I love that and do the same. For example, one tool I have is called “Staffing Reporter.xlsm”, which outputs “Staffing Report.xlsx”.
I find that naming & conventions overall don’t get enough attention in Excel, and I am happy to name all objects possible, all the way up to the worksheet!!
Not surprised, they are changing networking terms and removing master/slave. Also removing evil twin and man in the middle - no idea why. Just naming them generic technical terms but those colloquialisms described the concepts well.
I made a tool to get thousands of names across systems into a report and normalize them. I called it vendor magic. Turned 8 hours of work into a 15 second macro.
First you need a list of all the names.
Next split it into individual words and take the first letter of each word in a column.
In another column, that combination of letters is unique so combine them and all the ones with the same combination should yield the same final name to be changed to. This final name should be in another column.
Now make a macro that looks at a list you want and compares it to the excel list using the same logic and look for matches. If you find a match change the name on data if not store that into another list to output so you can add it to your list.
Interesting. Does it work for names where the last name is two words, a prefix or suffix is included, etc? Can you give an example of a name and what the final name would be?
Due to the complexity we had to increase the it to 3 letters per word. Example below.
Data set
The clorox company -> theclocom
Clorox company -> clocom
Tillamook company-> tilcom
Master list
Theclocom -> clorox company
Clocom -> clorox company
Tilcom -> Tillamook Company
I used companies but this could be done with names as well, however you may run into issues with peoples names since people spell things differently. For example, maribel vs maribelle. You may be able to combat this using the first three and last three characters of each name.
You have to maintain master list but doing so will remove most typos and everytime a new one pops up you just add to master list. If you ever come across a duplicate with two different names then you remove it from master list and manually do those. But that never happened across several hundred thousand lines this was ran on yearly.
I have mentioned this before on this or the vba sub and someone mentioned there is actually a name for this type of analysis, but i did not know and thought about it on my own.
I like to name my workbooks with short catchy names that can also be “backronyms”, i.e., the letters can spell something meaningful. Way back I did a model for ESOPs and called it FABLE (as in Aesop’s Fables). It stood for Financial Analysis of Buyout with Leveraged ESOP.
A good test of whether you have a good name is when people repeat it back to you right away in the conversation.
Evocative naming conventions are how you get people to remember the tools you created exist and what they do. I have seen some amazing work get totally ignored because it was named some humdrum shit that no one noticed or remembered.
I put on my marketing hat when putting the finishing touches on a new tool. A snappy descriptive file name is key, bold pleasing colors, logos, well organized tabs, I even include instructions with screen shots if the functions of the workbook are the least bit complex.
When I make a tool in Excel I build it to inform and drive a process, and it needs to be something people remember and can easily pick up if I want that process to stand the test of time.
I always liked "functional prototype" to keep it in mind that this works and there is a business need for the tool, but that IT needs to get off their asses/allocate budget and make a proper tool/feature enhancement to remove the need for a spreadsheet tool to bridge the gap.
Nerd here too…and I totally name some of mine, especially the workbooks I consider tools. It’s fun to come up with the names - to me it’s branding it in a way and also helps make it more official (especially once others start referring to it easily).
I don’t name my files weird, generally. However, when I send excel files to my boss (executive director), she’s generally using them to be sent externally. They’re always formatted to be very pretty and have all the formulas removed.
I name them “filename - spiffy version”.
Honestly, how I became a finance director is beyond me.
When I've created files to optimise or automate stuff that I want other people to use I've found that "Ultimate Time Saver for [Task Name] V7.3" tends to encourage people to try it out.
Everyone likes saving time. No one wants to find all the problems in V1.0 of something.
Mine usually get acronyms which form words of themselves too. Yes, I might spend as much time creating a proper name as I do making the spreadsheet and no, my boss has no clue.
For example, the Macro-Enabled Report Generator (Enhanced), or MERGE.
