As the Rental Workbook is highly programmed in VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) for Excel, it requires a full install of Microsoft Excel, with Macros Enabled to run.  Most Tablet PC’s or ‘Pad’ computers do not have this capability.

Similarly, the new Cloud version of Office (Office 365) has the same disadvantage, for the same reasons.

This post online gives an example of a similar problem experienced by a Word user:

http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/android-tablet-apps/12532-ms-office-vba-development-tablet.html

Every July, we obtain the new Tax Table information from the ATO, add the details to the RW and begin work on testing.  Near the end of July, we issue all existing users with instructions on how to upgrade their files.  If you are an existing subscriber, make sure we have your up to date email contact information so that you receive this vital update.

How to do this:

Excel 2007 or 2010

Go Add-ins > Rental Workbook > Utilities > Enter Software Licence

Excel 2003 or older

Rental Workbook > Utilities > Enter Software Licence

This allows input of up to 1,000 transactions per property per year and generates monthly totals that can then be input into the Rental Workbook, or simply provided to your accountant.

It’s particularly useful if you use your LOC for both personal and investment purposes as it automatically splits transactions into each type and tracks the balances.

Free download from our downloads page at http://www.excelaustralia.com.au/downloads/

Please check that you have followed the upgrade or renew steps fully and correctly.

If you have followed all steps and you are still losing data on the upgrade or renewal then send us your old Rental Workbook with an email explaining what you have tried to:
support@excelaustralia.com.au

Before you upgrade, you should properly prepare your existing Rental Workbook.

Have you saved each property first? Note: This is not the same as saving the file. Each property MUST be saved individually to ensure the data is stored in the transfer location. This applies for versions 9 or older.  Version 10 will automatically save all properties when Save is chosen.
Check by visiting each property in turn, following the prompts to save, or use the menu option Rental Workbook > Property > Save

(For Excel 2007 Users: Go Add-ins > Rental Workbook > Property > Save )

Have you noted any split loan & LOC details during the year?

Part of the upgrade process resets these features, so you may wish to print off the split loan and LOC pages before upgrading so you can enter these details again.

IMPORTANT: Additional notes for Excel 2007 users:

Ensure your Rental Workbook has been saved as an Excel 97-2003 document – Office Button > Save As > Excel 97-2003 file. You will not lose any features, as the Rental Workbook is created to work on Excel versions from XP to 2007. This is because the Upgrade or Renewal document will search for a .xls file and not the .xlsx that is the normal 2007 file type.

You can of course revert your upgraded or renewed file to the 2007/2010 file type after processing.

UPGRADING or RENEWING:

Properly prepare your existing Rental Workbook using the steps above.

Close your existing Rental Workbook

Open the upgrade file containing the words “Rental Workbook vXX.00 UPGRADE.xls” or “Rental Workbook vXX.00 RENEW.xls”

- Enable the macros (Excel 2007/2010 Message Bar > Options > Enable the Content)
- the splashscreen appears along with the macro warning
- the splashscreen disappears (or you click the “Close” button within 5 seconds)
- the disclaimer appears

Click “Accept”
- you will see the message about “This is a new UPGRADE / RENEWAL version. It is used to change from an older version to a newer version … etc etc … Please select ‘Yes’ to transfer data from your old Rental Workbook version to this new version, or click ‘No’ to Exit.”

Click “Yes”
- a dialog box appears entitled “Select Your vX to vX Rental Workbook to Upgrade”

Locate the Rental Workbook file on your PC that you’ve been inputting data into for the last 12 months and click “Open”

After a few moments you should see a message box entitled “Successful Upgrade” with text that says “The Rental Workbook <your filename> has been successfully upgraded and is now stored at <new path & filename> … etc etc Please note that previous borrowing cost data is now displayed under Loan Summary 1.”

Ensure you write down the new path and filename then click “OK”

Provided that your workbook hasn’t already expired, you should now be able to use the latest version of the Rental Workbook

If you are upgrading because you are finalising your financial year end, we always recommend doing things in this order:

It shouldn’t really matter which order you do things in, however we always do the following & don’t have any trouble:

1 – Complete the financial year processes
2 – Save each property in turn & save the whole RW as a back-up (either click retrieve data for each property, or select each in turn from the RW menu)
3 – Run the upgrade process
4 – save a backup of the new file in a chosen location, ensure that all properties are there
5 – Run the rollover process to clear out all the old income & expenses data
6 – Check that all properties are listed and that all the old tax year data has been cleared
7 – Select the next financial year on each of the property pages, saving each property in turn to ensure they are shown in the all tax summary report

The most common reason for a failed renewal process is that the existing Rental Workbook is running in an older version. (Most probably version 8 or older).

From July 2010, the current version was updated to Version 10. Version 9 will automatically upgrade to version 10 as part of the process. If you have not yet upgraded, you can obtain your upgrade file by using our latest upgrade code. If you have misplaced our information email, contact us for the Upgrade code at support@excelaustralia.com.au

Before running the renewal process, make sure that your copy of the Rental Workbook is up to date by following the menu path: Rental Workbook > View > About – the current version will show under Version & Licensing.

If you are using version 8 or older, you will first need to contact us at support@excelaustralia.com.au This may involve you sending us your older file to us for upgrading.

In order that the Rental Workbook is compatible with most versions of Excel, we use the Excel 97-2003 file type (e.g. WorkbookName.xls)The Upgrade and Renewal programs both need to see an Excel 97-2003 workbook file, as the two file types are incompatible, so we advise in our User Guide to save your Rental Workbook as an Excel 97-2003 file.

To do this:

Open your existing Rental Workbook
Click the Office Button
Select Save As
Choose Excel 97-2003 workbook

Close your Rental Workbook and then run through the Upgrade or Renewal process again. This time you should see your Rental Workbook as an option.

With these versions of Excel, there are a few extra steps needed to make sure all the macros are accepted – Microsoft have made lots of security enhancements which means that programs that use the security sections (like us) have to work a little harder!

CAUTION: In Excel 2010; If you do not enable Macros when you first open the RW, and have then saved as an Excel Workbook, you may have removed all the programming code! Excel 2010 has a built-in feature that keeps your settings for a particular file.  With normal use, this means you won’t have to keep ‘Enabling Macros’ every time you pen the Rental Workbook.

Below, we have prepared a screen shot of the changes you need to make to Excel in order for any workbook with macros to run (not just the Rental Workbook).

1) Click the Office Button (File in 2010)
2) Select Excel Options
3) Select the Trust Centre and then
a. At the Message bar options, tick ‘Show the message bar’
b. At Macro Settings, choose ‘Disable all macros WITH notification.
4) Back at Excel Options, choose Save, and select Save Files as Excel 97-2003

Step 4 helps with Upgrades and Renewals – We have created the Rental Workbook as an Excel 97-2003 file type in order for it to be compatible with all current Excel versions. This means that when we run updates etc, the existing file needs to also be in the same format. If you prefer to use Excel 2007 file type normally, please use Save As to save the Rental Workbook as a 97-2003 file.

When you open the Rental Workbook after changing these settings, you will see a Security Warning – Click on the Options button to enable the macros.

Once enabled, the Rental Workbook menu will be found in the Add-Ins ribbon.

When you select Add-ins, you will find the ‘normal’ Rental Workbook menu. This is where you would Save each property – i.e. Add-Ins > Rental Workbook > Property > Save. This Add-Ins menu Save is different to the File Save (Office Button Save) as it saves the individual property, and not the main file. Use this each time you make changes to one of your properties. Before closing the Rental Workbook, use the normal save file options (Office Button > Save).