# Off Topic > Tips and Tutorials >  >  Normalizing data

## dflak

People frequently enter data into excel in the format they expect to see a report in. In other words, they do things like put dates in columns and add a new column for each day. While this makes data entry easy, it pretty much limits the report ot one view of the data. Getting things like model sales by month or weeks becomes an exercise in untangling the data.

The attached is a brief tutorial on what normalized data is, and has a utility that should work in most cases to normalize data that is entered in tabular format.

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## Raphaelp

This is great! Really helpful! Thanks for sharing!

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## KrysBTrying

Extremely helpful!!!  Thank you!!!

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## dflak

Here is the same routine except there is an update to the process. It is easier to use this spreadsheet as a stand-alone utility rather than attempt to integrate it into your spreadsheet. Chances are you are using it as a one-time conversion anyway. I also added a button to run the macro.

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## Olly

It's so simple to do this using Power Query (Get & Transform Data):




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Worked example:



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