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Hello everyone,

I have added a new blog to the site, which can be found at excelguru.ca/blog.

This is going to give me an opportunity to post more quickly on a variety of topics, reserving this section of the site for fully tested solutions.

Things that I'll post on the blog include some of the projects I'm working on, less than completely tested solutions, opinions and software reviews, among others. It will support comments there, and I encourage you to do so. It also means that I will stop posting this kind of message on the site, so for those of you who have signed up for email notifications, you'll only get them when real content has been added.

Hello everyone,

Well, the move from my old host to the new one has finally happened, and I've got some great news here about a few new features on the site.

We were down for a few hours, but have successfully made the transition to a new host.

I'm hoping that this provider will be faster and more stable than my previous host.

Thank you for being patient!

Ken Puls

I've just uploaded an updated version of the XLG Favourites Add-in, version 1.100.

This version comes equipped with:

1. Improved Error Handling
2. A full Help file
3. A new feature: Add the Active Workbook to the Most Recently Used list.

To get the updated version, visit the XLG Favourites page

All the best,

Ken Puls

Hello everyone,

I have triggered a move to a new host, which should take effect over the next few days. I'm hoping that the impact on access is minimal, but only time will tell.

I appreciate your patience during this process, and will post back when it is complete.

Wow!

Yesterday I was awarded the Microsoft MVP award for my contributions to the online Excel community. As I said in some of the forums I visit, it still feels a little strange to given the same recognition as the legends whose books I own, sites I frequent and tools I have installed to do what I do. I'm flattered, humbled, and exhilerated, all rolled up into one neat package.

For those of you who aren't aware of what the Microsoft MVP award is all about, you can find out more here.

My (very bare bones) online MVP profile can be seen here, although my own pages hold a bit more information about me at this time.

Hello everyone,

Over the past two weeks, the site calendar shows very little, however there has been a significant amount going on behind the scenes.

For starters, I've added two downloads to the site:

1. The UseTemplate add-in is a utility that I developed to make it easier to group and manage templates in an Excel menu. Born out of frustration of extended clicking to get to my templates, and constant wracking of my brain to remember if the template was created in Excel or Word, this add-in was developed to deal with both issues. It adds a menu that collects all local and network templates and sorts them into submenus. I now have a very quick way to access and launch any Word, Excel or Powerpoint template right from Excel. It can be downloaded, free of charge, here.

XLG Favourites

This add-in was created to increase the functionality of Excel and address some shortcomings in the "Most Recently Used Files" listing. While we can increase the list to hold 9 items, I frequently use more than that many files during one of our month ends. It's also well known that long file names get abbreviated and difficult to read. This add-in addresses these issues, among other things.

The work is based very closely on the original "Favorites Add-in" created and published by Daniel Klann. It was his idea to create a menu to hold a list of favorite items. There were two main reasons that I put my own spin on this add-in:

XLG Favourites Add-in Instructions
This article contains instructions for the installation and usage of the XLG Favourites Add-in. To download this add-in, please visit the XLG Favourites Add-in page.

Installation:

1. Download and extract the package to your local PC or the network drive where you wish to store the add-in.
2. Open Excel.
3. From the Tools menu, select Add-ins.
4. Click Browse and locate the extracted XLG Favourites addin.
5. Double click it.
6. You may now be prompted with the message below: