If you are ’switching’ between ‘predetermined’ views while using your spreadsheet, them custom views are for you – MAYBE. If your spreadsheet layout is not going to change, if you are just using a single sheet and don’t intend adding (or changing others).

The catch is that custom views retain the setup for the whole workbook, not just the sheet you are creating a custom view on/for. This is by design as the view may be used to hide specific sheets etc. However, if you have a second sheet within the workbook you are still developing, the minute you use a custom view, all your formatting changes to that second sheet are undone, and the undo command does not restore it!!! (at least not in Excel 2000). The only way to recover, is to exit without saving. Not pretty. Of course, if you are aware and alert, you can save your changes to the second sheet in a new custom view, to restore it, but if you then have third, fourth etc. sheets undergoing changes the whole thing gets messy. Best to avoid, at least until you are sure you will not want to make any more formatting changes at all to any sheets.

So for me the rule is they are ok on ‘mature’ workbooks where the only thing that’s going to change is the data, otherwise steer clear, unless you want to delete and re-create all the views every time you change any formatting.

Thats my view.

Regards

Mark