Create from 'scratch'

Excel allows much greater flexibility in forms creation, design, formatting (both overall look and individual cells), data entry and other element than does Word. You can design some pretty fancy stuff pretty quickly using Excel.

Perhaps you don't like the plain looking data-entry screen that Pathagoras provides. You won't hurt our feelings.

From 'scratch.' Follow these steps ff you have no pre-exisitng list of variable for which you wish to collect values. Your first step is to ceate a rough design of how you want the worksheet to look/operate. Each row should reflect one item of data.

1.	Place a one or two word term that describes the first item of data that you want to collect in Column A, Row 1. This should, at least for the time being, be the variable name. So, in Row 1 of Column A you might have "ClientName",

Note: The text you ultimately use in Column A can ultimately be quite descriptive, but for reasons discussed below, in this the initial stepmarkup, it should be the same text that you want the actual variable to read. (If you are trying to duplicate a variable naming pattern that you have already adopted in Pathagoras for Word, then the names in column A should be identical to those used in your documents.)

Activate the cell you want to name. (Just click inside of it.) Then, click inside the Cell Name box (it is the one immediately above Column A. See screen shot below. If you are in cell B!, then it will read "B1".)

The current cell name ('B1') will be highlighted within the box. Type the name of the variable. In this case, type 'ClientName.' Press the Enter key to lock in the name.

Activate the cell you want to name. (Just click inside of it.) Press Ctrl + F3. The Name window will display, showing all existing named cells and allow you to provide a name for the cell in which the cursor current resides. Type the name. Read Tip for helpful naming feature that Excel provides.

When you press Ctrl-F3, Excel presumes that the value contained in the cell immediately to the left of the cell you are naming is the name you want to assign, and will propose it to you. (If the name of the adjacent cell is made up of two words, such as "Client Name", Excel will automatically place an underline (_) between the two words and propose "Client_Name".)

So, if you a starting from scratch, you can quickly assign the names you want as variables in the left column and then just as quickly assign names to the cells immediately adjacent.

Note: You must hit the Enter key when you have finished typing the name. You cannot just leave the Name box. (You can tell the name has been accepted when it centers in the box.)

When Pathagoras creates an intake sheet based on a mask, it attempts to correct for 'illegal' cell names. And before it is done, it may have created cell names that do not precisely match the original variables. Any changes Pathagoras made in order to complete the process are shown in the 3rd column, in red. The most common change is the insertion of an underscore between each word of a multi-word variable. Client Name would become Client_Name because spaces are 'illegal' in a cell name

(1) You can keep the new cell (and proposed variable) name. If you decide to keep it, you will have to change the variable in all of your Word documents so that compatibility is maintained. Pathagoras provides tools to do this, or you can just use standard Find and Replace tools to replace [Client Name] with [Client_Name].

(2) You can reject the change. You should then delete that line from the data collection screen (and delete the name from the named cell) to prevent the automatic processing of the term. Just complete the value by hand the next time you call up the IDB screen.

(3) A third, slightly more complex, and not necessarily recommended, option exists. You can keep the new variable and the old variable. In the Instant Database screen, create an Equivalency relation between the new [Client_Name] and the old [Client Name]. Continuing with the example term, this would be done by placing "=[Client_Name]" in the space to the right of [Client Name] in the variable list. When you are completing the form to personalize the document, simply click the red button that will be present when Pathagoras detects the equivalency.

The value of the 'equivalent field' is transferred and replaces the equivalency statement. (Note: you should save the equivalency function in a mask, and recall the mask before completing replacement values. That way you won't have to type it each time.)

Press the red button to instantly transfer the value from the referenced cell to the current one. When replacements are made, both [Client_Name] and [Client Name] will be replaced with the desired value.