How to create dynamic tables for Word and PowerPoint?

You can create tables as reports, using Bar Charts presentations. The table is created using a bar chart with text columns.

For more information about it go to: Dynamic table

How to ensure the picture quality when converting to PDF?

MS Office
- Saving charts in an Office document
- Using the Microsoft Print to PDF feature
Other
- Adjusting line color and transparency in Adobe Acrobat
Modifying the size of the chart before exporting

We recommend using Office built-in option for creating PDF as we cannot ensure quality with 3rd party programs (including Adobe).

MS Office

Saving charts in an Office document

In Office, go to:

File > Save as, or File > Export in Office 2010 and later.
Select PDF from the list of available file formats.

Exporting this way uses the Microsoft Office built-in PDF converter and is often the best way to export Macrobond charts.

Depending on the document content and software settings the quality may differ between users. If you are not satisfied with the results, try the options below.

Using the Microsoft Print to PDF feature

If you are using Windows 8 or later, you can use the function called Microsoft Print to PDF. This is a conversion tool built into the operating system that can be accessed from any software supporting printing, including Macrobond. Note that the feature does not print a physical document but simply 'prints' a PDF version of the document.

To use the function, simply choose Print to PDF when printing in the software of your choice.

Other

Adjusting line color and transparency in Adobe Acrobat

If you are using Adobe Acrobat and experience more pronounced lines than you would like, try adjusting the software settings.

Adobe Acrobat automatically 'enhances' very thin lines which especially impacts dotted and dashed lines. You can try to turn this feature off by going to Edit > Preferences > Page Display > Rendering and unchecking Enhance thin lines.

Modifying the size of the chart before exporting

The size of the chart will impact the end result. This can be modified by going to the Chart view size tab above your chart and specifying the desired size.

For more information: How to set custom chart size to a chart?

How to embed an in-house series in a document?

There are two ways of embedding an in-house series into a document.

Document properties

Press F4 (or go to File > Document properties) and in the dialog box tick the checkbox Embed in-house series in document. Then (re)save the file and you can share your own in-house series with other Macrobond users.

Please note that this data (series starting with ih: ) will not automatically update, you are attaching only snapshot.

Document series

You can add in-house data which will exist only in particular document. Go to Series list > Document series > Create document series....

For more information about this see: Document series – adding external data.

How to align several Macrobond charts in the same Power Point slide?

This is a two-step process.

First, you need to define placeholders in a master slide to help you gain control of the chart positioning.

Open up a new PowerPoint document.
In the ribbon, go to View and click on Slide Master.
- This view lets you create a theme with your desired layout.
In the slide overview you will now find one Slide master and many layouts below it.
Pick one of the layouts or click on Insert layout to add a new one.
In your chosen layout, click on add placeholder and choose picture or chart.
Add as many placeholders as you want charts in the slide and align them as you see fit.
Click on Close Master View to start creating the slide.
Click on new slide and pick the layout you just created.

Then, you should copy the Macrobond chart in the placeholder, by following these steps:

Go into Macrobond > open your chart > go to the chart view size tab and specify your desired chart size.
Right-click on the chart and choose Copy.
Open PowerPoint and paste the chart.
Right click on it, choose cut, and paste the chart into the placeholder (You have to do this seemingly redundant step because otherwise, the chart will be pasted as a picture and not as a dynamic Macrobond chart.).

Using Macrobond data in Excel

Far be it from us to tell you where you work best. At times, what works best for you might be Excel, even if you still want the benefits of using the Macrobond database. Working with Macrobond data in Excel can be very efficient, and probably more flexible than you’d expect.

Publishing & saving your work

The selection of the materials in this section will introduce you to the options for saving, sharing, presenting, and publishing, as well as keeping your work updated and relevant to avoid re-creating the same documents from scratch. For useful shortcuts see: Keyboard shortcuts.

With the Macrobond Excel add-in (which works as Excel connector to Macrobond) you can import data from Macrobond into Microsoft Excel and easily keep it updated with the latest values. You can also create a custom series by uploading data from Excel and use as in-house series in Macrobond.

