How To Turn An Excel Spreadsheet Into An Ipad App

Spreadsheet to App in Less Than a Minute. Seriously.

Spreadsheet to App in Less Than a Minute. Seriously. by Daniel Dam

Spreadsheets: we all love them. They're pretty easy to start and can help you structure your thoughts and your data in a straightforward way using Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. But beyond that, things can get messy maintaining data integrity and addressing versioning problems — especially with a remote workforce. That amazing spreadsheet you made? Now it's the bane of people's existence.

That's not a problem anymore with Mendix Studio's capability: starting an app based on a spreadsheet. Within minutes and a few simple actions, you can turn your spreadsheet into a secure running application, and you don't have to bug IT to do it.

The Perfect Spreadsheet, the Perfect Problem

Suppose you've just created a spreadsheet that holds essential data for your team to make decisions. You've either exported it from an existing IT system, collected the data manually, or dumped the legacy database your predecessor built into a spreadsheet format. Your spreadsheet runs nicely and shows exactly what you want it to. You are happy, your teammates are happy, and your boss is impressed by the increase in efficiency of your team's operations. Everyone lives happily ever after!

and they lived happily ever after

Until they don't.

What starts with a simple 'data.xlsx' morphs quickly into 'data v1.xlsx' and then 'data final.xlsx'. Then, 'data final v2.xlsx' pops up, followed by 'Copy of data final v2 – edits Mike.xlsx'. And worse – all of these spreadsheets will land in your inbox at the same time! Your team will soon spend half of their valuable time figuring out if they're looking at the latest data or not, and the other half copying data between sheets to—hopefully—collect everything relevant.. As user experience plummets, your dream-come-true ending is now your worst nightmare.

This is the worst thing that could ever happen

Sometimes it's someone else's document, and that clever person from your team has moved on to another role. hat worked well at first is now showing complicated errors, data is getting corrupted, and there's no one there to solve these problems.

And what do you do when your team members want to use your spreadsheet on their mobile devices or want the spreadsheet to hold images and files?

Hear me well, I'm not trying to bash any spreadsheet lovers out there—I will happily use a spreadsheet myself as input to make a decision. What I do know, though, is that teams, departments, and companies have relied on their collection of spreadsheets for far too long to run their business processes. At Mendix, we wanted to change that.

What if You Could Convert Your Spreadsheet Into an App in Minutes?

We believe that you, your team, and your company would be far better served with a web app rather than a spreadsheet to support your daily operations.

But a web app means that you have to queue up to get time from the professional developers in the IT department, which takes their time away from (probably) far more important work. In reality, you're left empty-handed, and you're left to continue using your spreadsheets. This flies directly in the face of your company and its desire to control their data across departments and with customers and suppliers.

With Mendix Studio, you can drag and drop your spreadsheet into the app creation platform and it'll publish a web app in a minute.

Furthermore, you can immediately share this app with others to streamline the data management process and avoid the spreadsheet pitfalls we explored above. No more flooded inboxes. No more versioning problems.

You are also free to extend the app with your own logic using visual microflows, add dashboard pages, differentiate what different users see, and tailor the app to match your processes in the best possible way.

Sure… but How Does Converting My Excel File Into an App Work?

After you drag and drop your .xlsx file to Mendix Studio, it inspects your spreadsheet and the data, and then generates an app based on what it has found with security protocols in place.

More specifically, based on your spreadsheet, Mendix Studio:

Generates a domain model and data management pages
Packages your data and imports it into the running app
Looks for repetitions in the data in your spreadsheet
Searches for relations between the data in your spreadsheet
Protects the data from the get-go, because the app is secured when published from Mendix Studio

To get going, simply choose the 'App from spreadsheet' banner when creating a new app.

start an app from a spreadsheet

For detailed information on how this works, please see our reference guide documentation.

And How Does Moving From Spreadsheets to Apps Help?

This new feature gives you a jump start with a very smooth and fast experience, saving you from the multiple hours of basic and repetitive work to build a data management app. Even if you're a professional developer, this can get you started easily, smoothly moving into the more advanced features of Studio Pro to extend the app.

Moreover, with Mendix Studio your team will avoid the many pitfalls of spreadsheet-run processes. No more spreadsheet chaos – instead, you're creating a streamlined, differentiated experience for all people involved that helps get the job done a lot more easily.

And perhaps most importantly, this allows you to implement long-lasting and sustainable improvements in the way your team, department, and company operate.

Vanquish the ordinary spreadsheet, and live happily ever after with a powerful and flexible Mendix app!

Start Converting Your Spreadsheets Into Apps … Now!

Every user in Mendix Studio can now create apps from spreadsheets. Updating processes still trapped in excel docs and access databases is getting even easier in the Mendix Platform with the addition of a Workflow Editor. Go ahead, try it for yourself and get your first app out in one minute.

Simply signup for free. If you already have an account, all you have to do is create an app and select your spreadsheet to get going. There is no need to upgrade: all-new capabilities are there so you can just Go make it.

This post has been updated. It was originally published on May 14, 2020.