• zalgotext@sh.itjust.works
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    1 day ago

    There’s a ton of reasons to hate Excel, I’m sure, but I don’t think lack of support for relational data is a reasonable one. There’s tools for that job, but Excel isn’t trying to be one of them.

    • Laser@feddit.org
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      1 day ago

      Just because it doesn’t offer features a database has doesn’t mean people aren’t trying to use it as one

      I support your argument, but unfortunately there are some real monstrosities out there that have carried small businesses since decades

      • zalgotext@sh.itjust.works
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        1 day ago

        Yeah, not denying that people use Excel to do all kinds of crazy shit. People using the tool wrong isn’t the tool’s fault though, right?

        • Doomsider@lemmy.world
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          22 hours ago

          Wrong! If I am using a hammer to deliver babies I expect hammer manufacturers to put a rubber coating on the claw so it doesn’t scratch the baby as I pry it out.

    • robador51@lemmy.ml
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      1 day ago

      I get that. But it’s a case that’s just so incredibly common. Tagging/categorization. We end up with multiple columns like ‘cat 1’, ‘cat 2’, etc. Or doing pivot tables. I guess to me there’s pretty much always something that can do the job better, but the reality is that in the corporate setting I operate in everybody uses Excel.

      • 4am@lemmy.zip
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        21 hours ago

        You are trying to use Excel like a database and that’s not its job. Use Access for that, if you must stick within the Office ecosystem

        • robador51@lemmy.ml
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          20 hours ago

          If I’m the only one doing it then I’d prefer to stick with sqlite. But the reality is that everyone I work with does these kinds of things in excel, and it’s a shitshow. Yes, u could say ‘don’t blame the tool’, but it’s ms shoving it down our throats and they could’ve done much better with the time they had.