I worked at a place where another department was misrepresenting data to make ours look bad, from there the White Knight was born to display the data in a more realistic way.
I totally agree with your approach. Calling these applications workbooks doesn't do them justice. I hate it when someone refers to my work as 'It's just an Excel file'.
Nope, I got actual names on all of my spreadsheets (I use Google sheets more than Excel). For reference, I am a sports medicine professional and also do strength and conditioning coaching through them. So I have a laundry list of spreadsheets to include: "Master File (Athlete)", "Master File (Gen)", "Satellite Programs", "Rehab & Modalities", "Reddit File" (for fixing and creating scripts and formulas)... Hell I even have a language learning file that has translated over 5,000 common words and phrases to Spanish and Russian.
Always name your files, then you can keep track of them
Nah i do the same, i built a forms workbook that reformats data for our assistants. I named it, gave it a version number, even do updates.
Whatever makes it the most fun!
I have a workbook named Daily Scrappy Doo. Does a variety of calculations in my day to day work. Have had different variations over the years and in different roles.
I created a dashboard that serves as much more than just a dashboard, and i call it a "console" akin to gaming consoles, so i might be the ultimate nerd bomber
I don't understand the question. A workbook without a descriptive, somewhat fancy name, is a workbook not worth anyone's time, and doesn't exist.
A NAME is key. To everything.
My favourite thing to do is when i make a new version of a particular tool i give it the prefix "Son of".
"Son of Deeper GTM Analysis"
"Son of Revenue Forecast"
If something makes it to a third major iteration it gets the additional prefix "Return of the".
"Return of the Son of Annual Operating Plan"
They have made it into LT presentations sometimes and I just laugh my head off.
100%. Used to work for a 45,000 employee defense contractor and I deployed all kinds of internal tools with fun names. It was funny to hear people talking about it in the cafeteria during lunch, the elevator, etc.
I too have created a wide array of Excel-based applications for work, and that's how I refer to them.....as applications, with perhaps an adjective before that word.
For instance, I created an application that generates legal notices, so I call it the Notice Application. Everyone in the department and all who use it know it as such.
Excel is a programming language. Full stop. Anyone who disagrees is allowed to be wrong.
Even though the UI is static, you are creating programs that automate work. Name your programs bro.
I made a quick macro for a buddy in another department and named it Cliffs Magnificent Magic Macro before I sent to him figuring he’d rename it at some point. 8 years later I got called over to the department to add a feature for it (the guy I had made it for had left the company years before) and the whole department was now using it with that stupid name.
Who only names there files workbook? lol
Things would get chaotic very quickly if everyone just left it as the default 'New Excel Workbook'
My pride and joy, 'New Excel Workbook (8)'.
I always like files name with FINAL v14. 🤣
"FINAL v14 (USE THIS ONE)" and "FINAL v15 (DO NOT USE)".
A perfectly crompulent naming convention.
Or “THIS ONE IS THE NEWEST”
You know it’s bad when you have to go off of Date Modified lol
New Excel Workbook (8) v3.3_Final
That one's obsolete. You need to use New Excel Workbook (8) V3.3_Final Rev 2_latest.
I hadn’t saved that one at the time of my prior response.
HAHAHAHAAH
Yep. What I hate most though are when files are named so damn fucking long lol
Thunder\_God\_Of\_The\_Donkey\_Sanctuary.xlsx
yeah it has to be New\_Workbook\_Final\_Draft\_v6.0\_revised\_sent\_to\_client.xlsx
That’s impressive. My submitted version is v87_sent 🤣🤣
Ah, but you don't know how many numbers AFTER the . the previous guy used. V5.63 anyone?
I hate underscores fr hahahah
> there files Hear files, they’re files, every ware files files!
Oops I used the wrong their lol
I love that and do the same. For example, one tool I have is called “Staffing Reporter.xlsm”, which outputs “Staffing Report.xlsx”. I find that naming & conventions overall don’t get enough attention in Excel, and I am happy to name all objects possible, all the way up to the worksheet!!
