People have used Excel for all sorts of purposes, from teaching pilots their way around a Boeing 747 to creating clip art.

Although other programs perform such specialized tasks more quickly, accurately, and effectively, faithful often spurn those options, preferring to use the spreadsheet program they know rather than unfamiliar software.

If you're in business, Excel is likely one of your day-to-day productivity tools. Maybe after reading about creative ways other people have used Microsoft's spreadsheet application, you'll look at its potential for your work in a new light.

At one end of the range of possible uses for Excel is its role as a . This use isn't terribly uncommon; you may even know someone who does this. Although a dedicated word processor offers far superior tools, you can still write a letter or short document in Excel, either by merging and enlarging cells to use for the text or by placing the content in a text box.