We were pretty busy getting some fun features into this month’s release. So let’s dive right into the goodness, the list of new features:

• Spreadsheet Analytics
• Mashup Functions
• ExcelPlus Plugin
• Template Library

Ever wonder how popular your spreadsheet is? With Spreadsheet Analytics, now you can track the visiting trend of your spreadsheet and see find out how people arrive at your spreadsheet during the last 30 days. Click the new “Analytics” tab under spreadsheet properties to find out more. Have a peek at a live example.

We’ve created five new mashup functions:

• Google Charts googlechart()
• Yahoo! Finance yfinancechart()
• Reuters reuterschart()
• Alexa alexachart()
• Compete competechart()

With those functions, you can grab financial charts or web traffic charts and put them directly into a cell of your spreadsheet.

Our ExcelPlus plugin has left private beta and moved onto public beta. If you haven’t seen it yet, we welcome you to try it and then tell us what you think.

One last new feature is our Template Library. Some of you have asked what the difference is between our templates and spreadsheets and now, you can see the difference. When you create a new spreadsheet, you can choose to create a blank spreadsheet or one from our template library. Currently, we have made available 30+ initial templates for you to choose from. If you have a template that you want to share with the community, you can submit it through our template library browser.

We’ll also be trying out something new this month and next, webinar. Slots are limited, so sign up to learn more about EditGrid and our features.

We think those are pretty exciting stuff, definitely go try them out!

If you’re more interested in knowing what bugs we squashed this month, then check out our Change Log.

February 2008 Release (rev 15198)

The most notable new features in this release are:

• Spreadsheet Analytics - Spreadsheet analytics is to make the traffic information available for monetizing opportunity evaluation. Live example.
• Mashup functions
  - Google Charts, googlechart()
  - Yahoo! Finance, yfinancechart()
  - Reuters, reuterschart()
  - Alexa, alexachart()
  - Compete, competechart()
• Template Library - We are introducing a template library. Now you can create new spreadsheets based on our standard templates or submit your own and share with others.
• ExcelPlus plugin - Public beta released
  - Offline access of EditGrid spreadsheets
  - Subscribe to real-time updates from EditGrid.
  - Publish data to EditGrid
  - Synchroize data two-way for a pre-defined region of cells
• Cell Widget: Checkbox

Enhancements:

• Grid Tips
• Webclip bookmark for iPhone (#7425)

And some major bug fixes:

• New cell comments overwrites cell content fixed (#7785)
• Fixed ntext function returns correct value (#7793)
• Fixed hyperlinks to work within a locked cell (#6544)
• Fixed remote data window from going blank when referencing a cell with URL(#7786)
• Fixed F9 hotkey to perform recalculation(#7452)
• Fixed editing actions while using keyboard navigation in long merged cell(#7836)
• Fixed red alert message bar to display properly on Internet Explorer(#7858)
• Unlock button will be displayed in the Mini-Grid (#7727)
• Fixed grid user interface in 800×600 display (#7893)
• Right click in edit mode will display native browser menu(#7894)

I use EditGrid to keep a list of supplies sold for most of the copiers, printers, faxes and cash registers we have sold or maintained over the past few decades. EditGrid makes the latest version of our 7500-cell sheet available instantly at either of our two stores, or on the road.

My supplies spreadsheet is open to the public, but we don’t advertise its existence (until now). It’s used as a convenience by store personnel. We can find what our customer needs quickly without digging through stacks of books and manufacturer websites. EditGrid makes maintaining and using the list easy in several ways:

• We can access it or update it from anywhere we can go online. I started the project at work, but sometimes sometimes update it from home. I don’t need to carry the sheet in a flash drive or email it to myself; it’s just there when I need it. When I’m updating, I don’t have to stop myself and ask which version is my most recent.
• EditGrid allows me to freeze the top row and the left columns. The sheet is over 400 lines long and a few screens wide, but no matter where I scroll on it, the machine model is always visible on the left, and the type of supply is always visible across the top. That’s a common feature on the major Office applications, but it’s unusual in the web-based sheets. Without, my Supplies sheet would be worthless, past the first 20 or so models.
• It’s easy to upload or download the whole sheet, if needed. EditGrid is convenient for making a few changes directly in the web-based sheet, but there’s bound to be a delay working over the Net. When I have the time to add a big batch of models, I’ll download it in OpenOffice format (or Excel), add a few dozen lines, and upload it back to EditGrid when I’m done. Other web-based sheets claim this capability, but only seem to work with small files. I signed up with Google Docs and Sheets and tried to upload my supplies sheet. Google would show a dialog saying it’s uploading, but when it finished, no file would be there. I tried it using both Excel and OpenOffice formats, uploading both directly and via email. Nothing worked.
• Searching is easy. Like most spreadsheet apps, I can search for a model or supply by clicking the binoculars symbol or touching Ctrl-F. On some of the web-based apps, though, Ctrl-F brings up the browser’s search function. Somehow EditGrid intercepts it before the browser gets to it and gives me the search I need. It’s fast, too. I can enter a partial model number and get to the info I need in a few seconds, even if I have to click the Next button a few times to get past other similar entries.
• EditGrid is platform-independent. I’ve worked with it in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari, and on Windows, Linux and OSX. It seems immune to differences in browsers and operating systems. One of the other web-based spreadsheet apps I tried worked great in Firefox but took several minutes to load in InternetExplorer. As much as I like Firefox, I can’t use a sheet that doesn’t work with the browser that most people consider synonymous with the Internet.

Happy Birthday to EditGrid! We are celebrating our first anniversary today and what better way to do it than to celebrate it with Cupid. It’s hard to believe that it has been a year since leaving beta, time really does fly. Here’s a glimpse of what happened in our first year:

• Over 50,000 registered personal users from 30+ countries.
• Great coverage and reviews from the media and success stories from customers and users.
• Partnerships with Central Desktop, Share Methods, Infoteria, Atlassian and others.
• Saw our first spreadsheet reach over a million views, now over 2M+ views

It’s our goal to make EditGrid even better and we will continue to do so by listening to our users’ and customers’ feedback while delivering those improvements regularly with our monthly release. So, just let us know, our door is always open! We look forward to another exciting and successful year ahead. Thanks to our users and customers for helping EditGrid reach where we are today.