Introduction
Welcome back to another episode of Excel.TV where Oz du Soleil shares his Excel tip. Here it is: always have a workbook with random data. With this workbook, you’ll have a ready made resource to test your dashboards, workbooks, and financial models.
In this video, Oz goes through his many worksheets showing off fake data. I actually don’t have a workbook like this. (It’s a good idea to create one, I must admit.) didn’t want to leave you empty handed, since at the end, Oz says to “Go make your own,” random data workbook. And I need to create a workbook like this too!
Resources you can use to generate fake and random data
So I figured as I went out to make my own random data worksheet, I’d share my resources with you so that you can make your own. Below I’ve collected a list of resources to help you get started.
- CREATING RANDOM DATA IN EXCEL USING RANDBETWEEN AND CHOOSE – https://excel.tv/creating-random-data-in-excel-using-randbetween-and-choose/
- Creating Fake Data in Excel: random dollar amounts & dates using RANDARRAY & TEXT – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhNf8EnzU-E
- How to Create Sample/Dummy Data Sets in Excel – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RERDNtjG7w8
- Dummy Data – How to use the Random Functions – https://chandoo.org/wp/dummy-data-random-functions/
- Creating Sample Data Sets for Excel Spreadsheets – https://www.consultdmw.com/create-excel-data-set.html
- Mockaroo (this is what I use!) – https://mockaroo.com/
- Generate Data Using Excel: RAND & RANDBETWEEN – https://datascopic.net/generate-data/
How do you generate random data?
Let us know in the comments.
- All Excel LOOKUPs Explained - May 26, 2020
- How to: Power Query File From Folder - April 21, 2020
- Oz’s Excel Tip: Keep a Workbook for Random Data in Excel - January 23, 2020
Numbers are easy, but names are a bit of a puzzle for me. I’m wondering if they have links to some sort of census site. I’m hoping someone will do the work and share a workbook in the comments.
Here is another possible source
Discovering millions of datasets on the web 2020 01 23
https://blog.google/products/search/discovering-millions-datasets-web/
Across the web, there are millions of datasets about nearly any subject that interests you. If you’re looking to buy a puppy, you could find datasets compiling complaints of puppy buyers or studies on puppy cognition. Or if you like skiing, you could find data on revenue of ski resorts or injury rates and participation numbers. Dataset Search has indexed almost 25 million of these datasets, giving you a single place to search for datasets and find links to where the data is. Over the past year, people have tried it out and provided feedback, and now Dataset Search is officially out of beta.
I just saw that, that had been released. I can’t wait to try it out! Have you come across anything interesting yet?