How can I Export a sheet or table or selection to another file format without changing the currently active document ?
Our primary data operation environment is in Excel, where extensive use of formatting and formulas is used to get our desired results. The results are then saved as .CSV
for interoperability with other programs.
When "File >> Save As >> Save as type >> CSV" is used the .csv file is created and the active document is changed to saved_file.csv
. There are some warnings about losing functionality and formatting with this new format, but otherwise the user interface is unchanged. There are bold and italics, different fonts and sizes, background cell fills, defined table ranges and so on. All the formulas in the cells remain intact.
This is a disaster waiting to happen. The user is gets back to work, lulled into thinking everything is normal, soon forgets the current format doesn't support any magic, and carries on doing Important Stuff(tm). Lunch time arrives, they close Excel, slap Yes twice to annoying dialogs that aren't-read-because-they-see-them-all-the-time, and head out the door. ...After lunch user comes back and realizes all the work between initial Save As and Exit is gone.
"File >> Export", unfortunately, is just another navigation route to "Save As", also changing the active document to "some_file.csv".
What we need is to export some data to another file type and keep the active document "our-real-data.xlsx".
How can this be done? And added to menu or ribbon for one-click execution?
How can it be shared with everyone in the organisation? (without asking individual users to open a VBA editor etc.)