Click a phone number in a spreadsheet to ring?

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Level 1

8 points

Click a phone number in a spreadsheet to ring?

I use MS Excel 2013 at work for various client contact databases. I use Dropbox so that I can access the data from anywhere using a PC, iPad, or iPhone. I would like to be able to use my iPhone 5 to open the spreadsheet (in ? app ...), click on the client's number & have the iPhone activate & ring that number for me. I don't want to add the clients to my iPhone Contacts. I want to work directly from the Spreadsheet. Can anyone think of a way that this could be done using Formulas, Cloud Storage, Apps? Thank-you in advance for any thoughts, solutions you can come up with. I'm this would be useful for lots of people, too.

Posted on Jun 1, 2014 3:10 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

matt00

Level 5

4,041 points

Jun 3, 2014 1:41 PM in response to Cyberius

Hey Cyberius,

Great question. While I cannot advise exactly how to do this in a third party program, I can provide you with the following information which outlines how to hyperlink a phone number to launch the Phone app on iOS devices:

Apple URL Scheme Reference: Phone Links

https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/featuredarticles/iPhoneURLScheme_Referen ce/PhoneLinks/PhoneLinks.html

Phone Links

Note: Phone links are supported on iOS only.

The tel URL scheme is used to launch the Phone app on iOS devices and initiate dialing of the specified phone number. When a user taps a telephone link in a webpage, iOS displays an alert asking if the user really wants to dial the phone number and initiates dialing if the user accepts. When a user opens a URL with the tel scheme in a native app, iOS does not display an alert and initiates dialing without further prompting the user. However, a native app can be configured to display its own alert.

You can specify phone links explicitly in both web and native iOS apps using the tel URL scheme. The following examples show the strings formatted for Safari and for a native app:

HTML link:

<a href="tel:1-408-555-5555">1-408-555-5555</a>

Native app URL string:

tel:1-408-555-5555

Hopefully this information helps guide you in the right direction!

Thanks,

Matt M.

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Answer 2

Cyberius Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 3, 2014 2:33 PM in response to matt00

Thanks Matt00: Your reply makes more sense to me than what I could find on the net. I haven't managed to quite achieve what I'm wanting yet, but your response led me to opening my file in the Polaris App, then copying & pasting the target phone number into the Phone part of the iPhone ... and successfully ringing. It's a few extra steps but AOK. Using "tel:phone-number" turns the number into hyperlink blue ... but I haven't found a programme yet that will successfully allow that to trigger a phone ringing sequence. Steps closer though! Thank-you.

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