Answer and edit Excel RFP questions

Project owners can upload RFPs and other questionnaires in Microsoft Word and Excel format. Qvidian identifies all cells in uploaded questionnaire simply as cells, because the location of questions and answer cells may vary depending on how the spreadsheet is set up. The product owner should assign both question and answer cells to participants to track progress on the questions and permission participants to add answers. If you are assigned a task as a writer, you can answer a question or edit the question and answer pair when it is you turn in the assignment workflow. If you are a project owner or have Manage Projects Created by Other Users permission, you can answer and edit any slice at any time.

Dropdowns are supported in project Excel questionnaires. Nested tables and images within cells are not supported by Microsoft Office. When you add a content record that includes an image to a cell, a placeholder that includes the record's Content ID replaces the image. When you add a record with a table, [table formatting not supported] displays before and after the text in the table along with the Content ID.

Projects support the cell character limits set in Excel on Data tab, under Data Validation > Settings. If you add content that exceeds the limit, the cell border and info icon will turn red and an error message will display. The cell border and info icon will remain red and the error message will display in the cell's activity card until the characters are within accepted limits. You cannot build a project until the error is resolved. For more information on character limits in Excel, visit Microsoft Support.

You can answer and edit questions by doing any of the following:

You can conduct a search within your RFP using any of the following methods: 

  • Autosearch: Right-click the cell that contains the question you want to answer and then search for the answer using one of the methods below.
    • Select Autosearch from the menu to search the library using the text in the question. Autosearch uses the entire text from the cell in the search. Once in the library, click the Add as Answer to the Selected Question Add as Answer to the Selected Question icon icon.
    • Enter text into the Search content... field and click the Search Search icon icon or Enter. The library opens, where you can select the desired file or Bundle. Once in the library, click the Add as Answer to the Selected Question Add as Answer to the Selected Question icon icon.
  • Library Search: Select the file or Bundle and then drag and drop it into the answer cell. The Add Content dialog box displays. Select one of the following options to add the content:
    • Replace: Replaces all the content in the cell.
    • Append: Inserts the new content in the same cell, below the existing content.
    • Cancel: Cancels the drag and drop.
  • Search Mode: When editing an RFP, you can activate Search Mode and search directly in your workspace rather than opening up the Library in a different window. For more information, see RFP Search Mode.

AutoFill automatically retrieves answers by matching the text in a question to a content record's properties or content. You can choose to automatically insert the top suggested answer into your RFP or display a list of the top five suggestions and select an answer manually. Project owners can run AutoFill against the entire file.

  • To run AutoFill on a cell, right-click the cell and then select AutoFill. The AutoFill Configuration panel displays.
  • To run AutoFill on the entire file, click the AutoFill Options AutoFill Options button icon and select Run AutoFill. The AutoFill Configuration panel displays.

For more information on using AutoFill and selecting suggested answers, AutoFill for Excel.

If the content you need for the assigned cell is not in the library, you can add the answer by editing the slice directly using Edit Inline.

  1. Double-click the cell where you want to place the answer, or right-click and select Edit Cell Inline from the menu.

    Note: If the cell contains a formula, double-clicking the cell will open "View Inline" dialog. The Actions menu is not available for these cells.

  2. Edit the cell by doing one of the following:
    • Edit Inline: Enter or edit text in the cell and use the formatting options in the toolbar to format the text as desired. Formatting options display when text is selected.
    • Select from dropdown: Select one of the dropdown options. You cannot type an option that is not already included. If you delete the text without selecting an option, "null" will display in the cell.
  3. Click outside the cell to save the changes.

If you need feedback from someone who is not a Upland Qvidian user, you can email an RFP question to a contributor. The contributor will receive an email with a link to a portal where they can respond to the question. You can also add the text of an attached file from a contributor's response from the Emails tab of the Slice Details panel. For more information, see Email RFP questions to an occasional contributor.

You can remove slices that have been added to an RFP while you are assigned to that slice. Slices that contain content from the original RFP loaded into the RFP file cannot be deleted. Deletion of slices is captured and recorded as both Project activity and as an Audit Event (ID: 2021).

  • Right-click the slice to delete and select Delete from the menu.

    • Note: If other individuals are working in the same RFP that you have deleted slices from, a refresh icon will appear in the deleted slice. Once the refresh icon is clicked, the deleted content will be removed from the slice.

Note: If you answered or edited an RFP question as part of an assignment, mark your assignment task as complete to let the other participants know you have finished your work.

Next tasks: