SECTION 3: Excel and the Internet

Transcription

1 SECTION 3: Excel and the Internet In this section you will learn how to: Insert a hyperlink Modify a hyperlink Use a hyperlink in Excel Save a workbook as a Web page Save a worksheet as a Web page Save a chart as a Web page Save a range as a Web page Create a Web query Save a Web query Refresh a Web query Prepare a workbook for Excel services Publish to a document server Save to a document management server

2 Lesson 3.1: Excel and Hyperlinks This is an Excel worksheet that contains three hyperlinks. In this lesson, you will learn about hyperlinks and the Internet. You will learn how to insert hyperlinks into a worksheet, how to modify hyperlinks in a worksheet, and how to browse hyperlinks in Excel. What is a Hyperlink? A hyperlink is an item in a file that links to another location in the same file, or to another file altogether. Word processing documents, workbooks, and Web pages are all types of files that can contain hyperlinks. When you click on a hyperlink, the file or location that is associated with the link will appear on your screen. The files connected by hyperlinks do not have to be in the same directory, or even on the same computer. In fact, you can have a hyperlink in one file that links to a file thousands of miles away. The World Wide Web makes extensive use of hyperlinks to link Web pages. The web is the place where most computer users become familiar with hyperlinks. Quite often, hyperlinks come in the form of an underlined word or phrase in a bright blue font (Like This). This does not always have to be the case as hyperlinks can be a word, a phrase, a symbol, or a picture. Each hyperlink has a statement called a URL (uniform resource locator) associated with it. The URL tells where the file or object that the hyperlink points to is located and what protocol should be used to retrieve it. A typical URL that you might see in the address bar of your web browser could look something like: When you click

3 on a hyperlink, the information in the URL associated with it is used to locate and retrieve the linked file or object. As stated previously, hyperlinks are items in a document, worksheet, or Web page that link to another location or file. When you click on a hyperlink, an associated URL is used to locate and retrieve the object or file that the hyperlink points to. In the case of the World Wide Web, hyperlinks are used to link and unify Web pages that are located all over the world. You can create a hyperlink in an Excel workbook that links to an object located in the same directory or on the same computer as the workbook. You can also create a hyperlink that points to a Web page or a file on a remote server. Furthermore, you can create a hyperlink that points to a location in the same workbook or to a specific recipient. When you are clicking hyperlinks, you may be requesting files or objects located on remote servers. The World Wide Web is a vast collection of Web pages and other objects that are connected via hyperlinks. When you click a link to a Web page or file on the web, the information is transported to your computer over the underlying infrastructure of the Internet. A computer network can be described as two or more computers connected in such a way that they can exchange information. Computer networks can range in size from small networks with only a few computers to very large networks with many interconnected machines. Essentially, the Internet is a network of networks. That is to say, the Internet is a huge network that is comprised of many smaller interconnected networks spanning the globe. Computers connected to the Internet can use hyperlinks to retrieve objects from other locations. These objects are transported from computer to computer, over the giant inter-network commonly known as the Internet. Some important points to remember: A hyperlink is used as a clickable link to another object. A URL is associated with a hyperlink to provide information on how to retrieve the linked object. You can create hyperlinks to locations within the same file, to local or remote files, to Web pages, to media objects, and to recipients. Hyperlinks can be created in the form of a word, phrase, symbol, picture, or graphic. Web pages in the World Wide Web are often linked together with hyperlinks. When you retrieve a remote file or object (like a Web page) by clicking a hyperlink, the information is transported to your computer via the hardware infrastructure of the Internet. Hyperlinks should link to publicly available files or Web pages. If Sue sends me a workbook with a hyperlink to a file on her computer, I am probably not going to be able to access that file (unless we are on the same network and that file or folder is shared).

