Best or only version of Excel for this purpose

[ginotx]

I have created a Bid sheet for security bar and security door measurements for quick and standardized quotes. The intent is to have a measurement bid sheet from on site measurements become a quote and then work order on the same file.
Currently Microsoft Excel 16.9-Trying to avoid Office 365 subscription


A measurement of window size, bar spacing and window count is entered into the spreadsheet currently in the office.
The spreadsheet then calculates steel quantity and price to create a quote and possible work order.

What I want to do is have the salesperson at the job site enter the measurement and window counts in a form and someone in the office can then enter the current steel price when they are finished on site and complete the quote.

I am considering two options,
A. Open a template on the ipad and enter data and email the quote to the office
B. Open a form and enter the data from measurements.

Office staff and fabricator can then open the quote in excel and enter any necessary data to create the quote and work order.

If I want to create a form on ipads to fill out the measurements and number of windows or doors, am I stuck with Office 365 or is there a way to have other versions of Office use a form to fill and save automatically to the server? I would ideally like to have all jobs in the same file for ease of having one person look at quotes daily and convert them to work orders as needed.

Would it be easier to just open a template and email it to the office?

I have created the same work in Snappii with multiple people at my last job, but I don't want to look at monthly fees anymore, especially with only 2-3 ipads. I am open to any suggestions,

Thank you

 

[Micron]

I'm using Office 365. That means it's a subscription service that contains Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and other apps that I'll never use, and comes with automatic updates (I've turned that off). My other option would have been to buy Office (or just Excel I supposed) off the shelf. Otherwise, the apps are the same. So I'm not understanding why 365 is an issue for you. I can see Office for Home for 2024 so it may be available for business as well if you need that version.

Working remotely with M$ apps is a bit of a challenge if you want to attempt access to server files when out in the field. You might overcome that with Google sheets, but that puts you at the mercy of when/if Google ever decides to drop that, or somehow restrict its capabilities. However, you'd have internet access to the file(s).

So emailing a file from an iPad in the field would be the simplest approach IMO, if you go with Office and not Google sheets. Whether or not that fits into the process is for you to decide.

 

[ginotx]

I'm using Office 365. That means it's a subscription service that contains Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and other apps that I'll never use, and comes with automatic updates (I've turned that off). My other option would have been to buy Office (or just Excel I supposed) off the shelf. Otherwise, the apps are the same. So I'm not understanding why 365 is an issue for you. I can see Office for Home for 2024 so it may be available for business as well if you need that version.

Working remotely with M$ apps is a bit of a challenge if you want to attempt access to server files when out in the field. You might overcome that with Google sheets, but that puts you at the mercy of when/if Google ever decides to drop that, or somehow restrict its capabilities. However, you'd have internet access to the file(s).

So emailing a file from an iPad in the field would be the simplest approach IMO, if you go with Office and not Google sheets. Whether or not that fits into the process is for you to decide.

The reason I want to avoid Office 365 is from preferring to buy software once rather than subscriptions.
In the past, I could only get forms to work with a 365 subscription. I used forms as a record keeping system for chemical applications to plants so that anyone could look on the master record and see when they were allowed to enter the area. I would rather purchase a family or pro pack for Office rather than a monthly or yearly subscriptions.