FAQ's Frequently Asked Questions
- I can't seem to scroll up, down or across the screen? - Unfreeze / Freeze Panes - you need only do this once.
- Will the costings work in future versions of Microsoft Excel? -YES
- Will I loose all my data if the costings are updated? - NO using copy & paste takes little time to transfer all your data from one version of the costings to the next. There are not many features we can think of that would add to the costings over the years, so why bother? If you do find any new features announced as useful then by all means use the copy & paste feature.
- How do I backup a copy of the costings / farms data? - as with any hard won data, guard it like the family Jewels!
- What is WinZip? Downloading or sending large files on the internet or by email is costly and takes a long time. Large files can be compressed to make them smaller. WinZip is a program that Zips up or compresses files. Get the free evaluation copy from WINZIP - it lasts for years.
- What is Microsoft Excel? is a "spread sheet " program that many business's use to do calculations - lots of them. If buying a computer as a business user I recommend Microsoft Office Small Business Edition is pre-installed. MS Office SBE contains Excel, Word, and many other useful programs.
- Not sure how to download?
- Start Date When I set the Start date for the costings, all the dates come up as #NAME
1. I can't seem to scroll up or down or across the screen?
A minor irritating easily corrected Excel problem. With the costings opened,
 | Select and click "Window" at the top of the screen. Select and click "Un Freeze Panes" . Horizontal and Vertical scrolling will now work on this page. You need to repeat this if there is a problem persists on other pages. |
| To make scrolling more manageable click a cell that is one down from the column headings one to the right of the row headings on the data input and results sheets. Select and click "Window" at the top of the screen. Select and click "Freeze Panes". Everything below and to the right of the highlighted cell will now move. |
2 . Will the costings work in future versions of Microsoft Excel?
Microsoft's updating policy means that if you upgrade to a newer version of Excel, when you save the costings file at the end of each session, the new version of Excel will upgrade the costings!
If purchasing a computer make sure it comes with Excel as part of an Office suite of programs - MS Office Small business Edition. Its far cheaper this way.
3. Will I loose all my data if the costings are updated?
Upgrades of the costings from SBConsultancy will be named slightly differently so that you do not overwrite your version. To copy herd data you entered in previous years, use the copy and paste facility in Excel. Remember to keep the start month and year in the herd data entry page the same.
How to Select Copy, & Paste large amounts of data
| Make a backup of your original costings for safety, simply select "file", "save as" and write a new name for the costings.. |
| Open both costings versions, select "Window", select "Arrange", select "horizontal" or "Vertical" - the old and new versions of the costings can now be seen at the same time. |
| Select data On the old Herd Data entry page, Highlight all the data in each yellow block by clicking on and holding down the mouse button on the top leftmost cell in a block. Now move the mouse pointer to the bottom right last entry on the block and let go the mouse button. All the data you now want to copy is highlighted for that yellow block. Dont highlight blue areas at the same time. Only highlight one block and copy at a time. |
| Copy Data right click the mouse - and select copy |
| Paste Data on the new costings, left click the top left most cell / square in the corner of the yellow data block, right click the mouse button, select and click "Paste Special", select "Values", click OK. |
4. How to backup a copy of the farms data.
| Every month when you have finished entering data, save the program by selecting "File", and "Save", this will overwrite last months data. |
| If you want to save the previous months copy, before entering the current months data, select "File", "Save As" and save under a different name in a different folder on your computer. |
| In the unlikely event that the farms data is corrupted or lost in the current month, there is now a back up of the original. |
| To save the back up on floppy disc use WINZIP to compress the costings before saving to the disk on the a:/ drive. |
8. Start Date - problems with displaying dates
| For formulas and functions in Excel to work the "Tools AnalysisPak" needs to be installed. This comes free and as part of the installation of Excel and needs enabling. |
| On the top Tool bar of Excel, click "Tools" click "Add-Ins" tick the "Tools AnalysisPak" box and click "OK". Dates will now appear. |
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