I got tasked to take over some statistics for management at my company. These statistics are placed on a server that anyone from management has access to and me. We are generating a monthly report based on other reports that are placed on the same server.
Here come the problem:
The values are generated automatically based on a VLOOKUP formula, which is just checking if the data from the other files have a certain value. When you open the report, you get a prompt if you want to update the external links. For me, no matter what I pick, I get no #N/A values. However, when my boss tries to open the same report, no matter what he picks(either update links or not), he always gets #N/A on the cells.
Because of the contract that I signed, I cannot show you any code, however, I can tell you what I have tried:
At first, I thought that my boss has lost (somehow) some permissions with the external files. But this is not the case, we tested every file and he can access all of them, even being marked as an administrator in some cases.
Secondly, I checked the report from the current month with one from two months ago (which works for him, no #N/A here) and went through all of the formulas. No luck here either, all the formulas are all the same except the external file name which was changing (I have done this step with the help of Spreadsheet Compare).
Third, I thought that maybe some macro would be running in the background (even if that makes no sense because these are .xlsx files). No luck here either, there is no VBA code written in any of the sheets of the workbook.
I got no ideas left. He has all the permissions, even more than I do, there is no difference between an old report which works just fine, and this one that is stuck, and there are no running macros. Any ideas?
Edit:
I can give you a sample of the formula, but will replace the actual path with a fake one since I cannot show this proper code:
=VLOOKUP(look_up_value, 'O:\fakepath\[file.xlsx]Report'!$C:$AZ, MATCH('Lookup Data'!$B$3, 'O:\fakepath\[file2.xlsx]Report'!$5:$5, 0) - 2, FALSE)
Also, I might also add details that were asked below here:
The language settings and DateTime format is the same both me and my boss
Both excel files have the same version, including the same display language
The mapping of the external files is the same for both of us, since they are on a server and we both have the drive letter for the server "O"
No definitive answer since question does not have enough details nor sample formulas, but some ideas:
are the 2 client machines with the same language settings (windows regional settings) ? that may impact dates and other factors
are the versions of Excel identical ? (including language)
external data: if here are external links, do the 2 client machines have the same drive mapping ? (could be P: on yours and R: at your boss pc)
EDIT: same rights to source folder ?
Related
I have a feature that downloads things to an xls file using Apache POI. Mostly it works. But on one particular database, the resulting files are corrupted and won't open in Excel. I get the message "We found a problem with some content in 'DownloadFoo.xls'. Do you want us to try to recover as much as we can? If you trust the source of this workbook, click Yes." . Clicking yes results in all the formatting, data validation, etc being stripped out. On the other hand, if I open the file in Open Office Calc and save it, it's fine and can be opened in Excel from then on. (The people who want to use these files aren't allowed to download Open Office Calc, so this is not considered an acceptable workaround.)
I have tried narrowing it down to see which data is causing the problem, but it seems to occur whenever 10 or more items are downloaded, regardless of which items they are. (On other databases, it's fine to download 100+). Excluding some of the columns helps, but they are perfectly innocuous looking columns (and virtually identical to other columns which are fine) so this still hasn't got me to the bottom of it.
Are there any techniques I could use to find out what Excel has a problem with in the corrupted spreadsheets?
I can't make major changes like getting it to download to xlsx instead as this feature is going to be scrapped and replaced with something completely different in the near future, so I'd like to just focus on the problem at hand.
It turns out that the solution to the problem was to reset the data validation lists more often. Quite a lot of the cells in my spreadsheet have data validation. When the data validation lists are longer, they are stored on a hidden sheet. If several cells need the same validation, I try to get them referencing the same list in order to not write out too much stuff on the hidden sheet. However Excel apparently dislikes it when too many cells reference the same list- it's not against the rules as far as I can tell, but it doesn't like it anyway. When I changed it to rewrite the validation lists for every 5 items, it started working.
The reason this database was different was that the items had an unusually high number of subitems, so they occupied a lot of rows even though it didn't seem like many things were being downloaded. Some of the problem columns just had true or false validation rather than using the lists on the hidden sheet, so I don't know what that was about, but resetting the validation lists helped anyway.
