Power Utility Pak v5Power Utility Pak v5Add-in tools for Microsoft Excel 2000, 2002, and 2003
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PUP v5 has been replaced by PUP v6
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| No. of Copies | Discount % | Unit Price |
|---|---|---|
| 1-4 | 0% | $39.95 |
| 5-9 | 25% | $29.96 |
| 10-24 | 35% | $25.97 |
| 25-49 | 50% | $19.98 |
| 50-99 | 60% | $15.98 |
| 100-499 | 70% | $11.99 |
| 500-999 | 75% | $9.99 |
| 1,000-4,999 | 85% | $5.99 |
| 5,000+(site license) | $30,000 | |
Yes. Each of the books listed below contains a coupon for a free (or significantly discounted) copy of PUP. These books are all published by Hungry Minds, and are written by John Walkenbach, who is also the developer of PUP v5.
Please note: Although the coupon in these books lists PUP 2000, you will actually receive the current version (PUP v5).
No. You must mail the coupon to get the discounted price.
No. When you become a licensed user you'll need to download a new (very small) file to update your installation.
Officially, no. However, the author spent nine consecutive years in college, so he understands that students are often on a tight budget. Therefore, educational discounts will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Contact sales@j-walk.com and describe your situation.
No. Copy protection only serves to inconvenience honest users, and does very little to prevent software piracy. If you like PUP v5, you should purchase a license. Doing so will keep you honest, enable you to get free upgrades, and help support the concept of independent software development.
The license prohibits illegal copying. You can, however, distribute the Trial Version to as many people as you like.
Power Utility Pak is written exclusively in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). This is Excel's built-in macro language. It doesn't use any custom DLL files or non-standard ActiveX controls, and it does not make any changes to your system (except for settings stored in the Windows registry).
Yes. The complete VBA source code is available to licensed users for an additional $20.00 -- a very small price to pay for literally hundreds of examples of useful programming techniques. Click here for more information.
Sure -- but the applications that you develop may not be sold or used for commercial purposes (refer to the Software License Agreement).
If you have any questions about this, please contact sales@j-walk.com.
Look in your \pup5 directory. You will find a MS Word document that contains all of the information you need.
To reduce the size of the PUP v5 download, a printable manual is not included. The product's documentation is in the form of thorough, context-sensitive help files. You can, however, download a User's Manual in PDF format, or you can download the help files separately.
Not at all. Memory usage was a primary consideration in developing this product. PUP v5 is modular, so only the utilities that you actually use are loaded into memory. PUP v5 includes a new option that lets you control how many utilities will remain in memory.
Power Utility Pak was born in 1994, shortly after Excel 5 was released. I was looking for a project that would help me learn VBA -- the programming language that debuted in Excel 5. I created some utilities, gave them the unimaginative name of Power Utility Pak, and included them in my Excel 5 Power Programming Techniques book.
I continued working on the project, added some new utilities, and released an updated (shareware) version called Power Utility Pak 2.0. When Excel 97 was released, I worked on it some more (a lot more), and released PUP97 -- which happened to win a ZDNet Shareware Award in 1998. I continued to add new utilities and enhancements, and PUP97 evolved into PUP 2000, which became available when Excel 2000 was released.
PUP v5 is the most ambitious upgrade yet, and is the result of thousands of hours of programming and testing. It includes about 20 new utilities, and most of the others have been significantly enhanced.
Well, that was the original name of the product, to correspond with Excel 2002. But after the product was announced, I received several emails from Excel 2000 users who wanted to know if it would work with their version of Excel. To avoid confusion, the product was re-named PUP v5 (it is, after all, the fifth version).
PUP 2000 is still available (click here). With the release of PUP v5, PUP 2000 is now intended primarily for Excel 97 users. If you use Excel 2000 or later, you'll most definitely want PUP v5.
PUP97 is no longer available. It has been replaced by later versions. If you use Excel 97, you'll want to use PUP 2000.
That version is long gone.
Don't ask.
No, and there are no plans for one.
No, and there are no plans for one.
I know of several other products that are also collections of add-ins for Excel:
Absolutely. The main requirement is that the utility must be general purpose in nature, and add something that's useful to a fair number of users.
Technical support is available by e-mail, directly from the developer. Questions are typically answered within 24 hours, usually more quickly. Send e-mail to support@j-walk.com.
First, check the PUP v5 Update Site. An updated version of the utility may be available, and you can download the new file.
If an update is not available, send e-mail to support@j-walk.com, and describe the problem and the steps required to reproduce it. The problem will be corrected, and the updated file will be made available to everyone.
Yes, workbook files that use any of the PUP worksheet functions can be distributed. However, the application may not be sold or used for commercial purposes. If you have any questions about this, please contact support@j-walk.com.
