Use Microsoft Excel for (Nearly) Everything

PC World - Microsoft Excel spreadsheets hold more than a million rows of data and automate number crunching, but they can do so much more. Excel's simple interface lends itself to uses well beyond those that its designers ever imagined.

People have used Excel for all sorts of purposes, from teaching pilots their way around a Boeing 747 to creating clip art.

Although other programs perform such specialized tasks more quickly, accurately, and effectively, faithful Excel users often spurn those options, preferring to use the spreadsheet program they know rather than unfamiliar software.

If you're in business, Excel is likely one of your day-to-day productivity tools. Maybe after reading about creative ways other people have used Microsoft's spreadsheet application, you'll look at its potential for your work in a new light.

Word Processing

At one end of the range of possible uses for Excel is its role as a word processor. This use isn't terribly uncommon; you may even know someone who does this. Although a dedicated word processor offers far superior tools, you can still write a letter or short document in Excel, either by merging and enlarging cells to use for the text or by placing the content in a text box.

Writing letters, however, is comparatively simple compared with what Debbie Gewand can create in Excel. She uses the program to create clip-art images, and she wrote a book showing how she does it. Gewand takes photos that she has scanned into Excel as references, and then draws them as clip art by assembling lots of filled shapes made with Excel's drawing tools. She has also used Excel to create two-page brochures and business cards. Her Website showcases a grab bag of unusual cases.

Behind the Cockpit

At Red Triangle, Todd Michael Edwards uses Excel to provide training for pilots around the world on planes ranging from regional jets to Boeing 747s. His company's cockpit mockups, created as Excel worksheets, show diagrams of the switches and indicators. The worksheets utilize comment boxes, which within cells provide pop-up details of what the lights and indicators do and what their different states mean.

It's a simple learning aid that can run on just about any computer and requires only an Excel viewer application to use, not the Microsoft program itself.

Track Leads, Build Software, and Analyze Data

Some users have found novel applications for Excel that harness its power for business. Photographer Leeann Marie created a marketing worksheet in Excel to track her photography leads and their conversion into actual shoots. This lead-tracking sheet features a data-collection worksheet and a series of PivotTables that analyze the data and provide summarized information about referral sources, failed leads, booking rates, and other details. You can find this worksheet as a free download from her Website.