User’s guide to
SpreadsheetConverter
version 5.x

Framtidsforum I & M AB
Uppsala
Sweden

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Contents

Quick start guide. 5

What do I need to use SpreadsheetConverter?. 5

How do I download SpreadsheetConverter?. 5

How do I install SpreadsheetConverter?. 5

How do I convert a spreadsheet to a web page?. 6

How do I add a SpreadsheetConverter web page to my web site?. 6

How do I uninstall SpreadsheetConverter?. 7

Introduction. 8

SpreadsheetConverter: key features. 8

Benefits of using SpreadsheetConverter. 9

Formatting in Excel vs. formatting by browsers. 10

Browser- and server-based solutions. 10

The different versions of SpreadsheetConverter. 11

Installation. 12

Prerequisite software. 12

First-time installation. 13

Installing updates. 18

Uninstalling the program.. 19

The SpreadsheetConverter server environment 21

Using SpreadsheetConverter. 22

Starting the conversion process. 22

Select output format 30

Select cells. 32

Presentation and Interaction. 36

Select location. 49

Save the settings. 52

Verify the generated web page. 52

Adding a converted spreadsheet to your web site. 53

Creating an interactive form as a web page. 54

Testing the converted web page. 56

Creating better user interfaces. 57

Introduction. 57

Advanced controls. 60

Using advanced controls. 65

Advanced topics. 81

Support for regional options and languages. 81

Troubleshooting. 83

Technical requirements. 83

Known issues. 83

Error messages. 84

Support 87

Appendix 1: Conversion details. 88

Cell types. 88

Referencing cells. 88

Page formatting. 88

Cell formatting. 89

Cell contents. 89

Other Excel features. 90

 

Quick start guide

What do I need to use SpreadsheetConverter?

1.      You need a PC with Microsoft Excel 2000 or later installed to create the spreadsheets that SpreadsheetConverter converts to web pages. Read more in the section Technical requirements below.

2.      You need a web server where you can upload the web pages you have created with SpreadsheetConverter, so that people can view them in their web browsers. Read more in the section Adding a converted spreadsheet to your web site below.

3.      SpreadsheetConverter allows you to create online web forms that your website visitors can complete and submit for processing. If you want to use our services to automatically convert each submitted form into an e‑mail, you need a receiver code. You request this code from inside the program. The basic functionality is free. Read more in the section Our hosted submit services below.

How do I download SpreadsheetConverter?

  1. Point your browser to www.spreadsheetconverter.com.
  2. Follow the links to the download page for the appropriate version of SpreadsheetConverter.
  3. Click on the download link to start downloading the selected version.
  4. Select Open or Run to execute the installation program immediately after download.

How do I install SpreadsheetConverter?

  1. If you selected Open or Run during download, the installation process should start automatically. Otherwise use the Windows Explorer to navigate to the folder containing the downloaded file and double-click on the file name, e.g. ssc5hstd.exe.
  2. Carefully read through the license agreement, then click “I Agree” to indicate that you accept its terms. If you don’t, press “Cancel” to terminate the installation.
  3. The installation program suggests a default location for the program files. Press “Install” to accept the default location.
  4. When the installation of SpreadsheetConverter is completed, press “Close” to close the installation program.
  5. If you intend to install SpreadsheetConverter to Java/JSP, you should also install the Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition, Software Development Toolkit (J2SE SDK) version 1.3.1 or later on the same PC. The J2SE SDK is available for download at http://developers.sun.com/downloads/.

How do I convert a spreadsheet to a web page?

  1. Ensure that Excel is started.
  2. If you intend to create a server-based solution, ensure that the prerequisite server environment is set up using the instructions in the section The SpreadsheetConverter server environment below.
  3. Open the spreadsheet you want to convert.
  4. Verify that the SpreadsheetConverter menu is available in the menu bar.
  5. In the SpreadsheetConverter menu, click “Convert”.
  6. Press “Next” to start the SpreadsheetConverter wizard.
  7. If the “Select output format” page is included in the wizard, select “Standard web page (SSC to HTML/JavaScript)”.
  8. On the “Select Cells” page, select “Automatic detection” as the selection method. For “Which worksheets?”, select “Selected”. Press “Next” to advance to the next page of the wizard.
  9. On the “Presentation and Interaction” page, just press “Next” to advance to the next page of the wizard.
  10. On the “Select location” page, verify the folder location for the web page that will be created by SpreadsheetConverter. Press the “…” button if you want to change the defaults. Press “Next” to advance to the next page of the wizard.
  11. On the “End” page, press “Finish” to begin the conversion process.
  12. After conversion, a “Messages and Errors” window appears. In most cases there are only informational messages. For troubleshooting, go to the Troubleshooting section of this manual.
  13. In most cases, the generated web page is automatically opened in your default web browser. Verify the results of the conversion. If you are unhappy with the results you should consider modifying the original spreadsheet in Excel before you attempt to modify the web page.

How do I add a SpreadsheetConverter web page to my web site?

  1. Ensure that the file is physically included in your web site, i.e. that it is transferred to the same server as the other web pages in the web site using file transfer, a site management utility or a content management system. This guarantees that the page is physically accessible when requested by one of the users of the web site.
  2. Link the page to the rest of your site. You will need at least one link to the page so that users can navigate to it. If your web site has a menu or similar navigation structure you may want to insert it also on the SpreadsheetConverter page.
  3. Give the SpreadsheetConverter page the same look-and feel as the rest of your site. Open the SpreadsheetConverter page in your favorite web page editor and format it so that it looks like the other pages on your web site.

Note: SpreadsheetConverter is shareware, i.e. “try before you buy”. Publishing on the web is not included in the free functionality. You must have a license for SpreadsheetConverter before you publish converted spreadsheets on the web.

How do I uninstall SpreadsheetConverter?

  1. Open the “Programs and Features” control panel (Start > Settings > Control Panel > Programs and Features). In older Windows versions, look for a control panel called “Add/remove programs”.
  2. Select “SpreadsheetConverter” in the list of programs.
  3. Press “Uninstall” at the top of the list.
  4. Press “Uninstall” to confirm the uninstall operation.

Introduction

The VisiCalc spreadsheet was one of the first killer applications for personal computers. The reason for this is obvious; you don’t have to be a programmer to use the enormous functionality in a spreadsheet. The nature of “what you see is what you get” calculations makes it easy for both individuals and businesses to create powerful, yet easy-to-use spreadsheets.

SpreadsheetConverter was developed with this same WYSIWYG philosophy in mind. SpreadsheetConverter converts Microsoft Excel spreadsheets into web pages that look and function just like the original spreadsheet. Excel's own "save as web page" doesn’t allow you to create an interactive, calculating web page. Excel just creates a static table with all the values currently visible in Excel, impossible to change.

In contrast, SpreadsheetConverter creates an interactive, calculating web page by embedding program code in the web page that automatically performs all the calculations required to maintain the functionality of the original spreadsheet. Web pages created by SpreadsheetConverter run on any JavaScript-capable browser, on any device.

SpreadsheetConverter: key features

When developing SpreadsheetConverter we have focused on the following:

Benefits of using SpreadsheetConverter

Using SpreadsheetConverter will save you time and money, and your customers will receive increased service and better quality.

Other key benefits are:

Formatting in Excel vs. formatting by browsers

One of the many strengths of the spreadsheet concept is the easy handling of rows and columns. When creating a spreadsheet you can tailor the exact appearance of each row and column, including height, width, borders and headings. There are also numerous ways to format individual cells, including how numbers are displayed, what fonts are used and what colors are used for text and background.

When your spreadsheet is converted into web format, you will lose most of the detailed control of the user experience you had when you designed it in Excel. As an example, most web browsers remove spaces as they see fit. If you position text by inserting extra spaces before or after a word, you will find that even though SpreadsheetConverter maintains the extra spaces in the converted web page, the browser simply discards them, which may give a totally different layout to the page.

Once converted into web format, spreadsheets also enter the realm of competing web browsers. Unfortunately, no browser is identical to the other, and a web page will inherently appear somewhat different in each browser. This is part of the natural behavior of the world-wide web.

When SpreadsheetConverter converts a spreadsheet to html, it is forced to make certain compromises when it comes to formatting. When compared to the original spreadsheet in Excel, the web page created by SpreadsheetConverter will not be an identical twin regardless of which browser you use to view it. In fact, it will look slightly different in every browser, and often different between versions of the same browser. Once again, this is a natural consequence of entering the web environment. In most cases the result is good enough.

If you absolutely require the spreadsheet to look the same in every browser, you should consider converting it to Flash format instead of html.

Browser- and server-based solutions

SpreadsheetConverter can convert spreadsheets to standalone programming code that runs either in the browser or in the server.

·         In a browser-based solution, the programming code is stored in the web page and executed by the user’s web browser. Formulas and constant values are visible in the web page source code. Recalculation can occur automatically whenever the user changes a cell. The web page can be served from any web server; there are no special dependencies on the web server whatsoever. The web page can be used even if you're not connected to the Internet. The browser-based solution offers better interactivity for small- and medium-sized spreadsheets. Browser-based solutions are also more scalable and reduce the network traffic, since the server only has to send the web page once.

·         In a server-based solution, the programming code is stored and run on the web server. Formulas and constant values are not visible to the user. Recalculation must be requested manually by pressing a button after a group of cells have been updated. Server-based solutions simplify advanced integration with back-end systems, e.g. databases. Server-based solution offers increased security, since the calculations are done on the server, and better performance for large spreadsheets.

The different versions of SpreadsheetConverter

SpreadsheetConverter is currently available in three versions:

The server-based solutions require a much more complicated operating environment than the browser-based solution. We recommend that you use SpreadsheetConverter to HTML unless you are certain you need a server solution.

Installation

Prerequisite software

First-time installation

Download the SpreadsheetConverter program file

Download the appropriate version of SpreadsheetConverter using the instructions in the Quick start guide above.

Start the installation

If you selected Run or Open during download, the installation process should start automatically. Otherwise use the Windows Explorer to navigate to the folder containing the downloaded file and double-click on the file name, e.g. ssc5hstd.exe.

The Welcome screen appears. Press Next.

Approve the license agreement

Carefully read through the license agreement, then click “I accept the terms in the License Agreement” to indicate that you accept its terms and then press “Next”. If you don’t, press “Cancel” to terminate the installation.

Select version of Excel

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Select the version of Excel you plan to use, then press “Next”.

 

Select program folder

The installation program suggests a default location for the program files. Press “Install” to accept the default location.

Under special circumstances you may want to install the program in a different location than the default. If you are upgrading a previous installation, you should install the new version at the same location as the old version, or uninstall the old version first. Press the Browse button to select another installation folder.

When the installation of SpreadsheetConverter into Excel is completed, locate the window for the SpreadsheetConverter installation program (it should be similar to the example below).

Press the “Next” button to continue to the next step of the installation process.

Now you’re almost done! Tick the “Start SpreadsheetConverter” checkbox to start Excel with SpreadsheetConverter enabled. Tick “Show Readme” to open the release notes in your default web browser.

Installing updates

To upgrade to later versions of SpreadsheetConverter, simply repeat the installation process described above using the updated program file. You don’t need to uninstall the old version before you install the new one. The installation program will automatically replace old files and remove redundant files. Note: version 5 does not replace version 4. To uninstall version 4, follow the instructions in Uninstalling the program below.

Uninstalling the program

  1. Open the “Programs and Features” control panel (Start > Settings > Control Panel > Programs and Features). In older Windows versions, look for a control panel called “Add/remove programs”.

  2. Select “SpreadsheetConverter” in the list of programs.
  3. Press “Uninstall” at the top of the list.

  4. Press “Uninstall” to confirm the uninstall operation.

Consider the remaining registry information

The uninstallation of SpreadsheetConverter will not remove information it may have saved in the Windows registry, e.g. the registration key, user settings etc. If you reinstall SpreadsheetConverter later, it will reuse the old registration key and settings. This is in conformance with Microsoft recommendations. The remaining registry information occupies a negligible amount of hard disk space. Please contact support@spreadsheetconverter.com if you need instructions on how to remove the redundant registry entries.

Note: The fact that the SpreadsheetConverter registration key remains in a computer does not override the license agreement. If you have a one-user license, you may install and use SpreadsheetConverter on only one computer at a time.

The SpreadsheetConverter server environment

In a server-based solution, the SpreadsheetConverter converter generates programming code to be run on Microsoft’s Internet Information Server (IIS) or on a web server that supports JSP pages and Java Beans (e.g. Tomcat). Describing the complete server installation in detail is beyond the scope of this document. Below is a short summary of the most important issues.

SpreadsheetConverter to ASP.NET

To use SpreadsheetConverter with ASP.NET requires the Microsoft .NET framework. If you plan to install IIS, uninstall the .NET-framework first, then install IIS using the instructions below, then install the .NET framework again.

SpreadsheetConverter to ASP.NET requires IIS, which is provided with all current versions of Windows except Windows XP Home. IIS is not always installed during Windows installation. To install IIS manually, open the “Add/Remove Programs” control panel and select “Add/Remove Windows Components”. Tick the checkbox next to IIS in the list and press “Next” to proceed through the installation wizard.

SpreadsheetConverter to Java

The Java version of SpreadsheetConverter requires the following:

·         The Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition, Software Development Toolkit (J2SE SDK) version 1.3.1 or later, available for download at http://developers.sun.com/downloads/.

Tomcat issues

When you convert a spreadsheet a second time, the converted files will be copied to the Tomcat server environment. However, Tomcat does not automatically reload the class-file, so the web page will not work.

There are two circumventions to this problem:

Since this is rather time-consuming, we recommend that you use a browser-based solution to get the output exactly the way you want it before you convert the spreadsheet for a server-based solution.’

Using SpreadsheetConverter

Starting the conversion process

Open the spreadsheet

Ensure that Excel is started.

If you intend to create a server-based solution, ensure that the prerequisite server environment is set up using the instructions in the section The SpreadsheetConverter server environment above.

Open the spreadsheet you want to convert.

If you have previously attempted to convert this spreadsheet, you may have found that it required manual designation of input cells. In this case, follow the instructions in the section Select the input cells before starting the SpreadsheetConverter wizard.

Select which sheets to include in the web page

If your workbook contains more than one worksheet (tab), SpreadsheetConverter allows you to select which worksheet or worksheets to include in the resulting web page. Each additional tab may make the converted web page bigger or slower, so don’t include more worksheets than necessary.

If you want to create sheet tabs for a subset of the worksheets in the workbook, do the following:

Locate the SpreadsheetConverter menu

During installation, SpreadsheetConverter installs itself as a separate menu in Excel:

 

Excel 2007 and later:

 

Excel 2003:

 

Verify that the SpreadsheetConverter menu is available in the Excel menu bar. If it isn’t, press the Esc key on the keyboard to ensure that any context-specific menus are deactivated. Excel automatically disables the menu while you are editing a cell.

 

Excel 2007 and later:

 

Excel 2000 ­- 2003:

The SpreadsheetConverter menu is separated into three sections:

Conversion

Designer

The Designer section of the menu allows you to insert and edit advanced controls that create a better user interface for the resulting web page. The advanced controls are described in detail in the section Creating better user interfaces below.

Options and help

Register your copy of SpreadsheetConverter

If you have already registered your copy of SpreadsheetConverter, skip this section and proceed to Start the SpreadsheetConverter wizard below. If you haven’t yet registered your copy of the program, a window similar to the one below will appear.

If you haven't registered the program, SpreadsheetConverter works in trial mode. The only restrictions of the trial version are:

As soon as you register the program, all these restrictions are removed (there is no need to reinstall the program). Once you’ve purchased a license, there are no additional costs and there are no royalties to pay when you distribute the resulting web pages.

If you want to order a registration key for SpreadsheetConverter, click Cancel to exit the wizard and click “Purchase full license” in the SpreadsheetConverter menu.

If you have a registration key and want to register this copy of Spreadsheet­Converter, click “Enter license key”.

In the “Email address” field, enter the e‑mail address that you used when you purchased the license key. Copy the license key from the e‑mail or web page where you got it and press “Paste key from clipboard” to paste it into the “License key” field. Press OK to register your copy of SpreadsheetConverter.

The first 3 characters in the license key tell which version the key is for, for example H5S means Html, version 5.x, Std Ed. The key will only work for that specific download. That means that if you downloaded and tried ASP.NET v 5.0 Std Ed, and later purchased the HTML flavor, you need to uninstall the ASP.NET version, download the HTML-version, install and register.

Press “OK” in the “License key accepted” window.

Start the SpreadsheetConverter wizard

In the SpreadsheetConverter menu, click “Convert”. The Start screen appears.

Press “Next” to start the SpreadsheetConverter wizard.

Close open files

When you start the conversion process, you may see the following error message:

This indicates that some of your workbooks have unsaved changes that you may want to save before running the SpreadsheetConverter wizard. Press No to abort the conversion process and save all open workbooks, or Yes to continue without saving the latest changes for the workbooks in the list.

Select output format

This step is only present in the multi-format versions of SpreadsheetConverter, and allows you to select what kind of code you want Spreadsheet­Converter to generate (some choices may not be available in your particular version of SpreadsheetConverter).

SpreadsheetConverter to ASP.NET

Classic ASP
This is the server-based format for an ASP solution, i.e. when using SpreadsheetConverter to ASP.NET to create programming code for an IIS server with or without the .Net framework.

ASP.NET 1.1, 2.0, 3.5 (Single self-contained aspx file)
Use this option if you know how to program ASP.NET and intend to use back­end integrations, e.g. reading initial values from a database or storing results in a database.

Standard Web page (SSC to HTML/JavaScript).
This is the standard format used in a browser-based solution. Use this setting while you enhance a spreadsheet to obtain the best output. When you are satisfied, generate the final output format intended for the server.

SpreadsheetConverter to Java/JSP

JavaBeans for calculation, JSP with JavaScript for GUI.
This is the server-based format for a Java solution, i.e. when using SpreadsheetConverter to Java to create programming code for a JSP-capable web server.

Standard Web page (SSC to HTML/JavaScript).
This is the standard format used in a browser-based solution. Use this setting while you enhance a spreadsheet to obtain the best output. When you are satisfied, generate the final output format intended for the server.

Select cells

Select the input cells

PC-based work environments like Excel are usually “personal” with little need for data protection. In most spreadsheets, you can modify the contents of any cell just by selecting it and typing. In a web page, however, most of the information cannot be edited by just any visitor. The Internet-based work environment is public, and extensive data protection is a must.

When converting a spreadsheet to a web page, SpreadsheetConverter must determine what cells to open for data entry. All other cells are locked in order to protect formulas, captions and constants, and to give the spreadsheet the overall appearance of a web page.

SpreadsheetConverter can automatically determine what cells in your worksheet it needs to open for input. It does this by looking at your formulas and seeing what cells they take their input values from.

Cells containing formulas are called “output cells”. A cell containing a formula cannot be opened for input.

Cells that just contain text are called “label cells”. If you want a label cell to be editable by the user, you must explicitly change it into an input cell.  

