I HATE Excel

“Excels blows.. it is the most frustrating counter-intuitive piece o' crap. Fer example... why can't you just add two numbers in a cell without having to move your hands off the keypad to search for the = sign? And whats with the set up of the print range?
Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhh.”

“Hold on now wild child, take it easy. Let me help.

Watcha need?”

“Why don't ya marry it?...oh wait...”

“I have been using excel for years and its never blown me!”

“me neither

Come on now, let us help you with you worries and problems. Don't be shy.”

“Hmmmm... isn't it funny how we humans automatically denigrate or dismiss something we don't immediately comprehend.

Learning a new app can be frustrating, in fact it's one of the greatest impediments to progress - "BUT WE'VE ALWAYS DONE IT THIS WAY!" always gets in the way when trying to implement a new customer.

Counter-intuitive to some, but very intuitive to others. Depends upon your backgound / prior experience.

I'm getting a kick out of my wife's experience as a schoolteacher. She's used Wintel all her life (and yes, b!tched about it from time to time), and now is forced to use MAC, since Apple has such a stronghold on the educational marketplace. She complains every day about how "un-intuitive" Apple is, and having tried to help her out a few times, I have to agree. Piece of crap product in many respects.

BUT... that's because I'm used to something else, and not Apple.”

“Lets start with, 'why can't you (I) just type 6+3 in a cell and have it return the result of 9.' I like to put a string of digits in certain fields so I know later what comprised it.
Seems like a simple thing.”

“It's what you're accustomed to. I use it everyday and I like it for the most part. I wish the keyboards had an = sign on the number pad but I've gotten quite fast at finding it. The = sign is necessary because there are times when the subtraction sign "-" is not a minus symbol. Therefore it is necessary to use the = sign in order to differentiate between equations and other uses for those symbols.”

“Wild Child

To enter a number and have it add without starting with an "=" or a "+" go to:

tools
options
transition
sheet options
check the transition formula entry box

you should be set.

As far as the print range goes - give us a little more info and I'm sure we can work through this.

I spend more time with Excel than I spend with my family.”

“Most people don't add numbers in a cell. They might add two cells, but if you want the value of 3 + 6 in a cell try typing 9.

Setting a print area seems intuitive to me.”

“"Most people don't add numbers in a cell. They might add two cells, but if you want the value of 3 + 6 in a cell try typing 9.

Setting a print area seems intuitive to me."
bacpac

bacpac knows what "most people" do because he is a "typical" person. I, for one, am not "most people" and those individual numbers have purpose and meaning. Although the end result is the number "most" needed, I often reference the individual numbers for various reasons. The two most common reasons would be for statistical purposes and for checks-n-balances.”

“Many people use formulas in cells, but I never met anyone who entered, =3+6 in a cell.

That is just stoooopid.”

“Again, some people can't see past themselves.

Thankfully, those who designed the software were able to see beyond an individual's narrow scope. They designed them with limitless possibilities.

bacpac, I've put 1+1 in a cell. Each number has a meaning to me as well as the totals at the bottom of that column and at the end of that row, not to mention the total on the final worksheet of the workbook. Try to open your mind just a little wider. It's an amazing world out there. I'd hate to think that you miss so much with your narrow thoughts.”

“Sadly, of all the MS Office products, EXCEL is about the best of the lot. Making graphs can be tedious at times, but at least they look nice when you are done. If you figure out how to keep them from moving around the page, you about throw a party to celebrate. Making a nice histogram is a real time investment compared to most statistical software packages. The algorithms used for descriptive statistics are a closely guarded secret (how does EXCEL define a quartile?).

MSWord is the one I hate and is clearly the most counterintuitive. It was made for business use, not for academic use. For example, you cannot create a style guide that follows APA 4th or 5th Edition. You have to format many things by
hand. I hate the way pages reformat themselves when you are not looking. Making a table of contents, table of figures, list of tables can drive you crazy. All of those things were so easy with WordPerfect...which we don't use at work.”

“What Phil said!

It was almost more difficult to format my dissertation and articles in Word than doing my research!

Wordperfect formats much easier!”

“stumprider - MSWord caused me more headaches than anything else. Still much better than the master's thesis I had typed in 1972.

I don't understand why they don't either come up with a style guide that works with Word, or make word work easily with style guides. They are still living in the days of typesetters.”

“I'm so bad at Word that I did my resume in Excel. Which is like preparing a text for the printing press.”

