Let's Outlaw Pictures

It seems that recently, more and more OPs are uploading .jpg copies of spreadsheets. This means if you wish to work on it, you may have to recreate the file. Time consuming, yeah? I will usually skip over these threads as time is an issue and its a nuisance.

Hey Mods and Admins and Owners: Let's make life easy to help people and not have to ask for the spreadsheet to be re-loaded or try to re-create the issue. Let's lock out any type of picture upload to the forum.

I'd like to hear some pros and cons for doing this. It really gripes me to see OPs taking this route.

I too see pictures instead of xls files and i ask them to upload the excel files. I too dont want to waste time recreating the file from a jpg or png.

However, we cannot lock out pictures completely, as sometimes users get an error and a picture is the best way to show us what error they get.

Im with you on that 1 Alan. I often tell an OP who posts a pic that they might just get a pic back of the solution

I think it's a balance. If I can see from the picture what is needed, or it's not too difficult to re-create, I might do something with it.

What is as bad, if not worse, is when the OP copies columns of data and then posts them as text ... and they all shuffle across to the left. Text to Columns doesn't always produce the same result as the original, particularly if the OP has gone to the trouble of adding column and row headers, hence any formula produced is offset.

And it's almost guaranteed that, if you ask the OP to upload a sample workbook, they'll come back and ask, "how do I do that?"

I know exactly which post prompted this thread!

Personally, I like to see a sample workbook even if the question is relatively simple. It clarifies the need and may prompt questions about the requirement, and I like to test any solution that I provide ... again, regardless of how straightforward the answer is. If I've typed the formula into a cell and it works, I know that when I copy and paste it there won't be any errors in it (or, at least, it's less likely). Same with code.

Regards, TMS

I think a lot of people don't know to Go Advanced and Manage attachments. I always include that direction when I ask for the spreadsheet after they have uploaded a useless image. Any way to add an icon for spreadsheet attachment to the taskbar making everyone's life easier?

I really think it would be a great idea to put the attachment icon to the quick reply toolbar. It would make everyone's life a lot easier, especially with all the DB issues that appear from time to time. I never know if I will get the Advanced view or if it will hit a DB error and so try to stay away from it as much as possible. Of course that also means I post examples less and less and it's often difficult for the OP to get it working without an example.

I have already forwarded the request to include the attachment icon on the post quick reply window to the tech team. Will ask for an update and get back to you guys.

Thanks Arlette.

But... I loved attaching pictures of answers to pictures of questions...

It would annoy the OP enough to get a chuckle or two...

Originally Posted by Miraun

But... I loved attaching pictures of answers to pictures of questions...

It would annoy the OP enough to get a chuckle or two...

You are so wicked but it made me laugh and what a good idea.

Chris

lol see post #3

My vote: ban the pictures.

If we ban pictures, how do you plan to show an error that you are getting with your code? Or maybe some anomaly in the forum functionality?

Originally Posted by arlu1201

If we ban pictures, how do you plan to show an error that you are getting with your code? Or maybe some anomaly in the forum functionality?

Simply embed the picture in an excel file and upload that!

Yeah i thought of that too.

As long as the users know how to do it, i dont think we should have a problem.

They already know how to get a screenshot (Alt+Print Screen) and they already know how to paste (Right click paste or Ctrl+V), so there you have it a picture in and excel workbook, nothing difficult

so what would that achieve? that's exactly what the op will do too instead of posting the workbook that he/she could have posted in the first place. or they'll say "I can't upload a picture for some reason" and we're back to to square one asking for a workbook/document/presentation
I'm not in favor of removing useful functionality personally

Originally Posted by FDibbins

Im with you on that 1 Alan. I often tell an OP who posts a pic that they might just get a pic back of the solution

I love this.