Spreadsheets

[darmstadt]

Obviously need some training...

[SueEllen]

The number of people who don't put filters on properly - e.g. they click on the header row to apply filters, rather than applying them to the whole spreadsheet
Or insist on having a blank top row so it prints out better
Or merge cells
Or put carriage returns and blank lines in cells so they look more like a test document
Or ...

NOOOOO!

[ladymuck]

People who merge cells should be shot.

AND those that shade an entire sheet white to remove the grid lines instead of just unticking a box on the View menu.

So many times I've opened a file that's got some huge file size for very little content and quickly find out that formatting has been applied to the entire thing rather than just the range that needs it.

[Mordac]

Surprised they aren't calling the spreadsheet, "the database".

qh

Or "the algorithm"...

[Mordac]

People who merge cells should be shot.

AND those that shade an entire sheet white to remove the grid lines instead of just unticking a box on the View menu.

So many times I've opened a file that's got some huge file size for very little content and quickly find out that formatting has been applied to the entire thing rather than just the range that needs it.

Death is way too good for them...

[jayn200]

Obviously need some training...

Thars not the issue though. It's not a lack of training or excel knowledge it's the wrong tool for the job.

[vetran]

Yeah I agree.

Excel should never be used as data storage but is totally adequate for presentation, especially when the data needs to be manipulated (without the source data being changed) on an ad-hoc basis which is common in finance. If there is no manipulation needed or if the data is better changed at source then a data visualisation tool is better for presentation than excel for a whole range of reasons.

But yeah it looks like they were using it for data storage here which is a joke when they are literally using this data to make economic decisions that potentially could have impacts in the tens or hundreds of billions of dollars.

Currently trying to convince the grown ups that we need to eradicate excel, they love exporting data and sharing it everywhere then wonder why people suggest they breach DPA / GDPR. Unfortunately this type of stuff is endemic.

[vetran]

Thars not the issue though. It's not a lack of training or excel knowledge it's the tool using Excel.

FTFY

[NickFitz]

Credit: https://twitter.com/IamStan/status/1313069325390147584

[minestrone]

Excel maximum rows is 1,048,576

Total positive cases on the dashboard is 502,978

I'm guessing they use 2 rows per positive test and there is a bit of noise in there.

I'm pretty certain this is what it is, the throat and the nasal swab are tested independently.