Excel Jobs.. Without Excel?
SPC Office Buddy 4.2 can now, for the first time create Excel files without Microsoft Excel being installed on the same computer as SPC Office Buddy. Excel output formats include pre-2007 .xls files as well as newer .xlsx, .xlsb (binary), and .xlsm (macro enabled) files.
This provides for much greater flexibility and efficiency when running SPC Office Buddy jobs with the ERS scheduled export option since ERS Services (v. 4.1+) often run on servers that do not have MS Office. This is not a problem as long as you set Buddy to use the independent libaray.
Setting it Up
In SPC Office Buddy, go to
Tools > Options > Excel Jobs, and there is a new drop down list with settings to always use Excel, use the independent library where possible (where Job does not encounter the limitations below), or always use the independent library. In situations where Excel is not installed on the PC/Server, simply choose to always use the independent library.
Limitations
Because the independent library is not actually Excel, there are a couple of limitations:
- Macros can be saved, but not actually run - You cannot run macros because Buddy is simply generating an Excel file and not actually running Excel (which is where macros are run). If there are macros present in the Excel Job, they will be ignored if running with the independent library.
- Excel Visible during Job - You cannot show Excel during the running of an Excel Job because the independent library is just creating the output file. There is nothing running in the background that can be shown. If this checkbox is set, Buddy will ignore it when running using the independent library.
Show Excel after Job
The output report can always be shown after the job is complete as long as there is an application that can process files with the Excel extensions. If this checkbox is checked and Excel is not on the local computer, SPC Office Buddy will simply attempt to launch the application associated with the Excel file extension (i.e. .xlsx). Since both OpenOffice and Google Docs support this extension, the files can be opened in this software instead.