To open additional input fields that may not be obvious to SpreadsheetConverter (e.g. for extra lines in address fields), or to prevent certain fields from modification by the user, you need to use one of the two methods that SpreadsheetConverter provides for manual designation of input cells.

Automatic detection of input cells

If this is the first time you are converting this particular spreadsheet, try using automatic detection first. Select “Automatic detection” as the selection method, then press “Next” to advance to the next page of the wizard. Skip the rest of this section for now and continue with Presentation and Interaction below.

Using coloring

You can also use fill coloring to explicitly “open” certain cells for input from the user. With this method you assign a special background color to just the input cells. During conversion, SpreadsheetConverter locks all cells except the cells with the selected fill color. It can also remove the fill color from the input fields in converted web page.

Select one or more cells to open for input, then press the Mark input cell button in the SpreadsheetConverter menu. In the options dialog, select “Color the input cells”. The selected cells will be assigned the indicated background color.

During conversion, choose “Using coloring”. Only the marked cells will be opened for input in the resulting web page.

When you use this method, you must manually open all input cells, also the ones referenced by your formulas, since they will not be opened automatically.

To apply the selected fill color to each input cell, you can also select Format > Cells > Fill > Background Color from the Excel menu bar or use the “Formatting” toolbar’s excel_fillicon icon.

To change the special fill color for input fields, save the spreadsheet and then run the SpreadsheetConverter wizard. In the “Select cells” window, select “Using coloring”, then press the “Select color…” button to select the fill color you intend to apply to all the input fields.

To avoid picking the wrong color, simply enter the coordinates of any cell that already has this background color into the “Select the color of this cell” field, e.g. “A22”.

If you don’t want the special fill color for input fields to appear in the converted web page check the “Ignore background color…” check box.

Press “OK” when you have selected the correct color.

Unlocked cells are input cells

Select one or more cells to open for input, then press the “Mark input cell” button in the SpreadsheetConverter menu.

During conversion, choose “Unlocked cells are input cells”. Only the marked cells will be opened for input in the resulting web page.

When you use this method, you must manually open all input cells, also the ones referenced by your formulas, since they will not be opened automatically.

You can also use Excel’s built‑in protection mechanism to explicitly unlock the input cells. In this case, SpreadsheetConverter can use this information to determine which cells to use for input. You need to unlock the worksheet before conversion and select the “Unlocked cells are input cells” option on the “Select cells” page in SpreadsheetConverter.

For more information on how to protect cells and worksheets in Excel, use the help index in Microsoft Excel.

Correct selection of input fields is crucial when you create forms using SpreadsheetConverter. For more information, please visit http://www.spreadsheetconverter.com/article/articleview/35/1/1.

Create tabs for

SpreadsheetConverter allows you to create web pages that contain all the worksheets in an Excel workbook, or just a subset of them.

·         If you just want to convert the currently selected worksheet, select “selected sheet(s)”.

·         If you want to include all worksheets in your Excel workbook in the resulting web page, select “all sheets”.

·         If you want to include two or more worksheets, you must select them before starting the SpreadsheetConverter wizard, then select “selected sheet(s)”. For more information, read the section Select which sheets to include in the web page above.

Press “Next” to advance to the next page of the wizard.

Presentation and Interaction

The “Presentation and Interaction” page of the SpreadsheetConverter wizard allows you to set some of the options for the conversion.

·         The Layout setting determines how a multi-sheet workbook is converted, e.g. with tabs or as a step-by-step data entry wizard.

·         To configure the toolbar and submission options in the web version of the spreadsheet, press the “Configure toolbar and submit…” button.

·         Press the “Configure layout and recalculation…” button if you want to modify the appearance of the converted web page.

·         Use “Change other texts” to translate or modify the texts and messages used on a web page created by Spreadsheet­Converter.

Configure multi-sheet workbook layout

Spreadsheet­Converter provides four different ways to handle multi-sheet workbooks:

·         Tabs generate a button for each worksheet in the workbook; much like Excel itself does to let you select what sheet you want to work with.

·         Wizard uses Next and Previous buttons in the toolbar to guide the user through a sequential step-by-step data entry process.

·         Panels are horizontal headers, each representing a worksheet. When you click on a panel, the corresponding worksheet slides down to appear below it. If you click on the panel again, the worksheet disappears again by sliding in under the panel.

·         Accordion layouts are similar to panel layouts but show only one section of the form at a time.

To handle more than one of the worksheets in a workbook, you must have selected what worksheets to include in the converted web page in the previous step of the conversion wizard. Read more in the Select which sheets to include in the web page section above.

Tabbed workbooks

The default is to generate a button bar at the top of the web page, with one button for each worksheet. Clicking on the “Delivery” or “Billing” buttons below would cause the designated worksheet to appear in the browser window instead of the “Products” worksheet. The user can view any worksheet at any time.

If the workbook is used as a multi-section form, it can be submitted for processing by pressing the Submit button that is available in every section of the form.

Data entry wizard

Choosing a wizard layout creates a sequential data entry wizard to guide the user through the various sections of a form. The user advances from each section to the next using a Next button.

The Previous button returns to preceding section of the form. Finish bypasses all remaining steps and immediately submits the form. You can add a Cancel button that allows the user to exit from the wizard without submitting the form. To add a Cancel button, specify an URL for “After Cancel in the wizard” in the Configure Submit settings (see URLs to visit when a user leaves a form below).

All button names can be modified, see Wizard button settings below.

So‑called breadcrumbs appear at the bottom of the toolbar to give users a way to keep track of their location within the wizard (the term comes from the trail of breadcrumbs left by Hansel and Gretel in the popular fairytale).  

Panels

Panels enable the user to view one or more worksheets simultaneously. The user can switch between sections of the form at will, or work with two or more sections at the same time.

In the example below, both the Products and Billing worksheets are visible at the same time.

A form created with panels can be submitted at any time by pressing the Submit button.

Accordion

With an accordion layout, only one section of the form is visible while the rest of the form is hidden. Clicking on the Products panel displays the Products worksheet.

Clicking on the Delivery panel closes the Products panel and opens the Delivery worksheet.

Forms created with an accordion layout are submitted with the Submit button.

Configure toolbar and submit

SpreadsheetConverter can insert a toolbar in the converted web page. The toolbar may include buttons for manual recalculation, printing etc, and sheet tabs for navigation between sheets in the workbook.

Press the “Configure toolbar and submit…” button in the “Presentation and Interaction” step of the Spreadsheet­Converter wizard to configure the toolbar and its location.

Define the toolbar

When you generate web pages compatible with Spreadsheet­Converter version 4, the toolbar can be inserted above the spreadsheet, below it or both. For more information about the “v4” option, see Generate v4 style web page without the new controls below.

Select buttons to include

Use the checkboxes to select which of the predefined buttons you want to include in the toolbar. You may modify or translate the text for each button.

Wizard button settings

With the data entry wizard layout, a user moves back and forth in a multi-section form using buttons like Next and Previous. This section allows you to modify or translate the texts on these buttons.

·         The Next button moves to the next step of the wizard, which in practice is the next worksheet in the workbook.

·         The Previous button takes the user to the preceding step of the wizard, i.e. the previous worksheet.

·         The Cancel button is used with the Data entry wizard to abandon a form without completing or submitting it.

·         The Finish button is used with the Data entry wizard to submit a form.

Our hosted submit services

The combination of Excel and Spreadsheet­Converter makes it very easy to create online forms. When you create a form, you want to be able to collect the data. Unfortunately, the browser cannot send the form data to you directly. You must use a server on the network to process the form, e.g. to convert the form contents into an e‑mail. The standard solutions for this conversion are typically rather hard to configure, and your e‑mail address may need to be included in the web page, inviting so‑called spam (unsolicited e‑mails containing commercial messages).

To avoid these drawbacks, SpreadsheetConverter provides a built-in hosted solution which is easy to configure and doesn’t expose your e‑mail address. The submitted data is sent to one of our servers, which converts the form fields into an e‑mail and sends it directly to you. The basic functionality is free, giving you immediate access to all the forms submitted by your users.

For a nicer layout, we invite you to a free trial of the Advanced Submit Service. This is a fee-based service that not only makes the e‑mail with the form data much easier to read, but also saves all submitted form data on our servers. Whenever you want, you can download this data in one of several convenient file formats. Read more about the Advanced Submit Service at http://www.spreadsheetconverter.com/advanced-service.htm.

If you use the free service, it is important to name the cells so that you can decode the information coming from the form. See Naming cells below.

The Configure Submit window

To configure the submit parameters, start the SpreadsheetConverter wizard, advance to the Presentation and Interaction page, and click ”Configure toolbar and submit...”. Then click ”Configure submit...” to open the Submit parameters window.

Receiver code

To use our submit service, you need a receiver code provided by us. A receiver code corresponds to one specific e‑mail address. When forms are submitted using this receiver code, the form fields are sent by email to the predefined email address.

To request a free receiver code, press the ”Request free receiver code” button and type the e‑mail address where you want the completed forms to be sent by e‑mail.

Your trial receiver code is sent by e‑mail to this address.

Select the free or advanced service and enter the receiver code into the corresponding text box in the Submit parameters window.

Each receiver code corresponds to one e‑mail address. If you later want to use another e‑mail address, just request a new receiver code for the new address and replace the receiver code in the Submit Parameters window of the Spreadsheet­Converter wizard.

Show CAPTCHA before submitting to reduce spam

Spam is a method of advertising without paying for it. The most common example is unsolicited e­mail. Forms spam is also very common. Special spamming programs scan the web for forms. When they find one, they will try to submit the form without valid data, only including a commercial message.

