Is anyone pretty good with Excel?

[glen]

I screwed up the excel spreadsheet at work.
I sorted a column, and saved it. I thought it was going to sort the whole thing based upon that column, but it just changed the order of the column and none of the surrounding data. Apparently the ?computer guy? says the tape back up failed. Why are we using tape back up anyway, isn?t HD space just as inexpensive nowadays?
So, does Excel save a copy on the drive or is there a way to undo or something besides relying on the tape back up? BTW, the "undo" button is no longer highlighted, so I am not sure how one would undo at this stage.

 

[dullard]

As far as I know, I think you are screwed. Lesson learned: Excel will sort the surrounding data only if you highlight it when you do the sort (Although in most Excel versions it gives you a warning if there is data in the column next to the sorted column to alert you that you forgot to select everything).

Once you save in Excel, the undo goes away. I don't understand why you can't undo after a save. Although in many years of working extensively with Excel I've never saved and needed an undo.

Excel has an option for temporary backups but those are solely beneficial for computer crashes (if you save or exit normally the backup is distroyed).

 

[glen]

If I could find any old copy of it, I can copy the column from the old file and then past it into the file I messed up.

 

[dullard]

How much data are we talking about? Will it be 10s of minutes or 10s of hours to redo it all? Good luck.

 

[glen]

it woudl involve retyping about 500 names.
However, I am not sure how we are going to get those 500 names in the right order otherwise.

 

[pulse8]

I think you're screwed unless they were in a logical order previously. (i.e. Alphabetical)

 

[maziwanka]

Originally posted by: pulse8
I think you're screwed unless they were in a logical order previously. (i.e. Alphabetical)

i'm afraid he's right.

 

[KLin]

You wouldn't have had this problem if the data had been in a database table.

 

[glen]

Originally posted by: KLin
You wouldn't have had this problem if the data had been in a database table.

Or if the tape drive had not failed.
Is that normal?
And, what the heck is a database table?

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: KLin
You wouldn't have had this problem if the data had been in a database table.

Nah, he would have some other problem, like a dropped table or something.

 

[glen]

there must be a way
And, why did the tape back up fail?
Is that normal?

 

[KLin]

Originally posted by: glen
there must be a way
And, why did the tape back up fail?
Is that normal?

That's just IT talk for "oops, I forgot to swap out the tape. Oh well, I'll catch up with backups tomorrow."

 

[yukichigai]

You may be able to find the temp file made before the save kicking around on the hard drive somewhere, if you're lucky. Otherwise you're out of luck; one of the more annoying drawbacks of Excel is that it won't let you undo after you save.

 

[VictorLazlo]

Maybe the IT guy has an older tape (besides yesterdays) with a good copy of your file on it.

 

[glen]

Originally posted by: yukichigai
You may be able to find the temp file made before the save kicking around on the hard drive somewhere, if you're lucky. Otherwise you're out of luck; one of the more annoying drawbacks of Excel is that it won't let you undo after you save.

But, how are those files named?
Would it be on my PC rather than the network server?

 

[yukichigai]

Yeah, it'd be on your PC. Should have an xls extension. Check the recycle bin too.

 

[jamesbond007]

Blame the IT guy for having a failed backup?