4 Inserting Hyperlinks In Excel 2007, you can insert hyperlinks directly into your worksheets. You might want to insert a link to another location in the same workbook or to another Excel workbook located on the same computer. You might also want to insert a link to a Word document or to a Web page. No matter what type of hyperlink you want to create, the first step is to invoke the Insert Hyperlink dialogue box. To display the dialogue, select the cell that will contain your hyperlink, and then click the Hyperlink button on the Insert Ribbon. This will open the Insert Hyperlink dialog. You can see four buttons running down the left side of the dialogue box under the Link to: heading. You can use these buttons to create a link to an Existing File or Web Page, a Place in This Document, Create New Document, or to an Address. You can enter the text for your Hyperlink in the Text to display field at the top of the dialogue box. This text will appear as a blue underlined hyperlink in the cell that you have selected.

5 If you choose the Existing File or Web Page button, you will see a drop list labeled Look in just below the Text to display field. You can use this list to browse through the various folders on your computer to find the file that you want to create a link to. When you select a folder or drive from the drop list, a list of available files or folders corresponding to the selection will appear in the large center area of the dialogue box. You will also notice three buttons just to the left of the large center area labeled Current Folder, Browsed Pages, and Recent Files. If you click Current Folder, the files and subfolders of the current folder in the drop list will be displayed. If you click the Browsed Pages button, a list of the URL s for Web pages you recently visited will be displayed. If you click on the Recent Files button, you will see a list of recently accessed files. If you make a selection from any of these lists the URL (or address) of the file will be entered into the Address field at the bottom of the dialogue box. You can also type a URL for a Web page or remote file, or the path to a local file directly into the Address field. In any case, the file or object referred to in the Address field will be the target of the hyperlink. You can click the screen tip button in the upper right of the dialogue box to add a brief comment that will appear when the mouse pointer hovers over the hyperlink. You can use the Bookmark button to link to a specific location (like a cell range) in another Excel workbook. First, select the Excel file from the list, and then click the Bookmark button to specify the exact location within the selected workbook. When you have finished making the necessary entries in the Insert Hyperlink dialogue box, you can click OK to create the hyperlink Instructor Tip: Another way to create a hyperlink in a worksheet is to select a cell, right click on it, and choose the Hyperlink option from the drop down menu. Clicking a cell and pressing the Ctrl + K keys will also work. Modifying Hyperlinks To change the text of an existing hyperlink, you can right click on it and edit the text in the formula bar. You can also right click the hyperlink and select Edit Hyperlink from the drop down menu. This will display the Edit Hyperlink dialogue which is similar to the Insert Hyperlink dialogue.

6 You can now change the target for the hyperlink, the ScreenTip, or the text to display. You can also remove the hyperlink from the worksheet by clicking the Remove Link button. When you are finished with your modifications, click OK to implement them. Note: Remove Hyperlink and Open Hyperlink are also options on the drop down menu, available when you right click on a hyperlink. Hyperlinks will generally appear in one color (bright blue by default) before they have been clicked, and in another color (purple by default), after they have been clicked. You can change the font color and size for an individual hyperlink by right clicking on it, and choosing Format Cells from the drop down menu. This will display the Format Cells dialogue box, which you can use to modify the font color, size, border, shading, and alignment of the link.

7 The method just described will allow you to modify individual hyperlinks, but what about modifying the default color and font size for all hyperlinks? To change the default style for all hyperlinks, click the Cell Styles button in the Style group on the Home Ribbon to display the pre-set cell styles. Find the Hyperlink style, right click on it, and choose Modify from the menu that appears.

