I have been using excel documents containing protected ranges and hidden sheets, it seems like this can be circum navigated by importing into google sheets and likewise when doing the same in google sheets the functionality is lost when downloading as excel.
I understand the principles behind why this happens but I am curious as to whether there is any way of keeping this functionality?
I am afraid it is not possible since both are different technologies. Microsoft's protection works with the file itself while Google's protection checks the permissions from each Google account.
Not long ago Google added a compatibility mode for office files so you don't have to convert the files to Google Docs to open them, however this view still has limited features and it is not possible to work with the same type of protection in both platforms.
Reference:
Work with Microsoft Office files
Edit Office files
Related
In a Google App Script attached to a Google Sheet, I have the file ID of an excel file. I want to read the worksheet names of that excel file. The tutorials I've seen on conversion load the excel file as a blob then write it to Drive as a Google Sheet, then read it.
Is there a way to do this that does not to create artifacts that I then need to delete? The reasoning is that I am concerned with the following: safety if there's a bug (the wrong thing gets deleted), additional processing time (I need to process a long list of excel files), and leftover artifacts if the script aborts unexpectedly between inserting and deleting.
Thank you!
Answering your questions, the reason the tutorials first convert the Excel file to a Google Sheet is to interact with it (in your case, to gather the worksheet names) it's because the Google APIs or Apps Script cannot interact with the Excel file as row data, and Google needs to convert the file to something readable using Google APIs.
A workaround for this will be to use Excel JavaScript API to read the information original Excel file, you can use externals API in Apps Script since it's based in JavaScript, so you will use Apps Script as an IDE.
However, you can do the same with any other IDE that works with JavaScript.
There are some examples on how to list the worksheets using the Excel JavaScript API in this blog.
If you will like to keep using Google APIs, and using the Google Apps Script built-in services. You will need to convert the file to Google Sheets.
Updating Answer:
You can review more about the Excel Services API services here.
I'm having some trouble in keeping protected ranges from Excel files in Google Drive.
In this link there is an original Excel file with a protected cell in OneDrive and in this other link is this very same file but in Google Drive. You can see that when I put the files in Google Drive it just kills the original protection from Excel. Is there a way to prevent it?
I am afraid that both features are completely different and not compatible yet. Microsoft's cell protection feature works only when using Office. If you upload and open the document in Google Drive, Google does not have a way to read the protection included by Microsoft as Google implemented their own cell protection feature as well.
For example, Google's protection feature works similar to the sharing permissions, based in users and email addresses, while Microsoft's protection gets implemented within the document itself.
Google added a compatibility mode for office documents not long ago, so it may be possible that this is available in the future, however at the moment there is no way to merge both protection features.
References:
Work with Microsoft Office files
Edit Office files
(Desktop version) I'm new to using the javascript API for excel, but is it possible to create an excel add-in and share with other users without having to add the add-in to an app source etc? Can it be embedded in the excel file etc. I'd like to share scripts with other users the same way that I can share VBA if it's possible?
for security reasons as well as to make manageability of your add-ins easier, we do not store the code within the workbook, like VBA. Instead, the javascript is hosted on your website and we have a reference to your add-in saved in the workbook.
What this means, is to get a similar experience to VBA, you must either have the add-in hosted on app source (which will make it accessible via the Office Store), OR each user in an organization must have the add-in deployed or available to them (here we recommend centralized deployment as it will give the most robust experience).
This has all the current deployment options you can use for Office add-ins: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/dev/add-ins/publish/publish
thanks!
I am trying to create a data entry "app" to collect daily readings across our site. Here are the three biggest constraints:
Software - ideally, we would use some software within the Microsoft 365 Suite, mainly because those are the only approved apps on site. It may be possible to use open source software, but that might raise some flags in terms of security. So my thoughts are to use either Excel or Access.
Cost - ideally, we do not want purchase any additional software licenses. I would try and create something with Power Apps, but we do not have the licensing for an Azure or SQL server to store the data. I could be missing something here though.
Mobile-Friendly - finally, it needs to work on an Android tablet. Currently, we collect readings using pen and paper. The whole idea of this is to move towards using a tablet.
The easiest approach would be to create an Excel spreadsheet, save it on OneDrive, and edit the spreadsheet. I don't love this option because we are collecting 100's of data points each day. This would end up with a very wide spreadsheet that will be cumbersome to navigate.
The other option I looked into was creating an Access database and accompanying form and storing it on SharePoint. However, it seems Microsoft has stopped supporting Access databases on SharePoint.
I have created data entry forms using VBA, similar to this, but these do not work on mobile.
Is it possible to create a data entry form in Excel that also works on the Android version of Excel? Are there other alternatives I am not thinking of?
I am engaged in just this kind of project also. I have written an app in PowerApps, built an Excel spreadsheet and stored it in OneDrive, and am running it (the app) on an iPad. The design differs somewhat from your description of directly presenting a spreadsheet to the user (which I think PowerApps could do) because I don't want users having direct access to the data.
Edit: You do not need Azure or SQL, unless you are storing tons of data. Excel can be a satisfactory data storage location for modest uses.
I found the learning curve for PowerApps to be quite steep, as it's a different paradigm than line-by-line coding.
I think this is a more user friendly way to collect data than trying to run an Excel form, and once you get it made and polished, you'll look like a pro :)
I am by no means an expert but if you need some tips I'll do what I can to help. It sounds like we are at similar developmental stages.
Is it possible to create a data entry form in Excel that also works on the Android version of Excel? Are there other alternatives I am not thinking of?
Microsoft Forms does the job when created from OneDrive on mobile browser. Side note: the form I just created and the response I submitted have now disappeared from my OneDrive.
I also saw some people using Power Automate to save responses from a form into an Excel file (every reponse).
I am using Sharepoint Excel services to produce reports, and noticed that when users download their excel services workbooks as a snapshot, any page breaks set up in the original spreadsheet are lost. I cant seem to find any mention of this problem in any sharepoint forums or microsoft, just wondering if anyone else has experienced this or even has a solution? Thanks
A lot of information and functions of the workbook are not available in Excel Services.
Also the Snapshot does not "remember" such settings like page break or in my case landscape orientation for printing.
Here are some references for what is supported and what is not supported:
Snapshot:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Open-a-workbook-or-snapshot-in-Excel-from-Excel-Services-0d7c0465-6ea9-4a1e-993b-54bd1099d604
Difference Excel / Services
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Differences-between-using-a-workbook-in-Excel-and-Excel-Services-b690ef8c-a26a-4673-b426-1852f8d77fd0