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[Kuildeous]

I'm retired, so I'm not on the job.

"Then why are you posting to this 'On the Job' thread?" is what I think Witherweaver is asking.

His retirement income pays him to whatever he wants, so he gets paid to Goko.

Which means we can all loathe and envy him and shoot daggers out of our eyes at him.

[SwitchedFromStarcraft]

I'm retired, so I'm not on the job.

"Then why are you posting to this 'On the Job' thread?" is what I think Witherweaver is asking.

Ah, got it.  Allow me to clarify.  I'm mostly retired.  I have my hand in a few things, and the same sorts of issues arise for me as do anyone else on their job.  Those issues don't always involve the things that go on specifically in offices though, as I only go to an office outside my home a few times a month.

PPE: I neither receive money from, nor have ever given money to, Goko, Making Fun, Funsockets, etc.  But I am getting EXTREMELY bored with the base set.  I'd really like to lose with some new cards. 

[SwitchedFromStarcraft]

The "Update Google" process worked.  I couldn't figure out why it hadn't been happening automatically, as I open and close my browser all the time.  Then I remembered I've had a separate (and reduced) window open for several days now, with research waiting to be reviewed.

LF, thanks for the help.  My google searches were failing because I considered that a "Tool" menu, rather than the main Chrome menu.

[Kuildeous]

I kind of cringe when I see training offered for "advanced" Excel and "advanced" Access. I've taken advanced Access, and it has not prepared me for the cogs that make this program truly work.

I sit in on some advanced Excel courses, and I know that what's being taught would not prepare students for the formula gymnastics that are in my spreadsheets.

[enfynet]

I kind of cringe when I see training offered for "advanced" Excel and "advanced" Access. I've taken advanced Access, and it has not prepared me for the cogs that make this program truly work.

I sit in on some advanced Excel courses, and I know that what's being taught would not prepare students for the formula gymnastics that are in my spreadsheets.

About two months ago I learned (and subsequently abused) INDIRECT and CONCATENATE to make creating new worksheets much easier for my Excel-illiterate coworkers. The instructions I left them were: "Copy this sheet. Change the date in this cell. Done."

[SwitchedFromStarcraft]

Good timing for an excel (2003) question:

I'm preparing for a mail merge, and my source for names and address will be an excel spreadsheet.  I'm trying to use the following formula to rearrange a name in cell E2 that appears as "Doe, John" so that it appears in cell F2 as "John Doe".  So I placed this formula in F2:

=RIGHT(E2,LEN(E2)-LEN(LEFT(E2,FIND(",",E2)-1))-2&" "&LEFT(E2,FIND(" ",E2)-1))

What's being returned in E3 is the dreaded error message "#value!" so I know a value used in the formula is of the wrong data type.  The infinite wisdom contained in the help library in locked away never to be approached, and the "trace error" function doesn't appear in the dropdown under the caution icon.  Any thoughts from the experts?

I'm wondering if it is a simple syntax issue, like I need spaces around the two ampersands or something.

[Kuildeous]

You had a parenthesis issue. Try this one:

=RIGHT(E2,LEN(E2)-LEN(LEFT(E2,FIND(",",E2)-1))-2)&" "&LEFT(E2,FIND(",",E2)-1)

I also changed the space search to a comma search. It's consistent with the left-hand of your formula, and it also accounts for names like "Huffington III, John Davis".

[SwitchedFromStarcraft]

Thanks.  I printed it out and verify all the parenthesis were properly paired, but didn't check for placement, and obviously missed something.

In the meantime, I successfully wrote three formulae to break the full name into first, middle, and last (with suffix).  I may not need all that depending on what I choose as a salutation, but it gives me any permutation I need using the appropriate concatenation.

Your correction worked perfectly.  Thanks for the help.

[GendoIkari]

F.DS... your online resource for Excel strategy.

[Davio]

F.DS... your online resource for Excel strategy.

Do you still get errors when using a different language because all keywords are also translated?

If you had a Dutch version, you couldn't use formulas with "AND" in them, they had to be translated to "EN".

