dialog on the Interface tab.
Ctrl
Alt
-
Default
shortcut
Toggle Gridlines
Toggle gridlines on/off for the selected worksheet(s).
Ctrl
Alt
G
Default
shortcut
3.9.2 Print Areas
Hide Page Breaks
Hide page breaks on selected worksheets when in Normal View.
Ctrl
Alt
B
Default
shortcut
Smart Print Area
Set or add the current selection to the print area. If the active worksheet has no print areas set already,
the selected range will be set to the print area. If the active worksheet does have other print areas
already, Macabacus will ask whether you want to set the selected range as the print area, or add the
selected range to the print area. Performing this operation will put the active worksheet in Page Break
Preview mode.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
B
Default
shortcut
Set Print Areas
Set print areas for all selected worksheets to the address of the currently selected range. Performing this
operation will put the selected worksheets in Page Break Preview mode and retain their original zoom
levels (Excel randomly changes zoom level when setting Page Break Preview mode). You can select a
single range or even multiple non-contiguous ranges. With native Excel functionality, you must set print
areas of each worksheet individually. Access this tool from the Macabacus > View menu.
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Remove Print Areas
Remove print areas for all selected worksheets and set their view to Normal. To do this using native
Excel functionality, you must remove print areas on each worksheet individually. Access this tool from
the Macabacus > View menu.
3.9.3 Workspace
Maximize View
Toggle the visibility of various workspace items (e.g., Formula Bar, Status Bar, ribbon, row/column
headers, task panes) in Excel's application window to maximize the spreadsheet viewing area. This is
especially useful when screen real estate is limited (e.g., laptops). Maximize View is similar to Excel’s
native Full Screen mode available in some versions of Excel, except that the latter is for presentation only,
not editing–pressing the Escape key (necessary in the course of modeling) exits Excel’s native Full
Screen mode.
Exiting Maximize View
You must use the Maximize View keyboard shortcut to exit from maximized view, or restart Excel.
You can specify which workspace items Macabacus will hide/show from the Application Settings dialog,
and your Maximize View preferences can be loaded upon starting Excel. Some Macabacus notifications
and features may not work while the Status Bar is hidden.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
W
Default
shortcut
Excel 2003 Tab
For users who prefer the easy-to-use Excel 2003 menu/toolbar interface, or those transitioning from Excel
2003 to a newer version, Macabacus recreates the classic Excel 2003 menus and toolbars in a tab on the
Ribbon. We preserved most of the familiar Excel 2003 accelerator keystrokes, except you will have to
insert one intermediate keystroke, X, in order to activate the Excel 2003 tab. For example, the native
Alt>T>O sequence becomes Alt>X>T>O.
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3.10 File Operations
3.10.1 Quick Save
Macabacus’ Quick Save tools save workbooks without recalculating, regardless of your calculation
settings. This considerably reduces the amount of time spent saving a file, particularly in workbooks with
tables that are slow to calculate when saving using native Excel functionality.
Quick Save
Quick Save the active workbook.
Ctrl
Shift
S
Default
shortcut
Quick Save All
Quick Save all open workbooks.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
S
Default
shortcut
Quick Save As
Save as a new workbook using Quick Save functionality. Excel’s native shortcut keystroke for Save As is
F12, so Macabacus’ default Quick Save As shortcut, Alt+F12, should be easy to remember.
Alt
F12
Default
shortcut
Quick Save Up
Quickly save a workbook as a new version without recalculating, regardless of calculation settings. The
file name will be changed to reflect the incremented version number. For example, LBO_Model_v1.xlsx
will be saved as LBO_Model_v2.xlsx.
Shift
F12
Default
shortcut
3.10.2 Workbook Optimization
Name Scrubber
Your models can accumulate thousands of defined names over time, the vast majority of which you do
not use or even know about. These excess names can inflate the file size of your workbooks and make
them unstable. If you use FactSet, Capital IQ, or similar data add-ins, your workbooks will likely contain
dozens or hundreds of hidden names placed there but not used by those add-ins. Excel’s Name Manager
will not show you hidden names, making it impossible to manage those names natively.
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Macabacus’ Name Scrubber addresses many of the limitations associated with Excel’s native Name
Manager, and provides advanced functionality related to defined names, letting you:

Search for names containing specified text, with autosuggest functionality (useful when searching a
large collection of names);

Remove unused names from your workbooks;

Use filters to view the names you want—visible, hidden, erroneous, linked, or unused;

View hidden names;

Apply names to formulas, replacing cell references with names;

Unapply names in formulas, replacing names with the cell references;

Hide and unhide names;

Trace dependencies for names in your workbooks (a useful check before deleting names to avoid
#REF! errors);

Navigate to cells using selected names in their formulas.
Access Name Scrubber from the Macabacus > File > Optimize menu.
Style Scrubber
Workbooks can accumulate thousands of unused Excel styles over time, bloating file size and making
workbooks unstable. 65,000+ styles is the workbook limit, and it is surprisingly common to reach that
limit. Excel only lets you delete styles one-by-one, requiring hours, months, or years (if you are so
inclined) to manually delete all unused styles. Macabacus solves this problem, letting you delete many
Excel styles at once using the Style Scrubber dialog accessed from the Macabacus > File > Optimize
menu.
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Macabacus Styles
This tool removes native custom Excel styles, not native built-in styles or Macabacus styles. To
remove Macabacus styles, see the Styles tab in the Application Settings dialog.
There are free utilities that can also remove multiple styles at once, but they share two major deficiencies
with Excel’s native style removal capabilities: (a) they cannot delete corrupt styles, and (b) they delete all
custom styles, including those that are in use, which may require extensive reformatting.
The Style Scrubber dialog shows you which styles are used and which are not, so that you don’t
unintentionally delete styles in use. If Macabacus cannot delete a style upon the first attempt, the style is
likely corrupt. Corrupt styles often have names that include foreign or non-standard characters.
Macabacus will prompt you to perform a Deep Clean to remove corrupt styles. Deep Clean creates a
copy of the active workbook and removes corrupt styles from the copied workbook.
Clean Used Ranges
This tool forces Excel to recalculate used ranges on each worksheet to reduce file size and possibly
improve the performance of some Excel add-ins, including Macabacus. Click the Macabacus > File >
Optimize > Clean Used Ranges button to run this utility.
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3.11 Cell Comments
Fix Comment
Cell comments can become displaced relative to their parent cells, and/or become flattened (height =
zero) very quickly while modeling. Macabacus’ Fix Comment tool restores selected cells’ comments to
their default positions relative to their parent cells, and optionally resizes. When multiple worksheets are
selected, this operation will be performed on all comments on those sheets.
From the Miscellaneous tab in the Application Settings dialog, you can specify whether you want to both
reposition and resize comments, or just reposition them. If you elect to resize comments, you can specify
whether you want Macabacus to resize comments to fit content, or resize comments to default
dimensions.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
X
Default
shortcut
Delete Comment
Delete comments from selected cells. When multiple worksheets are selected, all comments on those
sheets will be deleted. This is much faster than the Excel’s native and labor-intensive Shift+F2 > Esc >
Delete sequence otherwise required for each individual cell containing a comment you want to delete.
Ctrl
Alt
Shift
D
Default
shortcut
Delete Empty Comments
Delete all comments in the active workbook that contain no text other than the author's name.
Remove Author
Remove the author’s name from all cell comments in the active workbook. This might be handy when you
want to send a workbook to a client but maintain anonymity for the workbook's creator, for example.
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3.12 Keyboard
3.12.1 Shortcuts
The Shortcut Manager dialog, accessible from the Macabacus > Settings > Keyboard menu, is used to
manage shortcut keystroke settings.
The shortcuts list can be sorted by action name, utility, or keystroke. The utility of a shortcut reflects its
expected frequency of use and its estimated time savings benefit. The higher the utility, the more
important the shortcut is to learn.