You can make it much more difficult to spam your forms automatically by using a so‑called “captcha”, an image that contains a randomly generated password. Most spamming program cannot read text off images and thus cannot provide the password to submit the form. Most human visitors will be able to pass the test.

There are some drawbacks with using captchas. Legitimate users may be unable to interpret the password due to a disability or because it is difficult to read, and many spammers use cheap human labor to bypass captchas.

If you get a lot of spam from a form, consider protecting it with a captcha. For other possible solutions to excessive forms (and blog) spam, you may be interested in reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_in_blogs.

URLs to visit when a user leaves a form

When the user submits a form, our server will collect the data and email it to you.  When our server is finished, it will show a confirmation page to the user, indicating that the form has been properly received and saved. Without this feedback, the user may doubt that the form was properly received and submit it again.

Instead of showing our standard page, you can create customized landing pages on your server. You have the option of handling three different situations:

Press OK to configure the submit parameters.

Using your own script for SpreadsheetConverter forms

If you prefer to use your own script to process the updated html form, enter the URL to that script in the URL field. The script will be sent the following parameters:

where (name1) is the name assigned to the first input cell in the form and (value1) is the value in that cell. If a worksheet contains two input fields, “name” and “release”, the parameters sent to the script will be:

?xl_version=3.0.0&name=exceleverywhere&release=3.0.0

Data is encoded according to the http post standards, e.g. a space is represented as “%20”. Please contact our support department if you need help on how to decode the query string of an http post operation.

If a cell hasn’t been assigned a name, SpreadsheetConverter will refer to it using a four-part code. This code looks different for Excel 2000-2003 and Excel 2007 or later versions. If you use Excel 2003 or earlier

The first cell in the first sheet is referred to as “p1A1” If you use Excel 2007 or later, the code looks like X_sheet_row_col, e.g. “X1_1_1” is Sheet1!A1

Configure layout and recalculation

The “Configure layout and recalculation” settings allow you to modify the appearance of the converted web page.

 

Hide lookup ranges

To hide cell ranges used by operations like VLOOKUP and dropdown lists, please check the “Hide lookup ranges” box.

Borders around input cells

This setting controls the appearance of input cells, i.e. the cells in the spreadsheet that the user may modify. Use the setting that you think produces the best result.

Automatic Recalculation

To provide correct information, the value of each cell in the web format spread­sheet must be recalculated when changes have been made to one or more of the cells open for user input. In most cases, it is recommended that this recalculation occurs automatically when the user moves to the next input field. This is the natural behavior of an interactive spreadsheet.  

If the spreadsheet is large, recalculation may become time-consuming and distracting. It this case, it may be better to delay the recalculation until the user explicitly requests it by pressing the Update button.

Some editions of Spreadsheet­Converter allow the program code that performs the converted formulas to be stored separately on the web server and run there instead of in the user’s browser. In this setup, the user’s web browser must call the remote program code on the server every time the formulas in a work­sheet need to be recalculated, which can take even more time.

We strongly recommend that you design each spreadsheet so that automatic recalculation is possible. You find performance related tips at

http://www.spreadsheetconverter.com/faq/faq-performance.htm

By default, SpreadsheetConverter recalculates worksheets automatically unless they are so big that recalculation between cell modifications would cause an undesired delay in data entry. Use the Automatic Recalculation setting to adjust the way SpreadsheetConverter recalculates cell values:

A main disadvantage of manual recalculation—apart from the manual inter­vention required—is that it may be easy to forget to recalculate the values in the spreadsheet. In this case, the user may inadvertently base decisions on values that are incorrect.

Generate v4 style web page without the new controls

If you use SpreadsheetConverter to create web pages specifically for mobile browsers or other environments with low-speed Internet connections, you may want to consider sacrificing some functionality for a slimmer web page that can be downloaded faster.

The “Generate v4 style web page” option create pages the same way they were created in a previous version of Spreadsheet­Converter. This option is useful if your users have very old browsers, i.e. Internet Explorer 5 or Firefox 1, or you want to target small devices like smart phones.

Choosing this option makes you lose much of the new functionality that has been introduced since version 4, e.g. advanced controls, captchas and saved form fields. If you use Excel 2007 or later, you cannot convert charts with this option.

Press “OK” to save the advanced layout settings.

Change other texts

The settings under “Change other texts” in the Presentation and Interaction section of the Spreadsheet­Converter wizard allow you to translate or modify the texts used in conjunction with required input fields and captchas.

Modify the texts to your liking and press OK to save your changes.

Press “Next” to advance to the next page of the wizard.

Select location

Pure HTML/JavaScript

If you are using SpreadsheetConverter to HTML or have selected “Standard web page” as your output format for other versions, the Select location page looks like this:

Verify the folder location for the web page that will be created by Spreadsheet­Converter.

The web page is saved in two formats:

When you publish the web page on a web server, you must include all files in the folder created by SpreadsheetConverter. To avoid file name conflicts, we recommend that you upload the entire folder and link to the page inside the folder. If you want to send the web page to someone else, remember to send the zip file to ensure that all required files are included.

Press the “…” button if you want to set or change the default location. Navigate to the proper folder and press OK.

Press “Next” to advance to the next page of the wizard.

JavaBeans for calculation, JSP with JavaScript for GUI

If you are using SpreadsheetConverter to Java and are creating a server-based solution, the Select location page looks like this:

wizard_location_java

First, SpreadsheetConverter creates the JSP file, the actual web page that you will open in your web browser to view the spreadsheet on the web. The JSP file is used to access the Java programming logic. The JSP file must be accessible by the web server. You can either create the file in your local file system and move it to the server, or place the file directly on the server if you have file-sharing access to its disks. In the example, the JSP file is placed on the “Meg” server at \\Meg\Meg_E\Program_Files\Apache_Group\Tomcat_4.1\webapps\examples\jsp. To change the location of the JSP file, press the “…” button, navigate to the proper folder and press OK. You may of course run the web server in your local PC. In that case the JSP file will typically be located in a folder on your C: disk.

Second, SpreadsheetConverter creates the Class file, which contains the Java source code created from your spreadsheet. The class file is also available for including into projects. The class file must be accessible by the web server. You can either create the file in your local file system and move it to the server, or place the file directly on the server if you have file-sharing access to its disks. In the example, the class file is placed on the “Meg” server at  \\Meg\Meg_E\Program_Files\Apache_Group\Tomcat_4.1\webapps\examples\WEB-INF\classes. To change the location of the class file, press the “…” button, navigate to the proper folder and press OK. You may of course run the web server in your local PC. In that case the class file will typically be located in a folder on your C: disk.

Third, you can specify a folder for the temporary Java file. If you don’t, a default location will be used. Observe the usage restrictions for the source file in the SpreadsheetConverter End-User License Agreement.

Fourth, you need to specify a Java package name for some web servers (e.g. Tomcat). We suggest you use the package name “com.xlew”.

When conversion is complete, SpreadsheetConverter can automatically open the converted web page in your browser. Enter the http address to the folder containing the JSP page in the URL used to open resulting JSP page field.

Press “Next” to advance to the next page of the wizard.

ASP and ASP.NET

If you are using SpreadsheetConverter to ASP.NET and are creating a server-based solution, the Select location page looks like this:

wizard_location_asp

First, SpreadsheetConverter creates the ASP or ASPX file, the actual web page that you will open in your web browser to view the spreadsheet on the web. The ASP file is stored on the server and contains all the required programming logic. The ASP file must be accessible by the IIS web server. You can either create the file in your local file system and move it to the server, or place the file directly on the server if you have file-sharing access to its disks. In the example, the ASP file is placed on the Meg server at \\Meg\Meg_E\www\prices. To change the location of the ASP file, press the “…” button, navigate to the proper folder and press OK. You may of course run the web server in your local PC. In that case the ASP file will typically be located in a folder on your C: disk.

When conversion is complete, SpreadsheetConverter can automatically open the converted web page in your browser. Enter the http address to the folder containing the ASP page in the URL used to open resulting ASP(X) page field.

Press “Next” to advance to the next page of the wizard.

Save the settings

When you have entered all the settings for this conversion, you will end up at a page similar to the one below.

If you want to save the options in the workbook and re-use them for subsequent conversions of the same workbook, select “Remember these settings for this spreadsheet”.

Normally, the generated web page is shown in Internet Explorer. If you want to show the page in Firefox, check the checkbox “Show webpage in Firefox”.

Press “Finish” to begin the conversion process.

Verify the generated web page

After conversion, a “Messages and Errors” window appears. In most cases there are only informational messages. If there are warnings or errors, turn to the section on Error messages in the Troubleshooting chapter.

Open the converted web page if you didn’t select to have it shown automatically and verify the results of the conversion. Spread­sheet­Converter provides numerous options that may help you tailor the conversion process and its results. In many cases, it’s easier to change the settings in Spreadsheet­Converter and rerun the conversion than to manually modify the generated web page.

Adding a converted spreadsheet to your web site

Basic steps

The tools you are using, e.g. your content management system and the editors and other support programs you use, have a strong influence on the steps required to publish a web page. However, there are three basic operations you always need to perform, regardless of your toolset:

Move the page to the web site

Ensure that the file is physically included in your web site, i.e. that it is located within the same folder structure or content management system as the other web pages in the web site. This guarantees that the page is physically accessible when requested by one of the users of the web site.

Insert the page into the site

Link the page to the rest of your site. You will need at least one link to the page so that users can navigate to it. If your web site has a menu or similar navigation structure you may want to insert it also on the SpreadsheetConverter page.

Adapt the formatting of the page (optional)

Give the SpreadsheetConverter page the same look-and feel as the rest of your site. Open the SpreadsheetConverter page in your favorite web page editor and format it so that it looks like the other pages on your web site.

