Despite it's multifunctionality, I sincerely dislike having to use Excel, simply because I feel the program is not as intuitive as some of the other Microsoft applications. I have had to use Excel throughout my years both as a high school and college student, and yet no matter how many times I click the giant green X at the bottom of my screen, I can never remember how to use it efficiently. I have come to the conclusion that the difference between Excel and the other Microsoft applications, at least for me is that while I use all applications for school, Excel is the only application that I don't use at home (for personal use.) I think perhaps because I have neglected to become personally invested in the software that I
a) don't see the personal advantage of using the app.
b) have found alternative ways to do the same work but with different applications.
and c) have less patience for the application.
This week I had the choice of either making a timeline or a crossword puzzle using Excel. Traditionally I would use PowerPoint as an image editor to create a timeline, but I had no idea which Microsoft product I would use to create a crossword puzzle. Because of this I chose to use Excel to create the crossword instead of the timeline. In the past I have used free online crossword generators to make crosswords for my classrooms, so I was eager to see how Excel would rank next to these other free options.
Overall I found excel much more cumbersome, with many more steps, and a similar end product. With the online free applications all that is needed is for me to type in my vocabulary words, type in the definitions, hit generate, and print. With Excel, I had to first list my vocabulary words, attempt to find common letters, use pen and paper to fit the words together in a grid format, locate the correct grid blocks in Excel, create borders for each words letter blocks, type in the numbers for each word, type in the vocabulary words as a word bank, type in the clues for both down and across, make sure my crossword puzzle worked, save, and print. This clearly had more steps involved and left many more opportunities for error. Overall I will most likely not be using Excel for crosswords again in the future simply because of the numerous extra steps, the margin for error, and the amount of time needed to create a useable document. That being said, I will continue to use Excel for other purposes such as lists for Mail Merger, collecting data, and performing math functions.