Welcome to the Discussion
Hi Everyone!
I’m Don and I run teachexcel.com. I’m usually in the background working on this site or making many of the tutorials that you see here, but it’s nice to finally meet you! 🙂
I’m writing this because I want to start a dialogue and  I want to hear your ideas, your thoughts, and your opinions about this site and let you help shape its future.
TeachExcel.com helps 100,000’s of people each month and I’m proud to be a part of that. As we’ve grown there has been demand for new features and that’s where you come in.
I setup this blog so that we can have a discussion about what happens here and so I can see what you really do/don’t want on TeachExcel. My goal is to make this the most helpful Excel resource on the internet and I can’t do that without you.
The first step in this process is to address something many people have been asking for, a Forum.
The Forum
There has been A LOT of demand for a forum here and I have been quietly working on it in the background for some time now. In fact, there is a simple version of it already available on the site, but it is nowhere near ready to be a Q&A forum.
First, I need to know if you would even like to have a Forum here, and then get your ideas on some features I’m thinking about.
Potential features:
- Ability to select an answer from post replies – this would place the answer under the original question and make it easier for future readers to find the solution.
- Tag questions so that it is easier to sort through different topics and see only that which applies to you.
- Separate comments and answers section for a question so that all potential answers are listed together and comments which clarify the question are listed separately.
These are just a few features I’m thinking of building and I’d like to hear what you think.
Let me know your thoughts, if you’d be willing to participate in the forum, and anything else related to this site.
Please put everything in the comments section below and I’ll make sure to reply!
Don
Hi Don thank you for your effort. I appreciate your tips on a regular basis. I have been in power user of Excel for well over 20 years, yet there are still nuances that I pick up from your information. I will support you as much as is reasonable with your forum as you get it going.
Thank you for the support! It’s nice to know that people out there are interested in this and appreciate the work I do!
Hi Don thank you for your effort.
I have been user of MS Excel for well over 15 years and I appreciate your tips.
Thanks! And I hope you can get some use out of the forum too when I finish building it.
Great idea Don. Certainly interested in supporting this blog.
Please set it up! I’ll definitely be following / participating in the forum if you do. 🙂
That’s great! The forum will only work if there are enough people around to participate in it and I’m looking forward to moving forward with it.
Hi Don,
Thanks for your effort and sharing. I will support you in your blog.
Thank you Don.
I have excel 2003 which is not allowing me to copy using ctrl c. When I use ctrl c, instead of copying it changes the row size of several rows in my spreadsheet so you can no longer see them. It will still copy by right clicking. Do you know why it started doing this recently?
Hi Linda,
There are several things that can cause that, for example
1. CTRL+C has been assigned to run Macro (or Add-In) at Excel
2. CTRL+C has been assigned as the Hot Key at external active software
At your case, it might due to reason No.1. Try ALT+F8 to check the Macro list, select the macro, click Options, and then remove the assigned short cut key of CTRL+C from that Macro (or simply delete the Macro).
Hope it helps.
No, sorry, but this is the kind of question that I hope the future forum will help answer.
YES PLEASE!!!! Not quite at the 20 year mark and definitely not all of them were at the power user level but I do find little gems appear in the occasionally with the updates. I find the tips very useful in helping teach others the tricks of Excel without overwhelming them with tech talk. A forum would be a great addition to the site and community and I would love to participate.
Glad to have your support! Thanks 🙂
Over and over Excel Tutorials have helped me a lot from basic functions to VB Programming. Excel is still doing its great job. I’ll do my best to support this venture as little as I can.
Keep it up.
Thank you.
Hopefully, you mean “as much” 😉
Great!! This will be a step forward !! I look forward to get enriched more!! Please go ahead!!
The forum is a great tool. I hope it takes off.
Thanks! I hope you can participate in it and benefit from it when it is up and running.
Hello Don,
I am an Excel neophyte and your emails have helped me a great deal. Thank you so much for providing this information.
I would really like to know about pivot tables and how to set data to graphs or pie charts.
Also is there a function to show data graphically to show Mean and upper and lower limits?
Thanks again,
Rich
Glad to help! There are functions to get the mean, upper, and lower limits and you can plot the results however, basically, you want. I will try to get some pivottable tutorials up soon but building the new features has made it difficult for me to make any decent tutorials recently so I can’t promise anything right now.
Hi Don, I too would participate in a forum. Like David, I also use Excel extensively and would be most interesting in a deeper understand of how to manipulate data in multiple worksheets within the same workbook and also how to link workbooks. I’m pretty certain there is more I could learn about the use of functions.
That’s great! I look forward to your participation in the forum and hope that it will help answer any questions you have that the site doesn’t already answer.
Hello Don, I only joined the site yesterday but found it friendly and informative. I have used Excel and vba for some years and find it an invaluable tool. I am currently developing a technical analysis application for stocks and I have a forum question. When excel embeds pics/charts etc it gives them index identifiers. Is it possible to have a dynamic table on a sheet that updates the pics/charts indexes and also the pic/chart addresses? How would it refresh?
Thank you forum in advance and I look forward to learning more from this site
As much as I want to help you, this is the place to talk about creating the forum, seeing how much demand there is for it, and finding out if there are people willing to participate in it to answer questions etc. The forum isn’t up right now, but I hope it will be soon.
Don,
I agree that a forum is a good idea. While I am considered an Excel whiz by many, I am always trying to learn more about Excel to be able to teach others.
Glad to hear it! I hope I can count on your participation in the forum when it arrives.
Don,
I’m with David. I appreciate your efforts and would be willing to help you in any way I can. I started out with VisiCalc, graduated to Lotus 1-2-3 and eventually migrated to Excel. My particular interest is VBA but even after about 20 years with it I still consider myself a hack (not to be confused with “hacker”). Being on several forums (in other topics) I would be interested in seeing how best to cross-reference topics (since most Excel questions seem to have several aspects (e.g. a question may involve more than just “creating formulae.” It may also include indirect references or data validation or conditional formatting). Therefore a single query on the forum may need to pull entries from several different categories. (Obviously I am a frustrated – and retired – database guy) This probably can’t exist in the initial implementation, but it seems to be something that might set this forum apart. I also think you might entertain some sort of rating or evaluation system. On other forums when I search for a specific question, I often get a a large number of responses that I then have to sift through to find the answer. If this one had some sort of evaluation capability (kind of like Facebook “Likes”)(I’m not a Facebook member; I’m just giving one possible method) where you could view responses based on how well they were received, that might simplify or expedite getting the right answer. OK, having gone completely overboard, suffice it to say I would be sincerely interested in seeing you start a forum and I will help in any way I can.
Thanks so much for the support and the suggestions! You did not go overboard, not at all. I am very much looking for input like yours so that I can make the best possible forum, and hopefully one that is easy to use. I won’t get it 100% right on the first go, or maybe ever, but I expect this to be an iterative process and I know that I don’t have all the answers.
The “Facebook like” kind of feature is a great idea and one that I would like to have down the road for sure and there are a number of ways to potentially implement something like that. I will certainly make note of different ways this can be done and, down the road, include a blog post on this topic where a more specific discussion about it can be had since, as I am sure you know, search features can be a real pain to implement in a manner that is both useful and easy to scale.
As far as cross-referencing topics from different categories goes, my idea was to have a tagging system similar to, though not as complex as, stackoverflow.com. As such, there would be one main page where all posts in the forum are listed and then each post would have a set of tags. These tags could then be used to separate the posts into different categories. If you click a tag, you see only posts that also contain that tag. This is how you could separate posts into different categories or views to see only that for which you are interested. And, since a post can contain multiple tags, it can be in multiple categories simultaneously. At the moment I am thinking of having 1 main tag, “Excel” and then 4 optional tags that relate to the specific issue. Though, it’s not set in stone, of course.
Hi Don, I agree with Dave Dockstader, you’re doing a great job and your site and tips have been a great help to me. I too started back before there was an Excel and I switched from Lotus to Excel when it was first released. I’m retired now, but I still like to work with Excel and Access and improve my knowledge. When I have questions or problems I still find the Excel and Access forums on the various websites very useful and also sometimes frustrating so any method that would rate the relevance of the answers would be great.
Thanks for the great work you’re doing. Keep it up and If I can add anything, I will.
The answer search will be very important I’ve found, and I am currently working on it. Hope to see you in the forum when it’s ready!
Very nice indeed. If you could go for a darker text colour, things would be easier to read. Not enough contrast.
Sorry about that; it should be fixed now. I’m still new to wordpress so sorry if the look/feel isn’t the same as the rest of the site.
Dear Don,
Thank you for hosting this forum.
Looking forward to participate in it.
Regards,
KK
Great Move!! 🙂 Don!!
I Welcom it!!
G’day Don, Your Teach Excel has been great so far, although I must say I’m quite comfortable and familiar with Excel but I find there is a lot still to learn, I always go through your Excel Updates email each and every one of them I can always pick on something useful as I work in calibration of electronic test equipment and Excel is the most useful tool ever for this type of work I still like to learn more; a forum I feel it would be quite advantageous
I’m glad to hear that! It’s nice to know that I’m not just working on something that no one will ever use.
Teach Excel
Wonderful place to teach, learn, n learn and learn….
I m always on your side
Keep the good work.
Thanks for the support!!!
I’ve been a spreadsheet user since the first appearance of Lotus 1.2.3 and have been having a great time with Excel and VBA. Your site’s organization and the people that use and contribute to it are fabulous. I will try to remember your request for feedback and drop you a note from time to time. Thanks again.
Thanks! Feedback is always welcome! I can’t get everything right all the time, or even close, so I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the forum as it progresses.
Your site and emails have helped me greatly, and yes i think the Forum is a terrific idea
Go on.Looking forward to participate in it.
