Using iPad to take attendance (mark a roll)

[chowdown]

I need a spreadsheet for roll-marking and other purposes. I recently bought Office2. Its spreadsheet program seems to be perfect for roll-taking, except for one small yet crucial flaw: it's impossible (as far as I can tell) to freeze panes. That will make it very difficult to take attendance after the first ten or so lessons. What makes it more annoying is that Office2 advertises that its spreadsheet can freeze panes!!

All this spreadsheet needs to be able to do is simple sorting, pane-freezing and import/export to Excel (Office 2007 would be nice, but not essential).

So can Pages or Documents To Go or QuickOffice or any other spreadsheet do what I want?

Or perhaps the advertising for Office2 is not a lie, I'm a doofus, and Office2's spreadsheet really can freeze panes?

 

[twerppoet]

I don't see the ability to freeze panes in Numbers, and I don't have any of the others to try.

I did take a quick search through the app store. Searching for 'attendance' got a few hits, and some of them seem to be able to export to the csv file format that is easily importable to Excel. It might be worth your while to look them over.

 

[nateccnn]

Documents 2 Go has ability to freeze frames. Bottom tool bar, second to last icon allows freeze or unfreeze frames, anchored on the current cell selection.

Nate

 

[Diane B]

Contact the developers at Office HD. I found they are quite helpful and try to solve your issues.

 

[chowdown]

Documents 2 Go has ability to freeze frames. Bottom tool bar, second to last icon allows freeze or unfreeze frames, anchored on the current cell selection.

Nate

Is that just what they say or have you seen it in action? Also, can DTG do a simple sort? If I want to use the spreadsheet as a mark book, would I be able to then rearrange the students in order of their scores in a test? AFAIK, no currently available iPad spreadsheet can do that apart from Office2.

I would love to be proved wrong!

All I want from a spreadsheet is pane-freezing, simple sorting and import/export from/to Excel.

As for a dedicated attendance app, I've bought one and had a look at reviews of others. So far I haven't been too impressed, but I'll buy any app that gives me a whole-class whole-term view and can fulfill the requirements I mentioned in the opening post.

Happy to take suggestions.

PS, If I ascertain that it's not my own stupidity, I will definitely be contacting the producers of Office2 about their false advertising re pane-freezing.

 

[nateccnn]

I opened a very large spreadsheet on my iPad and used the functions. They work. It freezes and unfreezes based on the anchor point being the currently selected cell. A to Z sort is in the last icon on the bottom menu...looks like a Tools icon.

I know nothng about office2 so I can't help you with it.

Nate

 

[chowdown]

Nate, can DTG do a simple sort, eg, rearrange a list of students depending on marks that are displayed in a particular column? Can it import/export from/to Excel? I'll buy it if it can.

 

[nateccnn]

Why don't you just download the free version and try it out. I already answered your question but you don't seem to want to trust me.

Nate

 

[deckyon]

Nate, can DTG do a simple sort, eg, rearrange a list of students depending on marks that are displayed in a particular column? Can it import/export from/to Excel? I'll buy it if it can.

Sort/Freeze: You were answered twice.

As to Import/Export, there is a desktop app for syncing as well as D2G Premium allows for hitting the Cloud and I use it all the time with Dropbox to keep 4 devices synced.

 

[chowdown]

A to Z sort is in the last icon on the bottom menu...looks like a Tools icon.

Sorry Nate, it's not that I don't trust you. It's just that my short exposure to the world of apps has led me to believe that just because there is an icon for a particular function in an app doesn't mean that function necessarily exists!

 

[chowdown]

As to Import/Export, there is a desktop app for syncing as well as D2G Premium allows for hitting the Cloud and I use it all the time with Dropbox to keep 4 devices synced.

Unless I'm missing something, this doesn't tell me if files I create in DTG can be opened in Excel or vice versa. That's what I mean by import/export.

 

[Mickey330]

As to Import/Export, there is a desktop app for syncing as well as D2G Premium allows for hitting the Cloud and I use it all the time with Dropbox to keep 4 devices synced.

Unless I'm missing something, this doesn't tell me if files I create in DTG can be opened in Excel or vice versa. That's what I mean by import/export.

I just did a test with my Documents to Go. You can
1) Freeze panes
2) Sort on any/all columns
3) Create a new Excel file (it'll save as an .xls file)

I've got my app hooked up to my Dropbox account (and to my desktop). Using both ways, I was easily able to access my file. If you don't want to use Dropbox, or sync it to your desktop, there's always e-mail...

Docs2go WILL let you work on Excel files and import/export files to/from your iPad.

Marilyn

 

[chowdown]

Thanks for the info Marilyn. The latest embarrasing news from here is that the spreadsheet in Office2 does allow you to freeze panes. I figured it out last night.

Does the spreadsheet in Documents To Go allow you to perform fills, ie, drag right or down to fill a row or column with sequential data? That's a useful function that I'm finding myself missing in Office2 at the moment.

 

[Mickey330]

As far as I can tell, no, D2G doesn't have the drag-to-fill function. It can copy quite well, but not that. Bummer - 'cause I like it too.

However, as far as I've been able to research, QuickOffice doesn't have this function either. Guess maybe it's a bit too complex for these mini/quasi Microsoft apps? Maybe one day, one will ...

Marilyn

 

[chowdown]

Yeah, I'm willing to bet that Numbers can't do it either.