{"id":24774,"date":"2016-09-07T03:01:56","date_gmt":"2016-09-06T17:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rjmprogramming.com.au\/ITblog\/?p=24774"},"modified":"2016-09-12T22:18:03","modified_gmt":"2016-09-12T12:18:03","slug":"excel-online-spreadsheet-monthly-planner-primer-tutorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rjmprogramming.com.au\/ITblog\/excel-online-spreadsheet-monthly-planner-primer-tutorial\/","title":{"rendered":"Excel Online Spreadsheet Monthly Planner Primer Tutorial"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Excel<\/a>

Excel Online Spreadsheet Monthly Planner Primer Tutorial<\/p><\/div>\n

One of the best navigation tools we know of for both desktop and web and mobile applications is the “tab”<\/a>. The “tab” is that button like GUI feature like with those dictionaries of old that had a “tab” as a little “indent” into the paper of the hardcover book that helps you open up the book to an exact position, such as the first “G” entry in the dictionary.<\/p>\n

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Well, today we latch on to Microsoft’s excellent “Excel Online”<\/a> spreadsheet<\/a> functionality (or Gmail equivalent Google Sheets<\/a> functionality) and first good use for its “Insert -> Sheet” functionality to add in a “tab” for navigation purposes, that consists of a spreadsheet worksheet<\/a> (commonly nicknamed “Sheet” in this article, elsewhere), for your “Monthly Planner” spreadsheet. Our ideas here are actually derived from the ideas of one of my students, who came to class with a plan for a “Monthly Planner” spreadsheet. Spreadsheet design benefits enormously from a plan of some sort for its design. You don’t have to follow through on those first design ideas ad infititum, but it helps stimulate ideas you can hone once you are in the Microsoft Excel application functionality.<\/p>\n

So what’s with “Excel Online” (for Hotmail<\/a> email, for example) (or Gmail<\/a> email equivalent Google Sheets functionality)? It’s a way to keep a spreadsheet in what we like to call “midair” sending spreadsheet data to yourself, and\/or others, via email, with the spreadsheet data not necessarily very often landing on a hard disk, as such … though, behind the scenes it does … but, rather, follows you, around the world perhaps, “in the ether” via email. We’ve talked about the joys of this approach before, and we refer you to Emailing Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet Primer Tutorial<\/a> for this.<\/p>\n

Okay, then, what are the design elements of what we ended up with as my student’s “Monthly Planner”? One thing is, you may be tempted to actually open a spreadsheet row that names a month by name. That was my first reaction, but what ended up being so much better we feel, and we fleshed out by using “Excel Online” (for Hotmail<\/a> email, for example) (or Gmail<\/a> email equivalent Google Sheets functionality) to hone our ideas with, was to have the “Month name” be expressed by a “Sheet tab”, created by Insert -> Sheet in “Excel Online” (or there’ll be an equivalent in Gmail originated Google Sheets functionality, or you may decide to do this in Microsoft Excel or LibreOffice Spreadsheet or OpenOffice Spreadsheet desktop programs, ahead of entering the online “midair” “in the ether” world we talk about later). Let’s list the design “ingredients” …<\/p>\n