Review: SharePoint 2010 Sync with Excel 2010

• Not SharePoint Enterprise
• SharePoint 2010
• Excel 2010 (although should be possible with 2003-2007)

Work is frustrating when I have to research on solutions that take more time than it would take for me to just create a custom application. The latest project is to create metrics from lists that were created in SharePoint.

At first glance, seems like a very simple task. Get access to the list, then aggregate the data. But of course, Microsoft does not make this easy at all. First you need to have so many other MS products which I (unfortunately) do not have access to.

Cons

• Only Excel to SharePoint
• I could not find a way to have sync if the list originated from SharePoint first
• Must be saved as 2003 (*.xls) to save the connection for syncing
• If you lose the connection, by saving as 2010, deleting the excel file, or losing the file, you lose the connection
• I was unable to find a way to reconnect for syncing
• BUT- I was able to refresh data in excel to data from SharePoint with Refresh data
• Does not save with Excel 2010
• It will work when you export to SharePoint but cannot save the connection
• When saving select *.xls (2003)
• Who knows how long this will be supported for as his has already been deprecated in 2010
• Clearly MS trying to require more customers to purchase more products like Access when most of companies already have MS SQL

Although the ability to update SharePoint lists from Office Excel 2007 is deprecated in favor of publishing and synchronizing lists using Office Access 2007, you can use the Excel 2007 SharePoint List Synchronizing Add-in to update SharePoint lists from Office Excel 2007. ~ (Reference-1 MSDN)

Pros

• More feed for Microsoft haters
• At least the refresh is sufficient for reporting purposes since SharePoint is the primary entry of data
• It appears there are other solutions but have financial costs
• Free if you already have SharePoint (non-enterprise version) and Excel 2010

Reference

http://itblog.wolthaus.net/2012/03/synchronize-excel-2010-with-sharepoint-2010-list/ - Synchronize Excel 2010 with SharePoint 2010 List

• Does not address having SharePoint list before having the excel file
• Does not address if you somehow lose the excel file or create a separate file

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vay-J97xl44 - Export Excel Lists To SharePoint And Connect Them

• This is most helpful for connection only
• Does not include setup, see link above for SynchronizeWSSandExcel.xlam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZdZMaKOg7s - QA0001 - Synchronise SharePoint with Excel

• Video I found for SharePoint 2013 (enterprise) and Excel 2013 (untested since I do not have either versions)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuW8QwAPSBw


Other SharePoint 2010 Tips
http://www.mssharepointtips.com/tip.asp?id=956&page=2


1 - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb462636%28office.11%29.aspx#Office2007SynchronizeSharePointListfromExcel_Synchronizing

Scammish: MeetMe and XBox Email Verification Completely Useless

I do not know what is going on but I received emails from MeetMe and XBox to verify a new account which I did not even create an account for. So, I ignored the email. Yet, I continued to receive email as if my account was verified. Not only that, it appears that there are activities going on in the respective accounts that required them to flag the accounts.

What a bunch of non-sense... I cannot even address the accounts and yet they are accusing me of wrong-doing on top of the spam mail? I cannot even remove myself from their either site because I did not technically even have an account. No responses from their support, but at least I was not expecting that to happen anyways. XBox email unsubscribe does not work with a supposedly non-validated email address.

Review: Letters from Whitechapel (Board Game)

• 2+ players
• Competitive and Cooperative play
• Cooperative requires at least 3 players
• Good party game, new player friendly
• Theme may not be appropriate for young kids

I have now played or watched people play Letters from Whitechapel a few times now. The mechanics are simple but still challenging. A similar game to this was Scotland Yard which I have not played for over 10 years.

The basic concept is that there is a character, Jack the Ripper, that has to navigate around the map to accomplish his objectives. Whoever plays Jack will be playing against everyone else (typically an experienced player). This is the competitive portion where Jack has to mislead or bluff to his goal.

The rest of the players are the detectives in hunting for Jack. 1 player or multiple players can play the detectives. They can cooperate with each other to find leads, cut off certain paths, and/or hopefully arrest Jack.

Pros

The best part of this game is that it has both elements of competitive and cooperative play. One of my problems in finding a good game for a party where everyone can play. Typical games are either too competitive (i.e. Settlers of Catan) or too cooperative (i.e. Pandemic). I think one of the biggest problems with people who usually do not play board games is that they do not want to upset other players because they do not know how to play. This is even more so when you have very competitive friends (who always wants to play so I rarely play coop games).

For Whitechapel, all the cooperative players should be on the detective side since they can all discuss strategies. Competitive players can play either Jack or detectives. On the detective side, they will tend to direct the other players. I try to encourage that the head detective (who rotates after each round) do most of the talking.

Cons

I do not have much against the game so far. With friends who I think are good at strategy, Jack has a high tendency to win (4 out of 5 games). With another group of friends who I thought were less strategic in their play-style, Jack almost always lost.

Personally, I've played Jack 3 times and detective 2 times. I've won all except one. The lost game did not follow the strategies I think was needed to win. The other time as detective, I think it was a fluke that we found Jack.

Overall

This is definitely one of my top party games with people who like strategy and minimal random factors (like dice and/or card drawing).