Like Excel but easier than Excel

[Luredbyapomegranate]

I need to create a document with multiple tables, which I would normally do in word.

What I’m after is a document where I can have multiple tabs like excel, but a simpler programme like word.

I know Excel isn’t hard, but there is no way in hell the team will learn to use it, has been tried many times.

Awaiting the brilliant ideas

Yiu can use Excel exactly like a word document if that's all you need.

You can add tables into word?

That’s silly. Excel is actually easier to train people in than word if they just want basic tables

Tables in word can be really tricky. Excel aid easier

You can't have multiple tabs in Word. You could do Excel and then lock everything apart from the bits you need completed.

What are you actually trying to do with it? If you're asking the team to fill in a lot of data, have you looked at Microsoft Lists? This is what I use as it means the team cant accidentally write over someone else's data or delete a column etc.

@MissAmbrosia

You can't have multiple tabs in Word. You could do Excel and then lock everything apart from the bits you need completed.

That's what I was going to say, lock the cells that you don't want them to touch so that they can only enter data into the necessary cells to

Anyone who can't use Excel in 2022 should be sacked.

Tell us what you want to do and we will help you.

I think you just need to get them to use Excel.

If you don't want them to manipulate the data it's literally no more complicated than word?

Yes, lock everything down and glam it up so it looks like a web form. Tell them "if you can get a motor insurance quote on Go Compare you can do this".
Put the spreadsheet template on their desktop and drill them through:
Open,
Type figures into the highlighted areas.
Press save (that's exactly like Word so they can probably be trusted with that).

Might it be easier to add text to Excel, rather than table to Word?

But do a training session where they are literally sitting at their machines and you talk them through every single step of the process as they do it.

Last week I went to a training session on a different programme where the trainer was saying "this is very simple beginner stuff, just do XYZ!" and I'm going "yeah, but first tell me where the file is saved, how I open it and get to that database, which bit of the screen I type into" (except I'm saying that in my head because it's clearly such a stupid question while I'm frantically googling how to do the Mickey Mouse stuff on my phone).

Excel is really simple but someone needs to hold your hand for the first couple of times as you work out literally how to click into the cells, how to move between tabs, and where to type.

What will your team actually need to do? Tables in word are a pain.

Will you team just need to input data? Read the data? I’m guessing no data manipulation - they won’t be needing to do a pivot table etc. Inputting or reading data in excel vs word should be just as easy.

Hi everyone - sorry to have disappeared (work emergency) - and thanks very much for engaging.

The documents are development slates, saying where a project is and what needs to be done with it. I need a few different tables, for active projects, new pitches, ideas dumps, etc. Right now, I have tables on different word docs, which is hard to manage.

What I want is a doc with different tabs - that is simple so other people will update it, right now it’s me all the time.

It’s a start up content creation business, so people are good with ideas, scripts, cameras, editing, working crazy hours, and utterly shit with organisation, admin (and I include myself in that). In a bigger company someone with the right skills would be around to help. But if we could get a system going, it would help us win more business, create more jobs etc.

It sounds to me like I need to get someone to set up a system for me. I have had one of our finance guys to help in the past, but he sets up a spree sheet with lots of detail and tiny boxes, which no one will even engage with.

All thoughts really welcome - and if anyone has links to user friendly spreadsheets that would be great.

@JackieCollinshasnoauthority - well in my business if you can’t handle a camera you’d be fired, but that doesn’t mean I think you should be sacked from your completely different job

You can create tables in Excel and then copy them into Word. It really is just a c&p. If the table's cells were formatted to wrap contents you can adjust row height to display wrapped contents so that the cell grows as the info is put into it.

@FlipFlops4Me

You can create tables in Excel and then copy them into Word. It really is just a c&p. If the table's cells were formatted to wrap contents you can adjust row height to display wrapped contents so that the cell grows as the info is put into it.

No - it’s the tabs I need. Word tables are fine - I just need one doc with tabs. Thanks though.

We have a Google sheets document at work that we all contribute to - it’s dead easy, but we do our work that’s outside the specialist IT system on Google - gmail, drive etc

Does it have to be a spreadsheet? Have a look at Trello. Very good for visual people, creatives, and teams.

@Greatoutdoors

We have a Google sheets document at work that we all contribute to - it’s dead easy, but we do our work that’s outside the specialist IT system on Google - gmail, drive etc

Seconding this too. Google sheets is basically excel, but you can set up a Google drive for the teak and add to documents there as if it’s word.

You just need to ask a finance guy to duplicate the word tables as closely in Excel as possible and explain that they need to design them as simply as they think reasonable and then simplify them even more. Literally sit with finance guy and make sure it fits your needs.

You can produce the whole thing in Excel then save the whole thing as a pdf with each tab as a different page. It doesn't add the gridlines unless you specifically add them in. It's very effective.

@Greatoutdoors @NoSquirrels

Thanks - my fear with Google sheets it’s it easy to overwrite and not re-save as a different version (we’ve had a few script disasters) - are we doing it wrong?!

Second question - can you have tabs like word on Google sheets?!

No, it doesn’t have to be a spreadsheet, but my thought was as we have to look at them for budgets at least it’s half familiar.

but perhaps something like Trello would be better - it looks way better for sure, am just worried about expecting people to engage with a whole new system.

@BattledoreAndShuttlecock yep I think this is it! Thanks

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz PDF wouldn’t work because I want people to use it rather than lock it

Have a look at Microsoft forms. It tends to be used to collect ideas, creative capture etc. What might help is set down the functionality you require. so you are saying you need tabs buy would a dashboard function suit. It might help people identify a better solution.