Help with Excel spread sheet, Please

[SteveG]

I am sometimes hopelessly in over my head in some areas using the computer. One nuisance stumbler for me in Excel (software I use whenever I need a list of something) is that let's say I make my list of names with a couple of columns of data. I close the file, and come back later. Open it, and there are numerous empty columns out to the right, just waiting to be filled. They go off the page, presumably forever! I typically want a few columns to use, and desire just one page width of empty columns.

The question is: how do I specify to Excel that there will only be a limited number of columns showing, i. e. one page worth of columns?
And that will then be what comes up the next time I open the file.

Help with this seemingly simple issue will be very much appreciated. :biggrin:

 

[monophoto]

I use Excel a lot, but I never bother trying to erase empty columns.

Obviously, you want to only use as many columns as you need, and in most cases, you don't want empty columns in the middle of a spreadsheet, but there's nothing wrong with having empty columns on the right side of a sheet.

Now, if you want to print a spreadsheet, it is sometimes helpful to specify the 'print area' to include only the active columns (and/or active rows).

 

[switch62]

You hide all the columns to the right. But you have to do that for each sheet in each file.

https://www.extendoffice.com/documents/excel/2649-excel-limit-number-of-rows-columns.html#hide

To get the columns back -


Display all hidden rows and columns at the same time

1. To select all cells on a worksheet, do one of the following: Click the Select All button. Press Ctrl+A. ...
2. On the Home tab, in the Cells group, click Format.
3. Do one of the following: Under Visibility, point to Hide & Unhide, and then click Unhide Rows or Unhide Columns.

 

[Penultimate]

There are a lot of columns, too many to hide and a waste of time IMO. If you only want to see the columns you filled in and no blanks you could expand the column width so only the filled columns fit the width of the page. I think as you use excel more you will not notice the blank cells. I use it everyday and I don't notice the blank rows and columns.

I've never tried this but you could increase the page magnification then select the rows and make the type size smaller.
Good luck
Mike


Sent from my iPad using Penturners.org mobile app

 

[cjester]

I am sometimes hopelessly in over my head in some areas using the computer. One nuisance stumbler for me in Excel (software I use whenever I need a list of something) is that let's say I make my list of names with a couple of columns of data. I close the file, and come back later. Open it, and there are numerous empty columns out to the right, just waiting to be filled. They go off the page, presumably forever! I typically want a few columns to use, and desire just one page width of empty columns.

The question is: how do I specify to Excel that there will only be a limited number of columns showing, i. e. one page worth of columns?
And that will then be what comes up the next time I open the file.

Help with this seemingly simple issue will be very much appreciated. :biggrin:

Excel is a giant piece of graph paper, only you can't cut it down. There's about 16,000 columns there, and always will be.

You can make them look nicer. First, hide the grid lines. File -> Options -> Advanced. Scroll down to "Display Options For This Worksheet" and uncheck "Show gridlines". Then, select the cells with content, and from the "Home" tool tab, add a border.

The unused cells will still be there, but they'll look like white space. That's about a pretty as you can make it.

If you really just want a small table of limited rows and columns, you can do that by inserting a table in Word.

 

[SteveG]

Guys, I appreciate the coaching. Probably the "insert table to Word" may end up being my preferred approach. Until now I thought this issue was just due to my ineptitude, but I now realize that it is common to all, not just me. Thanks everyone!

 

[tomas]

Please don't take offense at this, but I would suggest getting Excel For Dummies. Also, you can find answers to almost every question about anything in Google.

Tomas

 

[SteveG]

Please don't take offense at this, but I would suggest getting Excel For Dummies. Also, you can find answers to almost every question about anything in Google.

Tomas

No offense taken...I am a self-proclaimed 'dummy' in the area of endeavor. Google works fine for me, but I prefer to consult with friends at IAP. :wink:

 

[vtgaryw]

Excel excels at doing calculations. Word is really good at word processing. If all you're doing is creating lists in a couple of columns, and not ciphering anything, just make the list in Word using tables. Go to Insert>Table, then select the number of rows and columns you want to start with. You can always add more rows or columns later. That way you're only displaying what you want to see without the empty columns.

Gary

 

[SteveG]

Excel excels at doing calculations. Word is really good at word processing. If all you're doing is creating lists in a couple of columns, and not ciphering anything, just make the list in Word using tables... ".

Gary

Thanks Gary. This post shows just how lost I am.
This is likely the best answer!

 

[Dehn0045]

You can create tables without calculations in both Word or Excel, I find it easier to format tables in Excel. Inserting/Deleting columns or rows, hiding columns or rows, resizing, borders, colors, shading, etc - there is a lot more versatility. Keep in mind that when you open a blank excel worksheet, all of the lines on the screen are just gridlines that are there for your reference. If you print a blank worksheet you would get a blank sheet of paper. To make the gridlines show up when you print you need to draw the borders. You can also do View --> Page Layout to see what the printed pages would look like, also you can turn on/off the gridlines. There are good youtube videos out there that walk you through some of this stuff.

Another option I sometimes use is to create the table in excel and format it, then copy and paste it into word, I find that this works better sometimes.

 

[TonyL]

I can write a macro (a few lines of code with the workbook) that freezes the number of columns that the user is allowed to access.

 

[switch62]

Is this what you are looking for ?

It takes only 3 mouse clicks and 1 keystroke.

Left click on the 1st column you want to hide, in this case J. That will highlight the whole column.

Then hold Ctrl, Shift together then right arrow at the same time.

Right click in the grey area. A drop down box will appear.

Left click on Hide in the drop down box.

Takes less than 5 seconds.

 

[SteveG]

Is this what you are looking for ?

It takes only 3 mouse clicks and 1 keystroke.

