RUM WTF (a.k.a. Help) Topics
What is RUM?
Inputs vs. formulas
Saving your models
Your account
Row and column trees
Adding new rows and columns
Moving rows and columns
Roll your own
Where’s the grid?
What is RUM?
RUM stands for “Really Useful Models” and is our take on the much maligned and downtrodden spreadsheet “template”. Most ordinary spreadsheet templates suck! They are often poorly formatted, hard to check and understand, can’t really be extended or modified to suit your needs, and often contain mistakes or serious inefficiencies. Sumwise aims to solve this with our more advanced, less error prone pre-built spreadsheet models. Welcome to Sumwise, we hope you enjoy our RUM!
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Inputs vs. Formulas
Inputs are shaded yellow and can (usually) be changed. Formulas are shaded either grey (if they are in cell groups) or white (if they are not in cell groups). Generally formula cells cannot be changed. These settings are controlled by the author of the model.
Saving Your Model
You can save your model by clicking the SAVE button. Your models will be saved against your account and can be accessed by clicking the My Models link at top right of Sumwise’s website, or by visiting the url: http://app.sumwise.com/rumeditor.
Your Account
You can create an account or login to an existing Sumwise account with your Google username and password. Your Google account is usually your email address that ends in @gmail.com, but it can be any email account that allows you to access Google’s services like gmail, picasaweb, youtube and the like. Sumwise does not store any information about you or get access to your password — it is merely a way for us to associate your saved models with you.
Row and Column Trees
Rows and columns are structured hierarchically into trees. This structure can be collapsed and expanded as required to show only the level of detail that you are interested in. The row tree can be collapsed and expanded using Ctrl Left and Right arrows or by clicking the plus and minus icons to the left of the row labels. All rows can be collapsed and expanded at once using the icons in the toolbar.
Column tree structure can be collapsed and expanded in a similar way (Ctrl Up and Down arrows).
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Inserting New Rows and Columns
To insert a new row select the row label above which you’d like to insert a new row and hit the Insert key or click the insert icon.
New columns can be created in a similar way.
Not all models or worksheets within a model can be edited in this way. If inserting rows and columns does not work, it may be that the model’s author has disabled adding new rows and columns.
Moving Rows and Columns
To move a row up or down, select the row label and hold down Ctrl and Alt (Windows only) on the keyboard and hit the Up or Down arrow key. Rows can only be moved up or down within their level of the hierarchy i.e. the first row under a parent row cannot be moved up any further, and the last row under a parent row cannot be moved down any further. Rows can also be moved up or down by selecting the row label and clicking the appropriate move icon.
Columns can be moved left or right in a similar way.
Not all models or worksheets within a model can be edited in this way. If moving rows and columns does not work, it may be that the model’s author has disabled moving rows and columns.
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Rolling Your Own
You can use Sumwise to build your own spreadsheet models. These can be just for you, or you can publish them and make them available to others. Visit
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Where’s The Grid?
We don’t believe in having a million rows and thousands of columns visible at all times — the Sumwise grid is only as big as it needs to be. Also Sumwise doesn’t use the standard A1 style referencing system of traditional spreadsheets. In Sumwise, rows and columns are referred to by their user defined names such as Revenue, Profit, and January.
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