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Excel Forms

If you've ever seen Microsoft Excel, you would describe it as a criss-cross of boxes into which you can enter data. A spreadsheet is a table. One advantage of the simple design is it allows you to analyze your data e.g. one short formula allows you to sum all the data in a single column. This simplicity is Excel's greatest strength but there are two common situations in which it becomes a weakness.

Firstly, if you are trying to design spreadsheets for publication, the table format can become very limiting. You can mess around with column widths to place text on a page but the columns have to be consistent down the entire document. So you end up having to merge lots of cells to create an area of text. In this case, the solution is to create your documents in Word or Powerpoint and insert your tables/charts as required. The Microsoft Office suite is sufficiently integrated to make this relatively straightforward.

The other weakness is with collecting data. If you want a number of users to add information to your spreadsheet, you don't want them to leave out any relevant fields of information. The most widely used solution is to shade the cells that require user entry. Unfortunately, this still relies on them spotting all the shaded cells and taking action.

The next option is to protect the Excel spreadsheet, and unlock all the cells that require user entry. This prevents a user editing and potentially damaging the rest of the sheet. It also means they can tab between the cells into which inputs are required. So it speeds up their navigation of the spreadsheet and means they systematically consider every cell requiring an input.

Protecting cells doesn't ensure the integrity of the entries they make. So then you can add data validation to cells to ensure e.g. a user enters a date where one is required. For many applications, this will be sufficient to prevent errors in data entry. However, it is not possible with a simple spreadsheet to force a user to complete the sheet in full. The only way to look for incomplete entries is to add Visual Basic code to your file. For that, you may require the help of an Excel expert.

Of course, if you require Excel consulting and help, you may as well go a stage further and dispense with entering data directly into the spreadsheet. Instead, you should request that data get entered into a form, and only placed on the spreadsheet when validated. A form is what you complete when you go to a website. You have a list of fields e.g. name, phone, address to fill in and, if you've entered an invalid e-mail address, it won't let you complete it. Forms are clearly the easiest way to collect data, otherwise every website in the world would ask you to add your details to a table.

They also have another advantage. Let's say you have to select your state and city on a form. If you have 1,000 cities, it could be somewhat tedious for the user to identify their own location. Whereas with a form, the list of cities can be filtered based on their selection of state. Again, this improves the user experience and reduces the risk of errors. Dropdowns are one way of ensuring the user enters valid data. Another advantage is that you can provide a visible calendar from which they can select a date.

Forms are an excellent way of ensuring that, if anyone else is going to enter data into your spreadsheet, then they're going to do it in exactly the way you intended. By giving them lists from which to select data, you can also reduce the number of questions they may have in the process.

About the Author

Ed Bolton is the founder of Excel4Business, and specialist in Excel consulting.

in microsoft excel 2007 i'm trying to add two things of text into one cell..?

but i don't know how to do it. this is probably really simple and i'll feel really silly..but can anyone help me?
i'm making a calendar, and next to the number it needs to have the letter "A" or "B"
but then in the bottom of that same cell, it needs to say EARLY DISMISSAL...how can i make the letter be to the left, and the early dismissal centered? it would sort of look like this:

You can't center part of a cell.

Put your number and letter in one cell. Put "EARLY DISMISSAL" in the next row down, and center that row.

Calendar Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel Help : How to Make a Calendar Using Excel

The Benefits Of Advanced Training In Microsoft Office

When companies hire people, often they test them to make sure they have at least some understanding of Microsoft Office. Some employers think that since they have insured that all of there employees have at least some understanding of Microsoft products, they don't need to invest money in further training. By assuming this, they lose money and productivity because employees are not able to use Microsoft software as efficiently as possible.

Investing in a Microsoft training course can benefit both the employer and their employees. When employees know how to use computer programs in depth, they spend less time trying to figure out how to get the computer to do what they want it to. Many times, money spent on a training course results in fewer calls for computer or tech support, and the business not having to hire so many people in their technical support department. Additionally, employees who are comfortable with computer programs experience less frustration in their job, since using a computer is such a major part of many employees' jobs.

When workers in a company know how to use Microsoft products at an advanced or expert level are able to use that knowledge to use the many options that Microsoft has provided to improve their productivity. Most Microsoft users can type documents, print, and save changes. More advanced users can add additional formatting to their documents, such as adding headings and page numbers. Whether the documents are intended for other company employees or customers, advanced formatting makes documents easier to use and more attractive. Employees with more advanced training can use Microsoft to track how a document has changed over time. This can increase employee productivity by allowing users to go back to previous versions of documents they have created, rather than having to come up with the old document from memory.

Microsoft Excel also has many options that can assist employees with their productivity. There are nearly a limitless number of operations than the spreadsheet can perform, but the employee needs to know how to use the software well enough to use them. There are ways of copying data from one spreadsheet to another. This data can then be processed using different assumptions and mathematical computations. Employees who are not as adept as Excel may not know how to copy data from one sheet to the next, and how to change the formulas that are used with the raw data. By having to take more time to do mundane tasks like copying, they spend less time doing higher level tasks.

Many companies use Microsoft Outlook as a virtual organizer. They use it to manage the email they send and receive from their colleagues, keep their daily calendars, and save the contact information they get in a virtual rolodex. Users who have more advanced knowledge of how to use Outlook can make their calendars viewable to their fellow employees, and can coordinate their schedule with their coworkers.

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