8 This will display the Style dialogue. Make sure that the word Hyperlink is selected at the top of the Style box. You should be able to see a checkmark next to the word Font in the column of check boxes on the left. This means that the style for hyperlinks currently includes only font settings. Click the Format button to display the Format Cells dialogue box where you can make changes to the borders, shading, font size, font color, and alignment for all hyperlinks. When you are finished modifying the hyperlink style, click the OK button in the format cells dialogue. You will now see the Style

9 dialogue, with checkmarks corresponding to the style changes you have made. Click the OK button in the style box to implement the style changes. Now every new hyperlink you create will have this new style by default. Instructor Note: You can change any of the preset cell styles available under the Cell Styles button by following the procedure described above. Using Hyperlinks in Excel To follow a hyperlink in Excel 2007, click on it and hold it until the mouse pointer turns into a pointing hand. When you see the hand, release the mouse button and the target for the link will be opened with the most appropriate program for it. For example, if you click, hold, and release a link to a Word document, the document will open in Microsoft Word. If you click, hold, and release a link to an Access database, the database will open with Microsoft Access. If you click, hold, and release a link to a Web page, the page will open with your default Internet browser.

10 The following worksheet contains two hyperlinks. The first link is to a Word document and the second is to another Excel spread sheet. The two linked documents as well as the current workbook are all in the same file folder, though this does not have to be the case. If you click, hold, and release the first link (Test.doc), the target document will open in Microsoft Word. If we click, hold, and release the second link (in cell B11) another worksheet (the link target) will open in Excel. You can see that the followed hyperlinks are now purple, the default color.

11 To remove a hyperlink from your spreadsheet, right click on the cell containing it and select Delete from the pop up menu. This will remove the target information from the hyperlink, as well as the hyperlink text itself. The cell in question will be left empty. You can also right click on a cell with a hyperlink, and select Remove Hyperlink from the pop up menu. This will remove the target information from the link (the link will not function), but the text of the link will remain in the cell. You can also insert a hyperlink function by clicking the fx button by the formula bar. This will display the Insert Function dialogue, from which you can select the Hyperlink function.

12 If you click the OK button in the dialogue, the Function Arguments box will appear. In the Link Location field, you can specify the target of the link. This can be a Web page URL, a local file, or a file on a network server. In the Friendly Name field, you can specify the particular text or number that will appear as a link in the spreadsheet. When you click OK, the link will be inserted into the spreadsheet. You can also specify an image or other graphic as a hyperlink in your spreadsheet. To do this, select the image or graphic by clicking on it. When the graphic is selected (has a perimeter border around it) click the Hyperlink button on the Insert Ribbon. When you see the Insert Hyperlink dialogue, specify a URL or file location as the target of the hyperlink, and then click the OK button to associate the linked location to the image or graphic. When you click, hold, and release the image, the link will be followed to its target just like a regular hyperlink.

13 Lesson 3.2: Saving Workbooks as Web Pages There may be occasions where you want to make your Excel data available on the Web. For instance, you may want to allow fellow employees to view your Excel workbook or worksheet from their homes or when they are away travelling. You may even want to make your Excel data part of a larger online presentation. This lesson will deal with creating Web pages from Excel 2007 spreadsheets. The image shown above is an example of an Excel 2007 worksheet saved as a Web page. The worksheet is being viewed with an Internet Explorer browser. In this lesson you will learn about MHTML and HTM files. You will learn how to save a workbook as a Web page, how to save a worksheet as a Web page, how to save a chart as a Web page, and how to save a data range as a Web page.

14 HTM and MHTML Files When you create a Web page based on an Excel workbook, you can create the Web page as either an HTM file or an MHTML file. An Excel workbook that has been saved as a Web page can be published to a web server to be viewed with a web browser. You can then access the data on the Web page from practically any location with an Internet connection. When you view Excel data as a simple Web page in your browser, it is a read only situation. That is to say, you cannot modify, edit, or save changes to the data on the Web page. To distribute an Excel workbook in such a way as to modify, edit, or save changes, you should use a shared workbook on a SharePoint Server (see Lesson 3.4). When you save a workbook or worksheet as a Web page, you can save it as an HTM or an MHTML file. An HTM file is essentially the same as a traditional HTML file, except that the last letter has been dropped from the extension for compatibility with systems that cannot handle four letter extensions. When you save an Excel workbook as an HTM file, Excel will automatically add HTML tags as necessary to create a file that can be retrieved and viewed by practically all web browsers. Here is some of the HTM source code for a worksheet saved as an HTM Web page. When you save a workbook as an HTM Web page, pictures, graphics, or data on multiple worksheets will not be saved as one file. Instead, a file folder will be created containing the separate file components needed to reproduce the worksheet as a Web page.

