Forum Discussion
Using a sheet as a dynamic master template for other sheets
We are running multiple experiments and saving the data for each in a seperate sheet. However these experiments are works in progress and we are continually updating the types of data we capture and ...
We have a similar situation at work. Each employee has access to a separate document in a separate sharepoint folder that only they have access to. In this document, the employee enters some information relating to themselves, and other employees should not see this so the documents really need to be separate. So far so good, because there are no problems setting this up.
However, I would also like to be able to add new columns and rows, or perhaps make a change in a formula somewhere in case a bug in the formula is found, and other changes like this, without having to edit and update zillions of separate documents — one for each employee. So, I would like to make a change to a single master template, and have that change appear in all the separate documents (which are of course identical in form) that use this "dynamically updatable master template".
However, I would also like to be able to add new columns and rows, or perhaps make a change in a formula somewhere in case a bug in the formula is found, and other changes like this, without having to edit and update zillions of separate documents — one for each employee. So, I would like to make a change to a single master template, and have that change appear in all the separate documents (which are of course identical in form) that use this "dynamically updatable master template".
matsandren Your best bet in such a case is to separate logic from data. Otherwise you do end up having to run an update process through all relevant separate files. Perhaps a separate workbook which "connects" to the workbook containing the data. If you ensure that separate logic workbook knows how to fetch (and store) the data, you should be able to place it in a central (read-only) location for everyone to access. The workbook itself contains no data, which is fetched when the file is opened by the user.
