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.
Comment on Excel's AI: 20% of the time, it works every time
zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks agoThere’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.
robador51@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
4am@lemmy.zip 3 weeks 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 3 weeks 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.
Laser@feddit.org 3 weeks 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 3 weeks 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 3 weeks 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.
pirat@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Reminded me of these two projects by some Dylan Tallchief:
He first made a programmable drum machine, then a DAW in Excel.