The Shortcut Manager resides in a pane at the edge of the Excel application window, making it easy to
learn Macabacus' shortcuts while you work.
Edit Shortcuts
You may want to customize your Macabacus
shortcut keystrokes to mimic another add-in
or deconflict hotkey assignments where
multiple add-ins have one or more shortcut
keystrokes in common. Shortcut assignments
for other add-ins cannot be editing using the
Shortcut Manager.
To edit a shortcut keystroke, select the
shortcut from the list and either (a) key the
new keystroke or (b) use the controls at the
bottom of the Shortcut Manager to assign and
save the new keystroke. When using the
controls to edit shortcuts, you must click the
save button to retain each of your changes.
To remove a shortcut (delete its keystroke
assignment), simply uncheck it. Even after
removing a shortcut, you can still access its
underlying functionality from the Macabacus
tab.
Reset Shortcuts
Click the Reset All or Reset button to restore
all or specifically selected shortcut keystrokes
to their default Macabacus settings. You will
be prompted to confirm that you want to
continue before resetting all keystrokes.
Clear Shortcuts
By default, Macabacus will assign its shortcut
keystrokes upon opening Excel (assuming no
conflicts with other add-ins). However, if you
do not want Macabacus’ shortcut keystrokes to be set upon opening Excel, click the Clear All button to
uncheck and disable all shortcuts listed in the Shortcut Manager. You can then selectively recheck only
those shortcuts that you wish to use.
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Override
If you have other Excel add-ins installed, their hotkey assignments (shortcut keystrokes) may conflict with
Macabacus. Shortcut assignments are given priority based on the order in which add-ins are loaded
when starting Excel, and the load order for add-ins is unpredictable. Therefore, it may be necessary to
override other installed shortcuts after starting Excel to ensure that all Macabacus shortcuts work. Note
that you can also deconflict hotkey assignments using the Shortcut Manager, avoiding the need to
override altogether. To override all other shortcut keystroke settings, click the Macabacus > Settings >
Keyboard > Override button.
Restore
If you backed up your Macabacus shortcut settings to an XML file in an older version of Macabacus,
where shortcuts are backed up separately from other Macabacus settings, you can import these settings
into a newer version of Macabacus by clicking the Macabacus > Settings > Keyboard > Restore Settings
button.
Print Shortcuts
Click the Macabacus > Settings > Keyboard > Print button to open a new workbook containing a list of all
Macabacus shortcut keystrokes that can be printed for convenient reference. You can reformat the list or
sort shortcuts by name, keystroke, category, or utility before printing.
Troubleshooting Shortcuts
If you are experiencing problems with Macabacus' keyboard shortcuts, the most likely scenario is that you
have add-ins (e.g., Cap IQ) or other software installed whose shortcuts conflict with Macabacus'
shortcuts. Add-ins are loaded in whatever order Excel decides. The latest-loaded add-ins are those whose
shortcut keystroke assignments prevail. Perform the following steps to resolve shortcut issues:
1. Click the Macabacus > Settings > Keyboard > Override button to override any shortcut conflicts with
other add-ins. This solves most shortcut-related problems.
2. If step 1 did not solve your problem, click the Macabacus > Settings > Keyboard > Shortcut Manager
button. Confirm that the shortcut keystrokes you are attempting to use are indeed assigned to their
intended operations.
3. If Macabacus shortcuts are still not working, confirm whether all Macabacus shortcuts are affected,
or just a few. Try some formatting-related shortcuts as well as some non-formatting-related
shortcuts.
4. Open a blank workbook and try the failing shortcuts there.
5. If some formatting-related shortcuts fail to work properly in the original workbook, but work correctly
in a blank workbook, the problem could be that your original workbook contains too many number
formats or styles. If so, try cleaning up your workbook using Macabacus’ workbook optimization
tools at Macabacus > File > Optimize.
6. Do the buttons on the Macabacus tab in the ribbon that correspond to the failing shortcuts also fail to
produce the expected result? If so, then the problem is broader in scope than shortcuts.
7. In the Shortcut Manager, click the Reset All button to return all shortcuts to their default settings and
attempt to use the shortcuts again. You may wish to back up your shortcut settings first.
8. If you are still experiencing difficulty, email [email protected] for help.
3.12.2 Disabled Keys
Advanced modelers often physically remove certain keys from their keyboards. These “nuisance” keys
serve little or no purpose in most Windows applications, and accidentally hitting them can slow down
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Excel or result in unexpected behavior. How many times have you hit the F1 key, pulling up Excel’s Help
dialog, when aiming for F2?
Macabacus offers a less destructive solution to these nuisance keys, letting users disable the F1, Insert,
Num Lock, and/or Scroll Lock keys, without requiring their physical removal. Go to the Macabacus >
Settings > Keyboard menu to selectively disable/enable these keys. Note that on some computers,
Macabacus may be unable to disable the Num Lock and Scroll Lock keys.
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3.13 Undo/Redo
The execution of any macro that makes a change to the spreadsheet destroys Excel's Undo/Redo stacks.
So, when you modify a formula and then run a macro to change number format, for example, you are
unable to use Excel's native Undo to revert to the original formula. This is a severe limitation of Excel, and
not a problem with the add-in or macro. There are no easy workarounds to this problem, unfortunately.
Excel add-ins and their users accept this loss of Undo/Redo functionality as a cost of doing business. In
other words, the benefits provided by add-ins and macros outweigh the cost of losing native Undo/Redo
capability. We believe customers of our enterprise-grade solutions shouldn't sacrifice anything to use our
tools. So, we built our own Undo/Redo stacks to track changes made to spreadsheets, restoring most of
this lost functionality. Why don't all Excel add-ins do this? Because managing custom Undo/Redo stacks
is prohibitively complex and expensive for most applications. Accordingly, very few add-ins have achieved
this advanced capability.
Macabacus’ Undo/Redo is designed to work seamlessly in the background, and uses the native Excel
shortcuts, Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y, and Quick Access Toolbar buttons to trigger Undo/Redo operations.
Macabacus’ Undo/Redo options can be set on the Undo/Redo tab of the Application Settings dialog (see
below). You can set the maximum number of cells for which Macabacus Undo/Redo is available—
however, too many cells may slow performance. Select which formatting properties you want Macabacus
to undo/redo (deselecting properties may improve performance), or disable Macabacus’ Undo/Redo
capability altogether.
Macabacus’ Undo/Redo solution is
not perfect due to limitations of
Excel’s development environment.
As a result, you may experience
differences between Macabacus’
Undo/Redo functionality and native
Undo/Redo functionality. For
example, Macabacus cannot undo
row/column insertion/deletion.
Undo
Undo the last action. Repeat to
undo additional actions.
Ctrl
Z
Redo
Redo the last action. Repeat to
redo additional actions.
Ctrl
Y
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4. PowerPoint Tools
4.1 Presentation Automation
4.1.1 Overview
Macabacus includes several powerful tools that automate and simplify the process of creating
professional, high quality presentations, while standardizing the appearance of presentations throughout
your organization. These tools include agenda functionality, which automatically populates a table of
contents (agendas) and flysheets (section divider slides) based on sections in your presentations, a slide
numbering tool to help you exercise greater control over slide numbering in your presentations, a slide
stamp tool that allows you to mark multiple slides at once with the customizable stamp of your choosing
(e.g., “CONFIDENTIAL,” “For Internal Use Only”), and more. These tools are discussed in more detail in
other sections of this documentation.
4.1.2 Macabacus-Enabled Templates
At the center of Macabacus’ presentation automation functionality is a presentation template—a standard
.potx file—specially configured to work with Macabacus’ presentation automation tools. Macabacus
installs with a sample template used to demonstrate the functionality of these presentation automation
tools and proper configuration of a Macabacus-enabled template. The sample template is good a
starting point if you are building a presentation template from scratch. If you already have a presentation
template that you want to use with Macabacus, you must enable it to work with Macabacus’ presentation
automation tools using this manual and Macabacus’ Template Wizard in PowerPoint to guide you.
