Articles

We have articles about:

• Creating an analysis – want to use Excel better? These articles run through some easy but effective methods of analysis.
• Investigating files – what to do if you suddenly receive thousands of new files.
• Metadata – A 101 of what metadata is, why they are important, and why you should rely on them rather than on Windows Explorer data.
• Microsoft Office – What metadata are available and are actually used in Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents, and how you can access them.
• Photographs – exploring the important metadata available in phones such as the iPhone, and what you can easily do with GPS data.
• Audio/Video files – what document properties are hidden away in these files.
• Outlook MSG files – how to unlock the hidden depth of metadata there, and to show that Windows Explorer cannot read it at all.

Creating an analysis (using Microsoft Excel)

The first set of articles are about set up and use filters.

• “Setting up your filter” shows how to prepare the spreadsheet to use filters.
• “Text column filters” shows how to filter columns which predominately have text values.
• “Date and color filters” show how important formatting can be in date filters, and how colors can also be used.

Click here if you want over 11 hours of videos about Excel, from beginner to intermediate.

The second set of articles are about how to create PivotTables and PivotCharts.

• “Counting each type of different files” is Part 1 of “Creating a Pivot Table” series. In this article, we create a basic PivotTable, listing the different file extensions and the number of files in each catalog – all in only 3-5 steps and around a dozen clicks.
• “What dates are my files?” is Part 2 of “Creating a Pivot Table” series. In this article, we continue with the basic PivotTable, grouping dates into years, quarters and months.
• “Adding interactivity” is Part 3, where we add a Pivot Chart and a Slicer to the Table and Chart – all with just seven clicks.
• “Incorporating a timeline” is Part 4, where a graphical Timeline is added to the Pivot Table and Pivot Chart.

Click here if you want 5 HOURS of training about Pivot Tables, going from beginner to expert.

Metadata

• “What are document properties?” gives examples of metadata in Microsoft Office documents, photographs, audio/video files, and emails in MSG form.
• “Viewing document properties in Windows Explorer” shows various ways of looking at metadata in Windows Explorer, and the disadvantages of so doing.
• “Dates – Windows Explorer v Metadata” explores what dates are available in the standard Windows Explorer, shows why they may not be reliable, and what other information is available.
• “Investigating documents – are they genuine?” relates a tale of what happened when one man decided to claim that newly created documents were actually sent three months ago.
• “Explore further with Document Properties” summarises a court case where Windows dates had been accidentally altered.

Microsoft Office

• “Microsoft Office document properties” shows the various metadata that can be extracted by Filecats Professional from Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents.
• “How do I view document properties from within Microsoft Office” shows how the metadata such as Title and Author can be accessed and set from the File menu.
• “How do I view document properties from VBA” explains how the above can be accessed and set within Visual Basic for Applications.
• “Viewing in VBA – Multiple files” expands on this, investigating ways of extracting metadata from several documents.
• “What metadata are actually used in Word documents” relates the results of a study of nearly 1,000 doc and docx files, and investigating what document properties are actually used, as analysed by Filecats Professional.
• “Metadata actually used in Excel workbooks” shows the results of a exercise of over 1,100 xls and xlsx files, which investigated what document properties are actually used in those sheets.
• “Metadata actually used in PowerPoint files” investigates what document properties were set in a study of nearly 1,200 presentations.
• “How to download random files” shows how sample documents can be retrieved using Google.

Photographs

• “Document Properties from Pictures and Photographs” shows what metadata can be extracted from images and photographs, which are able to be extracted into Excel using Filecats Professional. This article excludes locational information (which is shown in a separate article).
• “Camera Maker, Model and serial number” shows how this information can be investigated in Windows Explorer.
• “Access GPS data in Windows Explorer” shows what information is available in Windows Explorer (and what is not).
• “Plotting GPS data” shows how to pinpoint photographic GPS information on a map, either singly or en masse.
• “Plotting GPS data with time” investigates how Power Map can be used to pinpoint locational data through time.

Audio/Video files

• “Document properties from Audio and Video files” shows what metadata can be obtained from music and video media, which can be extracted by Filecats Professional.

Outlook MSG files

Items can be exported from Microsoft Outlook as MSG files. However, Windows Explorer cannot easily access these files. The following articles show what can be obtained using Filecats Professional:

• “Document properties common to more than one type of MSG file“,
• “Calendar MSG document properties“,
• “Contact MSG document properties“,
• “Email MSG document properties“,
• “Journal MSG document properties“, and
• “Task MSG document properties“.

Additionally,

• “Viewing Bounce Back email metadata” shows what document properties are available when emails are returned – and show that Outlook may not be telling you everything.

Saving you time and money

• “Why Excel?” – in this article, we look at the very real advantages in using Microsoft Excel to analyse your files and folders.
• “Why am I running low on space?” – in this article, I have a problem; all the space on my C drive has vanished, and I need to find out how.
• “File Attributes” – in this article, we look at discovering hidden and system files, which are not normally visible in Windows Explorer.
• “Network, Dropbox and Google Drive File Management” – in this article, we look at the problems with many people adding, changing and deleting files from shared cloud sources.

Investigating new data

This series of articles concentrates of the best methods of looking at data, in a scenario when you have just been overwhelmed by tens of thousands of files and folders.

• “Files and Folders” gives an introduction as to how this situation can happen, why Windows Explorer is not the best way to investigate your newly acquired folder structure, and how cataloging it into Excel or a table can help.
• “File Types” investigates the best way of getting an overview of the number of different file types, so you can see what sort of data you have.

Click here if you would like 10 HOURS of advanced Excel videos – going from intermediate to Expert.