That’s right, we have now added so many new features to the forthcoming release of Rainbow that we will be badging it as Rainbow 7.0 instead of 6.3. We have overhauled not only the colour management system (as detailed in our last post), but also the sub-systems for workbook management and error logging.

There’s now a Rainbow log file which will record details in the unlikely event of a system error, and (more importantly for most users) it will keep a note of sheets, rows and columns which have been unhidden or (sheets) unprotected. So if you need to check what was in those hidden ranges, or re-apply protection, you can find the information you need in a couple of clicks.

The image above (click to view full size in new tab) shows the new Rainbow log viewer, and you can also see what else is new on the Rainbow 7.0 tab. We’ll be providing full details of all the new features soon!

We’ve built on some modifications we introduced for a recent corporate client (we’ve called this version 6.2), and in the next couple of months we will be releasing version 6.3. There’s a new File Control group at the beginning of the Rainbow tab (click on the image above), which makes it even easier for you to manage your Excel documents and report workbooks.

But the really exciting feature of the new release is that we have completely overhauled Rainbow’s colour management system to make full use of the changes introduced with Excel 2007. There will be 64 colours (from a range of 16 million) for formula and difference groups, instead of the present 24 colours (from a palette of 54), so Rainbow will handle much larger spreadsheets without running out of colours.

Rainbow will now be able to show multiple colours in one cell, for instance to show that the cell contains (1) a formula with a hard-coded number, and (2) a complex formula and (3) a formula that differs from those around it. And if this sounds potentially complicated, the new Find Colours function will make it very simple to see what the colours mean, and to find other cells where they are used. Click the image on the left to see what this will look like.

There will be many other enhancements, which we will cover later. And of course there is no need to wait for the release of version 6.3; if you buy Rainbow Analyst Professional 6.1 now (either a personal or a corporate licence), there will be no charge to upgrade to version 6.3 when it comes out.

A couple more new features that we’ve added to the latest (6.1.2) release of Rainbow Analyst Professional, to make your spreadsheet audit process as intuitive as possible:

• A new function (in the Format Editor) that will clear existing colours from your spreadsheet at the click of a mouse, so that you can be sure that any new colours have been added by Rainbow, and were not already there when you started.
• Double-width boxes in the file selection dialogue window, so you can be sure that even with very long file or sheet names you will be able to see the whole name, and know which workbook or worksheet you are selecting.

But don’t take our word for it; please download version 6.1 for yourself and try it out!

We have just released version 6.1 of Rainbow Analyst Professional, with many new features to improve your spreadsheet auditing experience! The most important addition is the new Manage Names function, which supplements Excel’s Name Manager by giving you:

• An interactive report listing all defined names, even hidden ones, and showing which of them are actually used (referenced) in the current spreadsheet.
• The ability to perform specific operations on selected names with a few mouse clicks, e.g. to delete all names which are not currently used, or all invalid (#REF!) names.
• A sophisticated function that will convert references to all or specified names into the referred-to value of the name. So for example if you have defined the name “Tomorrow” with the value “=TODAY()+1″, and cell C3 contains the formula “=Tomorrow”, Rainbow will replace this with “=(TODAY()+1)”.

Other new features in this latest release include the following:

• The Report Links function has been expanded to report on two more types of object than can be very significant in auditing a spreadsheet: (1) pivot, data and query tables, with details about the source of the data, and (2) buttons, controls, charts and other graphics, with details of any macro functions that are called.
• The Summary Report has had makeover: as well as a re-style for better readability, it now also lists circular references and macro buttons, and it highlights results (e.g. long formulas, or error values) that are likely to indicate possible issues in the spreadsheet.
• Nearly all Rainbow’s reports are now formatted as data tables, meaning that you can easily sort them or filter the contents to see only the rows that you’re interested in, and all reports have also been updated to reflect the current Excel styles, giving them a much more modern look.

There are numerous other minor fixes and enhancements, and we will post further details shortly. In the meantime you can check out the Version 6.1 User Guide, and download version 6.1 for yourself. If you have a single-user licence for version 6.0, you can upgrade for free; if you have a corporate site licence, please email for upgrade information.