Working with Templates
Creating and modifying presentation templates requires proficiency working in Slide Master view.
Accordingly, our larger customers tend to assign responsibility for presentation templates to their
presentation technologies, training, or IT professionals.
Using Multiple Templates
You probably will not require more than a single presentation template, but Macabacus can work with as
many as you like. For example, larger organizations might require a different template for each business
unit. Or, you might need one template designed for print and another designed for screen. If you have
multiple templates, you must instruct Macabacus which one to use by setting it as the “active” template
in the Application Settings dialog.
Template Features
Each Macabacus-enabled presentation template consists of up to six “special” layouts that work with
certain Macabacus presentation automation tools, and a handful of “content” layouts. Content layouts
are any layouts in your template not designated as special layouts. Content layouts can suggest general
layout possibilities, or have specific applications, such as team pages and credentials (“creds”) pages.
Both special and content layouts may contain “special” shapes used to implement agenda and slide
stamp functionality. Special layouts and special shapes are designated as such, using Macabacus’
Template Wizard in PowerPoint.
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Special Layouts
Title Page
The title page layout is intended to be used for the first slide in a presentation, unless a
separate cover page is present.
Agenda
The agenda layout can be used as your table of contents, or as a flysheet that divides
sections in a presentation, depending on your Macabacus settings. The agenda is
populated with section/subsection topics in your presentation.
Section
Divider
The section divider can be used as a flysheet when working with a table of contents. If
you are instead using agendas as flysheets, only the bullet numbering convention
found on this slide is used.
Legal
Notices
Some organizations include a slide with legal notices and disclaimers in each
presentation produced. The text on these slides is not editable by end users when the
template is properly configured using the Template Wizard.
Contact
Information
Some organizations include a slide with contact information, such as addresses,
phone numbers, and office locations, in each presentation they produce. The text on
slides using this layout is not editable by end users when the template is properly
configured using the Template Wizard.
Intentionally
Blank Page
This layout supports duplex (double-sided) printing and typically includes text like
“This page intentionally left blank.” Inserting intentionally blank slides before flysheets
can ensure that flysheets are always printed on the front of pages.
Special Shapes
Slide Stamps
Slide stamps are text placeholder shapes that may be included in any layout in a
Macabacus-enabled presentation template to convey the privacy level of a slide or
presentation, such as “CONFIDENTIAL” or “For Internal Use Only.” Slides should
normally have no more than two slide stamp placeholders. Slide stamps are optional,
but highly recommended for most layouts—particularly content layouts.
Section
Titles
Section titles are text placeholder shapes that may be included in any content layout in
a Macabacus-enabled presentation template to display the name of the preceding
section and/or subsection. Section titles provide the reader visual cues about the
relative positioning of a content slide in a presentation, and are updated automatically
when Macabacus updates the agenda. Section titles are optional.
Table of
Contents
Placeholder
(PowerPoint 2007 only) The table of contents slide contains a text placeholder shape
designated to hold section titles and, optionally, subtitles collected from flysheets in a
presentation. If a slide in the template is designated as a table of contents slide, then
a table of contents placeholder must be designated on that slide.
Flysheet
Title/Subtitle
(PowerPoint 2007 only) The flysheet layout contains text placeholder shapes for a
section title and subtitle. Text populating these placeholders is used to build the table
of contents.
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4.1.3 Configure Your Template
Getting Started
If you are creating a presentation template from scratch, consider using the sample template that installs
with Macabacus as your starting point and make formatting and layout adjustments as required. If you
are configuring an existing template to work with Macabacus, spend a little time understanding how the
sample template works in order to learn what layouts and shapes should be included in your template.
Ensure that your template is complete, including all desired layouts, formatting, etc., before configuring it
for Macabacus to minimize the chance that subsequent changes to your template “break” the
configuration. Your completed template should include a handful of content layouts and some “special”
layouts that serve specific purposes, such as a title page, flysheet, etc.
Do Not Preserve
Ensure that the Slide Master in your Macabacus-enabled template is not “preserved.” A preserved
Slide Master will have a small pin icon next to it in Slide Master view.
Slide Number Placeholders
Adding slide number placeholders to your template is a purely native operation (not related to
Macabacus), but one that is so often bungled that it is worth discussing here. To add slide number
placeholders to your template, select your Slide Master and click the Slide Master > Master Layout
button. Check the “Slide number” box in the dialog and click OK. Format the resulting slide number
placeholder as desired. Then, for each layout on which you want slide numbers to appear, check the
Slide Master > Footers checkbox.
No Slides Required
As of Macabacus for PowerPoint v4.2.0, slides are no longer required in your Macabacus-enabled
template; only layouts. However, the presence of slides in your template will not affect the operation
of Macabacus (for example, if you update Macabacus software but not your template).
Template Wizard
With your completed, pre-configuration presentation template open in PowerPoint, open the Template
Wizard (accessed from the Macabacus > Settings menu). If you created your template using the sample
that installs with Macabacus as your starting point, then you may want to proceed directly to the Validate
tab in Template Wizard to see if your template is already valid or, if not, what issues should be addressed
for your template to validate.
Name Your Layouts
On the Layout Names tab in Template Wizard, ensure that each layout’s name intuitively describes its
form or function, as layout names are visible in some native and Macabacus interfaces. You can edit
layout names directly on the Layout Names tab (similar to editing file/folder names in Windows Explorer),
or using native PowerPoint functionality. If you rename a layout using native PowerPoint functionality,
click the Refresh button in Template Wizard for the new name to appear.
Designate Special Layouts
Use the Special Layouts tab to designate non-content layouts in your template that serve specific
purposes (described above), and which must be explicitly identified for some presentation automation
tools to work.
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Agenda and Section Divider
The agenda layout actually serves two functions: it is used as the table of contents slide when a
presentation's flysheet style is set to “Topic,” or as a flysheet when a presentation’s flysheet style is set to
“Agenda.” Although the section divider slide only appears in a presentation if its flysheet style is set to
“Topic,” the bullet formatting (described below) on this slide determines the section numbering/lettering
convention shown in the agenda. Therefore, you must include the section divider layout in your template
to work with agendas, even if you never use a section divider slide in your presentations.
Legal Notices
The legal notices layout is commonly used for required disclosures and disclaimers. To prevent end
users from manipulating text on legal notices slides, set the body text of the slide directly in its layout in
Slide Master view (as demonstrated in the sample template that installs with Macabacus).
Intentionally Blank Slide
The intentionally blank layout supports duplex (double-sided) printing. For example, inserting intentionally
blank slides before flysheets can ensure that flysheets are always printed on the front of pages. Include
text such as “This page intentionally left blank” in the middle of the slide’s layout in a textbox—not
placeholder—to prevent editing. The intentionally blank slide's layout must not include a slide number
placeholder shape to ensure consistency in numbering between duplex-printed presentations and onscreen presentations.
Designate Special Shapes
Use the Shapes tab in the Template Wizard to designate shapes in your template as “special” shapes.
Special shapes must be explicitly identified for some Macabacus features to work, and include:
Agenda Shapes
The agenda layout (in Slide Master view) should contain several hidden shape groups containing
textboxes or AutoShapes (but not text placeholders), which are used to hold section/subsection numbers,
topics, and slide numbers. This is best explained by examining a live example, so open the sample
template that installs with Macabacus. With the agenda layout selected in Slide Master view, open
PowerPoint’s Selection Pane from the Home tab. You should see five hidden shape groups, as described
below. Unhide them.
Agenda Level 1
This required group normally contains section numbers/letters, topics, and slide
numbers at indent level 1.
Agenda Level 1
Active
This group normally contains section numbers/letters, topics, and slide numbers at
indent level 1. If you are using flysheet style “Agenda,” this group is required and
reflects formatting of the active section.
