Excel spreadsheets do so much, from making lists to crunching numbers to acting as sophisticated flat-file databases. We’re creating this guide to make sure you master all the essentials and more.

JD Sartain / PC World. A basic flat-file spreadsheet database. This foundational Master database (in this example) contains all the information that’s on your driver’s license.

For example, SSIS is perfectly suited for importing a "flat file," such as a CSV, into a relational database. Using SSIS's graphical designer, the task is straightforward, if not entirely intuitive.

Plenty of people populate Excel's seemingly infinite grids with data, using it as a flat-file database. It can make a relatively effective contact manager or full-blown customer relationship manager.

We have multiple users accessing a flat file database -- specifically an Access 97 database.<BR><BR>We've got a few problems with it:<BR>An Access 97 user and an Access 2000 user can access it at ...

Plenty of people populate Excel's seemingly infinite grids with data, using it as a flat-file database. It can make a relatively effective contact manager or full-blown customer relationship manager.

Many people populate Excel's seemingly infinite grids with data, using it as a flat-file database. It can make a relatively effective contact manager or full-blown customer relationship manager.