MS Excel vs Google Sheets

[Terry D EA]

Just wondering what folks prefer here. I am currently looking at reducing costs everywhere I can. I have used MS Office 365 for several years. Also, I pay for google suites. I have used both but sometimes question the depth of google sheets. I am an old excel guy and have used if for years. Personally, google seems to easy to share and I question the security. What are your opinions?

[Medlin Software, Dennis]

I have used two. As-Easy-As, and now, Open Office.

[BulldogTom]

9 minutes ago, Medlin Software, Dennis said:

I have used two. As-Easy-As, and now, Open Office.

What is open office?

I use Excel, but you can't buy the office program anymore, you have to subscribe and I am looking for an alternative.   At my day job they use  Google Sheets and I hate it.   I download every one of them into excel because I can't seem to navigate Sheets.   Maybe I am just too set in my ways.

Tom
Longview, TX

[Lee B]

I use Libre Office from time to time which can open Excel sheets

[kathyc2]

1 hour ago, Terry D EA said:

Just wondering what folks prefer here. I am currently looking at reducing costs everywhere I can. I have used MS Office 365 for several years. Also, I pay for google suites. I have used both but sometimes question the depth of google sheets. I am an old excel guy and have used if for years. Personally, google seems to easy to share and I question the security. What are your opinions?

I absolutely love Excel!  Not a day goes by when I don't use it for something.  I have some templates set up the significantly reduce time for longer term tax planning.

You can use google sheets for free.  I don't use them much as I find it frustrating that the command layout is different, but they are great if you need to collaborate with others. 

For anyone that wants to up their Excel game, I highly recommend Jeff Lenning.  I've done webinars that he has led. He also has youtube videos and several no charge blogs on his website.  

[kathyc2]

59 minutes ago, BulldogTom said:

I use Excel, but you can't buy the office program anymore, you have to subscribe and I am looking for an alternative.

I have the subscription, but it appears you can still make a one time license purchase.  https://www.microsoftkeys.net/microsoft-office-2021/microsoft-office-2021-home-and-student-for-windows-pc

I don't know if this would be backward compatible if sheet was created in newer version or not.   

[Terry D EA]

1 hour ago, BulldogTom said:

What is open office?

I use Excel, but you can't buy the office program anymore, you have to subscribe and I am looking for an alternative.   At my day job they use  Google Sheets and I hate it.   I download every one of them into excel because I can't seem to navigate Sheets.   Maybe I am just too set in my ways.

Tom
Longview, TX

Tom,

 

I am with you. I may not hate google sheets as much now but when I first started with it, I hated it and did the same as you. The $9.95 a month for the Office 365 isn't too bad cause you can use it on five different machines. I use a laptop, and a MS Surface pro along with my desktop. I guess in a way it does pay for itself. Like kathyc2, I too have many templates setup, especially various depreciation and amortization schedules. I'll probably stay with excel. 

[Sara EA]

This website offers Excel for free, but I haven't read the fine print:  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/excel

Excel is included in Microsoft 365 (formerly Microsoft Office).  It includes word, Excel, powerpoint, OneNote, etc.  I can't imagine working without it, both in the office and personally.  I think it costs about $100 a year now, and lifetime licenses are available too.  

I hate that everything is going to subscriptions now.  I really want to upgrade Adobe but the extra features aren't worth the cost to me.  Don't get me started with Quickbooks.  The online version is awful, but that's all you can get now.

[Medlin Software, Dennis]

Sub vs version licensing is tough. Years/decades ago when computer users were computer experts, versioning worked.

After 40 years, we went away from version based to time based license to remove any excuse for using non current software. No more having to support multiple versions, keeping old versions available for install, etc. No holding off additions to wait for the next new version. A win win in our case.

With all candor, for any software you depend on and/or use for important data - you must keep the software current.

 

[TexTaxToo]

20 hours ago, BulldogTom said:

What is open office?

I use Excel, but you can't buy the office program anymore, you have to subscribe and I am looking for an alternative.

You can still buy the installed "permanent" version of Office rather than Office 365.  Just search for Microsoft Office Professional 2021. 

Open Office and Libre Office are free open-source office suites. Open Office was first, then Libre Office broke off. They can be used with all Office files and most basic things are compatible, but if you use advanced features like pivot tables in Excel, they won't port very well, at least the last time I tried.

There is also WPS Office, free from Chinese company Kingsoft, which is even more compatible with Office, if you trust it. According to Wikipedia (which you can search for more info on any of these), it comes pre-installed on Amazon Fire tablets.

[ILLMAS]

I was not aware of this and someone may correct me if I am wrong, but a couple of years ago a client sent me a Google sheet file via the drive, I clicked on the link and notice I could see all their folders.  I called  and notified them and mentioned they forgot to give access to that just one file.  This why I don’t use it.