Glad to hear it 🙂
G’day Don, yes keep ’em coming mate! I’m not real bright, I’m old, but have so far managed to follow the tutorials without much drama. A forum has greater potential to narrow down specific problems, that sometimes a professional writing on a subject, leaves out a detail he/she does not think needs explanation.
A fella like me needs every detail, so if missing, a forum will no doubt help. Thanks Don.
I agree 100% and that’s really why I want to make the forum and why I want to make sure there are going to be enough people interested in using it that it can be helpful for everyone, as in people to answer questions as well as ask them.
Thank you for the many EXCEL tips that I find quite useful. I look forward to the EXCEL forum.
Any possibility of help on being able to download data from various websites via macros or other means?
At the moment, I don’t plan to make any specific tutorials related to that but, when the forum is finished, those kinds of topics will most certainly be able to be asked there.
Hi Don and all the excel lovers! Thanks so much for your kind sharing. I’m a new joiner and really appreciate to receive your excel tips regularly. I’m working in marketing field for years. Part of my job is to manipulate large amount of data and try to dig out the customer behavior and formulate strategies to grow company biz. I will be very much appreciated if there is a forum to share some data mining technique.
I feel your pain 100%; “Export to Excel” never means “Make it easy to use in Excel”. You will definitely be able to ask data mining questions on there and you will be able to label them as such using the tagging feature that will allow you to attach “keywords” or “tags” to questions.
G’day Don, whilst I have used Excel since its early inception and it for runners Multiplan, VisiCalc, Lotus123. The never ending additions introduced by Microsoft make it difficult to keep pace with them, and sits such as yours enable us to quickly pickup on these additions. please keep up the good work and I look forward to your new Q & A Forum.
Great! Glad to hear it! I look forward to seeing you there in the forum!
Hi Don. I’m new to the site. I’ve used Excel for a number of years but by no means do I consider myself an expert. I don’t know that I have much to contribute but I still like to learn things about this amazing program.
Hi Don,
Good idea about the forum,…and TeachExcel has been a great help since i started to use Excel.
And thanks to all contributors to TeachExcel..
The forum will be another great site ! … I support it.
Glad to help! And thanks for the support! I will keep everyone updated through this blog and hope to have something ready for testing soon.
God to meet you Don, this is a great site and very helpful. If i everneed assistance with Excel i go straight toy our site so thanks very much keep it going please 🙂
Good day Don, TeachExcel is excellent so far though I’m quite comfortable with excel i learn many concepts from TeachExcel.I thanks for your valueable contribution in my skill development. I support you for your new initiative.
Great! Thanks! The forum will definitely need support, that’s for sure.
Thanks Don
Your Excel is really so helpful for upgrade knowledge
Hi ! Nice step.
Will be helpful to we all.
All the best.
Great ! Thanks for your effort and sharing !! I look forward to more!! Please go ahead!! I will support you in your blog.
Thanks!
Hi
This is really a good thing which helps a lot to many to share their ideas, views and problems etc.,
Hi Don,
I really appriciate your efforts for giving such kind of tutorials on regular basis. I am working on excel for last 5 years constantly and i am more intreaseted in VBS from its basic & Micros writting.
Thanks for the support! I hope to have some more VBA stuff up soon but its taking most of my time to design the forum at the moment.
Hi Don.. Good day…
Very much interested and happy participate
Hi Don, appreciate your efforts towards forum, its a great move. Your tips has been helpful, thanks !!
Hi Don, we are with you from Pakistan and i really very thankful of you. i am a power user of excel for last 8 years and learnt a lot from your tips. have a good day. 🙂
Dear Don,
Thank you ,I appreciate your work.
Looking forward to participate in it.
Hello Don,
Excel Tutorials is of great help. I learned so many things through this, but still a lot to learn. I appreciate you for the pain and strain you had in sharing the lessons with simplicity. I support for your great idea of Forum and let it be a great success.
Goodluck
Thank you! 🙂
Hi Don, I definately participate in a forum. This forum is a very nice idea. I always go thru your Excel Updates email. Good Try.
Thanks Don
Its a great move on your part. I would also participate in the forum. Go ahead for the best.
Glad to have your support and hopefully it will be up and running soon.
This sounds great. I cannot add to what you already have in mind. Thank you
Yes please Don.
There are so many exquisite pieces of code that others have developed or found.
It would be wonderful to access the minds of other excel tragics like me.
Hi Don l am fairly new to excel but your tutorials has given an in dept knowledge of how powerful excel can be and l am most grateful. More grease to your elbow. Gambalo
Excellent idea. Looking forward to participate.
Good job.
I appreciate your effort.
First of all thanks for your efforts Don you doing a great job. Your post help me a lot but I have some problems with my VBA coding which is becoming necessary for me at my workplace. If you could post some more topics on VBA and macros for Mac if possible would be great.
Have a great day.
Cheers!
Unfortunately, I have no experience with Mac, but I am assuming that macros work almost the same between Excel for Windows and Mac. Either way I will try to keep up the VBA tutorials.
Great Move!! Don!!
I Welcome it!!
Hi Don. This will surely address some of my questions. I am interested in VBA though I am not a graduate of any IT course. I learned excel when I started to work. Actually, I started in Lotus 123 and learned Lotus 123 macro. I learned that the commands in Lotus 123 macro is different from Excel, hence, I bought a book in Excel just to learn advanced commands in Excel including VBA. I have been amazed of what the Excel can do to facilitate my work and I fond thinking of programs that would make my work and my co-workers work easier. I once thought that I would rather took IT course. I am looking forward that this forum site would take off the soonest. Thanks Don for this endeavor. Hope to learn more from Excel.
Glad to help! I’ll make sure to keep you in the loop.
Yip. There’s definitely a need for this forum. This how I learn new/other features of Excel.
Hi Don
Great idea, Thanks for all the Tips, really appreciate it. Looking forward to the discussion forum.
Great! Look forward to seeing you there!
Hi Don, I have been writing VBA in Excel since the 1st version of Excel came out and sometimes use the normal functions (like most of the chartered accountants do) – therefore I value your website since I can learn a lot from it.
Please do start the blog but do not neglect adding to your normal webpages since I like reading your updates as they are created but would not read a blog every day sins I do not belong to the crowd that use facebook or twitter at all.
Thanks! And yes I am trying to get back to making the tutorials. I plan to be back on it by next week, hopefully.
WEL DONE DON..
I APPRECIATE IT.
Thanks a lot.
Supported Boss…………………..
Pls. go ahead…………….
Hi,
I am Sunil Shah a retired Finance Executive From RIL. I Love to learn Excel for my own interest and giving guidance to friends and society those who needs it. I AM NOT EXPERT. But HAVE WORKING KNOWLEDGE OF EXCEL. I wanted to know and learn about VB and Macros to be used in excel.I have download your link on excel book.I will study the same and will post my feed back.
Sounds good, thanks!
Hi Don from Spain.
Thank you for your new effort with this Blog.
I have been user of MS Excel for a lot years. I think that “teachexcel” is the better “Meeting point” for developers initiates to Excel.
Thank you on behalf of all.
Its a exceptional idea.
Thanks! I hope it will continue to be a helpful site for everyone; that’s the goal at least.
Hi Don, I definitely participate in your forum. This forum is a very nice idea. I always go through your Excel Updates email. Nice job… 🙂
Of course, Don,
I fully support you.
Just let me know what I could do to help.
I’m VBA in Excel programmer from version 97
Many thanks.
That’s great, thank you!
Hi Don
Thank you for all the hard work you have put into this already. One thing I thought for the Q&A forum is the ability to do a keyword search.
I am looking forward to getting involved.
Thank you again.
Hi and thanks for your input! Do you mean something like where you click a tag (basically the same as a keyword) and then you can see every other post/question that also has that tag? If so, that’s exactly what I’m planning to do.
very useful
Great. There is always something new
Hi Don, Great work, your nuggets of information are always appreciated, a forum would be a great idea. Look forward to it. I write some excel VBA and repair macros when they fall down. Will a VBA forum be an option ?
Yes. So, I am thinking of making a single forum for all Excel topics and using a tagging system to separate the topics into different categories. So, a user would make a post with a VBA question and then add the tag “vba” and everyone would know that it deals with VBA and if a user clicked the tag “vba” then all VBA posts would appear. The goal is to reduce confusion about which post goes where and to create a better user experience. That is my thinking at least. What do you think about a system like that? (And be honest! Your input will help to shape the end result.)
Thank you Don for your willingness to help us. I use Excel in my business and am pretty much self taught so all your tutorials have been a huge help to me.Whenever I don’t know how to do something I search for a solution and generally find it here. I just joined, have been reluctant to join because I get so many emails but I took the plunge. Glad I’m here and continue to help us, I for onewould sure appreciate it.
Thanks for the input! I’m glad I could help!
Thanks Don for helping Excel community.
I want to know more about functions and their usage in financial analysis.
Wish you all the best.
Regards,
I want thank you for the excellent service.Such service builds great working relationships.
Thanks for your effort Don.
I learn a great deal from your emails, and will certainly participate in the forum.
Glad to hear it! Looking forward to seeing you in the Forum when it’s completed 🙂
I will support you in your endeavors.
Request to go ahead with this idea.
The forum is a great tool. I hope it takes off.
As a new user of Excel, would it be too much ask that contributors use full words rather than acronyms. The world of computer language is very confusing to start with, without using ‘shortened words’. I honestly feel that if the ‘experts’ behind all computer programmes used simple english, the sales of computers would receive one hell of a kick up the backside. I.E. ‘Search Engine’ . Engine? Engine? Wheres the starter motor, the push button, the moving parts?
