CREATIVITY meets PRODUCTIVITY

CREATIVITY meets PRODUCTIVITY

Some Microsoft Office EUDAs often require an element of programming, so knowing there is a company, based in London, that can build and support these productivity tools is an absolute game-changer.

I have watched a lot of videos but they never put it all together and show you how it works in practice. I was really only expecting to get a couple of tips but I was blown away by the amount of time and energy you put into helping me.

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my email and update the website to help any other lost users haha. Your instructions are very clear and helpful, so your website is a treasured find - Thanks again.

Really appreciate you putting us on the external links page. It's great to see an up-to-date list. I would re-iterate that your website is an excellent resource which I recommend my students to use.

Office Addins

We are looking for a company to create a bespoke formatting Word add-in. We write a lot of technical documents and need a way to quickly format (styles, captions, headers, cross-referencing etc).

I'm developing an Excel VBA Addin and just wanted to say Thank You for the amazing documentation pages. I wish I'd found you six months ago. The guides have proven enormously useful.

Unrivalled Consultancy

A huge thank you to everyone at Better Solutions for always being so helpful when we came up with yet another suggestion. We are all still enjoying the add-in, its working really well.

Thank you for the update. I studied the code and adjusted mine to match it. Your tutorial is very helpful, easy to follow and complete with details I found nowhere else - so special thanks!

We're in the process of developing an Office-JS React Add-in for Excel (to create a link to our platform for reporting purposes). Our platform and the add-in will be a commercial piece of software when its finished.

We are trying to tidy up a custom Word ribbon that was created by a colleague who has left and we don't have the skills in house to make the changes. Any help would be much appreciated.

Technical Support

We are building an Office 365 Excel Addin and have a requirement to open a task pane from a link. Is it possible to have a hyperlink or button in a cell that when clicked will open a task pane?

Thank you for your assistance on this. I was tearing my hair out and this is a fab piece of work. I am so grateful that there are people in the UK that understand the trial and tribulations of solving excel.

Comprehensive Training

When making contact with software companies, receiving stony silences is more the norm. So, by contrast, your prompt constructive replies have been a real treat. They brightened my day.

WOW, we learnt so much in just 6 hours. Love the fact that you make it clear what you consider to be best practice and you have it on the website. This is often the missing piece in most training courses.

Please enquire and get a reply within 24 hours

Please enquire and get a reply within 24 hours

FOUR
Applications
FOUR Applications FOUR
Applications
FOUR Applications

Expertise across four applications. Integrate seamlessly with a consistent look and feel for all your automation.

Excel: The first electronic spreadsheet was called VisiCalc and was released in 1979. The first version of Excel was released in 1985 and the first Windows version in November 1987. Since 1985 Excel has supported end-user programming (.XLM) and user-defined functions. In 1990 the application got toolbars as well as add-in support. In 1993 it was possible to record macros in VBA.

Word: The first word processor was called Bravo and was released in 1974. The first Windows version of Word was released in 1983. It was possible to save files to HTML in 1997 and in 2002 the first task pane appeared. In 2007 the toolbars were replaced with tabs on a Ribbon.

PowerPoint: The first presentation program was called PowerPoint and was created in 1983 by a company called Forethought. Microsoft acquired this in 1987 and it was added to the Office suite immediately. The first Windows version was released in 1990. In 2007 the binary file format was replaced with Office Open Xml.

Outlook: The first browser based email services appeared in 1993 and Outlook Web Access (OWA) was created in 1995. Hotmail was launched in 1996, acquired by Microsoft in 1997 and rebranded as Outlook.com in 2012. Third party add-in integration got added in 2015.

THREE
Languages
THREE Languages THREE
Languages
THREE Languages

Expertise across three programming languages: VBA, C# and JavaScript. The Microsoft Office Development Platform allows you to increase your productivity and customise your Office applications.

VBA programming language: Introduced in 1997 as a way to automate repetitive tasks and customise the experience. The reason for its success is because it is installed as part of Microsoft Office and the users can easily access it. Despite the potential risks and the limited capability, business users continue to use it because it is very simple and extremely effective.

C# programming language: Introduced in 2001 to address the shortcomings of other languages, such as C++ and Java. Automating Microsoft Office using C# lets you customise the applications and leverage the full power of the .NET Framework library. This technology can only be implemented successfully using Visual Studio and requires a very steep learning curve.

JavaScript programming language: Introduced in 2012 to allow Microsoft 365 add-ins to be deployed across multiple platforms. This lets you customise the applications and allows web pages to be fully integrated into Office using Web technology. Learning JavaScript and HTML comes with its own list of challenges and requires another very steep learning curve.

TWO
Audiences
TWO Audiences TWO
Audiences
TWO Audiences

Expertise working with both users and developers. End User Developed Applications (EUDAs) are software programs that have been created by non-programmers. These applications allow the front office to quickly increase productivity without involving the IT department.

We help the front office by taking their ideas and creativity and combining it with our programming expertise, to create real business value. We provide Business Users with fast turnaround times, dedicated email support and clear documentation. We support and maintain end user developed applications so after completion the users can focus more on increasing revenue. The ownership stays with them and there are NO monthly subscriptions.

We work alongside IT departments to reduce the risk associated with end user developed applications. We have the programming expertise to understand the technology. We assist Professional Developers in implementing best practice standards, optimising code and adding robust error handling. We take on the support burden so the IT department can focus more on security, compliance and regulatory requirements. The intellectual property stays with them and there are NO monthly subscriptions.

ONE
Partner
ONE Partner ONE
Partner
ONE Partner

Assemble solutions quickly with reusable code that has already been tested. Removing the hassle and complexity from your Microsoft Office automation. Better Solutions Limited offers End Users and IT Departments a dedicated, london based, Microsoft Office programming resource that can align with any EUDA strategy.

Using developers that have Limited Experience results in quick fixes and makes subsequent changes much harder. A better solution would be to use developers that are experts in one or two languages and then get them involved with the other areas of the development life cycle.

Using developers that Over Engineer solutions results in code with unnecessary complexity and makes debugging much harder. A better solution would be to only use the core language features and implement them using an agreed coding convention that makes the code easy to understand.

Using developers that have poor Interpersonal Skills results in bad communication and makes support much harder. A better solution would be for the developer to have regular interactions with the users and for them to have full ownership and accountability for the code.

Being able to get the complete set of services from a single partner is fantastic. There are plenty of websites out there, but none of them provide technical support and consultancy for Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Outlook.

I am working on developing a demo of a Microsoft Add-in that utilises the office.js library. Would you be able to build a demo that exports every table within an Excel workbook to a Word document?

FOCUSING ON

Helping End Users

Achieve Their Goals

Implement Automation

Streamline Processes

Embrace Programming

FOCUSING ON

Helping End Users

Achieve Their Goals

Implement Automation

Streamline Processes

Embrace Programming