[Abby Normal]

2 hours ago, ILLMAS said:

I was not aware of this and someone may correct me if I am wrong, but a couple of years ago a client sent me a Google sheet file via the drive, I clicked on the link and notice I could see all their folders.  I called  and notified them and mentioned they forgot to give access to that just one file.  This why I don’t use it.

Just because someone is bad with computers is no reason to not use a service. I have shared files and received shared files from Sheets for almost 20 years and never seen the mistake made of sharing the entire Drive or even a folder.

[mcbreck]

I use LibreOffice and have for over 10 years, used to use OpenOffice but when they announced it would no longer be updated I made the switch. They are both open source programs and based upon an old Sun Microsystem program. I just use the Writer and Calc programs which open Word and Excel files but it has a database and other programs included. Years ago on an MS Office upgrade they wouldn't allow you to open certain file types - LibreOffice would do it so I made the switch. Also, Libre will open .numbers files I believe in case a client is using Apple.

 

LibreOffice does everything I want except customized labels on pie-charts. I like to be able to manually move the label and it use a line to direct to the wedge - Libre doesn't allow that. I find it FAR superior to Google Sheets but my wife uses Sheets and says it's better than it used to be.

[Medlin Software, Dennis]

2 hours ago, Abby Normal said:

Just because someone is bad with computers is no reason to not use a service. I have shared files and received shared files from Sheets for almost 20 years and never seen the mistake made of sharing the entire Drive or even a folder.

I have not been in a car collision this century, yet I still make sure I belt up properly, and keep my seat as far back as I am comfortable with. I rode a motorcycle for just over a million road miles and never had to lay it down, yet I gave it up when I had kids because I cannot control others, and it did not seem fair to be so risky.  I have raced boats, cars, and karts. Never got hurt, yet I wore all safety gear available at the time. Same for being a baseball ump. Best gear I could get, yet the one time I was hurt (besides a few more bell rings), it was a HS kid who bailed on the first pitch of the game, THEN told me he had never caught before.

When someone tells me they are no good with a computer (yet they want to use my software), either they are being honest, and they likely should be hiring out their accounting/payroll, or they are being less than honest, and want me to do some of their work for them.  Usually the latter these days. Either way, it is a huge red flag not to be ignored.

Unless the data you put in your google drive (or sheets, docs, whatever the current verbiage is) is encrypted before you upload, you may as well consider it public.  Same for any of the "drive" type sharing services.  Any online storage can be hacked. Online storage is great, but you must first secure the data before upload. Look back and see the number of times such services have been compromised already.

[Terry D EA]

Dennis,

I am assuming you might be referring to MS OneDrive. How do you secure the data before uploading it?

[Medlin Software, Dennis]

6 minutes ago, Terry D EA said:

Dennis,

I am assuming you might be referring to MS OneDrive. How do you secure the data before uploading it?

I am referring to any storage, local or remote. There are consumer level things like 7zip which can pwd and encrypt files. For me, I use Cobian for making backups, which included PWD and encryption and can send to multiple places local or remote. My online backups are on servers I control, with a redundant copy on the server(s) of a public service. The key is my files are encrypted before upload, so even if someone found them, and broke the encryption of the storage server, they are not going to get into my file without big $ in mainframe time. For what they can gain from me, it is a money loser.

Cobian does probably 20 backups or so per 24hours for me, and lets me know if there are any issues, real time.

I do not use any sort of mirror or live remote shortage like OneDrive, since I cannot control when or how the data is stored.  Even though our family group is not all using apple photos and sharing the family photos, I have been around enough to know to make my own backups of those as well (my phone uploads to my computer, and I have a routine to backup the actual photos to several places). For photos, I use AMZ Glacier as it is very cheap, and it is not an issue waiting a day or three to download if ever needed. AMZ S3 or similar is good for online storage too, but again, after encrypting myself, and with the understanding AMZ, like all online servers, does fail from time to time. Even for photos, I use two different regions for redundancy reasons.

--

I was just sharing similar with a now former customer who believed program level PWD is a requirement, and is actually secure. Program level PWD has been dead as real security for quite some time, as is anything where you can have a reset ability. (This is why I encrypt first, then I don't have to wonder or inquire as to the security of the location I choose for saving.)

[BTS]

Open Office is a great "free" replacement for MS Office.  Been around for decades.  Since the ole MS Dos years.  Back then it was called StarOffice.  Man Im getting old !!!

[Medlin Software, Dennis]

I suppose I'm spoiled. I know/knew most of the original shareware developers, and we all seemed to use each other's products, such as AsEasyAs123 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As-Easy-As). We even met at conferences and such. I always chuckle when I read or discuss role playing games, games with add on's, and how games are so immersive. It was all likely started by "id software", the four shareware guys who created DOOM (and other games).  It was a huge jump in game play from anything available at the time, and they were the first to do so many things.

As of the end of this year, Medlin is likely the last of the originals still ongoing.