[qmech]

F.DS... your online resource for Excel strategy.

Do you still get errors when using a different language because all keywords are also translated?

If you had a Dutch version, you couldn't use formulas with "AND" in them, they had to be translated to "EN".

EN-GB or EN-US?

[Lekkit]

I'm a switchboard/phone operator at a hospital in Sweden. We have a set-up with a computer hooked up to the Interwebz with an application that communicates both with a database of names and phone numbers, and a switchboard apparatus, so that we can actually handle calls. This apparatus is pretty much an advanced phone and is in turn connected to the actual headsets we use. Currently we're in the process of getting new computers. One co-worker of mine asked me if the new computers' volume would be better. I was confused as we don't really use speakers, since it would be VERY distracting. We have a pair of speakers for the computer that's in use during the night shifts, because there are very few calls and the employees are better off watching something than falling asleep doing nothing. I asked my co-worker if she meant those, because there will most likely be very little difference in volume after the change if that was the case. Turns out she meant the switchboard apparatus that emitts a sound whenever there's an incoming call. It literally took me 20 minutes to explain to her that it's not a part of the computer. And we've talked a lot about how we would keep the apparatuses when we get new computers.

We have newer hardware but this is basically the set up we have.



I guess I'm just baffled at how people who work with these tools don't know what they are and how they work.

[Witherweaver]

So you have the internet on that thing?

[Lekkit]

No. We only have Google Chrome.

[Kuildeous]

I'm torn between being efficient and being passive-aggressive. Someone sends me a document with changes to be made. She marked some changes, but she used red font, which is unfortunate because the document consists of black and red font. Furthermore, not all changes are marked. I can compare it to what's in the system and see the change.

So I want to teach her a lesson and make only the changes she marked with the hope that the missing info gets caught on follow-up. But I believe in doing a thorough job, and it would just be easier to make the changes as I find them. But I really want to teach her a lesson. I made the changes I caught, but maybe there's something I didn't catch. I kind of hope so.

[Polk5440]

I'm torn between being efficient and being passive-aggressive. Someone sends me a document with changes to be made. She marked some changes, but she used red font, which is unfortunate because the document consists of black and red font. Furthermore, not all changes are marked. I can compare it to what's in the system and see the change.

So I want to teach her a lesson and make only the changes she marked with the hope that the missing info gets caught on follow-up. But I believe in doing a thorough job, and it would just be easier to make the changes as I find them. But I really want to teach her a lesson. I made the changes I caught, but maybe there's something I didn't catch. I kind of hope so.

You could just be assertive and inform her she made a mistake, return it to her, and ask she do it right so you can do your job.

[Witherweaver]

Leave passive-aggressive post-it notes throughout the office.

[Kuildeous]

I actually cringe when I watch a co-worker navigate inefficiently on a computer. I watched someone click on the task bar to get back to the window he was at before rather than just press Alt+Tab. I had to refrain from pointing out the more efficient manner, because I don't want to end up being that guy. I could so easily do it too, so I try to check myself.

[theory]

[Witherweaver]

My boss is not particularly computer savvy.  This resonates so much.  Also, he touches monitor screens   His is full of smudges and fingerprints, it drives me crazy.  When he points out something on my screen and touches my screen, I'm internally raging.

[Kuildeous]

Scroll wheel? I'm a PgUp/PgDn kind of guy. But that's because I more easily lose my place with a scroll wheel. I pretty much know where the bottom of the page ends up when I press PgDn.

[enfynet]

I'm not alone!

[qmech]

I'm not alone!

Yeah, I thought I was the only one who didn't know how to use the scroll wheel.

[SwitchedFromStarcraft]

I'm not alone!

Yeah, I thought I was the only one who didn't know how to use the scroll wheel.

I have recently replaced a mouse with two scroll wheels, one of which I never used, but which worked in opposition.  The one I used I never changed from the way it was programmed upon receipt, which was backward from "normal".  It drove my wife nuts when she would sit down at my computer.

[Kuildeous]

That is the fastest that my Excel sheet has refreshed all its formulas. I am suddenly suspicious.