One of the great new features of Excel 2010 is “Sparklines“. When trying to track how much money your family has spent toward gas in the past year, sometimes a large graph isn’t the best way to see the big picture. Sparklines-miniature charts that fit into a single Excel cell-help you see individual trends quickly and make better decisions.

Set off your data with Sparklines:

1. On the Insert tab on the Ribbon, locate the Sparklines group.
2. Select the type of Sparklines you want to insert, such as Line, Column, or Win/Loss.
3. In the Create Sparklines dialog box, define your Data Range and Location Range, and then click OK.

To discover more great ways to use Sparklines, see Getting Started: Use Sparklines to Show Data Trends.

Easy to create, and easy to share

The Microsoft Office Backstage^TM view is where you can create new documents with timesaving templates, as well as store and share your documents online.

1. Click on the File tab in the upper left hand corner to open Backstage view.
2. Select Share.
3. Click Save to SkyDrive. Log into Windows Live Documents with your username and password.
4. If you don’t yet have a Windows Live account, click the Sign Up link. Otherwise, click Sign In and log in to your account.

Once you’ve saved to SkyDrive, you will be able to share these documents and edit them using Office Web Apps. If you haven’t tried them yet, activate your Office Web Apps today.

Like the new 2010 features? Be a beta tester and get 2010 FREE here:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/2010/en/default.aspx