The weekly Excel tips have been great for our own use and that of our customers, and we think a forum would be great. We use other sites to pick up ideas and bits of code, and think that the more of this type of thing out there the better. David Dockstader’s ideas above about a rating system and having a method of linking topics together are really good. We would be happy to participate, and thanks for all the good tips so far!
Thanks for the input and glad to help! I replied to David’s comment just now and will elaborate more on those ideas in another blog post next week probably.
Very good work. Keep it up.
HI Don, I use Excel occasionally. I have attended training courses, but typically when I need a function, I have forgotten how to use it. eg align print margins to be A4 per page. I think a Q& A should have sign posts to refreshers for key features in a simplified manner, using plain language for basic through to advanced users
That is a really interesting idea! Thank you for the input. I am not certain exactly how that might work but I have made a note of it and will make sure to come back to it. I am thinking that, based on the tags that a user assigns to a question, a list of refresher tutorials could show on the same page as where the question is displayed – not really sure about that, but I’d love to hear your thoughts on how you think it might function/look in the forum.
Wish the new effort a great success!
Dear Don,
I am using excel as a moderate user already for 20 years. I am following your posts since about 6 months now, and I have never come to such a good “hands on” teaching to improve my excel skills like your website. Thanks a lot! I will keep following you.
Something I would like to see solved: I am still struggling with finding the actually edited cell. I do not like the standard method of excel to only show column and row highlighted. I would like to see rather something more clear in or around the edited cell itself.
When I find the time, I will start sharing some of my tricks as well.
Thanks! I’m glad you like my teaching method and I look forward to seeing some of your tips as well! 🙂 As per your question, I am assuming you want a cell to be highlighted when you select it? If so, I think there should be a macro on the macro page that does that.
Thanks Don!!
Hi, Don, Excel is ocean of commands. It is not possible for anybody to say He/She know everything in it. Your tips on regular basis are more useful as we go along we tend to forget many of the tips which are useful. I really enjoy your tips on regular basis. Thanks and keep up the good work.
I greatly appreciate the time and effort you take to make these tutorials as user-friendly as possible. They have made my work a lot easier and I am looking forward to the blog!
Don,
I am by no means an expert in Excel. One thing I didn’t see, but am aware of and you may have covered it here in the wealth of information you have, is to point out the differences in solutions that are specific to the specific releases of Excel; i.e. Excel 97, Excel 2003, Excel 2007, etc… and also if it is a Windows or Mac specific solution. I live in the Mac world and home and the Windows world at work.
For the tutorials, look to the right column and you will see for which versions that tutorial applies. Some tutorials show you how to do things for multiple versions of Excel within that single tutorial and some are specific to individual Excel versions. At the moment, all tutorials assume that Windows is being use because I only have a Windows computer, but, in the future, maybe someone with a Mac can help make some Mac tutorials if there are major differences in how things work.
The forum would be great Don, would be happy to support and participate in it 🙂
Thanks! I see you have already started participating and I hope you will be able to continue that when the forum comes along! 🙂
Don….great idea! I am willing to participate in any way I can.
Glad to hear it! I’m looking forward to having a robust community of people helping each other on there and I’m glad to hear you’d like to be a part of that. 🙂
Don,
I agree that a forum is a good idea
Hi Don – I appreciate your tips, I am a fairly new user and find your tips very useful, thank you! I am happy to support!
Thanks Sheri!
G R E A T J O B, Don!!! Your tips have saved my skin many times. Most grateful not to have to sacrifice arm and leg for excel help. Love the simple approach. Keeps it on my level..lol. Thanks for your time and effort, looking forward to participating.
Glad to hear it! 🙂
Count me in Don. You have been doing a very good job. I opened your Excel Tutorial weekly and sometime “steal” your samples to use in my daily work. Hope to be able to get those ideas/hints/examples again. 🙂
I’m glad the samples can help you out! That’s exactly what they are there for. 🙂
Hi Don, I would love to participate in a forum. I also use Excel extensively and would be most interested to learn about manipulating and linking data in multiple worksheets within the same workbook. I find your blogs very enriching so I’m really looking forward to the forum.
Hi Don, You are doing a great job. I have been using Excel since more than 2 decades and probably because of that I find the material more for beginners. But occasionally I find some interesting tips. If possible I would like to see coverage of macros and array formulas if they are of interest to others. Keep up the good work.
I would also like to cover more advanced stuff. At the moment, I don’t have a real outline for the tutorials, but I will try to throw-in some more advanced stuff if I can.
Hey Don! This will be an awesome resource. Like most of your followers, I’ve been using Excel for 20+ years but there are always new ‘tips & tricks’ & those can be some very nice to haves. Thank you for putting this together!!
Hello Don, I love the tutorials and read and refer to them quite a bit. Thank you for this very helpful tool! I am an Excel power user (about ten years now), but believe I still have much to learn. I would be very interested in a forum style site.
