Dont misunderstand; i think this person should absolutely get a real pairing program that can do all the stuff he needs. For some reason, he WANTS to use excel. That’s fine with me, and I told him how to do what he was asking. Unfortunately, it seems like he insists on using a poorly designed spreadsheet. There’s no reason for an entry on a wall chart to have more than one row.
In an earlier post I even gave him a format that I use for a tie-break spreadsheet (with non-USCF-standard tie-breaks) that could function as a cross-table without having to rekey the total points of the player each round (for those 50+% that changed).
Some people are used to the double-line wall-chart instead of the single-line cross-table. I print wall charts for tournaments where they will only be one or two pages and cross-tables for larger events.
Pairing program cost was cited as an issue, and for a larger event the rating fee savings can give an immediate return-on-investment to justify that cost.
Vega for Linux is free, according to
http://www.vegachess.com/tl/index.php/pricingcontact.html
Some versions of Linux are free, so there is a completely free pairing software alternative for those with some computer skills.