Solver in Excel 2008?

[marcushe]

Hi, I just cranked up the student edition of Office 2008 and can't find the solver in excel or in any documentation.

Please tell me solver was included, I need it for classes!

 

[Flyingdog]

I too am looking for Solver, and the Analysis ToolPak. For Office 2007 (PC), they are add-ins, as they have been for previous versions of Mac Office. However, my Office 2008 "Add-Ins" folder has... NOTHING. Nil. Nada. Zippo. Anyone?

 

[BLR]

Where are the Add-Ins that I had in Excel 2004?

Where is the Histogram function that I had in Excel 2004?

So far, I'm not impressed and would like a refund.

 

[F.M.]

OMG!!!!

need solver for class.

there is NO solver in excel 2008.

thats because solver is VB and office 208 doesn't support VB.

 

[CyberTaz]

I'd like to be able to tell you it's still there somewhere but I'd be
lying:-{ You're certainly not the only one who will miss it.

I'd suggest you crank up Excel 2008 apps, go to the Help Menu, select the
Send Feedback option & give 'em a good dose of "what fer"... It may be
planned to add it back in the future, but that might not happen if you don't
make your dissatisfaction clear to MS.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[CyberTaz]

See my response to the previous post you referred to... The same applies to
Add-Ins in general. My *guess* is that the tools were predominantly
VBA-based & since VBA is gone so are the features.

Follow the same suggestion made to marcus they do listen to your feedback
(even if they didn't listen to us before the fact:-}).

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Hi, I just cranked up the student edition of Office 2008 and can't find the
solver in excel or in any documentation.<br><br>Please tell me solver was
included, I need it for classes!

Unfortunately, that appears to be one of the casualties of removing VBA.
I've let the Program Manager know that a fix needs to be implemented.
I'll hammer him again when I see him today at MacWorld.

Please use Help/Send Feedback to let MacBU know that you feel the same
way - they *do* listen and use that feedback in planning updates.

 

[marcushe]

"thats because solver is VB and office 208 doesn't support VB."

How can this be? The standard tools, such as the goal seek is included, and goal seek is basically the same thing as solver with a little different use.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Where are the Add-Ins that I had in Excel 2004? <br><br>Where is the
Histogram function that I had in Excel 2004? <br><br>So far, I'm not
impressed and would like a refund.

Add-ins won't work with Excel 2008 because VBA has been removed.

Many ATP functions (e.g., NETWORKDAYS, WORKDAY, RANDBETWEEN, etc) were
incorporated into WinXL2007, and these have also been brought to XL2008.
But the interactive functions which used VBA/Userforms could not be.

OTOH, while it's obviously more work, it's rather trivial to recreate
the output of the Histogram procedure using existing functions (e.g.,
FREQ()) and a simple chart (I suspect that's exactly what the add-in
does anyway). It would also be, at least theoretically, possible to
automate it using AppleScript.

But if you want it to be automated, you'll have to use XL04.

It is also *possible* to do a poor man's histogram using REPT - see Help
for details.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

"thats because solver is VB and office 208 doesn't support VB." <br><br>How
can this be? The standard tools, such as the goal seek is included, and goal
seek is basically the same thing as solver with a little different use.

Not even close!

Goal seek is an incredibly simple command that iterates on 1 cell to
produce a change on 1 other cell. It's been part of the XL code for a
long time.

Solver is an add-in developed by Frontline Systems and licensed to
Microsoft (see http://solver.com). It has *never* been part of XL, in
any version.

It has dramatically different capability - just being able to set
additional constraints makes it hardly "a little different use", much
less being able to specify different modeling parameters. Did you ever
look at the options dialog?

 

[Chrisine]

Does anyone know if VBA is included in one of the other 2 editions, not the Student teacher one. I need VBA it for work and want to buy the version that has it.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Does anyone know if VBA is included in one of the other 2 editions, not the
Student teacher one. I need VBA it for work and want to buy the version that
has it.

