MS Forms Integration in Excel Desktop App: A Game Changer for Data Collection

Excel New Form Option

Exciting news for Windows Excel 365 users! MS Forms is now integrated into the Excel Desktop App, bringing two of our favourite M365 products closer together and streamlining the data collection process.

With this new feature, you can create and link an MS Form directly within an existing Excel workbook. This means that live-form response data can be accessed inside a related project’s workbook seamlessly. Users can now collect data via an MS Form, and the responses will feed directly back into their Excel workbook. From there, the data can be viewed and reported on, eliminating the need for manual data entry and consolidation.

This integration simplifies the process of transferring response data between files, making data management more efficient and less error-prone.

Getting Started

  • Save Your Excel File: Ensure your Excel file is saved to an online cloud location such as SharePoint or OneDrive.
  • Enable AutoSave: Turn on the AutoSave function.
  • Insert a New Form:
    • Go to the Insert tab
    • Select Forms > New Form.
Excel New Form Option

This will open a blank MS Form in a web browser window. From here, you can create an MS Form as usual. Once completed, you can submit a survey response. The response data will flow directly into the worksheet where you added the form. 

Sample MS Form
Sample MS Form Response Data in Excel

With an MS Form linked to your worksheet, you will find additional quick MS Form options available within Excel, allowing you to navigate quickly to your form without opening MS Forms separately:

  1. Preview Form
  2. Edit Form
  3. Send Form
MS Form options in Excel

Availability & System Requirements

This new feature is available to Windows Excel users using Version 2410 (Build 16.0.18227.20000) or later.

To check your version:

  • Go to File > Account.
  • If you are not on the latest build, you may be able to update it using the Office Updates section found in the same location.
Excel About - Version

Olas's Application Development Team

Our Application Development team specialises in finding custom solutions for our clients. MS Excel and MS Forms are two commonly used tools in many of our clients’ solutions, and this new functionality will only enhance our capabilities. This will lead to even better and more streamlined solutions.

Contact us today for assistance with creating an Excel or MS Form solution, or to discuss potential solutions for your projects.

Olas-Team-Fergal

Fergal O'Connor

Senior Technical Consultant


fergal.oconnor@olas.ie
Mobile: +353 86 841 3708

2025 Schedules Now Available!

2025

2025 Schedules Now Available!

Heading into the final quarter of 2024, Olas are here for all your training and development needs.  Book a course with us; we can customise and schedule on demand.  We can help you automate your processes and improve efficiencies in your day-to-day tasks – maximising the potential of your technology.

Whether you’re looking to book a course in the last quarter of 2024 or plan for 2025, we’ve got you covered. Keep an eye out for our new Co-Pilot and Power Platform courses!

About Us - Marta Maslowska Olas Business Development Manager

MARTA MASLOWSKA
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER


Mobile: +353 085 8006445

Word Docs with Embedded Links to Excel

Blog - Word Docs with Embedded Links to Excel - Word Example Doc 1

EMBEDDED LINKS TO EXCEL WITHIN WORD

Did you know you can link live Excel charts and tables within a connected PowerPoint presentation or Word document?

In a recent project that came to us a client was looking for a way to bring multiple sections of an Excel document into different parts of a Word document. The Excel file would be continually updated, so the need was for these live updates to automatically be reflected in the Word document without the need for the users to complete lengthy edits of the Word document every time.

There are a few ways this could have been achieved:

Word Paste Special

In this particular instance, the Excel file in question was a fully fledged file in its own right that would be updated/accessed outside the need to just update the Word file and so the embedding method was ruled out. The custom VBA approach would require too much development time for this project. So, the linked Excel route was taken.

The Copy and ‘Paste Special’, ‘Paste Link’ method can be used across multiple charts/tables or ranges of cells to bring in multiple separate objects/sections into the Word/PowerPoint doc.

Project Flow Chart

Once the linked objects were now in place, upon opening the Word file the user would receive the following message.

Word Links Warning

Upon selecting ‘Yes’, MS Word would seek to update any of the linked elements in the document with the very latest data available.

Blog - Word Docs with Embedded Links to Excel - Word Example Doc 2
Blog - Word Docs with Embedded Links to Excel - Word Example Doc 1

A few things of note here;

It is best to keep the linked files stored within the same root folder and to not rename the Excel file. If stored in the same location and the Excel file is not renamed, they should remain linked.
If the link between Word and Excel does become broken it can be reset in Word by going to File>Info>Edit Links to files.

 

Blog - Word Docs with Embedded Links to Excel - Folder Setup

If you select ‘Yes’ while the Excel file is closed, Word may take upwards of a minute to open and refresh the data. If, however he linked Excel file was opened first, this updating process is instant. As a result, it is highly recommended to first open the Excel file, then open the word file and to select ‘Yes’ to the update links message. This is particular true where there is more than one object/section linked.

If you have a project where linking to Excel is a requirement, please do not hesitate to contact Olas to discuss how we can assist you on the project.

About Us - Olas Team Member - Fergal

Fergal O'Connor

Senior Technical Consultant


fergal.oconnor@olas.ie
Mobile: +353 86 841 3708

Development Case Study: University Thesis Database: Microsoft Access, SharePoint, Word and Excel

Development Case Study: University Thesis Database: Microsoft Access, SharePoint, Word and Excel

Development Case Study: University Thesis Database: Microsoft Access, SharePoint, Word and Excel

An Application Development Team Case Study:

Olas Logo

University Thesis Database: Microsoft Access, SharePoint, Word and Excel

Technology: Microsoft Access, Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel

Client: One of Ireland’s Top Universities
Year: 2020

As part of this redevelopment project, Olas breathed new life into an older MS Access application that had evolved internally in the university over a large number of years. The Thesis database was a central repository for recording students, examiners and Thesis data that then would be used in reporting on and creating all external typed letters from the department.

A key incentive for this project to get the go-ahead was the need to find a new home for the database as the traditional file-server networked drive that it sat on was now being decommissioned in favour of newer cloud based technology. What was now once a standalone MS Access application was now redesigned as a MS Access front-end application (screens and functions) with the data migrated to a SharePoint Lists back-end setup. This new setup was successfully achieved with no loss to performance or function.

In redeveloping the solution, we gave it a new improved interface, search features, security and reporting to MS Excel and MS Word based mail merge functions to create letters. We firstly began by streamlined the system by removing obsolete elements and to redesign the setup of the system to make it much more usable and maintainable for the users going forward. The other key part of this project was to introduce a new, detailed, custom mail merge facility. The new setup led to the creation of 35 separate MS Word letter templates which then would be called upon by the systems custom mail merge process, which would further populate the more individual elements of the letters. These generated letters could in turn be saved as MS Word document, as PDF’s, as email attachments or even as the body of an email itself. For a single student or examiner record it could be the case that the system could generate a single email with up to five separate generated documents attached. The setup of the letter templates as MS Word documents has meant the letters are extremely easy to update and format as required by the users going forward, or to even add new letters to the catalogue of documents that is populated by the system.

The end deliverable was a hugely successful migration of an old MS Access database with a soon to be made legacy environment setup, to that of a new setup utilising a SharePoint backend. While also providing a much needed modernised look and feel with an extensive mail merge facility.

About Us - Olas Team Member - Fergal

FERGAL O’CONNOR
SENIOR TECHNICAL CONSULTANT


Mobile: +353 86 841 3708
Email: fergal.oconnor@olas.ie


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