Excel 2007 General Question

[Tondos]

My company is converting to Excel 2007 from 2003 tomorrow. There has been no
planning, discussion, or thought given to this process. I am a Financial
Analyst that lives in Excel all day every day. I have thousands of files
with Financial Statements, models, scenarios, etc. and I have dozens of
macros created to run some automated processes.

My questions are: Can anyone give me some general guidance on what I should
do first in 2007? Do I need to open and save as '2007' all of my existing
files? Will my 2003 macros in my 'Personal' macro book still work? I know
this seems silly, but I'm a nervous wreck, as I just don't have the time to
learn how to do every little thing (I have many custom toolbars with dozens
of custom buttons created to faciliate my work, can I still do this?)

Thanks
Tondos

 

[Dave Peterson]

I wouldn't convert my files all at once. And if I had to share the workbook
with users of old versions of excel, then I'd want to make sure that I saved new
changes in the older version anyway.

I would bet that the vast majority (maybe all???) of your macros will work
as-is. I don't have anything in my personal.xla workbook that had to be
modified for xl2007.

But if you have any toolbars that are modified/created, you'll see them in the
Addins group of the ribbon.

And the biggest change in your upgraded life will be to get used to that
ribbon. Many (most power users???) have trouble transitioning. But lots of
people who have used the ribbon for a week like it better than the old toolbars.

This page has interactive help for going from an Excel 2003 menu item to its
2007 equivalent:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HA101491511033.aspx

========
I did move my personal.xla file from its old location, though.

I opened xl2007, went to the VBE (alt-f11), showed the immediate window (ctrl-g)
and typed this:
?application.startuppath

To know where to move it.

ps.

My bet is that in a week or two, you'll be breathing easier--maybe muttering
questions on where to find stuff, but not in too bad shape.

(But your mileage may vary <vbg>.)

pps.

If you want to learn about modifying the ribbon, you can start at Ron de Bruin's
site:
http://www.rondebruin.nl/ribbon.htm
http://www.rondebruin.nl/qat.htm -- For macros for all workbooks (saved as an
addin)
or
http://www.rondebruin.nl/2007addin.htm

 

[Ron de Bruin]

Hi Tondos

First why do you not convert one machine first to test it ?????

You can run your 2003 files in 2007 without any problems for 99.99%
There are no toolbars anymore in 2007 but if it is correct you can find the buttons in the Add-in tab.

Maybe you like this option to add a custom menu in the QAT for the macros in your personal file
http://www.rondebruin.nl/qat.htm

In Excel 2007 your personal file is named personal.xlsb and not xls
but if you copy the xls in the XLstart folder it will open this file and you can use the code.

But I suggest to do a SaveAs as personal.xlsb
Open the personal.xls
Unhide the file
SaveAs as xlsb
Hide
Save

You can convert all your 97-2003 files if you want like this
See the last section on this page
http://www.rondebruin.nl/2007filesin2003.htm

 

[Dave Peterson]

ps.

You may want to try to convince your IT folks(??) that you have mission critical
workbooks that must not be broken. Then convince them to give you a second pc
(for a little bit) with xl2007 on it.

If they balk at that, tell them you want both xl2003 and xl2007 on your current
pc. Make sure you install it in a separate folder and make sure you choose to
keep the old version.

Or you may want to look at using some sort of virtual machine that allows you to
install a second logical pc on that same hardware. Then install office 2007 on
that virtual machine.

I use a virtual pc for office 2007, but spend most my time in xl2003. But if
you can get them to install both versions of office, I think I've read that only
one version of Outlook can be installed. Ron de Bruin will read this <vbg> and
verify it--and even recommend which to version of Outlook to use (I hope!).

Ron??????

 

[Tondos]

Ron and Dave,

Thanks so much to both of you. I've been reading your expert advice for a
long time, and I really value what you have to say. Your advice has helped
me countless times! Thank you very much.

Per your first point, Ron, I've been pushing to upgrade to 2007 for 18
months, utilizing a logical test-phased approach. That way we could iron out
the kinks and become familiiar with it. Especially since I'm the only true
power user in the group. Well...what can I say? I'm not the boss, and I
don't necessarily make this level of decision (I make the Finance decisions.)

Anyway, I already run two PC's and a virtual, so I should be covered there,
as I'm definitely going to need to keep 2003 for some time until we're all up
to speed.

And as soon as the install is done, I'll check out your sites for the
customization, add-ins, etc.

Thanks, again, guys, I really appreciate it! (and I'll probably be asking
again over the next few weeks!)

 

[Ron de Bruin]

Correct one Outlook version Dave

Use Outlook 2007 because it have no problems with security warnings
if you want to mail with code, see :
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb226709.aspx



--

Regards Ron de Bruin
http://www.rondebruin.nl/tips.htm

 

[Teddy-B]

I was also recently forced to switch. The others are right... The ribbon is
a P.I.T.A. to get used to. The link below really helped me out alot. It gives
back the old version of the excel menu and allows the user to also still keep
the ribbon. I relied heavily on this for awhile, until I got used to the
ribbon. Give it a try.

UBitMenu
http://www.ubit.ch/software/ubitmenu-languages/