Excel 2007: What happened to the Data Form?

Sue, from Phoenix asks, "I often have temporary employees for entering mass amounts of data from hard copies of information. I used to setup an Excel spreadsheet with columns named for the data on the hard copy sheets and setup a Data Form. I have recently upgraded to Excel 2007 and do not know how to set this up. Is the Data Form still available in Excel 2007?"

What Sue is describing is common, especially in a down market. However, Excel did not delete this form, it simply hid it a bit.

To add a shortcut to use the "Data Form," follow these steps. Click on the "Quick Access Toolbar" drop down arrow and select the "More Commands" menu item. In the "Choose Commands From" drop down list, select the "All Commands" option. Scroll through the list alphabetically, select the "Form" option, and click on the "Add" button in the middle of the window.

This places the "Form" shortcut onto the Quick Access Toolbar.

Use the arrow keys on the right side of the screen to change the location of the shortcut, if desired. Click on the "OK" button to close the window and return to Excel.

The "Form" button is now located on the Quick Access Toolbar. Once the headers for a list have been setup, simply click on the "Form" button and the "Data Form" opens.

NOTE: The cursor must be in the header row for Excel to recognize the list.

HINT: If Excel does not recognize the header row, click on the "OK" button to the error window that appears and Excel will accept the first row of data as the header.

For those not familiar with the "Data Form," users simply use the "Tab" key to enter data using the form opened in a pop-up window. When a new record is needed, the "Tab" order takes the user to the "New" button and the user may press the "Enter" key.

If preferred, the user may use the mouse to use the buttons on the right side of the "Data Form" window. Once all data has been entered, simply click on the "Close" button and the "Data Form" closes.

Notice the data from the form has now been placed accordingly into the spreadsheet. Save the Excel spreadsheet as usual.