How can I create a screen saver from an Excel Spreadsheet to so that
the data currently on the spreadsheet (project status) will serve as a reminder.

The Windows desktop uses BMP or JPG files to display. We'd have to
capture your Excel file while it's open, but I'm unaware of any
inexpensive graphic program that could do that. I have CorelDraw,
which is manipulatable by VBA, which Excel also supports. But
CorelDraw costs about $300. I'm fairly versed in the capabilities of
VBA, but cannot fathom how we'd manage to do this. I am
double-checking with a couple coders, tho.

This is very easy to do: Just have the Excel spreadsheet on your
desktop and do a CTRL+PRTSCRN to copy your desktop to your clipboard.

Then run PAINT by clicking "Start", choosing "Programs", choose
"Accessories", then "Paint".

Choose "Edit" and "Paste" to paste the clipboard contents into the paint document.

Then save the document as a BMP file in the C:\WINDOWS directory and
you can easily choose the BMP file as your background.

Don't check the box to stretch the image to fit, as it will make it look weird.

timtitus,
You can certainly do that, but that creates background and not
screensaver, and the other problem is it's not realtime.  I assume the
asker wants the screensaver to always show the current data from the
spreadsheet, not what it happened to be at the time you copied and
pasted.

I assume that project status is just one cell.  You could have your
screen saver open the excel file then read that cell.  The cells
contents could then be displayed on the screen with whatever package
you so desire.  of course this would require a large amount of
programming!

Can someone think of an easier way for real time display in a screen saver?

I have confirmed with two really terrific Excel VBA coders that it
could be done with Excel and Paint; however, it would take an
extensive amount of coding, and would really ultimate in probably a
200- or 300-dollar project. Hardly worth it. :(

However! You can set timers in Excel, and you can set Excel to make
sounds, or some combination of both.

You could also set a timer that brings Excel *to the front*.

Here is the basic code to get you started:
http://www.vbaexpress.com/kb/getarticle.php?kb_id=162

I hope it helps!

For free:
You could use Irfanview (free) to snap the screensaver... It could
snapshot pictures over time or it can be used interactively.

You can use Irfanview to generate the screensaver as a .scr OR you can
use a generic "screen saver of bmps in a folder" such as
http://www.codeguru.com/Cpp/misc/misc/screensavers/article.php/c285/

OR you can use the "Flag" screen saver that Windows provides,
providing your bmp as a texture. Once you overwrite the bmp, the new
texture applies to the flag.

You can also do the same thing with the "maze" screen saver, applying
your bmp as the "Wall" image.

Whatever you do, once you set up the screen saver (my favorite is
probably the Flag with bmp texture) it is as simple as Alt-Print
screen, open Paint or Irfanview, paste the document, crop the
document, save the document as the appropriate BMP file.

This is a pretty straight forward task.
A) A screen saver is for the most part just a standard EXE.
B) You just need to embed the spreadsheet into the form via OLE.

Here is some vb code to accomplish your task
'
'  Add an ole control to the form dont point it at anything it will
load the doc form code
'  After you compile the app change the extension to scr to make it a screen saver
'  copy the new SCR file to the windows\system32 directory
'  Uncomment some of the End commands so it closes like a screen saver
should on user input
' Change the c:\test.xls to be your spread sheet.

Private Sub Form_Load()
    Me.BorderStyle = vbnone
    Call Me.Move(0, 0, Screen.Width, Screen.Height)
    Call Me.OLE1.CreateEmbed("c:\test.xls")
    Me.ZOrder
End Sub
Private Sub Form_KeyPress(KeyAscii As Integer)
    'End
End Sub
Private Sub Form_MouseMove(Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, X As
Single, Y As Single)
    'End
End Sub
Private Sub Form_MouseUp(Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, X As
Single, Y As Single)
    'End
End Sub

Private Sub OLE1_KeyPress(KeyAscii As Integer)
    End
End Sub
Private Sub OLE1_MouseMove(Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, X As
Single, Y As Single)
    'End
End Sub
Private Sub OLE1_MouseUp(Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, X As
Single, Y As Single)
    'End
End Sub

Private Sub Form_Resize()
    Call Me.OLE1.Move(0, 0, ScaleWidth, ScaleHeight)
End Sub