Problem with the Spreadsheet? Here’s how to fix it.

In my first book Making Tinctures: Beyond the Folk Method, I wrote a chapter on how to create a spreadsheet that will automatically provide the results needed for each herb tincture formula. The spreadsheet is exactly what I use for myself. I created my spreadsheet using LibreOffice Calc since it works on my Linux computer. I chose LibreOffice because it works in both Windows and Linux operating systems, unlike Microsoft Office. LibreOffice is an open source and free software that is just as powerful as Microsoft Office.

The spreadsheet programs, LibreOffice Calc and Microsoft Office Excel, are supposed to be interchangeable. The function formulas are SUPPOSED to be the same, but there are apparently some differences as was discovered by several readers of my book who tried to create a spreadsheet using my instructions. They were using Microsoft Excel.

The problem was the ROUND function. This function rounds a number to a certain precision. The syntax is: ROUND(number:places) in LibreOffice where if places is omitted or zero, the function rounds to the nearest whole number. The syntax in Microsoft Excel is ROUND(number,num_digits). Microsoft Excel does NOT accept num-digits being omitted. To just round to the nearest whole number, 0 (zero) is required.

In LibreOffice: =ROUND(((C2/F2/2))*E2) works. It does not work in Microsoft Excel. What will work in Microsoft Excel is: =ROUND(((C2/F2/2))*E2,0). The good news is that what works in Mircrosoft Excel ALSO works in LibreOffice. So all the uses of the ROUND function in my spreadsheet must be changed to the Microsoft Excel syntax.

Since what Microsoft Excel requires for the ROUND function will also work in LibreOffice Calc, I have provided a spreadsheet for some of the tincture formulas given in my books. It uses Microsoft Excel’s required syntax for the ROUND function. Thus this spreadsheet works in both Microsoft Excel and in LibreOffice Calc. You can alter and build onto the spreadsheet for your own use, if you like. Note that the equations shown in the provided spreadsheet will not be exactly like those given in the instructions in the book, since I have added columns in order to provide me additional information.

Click the Download button to download the spreadsheet.