Add-in panel is visible in Excel's ribbon. Depending on your version of Excel, the add-in can look a bit different:

Data set interaction section
Uploading series section

With Excel add-in you can add data in two forms:

As a Time series - this will import all the values of one or more time series that you select.
As a Report - this will import the last value of predefined reports, such as company account data.

Enabling Macrobond add-in

Excel add-in is installed along with the main-app. Under some circumstances it might not be enabled from the start, or it might disable itself at some point (for example due to conflict with other add-ins). You can manually re-enable it with below methods. Please try to re-enable add-in in the following order:

From Disabled Items

The instructions below illustrate how to enable the Macrobond add-in in Excel. Moreover, the instructions are applicable for Word and PowerPoint as well because the method is identical across the Office products.

Note: the pictures below might vary depending on your Microsoft Office version.

Open Excel and select File from the main menu:

Next, select Options from the list.

Select Add-ins from the menu and go to the Manage drop-down menu. Select the Disabled Items option and press the Go button.

If your add-in is disabled, it will be displayed in the list. Select the Macrobond excel add-in and click the Enable button.

After restarting the office application, the Macrobond add-in should be visible again.

From COM Add-ins

Same as in re-enabling above, go to File->Options->Add-ins, set Manage: COM Add-ins, press 'Go'. Should look like this:

Import time series

There are three different methods that can be used for importing time series from Macrobond into Excel:

selecting series by using the data navigator,
use series from country and company overviews
use the result of a calculation in a Macrobond document

Select series by using the data navigator

The All series button in the Macrobond add-in toolbar/menu will bring up a dialog like this:

Database navigator
Import mode
Import settings
Series included in data set

You then select one or more time series using the database navigator.

There are two import modes:

Processed	All series in the set are converted to the same frequency and calendar and there is only one column/row of dates. You may select rate of change calculations and scale for each series.
Raw	Series are treated separately and there is a column/row of dates for each series.

Get series from country and company overviews

The Overview button in the toolbar/menu allows you to do cross-country or cross-company comparisons of data in Excel. Selecting it will display a dialog like this:

Add one or more countries or companies by using the Database navigator. Then select the type of overview.

Use the result from a Macrobond document

You can use the result of any calculation in a Macrobond document and turn it into a Macrobond Excel Data set. There are several ways you can do this:

You can press the Import button/menu item in the Macrobond Excel add-in and select a saved Macrobond document.
You can select Copy/Export as Excel Data set on the Edit or context menu when an analysis is selected in a Macrobond document that you can paste into Excel:
Select values in a Table presentation in the Macrobond application and then select Copy special from the Edit or context menu. Select to copy a Data set instead of Text and then paste the result into Excel.

When you copy or import time series from a Macrobond document into a Data set, a copy of all calculations is stored in the Data set and there is no dependency on the document where the data came from. To edit the calculations used by the Data set, press the Edit document button:

This will open a document tab in the Macrobond application where you can view and change the calculation settings.

Data sets

When you have imported data to the Excel sheet you will notice a red object in your sheet with the text 'Macrobond Data set'. It is this object that keeps track of what series and settings you have selected.

If you select the red Data set object and press the Edit selected data set in the toolbar/menu, you will once again see the dialog where you select series and settings.

When you press the Refresh button in the toolbar/menu, all data in the current workbook will be updated with the latest information.

Data is always placed in the sheet relative to the Data set object. If you move the Data set object, you will notice that the data is imported to a new position the next time you select Refresh. Please note that if you remove the Data set object, the information can no longer be updated when you select Refresh. You can have any number of Data sets in a workbook.

Import reports

Press the Report button in the toolbar/menu to bring up the report selection dialog. When you select an entity, such as a company or a country, for which there are reports, you will see a list of the reports at the top of the dialog. When you select a report then a new tab will be created on the right-hand side.

You can add more entities to each report by selecting the entity and then pressing Add to active report.

Each new report will be imported to a new sheet.

In-house series

You can upload time series data from an Excel sheet into your in-house account database in Macrobond. This is done by creating a template in your Excel sheet that contains information about each time series. For more information and instructions see Account in-house – creating & managing.

For users who prefer to store in-house data on their own company computers or servers but still want to use the data in Macrobond we have Excel in-house. For more information see Excel in-house – creating & managing.

Category: Publishing & saving