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Occasionally a client asks me to create a shared workbook in Excel, so two or more employees can work in it at the same time. It sounds good in theory, but I always try to come up with a different solution.
Maybe you've had success with shared workbooks, and I'd love to hear about it in the comments. For me, the limitations far outweigh the benefits, and there's usually another way to accommodate multiple users.
Too Many Missing Features
After you share a workbook, many of Excel's features can't be used. There's a list of unavailable features for Excel 2003 on the Microsoft site, and in Excel's help. For example, you can't add any of the following features, and in some cases you can't even change the existing items:
Conditional Formatting Data Validation Lists Protection Pivot Tables
If you do need to create a shared workbook, check the list
Continue reading Avoiding Shared Workbooks in Excel
For many years, David McRitchie has been collecting and posting Excel information on his web site. With over 200 pages, your can find the answer to almost any Excel question on David's site.
There's a list of Excel articles, and many links to other sites which have Excel tutorials, downloads and advanced Excel topics.
David's interests have shifted over the past couple of years, and he's now documenting Firefox features. You can find his Firefox Lessons in a new section on his web site.
Last week David was visiting relatives in Canada and we met for lunch on Friday. We had a great chat, and I learned quite a bit about his very interesting work history.
I had previously met David at a Microsoft MVP Summit in 2001. That was the first year I received the award, and David had been an Excel MVP since 1999. It was good to
Continue reading David McRitchie's Excel Pages
Moved to the Excel Twitters archive:
Excel Twitters 20081115
Word 2007 has a new Building Blocks feature that lets you quickly add items, such as cover pages, text boxes, watermarks and page numbers. If you're writing a scientific document, you can also insert equations.
Insert an Equation On the Ribbon, click the Insert tab. In the Symbols group, click on Equation, then click the equation that you want to insert. Save an Equation
After you insert an equation, you can modify it, then save it to use again later.
Click on the equation in the Word document, to activate it. Click the arrow at the bottom right of the equation box, and click on Save as New Equation. Enter the details for your equation, then click OK. When you close Word, you'll be prompted to save the changes to the Building Blocks template. Click Yes to save your changes. Insert a Saved Equation
Saved equations are listed in the
Continue reading Create Quick Equations in Word 2007
If you have a blog, I'd highly recommend that you write your articles in Windows Live Writer. It's a free download, available on the Windows Live web site. You'll need a Windows Live account before you can use the program, so if you don't have an account yet, it'll take you a couple of minutes to set that up.
I've been using Live Writer for a couple of weeks and find it much quicker and easier than logging into my WordPress blog, and writing an article in the tiny window there.
Set Up a Blog
You can set up one blog, or several blogs, and publish to any of them from the same Windows Live Writer session. It only takes a minute or two to set up a blog in Live Writer. Fill in the URL, name, password, and select from a few options.
Then, select a blog from
Continue reading Using Windows Live Writer
Excel reports often have blank rows that separate the sections. In this example, I needed a new formula to calculate the average price per order. After entering the formula in cell E2, I copied it down to the last row in the report. That was quicker than pasting the formula into each little section in a long report.
Now all the blank rows have an error in the new column, because Excel doesn't like to divide by zero.
You don't want the formula in those rows, so you can use Excel's Go To feature to quickly clear the cells that contain errors.
Use Go To Special Select column E, where the average order formula was added. On the Ribbon, click the Home tab. Click Find & Select, then click Go To Special. (In Excel 2003 and earlier versions, click Edit►Go To, and click the Special button. The keyboard shortcut
Continue reading Go To Special Sections of an Excel Worksheet
In Excel, you might have a long list of orders with a grand total at the end. If you filter the Region column, so the list only shows one region's sales, you'd like the total to include only those items.
If you used the SUM function in the grand total cell, the result won't change if a filter is applied. This list is filtered to show orders from the West Region. At a glance, you can see that the Grand Total is much higher than the records listed. There are only 3 orders visible, but the order count is calculated as 49.
Instead of SUM or COUNT, you can use the SUBTOTAL function, and only the filtered rows will be included in the grand total.
Create a SUBTOTAL formula
A quick way to create a SUBTOTAL formula is to:
Apply a filter to the list. In this example, the
Continue reading Total a Filtered List in Excel
Yes, I definitely need more space for all this office stuff. At least that was my first thought as I looked around my office on the weekend. Even though I cleared out a few bookshelves recently, there's just not enough room in here for all the remaining books, files, computers, printers, gadgets, project binders, and penguins.
So, I thought about a trip to Home Depot, to buy a shelving unit that would make better use of the corner space, and maybe hide some of the tangle of wiring.
Fortunately, I came to my senses and realized that the problem isn't storage space. The problem is stuff.
Do I really need those notes from projects I worked on in 1995. (No, I'm not exaggerating.) Why am I keeping those disks for CorelDraw 7? I haven't installed it on my past 4 machines. When was the last time I
Continue reading I Need More Storage Space
Moved to the Excel Twitters archive:
Excel Twitters 20081108
In Microsoft Word, recording a macro is just a double-click away.
Normally, to record a macro in Word, you'd click on the Tools menu, then click Macro, then click Record New Macro.
A much quicker way is to double-click on the REC box in the status bar, at the bottom of the Word window.
The Record Macro dialog box immediately opens, and you can begin recording.
Double-click the REC box again, to turn off the recorder.
Other Shortcuts
There are other double-click shortcuts in the status bar:
TRK: Toggle the Track Changes feature
EXT: Toggle the Extend Selection feature
OVR: Toggle the Overtype feature (does anyone use that?)
Page Number (or any area in the left end of the Status Bar): Open the Go To dialog box
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