sorry, don't mean to critical, but couldn't you have just used a concatenation formula (=columnA & columnB & columnC)?
you could use a VBA macro to fill it in and paste the values (no dependencies, apart from Excel)-Target (January 10, 2011, 12:45 AM)
Nope. Not possible. Like I said, "A fellow I work with is not very techno-savvy." :P :)
He'd have to do WAY too much BS to get things working. He can copy, and he can paste, and he can click. Macros? Waaaayyyy out. Get him to copy concatenation formulas (and have dependent cells)? Not gonna fly.
Nope. This was a quick hack to help him get column concatenated quickly without any extra information being needed.
It's hard working with anything in Excel given the funky way that Excel works with the clipboard, so there's that extra step to de-focus/de-select in there, but that's the only thing that's kind of icky.
But normally, yeah -- there are many other ways. This is just designed to work for a particular work-style.-Renegade (January 10, 2011, 01:28 AM)
I had someone doing important calculations ask me what the numbers in red were...-Target (January 10, 2011, 05:28 PM)
Seemed like you were cracking a walnut with a sledgehammer is all, but I figured there was probably a reason.
I still think it could be done without the copy and paste steps via a macro, but I suspect the user will be using this on lots of different source documents-Target (January 10, 2011, 05:28 PM)
And I suppose you told him you sweated blood to get them there…
<rant>
Actually this sort of thing really burns me. I have more than a few colleagues like that (I had someone doing important calculations ask me what the numbers in red were...) and even though they work with Excel all day every day they can't or won't take the time to learn some basics that will make their (working) lives easier
</rant>-Target (January 10, 2011, 05:28 PM)
<rant>
Actually this sort of thing really burns me. I have more than a few colleagues like that (I had someone doing important calculations ask me what the numbers in red were...) and even though they work with Excel all day every day they can't or won't take the time to learn some basics that will make their (working) lives easier
</rant>-Target (January 10, 2011, 05:28 PM)
Oh yeah, spot on!
But I'm either getting older and wiser, or just older and wore out. I was going to chime in with Concatenation Formula! or VBA! (and the code could go in personal.xls to always be available). But even before Renegade posted his explanation I got to thinking, "if his people are like my people, this really is a simpler solution and will most likely work better because they can't break it".-AndyM (January 10, 2011, 09:04 PM)
For anyone that has spent an hour trying to explain over the phone how to open a file... and failed...
the code could go in personal.xls to always be available-AndyM (January 10, 2011, 09:04 PM)
For anyone that has spent an hour trying to explain over the phone how to open a file... and failed... hehehe -- yeah... it happens... Sometimes ya gotta just pick yer battles. :)-Renegade (January 10, 2011, 09:12 PM)
For anyone that has spent an hour trying to explain over the phone how to open a file... and failed... hehehe -- yeah... it happens... Sometimes ya gotta just pick yer battles. :)-Renegade (January 10, 2011, 09:12 PM)
i think you meant bottles...-Target (January 10, 2011, 09:48 PM)
o, but it sure gave me pores when she said it...You shouldn't have been on your cell!-Target (January 10, 2011, 08:49 PM)
You shouldn't have been on your cell!
actually the easiest way is to put it in an addin (XLA) - save it to the XLSTART directory and put a button on the toolbar...
don't know about that last bit in versions past 2003 (we finally got 'upgraded' about 2 months ago and I'm still struggling with all those productivity gains...)-Target (January 10, 2011, 09:28 PM)
You shouldn't have been on your cell!
I was only there to help her with her division-Target (January 10, 2011, 11:10 PM)
It would be interesting to know how you go... I've got lots of Excel and Word toolbars around the building and we're looking at upgrading shortly...-Perry Mowbray (January 10, 2011, 11:19 PM)
On the plus side, at least it wasn't done under the table.-cranioscopical (January 10, 2011, 11:22 PM)
Why not? The square is not that far away...-Shades (January 11, 2011, 04:06 PM)
Some people are just too chicken, and always ask Y they must X the road...-Renegade (January 11, 2011, 04:27 PM)
It would be interesting to know how you go... I've got lots of Excel and Word toolbars around the building and we're looking at upgrading shortly...-Perry Mowbray (January 10, 2011, 11:19 PM)
I only have the one, but it's used all over the country. If and when I do something about it I'll let you know 8)
FYI you're old toolbars will still showup, just not like they used to (they appear under the ADDINS tab of the ribbon, and they can be attached to the quick launch bar)
I have mixed feelings about the 'upgrade' - there are good things (substantially larger worksheets for one), but the interface changes are so drastic that my productivity took a huge hit (this has been discussed elsewhere). Even 2 months on I still have to go searching for things I used to use all the time-Target (January 11, 2011, 12:24 AM)
It would be interesting to know how you go... I've got lots of Excel and Word toolbars around the building and we're looking at upgrading shortly...I only have the one, but it's used all over the country. If and when I do something about it I'll let you know 8)-Perry Mowbray (January 10, 2011, 11:19 PM)-Target (January 11, 2011, 12:24 AM)
As usual the VBA help file is, well, less than helpful. The info may be there, but I clearly don't know the right questions to ask.-Target (January 16, 2011, 06:28 PM)
I really don't understand why MS doesn't get .NET into MS Office already. You can use it in SQL Server, so why not Office? VBA is, well, painful in comparison.-Renegade (January 16, 2011, 06:58 PM)