AX2771

Using spreadsheet features

All Axiom spreadsheet files—plan files, reports, templates, and drivers—are Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. In addition to Axiom Software features, you can use spreadsheet features for formatting, formulas, and other functions.

NOTE: Your organization may choose to deploy certain files as web-enabled Axiom forms instead of as spreadsheets. In this case you will interact with the file as if it were a web page, and spreadsheet features will not be available.

Using spreadsheet features in the Excel Client

When you work on Axiom files in the Axiom Software Excel Client, all of the features of Microsoft Excel are available to you. You can use standard Excel features to format cells, create charts and graphs, create formulas, etc.

Where appropriate, standard Excel menus and shortcuts can be used to perform their equivalent Axiom Software function. For example, if you want to save an Axiom file, you can click Save on the Axiom tab of the ribbon, or you can use the Excel menu Save command (or Excel's keyboard shortcut of CTRL+S). However, note that you cannot use Excel's file Open command to open files that are stored in the Axiom Software database—managed Axiom files must be opened using Axiom menu commands.

While you are working in the Excel Client, you can open "regular" Excel spreadsheets and work with them as normal alongside any Axiom files that you have open. You do not need to open another Excel session or close your Axiom Software session in order to work with regular Excel files.

Using spreadsheet features in the Windows Client

The Axiom Software Windows Client emulates the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet environment. While the spreadsheet itself and the Axiom file features are essentially the same in either client, the way that you work with spreadsheet features is different in the Windows Client.

In the Windows Client, you access spreadsheet features from the following locations:

  • File menu: Similar to the File menu in Excel, this menu provides access to basic commands such as Open, Close, Print, and Save.

  • Home tab: Similar to the Home tab in Excel, this tab contains some common spreadsheet formatting commands such as copy and paste, font and number formatting, and other cell and sheet formatting options.

  • Range Explorer: Using the Range Explorer, you can format cells and define cell-related features such as validation and conditional formatting. Available from the Axiom Button and the right-click menu.

  • Workbook Explorer: Using the Workbook Explorer, you can add and delete sheets, and work with sheet-level settings. You can also define named ranges. Available from the Axiom Button and the right-click menu.

  • Display: In the Display group on the Axiom tab, you can toggle the formula bar and row / column headings on and off.

For example, the following table details some common spreadsheet actions and how to perform them in the Windows Client:

Action Windows Client

Open an external spreadsheet file

From the File menu, click Open.

Change the name of a sheet

On the Home tab, in the Cells group, click Format > Rename Sheet.

Add a sheet to a file

On the Home tab, in the Cells group, click Insert > Insert Sheet.

Set row width or column height

On the Home tab, in the Cells group, click Format > Row Height or Format > Column Width.

Hide or unhide a sheet

On the Home tab, in the Cells group, click Format > Hide & Unhide.

Spreadsheet functionality notes

In some cases, the spreadsheet functionality in the Windows Client differs from the corresponding behavior in Microsoft Excel. The following list notes some of these exceptions:

  • Move or Copy Sheet: If a sheet contains cross-references to another sheet, and you move or copy that sheet to another file, the cross-references will return errors in the new file. The cross-references point back to the original file, which is the same behavior as Excel, but in the case of the Windows Client the cross-file references cannot be resolved. In either case the cross-references would need to be removed or edited so that they no longer point to a different file.

  • Formatting on unlocked cells: You can change the formatting of unlocked cells (shading, fonts, etc.), but only by using the features on the Home tab of the Ribbon. If you use the Range Explorer, the formatting options are grayed out when sheet protection is applied, regardless of whether the current cell is locked or unlocked.

  • Range copy limitations: The Windows Client only supports copying more than 256 columns if you are copying within the same session of the application. If you attempt to copy more than 256 columns between two instances of the Windows Client, or between the Windows Client and the Excel client (or regular Excel), then anything over 256 columns will not be copied.