By Nancy Jacobsen, RCAC rural development specialist
SHARES reports that print on six pages can now be printed on two! Thanks to Jason Stillwell of Little Dixie, you can now set your Excel program to automatically format your SHARES reports. This simple download can cut the number of pages for your reports down considerably. This can also save several minutes for each report you generate. You’ll generate your report in SHARES, make a few quick key strokes and the reports will automatically reformat.
Access the formatting instructions here and follow the directions. Access the master macro code here. If the code opens in your browser, the instructions to copy and paste are the same.
You’ll also need the shortcut list to either key in the code or simply choose the report from the Excel macro shortcut list. Click here for the shortcut list.
Once installed, you will generate your reports as usual. When the report comes up on your screen click “Enable Editing” at the top of the screen, then click ALT F8 and choose the report type you’re working with from the Excel macro shortcut list. You must choose the correct code for your report type; otherwise the report will have errors.
You may also receive an error, such as the following. If you receive this error message simply click “End” and start over with Alt 8 to bring up the macro report menu.
A final reminder: The data remains in the database but is not necessarily static and as a result, the grantee users should date and save their report to a local or network driver for future reference and for sharing with their T&MA contractor and supporting RD offices as the “official version.” It is advised to use a good naming convention to save reports to use for cross SHARES program consistency. A good naming convention might be Grantee Name-Grant Name-End Date, for example Midwest Homes-Midwest Homes 2012-12/31/2012. This example would not work if the file name exceeds 259 characters. SHARES User Guide, 5.1
If you need assistance with this process please don’t hesitate to contact me. I’m available to provide training, help with detecting errors, or simply answer questions about SHARES. My contact information is: Nancy Jacobsen, (406) 579-5202 or email at: njacobsen@rcac.org.
