Ewwww, sorry to hear that, sounds like a real pain. Good luck with all you're doing!!!

Sorry to hear about your spreadsheet woes. I know what you mean about the ribbons be difficult to adapt to. I have had a tough time myself, and after a couple years I still have a difficult time finding certain functions. It is too much clicking just to do a simple thing, like inserting a symbol or picture, or working with data parsing.

One thing that might be helpful is not keeping the raw data in Excel. If you keep the raw data in delimited files, or even in a database, that will protect the data in case your spreadsheet fails or you accidentally change something.

Also, are you using Windows Vista? If so, be sure you do not have backups of the original spreadsheet available. One of the great features in Vista is that it automatically maintains old versions of all files -- even without your instruction to do so.

Try right-clicking on the file and select Properties. There should be a tab on the right side of the properties windows for Previous Versions. It just might save the day!

Also, if you have a network (even a simple network, such as a router or switch), I strongly recommend to anyone that they get Windows Home Server. HP sells a very good home server for a few hundred dollars.

Windows Home Server is what we in the industry call "headless", meaning that it does not require a monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. -- just the box itself. You plug it into your network and you configure it from another PC on the network.

IMHO, WHS is one of the best products Microsoft has ever built. I can't really do it justice here, so I'd recommend checking it out on Microsoft's web site. Plus, there are many reviews about it on the web -- just do a Google search.

WHS automatically takes care of backups of all PCs in your house automatically. You just install the software, and it runs silently. You don't need to configure a thing, and it can do a complete restore of a PC, or you can restore old versions of individual files.

Todd -

With the ribbons, I've found that functions used most often can be added to the top ribbon next to the Office button. I've added icons for several of those, including Close File, Add and Delete Columns and Rows, there - saves me time.

I have Vista. Unfortunately, everything that could have gone wrong with the old template, did. There WAS no data in the spreadsheet, only formulas. And the backup was just as corrupt as the original. So be it.

I have an external hard drive that is used ONLY for backups when I feel the need. Works well here.

Re-creation of the spreadsheets are underway, and won't take up as much time as I had originally envisioned. Unfortunately, I vastly underestimated the number of cells needing formatting; it's something over 7.6 million cells per spreadsheet. The one good thing about it is that I can now incorporate all of the additional error traps in the new spreadsheet, which will save vast amounts of time once the data entry process starts. I don't have to go back and edit the old spreadsheets.

Thanks for the tips - much appreciated.