New Releases Everywhere!
Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac and Microsoft Office 2016 for Windows have been released over the past couple of months.
Peltier Tech Chart Utility 2.0 (the current version) will not work in the commercial release of Office 2016, though it may load in Previews.
Peltier Technical Services has released an upgraded utility, Peltier Tech Charts for Excel 3.0, to correspond with the upgrade to Microsoft Office.
What’s New in Peltier Tech Charts for Excel 3.0
Peltier Tech Charts for Excel 3.0 will work in Office 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016 for Windows and Office 2011 and 2016 for Mac. Note that Office 2007 for Windows will no longer be “officially” supported after Microsoft’s Extended Support End Date of 10 October 2017, though the utility should still run fine.
Mac or Windows?
In the past, the Peltier Tech Utility had separate add-ins for Windows and for Mac. Users of both platforms had to purchase both add-ins (at a discount, of course). In contrast, the Peltier Tech Charts for Excel 3.0 will have a single add-in that runs equally well in both operating systems.
Excel and…
There will be a PowerPoint edition of Peltier Tech Charts for Excel 3.0, running right in PowerPoint. You will be able to insert and modify great charts right in PowerPoint, using your Excel data or entering your own in the PowerPoint chart’s datasheet. There may also be a Word edition of Peltier Tech Charts for Excel 3.0. Non-Excel versions of the utility will be available some time after the Excel version, and will be described elsewhere.
New Charts
Peltier Tech Charts for Excel 3.0 is not just a new number assigned to the same old program. There will be many new charts and features.
The upgraded utility will add simple Controls Charts. These will not replace the superb Statistical Process Control packages available for Excel, but they will satisfy the needs of users who only want a few simple run charts.
The utility will also introduce Grouped Box Plots, allowing multiple color-coded groups of boxes and whiskers.
Other chart types under consideration for the new utility are:
- Sensitivity Tornado Plots
- Floating Pareto Charts
- Gantt Charts
- Stacked Histograms and Cumulative Histograms
- Trellis Charts
Even though Microsoft Office 2016 will offer Waterfalls, Paretos, Histograms, and Box Plots (finally, right?), the Peltier Tech Utility will continue to offer these charts, for consistency and for users who are still using Excel 2013 and 2010.
Did I forget something? Let me know.
New Features
Numerous new features are being evaluated for Peltier Tech Charts for Excel 3.0, including:
- Move or Extend Chart Data for One or More Series
- Convert Pivot Charts to Regular Charts
- Extract Chart Data
- Enhanced Color Chooser
- Chart Deformatter (Cleaner)
- Regression with Confidence Intervals
- Chart Alignment Tools
- Series Namer
- Drag a Point to Change its Data
- Chart Zoomer: Draw a Box to Rescale Axes or Highlight Points
- Directory Tools
- Updates: when a new update is available, the utility will notify you, then install the new software
Something missing? Tell me about it.
Editions
There are Standard and Advanced Editions of Peltier Tech Charts for Excel 3.0. The Standard Edition has a lot of great custom charts and features, and the Advanced Edition has twice as much. A few features now found in the Advanced Edition may be migrated to the Standard Edition. New features developed during the Beta program and later will be introduced to the Advanced Edition.
Peltier Tech Utility 3.0 Beta
The Peltier Tech Charts for Excel 3.0 Beta program has concluded.
You can read about the new utility and get your license at the following link:
Peltier Tech Charts for Excel 3.0
Installing Peltier Tech Charts for Excel 3.0
Excel 2016 for Mac
1a. Developer tab > Add-Ins
1b. Tools menu > Add-Ins
2. Browse > navigate to folder where the add-in file was downloaded, click OK a couple times to return to Excel
3. If new buttons don’t appear on a new Add-Ins tab, restart Excel, and they will become available. This glitch will be fixed when Microsoft finishes making the Mac ribbon fully customizable, sometime over the next few weeks or months.
The Peltier Tech Charts for Excel 3.0 Add-ins tab in Mac Excel 2016, showing (top to bottom) Main, Chart Data, Chart Format, Export, and Misc toolbars. This arrangement of multiple toolbars was necessitated because Mac Excel 2016 does not yet support a custom ribbon tab, yet it no longer supports custom menus. Click the image above to view full-size in a new browser tab.
Below is the dialog for selecting a specific custom chart type, full size.
Excel 2011 for Mac
1. Tools menu > Add-Ins
2. Select > navigate to folder where the add-in file was downloaded, click OK a couple times to return to Excel
3. A menu will appear on the main Excel menu bar at the top of the screen, without the need to restart.
The Peltier Tech Charts for Excel 3.0 Menus in Mac Excel 2011. Click the image above to view full-size in a new browser tab.
Excel 2010, 2013, 2016 for Windows
1a. Developer tab > Add-Ins
1b. Ribbon > File tab > Options > Add-Ins > select Excel Add-Ins in the dropdown > Go
2. Browse > navigate to folder where the add-in file was downloaded, click OK a couple times to return to Excel
3. A Peltier Tech tab will appear on the Excel ribbon, without the need to restart.
Excel 2007 for Windows
1. Large round Office button in top left of screen > Excel Options > Add-Ins > select Excel Add-Ins in the dropdown > Go
2. Browse > navigate to folder where the add-in file was downloaded, click OK a couple times to return to Excel
3. A Peltier Tech tab will appear on the Excel ribbon, without the need to restart.
The Peltier Tech Charts for Excel 3.0 Ribbon in Windows. Click the image above to view full-size in a new browser tab.We expect that Excel 2016 for Mac will closely resemble this ribbon.
Report a Bug or Suggest a Feature
Find a bug? Think of a feature that is missing? Mention it in the comments below.
Include details like which version of Excel you’re using, what feature you were trying to use, what you expected to happen, and what did happen. Include error messages (the text of the message, not just the number). If I contact you I may ask for a screenshot of the error, and a copy of your data including the problematic output.
Include your email when posting your comment. I’m the only one who can see it, so it will help me follow up but will not let anyone else spam you.
Peltier Tech Charts for Excel 3.0
The Peltier Tech Charts for Excel 3.0 beta program has concluded.
You can read about it and get your license at the following link:
Peltier Tech Charts for Excel 3.0
Existing users of Peltier Tech software will get a healthy discount for upgrading. Send an email to Peltier Tech to request a coupon code for your discount.