Agenda Level 2
This required group normally contains subsection numbers/letters, topics, and slide
numbers at indent level 2.
Agenda Level 2
Active
This group normally contains subsection numbers/letters, topics, and slide
numbers at indent level 2. If you are using flysheet style “Agenda,” this group is
required and reflects formatting of the active subsection.
Agenda Level 3
This optional group is used only with flysheet style set to “Topic,” and most
commonly contains slide titles and slide numbers at indent level 3.
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Next, note the bracketed text in each of the grouped shapes, which tells Macabacus what purpose each
shape serves:
[#]
This is where Macabacus places the section/subsection number or letter (e.g., 2, B,
b, II, ii).
[Topic]
This is where Macabacus places the section/subsection topic, or when using
flysheet style “Topic,” any other shape text you choose to include in the table of
contents.
[P]
This is where Macabacus places the slide number on which the section/subsection
begins, or when using flysheet style “Topic,” the slide number of any shape marked
for inclusion in the table of contents.
Once you have positioned and formatted your agenda shapes in Slide Master view in your own template,
ensure that you:

Group shapes as shown in the sample template. Each group should contain a single section
letter/number, topic, and slide number textbox (slide numbers are not required, but recommended);

Use the exact grouped shape naming convention as shown above (e.g., “Agenda Level 1”);

Use the exact bracketed text shown above to denote shape function (e.g., “[#]”); and

Hide the agenda shape groups before leaving Slide Master view.
Section Topic Placeholder
The section divider layout must contain one text placeholder shape with numbered bullets at indent levels
1 and 2. This placeholder is populated with section/subsection topics when updating the agenda, if the
presentation's flysheet style is set to “Topic.” The bullet style used in this placeholder shape determines
the numbering convention that Macabacus uses when creating the agenda, even if the section divider
slide itself is not used within your presentation (i.e., flysheet style is set to “Agenda”).
Section Title Placeholders
Section titles are optional textboxes (not to be confused with text placeholders) on content layouts in your
template used to display the name of the preceding section/subsection. Designate these textboxes as
section titles on the Shapes tab in the Template Wizard while in Slide Master view. If section titles are
present in multiple layouts in your template, check the “Apply designation to similar shapes in other
layouts” box to avoid having to individually designate similar shapes in multiple layouts, which could be
tedious. With this option checked, Macabacus looks for shapes in other layouts with the same position
and dimensions as the designated shape and applies the designation to those shapes as well. Therefore,
it is important that all section titles have uniform positioning and dimensions. Section titles may only be
added to layouts, not the Slide Master.
Slide Stamps
Slide stamps are optional textboxes (not to be confused with text placeholders) used to display slide
markings such as “CONFIDENTIAL” or “DRAFT.” If you choose to use slide stamps, you will generally
want to include them on all content layouts, and perhaps some special layouts, within your template. You
may include multiple stamps in a single layout, although they will all contain the same text when updated.
Note that the default text entered in the template’s slide stamps is not particularly important, as the
stamp text will update when the end user applies a customizable, predefined stamp from the Macabacus
> Stamps menu. So, you could populate your stamps with dummy text, such as “STAMP.”
Designate these textboxes as slide stamps on the Shapes tab in Template Wizard while in Slide Master
view. If stamps are present in multiple layouts in your template, check the “Apply designation to similar
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shapes in other layouts” box to avoid having to individually designate similar shapes in multiple layouts,
which could be tedious. With this option checked, Macabacus looks for shapes in other layouts with the
same position and dimensions as the designated shape and applies the designation to those shapes as
well. Therefore, it is important that all such slide stamps have uniform positioning and dimensions. Slide
stamps may only be added to layouts, not the Slide Master.
First Content Layout
Keep in mind that the first content (non-special) layout in your template is the layout Macabacus uses
when you create a new single-slide presentation, also known as a “rider,” when clicking the Macabacus >
New > New Slide button. Therefore, the first content layout in your template should be a simple layout
intended for general use, rather than a purpose-specific layout.
Check Your Template
When you have configured your template as described above, proceed to the Validate tab in the Template
Wizard to verify the integrity of your Macabacus-enabled template. Macabacus performs numerous
checks to ensure that your template is properly configured, and will provide warnings or errors when any
problems are found. Errors must be addressed in order for the template to work properly, and warnings
should be given appropriate consideration.
The Summary tab provides an overview of the special layouts and shapes identified in your presentation
template. Clicking on the items in each list will navigate to the selected layout/shape. Spend a moment
navigating to all of the special layouts slides and shapes to ensure that they are properly designated and
that nothing has been missed that the validation check might not reveal.
4.1.4 Publish Your Template
After configuring your template, publish it to the personal, team, or company library by clicking the
Macabacus > Settings > Libraries > Publish Master button in PowerPoint, Excel, or Word. You will be
prompted to select a presentation template to publish, and to specify a document group to which the
template should be published. If the path to the library to which you are publishing is not set, Macabacus
will prompt you to choose a library folder.
To publish to the company library, either (a) activate Macabacus using the email address of a
Macabacus account administrator, or (b) run PowerPoint as a Windows administrator. This prevents
unauthorized changes by end users.
4.1.5 Use Your Template
Setting the Active Template
Once you have added one or more Macabacus-enabled presentation templates to the Template Library,
open the Application Settings dialog in PowerPoint from the Macabacus > Settings menu and select a
presentation template to be used as the “active” template. Macabacus uses the active template in the
various applications described below. The sample template that installs with Macabacus is set as the
active template by default.
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4.2 New Presentations & Slides
New Presentations
Clicking the Macabacus > New > New Presentation button will create a new presentation based on the
active template. If you want Macabacus to use the active template for all new presentations, such as
those created using native PowerPoint functionality, then check the “Use template for all new
presentations” checkbox in the Application Settings dialog. With this option checked, a new Macabacusenabled presentation will be created upon (a) starting PowerPoint, (b) keying the native Ctrl+N shortcut,
and (c) clicking the native New button in Backstage view, rather than a default presentation with a single
blank slide.
In the Application Settings dialog, you can specify which special slides (e.g., title page, legal notices) and
sections (i.e., flysheets) to include in new Macabacus-enabled presentations by default, which will help
you “hit the ground running” with new presentations, rather than starting from scratch every time.
Adding Slides
You can add special slides and content slides from the active template to your presentation using the
Macabacus > New menu. Use this menu to add special slides to your presentation, rather than adding
them using native PowerPoint functionality, since Macabacus may perform presentation automation
operations behind-the-scenes when adding special slides. For example, when adding intentionally blank
slides, Macabacus can optionally add them throughout the presentation as required to support duplex
printing. On the other hand, adding content slides from this menu is no different from adding them
natively, except that Macabacus allows you to add multiple content slides at once in the New Content
Slide dialog.
Apply the Active Template
If you have a presentation that was not created using your Macabacus-enabled template as its
foundation, you can apply your Macabacus template to the presentation by clicking the Macabacus > New
> Apply Active Template button. This will add the Slide Master and its custom layouts from your
Macabacus template to the presentation. If any existing Slide Masters in the presentation are not
preserved, they will be automatically removed along with their layouts. If any are preserved, Macabacus
will prompt you to remove them and their layouts. Clicking No at this prompt appends the Slide Master
from your Macabacus-enabled template to existing Slide Masters in the presentation, resulting in multiple
Slide Masters.
Is My Master Preserved?
To tell if your presentation’s Slide Master is “preserved,” go to Slide Master view. If a pin icon
appears next to the Slide Master, it is preserved.
In general, you want to avoid having multiple Slide Masters in your presentations. Multiple Slide Masters
will unnecessarily bloat presentations and render some Macabacus presentation automation tools
inoperable/ineffective. Although the use of multiple Slide Masters is permissible in PowerPoint, and there
are valid use cases for it, we generally consider this poor practice more often resulting from an
oversight than intent. If you think your presentation requires multiple Slide Masters, try creating separate
Macabacus-enabled templates—one for each Slide Master—and then apply them individually as desired.
