Transform Data by Example for Microsoft Excel

Transform Data by Example is a COM Add-in for Microsoft Excel that integrates in the Microsoft Office Ribbon. Transform Data by Example is an Excel add-in that helps you find the desired transformation function for your data wrangling task easily.

Transform Data by Example is a Microsoft Garage Project.

Overview Transform Data by Example COM Add-in

A lot of professional roles in modern data-driven business require structuring or cleaning up of data. Sometimes this is super easy, sometimes it can be a little more complex to do. That’s where the Transform-Data-by-Example is an Excel add-in can help:

“Transform-Data-by-Example is an Excel add-in that helps you find the desired transformation function easily. All you need to do is to provide a few examples of the desired output, and Transform-Data-by-Example will automatically find relevant data transformation functions from a large collection that it has already indexed. Moreover, you can add your own data transformation code into the collection, and Transform-Data-by-Example will make them instantly search-able for you, all seamlessly within Excel.”

You can get the Transform-Data-by-Example is an Excel add-in by click the add button in the Office Store or you can search for the plugin from the store button in the ribbon of Microsoft Excel. The COM Add-in places itself in the Data tab of the Microsoft Excel ribbon.

How to use Transform Data by Example COM Add-in for Microsoft Excel

Using the Transform Data by Example plugin is a fairly simple 4-step process, if you have your data already structured in a table style format (like the screenshot above).

All the heavy lifting is done by the COM Add-in itself. 🙂

1. Enter a couple examples (at least two recommended) of how you would like your output to look.
2. Select an empty cell in the column that you want filled in;
3. Click the “Get Transformations” button from the Transform Data by Example pane on the right;
4. Select the most appropriate transformation function and apply the data transformation;

In the Transform Data by Example pane on the right side of your Excel window, you can browse through the different data transformation functions. Above each transformation function you see three small buttons:

1. The first arrow button opens the details of the function;
2. The second pin-button allows you to compare different transformation functions;
3. The third lightning-button applies the transformation function onto the data-set;

The details of each transformation function consists of:

• Version number;
• Rating
• and Project URL;

If you would like some visual guidance on how to use the Transform Data by Example COM Add-in for Microsoft Excel, you can check out this YouTube video from Microsoft Research.

Concluding thoughts and wrap-up

Transform Data by Example is a free COM Add-in for Microsoft Excel, that can help you clean-up, structure or standardize data.

Your data transformation examples are compared with a collection of transformation functions in a database, from which you can choose the most relevant. I have used this Microsoft Excel COM Add-in a couple of times now, and I have been surprised by how powerful this COM Add-in is without writing complex VB-code. Transform Data by Example is easy to install and fairly simple to use and can help you save precious time.

Power BI publisher for Microsoft Excel is another Microsoft Excel COM Add-in that I often use.

What Microsoft Excel Add-ins do you use ?