Forum Discussion
Change the layout of my data
I would like to change the layout of my data from the course data for each student ID showing up in rows to course data being listed at the top in column headers and student IDs below. Sample file attached.
How do I do that?
Change From
| Student ID | Course 1 | Course 2 | Course 3 |
| 2 | 2021 FA2 MBA 504 | 2021 FA2 MBA 562 | 2022 SP1 MBA 514 |
| 3 | 2021 FA1 BAN 500 | 2021 FA2 MIS 592 | 2022 SP1 BAN 501 |
| 4 | 2021 SU1 MBA 516 | 2021 SU2 MBA 504 | 2021 FA1 MBA 508 |
Change To
| 2021 FA1 MBA 508 | 2022 SP2 MIS 503 | 2023 SP1 MBA 532 | 2024 SP1 MBA 516 |
| 6 | 51 | 66 | 151 |
| 10 | 54 | 67 | 36 |
13 | 58 | 74 |
Any ideas are greatly appreciated,
Ashley Adams
I suggest to add an additional sheet2 and enter the unique course descriptions in range A1:DJ1 (if there are 114 descriptions altogether).
Then you can enter below formula in A2 and fill over to DJ2:
=FILTER(sheet1!$A$3:$A$153;(sheet1!$C$3:$C$153=sheet2!A1)+(sheet1!$D$3:$D$153=sheet2!A1)+(sheet1!$E$3:$E$153=sheet2!A1)+(sheet1!$F$3:$F$153=sheet2!A1)+(sheet1!$G$3:$G$153=sheet2!A1))
Formula so far covers range for course1, course2 , course3, course4 and course5 which is column C, D, E, F and G in sheet1 but can easily be adapted to the remaining columns H to Q.
15 Replies
Ashley PowerQuery would be the easiest way out here. But, what you ask for will create a table with 45 rows and 218 columns, similar to OliverScheurich 's formula based solution. Personally, I would prefer the table with the Course names down one column (i.e. 218 rows) and the 45 columns with student ID's. But, that's up to you, of course.
The attached file contains both options. The queries are static and run off the dataset in your file. For now, it will not work if you add students or courses to the data, but with a few extra steps it can be made dynamic. Just didn't go all the way. This is just an example of what's possible.
By the way, I deleted the hidden sheets from your original file. They included links to other workbooks that disturbed matters quite a bit when opening and saving the file.
- I have not been able to get this solution out of my head. It's brilliant! Change the column headers to student IDs and rows to course names.
However, our business school is growing exponentially. Therefore, the number of students in the program may one day outnumber the number of courses.Ashley Fair enough! But even when you will have 1000 students and 500 courses, I guess it's unlikely that any given course will have more than 500 students. In your own example with 152 student, the most popular course had 45 participants. That's why I proposed the alternative (vertical) lay-out. Changing column names takes a few seconds and making it fully dynamic, perhaps a few minutes.
- The next step in the process is data entry into a registration system. From the preview, it looks like we would need the blank cells removed.
I suggest to add an additional sheet2 and enter the unique course descriptions in range A1:DJ1 (if there are 114 descriptions altogether).
Then you can enter below formula in A2 and fill over to DJ2:
=FILTER(sheet1!$A$3:$A$153;(sheet1!$C$3:$C$153=sheet2!A1)+(sheet1!$D$3:$D$153=sheet2!A1)+(sheet1!$E$3:$E$153=sheet2!A1)+(sheet1!$F$3:$F$153=sheet2!A1)+(sheet1!$G$3:$G$153=sheet2!A1))
Formula so far covers range for course1, course2 , course3, course4 and course5 which is column C, D, E, F and G in sheet1 but can easily be adapted to the remaining columns H to Q.
- Hi. We have been trying so hard to utilize your formula you posted so we can do multiple columns at a time but when we add in the plus signs we get a calc error. Below is the list of column formulas, any suggestions on how to combine them?
=FILTER(Students!A:D,Students!F:F="2022 SP1 MBA 504")
=FILTER(Students!A:D,Students!G:G="2022 SP1 MBA 504")
=FILTER(Students!A:D,Students!H:H="2022 SP1 MBA 504")
=FILTER(Students!A:D,Students!I:I="2022 SP1 MBA 504")
=FILTER(Students!A:D,Students!J:J="2022 SP1 MBA 504")
=FILTER(Students!A:D,Students!K:K="2022 SP1 MBA 504")
=FILTER(Students!A:D,Students!L:L="2022 SP1 MBA 504")
=FILTER(Students!A:D,Students!M:M="2022 SP1 MBA 504")
=FILTER(Students!A:D,Students!N:N="2022 SP1 MBA 504")
=FILTER(Students!A:D,Students!O:O="2022 SP1 MBA 504")
=FILTER(Students!A:D,Students!P:P="2022 SP1 MBA 504")
=FILTER(Students!A:D,Students!Q:Q="2022 SP1 MBA 504")=FILTER(Students!A:D,(Students!C:C="2022 SP1 MBA 504")+
(Students!D:D="2022 SP1 MBA 504")+
(Students!E:E="2022 SP1 MBA 504")+
(Students!F:F="2022 SP1 MBA 504")+
(Students!G:G="2022 SP1 MBA 504")+
(Students!H:H="2022 SP1 MBA 504")+
(Students!I:I="2022 SP1 MBA 504")+
(Students!J:J="2022 SP1 MBA 504")+
(Students!K:K="2022 SP1 MBA 504")+
(Students!L:L="2022 SP1 MBA 504")+
(Students!M:M="2022 SP1 MBA 504")+
(Students!N:N="2022 SP1 MBA 504")+
(Students!O:O="2022 SP1 MBA 504")+
(Students!P:P="2022 SP1 MBA 504")+
(Students!Q:Q="2022 SP1 MBA 504"))
Above formula works fine in my spreadsheet. If you only want the IDs to be returned, replace " Students!A:D " by " Students!A:A " .
=FILTER(Students!A:D,Students!G:G="2022 SP1 MBA 504")
This formula for example returns a calc error because course name 2022 SP1 MBA 504 doesn't exist in sheet Students in Column G (Course 5).
- The graduate school coordinator and I feel confident we can do this solution. May we post replies if we have questions?
You are welcome to post replies if you have questions. I’m glad my suggestion helped.