Contents of a SpreadsheetConverter folder

When you publish the web page on a web server, you must include all files in the folder created by SpreadsheetConverter. To avoid file name conflicts, we recommend that you upload the entire folder and link to the page inside the folder.


In the example above, a “Cost calculator.xls” spreadsheet has been converted to a “Cost calculator.htm” web page, which SpreadsheetConverter has embedded in a “Cost calculator” folder that also contains two image files.

The folders “support” and “YUI” contain files needed to handle advanced controls, charts etc. The contents of these folders are unique for each spreadsheet you convert. For each converted spreadsheet in your web site, you need to upload also its own, unique “support” and “YUI” folder. If you need to use two separate calculators in the same web page you must place them in the same spreadsheet before conversion, so that they share “support” and “YUI” folders.

The “Powered by SpreadsheetConverter” image link

All web pages created by SpreadsheetConverter contain a small 334-byte image link with the text “Powered by SpreadsheetConverter”. An easy way to remove this image without modifying the html is to replace the image file with a different image file with the same name.

Creating an interactive form as a web page

Basic steps

Microsoft Excel together with SpreadsheetConverter provides an easy way to create interactive forms on the web, and subsequent updates can be performed very quickly.

Some examples of forms that you can create using Excel are: expense reports, online reports, surveys, order forms, registration forms, reservation forms, sweepstakes, employment applications and product registrations.

It is very easy to publish an interactive form on the web using Spreadsheet­Converter. Just modify the spreadsheet, start the SpreadsheetConverter wizard and only seconds later an interactive web page is created and ready to be published on your web site.

Using basic forms support in the web server environment, incoming data can be stored on the server in a flat file or database. If the volume of data is low, you can also have each completed form sent by email to a predefined email address.

Regardless of your toolset, four basic steps are required to create interactive forms with SpreadsheetConverter:

Create the form using Excel

The row/column layout of Excel makes it very simple to create forms. For an order form, one column could be used for quantity and one for unit price. In a third “item price” column you may automatically want to multiply unit price by quantity. At the bottom of the “item price” column you may want a cell holding the “total price”.

When converting forms, SpreadsheetConverter may have difficulties determining which cells to use for input. To avoid errors, you should designate all input cells manually, e.g. using cell coloring (see Select the input cells above).

When a web user has completed the form and the data is sent back to you, the form fields are returned one by one in text format. For readability purposes, you may want each field in the response to be clearly labeled. Otherwise, SpreadsheetConverter identifies each input field using its row and column number in the spreadsheet. To assign an explanatory name to each input field, select the cells one-by-one in Excel and use Insert > Name > Define.

Convert the form to web format using SpreadsheetConverter

SpreadsheetConverter identifies the input and output cells, and converts the Excel sheet to web format. Every time the user advances from one form field to the next, cells like “item price” and “total price” are recalculated with the latest information.

Establish the link between form and server

The SpreadsheetConverter toolbar includes an optional Submit button for simple implementation of intelligent web forms with SpreadsheetConverter. The Submit function can send the submitted form contents to you in an email. Since the generated web page is a standard html form, you can also use a standard html forms processor on one of your own network servers. See Submit parameters above for details.

Publish the form on the web server

Once the html for the interactive web page has been created and tested, it must be placed on the server and made available for users of the web site. This process is described in the section Adding a converted spreadsheet to your web site above.

Testing the converted web page

After you have created your spreadsheet, converted it to web format and uploaded it to your web server, you must test it before you make it available to your visitors.

All web pages look slightly different depending on what browser you are using. SpreadsheetConverter is tested in most major browsers, but it is simply impossible to guarantee exactly the same result in all browsers. You should consider what browsers your visitors use, and test your pages accordingly.

·         Many developers first test their web pages with Firefox, because they consider it the most standards-conforming browser with the best support for various operating environments.

·         Some design for Internet Explorer because it’s the most common web browser, with the best support for various Microsoft-specific features in the Windows environment.

·         Developers with Macintosh computers sometimes design explicitly for the Safari web browser because it is the default web browser in the Mac OS environment.

Based on market share, you may also want to test your web pages with Google’s Chrome and the Opera browser.

If you want to use a web page on mobile devices like handheld computers or smart­phones, be sure to test it with a similar device before you publish it on your web site. Differences in screen resolution may force the mobile user to scroll repeatedly, which can be very irritating. If the mobile browser reduces the size of your spreadsheet to make it fit the device’s display, objects on the sheet may become so small that they are difficult to see.

Most mobile web browsers also have notable technical limitations. For example, a browser that doesn’t support JavaScript cannot run spreadsheets converted by SpreadsheetConverter. If the browser doesn’t support Flash, charts will not display properly. For details, read the section Technical requirements below.

If you use SpreadsheetConverter to create web pages specifically for mobile browsers or other environments with low-speed Internet connections, you may want to consider sacrificing some functionality for a slimmer web page that can be downloaded faster. In this case you should try converting the spreadsheet with the “V4 style” option, see the Generate v4 style web page without the new controls section above.


Creating better user interfaces

Introduction

Use checkboxes instead of yes/no

If you want a checkbox in a cell, use the values “true” or “false” (or the equiva­lent in the language supported by your Excel version). SpreadsheetConverter will automatically present the cell as a checkbox. For additional options, insert a Boolean advanced control from Spreadsheet­Converter’s Designer menu.

Use radio buttons for a short list of alternatives

Instead of having your users enter codes or abbreviations, let them select from a fully visible selection of alternatives. Radio buttons are particularly useful when the number of choices is short. Create radio buttons with Spreadsheet­Converter’s Designer menu (or use Data > Validation > List in Excel).

Use dropdowns for a medium list of alternatives

If the number of choices makes it difficult to use radio buttons, consider using a dropdown list. Use Spreadsheet­Converter’s Designer menu (or use Data > Validation > List in Excel) to create the menu before you convert the spreadsheet to web format.

Use list boxes for a long list of alternatives

If the list of choices is so long that it may require scrolling, insert a listbox advanced control from Spreadsheet­Converter’s Designer menu (or use Data > Validation > List in Excel) to create the menu and let it span over several merged rows.

Use calendars to select dates

If you want a cell to hold a date, consider inserting a calendar advanced control from Spreadsheet­Converter’s Designer menu.

Use stars to set ratings

If you’re asking your visitors for their opinion about something, consider using a star rating. These provide a common, intuitive interface for grading music, videos and just about any creative work.

Use sliders to vary data in real-time

The value in a cell controlled by a slider changes instantly as the slider’s handle is being moved. Any cells that use the slider’s value in a formula will automatically be recalculated for each new position of the handle. The real-time characteristic of a slider makes it very suitable when you are looking for complex “sweet spots”, e.g. to optimize the profitability of an activity. 

Use multi-line text input fields

An input cell which spans over several merged rows will become a multi-line input box on the web page. This field can be scrolled. To simplify the creation of a multi-line input field, insert a multi-line text advanced control from Spreadsheet­Converter’s Designer menu.

Use charts to present data graphically

If you place a pie, bar, column, line or scatter chart in a worksheet, Spreadsheet­Converter will include the chart on the web page. To add a chart to a spread­sheet, use Insert > Chart… in the Excel menu. To modify the appearance of the chart in Excel, click on the chart and use the Chart menu.

During conversion, SpreadsheetConverter reads the chart definitions in the spread­sheet and creates a Flash version of the chart. As in Excel, the Flash version of the chart is dynamic and immediately reflects changes made to the data in the work­sheet.

 

Use buttons instead of links

When you insert links in a spreadsheet, they end up as links also in the converted web page. With the “Hyperlink and buttons” advanced control, you can create a button for the link. Buttons can be placed anywhere on the sheet, or in Spreadsheet­Converter’s button row.

Avoid horizontal layouts

Spreadsheets are often designed with a horizontal layout, e.g. with a lot of sideways scrolling from column to column. This kind of design is rarely used on the web. For the most web-like appearance, consider designing your spreadsheets so that they don’t require horizontal scrolling.

Use cell formats for numbers and dates

When Excel formats a cell containing a number or a date, it uses a default display format unless you’ve selected a specific number or date format for the cell. However, Excel’s defaults may not be suitable when the spreadsheet is converted to web format and viewed through a web browser. If a cell looks strange in your browser, e.g. has too many or too few decimals, just select a number or date format for the cell in Excel using Format > Cell > Number and it will look the same on the web page.

Advanced controls

SpreadsheetConverter can create web pages that use many of the various graphical widgets that make web applications so powerful:

·         drop-down menus

·         list boxes

·         radio buttons

·         checkboxes

·         buttons

·         sliders

·         star ratings

·         calendars

·         multi-line input fields

Avoid Excel’s own advanced user interface tools

Some of these advanced user interface functions can also be used in an Excel spreadsheet. Since Excel is designed for the graphical Windows environment, it has complete pixel-by-pixel control of its visual appearance, and allows you to drag-and-drop graphical elements to their exact positions in the spreadsheet.

In contrast, web applications have very little control over their final appearance. There are many different web browsers, each using slightly different ways to “enhance” the appearance of web pages. A pixel-perfect design simply cannot be moved to the world-wide web. Each browser will format it differently.

Also, designing graphical spreadsheets is nothing for the faint-hearted. Once you leave the familiar row-column structure of a plain spreadsheet, Excel can become a very complex tool. If all you need is a simple way to enhance the appearance of a web form or online calculation, you can save lots of time by using Spreadsheet­Converter’s built‑in library of advanced controls instead of their Excel counter­parts.

