Creating new Y7 accounts - Wisedataman - Account Management Spreadsheet

[Jaan]

Hello everyone,

 

It's that time of year again where i create our new Year 7 intake!

For years, we've relied on the account management spreadsheet from wisedataman.com, and it's always been flawless. You can find it here: https://wisedataman.com/account-management-spreadsheet

 

This year, however, I'm encountering an error that I can't quite figure out. I've tried re-downloading the sheet, but I'm getting the same issue. I'm wondering if it's because the spreadsheet is so old, if there's a new security setting blocking it, or if it's related to us now using Office 2024 LTSC.

 

Has anyone else who normally uses this tool run into similar problems recently? I'd really appreciate any pointers or insights you might have. I love the simplicity of its interface and would hate to have to find an alternative.

 

Anybody successfully using Office 2024 with this sheet currently?

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

 

[3s-gtech]

Can you try it on an older but still supported version? I think the chances of it working on the latest builds are dropping all the time - I think I last usd it with Office 2016.

[Jaan]

On 04/08/2025 at 12:41, 3s-gtech said:

Can you try it on an older but still supported version? I think the chances of it working on the latest builds are dropping all the time - I think I last usd it with Office 2016.

 

It working fine in Excel 2021 last year. I remove office 2024 and installed Excel 2016, and the sheet worked perfectly. However, when I reinstalled my Office 2024 suite, the problem returned.

It seems the issue is with the latest version of Office. It's a shame because I really like this sheet and now I need to find an alternative. I wish I understood the code better so I could try to fix it myself, but I'm not a developer. I've tried to contact the author for help but can't see any contact details which i understand, the last update was in 2012, so it seems the project has been abandoned.

[TechMonkey]

I can highly recommend both Salamander & Locker, and they will have the added benefit of not only creating your users but keeping them up to date as well. They will also do a lot more and free you up to do other tasks.  Around the £1100-£1200 quid mark.  Though will probably be a bit late to get an install at this point in the summer.

 

If you need free, then there are plenty of PowerShell scripts that will take a CSV and create users for you. I'm sure there have been some on here that can be adapted.

[3s-gtech]

43 minutes ago, Jaan said:

 

It working fine in Excel 2021 last year. I remove office 2024 and installed Excel 2016, and the sheet worked perfectly. However, when I reinstalled my Office 2024 suite, the problem returned.

It seems the issue is with the latest version of Office. It's a shame because I really like this sheet and now I need to find an alternative. I wish I understood the code better so I could try to fix it myself, but I'm not a developer. I've tried to contact the author for help but can't see any contact details which i understand, the last update was in 2012, so it seems the project has been abandoned.

2021 is EoL in October 2026, so you could still use this method for intake this year and next. That'll save you a lot in subscription fees in the interrim. There's most likely a control that's been removed or disabled by default - you can try dropping the security levels in Office 2024 until it works, but it's pretty arcane.

 

FWIW I went to Salamander some years back because creating the in-year accounts became a pain, and managing Teams groups without it became near impossible.