Wednesday, January 31st, 2007

Snap an Excel range

Take a picture of a range in Excel to insert into Word as a picture or to place as an image in another area on a workbook. To do this, first select the area to snap and hold Shift as you open the Edit menu. Choose Copy Picture, select As shown on screen or As shown when printed and click Ok.

You can now paste the image wherever you desire. This Shift + Edit menu option also works for copying a clip art or other type of image inserted into an Excel workbook.

Helen Bradley

Tuesday, January 30th, 2007

Random numbers in Excel

When you’re testing a workbook it is handy to be able to fill a set of cells with a sample value. The Randbetween function included in the Analysis Tookpak does this for you.

To enable this, choose Tools, Add-Ins and enable the checkbox for the Analysis Toolpak. Now write the function, for example, this provides a random number between 1 and 100 (including both numbers):

=randbetween(1,100)

Copy it to all the cells to fill. To fix the values so they don’t change each time something in the worksheet changes, select the cells with the formula, choose Edit, Copy then Edit, Paste Special, Values.

Helen Bradley

Sunday, January 28th, 2007

Quick Calculations in Word
Older versions of Word included a Calculate option on the Tools menu which let you make quick calculations.

You can add it back into later versions of Word by right clicking any toolbar and choose Customize. Select the Commands tab and, from the Categories list choose All Commands and scroll the Commands list to locate ToolsCalculate. Drag this onto the Tools menu and hold your mouse there until the menu opens and then drop the option into place. If desired, right click it and remove the word Tools from its name so it simply reads Calculate.

Now test it by typing some values eg 24, 25 & 26 and select them. Choose Tools, Calculate and the status bar will display “The result of the calculation is 75”.

If you later click Control + V you will paste the result of the calculation (75) into your document.

To sum a column of numbers, hold Alt as you drag over the column with your mouse then choose Tools, Calculate. It also works inside tables and you can type a more detailed calculations such as 25*25 and it will calculate the result for you (answer: 625)

Helen Bradley

Sunday, January 28th, 2007

Snap a range
It’s possible to take a picture of a range in Excel to insert into Word as a picture or to place as an image in another area on a workbook. To do this, first select the area to snap and hold Shift as you open the Edit menu. Choose Copy Picture, select As shown on screen or As shown when printed and click Ok.

You can now paste the image wherever you desire. This Shift + Edit menu option also works for copying a clip art or other type of image inserted into an Excel workbook.

Use this technique to print data from two Excel sheets on the one sheet of paper, something that’s notoriously difficult to do otherwise – regardless of the fact that it’s a feature we’d all love to have!

Helen Bradley

Saturday, January 27th, 2007

Fabulous frosty things

In addition to snow, winter brings with it frosty mornings even in areas of the country that are not subject to snowfall. To capture the delicate frost crystals on flowers, leaves, and even your house or car, use the macro setting on your camera. The macro setting is indicated by a small flower shape icon – it lets you focus your camera on a subject only inches from the lens. When you use the macro setting ensure that your camera zoom is not engaged – on most cameras the macro function doesn’t work correctly when the zoom is enabled.

Helen Bradley

Friday, January 26th, 2007

Better looking publications in Word
When you’re preparing newsletters, company reports and other formal documents in Word you will find that they’ll look more professional if you condense your fonts slightly. Even a reduction as small as .3 points changes the look of the font significantly.

To do this, select the text to alter and choose Format, Font, Character Spacing tab and set the Spacing to Condensed and the By value to, say, .3 points. Print a paragraph at various values to find a value that is pleasing to your eye.

You can create a toolbar button to make it easier to set this condensed value in future. Right click any toolbar and choose Customize then select the Commands tab and, from the Categories list choose All Commands. Scroll to locate the Condensed: item and click it.

At the foot of the dialog a box appears from which you can select a point size to adjust to, for example, choose 0.3 pt and then drag the Condensed option onto the toolbar and close the Customize dialog. In future to condense your type, select it and click your toolbar button.

Helen Bradley

Thursday, January 25th, 2007

Color code your Outlook 2003 appointments
Make the appointments in your calendar stand out by color coding them. For example, show personal appointments as one color, meetings as another and blocked out time in the office as another.

To do this, click the Calendar and select the Calendar Coloring button on the Standard toolbar.

Choose Edit Labels and, opposite each color make sure the descriptions for the types of appointments you want to use are entered.

To color code an appointment click the Label drop-down menu and choose the color to use.

Helen Bradley

Wednesday, January 24th, 2007

Find duplicates in an Excel list – quickly and easily

Check for Duplicates in an Excel List
To check an Exel list for duplicate entries, first select the list and name it using Insert, Name, Define and call it ListToCheck.

Now, select the list (and, assuming the list starts in cell A2), choose Format, Conditional formatting and type Formula Is and then
=Countif(ListToCheck,A2)>1

Then click Format to apply a format and click Ok.

Now each cell containing a duplicate entry will be formatted so you’ll see it clearly.

Helen Bradley

Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007

Finding messages in Outlook
When you repeatedly perform a search to find messages matching a particular criteria, create a Search Folder so matching messages will be stored and updated permanently.

To do this, in Outlook 2003, locate the Search Folder entry in the folders list, right click and choose New Search Folder.

Configure the criteria such as mail from someone or including some particular word and click Ok.

At any time, open the folder to read matching messages.

Helen Bradley

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