Introduction to advanced controls

The advanced controls in SpreadsheetConverter are all designed to slip neatly into one or more cells in the spreadsheet. There is no time-consuming positioning of graphics to start with, and if you later do something that would really break a tediously created graphical design, e.g. insert new rows or columns, or change the column width or row height, you will instead see the advanced control quickly and automatically re‑align itself with the changes you have made.

Of course, SpreadsheetConverter does its best to help you re-use any existing graphical elements already present in your spreadsheets. An input field containing true/false values auto­mati­cally becomes a checkbox, and a dropdown list created with Data > Validation > List becomes a dropdown list also in the converted web page.

To use more advanced widgets with SpreadsheetConverter, you use the Designer section of its menu. Select the spreadsheet cell where you want the advanced control to appear, and select a suitable widget from the menu. In most cases a window appears to let you define the rules for the interactive tool you have selected, e.g.:

·         For dropdown lists, listboxes and radio buttons you enter the various selections that the user can choose from.

·         For sliders and star ratings, you set the range of values, e.g. 0‑100 for a slider or 1‑5 stars for a rating.

If you later need to modify these settings, just select the cell again and select “Edit Advanced Control” from the Designer section of the menu. This will open the settings for the control.

The visual appearance of advanced controls

Most advanced controls are fully visible only in the web environment, even though you manage them in an Excel spreadsheet. To review the visual appearance of a web page containing advanced controls, you must convert your spreadsheet for the web and verify the result in a browser.

In the spreadsheet, the calendar advanced control in B1 looks like an empty cell:

In the browser, the calendar widget in B1 becomes visible:

Making advanced controls look good

Merging adjacent cells

Advanced controls use the same row/column layout as the rest of the spread­sheet. Many of the advanced controls require more space than the default row height and column width in Excel.

As an example, if you use a dropdown list, a listbox or radio buttons to select a city or state name from a list, you probably want the widget to be wide enough for the longest name in the list. If you don’t, Spreadsheet­Converter must either wrap the longer names over more than one line (e.g. for radio buttons), or truncate the names after the allotted width (e.g. for dropdown lists).

If an advanced control is too big to fit within its cell’s height and width, the corresponding row and/or column may be widened automatically, depending on the web browser. This will probably harm the layout of your spreadsheet in an unpredictable way.

To make it easier for advanced controls to fit your spreadsheet, all advanced controls can span over two or more rows or columns. With the “merge cells” option, Spreadsheet­Converter “merges” horizontally adjacent cells into one, giving the advanced control more space. In the example below, four cells have been merged for the multi-line “Address” field.

If the functionality to merge cells that we built into Spreadsheet­Converter doesn’t fit your needs, you can merge cells exactly the way you want using Excel’s own Format Cells command. First select all the adjacent cells you want to merge, then right-click somewhere in the area and select “Format Cells…”. On the Alignment tab, check the “Merge cells” option. This will create one big cell from all the cells you selected. Adjust the horizontal and vertical alignment if necessary.

 

Adjusting the vertical alignment

To make more room for other advanced controls, or if you don’t want to merge cells, you must manually increase the row height and/or column width. Unfortunately, this of course affects the whole row or column. 

When you increase the row height to accommodate an advanced control, you may also want to adjust the vertical alignment for all the cells in that row. By default, Excel has a rather peculiar habit of aligning rows at the bottom. In the example below, the cell header has this default alignment:

Change the vertical alignment from “Bottom” to “Top” to make your spreadsheet easier to read:

Unset advanced controls and default values

To simplify the coding of your formulas, we recommend that you assign default values to all advanced controls. Just store the default value in the cell where you have inserted the advanced control. 

·         By default, dropdown lists and radio buttons have their first item selected. To change the default, simply select a different item before you convert the spreadsheet.

·         A slider may initially appear to be positioned at its lowest setting, but it doesn’t return the corresponding value. To avoid confusion we recommend that you insert the minimum value for each slider in its cell.

·         A calendar initially has no date selected at first. If you want the control to initially return a particular date you must store a default date in the cell.

·         If there is no reasonable default for an advanced control you can leave it unset. To ensure that all mandatory information has been provided, you can test if a required cell is empty:
=IF(TRIM(A22)=””,<action if unset>,<action if set>)

·         Most browsers internally save the data a user enters into online forms. When a converted spreadsheet is opened for the second time, some of the values that the user entered on the previous visit may override the default values.

Using advanced controls

Advanced controls are inserted in the spreadsheet from the Designer section of the Spreadsheet­Converter menu in Excel. Select the cell where you want to insert the advanced control; then select the type of control from the menu. An options dialog appears, in which you can specify the detailed settings for the advanced control.

To remove an advanced control, select its cell and click “Remove formatting” on the SpreadsheetConverter menu. If the cell still isn’t empty, it may contain a default value or a comment. Use Home > Clear in the Excel menu to completely clear the cell.

Mark input cell

For details on selecting the correct input cells, you may first want to review the section Select the input cells above.

A cell that is empty or contains a constant value can be identified as an input cell in three separate ways:

  1. It is used by a formula and you select Automatic detection of input cells during conversion.
  2. You have set the same background color for all input cells and you select Using coloring during conversion.
  3. The cell is unlocked and you select Unlocked cells are input cells during conversion.

Setting the background color of a cell or unlocking it can be done using the Excel command Format > Cell, or you can use the “Mark input cell” advanced control.

First select the cell or cells that you want to be input cells, and then select “Mark input cell” from the SpreadsheetConverter menu.

 

The cells B1, C1 and D1 will be unlocked.

If you select “Merge and left-justify the cells”, the selected cells will be merged into one single large input cell. If you don’t, they will become three separate input fields.

If you use coloring to explicitly define input fields, select “Color the input cells”. This assigns the indicated background color to the cell.  Remember to select “Using coloring” for input cell selection when you run the SpreadsheetConverter conversion wizard. You can change the special fill color for input fields directly in the conversion wizard. Read more about input cell selection in the section Select the input cells above.  

Select “Required” for input fields that cannot be empty when a form is submitted or when the user clicks Next in wizard mode.

Select “Hidden” for input fields that shouldn’t be visible to the user. Hidden fields are used in web forms to communicate data to background applications, e.g. session or user identities, network addresses or timestamps. 

Example: For “Name:”, three adjacent cells were selected. “Mark input cell” was used with the “Merge and left-justify the cells” option. For “Address:”, three adjacent cells were selected. “Multi-line text” was used with the “Merge and left-justify the cells” option, and the size set to “3 rows”. For all cells, the vertical alignment was set to “Top”.

Dropdown list

A dropdown list is a list of choices that expands when it is selected. Once the user selects one of the items in the list, the dropdown list shrinks to its minimum size again.

To create a dropdown list, select the cell where you want to place the dropdown list and press “Dropdown list” in the Designer section of the Spreadsheet­Converter menu. An options dialog appears. Enter the list of available choices, one on each line.

A tip: if you want to force the user to make a selection, give the list a header. For a list of months enter “Month” as the first choice. This makes it easy to check if the user has selected an item in the list, e.g.
=IF(A22=”Month”,<action if not set>,<action if set>)

If you use coloring to explicitly define input fields, select “Color the input cells”. This assigns the indicated background color to the cell.  Remember to select “Using coloring” for input cell selection when you run the SpreadsheetConverter conversion wizard. You can change the special fill color for input fields directly in the conversion wizard. Read more about input cell selection in the section Select the input cells above. 

Select “Required” for input fields that cannot be empty when a form is submitted or when the user clicks Next in wizard mode. For dropdown lists with this setting, the user has to select a value other than the first. For a required dropdown value, we suggest you use the first item in the list as a heading, e.g. “Select Month”.

Example: two dropdown lists are used to set an expiration date:

To change the default, simply select a different item before you convert the spreadsheet.

Listbox

A listbox allows the user to select one of the items in a list in a static, multiple line text box that can be scrolled. The user clicks inside the box on an item to select it.

Radio buttons

Radio buttons allow the user to choose one of a predefined set of options. “Button” icons simulate the behavior of old car radios. When one of the buttons is pressed, the corresponding radio station (option) is selected. Simultaneously, all the other buttons pop out, leaving the pressed button the only button in the "pushed in" position.

To create a radio button control, select the cell where you want to place the radio buttons and press “Radio buttons” in the Designer section of the Spreadsheet­Converter menu. An options dialog appears. Enter the list of available choices, one on each line.

Radio buttons are often ordered vertically. For a vertical radio button layout, select the number of columns to use for the choices. Here is an example of a 1 column-layout:

For a horizontal layout, check the “Horizontal ordering” checkbox and select the number of rows to use for the choices. A horizontal layout looks like this:

If you use coloring to explicitly define input fields, select “Color the input cells”. This assigns the indicated background color to the cell.  Remember to select “Using coloring” for input cell selection when you run the SpreadsheetConverter conversion wizard. You can change the special fill color for input fields directly in the conversion wizard. Read more about input cell selection in the section Select the input cells above. 

Select “Required” for input fields that cannot be empty when a form is submitted or when the user clicks Next in wizard mode. For radio buttons with this setting, the user has to select a value other than the first. For a required radio button selection, we suggest you give the first item in the list an obviously “unset” meaning, e.g. “Don’t know”.

In Excel, the radio button advanced control looks like a dropdown list. You need to convert the spreadsheet to web format and view it in a browser to see the final result.

To change the default, simply select a different item before you convert the spreadsheet.

Create Boolean control

A Boolean control is a True/False or Yes/No checkbox.

For checkboxes, there is a special challenge in positioning the box near its label, i.e. the text for the choice it represents. With standard column widths, a checkbox in column A appears quite far from the label text in column B, both if it’s left-justified and centered. If the checkbox is right-justified it may instead appear too near the label.

To overcome this problem, you can reduce the width of the column where the checkbox is placed to 1.5‑2.0. Unfortunately, this will of course affect the whole column.  

