[DChord568]

I hope not to offend with this statement and risk alienating those from whom I need help, but Word has to be the absolute worst program in history. I can't begin to fathom what drugs the makers of this program were on when they put it together. I avoid it like the plague, doing everything in Pages and then Exporting to Word (and vice versa when someone sends me a Word document).

OK, now I've got that off my chest, and I'm throwing myself on the mercy of Word savants and begging for help — because this methodology isn't working for me in this instance.

I created a Pages document that has a simple Table in it with these columns:

A - Item
B - Quantity
C - Unit Price
D - Total

and a Grand Total cell at the bottom of the far right column. There are only two functions involved:

1) In the D column: =B2*C2

2) In the Grand Total cell: SUM (D2:D6)

This table works flawlessly in Pages. Input new figures in the B and C columns, and the D column reflects the new calculations, and the Grand Total cell is updated accordingly.


When I Export this document to Word (2011), nothing works at all. The cell formulae apparently don't copy over. Furthermore, I can't for the life of me figure out how to duplicate this functionality in Word.

I see that there is a Function... selection under the Table menu, and it gives me ready-made PRODUCT and SUM functions. But I see no way to specify the cells involved, as they aren't identified in my table, and my logical guess at cell addresses that would seem to make sense don't work. Nor can you simply click on cells to insert them in the formula.

What am I missing here? If it's something blindingly obvious, I apologize in advance, but I'm extremely frustrated right now that I can't get something that should be so simple to work.

Any help anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated!


EDIT: OK, so by choosing each individual cell in the table and going to the Function... submenu and entering the PRODUCT(LEFT) formula and specifying the currency formatting, I got the calculations working. (Simply copying the contents of a cell with the formula and pasting them to adjacent cells won't work.)

But...when I change the number in the Quantity and Unit Price cells...nothing happens. The cell with the calculation in it remains the same.

So then I discovered that by right-clicking on the cell and choosing Update Field, I can get the correct calculation.

ARE YOU SERIOUS? You really have to do this each and every time you input a new figure???? In the name of Jesus, WHY?

Is this really my only option here? And do I have to explain all of this to the future users of this document? (It won't go over well, I'm sure.)

I just don't get it. Surely there's an easier way?

(And by the way...how do I format my Unit Price column for currency? I couldn't find any way to do this other than in the Function section...but I can't do it without also specifying a formula, which I don't want in these cells. WTF???)

[smax013]

Insert an Excel worksheet. The worksheet will be "linked" and when you update the worksheet, it will automatically update the Word document.

To my knowledge, there is not way to "autoupdate" Words tables. The tables in Word are largely "dumb" tables. The functions you can use are very simplistic (which might still work well in some situations).

Word is not really meant for "record keeping" type tables, but rather more for "static report" type tables (i.e. largely static tables in a written report). If you want more dynamic tables, then that is what Excel is for...and you can have dynamically linked Excel worksheets in Word.

[DChord568]

smax013, on 30 October 2012 - 10:45 AM, said:

Insert an Excel worksheet. The worksheet will be "linked" and when you update the worksheet, it will automatically update the Word document.

To my knowledge, there is not way to "autoupdate" Words tables. The tables in Word are largely "dumb" tables. The functions you can use are very simplistic (which might still work well in some situations).

Word is not really meant for "record keeping" type tables, but rather more for "static report" type tables (i.e. largely static tables in a written report). If you want more dynamic tables, then that is what Excel is for...and you can have dynamically linked Excel worksheets in Word.

Thank you for your response. I had discovered the method of embedding an Excel spreadsheet in Word on my own, but had hoped there would be another way that wouldn't involve two files.

The document I'm working on will be a template for a salesperson's Quote Form. It has additional elements beyond the pricing table, which makes it impractical to do the entire thing in Excel. So I figured Word was the best option. Given my smooth experience with Pages, I had no idea that tables in Word would be so crippled.

Thanks once again for replying!

[smax013]

DChord568, on 31 October 2012 - 09:50 AM, said:

Thank you for your response. I had discovered the method of embedding an Excel spreadsheet in Word on my own, but had hoped there would be another way that wouldn't involve two files.

The document I'm working on will be a template for a salesperson's Quote Form. It has additional elements beyond the pricing table, which makes it impractical to do the entire thing in Excel. So I figured Word was the best option. Given my smooth experience with Pages, I had no idea that tables in Word would be so crippled.

Thanks once again for replying!

While maybe not "ideal", you could do the whole thing in Excel. You can do the additional elements in text boxes (if it is more like a "quote form letter") as well as imbedded graphics.

I have done similar things in the past for structural engineering (my profession) calculation sheets that might have non-number/formula explanations and company logos, etc.