people using 'set print area' on an excel spreadsheet

[thecolonelbumminganugget]

It annoys me so much I have to leave my desk and make a cup of tea to calm down everytime someone emails me a spreadsheet where they've done this!

There is no justification for this. Either:

A - you have set the important information to print and everything else is backing information. In which case you need two tabs, one with the summary, the other with the backing so anyone who wants to can trace it through but the important information is summarised on the front sheet. Or;

B - it's all equally important but YOU only needed to print part of it. In which case either select cells and use print selected or use clear print area before you save it in a shared location or forward it on. If it is the case that the bit you needed to print is the same bit everyone else will need then I refer you to point A above.

All that happens is that you send it on, the recipient prints it to read, or worse still when they've added their own work to it and printed it, the bit they wanted didn't print because it's not in the print area you dictated, they throw it in the bin, swear at you behind your back and have to go back to their desk, clear print area, and print it again.

I know I'm not being unreasonable when I say the only reason to do this is because you hate everyone you work with!

(Oh god that feels better)

[OhtoblazeswithElvira]

Davideainwrightsfeet
Sorting some of the columns but not all of them

Surely these days you have to go out of your way / override defaults to do that?

[Lazyafternoon]

Ego147 It's not just children that do that...

As an IT Trainer in a big global company I frequently came across people who would spend hours making charts look pretty in Excel. Completely meaningless charts, but they liked the way they looked. [head in hands]

As for OP - unfortunately most people are never taught how to use Excel for the purpose they are expected to use it. So it's not necessarily their fault. They are expected just to know it or be self taught. But it's a bit like teaching yourself to swim - you need to have an idea to start with. Excel is a massive application and usually you only learn what you NEED to know for what you do and bumble by. Unless you have a very helpful colleague willing to show you or are particularly interested and have the time and inclination to read articles, books, YouTube videos etc about tasks in Excel you will only ever 'get by'. You won't realise there is an easier, better, more colleague friendly way to do things.

Unless they are just being an annoying, arrogant, selfish idiot who actually doesn't care, perhaps set up a training session so you're all working efficiently and understand what implications of changes they make are etc.

[JellyBelli]

File - Export As - PDF. Or at least it is in Open Office (which is free.) Plus you can also export as .csv [helpful]

[Topseyt]

Blimey Random, was she a hark back to the dark ages?

It isn't as if spreadsheet software was even in its infancy 15 years ago. It wasn't.

Some 25 years ago now I began using spreadsheet. I cut my teeth on Lotus 123, which was the main predecessor to Excel. I was in insurance then. There were underwriters in our office who were approaching retirement age and most of them could at least make a passable attempt at using it. They often asked for advice, but they did like it as a tool for parts of the job.

[ComputerUserNotTrained]

Ego there will be a database behind the front end. Whoever maintains the directory will be able to get a CSV file for you in a few minutes.

[BalloonSlayer]

A good trick if someone insists on printing all of a spreadsheet is to go right to the end and put a character in cell XFD1048576.

Then watch their face when they start to print it.

[thecolonelbumminganugget]

lazyafternoon

I understand what you mean about training but in this instance its not that there's anything wrong with the data. I think me organising a meeting with the entire finance function of a global business to address a petty gripe about the way people chose to configure their print settings might illicit the response 'why don't you use print preview, you mad bat?' and mark me out to HR as someone who could do with some compassionate leave.

[CMOTDibbler]

As product managers (not for Microsoft I hasten to add) we have often discussed unlocking features once you have proven you can use the basics sensibly. Alas, although users are very enthusiastic about this as it applies to others they are horrified that it might apply to them.

[ClashCityRocker]

Also, people who can't use the search function.

Or who use find and replace incorrectly, hit replace all and cause the apocalypse.

I make juniors copy and paste the original spreadsheet and work on that if it's a stand alone spreadsheet.

[Ego147]

Completely meaningless charts, but they liked the way they looked

And now you can do 3d charts as well. I bet they look great

And don't get me started on Powerpoint and flying text....

[Ego147]

thecolonelbumminganugget

Do you read Dilbert?

[thecolonelbumminganugget]

Ah now, PowerPoint. My favourite is when the presenter has written everything they are going to say on the slides and then just reads them out.

[thecolonelbumminganugget]

ego

[Ego147]

My favourite is when the presenter has written everything they are going to say on the slides and then just reads them out

I believe Dilbert has that covered

[StatisticallyChallenged]

Whereas my favourite is colleagues who refuse to use the notes function for really technical presentations, preferring instead to memorise what they plan to say for each slide of 1hr plus presentations. Which is fine, until you (and they) are traveling to deliver 2 days of said technical presentations and they get sick

And you're left in the shit.

[DrunctioningFunk]

Ooh Excel nerds

Can I ask a question, as a relatively new user of Excel?

So I have 12 worksheets; each tab labelled Jan/ Feb etc all way through to Dec.

Each month's worksheet has a list of outgoings and are totalled at the bottom.

What I would like to do is create a new worksheet with the whole year's total on it, so basically shift each monthly total to the annual total... and make it a formula so that whenever I enter a value the yearly total changes automatically.

Sorry, probably haven't explained it very well

[RandomMess]

Provided the tabs are identical in layout...

On summary tab, hit = key then go onto the first shit click on the cell, then hit + key, go onto the 2nd sheet click on the cell you want to add - repeat.

Then if they are all identical simply copy the cell on the summary by dragging down/across for all the cells to add them up.

Very easy to do, may not come across in my explanation very well though!

[RandomMess]

We were reminiscing at work about pre-excel days, only one sheet in a book, no undo button, writing macros for everything, no transpose function and so on!

[DrunctioningFunk]

Thank you random I'll have a go on Monday.

[Eastpoint]

Please don't remind me about pre-excel days - I worked pre Lotus notes days & used Supercalc. I'll never forget the joy of working somewhere without a computer at all & having to type out a table with diagonal tabs & columns & columns of figures every month. Going back 36 months which will give it away for some people.

[DadDadDad]

Ooh Excel nerds

Oi! I'm an Excel geek. There's a difference, you know.

[AuroraBora]

Going back to the OP - under the view ribbon there is a print view, so you can see the selected print area and drag it around. And it's not a print preview so you can zoom in and out to check it's correct.

[MiamiBound]

actually... I'm an excel diva

[Workworkwork1]

Get your ass handed to you by the directors if you don't set a print area where I work. It's basic formatting.

[TheGruffaloMother]

If you've ever worked in a coordinator role in a large team of people who consider themselves too important to go on proper excel training, you'd get why you always set the print area on a document that isn't solely for your own use.

I've lot count of the number of times a panicked colleague needed me right this minute to a) stop the printer from churning shit out and b) sort out how it prints. It's not even funny how much of my day was taken up by 'higher ups' refusing to go on excel training that they clearly needed.