To create a checkbox, select the cell where you want to place the checkbox and press “Create Boolean control” in the Designer section of the Spreadsheet­Converter menu.

If you use coloring to explicitly define input fields, select “Color the input cells”. This assigns the indicated background color to the cell.  Remember to select “Using coloring” for input cell selection when you run the SpreadsheetConverter conversion wizard. You can change the special fill color for input fields directly in the conversion wizard. Read more about input cell selection in the section Select the input cells above. 

Example: two checkboxes in a form.

 

To change the default from false to true, just type “true” in the cell.

Hyperlink and buttons

The “hyperlink and buttons” advanced control inserts a button, e.g. “Help”, which links to a web address.

To create a button, select the cell where you want to place the button.

Use Excel’s Insert > Hyperlink to define the text to display in the button. In the address field of the link, insert the address of the web page you want the browser to go to when the button is pressed.

Select “Hyperlink and buttons” from the Designer section of the Spreadsheet­Converter menu to insert the button.

Select “Show link as button” to make the link appear as a button in the converted web page.

Select “Move the button to the button row” if you want the button to appear in the row of buttons that SpreadsheetConverter optionally inserts in converted web pages, according to the toolbar settings in the conversion wizard.

If you want to create the link dynamically, use the =HYPERLINK(formula, text) function to define the link according to the formula. The second operand of the function allows you to define the button text. For an example on how to use HYPERLINK with Spreadsheet­Converter, visit http://www.spreadsheetconverter.com/tutorials/paypal/.

Example: a Help button placed in the button row.

Slider

A Slider allows the user to select a value by moving a handle to a particular position on a slider widget. Placing a slider with the values 0 through 100 in its middle position sets the value 50. The value appears in the cell where the slider is inserted. Refer to this cell in any formulas that use the value set by the slider.

Sliders differ from most other forms of data entry in that they provide a continuous flow of data in real-time. In other words, the value in the cell changes instantly as the slider’s handle is being moved. Any cells that use the slider’s value in a formula will automatically be recalculated for each new position of the handle. If you use the slider’s setting in a chart, the chart will be automatically updated as the handle is moved.

The real-time characteristic of a slider makes it very suitable when you are looking for complex “sweet spots”, e.g. to optimize the profitability of an activity. Building the calculation with sliders makes it much easier to locate the most profitable levels than if each value had to be entered manually.   

A slider may initially appear to be positioned at its lowest setting, but it doesn’t return the corresponding value. To avoid confusion we recommend that you insert the minimum value for each slider in its cell.

To create a slider control, select the cell where you want to place the slider and press “Slider” in the Designer section of the Spreadsheet­Converter menu.

In the slider settings, define the minimum and maximum values the slider sets. Note that in real-life slider applications for things like sound or light, sliders typically start at 0.

If you want tick marks along the slider’s path, check the Tickmarks option.

By default, sliders are positioned vertically with the highest value at the bottom. If you want the slider to appear horizontally with the highest value to the right, check the “Horizontal slider” option.

Sliders are large and may complicate your spreadsheet layout. It is often best to place the slider over a number of contiguous rows and/or columns. If you select “Merge and left-justify the cells”, the selected cells will be merged into one single large cell where the slider is placed.

If you use coloring to explicitly define input fields, select “Color the input cells”. This assigns the indicated background color to the cell.  Remember to select “Using coloring” for input cell selection when you run the SpreadsheetConverter conversion wizard. You can change the special fill color for input fields directly in the conversion wizard. Read more about input cell selection in the section Select the input cells above. 

Sliders can only be used in input cells. If the slider doesn’t appear in the converted web page, ensure that the cell is opened for input. For more information about input cells, read the section Select the input cells above.    

Example: a horizontal slider with the values 0‑100.

Rating

A rating uses stars to set a value, e.g. for rating of content. Selecting the middle star out of five sets the value 3.

To create a rating control, select the cell where you want to place the rating and press “Rating” in the Designer section of the Spreadsheet­Converter menu.

In the rating settings, define the number of stars, i.e. the different values the rating can have.

If you select “Merge and left-justify the cells”, the selected cells will be merged into one single large cell where the rating is placed.

If you use coloring to explicitly define input fields, select “Color the input cells”. This assigns the indicated background color to the cell.  Remember to select “Using coloring” for input cell selection when you run the SpreadsheetConverter conversion wizard. You can change the special fill color for input fields directly in the conversion wizard. Read more about input cell selection in the section Select the input cells above. 

Example: a rating control with five stars.

To assign a default rating, just enter the corresponding number into the cell where you placed the rating control.

Calendar

A calendar allows the user to select a date using a calendar. The calendar can always be visible in full, or made to expand upon selection.

To create a calendar control, select the cell where you want to place the calendar and press “Calendar” in the Designer section of the Spreadsheet­Converter menu.

In the calendar settings, select the type of calendar:

·         A full calendar is a large, square widget that is always visible in full.

·         A pop‑up calendar pops up when the cell containing the calendar is selected.

·         A button-controlled calendar appears as a cell with a button next to it:



If you press the button, the calendar appears:



When you select a date in the calendar, it disappears and the selected date appears in the cell:

Full calendars require a column width of 25 or more, which may complicate your spreadsheet layout. It is often best to place a full calendar over a number of contiguous rows and/or columns. If you select “Merge and left-justify the cells”, the selected cells will be merged into one single large cell where the calendar is placed.

If you use coloring to explicitly define input fields, select “Color the input cells”. This assigns the indicated background color to the cell.  Remember to select “Using coloring” for input cell selection when you run the SpreadsheetConverter conversion wizard. You can change the special fill color for input fields directly in the conversion wizard. Read more about input cell selection in the section Select the input cells above. 

A calendar cell has no default value. If you want the calendar to initially return a particular date you must store the default date in the cell.

Multi-line text

A multi-line text field a scrollable field for text entry that spans over three or more rows in the spreadsheet.

To create a multi-line text field, select the cell where you want to place the field and press “Multi-line text” in the Designer section of the Spreadsheet­Converter menu. An options dialog appears. Enter the number of rows you want for the multi-line text field. 

Multi-line text fields are usually large and may complicate your spreadsheet layout. It is often best to place such a text field over a number of contiguous rows and/or columns. If you select “Merge and left-justify the cells”, the selected cells will be merged into one single large text input cell.

If you use coloring to explicitly define input fields, select “Color the input cells”. This assigns the indicated background color to the cell.  Remember to select “Using coloring” for input cell selection when you run the SpreadsheetConverter conversion wizard. You can change the special fill color for input fields directly in the conversion wizard. Read more about input cell selection in the section Select the input cells above. 

Select “Required” for input fields that cannot be empty when a form is submitted or when the user clicks Next in wizard mode.

Example: For “Name:”, three adjacent cells were selected. “Mark input cell” was used with the “Merge and left-justify the cells” option. For “Address:”, three adjacent cells were selected. “Multi-line text” was used with the “Merge and left-justify the cells” option, and the size set to “3 rows”. For all cells, the vertical alignment was set to “Top”.

If you want the cell to contain text from the start, e.g. “Insert details here…”, just type this text into the cell before you convert the spreadsheet.

Remove formatting

Remove formatting removes the advanced controls in the selected cells.

Name form fields

Name form fields is used mainly for forms that are sent as files to another program for automatic post-processing, e.g. to be entered into a database. To reduce the risk of errors, input fields should be given an internal name in the spreadsheet. This name can then be used to reference the input data in the post-processing application. Read more in the section Naming cells below.

Naming cells

If you use the free submit service to handle submitted forms, is very important that you name all input and output cells. Otherwise, the names will look like p1A1  (Excel 2000-2003) or XLEW_1_3_1 (Excel 2007 or later), which means Sheet1!A1. This will make the email with the submitted form hard to understand.

You can either name a cell using Insert-Name-Define in Excel, or by selecting the cell to be named and enter the name into the little box in the upper-left corner.

In the following screenshot we selected cell F4 and entered the name how_often into the naming box.

In order for names to be used by SpreadsheetConverter, the name should only refer to a single cell and only contain letters, digits and underscore. The name must start with a letter. Other names will be ignored.

Advanced topics

This section mostly contains information suitable for an advanced Excel user or web programmer. If you don’t belong to either category, just move on to the next chapter.

Support for regional options and languages

Basically, SpreadsheetConverter formats numbers and dates just as they are formatted on your local computer.

Regional number formats

There are many ways to format a number. In the US, the decimal separator is a point and commas are used as thousand separators, e.g. 1,234.56 is a valid number. In contrast, some European countries use comma as the decimal separator and either space or point as thousand separators, e.g. 1 234,56 is a valid number.

When converting a spreadsheet to a web page, SpreadsheetConverter formats numbers in your spreadsheet as defined by the cell format (Format > Cells > Number).

You cannot change the decimal or thousand separators in Excel, however; it must be done using the regional options for the whole system. If you want to create a web page to be used by someone familiar with a different format, e.g. a Swede, you have to open the regional options control panel and temporarily change to another region (e.g. Sweden). Once you’ve created the web page, restore your original regional options. The numeric formats used in the web page remain unchanged (e.g. still applicable to Sweden).

SpreadsheetConverter supports most currency formats, but currency symbols such as $, £, or € are not included. If necessary, put the $, £, or € into the cell immediately preceding or following the number.

Regional date formats

There are also many ways to format a date. In the US, dates are in the Month/Day/Year format, e.g. 5/04/10 is May 4, 2004. In contrast, many European countries write dates as Day-Month-Year with various separators, e.g. 04.05.10 for the same date. Some countries even use the Year-Month-Date format.

