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I maintain a quite large database of names of men who served…

I maintain a quite large...

I maintain a quite large database of names of men who served in a Canadian regiment during the Second War. It has some 3500 names sur- and given names, highest rank achieved, enlistment date, number of times wounded or date of being killed, service information such as duties performed and company of service, awards for valour and place of residence.
This past July after entering a great deal of new information from the regimental war diary, I discovered that the surnames in the first column were at times automatically changing. For example, the name SMITHSON would change to SMITH completely without my input. In this example, the last fellow named SMITH in the database was immediately above the guy named SMITHSON.
In some cases, the surnames would change and data would be lost for one man or the other.
I am guessing that there is some autoformatting programme going on in this first column. What are your thoughts? If you agree, how would I get rid of it?
I don't want to start correcting the database until this auto problem is eliminated.
Gavin Watt
King City, Ontario

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12/5/2015

Programmer: Aitizaz, Software Engineer replied 7 years ago

Aitizaz, Software Engineer

Category: Programming

Satisfied Customers: 1,450

Experience: 2 Years of experience with VC#,VC++,C,C++

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Hello and welcome to Just Answer!i am Aitizaz and i will assist you today

As you have mentioned that the records have changed automatically, there is no purpose of providing such facility in excel which would do this to only one column of data without affecting the others, and that too without your input or information.

If you want to maintain data of people, why don't you shift to Access databases, where you can maintain integrity of data and query people as well?

Customer reply replied 7 years ago

I am unfamiliar with Access and I've used Excel to build such databases for years. This particular one about the Second War Canadian regiment's members is one of four or five. I've never had any problems with auto-changes before and my publisher recommends Excel for my purposes.
If I shifted to Access, would I be able to transfer all of my data without a problem??
Gavin

Programmer: Aitizaz, Software Engineer replied 7 years ago

Yes, transferring data from excel to Access is not a big deal. However, if you still want to use excel for such a large data store, then i will recommend you to keep this data in different worksheets, Organize them according to some criteria in different worksheets. This will not only make excel efficient but will also make it more reliable.

Customer reply replied 7 years ago

From what you've said so far, I take it that you have no answer for what appear to be auto-changes. You haven't heard of such a problem before?
Of course, dividing the database into different categories is possible, but I don't see that being helpful with correcting my corrupted material, which is the BIG problem right now.
Gavin

Programmer: Aitizaz, Software Engineer replied 7 years ago

Is that column connected to any other column in the sheet? Or is there any formula applied to that column?

Customer reply replied 7 years ago

if you mean interlinked to another column -- no, not to my knowledge.How would I determine if a formula has been applied to the column?

Programmer: Aitizaz, Software Engineer replied 7 years ago

Please click on any of the cells in that specific COLUMN and see if anything appears on the fx formula bar, right above the column headers?

Customer reply replied 7 years ago

Nothing appears in the fx bar. I checked the July version of the database in which the problem first appeared and than a saved January version before the problem started. the bar looked the same in both cases.
Gavin

Programmer: Aitizaz, Software Engineer replied 7 years ago

So neither is the column connected to some other column nor any formula has been applied to it. In my opinion, things should not change automatically in this case. There is some problem with the procedure you are adopting to copy and paste the data

Customer reply replied 7 years ago

However, I am not copying and pasting data. I am typing the data directly into the appropriate box from various source documents. No cutting and pasting taking place.I am wondering about the auto procedure that takes place during typing. For example, if I've already entered the names CAMERON and CAMPBELL into the database, as I type in the new fellow named CAMPBELL into a box, the program will auto type BELL as soon as I've typed CAMP. Or, if I add a new fellow named CAMERON, similarly the program will auto type RON as soon as I've typed CAME. Hope you understand what I'm saying.Is there some way of shutting off that feature in the program?I'm going to break to eat lunch. Hope you can keep my file open on your desk.
Gavin

Programmer: Aitizaz, Software Engineer replied 7 years ago

Yes i understand this. This is what is exactly happening to your file. Let me see if we can turn off this feature and i will get back to you in a while. thank you

To disable the AutoComplete feature, follow these steps:

Click the File tab and then click Options.
The Excel Options dialog box appears.
Click the Advanced tab.
The Advanced options appear in the right pane.
Select the Enable AutoComplete for Cell Values check box in the Editing Options section to remove its check mark.
Click OK.

Please let me know if you face any issues in doing this.

Customer reply replied 7 years ago

will give this a try in a half hour or so. thanks.

Programmer: Aitizaz, Software Engineer replied 7 years ago

Sure!

Customer reply replied 7 years ago

Aitzaz
I've made that change and the auto complete is shut off. Whether that function is some way made the problem changes is an open question, but at least something's been done.
Thanks. I'm signing off.
Gavin

Programmer: Aitizaz, Software Engineer replied 7 years ago

Thank you very much for coming to just Answer. i am sure this will solve the matter for you. Please rate the answer positive. Thank you

Aitizaz, Software Engineer

Category: Programming

Satisfied Customers: 1,450

Experience: 2 Years of experience with VC#,VC++,C,C++

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