Collaborating in real time
 

I am very new to excel spreadsheets, and am in desperate need of help
figuring out how to collaborate with employees across the nation in real
time.

I have a list of almost 12,000 clients in an excel spreadsheet - currently
we have a chaotic email-back-and-forth system for all of our client updates.

I have been researching for 2 weeks for hours on end on how I can possibly
find a program that will allow me to upload this main file to *somewhere*
where all the employees can edit and make changes without having to
continuously download, save, re-upload, then send via email.

One of the major problems I am contending with is the format of the excel
spreadsheet - its difficult to edit or add information in cells that are so
tiny - and because this file is so large (8MB of back-to-back names and
numbers) I can't seem to find an efficient way to enter new data under
current client names, including notes on their account, new addresses, etc.
without making a complete mess of the already filled tiny cells.

I am so frustrated with this, I can't seem to find any solutions! I've tried
wikis, share servers, online "desktops" but it all seems to boil down to the
inability to update and edit information in a coherent, organized fashion
because of the spreadsheet format.

I don't know what to do - copying and pasting each customers information
into an entirely new program would take MONTHS - is there any one who can
help me? Please??!??

And thank you very, very much.

Sincerely,
Kati

Collaborating in real time
 

Microsoft Office Groove should do the trick
--
William<"M"




"Kati" wrote:

I am very new to excel spreadsheets, and am in desperate need of help
figuring out how to collaborate with employees across the nation in real
time.

I have a list of almost 12,000 clients in an excel spreadsheet - currently
we have a chaotic email-back-and-forth system for all of our client updates.

I have been researching for 2 weeks for hours on end on how I can possibly
find a program that will allow me to upload this main file to *somewhere*
where all the employees can edit and make changes without having to
continuously download, save, re-upload, then send via email.

One of the major problems I am contending with is the format of the excel
spreadsheet - its difficult to edit or add information in cells that are so
tiny - and because this file is so large (8MB of back-to-back names and
numbers) I can't seem to find an efficient way to enter new data under
current client names, including notes on their account, new addresses, etc.
without making a complete mess of the already filled tiny cells.

I am so frustrated with this, I can't seem to find any solutions! I've tried
wikis, share servers, online "desktops" but it all seems to boil down to the
inability to update and edit information in a coherent, organized fashion
because of the spreadsheet format.

I don't know what to do - copying and pasting each customers information
into an entirely new program would take MONTHS - is there any one who can
help me? Please??!??

And thank you very, very much.

Sincerely,
Kati

Collaborating in real time
 

On 1 aug, 19:44, Kati wrote:

I don't know what to do - copying and pasting each customers information
into an entirely new program would take MONTHS - is there any one who can
help me? Please??!??

It sounds like you need some kind of database, not a spreadsheet.
Or perhaps even a customer relations software (a special database,
preconfigured for al kinds of customer related things)
One day you will get totally stuck with your spreadsheet, and you
can't do business any more.

Bite the bullet, you will be much more productive afterwards. You will
be able to do more, in less time, which means more profit.

I have good news for you: if you are able to structure your
spreadsheet, and you make good plans in advance, and you test a lot,
and ask advice from a professional consultant (a one time cost that
will pay itself back), then it really won't take months but only days
or perhaps even hours. You see, it's possible to import Excel files as
data tables in a lot of databases. I'm not very familiar with Access,
but I believe it can do that.

I can give you no more than this general advice, and it is worth what
you payed for it.
Believe me: if you're talking about 12.000 rows and 8MB files, there's
no way some guy from some newsfroup is gonna give you the golden tip
that will solve all your problems.