Excel for Mac question

[Caravan Ray]

Does anyone out there use MS Excel on Mac?

Is there any way I can get my screen to look like a Windows screen - ie - not having the window detatched from the toolbars and sliding around.

When working on Excel - I just want the spreadsheet on screen - and covering the whole screen. the Mac maximise button does not seem to do the same thing the Windows maximise button does. It is making me feel slightly uncomfortable - not the same "feel" I am used to

[Lunkhead]

Those are a couple of the fundamental differences between the Mac OS and Windows. Some apps let you sort of fake the Windows style with the toolbars/panels in the document window, but some don't. You may have to just get used to it, if there is no obvious way to change it in Excel. Try digging around in the Preferences, especially if there are "Advanced" preferences or something obscure like that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_d ... _interface
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_document_interface

[Caravan Ray]

Yes - it looks like it is just something I will have to get used to.

I am a very heavy Excel user at work - it's like the spreadsheet is an extension of my hands - but I have always used the office computers. The last few months I have stopped full-time work and been working at home as a consultant. While I would never get another Windows machine for personal use - I am finding doing "work" work on the Mac is a little weird. It's a little like playing someone else's guitar - it does the job and works perfectly well, but somehow just doesn't 'feel' right. I have been fiddling with it all day, and trawling some Mac forums for advice - it is almost OK now, just not quite there....

So - I will have to either get used to the change - or get another real job. Neither of those options sound very attractive.

[Lunkhead]

There is another option, which is to install Windows on your Mac and then continue to use Excel in Windows as you always have. There are a lot of ways to do that. You can use Apple's free Boot Camp (which should already be on your Mac) to install Windows on a partition on your hard drive, at which point you can choose to boot into Windows or Mac OS X at startup. You can download Oracle's free VirtualBox (which I highly recommend as a great product), or buy one of the similar commercial products like VMWare Fusion or Parallels (which I haven't tried, but get good reviews), and set up a Windows virtual PC on your Mac that you can run in a window alongside all your Mac programs. Those programs also let you run your Windows virtual PC in "full screen" mode, too, so that for all intents and purposes you appear to be just running Windows. All of these options are actually pretty easy to get working, provided you have a copy of Windows you can install. You can be up and running with VirtualBox in only a couple minutes longer than it takes to install Windows.

[Caravan Ray]

That's not a bad idea. I hadn't thought of that.

I can't at the moment - I am still using a 2004 vintage iMac which cannot have Windows installed on it, though I am planning on buying a new iMac soon.

I would have to buy both Windows AND a Windows version of MS Office, but if I do continue this "working from home" gig, my "business" could buy that for me. And there may be advantages to having the separate boot up - like I have 2 different computers, a work one and a play one. My self-discipline is not very good when it comes to working from home. Any means of separating "work time" from "play time" would be helpful.

[Lunkhead]

Oh right, sorry. I forgot that an Intel Mac is necessary for any of those things I suggested.

[JonPorobil]

And there may be advantages to having the separate boot up - like I have 2 different computers, a work one and a play one. My self-discipline is not very good when it comes to working from home. Any means of separating "work time" from "play time" would be helpful.

I do this with my music. I primary boot to Linux for personal use, but I have a separate Windows partition for recording, and the Windows partition hasn't got most of the capabilities of the Linux one, because I uninstalled pretty much everything that isn't directly related to recording music. Helps keep me clean when I'm working on a song.

If you're working from home and having difficulty separating your personal time from your work time, I would strongly recommend this approach.

[Caravan Ray]

And there may be advantages to having the separate boot up - like I have 2 different computers, a work one and a play one. My self-discipline is not very good when it comes to working from home. Any means of separating "work time" from "play time" would be helpful.

I do this with my music. I primary boot to Linux for personal use, but I have a separate Windows partition for recording, and the Windows partition hasn't got most of the capabilities of the Linux one, because I uninstalled pretty much everything that isn't directly related to recording music. Helps keep me clean when I'm working on a song.

If you're working from home and having difficulty separating your personal time from your work time, I would strongly recommend this approach.

Yes - if I stay self-employed, I will go that route.

Working from home sounds great in theory - but I don't think I am really cut out for it. Too easily distracted.

I have just been offered an interview for a fairly menial and low paying local government job. All going well, if I am offered that job - I will have to choose between a mind-numbing existence as a low-paid public servant or getting double the pay for half the work, including lots of tax concessions as a freelance consultant. After 3 months now of arseing abut at home - I sort of miss working with other people around me. Sure I've got to play a lot of Wii, did a lot of recording for Nur Ein and don't have to wear pants - but I miss being a dick in management meetings and making fun of the office psycopaths