Great to hear it! The forum will need all the support it can get once it’s live and I look forward to seeing you there. 🙂
I joined TeachExcel last September, and have personally and professionally found your blog helpful. My current position requires me to use the more advance aspects of Excel, and your blogs have been of tremendous value in solving real work challenges. Keep up the great work, and blog to infinity!
Hi Don,
It’s people like you that enable the full potential of the Internet to be realised. There is always something new to be learnt in Excel and I read your weekly emails with great interest – sometimes they relate to things I already know, but on other occasions I learn something new. We each have specific requirements relating to the nature of the work we do, e.g. accountancy, modelling, engineering, macros, VBA etc. It is hard to deliver new ideas to everyone, every week, so a Forum is a fantastic idea and resource. Thank you for your commitment to us, your faithful readership – long may you thrive!
Thanks! I really appreciate the support! It’s nice to finally know that all this stuff I do is actually valued by someone and helping people. 🙂
Hi Don,
Great idea to have a one-stop-address for most and hopefully unique questions about Excel.
Depending what I’m looking on (complex formulas, help with macros…) I normally try to narrow down the question in order to get some valuable responses from GOOGLE 🙂 Not an expert but having some good knowledge considering starting with spread sheets with symphony back in 89, lol.
Hope you get the forum up and running with the ever so crucial number of participants.
Having set up several forums in my IT career, how is it going to pay for your efforts? Will there be a membership fee?
Again, all the best for your project. Leo
The forum will be completely free and I have no plans to change that. Though, if it grows enough, I will need to put ads on the forum but they shouldn’t be too intrusive or annoying. And, definitely, the biggest hurdle will be getting enough people to use it so that it can actually be useful. (and I updated the comment for you with your stated correction)
I love the Excel Tips. It has been a great tool for me and my team and I look forward to what is coming.
Hi Don, you are the Go-To when I need help using one of the features that I rarely use and need a refresher in many instances and complete training in other instances. I have found this to be easier to get answers than from the MS site.
Thanks! I appreciate that very much! In the future I have many plans to make the tutorial section even better as well, so keep checking in!
I like your idea, Don, very much about hosting the forum. The lessons in Excel that you present are of high quality and content, but some of us who use these lessons might have a comment or two on what their specific requirements are in relation to your lessons. In this regard the FORUM would be a very good one-stop-place to go to. To give a short example, I have been using your Excel lessons to develop my library staff schedule, but since our tasks are very dynamic, to come up with that kind of the Excel program is not easy. I hope that the Forum will be able to help. Thanks again, Don, for this great idea.
Exactly my thoughts! And also one reason why I want a forum because I know that every single scenario can’t be answered by a tutorial and I hope the forum can help solve this 🙂
It’s a great idea and our support is always with you.
Hey – thanks for everything on TeachExcel.com. You’ve covered so much I might just have missed some things that you’ve already discussed. So maybe you’ve already gone into this, but how about some resources or direction for those of us who are occasional macro writers, but who need to start bumping our abilities up to some rudimentary Visual Basic Programming? Probably nothing in great depth – but how can I just begin to start moving that direction?
I know what you mean, unfortunately, that is not on the top of the priority list right now. There are random VBA/Macro tutorials but nothing too formalized like a course at the moment. In the future, I have plans to change that and to democratize the tutorial process so there can be more tutorials, and not just made by me, but that’s not something I currently have time to work on.
Dan:
On Youtube, search for WiseOwlTutorials. He has 19 lessons on Excel VBA. He starts from Visual Basic Editor and moves onto more complex things. If you complete his 19 video lessons with all t hat knowledge you could shoot for the Moon! Good luck!
hi Don, excellent idea. i have been using spreadsheets from the time of lotus 123, compounded workstations in Ability and i am ever picking up something new everyday. looking forward to the forum queries.
I think a forum is a great idea, gives us the chance to help each other as well
Exactly my thoughts! I am just one person and so can’t help everyone on my own.
Great effort DON. Thanks
Would like to know if Excel can be used to create Stock inventory.
hay Don, i am regular reader of your mails
I have a file that I save all of your tutorials in and I go through them when I’m stuck. I’ll support you in any way possible to continue to gain this valuable information!
That’s so great to hear! Also, in the future, I hope to have a feature that will make it easier to store and categorize your favorite tutorials, but that will have to wait until after the forum when I will have more time.
Don, I look forward to all of your Excel tips. I have used many of them in my daily work. They are in plain, easy to understand language. Some I can’t believe how easy they done. Please keep up the EXCELent work!
hehe nice 😉 and thanks!
I usually use http://www.mrexcel.com It does become a bit unwieldy sometimes as there are SO many threads and often I give up searching for an answer because the search results that come back are not in point so I just ask the question which somebody else has almost certainly asked before. If you are to offer a forum I think you need to find a way of allowing one to make accurate searches, perhaps by use of keywords. Otherwise, what are you offering that is different from Bill Jelen’s site. Full disclosure: I am not connected with the Mr Excel site though I have used it for many years.