This doesn't really answer my question as I never managed to get any information from Excel about what the problem was, or use a particular technique, it was just a series of coincidental findings. I'm putting it here anyway in case anyone else has a similar problem. Also the thing that started me on the right track was finding an old comment when double checking that it doesn't do anything different for over 10 items (it doesn't) in response to Andrew Morton's comment, so thanks Andrew!
We get at least 20 queries a day on an average from our clients, where in we have to open and look at data on 4 to 5 Excel sheets to answer them. questions such as what is my available balance, am i eligible for this etc. All our clients are connected to our intranet and have access to internet. I was wondering is there a way where we can develop a front end app (do not have budget for MS VB or any other) either in excel or any other to connect these 4 to 5 excel sheets to retrieve the data in response to queries (e.g. using perhaps some if and true/false queries). I am not an advanced Excel user but would be great for an advice from tech experts.
Yes, i wouldn't call it an app but consider a worksheet like a dashboard. You can have a cell for entering client name, and then use formulas to look up relevant information of the name entered. The cosmetic and arrangement of the information retrieved and published on the dashboard is up to you and of course do consider investing some time in the looks and feel if you want to enjoy using it.
Things you may consider are:
Place the files are kept and file name convention
because your dashboard will look for information in external workbooks, ensure that the files are saved in a fixed directory and have a specific file name. if the external files are updated from time to time by other folks, let them know too that they have to save it in a particular folder with a specific name format.
Properly structure the source of data
Format you data source into tables so that it is easier for use with formulas. Throw away titles if any in the data source worksheet. Use tools like "Table" under the INSERT tab. When data are properly organized, they can be easily looked up using formulas such as VLOOKUP, SUMIFS, MATCH-INDEX, and COUNTIF.
Be good with formulas
Since we have no budget for VB, then good formulas will be needed. There are plenty of help on the internet for this I think you'll have no problem in it.
Employ sanitary check measure
It is difficult to tell if our formula isn't functioning properly when we have no counter check measure. Certainly you want to give your clients accurate information. One way to check is, think of alternative ways to get the information wanted and check if it matches to the first way. Another way is to retrieve a sequence of related information to be put on the dashboard, then do simple calculation to check if the numbers add up. Use conditional formatting to highlight errors if necessary.
I think these are key consideration, there may be more, but this is what i can think of for the moment.
I have never used Visual Basic before but could do with a pointer on where to begin.
I have 750 excel spreadsheets that contains various amounts of data of different types. The columns are always the same, but the number of data rows vary per spreadsheet. I need to extract data and put it into two new spreadsheets.
Obviously to do this 750 times manually would be a nightmare. I just want to run a script that can do it for me and thus thought of Visual Basic although i've never used it before.
My specific questions are:
What type of command should i research that would allow me to copy data where the row number to start at varies (as data above varies in no of rows). There is a title before this new data - how can i get it to search for this title and then choose the row below?
Would all my spreadsheets have to be in one folder so that the script goes through them all, or can i have some kind of folder structure in that folder too?
Anyone recommend any good resources for me to get to grips with visual basic and grasp what i need to do?
thanks
Tom
So the compilation task got easier with the introduction of MS PowerQuery. If you are using MS Excel 2013, you already have this. If no, you should download it and use the extension from MS.
The following guide outlines how to Using Power Query to Combine Data from Multiple Excel Files into One Table. This means that with Power Query (PQ), MS has taken and enabled easy aggregation using a few simple button clicks. PQ is a lightweight alternative to a lot of tasks that used to require VBA.
In this example, you will use PQ to point to an entire folder (750 should be no problem) worth of commonly formatted Excel files. The only limitation is that each data file should have a similarly named tab.
I won't repeat the details of the guide for how to do it, as it is in-depth and visual. But if you run into issues, get in touch.
Good day all,
I am very new to Access and VBA, so some of these questions may seem elementary, but any help offered would be greatly appreciated... I am a member of a recruiting organization, and am trying to build a database system that will greatly increase our administrative efficiency and quality of life. My organization insists on the use of Excel spreadsheets that are supplied to us to document our efforts and for our reports, thus ruling out the possibility of using the reports from Access. I have the underlying database pretty well ironed out, but what I need help with is taking that data and putting it in specific cells within an existing excel spreadsheet. Specifically, what steps do I need to tell access to do, how to select the appropriate worksheet, and how to select individual cells to send data to. I also need to link all of this to a button on a form labeled, say, "Generate Applicant Log"... Additionally, I would like both the database and all applicable template spreadsheets we would need to be located in the same folder that I can lock, so that I can send the whole folder to another user and all necessary files are included, but they can't get into the folder to mess with stuff. I am concerned this will affect whatever coding I would use due to the changing file path names from user to user, so any help in figuring out a way to tell access how to find the spreadsheets relative to where the database is so it always works no matter who's computer the folder is on or where it is at in the same computer, would also be greatly appreciated... I apologize in advance for the length of this inquiry, and graciously appreciate any help in this matter! Thank you for your time!
Rather than send data from Access to Excel, it is easier to pull data into Excel from Access. In Excel, on the "Data" tab select "from other sources" and build a Microsoft Query. I like to put the data into a spreadsheet and link the data into the sheet the user will see - I hide the original sheet. This way you can put all of the data into the hidden sheet, and then move things for the reports you need.
Using this method, I bring measurement data from a database, show it to users that need to review it, and run VBA routines to evaluate the data and highlight the interesting / important data. I also keep the users out of the original database.
I have my database on a server and I cannot offer help on sending the database and files to the user. I just send the file - they have access to the server and the data is refreshed each time the spreadsheet opens.
I have created 2 columns, the first has a category of a system using data validation, and the second has the description and failures of that system.
The purpose of that is to open a malfunction on some parts.
In a different sheet I wish to do the same only this time I want to choose the system and the description will automatically appear in the next column showing me all the malfunctions I have written on this system.
I am not very good at all the functions of excel. but I still searched for one that might help me. I have tried using the DGET function but it got me nowhere.
Perhaps try the solution here - it's a bit tricky to explain without copy-pasting the whole thing:
https://superuser.com/questions/536234/excel-how-to-vlookup-to-return-multiple-values
Also take a look at vlookup() if you're working across spreadsheets.
As expected, all of the responses you've seen ehere - and probably elsewhere - are ponyers to VLookup, or a refusal to answer your question.
I'm guessing that you're using DGET() because you need to retrieve data from one named column, using a match for a search term in another named column; and you're that because you can't rely on column ordinals or addresses - you have to do it by name.
VLookup won't do that for you: not without extremely complex and fragile array formulae.
The bad news is: Microsoft NEVER published a working example of a DGET() formula or any corresponding VBA Worksheet Function code.
There's page after page of descriptive text and general explanation in the helpfiles and on MSDN: but no working example. Nobody in Redmond ever sat down and made the DGET() function work with a reproducible set of function parameters and published a screen-shot the working formula.
I'll let you guess why that is.
Maybe there's an example somewhere that is, in effect, a VLookup implemented for known column ordinals using DGET(). If there is, I never found it and you won't either: and it would, of course, be useless for any application where you're working with field names instead of known ordinals.
What you need to do is capture the tabulated data range, with field names in the top row, and pass it to a SQL query using ADODB or MS-Query. That bad new for that is that all the MS-JET Excel drivers have a fatal memory leak.
After that fails, you're left exporting the data somewhere that a proper database app can run the SQL: and that's actually the right thing to do, because your attempt at using DGET() is a relational data query.
If you're left with the need to do this entirely in Excel, you have reached a level of desperation normally associated with the last survivor of an airplane crash who, having devoured the charred remains of his unlucky fellow passengers, is finally forced to contemplate the awful exigency of opening and eating the inflight catering meals.
The grisly details for the equivalent in Excel are a Horrible Hack published here:
http://excellerando.blogspot.com/2014/09/from-time-to-time-it-necessary-to.html