15 Here are the contents of a folder created by Excel 2007 for a simple HTM Web page. Also, when you save a workbook that contains images as an HTM format Web page, some image quality may be lost. The advantages of this format are that virtually all browsers support the widely used HTM and HTML formats and they are relatively safe with respect to carrying malicious programs/viruses. To save your workbook as an HTM format Web page, invoke the Save As dialogue under the Office menu, and choose Web Page from the Save As type list. When you are ready, click the Save button to create the Web page. If you place the newly created HTM page and associated file folder on a web server, the workbook data will be accessible to anyone with a web browser and an Internet connection. MHTML file format is short for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension HTML (or MIME HTML). This format allows a number of different workbook objects to be saved in a single file. If you save your workbook as an MHTML (or MHT) Web page, your images and objects will all be saved in one file. A separate folder to contain the Web page components will not be required. Also, images and other graphical elements contained in the Web page may display better in your browser than the same images contained in an HTM Web page. In addition, if you create an MHTML Web page, you only have to deal with a single file when you are publishing it on a web server. On the downside, some browsers may not open MHTML files easily (al though Internet Explorer should have no problems opening this file type). Also, it is possible for an MHTML file to carry a virus or malicious code.

16 To save your Excel data as an MHTML file, select the Single File Web Page option from the Save As Type drop list in the Save as dialogue. Saving a Workbook as a Web Page To save an Excel workbook as a Web page, open the workbook that you want to create a Web page from and choose Save As from the Office menu. In the Save In text field, specify a location to save your file, and then select Web Page or Single File Web Page from the Save as type drop list at the bottom. Next, make sure the Entire Workbook radio button is selected, and then click the Save button to save the workbook as a Web page. Alternatively, select the location you want to save to, and specify Web Page or Single File Web Page as the file type. Then click the Publish button to display the Publish as Web Page dialogue box.

17 In the Publish as Web Page dialogue, select Entire Workbook from the Choose drop list, and click Publish to save the file as an HTM or MHTML Web page. If you wish, you can use the check boxes at the bottom of the page to specify that the file is to be automatically republished every time the workbook is saved, and that the file open in a web browser once it is published. When you save a workbook as a Web page, you may see the following alert. This is just telling you that some features of the workbook may not be preserved in a Web page format. If you are sure you want to create a Web page from the workbook click Yes to continue. Otherwise, click No. It is always a good idea to save your workbook as a normal Excel workbook file for back up, before you save it as a Web page.

18 Here you can see the three worksheet tabs included at the bottom of the Web page. Clicking on a particular sheet tab in the Web page will open up the data for the given sheet in your browser. These tabs are available because the entire workbook was saved as a Web page. Saving a Worksheet as a Web Page To create a Web page from a single worksheet, open the Excel workbook that contains the sheet you want to use and invoke the Save As dialogue from the Office menu. In the Save As dialogue box, specify Web Page or Single File Web Page in the Save As Type drop list. Make sure that you specify a save to location in the Save In drop list at the top of the dialogue box, and be sure to select the Selection: Sheet radio button. When you are ready, click the Save button to create the HTM or MHTML file. Alternatively, you can specify Web Page or Single File Web Page as the file type, choose a location to save to, select the Selection: Sheet radio button, and click the Publish button.

19 In the Publish as Web Page box, you can specify the particular sheet that you want to publish as a Web page by selecting from the Choose drop list. When you have specified the settings that you prefer, click the Publish button to create the Web page. Saving a Chart as a Web Page First, open the Excel workbook that contains the chart that you want to save as a Web page.