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4.3 Agendas
4.3.1 Overview
Macabacus’ agenda tools are used to display the sections of your presentations in a table of contents, or
table of contents-like format, based on layouts in your Macabacus-enabled template and other settings.
The “agenda” is determined by the sequence of sections (a native PowerPoint feature) within your
presentation, and can be displayed on either a table of contents slide or on section dividers called
flysheets, depending on your preferences. A typical agenda layout will include placeholders for section
numbers/letters, section topics, and page numbers where sections begin. Flysheets are slides that
appear as the first slide in a section.
Agenda tools are deeply integrated with native PowerPoint sections, introduced in PowerPoint 2010. This
integration allows your agenda to be updated automatically when performing native section operations,
such as adding, renaming, and deleting sections. If your Macabacus-enabled presentation template
includes section title placeholders–placeholders on contents slides showing the parent
section’s/subsection’s topic–section titles will be updated whenever the agenda is updated, too.
PowerPoint 2007
PowerPoint 2007 does not support sections. You can still create and update the table of contents
with Macabacus in this version of PowerPoint, but many of the other functions described herein do
not apply to PowerPoint 2007.
While native PowerPoint functionality supports only one section level, Macabacus lets you create
subsections by prepending an ampersand (“@”) to the section name (topic). The leading ampersand tells
Macabacus to treat the section as a subsection when populating the agenda. Sections and subsections
usually have different indent levels and/or section numbering/lettering conventions, as defined in your
Macabacus-enabled template.
4.3.2 Agenda Options
Macabacus supports two ways to display agendas in your presentation. You can either (a) show a single
agenda on a table of contents slide towards the front of your presentation, with flysheet slides displaying
only the section/subsection topic; or (b) show the agenda on every flysheet with the active section
highlighted (no table of contents). These options are referred to as flysheet styles “Topic” and “Agenda,”
respectively, and the styles can be switched back and forth with the click of a button. Default agenda
options, including flysheet style, can be set in the Application Settings dialog, and also at the presentation
level if you need to deviate from the default settings for an individual presentation.
Flysheet Style “Topic”
With the flysheet style set to “Topic,” only the preceding section/subsection’s name (topic) is displayed
on the flysheet, along with the section number/letter. If applicable, a table of contents slide is populated
with section/subsection topics, as well as section numbers/letters and page numbers. The layouts of
flysheet and the table of contents slides, including section numbering/lettering convention, are derived
from your Macabacus-enabled presentation template. You can optionally exclude subsection topics from
the table of contents, showing only main section topics.
While your table of contents will most often include only section and subsection topics, you can
designate other shapes in your presentation whose text you want to include as agenda items in your table
of contents, such as slide titles. From the Agenda menu on the Macabacus tab, specify whether you want
the selected shape's text to appear at indent level 1, 2, or 3 in your table of contents, and whether you
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want to include similar shapes (such as all slide titles) in the table of contents. You can also unmark
shapes previously marked for inclusion in the table of contents.
Flysheet Style “Agenda”
With the flysheet style set to “Agenda,” the entire presentation agenda derived from section names
(topics) is displayed on each flysheet, with the active section highlighted per formatting preferences set
in your Macabacus-enabled presentation template. There is no need for a dedicated table of contents
slide, as the agenda is already displayed on each flysheet. This flysheet style may be preferable for more
formal or perhaps longer presentations, and provides the following options:
Collapse Subsections
Enabling this option hides subsection topics on flysheets if the subsection is not within the current
section. This lets you fit more agenda items on a single flysheet, and improves readability.
Omit Double Flysheets
Enabling this option instructs Macabacus not to generate a section flysheet when the next slide is a
subsection flysheet. This avoids back-to-back section/subsection flysheets, reducing presentation length
and minimizing printing costs.
Skip Double Flysheets
Enabling this option tells PowerPoint to skip section flysheets during slide shows when the next slide is a
subsection flysheet. This avoids showing back-to-back section/subsection flysheets during slide shows.
4.3.3 Getting Started with Agendas
Configure Your Template
Before working with agendas, you must have configured your Macabacus-enabled template to support
agenda functionality. This template must be set as the active template in the Application Settings dialog.
The Template Wizard can help you with this configuration. Macabacus uses the “agenda” and “section
divider” layouts in your template to build agendas.
Configure Agenda Settings
Set your default agenda preferences on the Agenda tab of the Application Settings dialog. These settings
will be applied when generating and updating flysheets/tables of contents, but can be overridden for
individual presentations on the Agenda menu on the Macabacus tab in PowerPoint.
Add Sections to Your Presentation
Macabacus relies on native PowerPoint sections in your presentation to build and update agendas on
flysheets and the table of contents, if applicable. To treat a native section as a subsection, prepend an
ampersand to the section name (topic). Since Macabacus integrates deeply with native section
operations, you should now have flysheets, and if applicable, a table of contents slide populated with
section/subsection topics.
4.3.4 Section Titles
Section titles are textboxes that appear on content slides in your presentation used to display the name
(i.e., topic, title) of the preceding section/subsection. Section titles provide the reader with visual cues
about the relative positioning of a content slide in a presentation, and are updated automatically when
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Macabacus updates the agenda. Section titles are optional, and must be designated in the active
template in order to use section title tools.
You can toggle the visibility of section titles from the Macabacus > Agenda menu. If you move slides to
other sections in your presentation, you can force a refresh of section titles by toggling their visibility off,
then back on. When showing section titles, if a content slide’s preceding flysheet represents a section,
then the section’s name will appear on the slide. Alternatively, if a content slide’s preceding flysheet
represents a subsection, then both the preceding section and subsection’s names will appear on the slide,
separated by a customizable character. The separator character is a slash (“/”) by default, but you can
change this character on the Agenda tab of the Application Settings dialog.
If you have a slide in your presentation that was not created using a Macabacus-enabled presentation
template layout, you can still add a section title to the slide. In Slide Master view, find the slide’s layout
and add a textbox (not text placeholder) that will contain the section title text. The new textbox should
normally conform to the position, size, and format of section title textboxes in other layouts. With the
new textbox selected, click the Macabacus > Agenda > Mark as Section Title button. If another layout in
your presentation already supports section titles, you can simply copy its section title textbox and paste it
into the desired layout instead, without explicitly marking it as a section title (since it is already marked).
4.3.5 Integration with Native Sections
Macabacus integrates deeply with native PowerPoint sections to facilitate automatic updating of
agendas and section titles on content slides, if applicable, when sections are modified using native
PowerPoint operations. For example, when you add a new native section, Macabacus will automatically
insert a flysheet as the first slide in that section. In addition, when you rename a section, Macabacus will
update the flysheet(s) and table of contents accordingly. This integration can be disabled, if desired, on
the Agenda tab of the Application Settings dialog. Macabacus integrates with the following native
section operations, depending on your version of PowerPoint:
PowerPoint 2016
Add sections, rename sections, delete a single section, delete a single section
(including slides), delete all sections, move sections up, move sections down
PowerPoint 2013
Add sections, rename sections, delete a single section, delete a single section
(including slides), delete all sections, move sections up, move sections down
PowerPoint 2010
Add sections, rename sections, delete a single section, delete all sections
PowerPoint 2007
Sections not supported
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4.4 Slide Numbering
PowerPoint’s native slide numbering functionality is limited and produces results that are not always
consistent with your expectations or needs. Macabacus’ slide numbering tool allows you to manage slide
numbers with greater control, letting you determine where slide numbers appear, in what sequence, and
at what starting slide number. To manage slide numbers, open the Slide Numbers dialog by clicking the
Macabacus > Numbers button.
