Ed's
NFL Office Pool
Calculator
/Workbook

Version 4.08


Now available for
the 12th consecutive year!

Updated with the 2023
NFL Schedule! 

 


Frequently Asked Questions

 

Note:  The calculator is an Excel workbook that uses "macros." 
When the workbook is first opened, depending upon your security settings,
you may have to enable macros if you see that warning message.



 

The calculator looks great! Will it work on my Mac?

I don't know!  Prior versions would not have worked, since the program used Active-X Control Buttons, which is a Windows-only technology.  But since I've removed all of the Active-X code, it might!  Alas, I don't own a Mac and I don't have access to one, nor am I familiar with them, so it's hard for me to test any of this.

Of course, the program should work if you're using the program on a Mac via some sort of a Windows emulator. 

Edit:  I just found out from a user that the program does work on a Mac... with the exception of the Download Scores button.  All of the other macros and formulas work... with the exception of the ability to download the scores of the NFL games directly from the internet.





I'm having problems with this program at work.  Does it have anything to do with our company firewall?


Most likely.  One or two users reported problems with it at work with their "very robust firewall."  However, when they ran it on their computers at home, they had no problems.




I've read your detailed Help tab, I've played around with the program, and I'm still having problems!  What should I do?


Most likely it's something simple, since so many users are now using the program with no problems whatsoever.  E-mail me a copy of the calculator with your picks entered, describe the problem as best you can, and I'll take a look at it.




Sometimes Monday Night has TWO NFL games. 
Does the calculator add the total points from BOTH of the Monday Night games for the tie-breaker?

No, the default option is for program to only use the total score in one game.  That game is always the very last game in the NFL_Schedule tab.  Thus, if you want the program to use the total for the other Monday night game, simply edit the NFL_Schedule tab and switch these two teams around, making sure that the game you want to use for the Monday Night tiebreaker is last.

However, if you want to use the total for both Monday Night games, do this: 

Download the scores as you normally would.  Now, enter the total number of points scored yourself, for both games, in cell S10 on the Main worksheet tab.  (It's the cell directly underneath the words MONDAY TTL.)   The program won't know the total points for both games itself, so you have to tell it.

Then, recalculate the winner by clicking the NFL Office Pool Graphic in the upper left corner of the Main tab!  Doing that will re-grade the results, using the total points you entered in cell S10.





My office pool requires players to pick teams against the NFL pointspread.  Can I still use your program?

Of course!   You have two options.  (1) Just use the toggle buttons to toggle the winner of each game, taking the pointspread you are using into account.  For example, if the Lions beat the Bears by 3, but your pool spread was Chicago +4, toggle Chicago as the "winning team," not Detroit.  (2)  Or, enter the pointspread you are using in the NFL_Schedule tab.  When downloading the scores from the internet, the program will use the scores and your pointspread when determining the "winning team."




Our pool uses the Monday Night game as a tie-breaker too, but with our pool the winner is determined by the player coming closest to the Monday Night total score, without going over!   Can you modify your pool to accommodate this?

Good suggestion.  Done.  It's a new user option with version 2.14.  This, of course, is known as The Price Is Right scoring.




I run a very large pool (often more than 80 players) and your program seems a little slow.  Other than that, wow, it works great!


Alas, Visual Basic is not known for its speed.  However, the latest version, version 3.0, is MUCH faster than previous versions.  Also, note that you can bypass the logic that determines if every player is still alive, in the User_Options worksheet tab.  This will speed up things considerably.  Finally, if you happen to have any other workbooks open, try closing them.  If your other workbooks have a lot of volatile formulas, that can slow this workbook down.




I run our office pool and I'd like to use your calculator to help manage it.  My co-workers submit their picks to me via an Excel program.  Can I import these picks into your calculator, so I don't have to enter them manually?


Yes!  This is now a new feature with Version 3.14.  Basically, you will save all of your Excel weekly pick sheet forms, that are filled out by your players, to the same folder.  Call the folder whatever you want.  (Week 1 Picks, Picks for Week 2, etc.)  Then, from the Player_Picks tab, instead of entering them manually, click the red IMPORT PICKS button near the top of the page.  Navigate through your system and select that folder. 

That's it.  All weekly pick sheet forms found in that folder will be opened and read and entered for you, in the Player_Picks worksheet tab.




The scores aren't being downloaded?  What can I do?

More than once, the websites I've used to retrieve the scores have changed their internal HTML code!  This happened a couple of years ago with the NFL.COM website and in September of 2022, it happened again with the CBS Sports website.

1. You can always select a different website to download the scores.  I offer four different choices in the User_Options worksheet tab.  You may have better luck with another site.

2. You can also set the winner this way. Enter the actual final score in the appropriate spot in the NFL_Schedule worksheet tab. (To the right of each team, for that week.) After doing so, switch back to Main and then click the small RE-LOAD button in the upper right corner. Clicking that re-load button will re-load all of the players from the Player_Picks tab AND at the same time it will look for and enter any final scores it finds in the NFL_Schedule tab, and grade accordingly.

3.  You can also, of course, set the winner yourself, simply by toggling the yellow TOGGLE WINNER button.



I'm not familiar with Excel.  Can I still use your program?

Yes... but I wouldn't recommend it.  At the very least you should know how to open a file, how to save a file, how to insert rows, if desired.  You should know at least the basics of Microsoft Excel.  Some users, who have their security settings set too strictly, will need to know how go into Excel's TRUST CENTER SETTINGS and enable macros or add a "trusted location."  If you've never used Excel before then no, I wouldn't recommend using Excel, or this program, to manage your pool.



I think I found a bug!


It wouldn't surprise me.  With a program this size (thousands of lines of code) it's not only possible, it's very likely there's a bug or two just waiting to be found.  Ideally, send me a copy of your spreadsheet with the picks you entered, and the steps required for me to reproduce the bug, so I can see what's going on at this end.

 

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