Thank you for the input and thoughts about important features! I am very familiar with the software that they use on that site and many others like it and I feel that that software is part of the problem and that’s one of the reasons I’m making a custom setup. If you have any other thoughts on ideal features, please make sure to let me know! The end goal is to create an efficient system that works well for everyone.
Hey
congrats on forum run!
I’ll be dropping in often… nice opportunity to raise issues and exchange knowledge.
Cheers!
Thanks and I hope to see you there!
Hi Don,
Great idea and count me in for participation.
Hi Dom I have receding your Excel Tips for while and that I could at least contribut some ideas. Have thought having a ‘super user ‘ page or area where experienced uaer can deal with more taxing issues. I write VBA in Excel and am constantly on the lookout sir advanced solutions. I will pot some contact stuu about myself later, in a shopping mall right now so not good. Idea to do that now. Speak soon I hope. – jeff
I like the idea, but it would prove, I believe, impossible to implement in a forum setting because users will post questions there that are, for them, taxing but may be simple for other users. I think it would be impossible to get consistently complex questions that are all on the same level or higher and it would take a lot of policing of posts by moderators. I may be wrong though, feel free to let me know your thoughts on it when you have more time.
I have learned with you guys, the help is very extensive and some of the best, one issue I have is what about when there is no answers to a post, can you allow us to sort of Re-Post or Push again the same question, or if there is no answer it will be great to simply say, sorry there has not been a suitable answer for your post in 24 hrs.
It is polite and helps to know, I understand that some questions might be either too much for some gurus or too simple, or maybe they were just overlooked, whatever the situation will be nice to address this questions.
That’s an interesting thought! To be honest, this is why I hope to have enough people interested in the forum so that questions can get answered. Currently, I’m not certain how a feature like what you mention would work exactly but I will put some thought into it. The notification aspect of what you mention, however, would be quite easy to do and I’ve made a note of it.
Don,
Thanks so much for your outstanding contributions to the weekly TeachExcel tutorials. The forum you’re proposing is a great idea.
Hello Don,
Thank you for all the training materials provided. I would like to learn more on how to do the functions (sum) in the bars on where they either add or subtract from the cells. Also how they apply to all the cells.
HI DON DOING A GREAT JOB
Hello Don,
Nice to “meet you at last”. I have been following your posts in my email for quite some time now.
The idea of having a forum is terrific. I have been using and creating spreadsheets for more years than I care to remember and in my opinion you never stop learning. There is always more to learn and do. If I can lend a hand in any way I would love to contribute if needed.
Looking forward to the forum. Especially any VBA questions, answers or feedback.
Great! Glad to know it is in demand. There will definitely be the ability to post vba questions and I look forward to seeing you in the forum when it’s finished 🙂
Hello Don, your tips help me to recall processes that I don’t use often, and at the same time allow he to practice to keep my skills horned.
Most Respected Mr. Don,
Good Morning, I was waiting very eagerly to write to you ever since I have gone through “Teach Excel” site. I will take the opportunity to mention some points; which I think will benefit future aspirants immensely :
(i) Provide one Email id; where we contact you directly,
(ii) Try to Choose one topic at a time and complete every issues & techniques of the same in your consecutive publications
(iii) Depending on importance of query; ask the person concerned to provide more information.
Don,
i always look forward to the tuturials and get a lot out of them, which probably indicates what a novice i am at Excel. Forums are only as good as the people willing to participate and assist with their time and knowledge. There are a lot of very smart people out there and the wealth of knowledge they possess, that could be passed on through a forum is astounding. I hope it gets off the ground and is a avenue for people like me to learn more and more.
Thanks for the encouragement! The community is the most important thing and I look forward to working with the community here to build the best possible place for Excel enthusiasts.
Hi Don,
Thank you for your effort. I have been using your tips from past one year and they have been useful.
I will support you.
hello Don,
Thanks for you much appreciated topics now and then… guess i can use help on different occasions 🙂 still working on/:
1/ searching for a way to printout report in an access-like way with the use of strictly excel (without the use of a new page or copying data… )
2/ a way to email an excelsheet as pdf without temporary storage beforehand
3/ a way to choose automatically between printing a sheet with a crosstable if there are not only 0 values, and if there are only 0 items: printing a sheet with a layout that says that there are no things overdue
Hi Don
I have used basic excel for sometime so Iam fairly new to your TeachExcel tutorials, but I have found them useful, and I still have a lot to learn to what can be achieved with excel. So I see the the idea of a forum as a good one, unfortunately I would be one of those asking questions more than answering. But I hope it does go ahead keep up the good work.
Thanks! And the forum will need people to ask as well as answer so no worries! 🙂
Hi Mr. Don,
First of all Thanks and a Big Salute to the Tribute You are doing for the Society… You may expect All my support in Future unless i am Busy..
All the very very best.. Please go Ahead
Thank you so much for the support! It will definitely be needed to get this baby off the ground.