4.4.1 Slide Number Visibility
The Slide Numbers dialog lets you quickly toggle the visibility of slide numbers on individual slides. You
can only toggle the visibility of slide numbers on slides whose layouts contain slide number placeholders.
When you toggle the visibility of a slide number off and then back on, the number in the slide number
placeholder is automatically reset by PowerPoint to its default value, overriding any number sequence
changes applied as described below.
4.4.2 Number Sequence
Starting Slide Number
In the Slide Numbers dialog, check the “Start numbering at 1” checkbox to begin your slide numbers at 1,
regardless of the slide index. With this option checked, Macabacus will use 1 as the slide number on the
first slide in the presentation for which you have chosen to show slide numbers. Even if the first two
slides in your presentation are a cover page and a table of contents without slide numbers, you can still
show the slide number as 1 on the third slide.
Sequential Numbering
In the Slide Numbers dialog, check the “Sequential numbering” checkbox to tell Macabacus not to skip
numbers when numbering slides. For example, if you have a presentation with a single flysheet, and the
flysheet does not contain a slide number (or you have chosen to hide it in the Slide Numbers dialog).
With this option enabled, if the slide before the flysheet is numbered 4, the slide after the flysheet will be
numbered 5 (as if the flysheet was not there). Without this option enabled, the slide after the flysheet
would be numbered 6, as if the flysheet was numbered 5.
Automatic Updating
When you use PowerPoint’s default slide numbering convention, slide numbers update
automatically as you move, add, or remove slides in a presentation. However, after numbering slides
as described above (or even after manually editing slide numbers), affected slide numbers no longer
update automatically. This is expected PowerPoint behavior.
Therefore, it may be appropriate to wait to renumber slides until the presentation is otherwise
finalized and “ready for print,” and tolerate PowerPoint’s native slide numbering while you are
drafting the presentation.
Reset Numbering
Click the Reset button in the Slide Numbers dialog to use PowerPoint’s native slide number sequence,
overriding any number sequence changes applied as described above and allowing slide numbers to
update automatically.
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4.4.3 Legacy Slide Numbers
Microsoft changed how slide numbers are implemented in PowerPoint 2007. Most PowerPoint users
have fully embraced the new methodology, although old presentations and templates using the legacy
convention still exist (particularly in larger organizations). While PowerPoint somewhat supports legacy
slide numbering for backward compatibility, continued use of the legacy convention in newer versions of
PowerPoint is not recommended and will eventually create problems with slide numbering. Accordingly,
Macabacus' support for legacy slide numbering is limited.
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4.5 Slide Stamps
Slide stamps are textbox shapes commonly used to convey the privacy level of a slide or presentation,
such as “CONFIDENTIAL” or “For Internal Use Only.” You can add slide stamps to all slides in your
Macabacus-enabled presentations whose layouts support slide stamps by clicking the desired stamp on
the Macabacus > Stamps menu. Hide slide stamps on all slides by clicking the Macabacus > Stamps >
Hide Stamps button.
You can customize the stamps available in the Macabacus > Stamps menu in the Application Settings
dialog, accessed from the Macabacus > Settings menu. If your administrator has restricted changes to
slide stamps via Shared Settings, you will be unable to modify the available stamps unless you are a
Macabacus account administrator or run PowerPoint as a Windows administrator.
If you have a slide in your presentation that was not created using a Macabacus-enabled presentation
template layout, you can still add a stamp to the slide. In Slide Master view, find the slide’s layout and
add a textbox (not text placeholder) that will contain the slide stamp text. The new textbox should
normally conform to the position, size, and format of slide stamp textboxes in other layouts. With the
new textbox selected, click the Macabacus > Stamps > Mark as Stamp button. If another layout in your
presentation already supports slide stamps, you can simply copy its stamp textbox and paste it into the
desired layout instead, without explicitly marking it as a stamp (since it is already marked).
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4.6 Presentation Proofing
Overview
Macabacus ensures the highest possible presentation quality by checking slides for consistency in
formatting, layout, and content. Using dozens of rules, Macabacus inspects slides for common errors,
such as duplicated words, missing closing parenthesis, inconsistent bullet punctuation, and much more.
Macabacus even proposes fixes to expedite the correction of mistakes.
Proofing Checks
Content
Punctuation
Spacing Incorrect
Checks for erroneous double spaces and incorrect spacing around
parentheses, square brackets, curly braces, slashes, dashes, and hyphens.
Punctuation
Spacing
Inconsistent
Checks consistency in spacing following sentence punctuation and colons (one
or two spaces), spacing around slashes and dashes, and spacing before
millions/billions abbreviations. Also checks for incorrect spacing around
hyphens.
Punctuation
Missing
Checks for missing opening/closing quotes, parentheses, square brackets, and
curly braces.
Duplicate Words
Checks for consecutively repeated words in a sentence.
Hyphenated Words
Checks for inconsistency in the hyphenation of words across all slides in a
presentation, and flags words that are improperly hyphenated.
Quotes Style
Checks for curved and straight quotes in a presentation, determines the
dominant convention, and flags non-conforming quotes as errors. Straight
quotes are often a result of pasting from non-Office applications, such as web
pages.
Apostrophes Style
Checks for curved and straight apostrophes in a presentation, determines the
dominant convention, and flags non-conforming apostrophes as errors.
Straight apostrophes are often a result of pasting from non-Office applications,
such as web pages.
Bullet Punctuation
Checks for consistency in bullet punctuation within a block of text.
Grammar
Checks for common grammatical mistakes.
Number
Abbreviation
Checks for consistency in millions/billions abbreviations used throughout a
presentation.
Chart Elements
Checks for missing or improperly formatted chart elements (e.g., data labels,
legend entries).
Slide Titles
Checks title capitalization convention (title case or sentence case) across a
presentation and flags titles that do not conform. Also, checks for slide title
placeholders that contain no titles.
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Slide Numbers
Checks for missing slide numbers on content slides, when the presentation
convention is to show slide numbers, and flags slide numbers when the
presentation convention is to NOT show slide numbers.
Footnotes
Checks that numbered footnotes within the slide content have explanations in
the slide footer. Also, checks that footnote numbering appears in sequential
order, starting with one.
Dummy Text
Check for square brackets within a presentation, which are commonly used as
placeholders for future text.
Image Distortion
Checks images for scale height not equal to scale width, indicating distortion.
Table of Contents
Updated
Checks that the table of contents reflects section titles and subtitles appearing
on flysheet slides.
Links to Excel/
PowerPoint
Checks for broken links in shapes linked to Excel/PowerPoint, and for
potentially newer versions of source workbooks/presentations.
Format
Line Spacing
Checks for inconsistent line spacing within a block of text.
Bullet Indentation
Checks for inconsistent bullet indent margins within a block of text.
Bullet Font Family
Checks for inconsistent bullet font families within a block of text.
Bullet Size
Checks for inconsistent bullet size (relative to text) within a block of text.
Color Palette
Conformity
Checks for font, fill, and border colors that are not consistent with your
Macabacus color palette colors.
Semi-Transparent
Fills
Checks for semi-transparent fill colors that do not print or PDF well, and which
can increase PDF attachment loading time, especially on mobile devices.
Multiple Font
Families
Checks for multiple font families within a paragraph, which could signal poor
readability.
Placeholder Fill
Mismatch
Checks for placeholder fill colors that deviate from the slide master.
Placeholder Font
Style Mismatch
Checks for placeholder font styles (font family, size) that deviate from the slide
master.
Placeholder Font
Color Mismatch
Checks for placeholder font colors that deviate from the slide master.
Placeholder Bullet
Mismatch
Checks for placeholder bullet styles that deviate from the slide master.
Proofing Language
Check for text that does not use the default proofing language, and which
PowerPoint may improperly flag as misspelled.
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Layout
Multiple Slide
Masters
Checks for multiple slide masters in a presentation, which increase file size and
can degrade PowerPoint and Macabacus performance.