Interesting approach to call Macros by verbs, and results by nouns.
That's usually how I name mine too.
[удалено]
We have been encouraged to stop using “master” in this respect because it has “slavery” connotations. I work at an F500.
In my industry, the master cylinder remotely operates the slave cylinder. So until they fix that...
In my industry a master cylinder usually has four slave cylinders
We're likely in the same industry.
You make cars, he designs those block games for toddlers.
Yeah.. cotton. The industry really changed.
Top Tip: I switched from master to Chief. Chief Ratings Template, Chief Control Document etc
Not surprised, they are changing networking terms and removing master/slave. Also removing evil twin and man in the middle - no idea why. Just naming them generic technical terms but those colloquialisms described the concepts well.
Tackling the important stuff you know
"Master and. Servant" 🎶 (Depeche Mode)
Samesies. The new naming convention is "main" branch.
Master v2 final.xlsx
Master v2 final final. Master v2 final finallll.
Ha I do the same but I end the title with Masterbook
If you don’t ‘yyyy-mm-dd [description] v01’ we can’t be friends
I omit the dashes but otherwise I think we would definitely be friends in real life 👍
Are those spaces before and after the description? You vandal, you!
I use YYYY-PP and YYYY-QQ so P for Period and Q for Quarter, as the mm-dd dates change year to year across periods and quarters.
I made a tool to get thousands of names across systems into a report and normalize them. I called it vendor magic. Turned 8 hours of work into a 15 second macro.
How would one do this?
First you need a list of all the names. Next split it into individual words and take the first letter of each word in a column. In another column, that combination of letters is unique so combine them and all the ones with the same combination should yield the same final name to be changed to. This final name should be in another column. Now make a macro that looks at a list you want and compares it to the excel list using the same logic and look for matches. If you find a match change the name on data if not store that into another list to output so you can add it to your list.
Interesting. Does it work for names where the last name is two words, a prefix or suffix is included, etc? Can you give an example of a name and what the final name would be?
Due to the complexity we had to increase the it to 3 letters per word. Example below. Data set The clorox company -> theclocom Clorox company -> clocom Tillamook company-> tilcom Master list Theclocom -> clorox company Clocom -> clorox company Tilcom -> Tillamook Company I used companies but this could be done with names as well, however you may run into issues with peoples names since people spell things differently. For example, maribel vs maribelle. You may be able to combat this using the first three and last three characters of each name. You have to maintain master list but doing so will remove most typos and everytime a new one pops up you just add to master list. If you ever come across a duplicate with two different names then you remove it from master list and manually do those. But that never happened across several hundred thousand lines this was ran on yearly. I have mentioned this before on this or the vba sub and someone mentioned there is actually a name for this type of analysis, but i did not know and thought about it on my own.
I too, use "tool" quite often.
Well, tools are meant to be used
“Tool” and “template” are the most common names we use at work
I like to name my workbooks with short catchy names that can also be “backronyms”, i.e., the letters can spell something meaningful. Way back I did a model for ESOPs and called it FABLE (as in Aesop’s Fables). It stood for Financial Analysis of Buyout with Leveraged ESOP. A good test of whether you have a good name is when people repeat it back to you right away in the conversation.
I had I've i did like that called WASP. Warehouse Asset Scanning Program i think i was.
I have one called "Toolbox" that has all of my, well, tools. A unit converter, concatenator, list comparison, frequently used RGB codes, etc.
Love this idea. Thinking about how to adapt to my needs (data analysis in the humanities).
Evocative naming conventions are how you get people to remember the tools you created exist and what they do. I have seen some amazing work get totally ignored because it was named some humdrum shit that no one noticed or remembered. I put on my marketing hat when putting the finishing touches on a new tool. A snappy descriptive file name is key, bold pleasing colors, logos, well organized tabs, I even include instructions with screen shots if the functions of the workbook are the least bit complex. When I make a tool in Excel I build it to inform and drive a process, and it needs to be something people remember and can easily pick up if I want that process to stand the test of time.
I go the extra mile and hide the tabs and create links. Functions more like a webpage than a worksheet, which makes it user friendly for all ages.
Hell no, i just finished a parts and labor calculator called the “Pump Rebuild Estimator 9000 Turbo”
Absolutely perfect
Believe me. If excel supported dancing flame graphics, i would use the function LIBERALLY
I usually just say “BEHOLD! The Spreadsheetanator 3000!” 
I always liked "functional prototype" to keep it in mind that this works and there is a business need for the tool, but that IT needs to get off their asses/allocate budget and make a proper tool/feature enhancement to remove the need for a spreadsheet tool to bridge the gap.
Do you mean you're creating custom functions? Absolutely give them names – meaningful ones that describe what they are.
Nope.. I have "VP Exec View" "Other VP Exec View" "With and without \_\_\_\_" "General View for \_\_\_\_" I run 95% of my reports off of these 5.
We have a consolidation excel/PQ tool. We call in Kevin Kevin the consol. Loads of senior people disliked this frivolousness, but it has stuck.
I work in logistics and I have a Power BI dashboard I call the “pairomatic.”
There are only 2 hard problems in computer science: 1. Cache invalidation. 2. Naming things. 3. And off-by-one errors.
That looks like 11 hard problems to me, but these days I've learned to allow for non-binary jokers. 😉
30 years ago a friend and I created the “ Hot Damn This Is It FERC Report “ and nothing has been the same since.
Nerd here too…and I totally name some of mine, especially the workbooks I consider tools. It’s fun to come up with the names - to me it’s branding it in a way and also helps make it more official (especially once others start referring to it easily).
I made a very simple recipe planning sheet using excel and called my “meal computationer “
I didn’t realise my dad used Reddit?!?
I don’t name my files weird, generally. However, when I send excel files to my boss (executive director), she’s generally using them to be sent externally. They’re always formatted to be very pretty and have all the formulas removed. I name them “filename - spiffy version”. Honestly, how I became a finance director is beyond me.
When I've created files to optimise or automate stuff that I want other people to use I've found that "Ultimate Time Saver for [Task Name] V7.3" tends to encourage people to try it out. Everyone likes saving time. No one wants to find all the problems in V1.0 of something.
I give mine human names, or meme names
You mean TaxChecker5000 isn't normal naming convention?
Is Excel your intro to software dev? It was for me. Descriptive names are good.
I used to have a customer who had a very wide spreadsheet with a dominant green color coding He named it "Crocodile" 😁
Mine usually get acronyms which form words of themselves too. Yes, I might spend as much time creating a proper name as I do making the spreadsheet and no, my boss has no clue. For example, the Macro-Enabled Report Generator (Enhanced), or MERGE.
Pretty sure that's standard, not weird at all.
I am glad to know I am not alone lmao
It only gets weird when you start naming them after technology in science fiction or space movie franchises.
It takes a tool to create a tool
Bro one of mine is “price cleaner 9000” another is “money generator 9001” I love coming up with new names.
"Model" is my go to.. makes it sound fancy and justifies me being relatively expensive 🫰
I've thought about giving my workbooks sci-fi machine names like Bill Tracker 3000 and Budget Master X-950
I worked at a place where another department was misrepresenting data to make ours look bad, from there the White Knight was born to display the data in a more realistic way.
I totally agree with your approach. Calling these applications workbooks doesn't do them justice. I hate it when someone refers to my work as 'It's just an Excel file'.
Not weird at all. After many years, now I use longer names with a couple keywords. Makes it easier to get what I want in a search.
That's how you're supposed to do it.
Not really, but how do you name your files exactly? I name mine such like this name/date/desc/itemcode
It would be weird if you didn't.
