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Open Thread: How are you using Excel?

Submitted by Merlin on August 22, 2006 - 2:10am.

Yesterday, I mentioned I’d been talking with someone who’s looking at interesting things people are doing with Microsoft Excel. I talked to her again yesterday, and with her official okey-dokey, I’ll virtually introduce Tralee Pearce (*waves*), a reporter from Toronto’s Globe & Mail whom you might remember from a very swell article about the Hipster PDA.

So, by request – and to help Tralee with fleshing out her fun-sounding article – I hope you all will jump in here: What kind of cool, novel, and non-obvious stuff are you doing with Excel? What’s the wildest, most obsessive, most nerdy thing you ever saw someone do with our favorite spreadsheet program?

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I've used excel for a...

Submitted by Marci (not verified) on August 24, 2006 - 3:15am.

I’ve used excel for a lot of things, like a wardrobe inventory (columns for color, fabric, fit, clealiness status – woefully out of date), a weighted breakdown of utility bills per person (back when I had a roommate), budget (also woefully unmaintained), HTML development, project planning, and dozens of semi-complete nerdy projects I’m sure I’m not thinking of at the moment.

But what really surprises me about this thread is how many as yet untapped opportunities there are for geeky excel fun. I wonder if some of you would be interested in sharing your templates?

As an aspiring cook, I’m really interested in the recipe/ menu planners Helen, kellyann1293, K, Spencer, and Birgit Schultz mentioned – care to share the wealth? (recipes would be awesome too).

Email me at marci at design martini . com (remove spaces, duh) if you don’t want to reply on the list.