You can if you want, but it's not necessary. The first time PUP v5 loads, it will uninstall PUP97 or PUP 2000.
Probably not. Unlike many CD-ROM, the PUP v5 CD-ROM is not self-installing. Open an Explorer window and activate the CD-ROM drive. Then double-click the setup.exe file to begin extracting the files.
Installation is a two-step process:
c:\program files\pup5\
Yes, all of the PUP v5 files are contained in a single directory. You can simply copy the files to your new system, and then delete them from your old system. You can transfer the files via a network connection, copy the files to a series of floppy discs, or burn them to a CD-ROM.
After the files are copied, you'll need to install the add-in. To do so, start Excel. Choose Tools Add-Ins. In the Add-Ins dialog box, click the Browse button and locate the pup5.xla file.
PUP was developed using the programming tools that are supplied with every copy of Excel -- the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macro language. One of the primary design goals of PUP v5 was simplicity. Consequently, it does not use any custom DLLs or non-standard controls, and it does not make any changes to your system settings (except for settings stored in the Windows Registry).
Here's a basic overview of how the product works:
To view the current registry settings for PUP v5: Select About Power Utility Pak from the PUP v5 menu. Then click the Registry Settings button, and respond Yes to the message box. This will create a new workbook that displays all of the settings.
To delete all of the registry settings for PUP v5: Select About Power Utility Pak from the PUP v5 menu. Then click the Registry Settings button, and respond No to the message box. This will delete all of the settings, and it will be as if you just installed PUP v5.
Sure. In Excel, choose Tools -Add-Ins. Remove the checkmark from the Power Utility Pak v5 item and click OK. This will remove the PUP v5 menu (and any PUP utilities that are open).
To install PUP v5 again, repeat the command, but place a checkmark next to the Power Utility Pak v5 item.
The most likely reason is that another Excel application has reset the menu bar. Or, you may have changed your mind about closing Excel (i.e., clicked Cancel in response to a "Save the file" message after requesting to close Excel).
Press Ctrl+Shift+U to rebuild the PUP v5 menu. If you use another add-in that insists on resetting the menu bar, you can create a PUP v5 toolbar and access the PUP utilities from the tool bar.
The solution is simple: Create a new toolbar. Choose Create a PUP Toolbar from the PUP v5 menu. This will delete the old toolbar and create a new one that points to the new location of your PUP v5 files.
Yes, but you'll need to rename the existing PUP toolbar before you create a new one (otherwise it will replace the existing one). To rename a toolbar, choose View | Toolbars | Customize. Select the Toolbars tab in the Customize dialog box. Select the 'PUP v5' item and click Rename.
Unfortunately, it's not uncommon to encounter a situation in which Excel stops working properly. For example, the video display may be incorrect, or Excel may suddenly stop responding
to commands.
The most common cause of general "strangeness" on the part of Excel is not enough system
resources (Excel has always had a serious problem in this area). The solution is to exit Excel and re-start Windows. If possible, don't run any other applications while you use Excel.
This problem is not caused by the Power Utility Pak per se. However, if you've loaded many of the PUP v5 utilities, you might try unloading some or all of them. You may find that restarting Windows several times per day solves this type of problem. Upgrading to a more recent version of Windows (such as Windows 2000 or Windows XP) may also help.
Also, it's a good idea to keep track of which add-in programs are installed (use the Add-Ins command on the Tools menu). In addition, you may have add-ins in your XLStart directory. These add-ins are loaded every time Excel starts, and may not even be listed in the Add-Ins dialog box. Add-ins consume memory and resources, and there is no need to load them if you don't use them. Look to see whether you really need these programs to be loaded at startup, or contact your System Administrator if you you’re unfamiliar with this process.
If the text in some of the PUP v5 dialog boxes appears cut off, or is not displayed correctly, you're probably using the "Large Fonts" system option. Unfortunately, this setting is not fully compatible with Excel custom dialog boxes.
Activate the Windows Control Panel and access the Display Properties dialog box. Click the Settings tab and change the Font Size setting to Small Fonts.
This error can be caused by the following:
Some of the functions may require a complete recalculation in order to update. To force a recalculation, press Ctrl+Alt+F9.
If you use a function in many formulas, you may experience significantly slower calculation times. This is perfectly normal. A custom function will never be as fast as Excel's built-in functions.
Although every attempt was made to make these functions robust and error-free, it's possible that, under some circumstances, they may return an error or an incorrect value.
When you use a custom function (such as any of the PUP worksheet functions), Excel "remembers" how you entered it the first time it was used. Therefore, if you enter a PUP function in uppercase the first time it is used, subsequent uses of that function will be converted to uppercase automatically.
