Spreadsheet have many features similar to other office software products, that allow you to interchangeably work without losing original design and purpose. You can use an office document that will still draw graphs and tables, and figures can be done the same, but a word documents primary purpose is writing. Spreadsheets are more in the form of math and image results such as graphs. It is just how you approach using a spreadsheet, and simply put, if it serves your purpose, then it is not wrong. Only in math, you need to pay attention to what cells you are building a math result from.

      Still, a spreadsheet can be used simply to list items or materials, and as you go deeper into understanding the powerful purpose of a spreadsheet, can you enjoy the purpose and the math behind it. Each cell, and if you select a group column, or row, can be formatted to do a certain format of text or math. Math in this case can be how it expresses a date, a time, currency, or numbers, with (or without) decimal places.

      Basic rule is to start out simple, and explore, research, and learn how to expand to some useful results later. A quick idea would be my fathers workbench. Above the work table, he has bins of hardware (screws, nuts, washers, etc.). If he was to use a spreadsheet to list each bin, its select sections of hardware, and the amount of each screw, nut, and washer, he would probably find a spreadsheet useful; simply for the purpose of inventory. He could later work off to the right side of his list, and in a cell build a formula that adds, and even subtracts what he takes out of the bin, knowing how much is supposed to be remaining. If he started from the beginning, he could probably create formulas based on each purchase, and come up with how much he has invested in this inventory, separately or as an entire collection. My father’s workbench is only an example. Some real time list (with math) might be an inventory of household materials (for creating an inventory for insurance claim purposes).

      In the case of my father’s workbench, I would first start out drawing each bin, or simply let each cell represent the bins across and below. Then in his own numbering system, he can number or letter the bins in the cell. To make it more visible, the spread sheet comes with draw and border tools that you may need to include below the menu bar. Once he has the bins marked in any fashion how chooses (numbers and letter were only an example), he could then start listing each bin number in the left cells (below the drawing), and to the right cell, describe what is in the bin. From here, it would be up to how detailed he wanted to get. Picture each bin having seven partitions, and in the first bin is different screws. He could actually create another spreadsheet specific to that bin, and again make lines that represent each section, and describe in detail, the type and size for screw.  Later, he could learn how to book mark the first spreadsheet, using hyperlinks, that when the cursor hovers over the cell representing the first bin, and left clicking on it, the link would bring up or go to that second spreadsheet that lists the items in that bin in detail.

      Let’s go with the idea of a house inventory list. The first spreadsheet may start with a drawing of borders that represent every room of the house (you can simply make a list of each room, but having a visual appearance is like including a map or layout). Then, lets start with the kitchen, by making a second spreadsheet specific to the kitchen, remembering later that we can bookmark by hyperlink in the first spread sheet that brings up the complete list of items and the number and amounts in the second spreadsheet.  You can also list the cost or value of each item on that second spreadsheet, and go into detail, such as the purchase date and wear. You can build a formulat that adds the total value of that room, and later, go to the first spreadsheet, and by clicking on the formula tool, simply link it to the second spreadsheets total value amount. This simply brings the total number onto the first spreadsheet, and the first spreadsheet starts becoming the summarized spreadsheet of all the values of each room identified in other spreadsheets.

      When planning to build multiple spreadsheets, a key mention is to make sure all are created and stored in the same folder. Having separate spreadsheets in other folders will work, but when it comes time to back up, or move the project to another machine or external storage device, you may be forced to recreate the bookmarks or links to the other spreadsheets. By keeping them in one folder, the folder becomes a “container” (also known as the parent to the files inside), and now when moving the folder, it carries the files inside, and the spreadsheet links are kept in tact. So, don’t just start a spreadsheet in My Documents. Give it a container, and name the folder for that project, and now create all your spreadsheets inside the folder. You can create other folders inside the parent folder, to separate other files, like pictured receipts, but the links to your now growing project all need to be contained in that parent folder to work when moved or backed up.

      Architects may look for a program specific with all the tools they would need, but even in that software, it will eventually come down to a spreadsheet built in, to do the math, such as the area of the dimensions drawn, with each line and curve. No matter what your project or purpose, when it comes to math, a spreadsheet is the tool to work with. It gives you the opportunity to draw, list, and like any software add or embed a picture taken into the spreadsheet. But its true purpose is math and graphs. The best part of a spreadsheet is once the formulas are made, and pulls numbers from other cells, if there is a change in the number of any given cell, the cell with the formula makes the new total. So, a spreadsheet is ideal for any works in progress, where the numbers may or will change.

      Where I have a spreadsheet, where I copy the total miles driven for each day, I went into detail to give me the results of the weekly total miles, the average total miles, and I did the same for total hours driven and total hour worked. From weekly, I expanded it to detail the totals by month and even quarterly. With a completed table of information, I can take those totals and build a line graph based on each moth, week, or quarter. I could also do it to express the averages. I can also compare years in a line graph. And make a series of lines for each year, getting a visual idea of what my totals were for each year. Why? To analyze patterns. If the lines are lower from January to march (or the first Quarter), I may now plan on saving money during the peek periods, where the graph lines are higher.

      In a current real time project, I am getting very close to making “pie charts” when it comes to showing my revenue, against my itemized expenses. It took time to know where I wanted to go, and the pie chart idea is an addition to all the information on various spreadsheet, all developed over time…three years (six if you want to go back to when I was developing a purpose for spreadsheets and started out aimlessly, but had fun experimenting). With three complete years of data entry, I can now experiment to get the results that I can display in various charts, used to save when it is busy, and forecast when it may slow in the future. This analyzing may also help in when I can spend, and when it is necessary to save. Yes, there is real value to spreadsheets, but it is up to the individual to explore, and eventually a direction to seeing actual results will come to light.