“Ok sunshine enlighten me.

What does 1 + 1 mean?

Besides 2 that is.”

“Bacpac, maybe 3+6 was a bad example, but it may be important at some date to know the value of 9 is made of two components, or that the Asset pool for equipment is the sum of 15 Ledger accounts with certain balances at a certain time. Its a bytch to type them in only to find you didn't put the = sign in front.
I will go check the "Tools, Options..." Thanks Coop!”

“Sunshine responds, "You and me, baby, pacpac, wooooo hoooooo!"”

“Yea, we both belong in the same cell.”

“You'd enjoy it too much.”

“If you don't use VBA, you don't use Excel.”

“Sadly, Microsoft used its bullying powers and bundling tactics to all but eliminate Lotus. Not only the 123 spreadsheet software, but the Amipro/Wordpro wordprocessing software. All were very intuitive, and the old pre-windows toolbar at the top of 123 made spreadsheet development and entry easy if you were a touch typist. IBM owns it now, and still includes it in their OS2 Office package.”

“I could type out Lotus Macros on the fly. I still use many of the keystrokes rather than search for the icons. The hand leaving the keyboard to move the mouse sux.”

“Come on you guys! Let's be a little sensitive here. Put yourself in Bill Gate's shoes. If Bill was perusing the internet right now and saw this thread about how much his product SUCKS, he'd be hurt. We're all better than that. A little sensitivity, that's all I'm asking.”

“Buck,

If Bill Gates had to use his products like the average person does, things might be different.”

“"If Bill Gates had to use his products like the average person does, things might be different."
Phil
12:01:17 AM
10/22/03


I know, Phil. Word, Excel, Access... they're all hard programs. I think they should've named the company Microhard.

Mr. Gates, sir, if you're reading this thread, and if you're hiring right now, I was only kidding. I like you, your company, your clap-on/clap-off household electronics, and I think that other company, I forget the name, oh yea, Apple, Inc.®, that's the one... they SUCK! They're goin' DOWN, it's just a matter of time.

Hey, Steve Jobs, if you're reading this thread, I'm only kidding about Apple®, you rock, man, and your product rules the world... Microsoft is GOIN' DOWN HARD, oh yes they are! Let's do lunch.”

“Buck - You need tenure. Then you can say stuff without thinking and get away with it.”

“GIVE ME TENURE, OR GIVE ME DEATH!”

“If I could figure out how to get an Excel spreadsheet to get posted to my geocities site then my gear list would be a lot more useful for other people.

God at Excel, but bad at HTML (or whatever it is I use to build my website)”

“Coop - Save the EXCEL file on a server, then link to it on your website. When visitors click on it it should come up.

Another option is to save your EXCEL spreadsheet as HTML and make it a web page. People could view it, but not use any of the functions.”

“I am trapped in Excel hell.

I have been working on my division financials all day, and I saved them periodically as I have been opening and closing multiple spreadsheets and I have a habit of closing the wrong one without saving changes.

Now, when I try to save it, it comes up with a message.

"Document not saved".

I guess the damn thing is going to hell, but I would sure like to be able to look at it later with all the changes.

Any clue?”

“The user.”

“Thank you Dr. Big Sack.

Anyone else?”

“WOO HOO!!!! Upgraded to a Doctor!!!!”

“Can you still see your work on the spreadsheet?”

“Yes, I have it open but I can't save it.”

“Here's a couple of things.

Instead of just doing a "Save" try "Save As". That will prompt you for a new filename.

If that doesn't work, try this:

Highlight the data, copy it to the clipboard using Ctrl-C, open a new spreadsheet, paste the data into that with Ctrl-V, and then try to save that spreadsheet.”

“did you try changing the file name ie "save as"?”

“yes, flyguy


tried that, same error”

“Replace the component located between the chair and the keyboard. Always works for me.”

“Thanks shawn.

I did manage to send it as an attachment so I can always open that attachment later, but I can't figure out why it is not saving it now.”

“Did you email to someone other than yourself? Try that and see if what they get is okay.”

“Well #&%!$!

I have dicked around with this for an hour only to find out they are working on my server where I am trying to store the damned thing.”

“Yes, bp, not only did they get it, but I have it in my sent files.”

“Decimate your IT corps for not telling you ahead of time. That'll teach 'em.”

“Sometimes I have to wonder if that bunch is even on the same planet as the rest of us.”

“Sure! That sounds good to me, Chili.”