My world collapsed today! Excel 2003 to Office 365 Excel...

[Rhothgar]

Hi all,

You'd think that the future would bring productivity. OH NO!

I feel as though I've made the biggest most stupid decision I've ever made in respect of my work life yesterday.

Yep! I downgraded from Excel 2003 to Office 365.

The first task I tried today just failed so I had to switch back to Windows 7 and Excel 2003.

I'm sure it's not as bad as I think it is but I have no idea where to start. I may as well have downloaded OpenOffice which Office 365 probably is anyway (just dressed up in new clothes).

So I copy and paste data from a website into Excel 2003 and the hyperlinks are fine, working and intact.

In Office 365, the first C+P acts exactly as I'd expect it to. I then click to the next page on the saved list on the website, drag and select the next batch of information, go to paste it into Office 365 and it removes all the hyperlinks and dumps each 'line' from the table on the website into a merged cell. 50 lines, 50 merged cells whereas the first paste contains 50 lines of 5 columns containing various objects. I then F5 and remove Objects such as pictures, delete the first column and drag cell divisions and make it look nice and more importantly useable.

I really didn't want to have to post here because:-

a) I don't understand, nor want to at 50 years old, why I should have to adapt to change I really don't need (if it ain't broke, Microsoft, don't fix it!)
b) I would rather ask Microsoft for my money back as I don't/can't afford to spend countless hours learning new techniques perhaps and worrying about what else might not work the same at a critical time when I just want to get on with it and get the job done.

Also, I am not familiar at this point in time with any new options or settings that could be changed to return it to a working state similar, if not identical, to Excel 2003. I knew it was all going awry when I first glimpsed Office 2007 and the ribbon invasion. Horrible IMHO!

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

I'm probably come across as a Luddite Curmudgeon today. I just don't want change and the daft thing is I am in control of my own downfall.

I am sure there are folks on here that might be able to put a positive spin into this and convince me that I have done the right thing...

Please help!

?

PS A worried face emoji seems like a good choice. I was going to select a smile and say that's my first one of the day but thought better of it!

 

[DRSteele]

I don't get it - if you truly don't want to understand or learn, why did you post here?

On the other hand, I can sense through your harangue that you might actually want to learn. So why don't you list one of the websites for us that is causing difficulty and we'll see about hyperlinks and such?

Also, there are countless videos on youtube that can help you transition to Excel 365. Would you like us to direct you to them?

 

[Michael M]

Welcome fellow Curmudgeon !
I'm guessing that your method might be the problem and not the system as such.
Do you still drive an old Austin car, or did you move with the times and update to a more modern vehicle ??....the same goes for technology !
When I started with Excel 97, I was never going to need anything else.....While I still use 2013, I haven't updated 'cause I'm retired and may not need to.
Bite the bullet my friend and embrace the technology....and ask as many questions as you like here on the Forum.
BTW, this Forum has recently changed to a newer and brighter platform.....like it, or lump it....we have to accept those changes !!

 

[Rhothgar]

Thanks guys.

We never stop learning but when productivity matters, it just drains you mentally. I have enough of a battle on keeping my business running without having to learn things for which there is no valid reason for it to change?

Copy and paste should work the same time and time again. But like I said on second paste, it drops the formatting I guess.

I did mean to upload some screenshots which means switching back to the new drive but I'll leave that until tomorrow. I need sleep. It's been one of those days. As if Monday isn't bad enough.

Michael M. My vintage cars are much classier than an Austin A35 I'll have you know...

 

[Michael M]

Yeah...brand new day tomorrow...and it WILL get easier with time...and your only young !!!.....

 

[Rhothgar]

Ha! Ha! I wish Michael.

Anyway, I'm still up and switch drives.

The Paste Options are all greyed out.

Does this programme have to run on the web or is there a way of downloading the Office 365 suite to run on Windows 10 in-situ do you know?

Just another minor irration as I cannot use Ctrl+TAB to switch between the browser and an Excel programme whilst copying and pasting. Little niggles that waste time.

Just realised I've not left other drive plugged in so cannot upload screenshot of Excel 2003 although it's essentially exactly the same as the top portion of this screenshot attached and every subsequent paste in 2003 retains that format.

This screenshot shows 365 and top portion is copy and paste then the number 18 in A19 and associated hyperlink, in this case, the wording "HP 250 G7 LAPTOP (MANUFACTOR SEALED)" is no longer an hyperlink and the price (goes into A20) and time remaining (A21).

Whereas, it should be strung out like B16:E16.

Mind boggling...

 

[Michael M]

Sorry, I have no knowledge of 365....and from the sound of it, the less I know the better.
The last line of the post from @DRSteele might be worth pursuing. There are some great youtube videos out there.

 

[Paul Ked]

I changed from 2003 to 365 a few years ago, I'm 54 now so was around your age when I switched... I would never go back. The features, although alien at first, are well worth the perseverance and heartache! There are gripes (Autosave is BS, stability is poor, no offline help to name a few) but these are niggles. Stick with it, you may be surprised ?

 

[Rhothgar]

I don't get it - if you truly don't want to understand or learn, why did you post here?

On the other hand, I can sense through your harangue that you might actually want to learn. So why don't you list one of the websites for us that is causing difficulty and we'll see about hyperlinks and such?

Also, there are countless videos on youtube that can help you transition to Excel 365. Would you like us to direct you to them?

You can see in Post #6 above where it trips over into not doing what it does in previous paste?

What's changed and how can I rectify it please?

 

[Richard U]

Welcome, fellow pentagenarian I feel your pain. I am in charge of migrating 300,000,000 *.xls files over to Win365

Needless to say, I feel your pain