Calling all Spreadsheeters - ATY Community Spreadsheet

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

A forewarning for all of you spreadsheeters who may have the link to the Community Spreadsheet saved somewhere.

I'm moving jobs, and I (unfortunately) made the community spreadsheet on my work account. So I (finally) caught it when no one was on the doc, and copied it over onto my personal account.

This generates a new link and removes all of the revision history so... downsides. But upside is that I'll be able to control it from here on out.

THE NEW SPREADSHEET LINK IS HERE: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

I've also changed it on the homepage and changed the old one to just give the link to the new one. Eep.

[Lizzy]

Emily wrote: "A forewarning for all of you spreadsheeters who may have the link to the Community Spreadsheet saved somewhere.

I'm moving jobs, and I (unfortunately) made the community spreadsheet on my work acc..."

Exciting for a new job! Hope you love it, and congratulations.

[LeahS]

Thanks, Emily. Hope the new job goes well.

[Samantha]

Thanks for taking care our spreadsheet and best wish with the new job (hope it is a good change)!

[Sherri]

Thank You Emily. Congratulations on your new job.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Thanks yall! Leaving education to go work with my husband at the business he started so it will definitely be a good change!

[NancyJ]

Congrats on the new job!

[Karin]

Congratulations on the new job :) !

[Chrissy]

Is anyone else having trouble editing the spreadsheet? Seems like I now have read-only access.

[LeahS]

Yes, won't let me do anything, although it was fine earlier today,

[GailW]

LeahS wrote: "Yes, won't let me do anything, although it was fine earlier today,"

Hi. Try again, whatever it was might be okay now. I was just able to use it.

[Jill]

I have tried a number of times now and still can’t enter my update.

[LeahS]

It's ok for me - colours have changed for some reason, but seem to b working.

[Lizzy]

Didn’t work for me a couple hours ago… now is working.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Hm! That's strange! It must have been a Google Sheets thing -- I didn't change anything in the document.

[Misty]

Congrats on the new job!

[Tracy]

Hi Mods (in case Emily is not the only mod who manages the spreadsheets):

I was just in the 2024 Community Spreadsheet, and I think something has changed with the setup. I'm pretty sure the top row (rows?) that has/have our names has been a frozen row all this time, so that you can scroll down and still see which column is yours. This morning that row(rows) is not frozen. Am I crazy and has it been this way all the time, or did something inadvertently get changed? Can you fix this?

Thanks!

[Steve]

Tracy, it’s always been unfrozen. If we freeze it, no new people could add themselves to the spreadsheet.

[Tracy]

Steve wrote: "Tracy, it’s always been unfrozen. If we freeze it, no new people could add themselves to the spreadsheet."

Well, maybe the terminology is different on Google Sheets as compared to other spreadsheets.

What I mean is that if you freeze the top row(s) they don't disappear when you scroll down - they are locked in place the rest of the rows keep scrolling up and kind of slide under them (in the same way that they slide under all the menu items above the actual spreadsheet). You can certainly add and see new people/columns if this is done.

[Steve]

Got it. Misinterpreted what you said! I don’t remember if we’ve had the panes frozen like that for the rows like we have for the columns.

[Kendra]

I don't think you can have both the top row and the first column frozen - and I'd say being able to see which prompt each square matches up to is more important than seeing your name.

[GailW]

Kendra wrote: "name."

In excel it is common practice on this type of spreadsheet to have as many columns on the left and the top frozen as wanted. I can take a look at it but I don't know if I would have the necessary authorization to change it. I'll give it a try.

[GailW]

It's fixed. It was only the M-Z tab. Columns A-D and the first three rows are frozen on the other tabs as well.

[Tracy]

Thank you Gail! I wasn’t sure about access/appropriateness of me messing with it. I’m very familiar with the workings of Excel and Apple’s Numbers, but am not as fluent with Google Drive apps, so didn’t want to inadvertently break it. 🙏🏼

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Thanks for taking care of that Gail. On a spreadsheet that is so heavily trafficked like this one, things get a bit wonky sometimes.

[Alyssa]

Hello!

Is the spreadsheet for the A-F names locked? I can't seem to be able to add a new column.

I am very new to this group so if there is a reason that it is locked just let me know!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Oh my goodness! I've been neglecting the 2024 tabs with all the 2025 happenings. Sorry about that! I've added lots more columns!

[NancyJ]

Help! I feel like such an old lady. My laptop died and I’m using an iPad, and I can’t get the spreadsheet to work. I can’t get the first few columns to hold still so I can see the prompts AND my own columns. I have 3 rounds completed for most prompts but I havent entered them.

Maybe I need to update software, or change settings, or just click in a particular space. Any tips?

I really hate typing on this iPad, and I’d like to be able to cut and paste titles from my record on GR, rather than retype titles and authors. Can anyone recommend a faster way to do this?

