Collaborating in real time

[Kati]

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

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

Well, you've actually posted this question to a newsgroup related to Access,
the database product that's part of Office Professional. Access would
certainly seem to be better than Excel for what you're trying to do.

If you do move to Access, the recommended approach is to split your
application into a front-end (containing the queries, forms, reports, macros
and modules), linked to a back-end (containing the tables and
relationships). Only the back-end should be on the server: each user should
have his/her own copy of the front-end, ideally on his/her hard drive.

If you do want an Excel-based solution, you'd be best off reposting to a
newsgroup related to Excel.

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

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.

Where do all these people who do the updates reside? Are they all in
one office or spread out in different locations?

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
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