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[Gabriel]

I hate to even ask this question, because it makes me seem like a moron, but hey, who am I to break with tradition, right??

Ok, so here's the scan. I have been charged with setting up a spreadsheet at my office that is searchable and opened to all of the engineers in the department. The spreadsheet is to replace a folder containing a TON of hand-written tables detailing parts information. The thing is, this is a table that is still being added to, so this is not just a copy-job, but a running, searchable spreadsheet.

Here is my problem: I have the columns set to the propper widths and the fonts set to the proper points, bht only problem is that within each page, I have 3 rows that are larger than all of the others. In this case, I have (3) rows with a height of 19, and all of the others with a height of 14. In each of the height 19 rows, a numeric designation appears which will count up with each additional page. To date, this listing is up to "0000953" with 10 seperate entries in each of those designations (the height 14 rows) So that is a ton of pages I need to create. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to have Excel repeat my row height requirements automatically for each page I drag in down onto.

Do any of you out there have enough experience with Excel to give me a hand with this???

Gabriel

[kv]

Rather than making a new page, you could just copy your starting page...

Other than that, it looks like you would work better with an Access Database anyway.

  -kv

[ROOTless]

Agreed, it looks more like a database kind of problem.

[kv]

If you're just making a parts list that's going to be shared over the network, though, Excel should be fine. Just make sure you password protect any changes, or you'll have the same problem my brother did when he set up an excel sheet for book keeping at his old job.

Nothing quite like a 3am call "Oops, I just copied over all your formulas. Can you come in and fix them?"

  -kv

[Gabriel]

Actually, I've just had to modify the damn thing so that all the rows are the same hieght. My initial layout goes down to Row #12,600. So far, with 36 rows per page, and 10 columns per row, I've been able to get thorugh page 10. Sometimes I really LOATHE this fraggin' job.

Gabriel

[kv]

Is this just for reference, or do a bunch of people need to be able to make changes to the fraggin' thing?

  -kv

[Gabriel]

5 people, including myself, are going to have access to this and be updating it on a semi-regular basis. Speaking of which, I have to work on it more today.

Pro: Everything is already written down and I just have to trasfer it.

Con: Nothing is written down the same way twice, so I have to restructure it as I go.

I hate my job...

Gabriel

[Ruski]

there's a way to format the cells so that the font sizes 'auto-adjust' and shrink down to fit in the space provided. if you have some data that isn't quite fitting quite, that could be a way arround that.

this is more of a database job, but putting it into excell is a fine place to start. Access (the microsoft database) will read data from excell, so if you want to upgrade it later, that's the way to go.

-RuskiFace the Pirate

[Ingo Monk]

Since it's an excel spreadsheet (which is an individual file) you might run into problems when multiple people try to access it at the same time.  What usually happens (at least in a networked environment) is that the first person is able to open and modify and anyone afterwords is only able to open a read-only version of the file and they can't make any changes.  So if you have PEBKAC users (Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair), they'll start whining and complaining that they can't change anything since they'll completely ignore the message that pops up saying that they cannot do so.

Please make sure you make a backup of the file.  It should be easy since it's a single file just copy it somewhere and add 'BKUP' or something to the end of the file name (i.e. spreadsheetBKUP.xls).  You might want to do this a minimum of once a week to a maximum of once a day (maybe just before you leave for the day).

In any case, what version of MS Office are you using?  In Office 2003 you're able to copy the cell height/width adjustments for a sheet by clicking on the box above row 1 and to the left of column A, then hitting Ctrl-C (copy).  Then you go to the next sheet or tab and click on the same box and paste.  It should copy everything you have in the source spreadsheet, including text and formulas exactly the same, but any future changes you make to anything will have to be changed manually.

And that folks is the extent of my spreadsheet knowledge.  Thank you and have a nice day

[Ruski]

if you wanted to automate the backup sequence, you could create a .bat file, and then link it in 'scheduled tasks' inside the controll panel. set it to make a copy of the file, however many times a day/week you want.
(you may want to copy it onto multiple locations at various times, so that if someone crashes it, you don't have just the most recently 'broken' copy as a backup.)

or, as I set up on my work: Cascade.
I set up a backup system that runs once every three hours.
it compleatly coppies the entire database, into a new spot on a RAID drive, specified by the date and time.
then, once a week, it wipes out everything but the most recent copy. (to save on space)

I was pretty happy with how that was working.

-RuskiFace the Pirate