Below is a statistical table from Eurostat that is tuned with in-cell graphics.

Tip 1: You can apply calculations to second parameter to fit the result into desired space (in this case, the numerical value is divided by 10)

Tip 2: Try experimenting with different characters for the repetition, like “-”, “o” as the first parameter for the function. You can also apply some other character at the end of the formula with “&”+[end character]

Excel in-cell graphics for improved readability

Subtotal() function is one of the features that can help you to organize the spreadsheets better and prevent messy calculation logics. Novice Excel users often use SUM() function in places where SUBTOTAL() would be more appropriate. For large tables this practice can produce unmanagable files and hard to find calculation errors.

SUBTOTAL is meant to calculate subtotals or summary rows in the middle of the data table. The important distinction between Subtotal and Sum is that Subtotal does not sum cells which contain another use of Subtotal. This prevents multiple sums.

Bad practice		Better solution
		*Subtotals of categories are calculated with SUBTOTAL as well

Using Subtotal instead of Sum() in formulas has the advantage, if you need to calculate over large number of subtotals and the table is long.

Be careful – if somebody else modifies the table and accidentally adds a row with SUM() function into the range that you sum with subtotal, then the result will be wrong.