Spreadsheets

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Office 365 is very good...can use both online and local download of excel....not that expensive considering what you get with it.

Personally I don't use online excel ....but I don't do simple spreadsheets.

Open office is great.....until you have to mail your spreadsheet to a client!

 

[Hood]

That's another reason why I want to know, I tend to use macros quite a bit so I need 100% compatibility.

Try WPS, nothing to lose, if it doesn't do what you need then uninstall.

 

[rtbcomp]

Try WPS, nothing to lose, if it doesn't do what you need then uninstall.

WPS won't let me use macros unless I sign up for a subscription, so I might as well subscribe to Microsoft 365 and be certain my spreadsheets will work; which given the increase in my Dropbox subscription, looks like a good deal.

 

[mtt.tr]

That's a particular pain google uses Thier own macros

 

[Hood]

WPS won't let me use macros unless I sign up for a subscription, so I might as well subscribe to Microsoft 365 and be certain my spreadsheets will work; which given the increase in my Dropbox subscription, looks like a good deal.

Ah ok, no use to you then.

 

[Maker]

Talking of Excel - can you still get it to install on a PC rather than going for Microsoft 365 or whatever they call it? I have it on mine, but if I don't have the installation CD so if I have to reformat my HDD I'm stuck.

Yes you can.

Ive been using google docs all the commands work.

Google Sheets is okay-ish, it works for basic things but doesn't work well for particularly large documents and is missing some things (I don't think it has a numerical solver (Goalseek in Excel) for example). Friends who use Macbooks say it doesn't work on them too, not sure how it can't work as its in a browser but they all say it.

 

[Kayos]

Thanks for all the help, I have something that works, im sure I will add to it as time goes on

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

How to do just about everything in eXcel is a book I've got hanging around somewhere , it's one of the few books I've found useful to get started .. I got eXcel for dummies later on when I was looking for something special but it was like getting my teeth pulled without anesthetic trying to find what I was after .

It's a walk thorough book showing how to put columns where how to make formulae to calculate etc etc. how to set dates, numbers how to insert & copy make work books . .page or line colours to highlight things .

I drew up an outline in pen then started building ..inserting new columns & new lines where needed . It also tells you how to carry titles over to pages put the first line on all pages so it is the same and how to set the page breaks etc. set line & page numbers etc. It's important sometimes to have a header , footer & page of so many pages as well as the first line of title to appear on every sheet you print off , just so you don't get lost/ confused when looking at say printed page 26 of 43 and there would have just been rows of numbers for you to guess what they relate to..

" How to Do Just About Anything in Excel (Readers Digest) Hardcover – 26 Sep 2008 " , on Amazon … It's cheap , yes it is an old book but it works for windows 10 . There may be one or two slight changes in titles of things but in the main …. " It's eXcel- ent ".

No ! , you can't have my copy .

0.35p later a copy is heading to me.

 

[Nomad]

Lots of good advice already, I do similar when I do renovations - in my case I have a separate spreadsheet for each house.
Every room in the house is on a separate "page" in the spreadsheet,
The front "page" of the spreadsheet is a summary listing the totals from each detailed room page.

It helps me a lot and is great for seeing what has been paid, what jobs/bills are not paid yet etc...

Most is very simple step-by-step, before doing anything I'd suggest you work out what columns you need and go from there.

When you have done some work, consider making a backup copy so you don't lose everything if you make a mistake or your PC crashes...


For info the software I use is OpenOffice, it's free and is compatible with Excel etc.

 

[Morrisman]

I'd recommend starting with basic YouTube tutorials or checking out simplified guides on platforms like Udemy, which are often very beginner-friendly and stripped of unnecessary complexity.

Holy thread resurrection Batman.

 

[GRW]

I'm working on a couple of renovations that are split up into lots of jobs and staged payments, so I need columns for the jobs then one with the price, another I can put payments in then a column showing how much is left per job and total for the complete job

I used to do a lot of costing/estimates for work on Excel.
The method I preferred was to use multiple sheets in the same Workbook.

Think of the Excel File you have started & saved as "Project X" as "The Workbook".

Towards the bottom left of the page you'll see 3 Tabs - "Sheet 1 / Sheet 2 / Sheet 3". (You can add as many as you want and rename/rearrange Sheets to suit what you need).

First Sheet I'd set up for costs of materials and labour, equipment, travelling, subsistence, overnights etc etc, listed down the left column.
Then the cost per item, the quantity, the markup percentage on each, and the added totals in columns across.

If you have to cost the job in stages or costed in pieces. I'd use a separate sheet like Sheet 1 for each sensible demarcation/stage.

Once you have all the framework of items & costs in sheets......

..... have a final summary sheet where you bring the costs of each stage from each sheet together into a Table that you can copy into your quotation / proposal for your customer.

You can use relatively simple formulae to add everything up for you (and update automatically if you alter/add stuff) in each sheet..... and have formulae in your final table that ensures the totals you have for stages in your costing sheets are up-to-date automatically.

Once you have one set up that works how you need it to - you have a ready-made template for all new jobs.... just open your file, "save as" your new filename project in your new quote folder - and make the necessary amendments to get your new final quote table.

A half-decent spreadsheet is an invaluable tool. It also makes you really think about all your materials & costs & not miss anything, making sure as you can that you don't drop the ball & under-quote.
Well worth the effort to set one up.

I could probably find one of my old ones from when I did this stuff daily if you're really stuck, that you could learn from & adapt. I reckon I've got some on a backup drive around here somewhere (I'd have to remove all references to my old projects etc first of course)

 

[Morrisman]

I used to use Excel many years ago for doing maintenance schedules and records. It was quite interesting some of the tricks you could do to make things calculate, highlight, or change colour, depending on what numbers you put in etc. I thought I was quite clever, until I saw some of the huge formulas that went into some more complex spreadsheets.

I then found a professional Excel guide book, that was nearly 2” thick, and I was lost by about the 4th page.

 

[Robotstar5]

I used to use Excel many years ago for doing maintenance schedules and records. It was quite interesting some of the tricks you could do to make things calculate, highlight, or change colour, depending on what numbers you put in etc. I thought I was quite clever, until I saw some of the huge formulas that went into some more complex spreadsheets.

I then found a professional Excel guide book, that was nearly 2” thick, and I was lost by about the 4th page.

I made one for our consumables inventory, I set the cells to change colour depending on the number entered so when we did the weekly stock check it would go orange for "re-order" or red for "below minimum quantity"

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

I thought I was quite clever, until I saw some of the huge formulas that went into some more complex spreadsheets.

I use it every day for work...i aim to keep it as simple as possible, helpful highlighting and as few complex functions/formulas as possible.

The best code/spreadsheets are the ones that look like it's so simple anyone could have written it!

 

[Robotstar5]

I made one for our consumables inventory, I set the cells to change colour depending on the number entered so when we did the weekly stock check it would go orange for "re-order" or red for "below minimum quantity"

Found a copy of the spreadsheet, prices are 10+ years out of date.

 

[RichardM]

Conditional formatting.