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Are you on the Google Sheets app? You can open it without it, but you have to have the Sheets app to edit it!

[NancyJ]

Emily wrote: "Are you on the Google Sheets app? You can open it without it, but you have to have the Sheets app to edit it!"

I thought so, I was able to add my name, but I’ll look …

[NancyJ]

Thanks Emily, I reinstalled it and it now looks normal again. Step 1 done😁

[Ellie]

NancyJ wrote: "I really hate typing on this iPad, and I’d like to be able to cut and paste titles from my record on GR, rather than retype titles and authors. Can anyone recommend a faster way to do this?..."

It takes a while to get used to copy pasting on touchscreens but it can be done.

If you double tap on a word it should highlight it with two little handles on each side. You can then drag the handles to select more text. To copy and paste it will depend on what version of iOS you're on. Either there will be icons on your keyboard or you will be shown options when you double tap.

This article might help explain it better:
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide...

[Ellie]

How will the anniversary prompts be handled on the spreadsheet next year? I'd like to keep track of them, but not have them interfere with the progress of the main challenge just in case I don't get round to them. I think when things aren't on a spreadsheet to tick off, I lose interest. 🤣

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Great question that I hadn't thought about lol. I may do a spreadsheet tab just for the anniversary prompts like I do with the Rejects. We have so many tabs lol but I think that's the easiest way to keep up with the count without it interfering with the statistics.

[Emilie]

Hi, I was wondering if some columns were removed from the A-F tab? I just went to add a book to my column and couldn't find mine. I used to be in column EY, but EK is the last one now

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Yes, I removed any that had logged less than 10 books. At this point in the year, I assumed people had forgotten about the spreadsheet and were not updating, so I wanted a more accurate count of where the group stood.

[dalex]

Emily wrote: "Great question that I hadn't thought about lol. I may do a spreadsheet tab just for the anniversary prompts like I do with the Rejects. We have so many tabs lol but I think that's the easiest way t..."

Could you set it up like the planning page, where the anniversary prompts are at the bottom and then do two sum formulas, one for the regular prompts and one for the anniversary prompts? It seems like keeping everything together and adding a few extra formulas would be less confusing and cumbersome then adding three extra pages for the ten extra prompts.

[Jill]

Looking at the spreadsheet it seems that one of my squares has leaked over onto the next person's box. I don't know how to put it right. Please could someone help

[LeahS]

Jill wrote: "Looking at the spreadsheet it seems that one of my squares has leaked over onto the next person's box. I don't know how to put it right. Please could someone help"

Jill, click on the rogue square, and your entry will appear in the fx box at the top, as it does when you are entering it, Highlight, and then click on Format, then select Wrapping. Click on the arrow to the right of Wrapping, and click on Wrap. This will locate your entry in the right square.

[Jill]

LeahS wrote: "Jill wrote: "Looking at the spreadsheet it seems that one of my squares has leaked over onto the next person's box. I don't know how to put it right. Please could someone help"

Jill, click on the ..."

Thank you. I didn't understand but I found someone who knew what you meant and they did it for me

[dalex]

Should we be looking for an all new spreadsheet for '25 or tabs in the existing spreadsheet?

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

The current spreadsheet will stay and we will just update tabs!

[dalex]

Emily wrote: "The current spreadsheet will stay and we will just update tabs!"

Perfect. Thanks.

[Connie]

I'm frustrated. My column for inputting my books seems to be gone (I used my initials CLW because there were already several folks with my name). Now I read that you chose to remove columns a couple of weeks ago if they had less books than you deemed acceptable. I finally have my 'year of crisis' controlled enough that can get back to doing 'me-time' and read. Oh well, guess I don't need the group to still enjoy reading.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Hi Connie, totally understand your frustration... you're more than welcome to add a new column with the books you had read. This is something I do every year in order to keep an accurate data count, and my thinking is that if someone does want to come back and add to the spreadsheet after not adding for a while, they can always re-add the books. The spreadsheet is intended to be a supplementary tool, with the threads being our main source of book tracking.

[Lizzy]

Hi Emily…. Just wondering when the 2025 Spreadsheet will be available. Thank you !

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Just posted the tabs for 2025! Go claim your spot now!

(We are using the same spreadsheet link as 2024)

[Hilde]

Hi Emily, I see that the planning tab for 2025 is gone in the spreadsheet. Any chance it's just hidden, or is it deleted? I haven't made a copy of my 2025 plan yet, and am hoping it's still available? Thanks!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Sorry Hilde, we removed it! We had a note in the newsletter that we would remove it at the end of the month as we always do.

You may be able to look back through the version history to see what you had planned so you can copy it over. If you go back to Thursday, it should be there. Just make sure not to apply the previous version!

[Hilde]

Sorry to hear that. I sent you a pm! Seems I need to be the owner of the sheet to be able to look at the version history. I really don't want to start over with the planning, hoping you can help with a copy or share an access with me. Thanks :)