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Best Excel tools for the iPad

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14th Dec 2011
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“What would you want to bother with Excel on an iPad? That’s not what it’s for,” might be a common response, but since Richard Middleton posed the question last month we feel it’s ExcelZone’s duty to catalogue the spreadsheet possibilities for Apple’s tablet computer.

After all, this is a community of accountants, and what else would you want to use a computer for?

The initial impracticalities of using spreadsheets were addressed by the two Nigels - Hughes and Harris - who highlighted the touch interface’s shortcomings when it comes to manipulating numbers and cells on screen.

“Stabbing at the screen with your fingers is not really the best recipe for spreadsheet work,” commented Nigel Hughes. “The iPad is a fantastic tool - it’s great for taking notes, displaying all kinds of documents and media and accessing the internet . But it's not a fully functioning laptop.”

Harris agreed: “My namesake hits the nail on the head. Without a keyboard and mouse a lot of spreadsheet operations are pretty tricky on the iPad… For 99% of the time I just use the iPad as a viewer and find it works OK.”

Jon Bryce countered that you can get Bluetooth wireless keyboards for the iPad from both Apple and Logitech, which could solve some of the interface issues.

Viewing tools

Assuming you’ve taken the Nigels’ advice to heart, your main use of the tablet will be as a presentation tool where you mainly want to display pretty charts and flip through reports and worksheets on screen.

If that’s all you’re going to do, what’s needed is a simple file viewer. iPad owner Nigel Harris was pretty sure the pre-loaded file will let you open Excel email attachments, so you can probably view Excel files without installing anything new.

If that doesn’t work from you, there are several alternatives in the iTunes store, in ascending price order:

Excel editors

Viewing an Excel file is OK as far as it goes. But if you’re presenting numbers to someone, there’s bound to be something that might need tweaking. What do you do then if all you’ve got is the tablet? Here are some of the available apps, with background notes:

Mariner spreadsheet app - £3.99

Numbers £6.99 - Apple’s own spreadsheet variant doesn’t cut it with accountants. “Numbers is clearly aimed at consumer users who value presentation over content,” comments David Ross. On opening a new file, you need to add a table to create a spreadsheet and adjust to its data entry quirks (though the context-sensitive on-screen keyboard that adjusts to text/number input is a very iPad-friendly feature). The software has no Save As feature, so you need to duplicate a document before opening to leave the original intact. Unlike Sheet HD, Numbers can cope with functions, but is limited to one time function in any formula in a cell.

QuickOffice £13.99 - Perhaps better suited to Excel die-hards than Numbers, QuickOffice doesn’t have such a clever on-screen keyboard for data entry, but doesn’t appear to suffer much as a result. The app’s graphical capabilities are limited, with no facility to create charts, but it does have a welcome Save As command.

Sheet HD £3.99 - Also available as part of Office HD2 suite for £5.49; the spreadsheet app can edit Excel files, but does not support macros.

Soonr Workplace free - Well regarded spreadsheet editing that supports formulae and multiple worksheets and is able to insert and sort rows and columns, but not move them. Cannot create charts, but can view them.

Cloud apps

  • The concept of device-centric applications is already an anachronism. If you’ve got an iPad, you’ll already be thinking of synching files between your multiple devices by linking them to a hosted storage facility such as Aple's iCloud facility. We’ll kick off this section with the undisputed king of online storage, synching and editing tools for spreadsheets:
  • Documents To Go £8.99 - Endorsed my most of AccountingWEB users, the Excel implementation still seems to have limitations for some, including Nigel Harris.
  • Dropbox - A more general purpose file store, as recommended by Anne Fairpo - but watch for compatibility issues if you're trying to access files created with different versions of Excel.
  • Google Spreadsheets - Still a disappointment for iPad users, mainly due to Apple’s refusal to let Adobe’s Flash graphics format and functions infect the genetic purity of its device. You can open and enter data into a Google Spreadsheet on an iPad, but only in its rudimentary “mobile” mode, to which the online app automatically defaults. None of the normal browser tools are available in mobile mode, but switching to a browser view throws the whole sheet out of kilter. And don’t even try to invoke the Flash-driven Panorama chart/data analysis view. Google Docs is maturing, but you’ll be better off using it with a Google Android-powered tablet computer.
  • LogMeIn Ignition - Not a viewer or editing app as such, but this virtual desktop app lets you operate your office computer from over an internet connection.  It “takes a bit of getting used to”, but can get the job done, says Richard Middleton.

If you’re looking for the ability to work with native Microsoft tools on your iPad, don’t bother for the moment. This oversight continues to exercise David Ross, who complained, “The real pity is that there is no alternative to Excel, a true monopoly. Nothing else does the job adequately, which leaves us stuck with whatever Microsoft foists on us. I think there is a place for a simple spreadsheet that reads .xls format with a clear interface and multiple worksheets. Various people have attempted this but there is always something rather vital missing, which outweighs the time-wasting niggles in Excel.” Steve Ballmer & company - are you listening?

Until they do, you’ll need to explore alternative business tablets to find your ultimate spreadsheet tablet computer. But as we mentioned at the start of the article, your iPad isn’t really meant for serious business modelling or calculating cashflow/revenue projections. It’s Christmas time - wouldn’t you rather be playing with Angry Birds or Garageband instead?

If you have any further suggestions for iPad and tablet spreadsheet tools, please alert us to them and we will add them to our Apps directory.

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By RobinO
21st Sep 2012 13:33

Working with excel data in iPad

If you are working with large data sets in excel you will probably want to create a pivot table. iPivot lets you do this easily and quickly on your iPad. It also supports graph generation. All in all a must have tool if you are working with numbers away from your desk. www.ipivotapp.com

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