When converting a spreadsheet to a web page, SpreadsheetConverter basically formats dates as defined by the cell format (Format > Cells > Number). For input cells, the following restrictions apply:

  1. The ordering of month, day and year is fixed. If you create the web page using US settings, only the month-day-year order is supported. If you create the web page using European settings, both day-month-year and year-month-day are allowed, but not the US format.
  2. Input cells may only use numeric date formats. You can use ”04/05/2010” but not ”4 May 2010”.

Recommendation: to avoid confusion with an international audience, create three cells with drop-down lists: one to select a day, one to select a month and one to select a year. Then use the three values to create the date internally in Excel using the DATE function. There is an example of this on the SpreadsheetConverter web site at http://www.spreadsheetconverter.com/manual/date_dropdown_list.htm.

National characters

SpreadsheetConverter supports Unicode for national characters.


Troubleshooting

Technical requirements

Requirements for running SpreadsheetConverter to create web pages:

* SpreadsheetConverter also works with many localized versions of Microsoft Excel. Download the trial version and try it out. If the trial works, the full version will also work.

Requirements for the end user accessing the resulting web pages:

Known issues

Support for Excel spreadsheet features

SpreadsheetConverter supports a major subset of the features available in an Excel spreadsheet, listed in Appendix 1: Conversion details. An updated list of currently supported spreadsheet features is available at www.spreadsheetconverter.com.

Support for Excel built‑in functions

SpreadsheetConverter supports a major subset of the built‑in functions available in Excel. An updated list of currently supported built‑in functions is available at http://www.spreadsheetconverter.com/archive/supported-excel-functions.htm.

No support for Excel macros

SpreadsheetConverter does not support Excel macros.

Error messages

After conversion, SpreadsheetConverter displays a status window with all the messages generated during the conversion. This window is split into three panes: a top pane with all the messages; a middle pane with the full text of the currently selected message (in the top pane); and a bottom pane with the complete list of cells affected by the message. To navigate to a particular cell, simply click the reference to the cell in the bottom pane and the cell will be selected.

If an error or warning message was generated during conversion, your web page may generate incorrect results. You should always resolve such issues before using the page for calculations.

Below is a list of the most common messages and their meaning.

Informational messages

The following cells are input

This message tells you what cells will be open for user input when the web page is opened in a browser. If a cell isn’t open for input when you expected it to be, read the section Select the input cells above.

The following cells are labels or constants

A label cell contains the label (caption) for a field, e.g. “Address:”. A constant cell contains a fixed value that cannot be changed. If the list contains a cell that you expected to become an input cell, read the section Select the input cells above.

The following cells will be calculated

A calculated cell is a cell that contains a formula. SpreadsheetConverter uses this message to confirm that it has detected the formula and will calculate it automatically when the web page is modified in a web browser. If one or more cells are missing in this list, i.e. you expected them to be calculated but they were considered input or label cells, verify that the cell calculates correctly in the Excel environment. The equal sign may be missing, or there may be a separate error message for the formula in the cell.  

<Text format> does not work for in and out-cells.

Your spreadsheet uses a special text format for an input or output cell. Use a different format.

<Text format> not supported by HTML, using <text format> instead.

The former text format is not available for web pages and has been replaced by the latter text format.

Warning messages

Cells containing formulas cannot be input. Cell converted to output.

You have manually marked a cell as an input cell, but the cell contains a formula (beginning with “=”). Remove the formula from the cell or use another cell for input.

If you input dates, the format must follow <region> date format (<example>), since this is the standard format on this machine.

For input fields containing dates, the date format set in the Regional Options control panel must be used.

Error messages

Dates containing name of month, weekdays or AM/PM cannot be entered using text fields. Choose 24-hour clock and dates like 01/02/2010.

Excel supports many date formats, including ones with the whole or partial names of months, e.g. “April 21, 2010”. These date formats are currently not supported by SpreadsheetConverter to input fields. Use numerical date formats instead.

External file 'file name' referenced.

SpreadsheetConverter requires that all worksheets required for the conversion are part of the same file. If you get this error message, one or more cells refer to an external file. If the cell that is referenced contains a static value, just copy it into a cell in the file you are converting and use the copied cell instead. If you need an entire worksheet from another file, copy the requested worksheet into the file you are converting and try again.

Support

Reporting a problem

If you have any problems, please do one of the following:

We provide the best possible support, both for trial-users and customers. You should expect answers before the end of the next working day.

Support for server-based solutions

Using a server-based solution is inherently much more complex than using a browser-based solution. Unfortunately, we are unable to support you in establishing a proper web server environment for web pages created by SpreadsheetConverter or by other means. Before you contact us regarding problems with server-based solutions, ensure that you are able to run all JSP or ASP example files provided with the web server.

Consultancy services

Do you have problem converting your spreadsheet into a web page? Our support is there to help you. However, support will only help you, not convert you whole spreadsheet. If you want a total solution, our consulting services are there to help you. 

Our consultants will deliver a ready web page, which can be used directly. The fee is $100 per spreadsheet.

  1. Send the spreadsheet to consulting@spreadsheetconverter.com
  2. Our consultant will take a quick look at it, and decide if we accept the assignment.
  3. If we accept the assignment, you will be asked to pay the fee using a credit card.
  4. We will start working and send you the result, i.e. both the adapted spreadsheet and the web page.
  5. If we fail, the fee will be reimbursed.

If you later need to change the spreadsheet, you can either do it yourselves, or ask us for help again. 


Appendix 1: Conversion details

This chapter describes how various features of your spreadsheet are handled during the conversion to web format.

We are continuously adding new features to SpreadsheetConverter. If your spreadsheet uses a feature you need support for, please let us know.

Cell types

Internally, SpreadsheetConverter separates cells into three types. In most cases, it is able to automatically determine the correct cell type for each cell:

Referencing cells

A cell that is referenced in a formula is always included in the conversion, regardless of which worksheet it is part of. This is true regardless of the “Select Cells” setting in the SpreadsheetConverter wizard. However, you cannot reference cells in other files.

Spreadsheet cells are automatically given names that are used when the cell is referenced on the resulting web page. If you have assigned explicit names to cells in Excel, these names are used instead of the automatic names if they confirm to the following rules: a) the name only contains a‑z, A‑Z, 0‑9 and underscore (_); b) the name begins with a letter; and c) the name is not a reserved word (e.g. new, function). Naming cells simplifies advanced use of SpreadsheetConverter, e.g. creating interactive web applications or interfacing to external JavaScript code.

SpreadsheetConverter fully supports national characters using Unicode.

Page formatting

File > Print area is ignored.

File > Properties: the Title field is used as the title for the web page.

Format > Sheet: Hidden sheets are not shown on the web page even if you selected ‘Show All’ in the wizard. If hidden sheets are referenced, their formulas will be included but not shown on the web page.

View > Custom view is ignored.

View > Header and Footer is ignored.

View > Zoom is ignored. If the spreadsheet is shown on your screen with the Zoom set to 70% or less, the web version will be significantly larger.

Cell formatting

Format > Cells >Number is supported with all options except Fractions (e.g. 1/256, 3/48). For input fields containing dates, the date format set in the Regional Options control panel must be used.

Format > Cells > Alignment > Horizontal: general, left, right, center, and center across selection are supported.

Format > Cells > Alignment > Vertical: top, bottom and center are supported.

Format > Cells > Alignment > Text control: wrap text and merge cells is supported.

Format > Cells > Alignment > Orientation is not supported since it isn’t supported by web browsers.

Format > Cells > Font: all options are supported. However, a browser can only use the fonts available in the browser environment when the page is displayed. If someone using your spreadsheet on the web doesn’t have the Quake font installed it may be replaced with Helvetica instead, which of course provides a slightly more conventional look. For input fields, certain styles may not be used, e.g. superscript or strikethrough.

Format > Cells > Border: all options are supported except diagonal borders, which are unsupported in the web environment. There are fewer patterns available in a web browser, so you may find your favorite pattern replaced by a similar pattern.

Format > Cells > Patterns: Cell color is supported, but not patterns.

Format > Cells > Protection: protection of worksheets including the Locked cell option is supported, but the workbook must be unlocked during conversion. The Hidden attribute is ignored.

Format > Row: Row height is supported. Hidden rows are not shown on the web page, but the formulas are included if needed.

Format > Column: Column width is supported. Hidden columns are not shown on the web page, but the formulas are included if needed.

Format > Conditional Formatting is ignored.

Format > Style is ignored.

Cell contents

Insert > Function is supported for the functions supported by SpreadsheetConverter.

Insert > Map is not supported.

Insert > Object is not supported.

Insert > Picture is supported.

Insert > Comment becomes a tooltip. Note that some browsers have poor support for tooltips, which may make your comment hard to read.

Insert > Hyperlink is supported. For http links the referenced page is opened in a new window. SpreadsheetConverter also supports JavaScript links. The referenced script will be run in the same window, without restrictions, e.g. to open a pop‑up window.

An input field containing true/false values becomes a checkbox.

Dropdown lists created with Data > Validation > List become dropdown lists.

Dropdown lists created with Data > Validation > List that span over several rows become list boxes.

Graphical user interface widgets created with View > Toolbars > Forms (checkboxes, dropdown lists, list boxes, sliders etc) are not supported.

Checkboxes and dropdown lists created with View > Toolbar > Control > Control Toolbox or VBA are not supported.

Other Excel features

Data > most options are unsupported, except Data > Validation > Allow > List.

Tools > Goal Seek is not supported.

Tools > Macro is ignored.

Tools > Protection is supported, but the workbook must be unlocked during conversion.

Tools > Solver is not supported.

Tools > Track Changes is ignored.