Can Excel be use to a limited degree without the full program

  • Thread starter Thread starter Doug Sanders
  • Start date Start date
D

Doug Sanders

Can an Excel spreadsheet be distributed that allows only limited values be
changed, not formulas, to users without Excel?

Sort of mortgage amortization tables, etc. as example.

User can plug in some numbers, see results, but can not change the core
algorithms.

If s, how would this be done?

Thanks,

Doug Sanders
 
Doug Sanders said:
Can an Excel spreadsheet be distributed that allows only limited values be
changed, not formulas, to users without Excel?

Sort of mortgage amortization tables, etc. as example.

User can plug in some numbers, see results, but can not change the core
algorithms.

If s, how would this be done?

Thanks,

Doug Sanders
Click to expand...

No in a word. To change anything in a spreadsheet, the user needs to have an
application capable of opening and editing it, and the only applications
that will do that are full Excel-compatable spreadsheet programs. The
viewer, as recommended by another poster, only allows (afaik) just that,
viewing. The viewer CANNOT change anything.
 
Gordon

Been a while since I used the viewer, but I believe the users can make changes
and play what-if when opened in the Viewer.

Just can't save the changes.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP
 
Gord Dibben said:
Gordon

Been a while since I used the viewer, but I believe the users can make
changes
and play what-if when opened in the Viewer.

Just can't save the changes.
Click to expand...


Thanks for that info - I've never used the Viewer!
 
Remember that in Microsoft Word you can insert a Microsoft Excel worksheet
that requires double clicking to "get into".

But once into it, you have full Excel functionality. So you could set up
your worksheet... then use the protection feature so that only the cells you
wish folks to have access to... can be accessed and changed.

Not sure if that will help or not... but another idea anyway.
 
But that implies that Excel is available on the recipient's system. When you
embed an object (as the Excel workbook within the Word document) the object
is inoperative unless the creating application is available. The actual
Excel application does not get embedded into the document along with the
workbook - the basic core of Excel 2007 is 16.8MB in size, for Excel 2003
it's 9+MB. Files of that size won't even make it through most email systems
these days.

Since the OP has said they don't have Excel, it's back to the Viewer for a
solution. Another drawback might be that if they don't have Excel they very
well may not have Word either, since both Word and Excel are contained in all
versions of Office. Although they could have Word as a stand alone
application or as part of the Works suite.
 
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