Shape Out of Slide
Bounds
Checks for shapes that are partially outside of the slide boundaries.
Shape Overlapping
Text
Checks for shapes that overlap other shapes containing text.
Placeholder Layout
Mismatch
Checks for placeholders whose positions and/or dimensions deviate from the
slide master.
Placeholder Margin
Mismatch
Checks for placeholders whose internal textbox margins deviate from the slide
master.
Table Cell Margins
Checks that internal textbox margins for all cells in a table are equal.
Set Proofing Language
Sometimes, PowerPoint’s spell checker flags words as misspelled—using red squiggly underlines—that
are clearly not. This indicates that the proofing language for the flagged text is incorrectly set, which
frequently occurs when collaborating with colleagues in other countries, for example. You can set the
proofing language for a shape or other item containing text to the correct language using native
PowerPoint functionality. However, setting the proofing language for an entire presentation natively is
extremely tedious, since you must set the proofing language for each shape/item individually.
This is a significant problem that only a handful of third party solutions, including Macabacus, can
address. To set the proofing language for all text in the active presentation, select the applicable
language on the Macabacus > Proof > Set Proofing Language menu. Macabacus processes text in
obvious places, as well as AutoShapes, grouped shapes, tables, SmartArt, slide masters, layouts, and
slide notes. Other third party solutions frequently miss one or more of these locations. The languages
available in this menu are populated from the list of languages installed in Windows.
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4.7 Linking to Excel
This topic is covered here.
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4.8 Linking to PowerPoint
4.8.1 Overview
You can link PowerPoint slides and shapes to those used in other presentations, in much the same way
that you link to Excel. When inserting content using the Library pane (accessed from the Macabacus tab),
you are provided an option to link inserted slides/shapes to their source slides/shapes. You can also link
slides/shapes by copying them from other presentations and then clicking the Macabacus > Paste Link
button.
For example, suppose a slide in the shared Content Library contains year-to-date information and is
updated weekly. You add this slide to your presentation on May 1 using the Library pane, but on May 15
when you are putting the finishing touches on your presentation, that slide is already outdated. If you
linked the slide to its source when inserting in your presentation, you can simply click the Macabacus >
Update Link button to update it to the most current version.
4.8.2 Working with Links
Updating Links
Select one or more linked slides/shapes and click the Macabacus > Update Link button. The source
presentation does not need to be open to update linked slides/shapes.
Editing Links
Select one or more linked slides/shapes and click the Macabacus > Edit Link button. This opens the Edit
Link dialog that allows you to change the source presentation and the source slide/shape. For example,
you can use this dialog to relink a linked slide to a newer version of the source presentation.
Break Link
Select one or more linked slides/shapes and click the Macabacus > Break Link button. This removes the
link between the slide/shape and its source.
View Source
Select one or more linked slides/shapes and click the Macabacus > View Source button. If the source
presentation is already open it will be activated, and the source slide or shape will be made visible. If not,
Macabacus will open the source presentation.
Manage Links
You can manage multiple linked slides/shapes with the Manage Links dialog, accessed by clicking the
Macabacus > Manage button. With the Manage Links dialog you can perform the operations described
above on multiple linked slides/shapes simultaneously. For example, you would use this dialog to relink
all linked slides in a presentation to a newer version of the source presentation.
4.8.3 Migrating Links
When linking to slides or shapes in other PowerPoint presentations, the source slides/shapes in those
presentations are tagged with information identifying them as link sources. If source slides/shapes are
deleted or replaced, any pre-established links to them will be broken. This presents a problem when
updating the content in shared libraries, as the administrator of that content must be careful not to
unintentionally break links that could affect multiple end users’ presentations.
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For example, suppose a slide in a shared library contains year-to-date information and must be updated
weekly. Multiple Macabacus users link to this slide in their presentations. If the administrator of the
shared library simply adds the new slide and deletes the old one, all of those previously established links
would be broken.
The administrator should instead use the Migrate Links tool, accessible from the Macabacus tab in the
Links group, to migrate any existing links from the old slide to the new one, before deleting the old slide.
This will point the links in users’ presentations to the new slide, and the old slide can be safely deleted.
The Migrate Links tool works for migrating both slide and shape links.
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4.9 Working with Shapes
Macabacus includes several tools to reposition and resize shapes that pick up where native PowerPoint
functionality leaves off. These tools are located in the Shapes group on the Macabacus tab. Although a
few Macabacus shape tools appear to perform the same functions as native PowerPoint shape tools,
they are enhanced with additional functionality or more intuitive behavior relative to the native versions
they replace.
Copy/Apply Shape Properties
You can copy the properties of one shape and apply them to other shapes, even after the shape whose
properties were copied is deleted. The shape properties that can be applied are:
Width
Set the width of selected shapes to the width of the copied shape
Height
Set the height of selected shapes to the height of the copied shape
Size
Set the width and height of selected shapes to the width and height of the
copied shape
Top
Set the top position of selected shapes to the top position of the copied shape
Left
Set the left position of selected shapes to the left position of the copied shape
Size & Position
Set the size and position of selected shapes to the size and position of the
copied shape
Vertical Midpoint
Set the vertical midpoint of selected shapes to the vertical midpoint of the
copied shape
Horizontal Midpoint
Set the horizontal midpoint of selected shapes to the horizontal midpoint of the
copied shape
Rotation
Set the rotation of the selected shapes to the rotation of the copied shape
Textbox Margins
Set the textbox margins of selected images to the textbox margins of the
copied shape
Picture Scale
Set the scale width and height (%) of selected images to the scale width and
height of the copied image
Text
Set the text displayed in selected shapes to the text displayed the copied shape
Swap Positions
Swap the position of two shapes using one of several positioning options available on the Macabacus >
Swap Positions menu:
Top Left Anchor
Swap the top left positions of two selected shapes
Top Right Anchor
Swap the top right positions of two selected shapes
Bottom Left Anchor
Swap the bottom left positions of two selected shapes
Bottom Right Anchor
Swap the bottom right positions of two selected shapes
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Center Anchor
Swap the center positions of two selected shapes
The following example illustrates the behavior of Swap Positions using Top Right Anchor:
Stack Shapes
Use Stack Shapes tools to align the edges of shapes relative to one another. You can optionally specify a
gap (in inches, centimeters, or points) to be included between shapes.
Stack Left
Align selected shapes so that they are horizontally positioned at the right edges
of prior shapes in the selection, as determined by horizontal position
Stack Right
Align selected shapes so that they are horizontally positioned at the left edges
of subsequent shapes in the selection, as determined by horizontal position
Stack Up
Align selected shapes so that they are vertically positioned at the bottom edges
of prior shapes in the selection, as determined by vertical position
Stack Down
Align selected shapes so that they are vertically positioned at the top edges of
subsequent shapes in the selection, as determined by vertical position
The following example illustrates the behavior of the Stack Left tool:
Distribute Shapes
Distribute the width or height of selected shapes evenly over the aggregate bounds of the selected
shapes. You can optionally specify a gap (in inches, centimeters, or points) to be included between
shapes.
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Distribute
Horizontally
Distribute selected shapes’ widths evenly across the aggregate width of the
entire selection, such that the widths of all selected shapes are equal
Distribute Vertically
Distribute selected shapes’ heights evenly across the aggregate height of the
entire selection, such that the heights of all selected shapes are equal
The following example illustrates the behavior of the Distribute Horizontally tool. Note that rectangles 1,
2, and 3 initially have different widths and are spaced unevenly.
Conform Size
Conform the width, height, or both the width and height of selected shapes to the same dimension(s) as
the first selected shape. If only a single shape is selected, it will be sized relative to the slide. For
example, clicking the Macabacus > Conform Width button will set the width of the selected shape equal
to the width of the slide.
Align Shapes
Align all selected shapes with the first selected shape. You can align top, bottom, left, or right edges, or
horizontal or vertical midpoints. These functions are similar to PowerPoint’s native alignment tools,
except that selected shapes are always aligned to the first selected shape. On the other hand, when you
align shapes using native PowerPoint tools, it is not always clear (or intuitive) to which of the selected
shapes the others will align.
If only a single shape is selected, it will be aligned relative to the slide. For example, clicking the
Macabacus > Center Horizontally button will horizontally center the selected shape on the slide.
Select Match
Use Select Match to select multiple shapes on a slide with similar properties (e.g., width, color, shape
type). Suppose you have a map with dozens of map markers, and you need to recolor all of the orange
markers to blue. Select a single orange marker, set your match criteria to “Fill,” click the Macabacus >
Select Match button to select all orange markers, and reformat the selected markers as desired. You can
apply multiple match criteria, and select multiple shapes to match.
Record/Restore Size & Position
Click the Macabacus > More Shape Tools > Record Size & Position button to memorize the sizes and
positions of selected shapes. You can then move those shapes around on the slide—perhaps to uncover
and edit another shape—and then click the Macabacus > More Shape Tools > Restore Size & Position
button to restore the shapes’ original sizes and positions.
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Resize To
Conform the dimensions of one or more selected shapes to a customizable Standard Size, or a selected
range, chart, or other object in Excel/Word, from the Macabacus > Shape Size > Resize To menus.
Conform Adjustments
Adjustments are changes made to AutoShapes (e.g., arrows) by dragging their yellow handles. You can
set adjustments made in similar, selected AutoShapes to the adjustments in the first selected AutoShape
by clicking the Macabacus > More Shape Tools > Conform Adjustments button. To do this using native
PowerPoint functionality would require tedious and imprecise manual adjustment of each shape
individually.
Insert Text Box
When you insert a text box natively in PowerPoint, the resulting shape often requires painful formatting
changes to make it consistent with other text in your presentation and the formatting prescribed in your
slide master. When you insert a text box using Macabacus, however, Macabacus automatically applies
formatting to the new text box consistent with the formatting in the body placeholder in your slide master,
including bullet styles, font sizes, etc.
To insert a text box, click the Macabacus > Insert Text Box button. If a single shape is pre-selected, the
new text box’s dimensions will match the width and height of that shape.
Autofit Toggle
Toggle between PowerPoint’s “Do not Autofit” and “Resize shape to fit text” text box settings, and enable
text wrap for selected shapes. PowerPoint’s “Shrink text on overflow” setting is excluded from Autofit
Toggle because it produces unpredictable and inconsistent font sizes that leave your presentations
looking unprofessional. Text wrap should almost always be used, so Macabacus enables it by default
when you use Autofit Toggle. The Autofit Toggle button is on the Macabacus tab in the Text group.
Increase/Decrease Line Spacing
The Macabacus > Increase Line Spacing and Macabacus > Decrease Line Spacing buttons provide a fast,
accessible way to increase or decrease line spacing for all text within a shape. Key these buttons
repeatedly to increase/decrease line spacing further. This is a quick way to fit text within a shape.
Redact
Use Macabacus to redact (i.e., black out) acquirer or target company names or any other sensitive
information in your presentations. Macabacus replaces existing text with solid rectangles, which are
actually pipe (“|”) characters on a background matching the font color of the text being redacted (usually
black). You can redact selected text or redact all occurrences of a word or phrase in your presentation.
The width of the redaction rectangle very closely approximates the width of the original text to avoid line
wrapping changes that would otherwise affect the appearance of your slides.
Redacting tools are found under the Macabacus > Redact menu in the Text group. Redact Selection
works on pictures and charts in addition to text. Find & Redact can redact almost any text, including text
in tables, SmartArt, and speaker notes, but cannot redact text in images and does not redact text in
charts, slide masters, layouts, and slide comments. Original content redacted by Macabacus cannot be
viewed following redaction, aside from using PowerPoint’s Undo command.
Replace Fonts
Replace fonts in an entire presentation with a new font, including text in slide masters, layouts, tables,
charts, SmartArt, and speaker notes.
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Split Text
Split paragraphs in the selected shape into separate shapes by clicking the Macabacus > More Text Tools
> Split Text button.
Merge Text
To merge text from multiple shapes into a single shape:
1. Select the shape into which you want to merge text from other shapes.
2. With the first shape still selected, select the other shapes whose text you want to merge.
3. Click the Macabacus > More Text Tools > Merge Text button.
Ungroup Table
To split a table into individual text boxes, each representing a cell in the table, click the Macabacus >
More Text Tools > Ungroup Table button.
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4.10 Working with Colors
Recolor
Macabacus’ Recolor dialog, accessed via the
Macabacus > Recolor button, is essentially a
find-and-replace tool for colors in a
presentation. You can swap colors in an entire
presentation, a single slide, or a single shape,
specifying whether you want to replace the
font, fill, and/or border/line colors. Macabacus
can even swap colors in slide masters, custom
layouts, charts, tables, and SmartArt.
Macabacus cannot swap colors in pictures or
embedded objects.
Fix Transparent Fill
PowerPoint users often adjust the
transparency properties of shapes in order to
create lighter shades of darker colors. This is
poor practice, since semi-transparent colors
often reduce PDF and print quality, take longer
to load on screen (particularly on mobile
devices), and inflate file size. Click the
Macabacus > Fix Transparent Fill button to
replace semi-transparent colors in selected
shapes with a solid, lighter color that appears
identical to the semi-transparent color.
Fix Grayscale
In grayscale or black and white views, or in
presentations printed in black and white, colors
within shapes can sometimes appear too dark
or too light. Click the Macabacus > Fix
Grayscale button to correct the grayscale
appearance for all shapes in a presentation
prior to printing in black and white.
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4.11 Airplane Mode
Use Airplane Mode to redact (black out) logos in presentations for privacy when working in close
proximity to others, such as on an airplane. Macabacus considers a logo any picture that meets certain
size criteria. You can also explicitly identify pictures to be redacted in Airplane Mode.
Enable Airplane Mode by clicking the Macabacus > Airplane Mode toggle button in PowerPoint. All logos
in all open presentations will be redacted, including those on Slide Masters and their layouts. Upon
creating new presentations or opening existing presentations with Airplane Mode enabled, logos in those
presentations will automatically be redacted.
If you save and close a presentation while using Airplane Mode, logos in that presentation will remain
redacted. Keep this in mind if you are sharing the presentation with others (particularly those who do not
have access to Macabacus’ PowerPoint tools). If you, or someone else, later opens the presentation with
Airplane Mode disabled (or without access to Macabacus’ PowerPoint tools), the pictures will still appear
redacted. To unredact pictures, toggle Airplane Mode on and then off.
Peek
Right click on a redacted picture and select Airplane Mode > Peek in the context menu to view the picture
for a fraction of a second.
Include in Airplane Mode
Right click on an unredacted picture and select Airplane Mode > Include in the context menu to redact the
picture in Airplane Mode. You might do this if Macabacus does not automatically redact a picture that
you want redacted.
Exclude from Airplane Mode
Right click on a redacted picture and select Airplane Mode > Exclude in the context menu to prevent the
picture from being redacted in Airplane Mode. You might do this if Macabacus automatically redacted a
picture that you did not want to redact.
4.12 Miscellaneous
Send to End
Send slides selected in the thumbnails pane to the end of the presentation (to perhaps a “graveyard” or
appendix), without losing your place in the presentation. This is particularly handy if your presentation
has many slides that would require excessive scrolling to (a) drag or cut/paste the slides to the end of the
presentation and then (b) return to your original place in the presentation. The Send to End button is
found on the context menu that appears when you right click slides in the thumbnails pane.
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5. Word Tools
Macabacus for Word functionality is substantially similar to that described in other sections of this
manual.
Chapter 8 | Office 2007 Limitations
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