20 The next step is to choose Save As from the Office menu to display the Save As dialogue box. In the Save As box select Web Page or Single File Web Page as the file type and specify a name and a location for the Web page files. When you have done this, click the Publish button. In the Publish as Web Page box, select the appropriate items from the Choose drop list. Configure any other settings that you want to apply and then click the Publish button to create the Web page.

21 Saving a Range as a Web Page To save a range from a workbook as a Web page, open the appropriate workbook and select the range of data that you want to use. The next step is to use the Office menu to display the Save As dialogue box. In the Save As box, select Web Page or Single file Web Page as the file type, choose a name for the file, and select a location to save the file in. Next, click the Selection: radio button, and when you are ready, click Save to create the Web page.

22 Alternatively, you could click the Publish button and use the Publish as Web Page box to specify the range and create your Web page.

23 This is an image of a Web page created from an Excel workbook range. Instructor Note: For the purposes of this lesson, the Web pages were saved to an ordinary folder on the local machine. Normally, when you create Web pages that are to be accessed over the internet, they are placed in an HTML directory on a Web server. Also, when you save a workbook as an HTM Web page, there can be multiple files created besides the standard HTML file. These files can include HTML files for the individual worksheets, an XML file and a cascading style sheet to uniformly format the worksheets. The files are created and placed in a folder that should be located in the same directory as the main HTML file.

24 Lesson 3.3: Getting Data from the Internet In Lesson 3.2, you learned how to prepare your data as a Web page in order to share information over the Internet. In this lesson, the emphasis is on retrieving data from the Internet by designing queries that extract information from Web pages. In this lesson you will learn how to import data from a Web page over the Internet. You will learn what a Web query is, how to create a Web query, and how to save and refresh a Web query. Importing from an External Data Source As an introduction to importing data from the Internet, we will take advantage of an existing web connection that comes with Excel First, open an empty Excel workbook, and click the Existing Connections button on the Data Ribbon.

25 When you do this, an Existing Connections dialogue box like the following will appear. The Existing Connections dialogue provides a list of connections that you have made to databases, SharePoint files, or files on your local computer. In addition to any connections you have made in the past, you should notice three MSN MoneyCentral queries. These MSN connections should be available automatically when Excel 2007 is installed. As an example, if you select MSN MoneyCentral Investor Currency Rates from the list of connections and click the Open button in the lower right, an Import Data dialogue box will appear. With this box, you can specify where you want the imported data to be located. Choose a location in the current worksheet or in a new worksheet and click the OK button to continue. (In this example, the imported data will be placed in a block of cells starting at Cell A1.)

26 The results of the Web query will be entered into the worksheet starting at the specified cell location. Clearly, this is a direct and simple way to include data from the web in your workbooks. Of course, you are not limited to the pre-packaged existing connections. Excel 2007 enables you to create your own web queries to extract information from the Web page of your choice.

27 Instructor Note: To import data from external sources with web queries, you will need access to an Internet connection. If you are behind a firewall, you may have to configure the firewall to give Excel access to the Internet. Creating a Web Query To create a Web query from scratch, first click the Data tab to display the Data Ribbon, and then click the From Web button. This will display the New Web Query dialogue. At the top of this window, you will see an address bar, back and forward buttons, stop and refresh buttons, and a save button. The New Web Query window is very much like a web browser. If you type a URL (Web page address) in the Address field, the Web page will be loaded into the Web query window so you can view it. If you click on a hyperlink, the target of the link will be loaded in the window just like a web browser. You can navigate through visited pages by using the backward and forward buttons. You can even load your favorite search engine and perform web searches from within the New Web Query window.

28 After you load a Web page, you will notice yellow highlighted arrows pointing to different areas of the page. These arrows indicate the data that Excel can import. You can click these yellow highlighted arrows to select the given data for inclusion in your Web query. Excel is quite good at importing tables of data, and normally there will be an arrow pointing to every table on the Web page that can be imported. You can import a single table, multiple tables, or plain text with a Web query. When you click an arrow, it will turn into a green highlighted checkmark. Only the data indicated by checkmarks will be imported to your Excel worksheet. When the data you need has been selected with checkmarks, click the Import button to enter the data into your Excel worksheet. You will be then be asked to specify a location in the worksheet for the imported data.

29 When you have chosen a place for the imported data, click the OK button on the Import Data dialogue. This image above shows the results of the Web query. Only the data selected with a checkmark has been imported into the Excel worksheet.

30 Saving a Web Query If you want to save a Web query for future use in other worksheets and workbooks, right click on the imported data range and select Edit Query from the menu that appears. This will cause the Edit Web Query window to appear.

31 In this window you can click the Save button to show the Save Query dialog. You can use the Save Query dialogue box to specify a name for your Web query and a location to save it in. For consistency, you should save all your queries in the default Queries folder. You can also save your query when you create it by clicking the Save button in the New Web Query window before you click the Import button. After you have saved your query, you can easily access it from any Excel workbook by clicking the Existing Connections button on the Data Ribbon. When you click this button, you will see an Existing Connections dialogue with a list of connections including any web queries you have saved.

32 In the Existing Connections box, just select the name of your query and click the Open button to import the data. You can also click the Browse for More button if you have a query that is not saved in the default Queries folder. Refreshing a Web Query After you create a Web query for a particular Web page, it is quite possible that the data on the Web page will change over time. Stock quote information can change frequently, as can other types of financial data available on the web. To update your worksheet with the latest data, you will have to refresh the Web query. To do this, right click on the data range imported by the query and click Refresh from the menu that appears.

33 This action will refresh the data if the source information has changed since the last time your imported data was refreshed. If you right click on the imported data range and select Data Range Properties from the menu that appears, you will be presented with options for refreshing the imported data and for modifying the data range.

34 You can see the name of the data range in the Name field. You can edit this name as you wish, and use it as a defined name for the range in place of standard cell references. Under the Refresh Control heading, you can place a checkmark in the box labeled Refresh Every and select the time duration of your choice. For instance, if you select 10, the data range will be refreshed every 10 minutes. (You can also choose to have the data refreshed every time the file is opened.) You can also adjust the formatting and layout options of the data range, and specify what should happen if the range changes (gets larger or smaller) when it is refreshed. Finally, you can click the Refresh All button on the Data Ribbon to refresh any external data connections that you have in your workbook. Instructor Note: To refresh a Web query that imports data from an external Web page, you must be connected to the Internet.

35 Lesson 3.4: Excel and Office Servers A document server, in a basic sense, is a storage area or repository where authorized users can save or access documents. The document server is normally accessible via a local network (or through the Internet) and is generally protected by a server password/username combination. Some Microsoft document servers offer version control features (to help manage shared documents), search features, and separate sub-sites to help organize documents on a team by team, or project basis. These SharePoint servers are often used as an office or company portal, allowing coworkers to share and collaborate on a number of different document types. In this lesson, you will learn how to publish a document to a document server and how to save a document to a documents server. You will also learn about using Excel with Excel Services, a special feature of Microsoft SharePoint server 2007 that is specifically designed for Excel documents. Publishing to a Document Server To publish a document to a document server (as a PDF or XPS file), you must first have the PDF/XPS add-in installed. (This add-in can be obtained from for more information, see the Excel Intermediate manual.) Once the add-in is installed, let your mouse pointer hover over the small arrow next to the Save as option on the Office menu.

36 This will display a list of save options. If you click the PDF or XPS option you will see a Save As dialogue box like the following.

37 PDF stands for Portable File Document, which is a widely used document standard. PDF files maintain good visual quality in a small document size and can be viewed with software like Adobe Acrobat. XPS stands for XML Paper Specification, which is an XML based electronic document format. This format is intended to allow users to easily create, print, share, and store documents in a way that can be conveniently managed along with other Office 2007 files. Once you choose a format to publish your document in (for this example it will be PDF), you can use the Optimize For controls at the bottom of the dialogue to specify a Standard or Minimum optimization setting. For the Standard setting, document quality is emphasized for better print results, whereas for the Minimum setting, document size is optimized. (A smaller file size means faster downloads and uploads for online documents.) When you finish specifying the format for your published document, you can then specify at what location the document will be published. Because you want to publish to a document server, you should click the My Network Places button on the left side of the dialogue.

38 When you see the list of network locations, click and highlight the location that corresponds to your document server. In this example, the document server is the last entry in the list, sps.velsoft.com. The sps part of the server name provides a clue, because SPS stands for SharePoint Portal Services. (SharePoint servers are a type of Microsoft Document server). If you cannot see an appropriate document server in the list, enter the URL for the document server in the File Name field. The URL for the document server in this example is but your own document server will of course have a different URL. (Please see your instructor or your IT personnel for more information on this.) If you specify a URL in the File Name field, the document will be given a default name when it is uploaded to the server. After you specify the document server by highlighting it in the main viewing area, or by specifying the URL in the File name field, click the button in the lower right of the dialogue. If you select the document server from a list in the dialogue box, the button in the lower right will say Open. If you click the button, typically you will be presented with a username and password dialogue for access to the server. When you correctly enter your username and password, you will have access to the server so you can upload your document. If you enter the path to the server in the File Name field, the button will say Publish. If you click the button, you will see the password/username dialogue for the server. If you enter the correct username and password, you will be able to publish your document. Saving to a Document Management Server To save an Excel workbook to a Document Management Server, first display the Office menu, and then select the Publish option from the list of menu items.

39 From the Publish sub menu, click on the Document Management Server option to display a Save As dialogue like the following.

40 This dialogue will only show you locations that are available on your network. The next step is to click on the location in the main viewing area that corresponds to your document management server. In this example, sps.velsoft.com is the document management server, but your document server will have a different name. (If you do not see your document server in the list, obtain the document server URL from your instructor or IT personnel and enter it into the File name field.) Once you are ready, click the button in the lower right to save the workbook on the document server. If you select the server name from a list in the dialogue box, the button in the lower right will say Open. Clicking on the button will display a password/username request dialogue. If you enter the password and username correctly, you will be able to browse to a location on the document server where you can save the file. If you enter the server URL into the File Name field, the button in the lower right will say Save. Once again, if you click the Save button, you will have to enter a username and password to gain access to the server. If you enter the username and password information correctly, you will be able to browse the directories on the document server to find an appropriate location in which to save your work. Using Excel with Excel Services Excel Services is a new technology designed by Microsoft to provide server side Excel functionality to users. When you connect to a document server (a SharePoint server for example), your computer (or an application on your computer) becomes a client communicating with the server. If you download a spreadsheet from a server, open it in Excel, and modify or reformat it, you are performing client side work. This is because most or all of the work is being done in Excel on the client computer. With Excel Services, a degree of server side work will be possible; that is, users will be able to interact with, perform calculations on, filter, sort, and edit, specified cells in a workbook. The

41 important thing is, the Excel work (such as calculations, cell changes, and other interactions) will be handled server-side. This allows multiple users to work on a single spreadsheet from the server without each user having to download and open their own copy of the workbook in Excel. This will prevent multiple unsynchronized copies of the same workbook from being circulated through an organization. In a situation where a single spreadsheet must be viewed and modified by multiple users, only a single copy of the spreadsheet will exist on the server, and all users will interact with this one spreadsheet. In addition, Excel Services will allow users to view and interact with the server side spreadsheet in a web browser. However, the initial spreadsheet that will be used on the Excel Services server must be created in Excel Also, users will not be able to edit Excel formulas when they view the spreadsheet in their browser. They will, however, be able to change the data in specified cells that are referenced in a formula and see the results when the spreadsheet is recalculated. The plus side of this (in terms of security) is that important (sensitive) spreadsheet formulas will not be visible or editable, which means that users can change data and see the results of a given formula without seeing or modifying the details of the formula itself. Instructor Note: Excel Services is packaged with Microsoft SharePoint Server You must use SharePoint 2007 as your document server to take advantage of Excel Services. To use Excel Services, first layout and build the spreadsheet that you want to make available. If there are specific cells that you want to make editable in a user s web browser, name the cells by selecting them (individually) and typing a name in the cell name field by the formula bar. When you have named each individual cell that you want to be editable, display the Office menu and then display Publish sub menu. From the Publish sub menu, click Excel Services.

42 This action will display a Save As dialogue box. In the box, click the Network Places button and highlight the Excel Services server from the list of network locations by clicking on it. In the bottom right of the dialogue, you will see an Excel Services Options button. If you click this button, you will be able to set parameters and specify what elements of the workbook will be viewable in a web browser.

43 When you click the Excel Services Options button, the entire workbook will be shown by default. (Please notice the checkmarks next to the sheet names under the Entire Workbook.) You can specify which worksheets will be shown be Excel Services by choosing the Sheets option from the drop list. Only items with checkmarks will be shown by Excel Services.

44 You can also specify particular (named) items in a workbook or worksheet. These items will be shown by Excel Services only if they are checked. Remember that part of the process of creating a worksheet for Excel Services is naming specific cells so users will be able to edit them. If you click the Parameters tab in the Excel Services Options dialogue, you will be able to add the named cells to a list of cells that Excel Services will allow users to edit.

45 By clicking the Add button, you will see the following dialogue box. This box contains a list of the named cells in your workbook. If you place a check mark next to the named cell and then click the OK button, the named cell will be added to the list of parameters. When the spreadsheet is saved to Excel Services, the named cells in the parameter list will be editable in a web browser by anyone that can access the server.

46 Click OK on the Excel Services Options dialogue to return to the Save As dialogue. When you are ready, click the Save button at the bottom right of the Save as dialogue to save your workbook in Excel Services. If you put a checkmark in the checkbox labeled Open this workbook in my browser after I save, the workbook will open in your browser so you can see if Excel Services is displaying the workbook as you intended. (Note: The Save button in the bottom right of the dialogue may say Open if you specify that the workbook will open in a browser after it is saved.)

47 Section 3: Review Questions 1. URL stands for A. Uniform Resource Locator B. Universal Read Locator C. Uniform Random Locator D. Universal Resource Loading 2. A hyperlink can be used to link. A. To a Web page B. To another location in the same document C. To a file D. All of the above 3. To follow a hyperlink in Excel 2007 you should A. Click, hold and release B. Click and hold C. Right click D. All of the above 4. The MHTML format allows you to create A. An Excel Services Web page B. A shared workbook C. A single file Web page D. None of the above 5. With Excel 2007 you can convert. A. A range to a Web page B. A worksheet to a Web page C. A workbook to a Web page D. All of the above 6. Which of the following statements is true? A. A Web query is the same as a Web page B. A Web query is the same as a hyperlink C. You cannot refresh a Web query D. A Web query retrieves data from a Web page 7. To refresh a Web query you should A. Reload the Web page B. Create the Web query over again C. Click the Web query hyperlink

48 D. Right click on the data from the query and choose the Refresh option 8. You can use a document server to A. Share documents with other users B. Access documents created by other users C. Organize shared documents D. All of the above 9. Excel Services provides A. Server side Excel functionality B. Automated workbook design C. A connection oriented workbook client D. None of the above 10. To create and share documents with Excel Services you need. A. Excel 2007 and access to SharePoint Server 2007 B. Excel 2007 and access to any document server C. Any version of Excel and access to any document server D. None of the above.