Originally Posted September 28 2008

If you are like me, you probably try to minimize re-typing as much as possible.  One technique that you probably use is the Cut (or Copy) and Paste.  For example, if you are looking at a web page and need to copy a model number, serial number, or something with detail, you can merely highlight/select it, press CTRL + C to copy, open a Word document, Excel Spreadsheet, or E-mail then press CTRL + P to paste it.  But, there may be a problem - the formatting of the text will probably transfer to what ever you pasted it in to.  Here's how you can overcome it.

When you paste, instead of pressing CTRL + P,
1. Edit > Paste Special
2. Select Unformatted Text
3. Click OK
*This process works in most Microsoft programs

Originally Posted Aug 4 2008

Have you ever gotten an e-mail attachment and not had the program to open it?  Well for many popular Microsoft programs, you can download a 'viewer' software that will let you see what you have been missing.

Most likely, you will need the PowerPoint Viewer. Here's where you can get it:  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=428D5727-43AB-4F24-90B7-A94784AF71A4&displaylang=en

Also, Microsoft has viewer software for Word http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=95E24C87-8732-48D5-8689-AB826E7B8FDF&displaylang=en

and Excel http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c8378bf4-996c-4569-b547-75edbd03aaf0&displaylang=EN

There isn't a viewer for Publisher, but you can download and install a 60 trial of Publisher 2007 at: http://us1.trymicrosoftoffice.com/product.aspx?re_ms=oo&family=publisher&culture=en-US

I hope this helps!

Originally Posted June 8, 2008

You may already take advantage of the Fill Series feature in Excel (where you can fill in a series of dates like January, February, March, etc or Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday etc.) in a simple drag of your mouse.  You an create a custom Fill list for your needs that does the same thing for your company divisions, product lines, managers, or whatever.  Here's how you do it.

In Excel 2003
1. Tools > Options...

2. Click the 'Custom Lists' tab
-In the 'List entries' field
3. Enter the first name in series that you want to have filled-in.  Be sure to type a ', ' comma and a space before typing the next name
-Continue until you  have your series complete
4. Click 'OK' when done

How to use:
1. Enter the first name in the series in cell, then press ENTER

2. Place your cursor on the cell you just typed
3. Place your mouse on the black box at the lower right-hand side of the cursor (the black box around the highlighted cell)

4. Drag across (or down) to fill-in the cells with the cells with your custom fill-in series

In Excel 2007
In Excel
1. Click the 'OfficeButton'
2. Click the 'Excel Options' button

-Under the Top Options for working with Excel section
3. Click the 'Edit Custom Lists...' button


-In the 'List entries' field
4. Enter the first name in series that you want to have filled-in.  Be sure to type a ', ' comma and a space before typing the next name
5. Continue until you  have your series complete
6. Click 'OK'
7. Click 'OK' again

How to use:
1. Enter the first name in the series in cell, then press ENTER

2. Place your cursor on the cell you just typed
3. Place your mouse on the black box at the lower right-hand side of the cursor (the black box around the highlighted cell)

4. Drag across (or down) to fill-in the cells with the cells with your custom fill-in series

That's it!

Originallyl Posted April 14, 2008

A nifty feature in Excel 2007 is Conditional Formatting.  It will help you identify numbers that meet criteria that you set by highlighting it or denoting it another way.

For example, let's say you have a list of numbers and you need to identify the cells with values less than 500.
-In Excel 2007

1. Highlight all the cells that have the numbers you want to evaluate
2. Click the Conditional Formatting button in the Ribbon

3. Select Highlight Cells Rules > Less Than...

-In the Format Cells Less Than field
4. Enter '500'
5. Click 'OK'

-All Cells less than 500 are highlighted

You can also apply:

• Color Scale
• Data Bar (kinda like a bar graph)
• Icons

As other methods to identify numbers.

That's it!

You may find yourself working on a spreadsheet when you run into a formatting conundrum.  How to get all the text in a Cell to be displayed without adjusting the width of the column and wrecking the your spreadsheet formatting.  In Excel, this feature can be done with the Wrap Text function.  Better yet in Excel 2007 it is on the ribbon.

In Excel 2007
1. Click on the Cell that you want to wrap
2. Click the Wrap Text button

In Excel 2003 or earlier
1. Format > Cells
2. Click the Alignment Tab
3. Check 'Wrap Text'
4. Click OK

That' it!

Oct 15 2007
You may have started to receive Word and Excel files from your colleagues that you find that you can't open.  They usually end with 'X' after their name like Proposal.docx or Commission Totals.xlsx.  These files were created in using the 2007 version of Word and Excel respectively and unlike other versions they are not backwards compatible.  In this case we have two solutions.

First, we can download a free converter from Microsoft that will allow us to access files created in Office 2007 software programs at:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en

Second, we can ask our colleagues with Office 2007 to save the files in 97-2003 format by:
1. Click the Office button in the upper left hand side of the screen

2. Click 'Save As'
3. Select ' _____ 97 - 2003 ___' from the list
4. Name and save the file as you would normally

That's it!

Aug 6 2007
You may have wondered what is the difference between Save and Save As.  I have been asked this question several times and have been a little pressed to come up with a simple explanation.  Maybe this will give some little clarification of what is difference between the two.

When you select Save - It will:

• Save the currently open File
• Save it with the same name
• Save it in the same Folder on your computer

Why should you use Save?

• You should use Save when you have made changes to the currently open File and want to retain those changes.

When you select Save As - It will:

• Prompt you to save the currently open File with a different name
• Prompt you to save the currently open File in the same Folder on your computer (although you can change Folders)
• Verify if you want to Overwrite the existing File (if you use the same File name and save into the safe Folder)

When should you use Save As?

• You should use Save As when you want to create a file based on the currently open file but want to keep the open file in-tact.  For Example if the currently open file is a contract or letter and you want to personalize it with your contact's information (Let me mention that there is a better ways of doing this).  Another situation is when you receive a File as an attachment.  You can open the File, then select Save As... to save it to your My Documents Folder or somewhere else that is easy to find.

I hope this explination helps!

April 3 2006
Q: I am faster using my keyboard than using a mouse and I frequently create spreadsheets in Excel.  Can you share some keyboard short-cuts that may help me maneuver through the spreadsheets?

A: Here are a few:

CTRL + (any) Arrow key

-Moves you to the next non-blank cell

CTRL + Home

-Moves you to cell A1

CTRL + End

-Moves you to the last cell in your spreadsheet (lower, right hand side)

CTRL + Page Down or Page Up

-Moves to the next (previous) Worksheet

CTRL + BACKSPACE

-Displays the cell your cursor is currently located (handy if you are currently viewing another part of your spreadsheet and need to revert back)

-CTRL + SPACEBAR

-Selects the entire column

-SHIFT + SPACEBAR

-Selects the entire row

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!

Feb 27 2006
Q: I saw one of my co-workers enter a series of months across the top of a spreadsheet.  She did it so quickly I didn’t see how it was done.  Can you tell me how to do this?

A: This Excel short-cut is very handy.  It works with Months and Days of the Week and can be used to fill-in either rows or columns
 
Say you are creating a spreadsheet with a row of Months across the top.  Here’s how you can fill-in the Months:
1. Place the Cursor into the cell you want to start the series of Months (Ex. Cell A1)
2. Type in ‘January’
-Notice the black box at the lower right-hand side of the cell (or at least it is a little darker around the corner)
3. Place the Cursor over that black box until it turns into a solid cross ‘+’
4. Drag to the next cell B1
-It is automatically filled-in with February
This also works with abbreviations (Jan, Mon, etc.)!

Sept 19 2005
Q: I just installed a new digital camera.  As part of the installation, the software that reads my camera’s pictures has also started opening all my existing photos and digital images.  How can I get the original programs to open my existing pictures?
A:  What happened is that your newly installed digital camera software decided to take over and make itself THE default software for ALL your digital photos and images.  You can change back to the previous software by:
 
1. Open the folder that has the Photos (or even File) you want to open
2. Right click on the File you want to open
Options 1:
3. Select ‘Open With’
-Windows shows you a short list of suggested programs to open the File
4a. Select one from the displayed list it is just a one-time situation
Option 1:
4b. Select ‘Choose Program…’
-Windows displays all the programs on your computer
5. Select the appropriate program
*Be sure to select ‘Always use the selected program to open the selected file’
6. Click ‘OK’
That’s it!

Aug 29 2005
Q: Is there a way to move to the last cell in a spreadsheet?  I work with several spreadsheets that are quite lengthy and I usually overshoot the end when trying to scroll using the mouse.
A: Yes.  Here's how:

Move to the bottom of a spreadsheet by:
Press CTRL + END at the same time
-This actually places you at the last cell in your spreadsheet - at the bottom most right cell

Move to the top of a spreadsheet by:
Press CTRL + HOME at the same time
This moves you to the most upper left cell in your spreadsheet - usually to cell A1

August 1 2005
Q: When working on spreadsheets I sometimes want to get a quick total of several cells without inserting a formula, Is there a way to do this?
A: Yes.  Here's how:

1. Click on the first cell

2. Hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard

3. Click on the next cell

The total is displayed in the lower center of the Excel Status Window as ‘Sum=X’.  You can also use the SHIFT key to select adjacent cells.  Just click on another cell to cancel the summary.

April 4 2005
Q: I was working on an Excel spreadsheet and the right hand margin the 'Search for:' help field disappeared.  How do I get it back into view?
A: The margin is called the 'Task Pane' and it was a new feature in Microsoft Office 2003.  Here's how you get it back:

If you use Microsoft Office 2003 version software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc).  Perhaps you noticed with this flavor of Office there is a new Window that appears in the right hand side of the screen that (tries to) provide you with instructions on how to complete a task or as a help reference-this Window is called the Task Pane.

If you are like me, perhaps you have been in the middle of the process (maybe finishing mail merge), following the instructions in Task Pane, you mash a key, and it disappears.  Now you are left trying to coax its reappearance.

Well, to bring it back all you need to do is this:
Press the F1 key on your keyboard.
-The 'Task  Pane' reappears

May 29 2006
Q: Why do I get '#REF!' or '0's when I copy data from one Excel spreadsheet to another?
A: When you copy data from one spreadsheet to another you are just copying the formulas and not the data.  There is a way to copy and paste only the Data using a feature called Paste Special. 

Here’s how you use it:
-In Excel
1. Highlight/Select the data you want to copy
2. Edit > Copy
3. Open a new spreadsheet (or even an existing one)
4. Place the cursor where you want the Data to be inserted
5. Edit > Paste Special…
6. Select ‘Values’
7. Click ‘OK’