Mar 13 2006
Q: I loved ACT! 5.0. So much so, I upgraded to ACT! 2006.  I haven’t had enough time to explore all its features but I heard there is a mapping feature that will bring up a map for a contact.  How do you use it?

A: ACT! is a great program to help you track your contacts, especially if you are in Sales or Marketing and have several to keep track of.  Starting with ACT! 2005, Best Software included a handy feature called Display Map.  This feature will pull up a map for the Contact you are currently viewing using a Mapquest map.  This is all you need to do to use it:

In ACT (ACT! 2005 or newer)

1. Find a Contact you need in your ACT! database using the Look-up, then

2. Contacts > Display Map... (by 'Contacts' I mean the Contacts drop-down menu between Lookup & Groups)

-That's it!

Mar 27 2006

Q: I am a CPA and I need to create several similar spreadsheets in Excel in the same Workbook.  Specifically, I need all the same Column and Row Headings in each spreadsheet.  Is there a fast way to set this up without Copy/Paste?

A: Excel includes a very handy feature that will do this very thing.  Let’s say you are creating several Spreadsheets that need to have the same series of Months across all the Spreadsheets (Sheet 1, Sheet 2, and Sheet 3).  You can create this in one motion by:
1. Type-in the series of Months into a row of cells

2. Highlight the entire row of Months

3. Hold down the SHIFT key

4. Click on the ‘Sheet 2, Sheet 3, Sheet 4…’ tabs at the bottom of the screen to select the Sheets you want to have the Headings repeat

5. Edit > Fill > Across Worksheets…

6. Select ‘All’

7. Click ‘OK’

That’s it!

Mar 6 2006
Q: I receive so many emails every day and many of them I want to keep for a later follow-up, but it is a little hard for me to remember which ones.  Is there a way in Microsoft Outlook to help manage this?

A: Outlook has a handy feature to do exactly this, called the ‘Flag’.  Simply, the Flag feature will Flag any email with a priority color of your choice.  You can then prioritize each outstanding email at your leisure.

Here’s what you need to do:

In Outlook, in your Inbox:

1. Right Click on the email you want to Flag

2. Select ‘Follow up’ from the Pointer Menu

3. Select the color of the Flag you want to mark the email

When you are done

1 .Right Click on the email that you flagged

2. Select ‘Follow up’ from the Pointer Menu

3. Select ‘Clear Flag’

That’s it!