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Microsoft Office Excel 2007 VBA Reference Feedback

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Greetings.

My name is Rod Chisholm and I am the Programming Writer for Excel client VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) and Programmability. Our reference material is available in the box, on MSDN, and NOW on Office Online. This gives us the unique opportunity to gather ratings and feedback from our users to help strengthen our topics, and improve the help experience overall. As my manager, David Hale pointed out early this month in Let's Talk about Office VBA Help, Excel is ranked in the top three for hit counts on Office Online. So we are certainly getting traction and visibility. From all those hits approximately 1 out of 100 leaves a rating. Of those, about 1 out of 5 leaves a comment. With comments, there is less guess work as to why a topic gets attention, so the more, the merrier.

Are we listening?

Yes we are! For those who think that comments are dropped into a black hole, let me assure you that I have reviewed all the data and comments since the launch of Office 2007. Although there were a vast number of comments, most could be categorized in five or six areas. The areas of interest to me were the requests for codes samples, and the “how-to”, or “how do I” feedback. Both are key indicators that the reference material in these areas should be where time is invested. So, thank you for participating. You are making a difference.

 Here is a breakdown of some trends and areas of focus for content improvement, based on site hits and your comments (special thank you to Mike Stowe, Access Programming Writer for help with data analysis):

Top Object Hits

Object Hit Count Chart

Huge generators of site hits include Range, Application, Worksheet, Sheets, Workbook and Worksheets to no surprise. These Objects are used most frequently and essential to workbook navigation. 

Top Member Hits

Members Hit Count Chart

To me it looks like a pretty even distribution of hits, but the common denominator here is Range making up 10 of the Top 20. Range will be a primary focus for content ideas moving forward.

Top "How to" Topics

How To Hit Count Chart

The bottom line is that Range and how to navigate within a worksheet seem to be the heavy favorites when it comes to hit counts and comments. So, look forward to content improvements, more code samples and additional topics around hot areas of Excel. Until next time, please keep the feedback coming. I'm listening.

For more information check out the Excel Developer Portal and the Excel Team Blog.

Please post a comment if you have any questions or concerns.

Cheers.

RdC ~Excel

Comments

  • Anonymous
    February 06, 2008
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    March 14, 2008
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    June 09, 2008
    One of the things I've wanted to do on this blog is give people a clearer view into how we actually produce