Left click on the 1st column you want to hide, in this case J. That will highlight the whole column.

Then hold Ctrl, Shift together then right arrow at the same time.

Right click in the grey area. A drop down box will appear.

Left click on Hide in the drop down box.

Takes less than 5 seconds.

It can't be done. Yet IT IS!!

I love it Tony. I just tried it, and although it took me seven seconds, I DID IT! :biggrin:
Thank You! Thank You!Thank You! and ALOHA!!

 

[Marmotjr]

I'm glad you found an answer, but I'm wondering as to why? If it's just cause it's bugging you or just because you want to, then that's fine.

Excel (and other spreadsheet programs) just ignore columns or rows that you haven't messed with. To it, blank is blank. The grid may be there, but it still ignores it. It won't affect printing or anything.

It's like doing a drawing on a pad of graph paper. The unused cells on the paper won't affect anything, and the rest of pad doesn't care either.

If you need to add another column of data, it might be more trouble than it's worth.

 

[Dehn0045]

This is slightly off topic, I just want to recommend Google Sheets for those that are having a tough time with excel. Google Sheets is kind of a stripped down version of excel but has has some big advantages. Easy and automatic cloud storage is one thing that I really like. I store all my photos on Google Photo, so transferring pics to Sheets is pretty easy. You can also share Sheets with other people for collaboration or support. Oh, and its free and you can save sheets in excel format (some compatibility issues do exist).

I recently gave my uncle a bunch of pens for him to sell at a festival along with his other turned things. He's not a penmaker, so I wanted to give him some descriptions of each of the pens and the woods that I used, material cost and suggested price. I made this table using sheets, its not perfect by any means but was easy to do.

 

[monophoto]

The concept of a spreadsheet goes back a very long time. Some of us are old enough to recall when offices were equipped with pads of paper that were ruled both horizontally and vertically. The idea was to do a calculation in a vertical column, and then repeat the same calculation in adjacent columns so that the impact of changing one variable could be seen by comparing the cells at the bottom of each of those columns. In theory, that process could be carried out as far as possible given the available time to perform the calculations, and the available width of paper and number of parallel columns. The concept was very simple - the thing that was profound was the fact that the process was so very ordered and disciplined.

Along came personal computers, and someone had the bright idea of automating that process. I recall first using VisiCalc and Lotus 1-2-3 at work (and Appleworks at home). Today, Excel is a very powerful and sophisticated bit of software that can do far more than merely create lists.

At one point, Lotus introduced a new bit of software that integrated wordprocessing, spreadsheet, and database functionality into what they called 'Symphony'. Unfortunately, Symphony was perceived by many people to be very hard to use, a fact that Lotus acknowledged in their advertising. I recall a poster that they published with large text saying "I'm going to learn Symphony if it kills me", combined with a photograph of headstones in a cemetery.

 

[SteveG]

Interesting how my simple plea for help has expanded out a number of different directions. For me (I only use Excel for lists and such), when I brought up my 'list', there would be multiple sheets covering my 27 inch iMac screen, and I just did not want to have to do the steps each time to bring it down to a single sheet...every time. I got a lot of fine feedback and my favorite is from switch62. Thank you to all who took the time to respond.

 

[TurtleTom]

The extra columns do not get in the way of anything, they are just there and handy in case you need them. When you hit print, (in print preferences you can select "Show Print Area" each time before you print", Excel only includes cells with data. I taught myself to use Excel years ago just using the Help section, you can too.
Excel has a searchable website with a huge searchable how to book just for Excel. But you don't really need that; on the URL ribbon just type what you want to know as concisely as possible and hit enter.

 

[TellicoTurning]

I run a number of spreadsheets and never worry about the right columns...as several have said, they're just there in case you need them.... I set the page margins to what I want, set columns to width, use the freeze function to retain my column headings and if the spreadsheet gets too big, I always go through the format function and set the print range. My "catalog" file on my turnings would run into close to 100 pages by now.... I keep a spread sheet with every piece I turn with what it is, a sequential number of the piece, descripton, wood, finish and associated costs, plus a formula that sets a price and a blank column I use to note where/when I sell the piece. There are several columns to the right of this data that I used for final profit, consignment pricing etc that I never print. My sequential number is over 3500 by now.

I don't use EXCEL proper, but a clone in Open Office that does all that EXCEL does. Some of the functions are placed differently though. My preference spreadsheet was always Lotus 123, but has gone away in deference to EXCEL, but on one of my computer crashes lost the Excel program that was pre-programmed into the machine, so I've opted for Open Office which is a free program and I didn't have to spend the $$$ for Excel again.

 

[TurtleTom]

Lotus 123? That's been awhile! I liked it too.
I also use Calc but I sure am sad it cannot do the things Excel does and I don't think it ever will.

 

[SteveG]

I see my thread has come alive. I do appreciate all responses that have enabled my use of Excel. Thanks again to all! Aloha!

 

[TellicoTurning]

Lotus 123? That's been awhile! I liked it too.
I also use Calc but I sure am sad it cannot do the things Excel does and I don't think it ever will.

Back when, I was airfreight manager for a specialty forwarding company out of Houston. I wrote our entire tariff, rules, terms, conditions, etc., plus all the rates in Lotus... I even had it set up such that I could change a rate on a master page to a destination and it would migrate across the entire tariff to every page that had that destination listed.... Excel and Open office can't do that.....
By the time I retired forwarders no longer used tariffs per se... most every thing was spot quoted.

 

[Dehn0045]

Excel and Open office can't do that......

Sounds like a challenge!?!?!?

 

[TellicoTurning]

Excel and Open office can't do that......

Nah.... my mind is already warped enough....:biggrin::biggrin: