Excel Hell

[mirmir]

Hi MacRumors--

I've been using Office 2008 for a few weeks, mainly for Word use. While I've been fursterated chasing it between spaces, I've found it, um, workable.

Until today, when I decided to sit down to bond with Excel, since I'm off to resume working heavily with it Monday. Speed absolutely matters to me in Excel. I use it under extremely tight time constraints. Being able to not even glance at the screen or move my hands off of the keyboard was the main reason I began using Excel, and the only way that I can perform my job.

Unfortunately, I didn't do my research before the upgrade, and now I'm suffering. With no Visual Basic, I am at a loss. Sources online mention the use of Apple Script and Automator to perform similarly. I am not familiar with either program at all.

I ran through all of my macros I use mentally, and the most important ones (I can sacrifice the others if that's what it comes to... ) are so simple, there has to be a way to do it:
Insert Row
Remove Row

That's it! I've gotten to the point where I was going to go buy VMware, Vista ( ), and Office for PC, but then I realized that I'm refusing to give Microsoft any more money after this. And their response that VBA will be in the next application is of no use to me, and only makes me more irate.

So now I'm stuck. Can anyone help me figure out a keyboard shortcut for those two simple commands?
If not, how do I manage this in NeoOffice? Can I?

Thank you!

 

[motulist]

Insert Row
Remove Row

Can anyone help me figure out a keyboard shortcut for those two simple commands?

You can do those simply by hitting the key commands that are written to the right of the menu item. If key commands don't exist for those functions you can add them yourself.

Open system prefs -> keyboard & mouse - > keyboard shortcuts. Then click the plus sign at the bottom left of the window, select "other" at the bottom of the list, then find Microsoft Excel and click Add. Now where it says "menu title" type in the excel menu option you want to set a key command for, and make sure you type it in EXACTLY as it appears in the menu. Then just type in the key command you want to assign to that menu item, and try to make sure it's not a key command that already exists in the program.

Now all you have to do is type those key commands in excel and it'll fire away.

 

[BobZune]

Doesn't selecting the row (on the waaay left) and hitting Control - (that is control minus) delete the row in excel 2008? Works in excel v.x version here. Use Control + (i.e., control shift plus) to insert row. Or use the + and - keys on the number pad along with Control key, if you don't like the shift key idea for adding a row.

OpenOffice 3 has (limited) support to VBA scripts, according to their website - so that may work for you. Good luck.

 

[mirmir]

You can do those simply by hitting the key commands that are written to the right of the menu item. If key commands don't exist for those functions you can add them yourself.

Open system prefs -> keyboard & mouse - > keyboard shortcuts. Then click the plus sign at the bottom left of the window, select "other" at the bottom of the list, then find Microsoft Excel and click Add. Now where it says "menu title" type in the excel menu option you want to set a key command for, and make sure you type it in EXACTLY as it appears in the menu. Then just type in the key command you want to assign to that menu item, and try to make sure it's not a key command that already exists in the program.

Now all you have to do is type those key commands in excel and it'll fire away.

Thank you! That will definitely get me through Monday, and I can work on trying to convert as many of my old macros in to shortcuts as possible this weekend.

Doesn't selecting the row (on the waaay left) and hitting Control - (that is control minus) delete the row in excel 2008? Works in excel v.x version here. Use Control + (i.e., control shift plus) to insert row. Or use the + and - keys on the number pad along with Control key, if you don't like the shift key idea for adding a row.

OpenOffice 3 has (limited) support to VBA scripts, according to their website - so that may work for you. Good luck.

That's true, but I have to look at the screen and find the "waaay left" which takes a lot more time than blindly jamming keys like I'm used to.

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

I've had issues with Spaces and Office in the past. They seem to be like matter and antimatter. They will annihilate upon contact. Spaces goes one way, the palette will go another. Very annoying.

 

[mirmir]

I've had issues with Spaces and Office in the past. They seem to be like matter and antimatter. They will annihilate upon contact. Spaces goes one way, the palette will go another. Very annoying.

Excellent description!

I had thought collapsing the palette, moving the document, and reopening the palette was very creative of me... Until I tried it and it didn't work. In fact, it was worse IMO.
Sometimes I think Microsoft really is out to get us mac users.

 

[nadyne]

I had thought collapsing the palette, moving the document, and reopening the palette was very creative of me... Until I tried it and it didn't work. In fact, it was worse IMO.

Sorry, folks. The Spaces issue is known to both us and Apple. Make sure that you're completely up-to-date with both Office and Leopard -- we've both made some fixes to our code that improves matters, but it doesn't fix it 100%. The current version of Office 2008 is 12.1.4, and Leopard is at 10.5.5.

I can't tell you when it will get fixed 100%, 'cause the remaining problems are in Apple's window manager. They're definitely aware of what's going on, but their window manager code is obviously hugely important to how the whole operating system works, and so it's not something that can be quickly fixed. If you'd like to know some of the gory technical details, one of our senior developers has posted to his blog with lots of information: risks and rewards. The stuff specific to the Spaces issue comes about halfway through the post.

The very second that we know when this will be fixed, I'm sure it'll be all over everywhere (including our own blogs). I feel this pain myself every single day because I use Spaces, too.

Regards,
Nadyne.