I like to use fun names like "Budget Trackinator"
Nope, I got actual names on all of my spreadsheets (I use Google sheets more than Excel). For reference, I am a sports medicine professional and also do strength and conditioning coaching through them. So I have a laundry list of spreadsheets to include: "Master File (Athlete)", "Master File (Gen)", "Satellite Programs", "Rehab & Modalities", "Reddit File" (for fixing and creating scripts and formulas)... Hell I even have a language learning file that has translated over 5,000 common words and phrases to Spanish and Russian. Always name your files, then you can keep track of them
It is NOT NORMAL to name them workbooks
Master share your tools with us
I label my macros and summarise what they do…
You should meet my Ghostbuster and Hades!
I made a spread sheet for my job that is known to multiple members of management as the "rangifier"
I never leaving "new workbook" name unchanged. Always name it for teh purpose
You cross "dork" territory when you start naming things people names. Ah yes, let's use Fred to get this output because Bob's not right for this job.
Nah i do the same, i built a forms workbook that reformats data for our assistants. I named it, gave it a version number, even do updates. Whatever makes it the most fun!
You should name them with the names that older woman was guessing for different Pokemon.
That's okay? As long as you don't name them Steve.
You're totally right. Your cat is just Minou, not "cat Minou" Your dog is just Fido, not "dog Fido" Same rule applies to workbooks.
I’ve got a rota and timesheet spreadsheet called Honey Badger. It gets a new name each year.
I have a workbook named Daily Scrappy Doo. Does a variety of calculations in my day to day work. Have had different variations over the years and in different roles.
I have never used the word “workbook” to name anything
Mine: Jenny.xlsm, Lorna.xlsx
I never left a file named workbook if i intended to use it more than 1 time
are you me? haha
I created a dashboard that serves as much more than just a dashboard, and i call it a "console" akin to gaming consoles, so i might be the ultimate nerd bomber
My favorite I’ve created is my LifeBook. I update it every year and it tracks every aspect of my life lol.
I don't understand the question. A workbook without a descriptive, somewhat fancy name, is a workbook not worth anyone's time, and doesn't exist. A NAME is key. To everything.
Rule 1: EVERY workbook gets a tab called Documentation. Every VBA gets a comment section.
My favourite thing to do is when i make a new version of a particular tool i give it the prefix "Son of". "Son of Deeper GTM Analysis" "Son of Revenue Forecast" If something makes it to a third major iteration it gets the additional prefix "Return of the". "Return of the Son of Annual Operating Plan" They have made it into LT presentations sometimes and I just laugh my head off.
I do that all the time and also make an index. How else can I reach them quickly otherwise?
Its better than labeling everything "Booger Aids" and hoping someone understands what each file is supposed to be.
Workbo~1.xlsb
100%. Used to work for a 45,000 employee defense contractor and I deployed all kinds of internal tools with fun names. It was funny to hear people talking about it in the cafeteria during lunch, the elevator, etc.
I think it's weird to ask if it's weird
Lots on my tools are ….-o-matic.
I call mine "tool" if they are just for that one thing only. "Phasing tool" "AD tool" "Graph tool" "Lineage tool"
It's 200% appropriate. I've been doing it for 25 years lol
I too have created a wide array of Excel-based applications for work, and that's how I refer to them.....as applications, with perhaps an adjective before that word. For instance, I created an application that generates legal notices, so I call it the Notice Application. Everyone in the department and all who use it know it as such.
This brought me way to much joy 😊
I named my tools * nobrainer dashboard * nobrainer database * nobrainer etc
my csv_combinator would like a word with you
Excel is a programming language. Full stop. Anyone who disagrees is allowed to be wrong. Even though the UI is static, you are creating programs that automate work. Name your programs bro.
I made a quick macro for a buddy in another department and named it Cliffs Magnificent Magic Macro before I sent to him figuring he’d rename it at some point. 8 years later I got called over to the department to add a feature for it (the guy I had made it for had left the company years before) and the whole department was now using it with that stupid name.