Common Questions

Is there a way to speed up the input of my student details?

Yes. Many schools are provided with or compile the details of their new students on disk or in school administration software. It is a very quick process to copy and paste the essential details onto the “List” sheet. If you are not sure how to do this there is sure to be a colleague familiar with the process of copying into Excel. Use their expertise to save you time.

How do I print a sheet?

You can choose to print any chosen area of a sheet simply by highlighting the area using the mouse drag technique and then clicking “File” “Print Area” and “Set Print Area”. Then choose to print. If you wish not to print a certain column, click in the column and click "Format" "Column" and "Hide" before printing.

I think I have messed up the Factors sheet because the "Build" routine doesn't seem to work. Can I recover it?

Yes. Open up a fresh version of the Student Sorting Kit (from a backup copy or use the original disk to reinstall it to a different area). Then simply copy and paste your current student data into the fresh copy.

Why are some students not with their friends?

This happens when:

  • Two students have restrictions which will not allow them to be placed in the same class
  • Two students have other friends who have conflicting restrictions
  • The program has realised that putting two friends together would take a friendship group over the maximum size specified
  • The name in a friend column does not match a name listed in the first two columns interpreted in the form Initial SPACE Surname or Unique ID. In the case of the former, ensure you use only one letter for the initial

I’m getting a large difference between the total numbers of students in the classes

This can happen if you are using the "Initial SPACE Surname" method and have not ensured there are no ambiguous names being used. Always run the Student Detail Check before assigning students to classes.

What are the differences between 'Text', 'Integer' and 'Real' categories?

You choose 'Text' if you are going to use letters or combinations of letters and numbers. You choose 'Integer' if you just want to use single whole numbers. You choose 'Real' if the students' can be assigned any number (including decimals) and you want the program to group them into certain ranges such as 1.5 to 4.3, 4.3 to 8.7, 8.7 to 12.5 etc.

All my categories are well balanced but my Males and Females are not. What can I do?

Go to the factors sheet and increase the weight of the Male and Female categories. Then open the Utilities sheet and press the "Build" button. This will force the sorting routine to give more consideration to the gender balance. An increase of just 1 will usually do the trick.

Macros – how do I enable / allow them to run?

When you open the Student Sorting Kit, you may find that clicking the Utilities sheet simply produces a darkly shaded page with a message about enabling macros. This will happen if your Excel security settings are set to disable macros (the Kit’s programming code).

If you are using versions of Excel from 1997 to 2003 (including that in Office XP), do the following:

  1. Open Microsoft Excel
  2. Select Tools
  3. Select Options or Macro
  4. Select Security Settings
  5. Reduce your security settings to Medium
  6. Close Excel
  7. Open the Student Sorting Kit
  8. When the security message is displayed, choose to enable macros

If you are using Excel 2007, there are several important points to note

Excel 2007 will automatically load with settings that disallow macros. A message will appear above your worksheet saying “Security Warning – Some active content has been disabled”. An options button will follow the statement. If you press the button, you can simply choose to “Enable this content”. After clicking OK, the macros will be activated.

If you want Excel 2007 to allow the macros to run without having to give permission every time you open the Kit, you must use the “Trust Center”.

  1. Click on the logo at the top-left of the Excel window
  2. Click the button “Excel Options”
  3. Click “Trust Center”
  4. Click “Trust Center Settings”
  5. Click “Macro Settings”
  6. Choose to Enable all macros
  7. Tick the box to "trust access the the VBA object model"

Note that Excel 2007 will automatically open the Student Sorting Kit 2008 in “Compatibility Mode”. This is perfectly acceptable and will not prevent the Kit from functioning normally. However, there are different ways of saving Excel workbooks in Excel 2007. Using "save as";

  • Save As an "Excel 1997-2003 Workbook": This is the recommended method. It will save the Student Sorting Kit in its original form and the macros running the program will remain intact. You will also be able to use it on workstations loaded with old and new versions of Excel.
  • Save As an "Excel Workbook – Default": This should not be used as it will save your document as a "macro-free" workbook thus stripping out the Sorting Kit program.
  • Save As an "Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook". This will convert the application to the latest format and keep the macros. Unfortunately, it will prevent the macros from running and give you no choice in the matter if a virus-checker capable of scanning encrypted files has not been detected on your computer. If a suitable virus-checker has been detected, you will be able to give permission for the macros to be enabled (see above). This format will not be compatible with earlier versions of Excel.