Experienced Spreadsheet Person Needed

Hi all

I've always hand written my timesheet out for work, but now I've changed departments, I have more varied hours, with varied overtime, etc and somebody in work said it was easier and neater to fill in the timesheet electronically, which it is, but there's a couple of things annoying me that I don't know how to change.

They have sent me the template, but there's a couple of columns the wrong way around compared to the original/standard timesheet and my printer is cutting off some of the left hand side, etc. Also, when I type in December 2019, it keeps changing it to 01/12/19, which is annoying.

I've had a mess around, but don't really know what I'm doing, so I was wondering if someone could sort it for me so I can just type in my details and worked hours and print it off each month

Not sure if it makes a difference, but Microsoft Office doesn't work on my laptop so I use Open Office.

Thanks.

Some easy fixes, hopefully

Select all the cells that have the wrong date formate in. Right click and select '"Format" from the list. Go to the numbers tab and select date in the category box. You can now choose the preferred format. Click okay when finished.

Fixing the columns is just as easy. Click on the column letter to the right of where you want the misplaced column to go (ie, if you want it between B an C click on C), right click and select insert columns. Click on the letter of the column you want to move (it should all highlight in blue), right click and select cut. Click back on the letter of the column you created and right click. Select paste.

Getting the print area set correctly should also be straightforward. However it's a while since I used OpenOffice so remembering where the correct options are. If you select all the cells you want to print, then go to the format tab and select page ranges, then select define from that list. Once you've done that you can go back to the format tab and select page from the menu. You'll be able to adjust for portrait/landscape, size, etc.

I'd save the file as a different name to allow you test what you've done is correct. Click file on the header and select Save as to do this and type your file name into the dialog box. The only problem you'll find is that you'll have to use an old excel file format to save the document. Generally this causes no problems unless you're sharing the document for edit with other people who use excel and the document has lots of formula and formating in it.

Hi T

If it’s easier, send me a copy of the spreadsheet and I’ll fix it for you, but it won’t be for a few days

Thanks szkom. I managed to change the date format by following your instructions. I tried the columns, but nothing is happening when I right click on the column letter and when I tried a couple of other things, it says the cells are protected and can't be changed.
I'll wait until those are sorted and then play with the print options.

In the meantime, I've emailed you the file I was sent Nigel. I just need the date and day columns on the left side to be swapped around please.

If it can't be done, it's not massively important as the person who sent me the file obviously fills in their timesheet as it is and it gets accepted, but ideally, to stay in line with everyone else, the date and day should be swapped.

Thanks

I sympathise T, have to fill in more and more complicated pay claims at uni, it's a pain in the backside. First they "expire" any password you might have, then they change the system - and terminology - and the latest was when instructed to click on Internet Explorer there was suddenly no such thing in existence....I had to ask a passing student to show me the ropes!

I seem to remember in some of the old formats that there were "protected" areas and oddities like when filling in signature and date they couldn't be entered in boxes next to "date" and "signature".

In forty-odd years of filling in pay claims it's actually got harder and takes longer

Nigel has very kindly helped me out with this - thank you Nigel

Thanks also szkom

No problem - the worksheet was password protected, so I had to use a password breaker to allow the swapping of the columns.

Microsoft spent a fortune adding a special new type of protection when they rolled out Office 2010 - it now takes at least 30 seconds to open a password-protected sheet, rather than the ten seconds it used to take.....