We’ve just released version 6.0.4 of Rainbow Analyst Professional, with fixes for a few minor issues with Excel 2010, particularly the speaker beep when running the Inter-Sheet Logic function. Visit our Download page to upgrade your copy!

We’re planning for the next significant upgrade; watch this space, and let us know if there are any new features you’d like to see!

We have just released two new versions of Rainbow Analyst for the New Year! Both the Professional and the Personal versions have been upgraded:

• The new Professional version 6.0 is fully integrated with Microsoft’s Ribbon interface (for Excel and Office 2007), and it incorporates other improvements which we think represent overall a major advance in usability. For more details see below and on other pages.
• The new Personal version (version 3.4) now incorporates Inter-Sheet Logic and Comparison functions as well as other improvements, and it is still completely free for personal, non-commercial use.

You can download and try out both versions on our Download page; and if you’re a spreadsheet professional using Excel 2003 or earlier, we are continuing to offer our well-established Professional version 5.1.

If you’re currently an individual (single licence) user of Rainbow Analyst Professional version 5.1, you can upgrade to version 6.0 without charge. If you are a corporate (site licence) user, please contact us for upgrade information.

Many professional Excel users have continued to use Excel 2003 rather than migrating to the completely new Ribbon interface in Excel 2007. However, in Rainbow Analyst Professional version 6.0 we have recognised that an increasing number are making the move, and we have upgraded Rainbow Analyst to take full advantage of the Ribbon interface.

The new version version occupies a separate “Rainbow” tab on the Ribbon (click above to see the full-size image), which has allowed us to arrange and group Rainbow’s functions much more clearly than on the previous drop-down menu. There is also a “supertip” for each function which briefly explains its use when you hover the mouse over it.

The new version has also enabled us to implement interactive functionality in place of two Rainbow features that used to involve a slightly clunky use of Excel worksheets. The first such feature is the set of cell mapping options that determine how Rainbow colours or maps different types or groups of cells. You can now view and interactively edit all these options from the Cell Mapping button on the Ribbon (as above). And if you have created a Rainbow map and want to check what the different colours mean, you can now do so quickly and easily by clicking the Cell Mapping button.

The other Rainbow function that is now interactive is the User Guide. We realised that most users were not making much use of this, and so we have now made available nearly all sections of the User Guide in the form of context-sensitive help, which can be accessed from the new Help button on nearly all dialog boxes.

In addition to these changes, we have also included a number of other minor enhancements:

• a date and time stamp on all reports (as shown on our Example page;
• a message advising when the Compare Worksheets function has not found any matching sheets to compare;
• improvements in the way Rainbow deals with protected sheets and chart sheets.

So if you’re using Excel 2007, go to our Downloads page and try version 6.0 for yourself!

We are delighted to add another 5-star rating, this time from Qweas.com, to the awards mentioned in our last news item a couple of months ago.

We’re also working on the next release of Rainbow Analyst Professional, which will take full advantage of the Office Ribbon, so watch this space for further news. (And please let us know if there are specific features you’d really like to see included in future releases!)

Following the inclusion of Rainbow Analyst in the Softpedia software database (see earlier news item), Rainbow Analyst Professional has now been awarded 5 Stars at GearDownload.com as well as at BestShareware.net.

These are unsolicited ratings, and we are delighted at this further recognition of the quality of our product.

We have just released version 5.1 of Rainbow Analyst Professional, and the main news about this release is that it is compatible with Microsoft Excel 2007. We have fixed a few issues that made previous releases incompatible with Excel 2007, so you can now use Rainbow Analyst Professional with the latest version of Microsoft Office.

Version 5.1 does not directly use Microsoft’s Ribbon interface, but it appears inside an Add-Ins tab on the Ribbon, where you can access the Rainbow menu and toolbar. The steps for installing and trouble-shooting Rainbow Analyst under Office 2007 are quite different from previous versions of Excel, so we have now included full details of the Office 2007 procedures on other pages of our site.

If you currently have a single-user licence for version 5.0, you can download and install version 5.1 for free from the Download page of our website. If you have a corporate site licence, please contact us for details of how to upgrade.