Linking to a spreadsheet.

dori2o

I want to link a spreadsheet into a thread in one of the forums, First of all can I do this, and secondly if so how would I do it.

Thanks

fermi

What do you mean by "link a spreadsheet into"?

This forum only allows simple post formatting and doesn't allow attachments, so as far as I know you are probably restricted to.

1) Linking to a spreadsheet file or worksheet embedded in a webpage hosted on an external site/server.

e.g. Linking to the MSE Budget Planner Spreadsheet.

2) Displaying the contents of a spreadsheet in post by converting it to an image and again hosting it on an external server.

e.g. From the budget planner:



If you can give us some details of what you are trying to do, then we may be able to work something out.

dori2o

It would be Option 1

It is a quick calculator for gas/electric use. It can also be used as a toll to check what the cost of gas/electricity would be as per the prices on energy suppliers websites. It is a way of checking whether comparison sites are as accurate as they should be.

It's not a tool that can tell you who is the cheapest supplier, but allows you to calculate for yourself to verify information that has been gained.

tomstickland

You have to upload the spreadsheet somewhere. ie: some webspace. Then put a link into the thread.

fermi

In that case, as far as I know you would need to host the spreadsheet file or embed it in a web page. You would then need to link to it on the forum as you would any file or webpage.

Or it might be possible to recode it to work as a simple calculator like The Minimum Repayment Calculator.

I don't know whether it is the sort of simple calculator that MSE would consider hosting? Maybe/maybe not?

If you need help implementing it, then perhaps the people on the Techie Stuff board can help.

EDIT: Cross posted a little with tomstickland.

munk

You could upload your spreadsheet to Google Docs and then make it publicly visible by either publishing it or even allowing other google users to share it (so they can save their own copy of the sheet to their google docs space and work with it as they please).

If you really wanted to get fancy you can even allow others to 'collaborate' on the sheet so others can edit the document to make enhancements and so forth. Very useful if you've got something that you've made a start on and want to encourage others to add to it and tweak it and generally make it better. If you don't like the changes that are made, it's a couple of clicks to revert back to an earlier 'revision' (ie your original).

The drawback though is that you and anyone who wants to actually use the sheet (if it has formulas which I guess it will have being a utility tool) has to have a google account. Very cool thing though, worth a look if you have an account (worth signing up for too if you don't!)

http://docs.google.com/?pli=1#spreadsheets