It can help you organize your financial future. It can capture your business’ clientele information. It can help you share and analyze numerical data. “It” is MS Excel.

What is Excel?: A Brief Overview

Excel is an MS software application primarily used for recording numerical data or a collection of data by using the spreadsheet as a creation medium. Within the Excel spreadsheet, users can perform data analysis, integrate tables and charts, and manipulate numerical information.

The software is geared towards the performance of precise research and data collection. It provides data extraction options and reference tools, in addition to access to online research sites. Designed also for communal interactivity, Excel integrates workspace options for sharing data with other users over an intranet, making real time collaboration with associates one of its priorities.

Excel provides a reliable and unique tool for many businesses and with its functions and workspaces that are familiar with MS users, the software is a standard for information management that occurs on the enterprise level.

Excel and the PDF: Why Bother?

With Excel’s dynamic features, it’s easy to imagine the numerous interchanges of information that make use of the spreadsheet format. As with many other formats used to exchange information, Excel is also capable of being converted. But, why bother? For a few practical reasons.

Important for exchanging data. With today’s growing electronic management systems, sending document files via email is the standard protocol. For numerical and statistical data, accuracy is important; faulty data input can’t be tolerated. Additionally, while spreadsheets can contain a vast recording of detailed information, file sizes can’t reflect that immense content.

Only needing specific data. Sending one Excel spreadsheet of information in PDF is easy enough. However, sometimes only a few sections of data are needed for analysis. How do you allow your recipient to view 2 or 3 specific pieces of information without having to sift through the other 2000 lines of data?

Re-usability of data. When converting statistical information for others, PDF is ideal because the information can be extracted without sacrificing the original PDF spreadsheet. The information is still intact and better yet, it’s still in the PDF format which you can send to someone else after you’ve made your necessary conversions and analyses.

No need to re-save or re-format. No need to struggle with copying and pasting into different documents. The PDF format can make your Excel data spreadsheets searchable, compact, portable and accurate.

Converting Your Excel Spreadsheets into PDF

The advantages of deciding to convert from Excel to PDF don’t stop there—they continue on in the conversion process. Converting the Excel format is just as easy as converting MS Word documents.

You can go into the PDF creation application itself to open and convert your file using the same creation options available for every other format. All you have to worry about is customizing your conversion settings for an optimized PDF spreadsheet.

You can create from within the Excel application itself, as well, once you’ve installed a PDF creation software such as Sonic PDF Creator 1.2. Installing our Sonic PDF Creator 1.2 will present you with the creation command icon on the toolbar, making it that much easier for quick conversions.

The advantage with Sonic PDF Creator 1.2, whether in the Excel application or the Sonic application, is that when you convert your Excel spreadsheet you can specify conversion options specifically for Excel. Through the Word/Excel Tab in the Creation Options command in the Options Menu, you can choose to create a PDF for a single work sheet or the entire workbook. The choice is ultimately up to you.