Forum Discussion
Group Auto Outline greyed out
Thanks for your post djclements. After reading it thru & some more thinking, I realised my original post was misleading.
My real problem is best explained in my one sentence buried inside my initial post -
I am trying to change the Collapse/Expand column showing the "-" or "+" symbol from the right (default) side to the left.
I then followed that with lots more words about Auto Outline not allowing me to do that, something it is not designed to do. Even my subject is misleading
Solution:
After some more digging, I have now discovered how to do what I wanted - forget Auto Outline, instead click on the bottom right portion of the "Group" section of the ribbon to get into Settings and there are the options I wanted. See screenshot below -
The only thing here is .. don't have a cell within a table selected because then access to Settings will also be greyed out (don't understand why, but that's what I see, & I can avoid it by selecting a suitable cell).
Thanks djclements for getting me to the right place to do what I wanted!
LudwigWN Without seeing more of your data, including how it's setup and structured, as well as the formulas used (or lack thereof), I can't say for sure what the specific problem is in your case. Having said that, here's what I know about using the Auto Outline feature in Excel...
- The data range must contain at least one formula row or column (ie: SUBTOTAL, AGGREGATE or SUM)
- When using a structured Excel table, the active cell must be a single cell outside of the table range
Example 1: no aggregate formulas present (Cannot create an outline) [FAILED]
Example 2: with formulas in the subtotal rows and columns [SUCCESS]
Example 3: with structured table selected (Auto Outline greyed out) [FAILED]
Example 4: with a single cell selected outside of the structured table [SUCCESS]
There may be other scenarios where the Auto Outline feature is greyed out or fails altogether. I'm afraid this is the extent of my knowledge on the subject, though. If none of the above tips apply to your specific situation, please provide additional details that may help in the troubleshooting process. Kind regards.
Thanks for your post djclements. After reading it thru & some more thinking, I realised my original post was misleading.
My real problem is best explained in my one sentence buried inside my initial post -
I am trying to change the Collapse/Expand column showing the "-" or "+" symbol from the right (default) side to the left.
I then followed that with lots more words about Auto Outline not allowing me to do that, something it is not designed to do. Even my subject is misleading
Solution:
After some more digging, I have now discovered how to do what I wanted - forget Auto Outline, instead click on the bottom right portion of the "Group" section of the ribbon to get into Settings and there are the options I wanted. See screenshot below -
The only thing here is .. don't have a cell within a table selected because then access to Settings will also be greyed out (don't understand why, but that's what I see, & I can avoid it by selecting a suitable cell).
Thanks djclements for getting me to the right place to do what I wanted!
I have a similar issue where I have used outline on two sections of the data already and when I captured more it won't let me outline that data the same way. It worked perfectly the first two times giving me totals of sections I wanted but no any cell within the table just greys out the commands. LudwigWN
LudwigWN Glad to hear you figured it out! Yes, I missed that sentence somehow (must've been skim reading and only saw the references to Auto Outline... sorry). You solved it, though. Congrats! 🙂
- Yes, teaches me to be more careful how I word something in future.
