DH has been using a calculator to add things recorded in Excel

[RokaandRoll]

AIBU to think this is absolutely astonishing?

I found out because we were doing a new budget spreadsheet and he read out what we spend on different things each month while I recorded each item in Excel. He then asked me to read the amounts back to him so he could add them up. I was like WHAT??? I'll just add a formula in Excel. He said "really, you can do that?" I asked him what he thought Excel was for, and he said he didn't know as no one had taught him.

Have you ever found out someone was doing something in a completely bizarre and illogical way on a similar level as this? DH is in his 50s and is a quite intelligent person (or so I thought). He has used Excel in his job although obviously not extensively. AIBU to be completely shocked?

Fancy sharing it with me? 😀
(only half joking).

I’m useless when it comes to excel but YouTube has been my friend over that years.

It is what we use before uploading into our bespoke databases.
It is a huge multimillion £ company. Our databases don't have the functionality to manipulate data the way we can in excel.

It's not a hack. It's what Excel is for.

For people who like learning new things about excel, this is a great account to follow on Instagram.

www.instagr--am.com/excel.withgrant?igsh=cmJzYm1nMnp0YXY=

When I use the VLOOKUP function in excel, if its a big table I do often sit there counting which column number I want on my fingers, which can cause amusement among colleagues.

You need to do an xlookup when you have lots of columns. It's a game changer. It is great because you can also return results from columns from either side of the spreadsheet.

Does this do what you want? …..

https://blog.coupler.io/how-to-split-excel-sheet-into-multiple-worksheets/amp/

I’m thinking of the first example that they show

I'll have a look at that tomorrow @tommika.
Thank you.

I prefer the explanation given here s, especially because it sounds almost identical to what you want to achieve in the first place.

Although I have written more VBA code than the average person, I’d seriously look at using the built in Power Query tools nowadays for most data wrangling. It’s really pretty amazing.

@RampantIvy thanks, I'll take a look at that.

I spent this afternoon working through a spreadsheet completed by prospective partners (mostly universities) in a research grant bid.
Quite simple, put the figures you want to claim in three columns for each year of the grant, and a formula gives the total.

No! - approaches taken included:
type over the total formula, ignore the requirement to split by year.
enter the annual figures, type over the total with a random number.
enter the annual figures, type over the formula with a "number" that includes the commas, so the spreadsheet interprets it as text and doesn't include it in the grant total.
enter the annual figures, delete the total formula and leave the cell blank

these people are bidding to do research, analysing data FFS🙄

In my old job, the submissions from universities were absolutely shocking! When I spoke to them on the phone it did seem like they were entirely unused to using excel though. Similar with a lot of councils. I suppose they're just used to using their own software packages?

Putting in formulas to Excel can be a bit of a pain (have had to do it for statistics) and I'd get a calculator and add up the sums. My DSS would do it in his head. My DS, a mathematician, would use Excel or a calculator. We all do things differently. How are you with, for example, Gimp? Not everyone knows how to use everything. Why be shocked? DH prefers a calculator or to manually add (good for the intellect), you don't. That's it, really. YABU

What type of adding up formula is a bit of a pain? Obviously there are some difficult ones to get right but what's tricky about a sum one?

It's got to keep your brain active but does anyone really take the time to add figures in a spreadsheet up in their head? That seems a very unusual thing to do, is your stepson doing this in a work situation?

All you do to add up a column of figures is select the Sum symbol ∑ in the home tab (editing) in the cell underneath the column and highlight the column.

A longer way of doing it is to write =SUM(A1:A10) if the figures are in column A from 1 to 10, or wherever the figures are.

Trouble is that if you don't use a function/equation, you'd need to remember to keep calculating the columns/rows and other calculations every time you changed a figure or added/deleted something, which is a much bigger pain, especially for other users who may not have realised it wasn't all automated!

I had a similar moment with a friend who’s been using Excel for years but didn’t know about the SUM function! He would type in all the numbers manually, and I was like, "Wait, you don’t just use the SUM formula?" It blew his mind.

Excel can be pretty powerful once you get the hang of formulas. I showed him how to use basic ones like =SUM(A1:A10), and it saved him so much time! I also learned a cool trick once to show formulas in Excel for troubleshooting purposes sheetcast.com/turbotools/turbo-trace/show-formulas-in-excel — really helpful for checking everything’s working right.

I run excel tests in interviews, and it's never about whether the person can actually solve the issue (in fact, if they ever solve everything first go it tells me less than if they need help).

I have four tests, and start at the second level. Depending on how they do, I can go up or down a level.

But the absolutely key thing is seeing how they navigate the system - are they clicking in the cells to look for formula, are they selecting multiple cells, checking for hidden rows etc?

The last woman I gave a job to said, "I can see there's a formula here that's working on these cells but I'm not familiar with it, can I Google it?".

Well, I'm often shocked when people can't be bothered to do a few seconds research via google etc for pretty simple things. It doesn't take a genius to have an inquisitive mind and apply a bit of common sense to something like a spreadsheet to realise that it does more than allow you to enter a bit of text and a column of figures. Any rational person would know that you won't need to manually add up a list of numbers on the screen - otherwise just what would be the point of the spreadsheet in the first place?

Lots of things, in fact most things in life aren't formally "taught" to us! That's why we have books, leaflets, websites, google, family/friends/experts to ask etc.

Are you usually that easily shocked?

ChatGPT is better for excel queries than Google any day of the week. It gives you one answer that’s usually right first time. You have to wade through a load of shite in Google.

Has it ever occurred to you that some people don't need to use Excel ?
I've never had to use it and I am too old to have been taught at school.

being pedantic (but I think it's fair given you are criticising someone else's lack of intellectual curiosity) it's probably not a "fair bet" that 20 billion people have wanted to do a specific formula in excel, given that's more than a sixth of all the humans that have ever been alive, ever, and excel has only been around for the last 40 years (and, as per this post, isn't used by everyone even in the UK and other very technologically adapt nations in 2025).

Talk to me about the to do app? Do you mean the task list?

Of course, but those who do "need" to use excel, because they have used it to make a list of figures, should really think about using it properly. Not just putting a list of figures down and adding them by calculator! If they're not going to make the slightest effort to do it properly, then just write the figures on a sheet of paper and add it up by calculator. In fact, it's worse when you use tech wrong, as the person using the spreadsheet would be justified in assuming the column of figures was added up correctly simply because that's what they'd expect - that's how mistakes happen. It's why HMRC want businesses to use proper accounting/book-keeping software and not spreadsheets because they're seeing lots of spreadsheets that simply aren't worth the paper they're written on because they simply don't add up, yet are being used as the basis for vital things like tax returns!