Hi Don, I support this idea. One thing I would be looking forward to is the ease with which I can find the right answer to a post which I think the rating of responses could help address. If the first five responses in a forum/blog does not address a question with sufficient precision, I would not always want to continue any further! I am an auditor who has used excel extensively for the past 3 years and is looking forward to mastering VBA. Continue the good work!
Thanks for the support and also your thoughts on what is important in the forum! It seems as though the search aspect of the forum is where the most value can be provided, based on yours and other comments.
Thats a good idea.
Hi Don – Nice to read. Thank you for your endeavors.
Hiii Don, Thank you for your great efforts. I will support you always as I have learned a lot from your nice tutorials. Thank you once again & all the best for future of Teach Excel.
Thanks!
I look forward, and hope the forum takes off. I use Excel on a daily basis in my work and your Tutorials are very handy. Let’s do this!!
I like the energy! Thanks for the support!
Congratulations Don for the excellent idea. My blessings
Great effort! Because I have myself learnt a lot from such tutorials, I shall love to contribute as much as I know.
Hi Don,
I am new to excel and VBA and ur mails supported me lot and I have prepared few VBA projects for my organization , A lot of support from your site and mails. thanks a lot
Thanks heaps Don for the initiative and enthusiasm. Love your work and will definitely support the forum. Cheers
I find forums to be a waste of space, they tend to get bloated (look at the amount of posts above) and rarely, if ever, does anyone come up with an answer to problems/issues
The answers above are, largely, expressing support for a forum and have nothing to do with answering questions in a forum style, as such, your comparison is completely invalid. As for the forum itself, the goal of this forum is to solve the problems you mention. There is demand for a forum and I want to make sure it is done right so that it helps people quickly and efficiently. Do you have any specific ideas that could make a forum more relevant?
Hi i think its a great side and thanks for the work you put in we all support you.Personally i found your work great and it help me a lot in doing my work with excel thanks again
I really like your idea, and I hope to participate whenever I can be helpful. I have used Excel for years, and even though I’m now retired, I still use it several times a week.
Thanks for doing this!
yes , Go on everybody will contribute
thank you very much for giving me help for improve my knowledge.
Good job DON
Wish u all the best my dear
I’m a regular user of Excel and am always looking to your and other websites for advise. A forum is a fantastic place to get specific answers from gurus who know so much more than you do and I very much look forward to using what has every potential to be the best Excel forum on the internet 🙂
Thanks for the encouragement! I hope to see you there when it’s finished! 🙂
Hi Don! I have been using Excel for many years and training/helping people use it for many of those. I love using this site as a resource and I would love to help support your endeavor in any way possible. I like the idea of having the question and list of answers prioritized in some way, whether it be by version or responses of success.
Thanks for the input! You can check the update that I just posted to see what I’m currently working on. http://www.teachexcel.com/blog/index.php/2016/04/19/site-update-and-forum-progress/
I like your idea and plan to implement that using a combination of the user selecting an answer and other users being able to vote on the best answers as well.
Hi Don
i am using excel at college and this is really helpful, keep up the good work, once again many thanks
Hi Don, great idea totally support it, I am not a mega user so help in any forum is always well received. Well done and good luck to all
I definitely like the “cool” things I learn through you (e.g. thermometer). So having tags would be very helpful. Thanks for your expertise!
Since I use Excel on my iPad, I would hope any discussions of Excel for the iPad would be included.
Interesting, I will certainly make sure there are tags/heywords for that!
Hi Don
Thanks so much for your outstanding contributions to the weekly TeachExcel tutorials
Thanks for doing this!
This is a great idea. I started with Excel around 15-20 years ago and the help I received online was extremely helpful. I haven’t been in the IT game for a while but I would definitely help any way I can (I need a refresher course anyway lol).
Good luck.
Thanks a lot! We will definitely need lots of people to participate to make it work so make sure to stick around and also tell everyone you know about it too 😉
Hi Don,
I’d definitely participate in your Excel Forum. It’s always nice to share what we’ve each learned, I’m glad you’re going in this direction with things. Thanks for all your hard work!!
Thanks for the support! 🙂
Hi Don!
Many thanks
I appreciate that & i m pleased join’n your forum and hope to learn very much out of it and also share what i have known to participants, though i m not an expert on excel. But when i feel my participation needed in the forum. I would surely say something to the best of my knowledge.
Mo
Hi Don thank you for your effort and your great tips. I appreciate your tips on a regular basis. I have been in power user of Excel for well over 20 years, yet there are still nuances that I pick up from your information. I will support you as much as is reasonable with your forum as you get it going.
Reply
Great! Glad to hear it! 🙂 Getting sooo close now to hopefully being finished 🙂
good effort
i want profit loss calculation in shares in FIFO method in excel format Purchases and sell date wise.
This is the wrong place to ask for a specific thing like that, but it will eventually be on the site. At the moment, VBA is what’s coming next for tutorials.