VBA is not included in any version of Office2008.

 

[Carl Witthoft]

For what it's worth, you might want to try out

http://www.kaleberg.com/software/equato/index.html

I haven't played w/ it, so I dunno exactly what sort of "solving" it can
do.

 

[Guest]

Christine Does anyone know if VBA is included in one of the other 2 editions, not the Student teacher one. I need VBA it for work and want to buy the version that has it.
&nbsp;&nbsp;

I've bought the student at first at noticed solver wasn't included and bought the standard edition hoping to find it and also for the exchange function of cos but solver wasn't included as well so i doubt any version would have solver

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

I've bought the student at first at noticed solver wasn't included and bought
the standard edition hoping to find it and also for the exchange function of
cos but solver wasn't included as well so i doubt any version would have
solver

No version of Office 2008 for the Mac supports VBA. Any word/Excel/ or PP
files that contain macros from a prior version will open, and you have the
option to remove or ignore the macros. But, in no case will the macros run.

 

[Buckeye_Jack]

I have been an Excel user going all the way back to 1986 with version 1.00 for the Mac. Every upgrade I have purchased since then offered more back for the buck, especially Excel 98, Excel V.x, and Excel 2004.

Sadly, Microsoft has ended this streak with Excel 2008, I fear. I have used the Solver numerous times and its omission from Excel 2008 represents a value decrease for this product. It would appear that I am going to remain on Office 2004, which is still a better overall suite than iWork '08. Of all the Office programs, I use Excel the most, and its diminished value means that I cannot justify the upgrade.

 

[CyberTaz]

The core programs (Word/PPt/Excel/Entourage*) in all three Editions of
Office 2008 are *identical*. The differences from one Edition to the next
pertain to licensing (EULA) & what's included in addition to the core
programs.

*Entourage in the Home & Student Edition is a bit of an exception in one
respect - Exchange Server support is neither included nor, AFAIK, able to be
added. Otherwise the program is the same in all Editions.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I have been an Excel user going all the way back to 1986 with version 1.00
for the Mac.

Late adopter! <g>

I got a copy of XL0.9 in (IIRC) late 1984. XL's parent Multiplan before
that.

Every upgrade I have purchased since then offered more back for
the buck, especially Excel 98, Excel V.x, and Excel 2004.

Agree on 98 and 04. I found XLv.X mostly a port to OS X native. Not
running in Classic added value, of course.

Sadly, Microsoft has ended this streak with Excel 2008, I fear. I
have used the Solver numerous times and its omission from Excel 2008
represents a value decrease for this product. It would appear that I
am going to remain on Office 2004, which is still a better overall
suite than iWork '08. Of all the Office programs, I use Excel the
most, and its diminished value means that I cannot justify the
upgrade.

Since the decision was between (a) not selling you a copy of Office2008
because you're one (like me) of the low percentage of MacOffice users
that use Solver and VBA, and (b) not selling *anyone* a copy until
Office201x, it was probably a pretty simple, if unpleasant, decision on
MacBU's part...

That said, the MacBU XL team is acutely aware of the pain for Solver
users (they certainly knew in advance, and they've been hearing it in
person from MacWorld attendees all week). Solving the Solver problem is
on their list.

Whether it can be solved at all, and if so when, is both a technical and
a resource allocation problem, so we'll have to see...

 

[DoreMacUser]

It was a severe disappointment not to see Solver in Excel 2008...in fact, Solver is critical for what I use Excel for.

If they want to keep the part of the business community that uses Excel for decision making, MacBU needs to seriously get moving and release VBA and Solver soon.

If they don't - the business community will find a program that will and the MacBU can kiss that revenue goodbye, permanently.

 

[azima]

I just ordered mac office 08 expecting solver...if it's not available.. I will cancel it right now..
Big dissapointment. Theyre going to lost customers for this.