April 2001 PCAnswers

300 office tips • Special feature

05

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1Convert rows tocolumns

You can convert rows to columns (andcolumns to rows) by highlighting thecells you want to switch around,clicking on Edit, Copy, selecting a newcell and then going to Edit, PasteSpecial… Finally, place a tick in theTranspose box on the dialog box andclick on OK.

2Calculate timebetween dates

Enter in a cell the formula =A2-A1,where A1 is the earlier date, and A2the later one. Don’t forget to convertthe target cell to number format – dothis by highlighting the cell, clicking onFormat, Cells…, picking on theNumber tab and selecting Numberfrom the Category: list.

3Enter URLs as text,not hyperlinks

To prevent Excel from convertingwritten Internet addresses intohyperlinks, add an apostrophe to thebeginning of the address, for example‘www.futurenet.com.

4Calculate running totals

Enter the numbers to be added incolumn A, say A1 to A5, then enter=SUM($A$1:A1) into column B.Highlight the cells beside the ones withnumbers in (in our example, B1 to B5)and go to Edit, Fill, Down. This places

the running total of the figures in A1 toA5 in the adjacent column.

5Remove hyperlinksfrom your work

If Excel has already converted yourwritten URL into a hyperlink, you cancancel it by right-clicking on theoffending address and selectingHyperlink, Remove Hyperlink fromthe menu that pops up.

6Fit wide tables to thepage width

To make your tables fit neatly on thepage, click on File, Page Setup…,select the Page tab, click on the Fit to:radio button and pick 1 page wide.Click on the tall box and press[Delete], leaving the box empty.

7Hide your data fromprying eyes

If you want to hide from view anysensitive data, highlight the relevantcell and click on Format, Cells… Clickon the Numbers tab, select Customfrom the Category: list, double-clickon the Type: input box and enter ;;;.Undo the operation to make your datavisible again.

8Use templateworksheets

Templates can save you considerabletime when you’re setting up a newworksheet. Click on File, New…, selectthe Spreadsheet Solutions tab andchoose a template from the list.

9Access help for Lotususers

If you’ve converted from Lotus 1-2-3and find Excel confusing, you canaccess help specific to your situation byclicking on Help, Lotus 1-2-3 Help…

10Use the formula browser

Select a cell and click on the PasteFunction button on the main toolbar.

Pick the function you require from thelist box and click on OK. Nowhighlight the cells on which you wantthe target to perform the function andclick on OK.

Excel converts Web siteaddresses to hyperlinksautomatically. Right-clickon them to remove the link.

Filling Down – the easy way to performdynamic calculations.

75 tips and tricks for your favourite spreadsheet.Microsoft Excel

11Customise yourAutoFills

If you use the same list over and overin different worksheets, you might wantto add it to your AutoFill list – this willsave you heaps of time in future.Highlight your list, click on Tools,Options… and select the Custom Liststab. Click on Import, then OK.

12Use theAutoCalculator

If you need to calculate a sum basedon a row or a column of figures andyou can’t be bothered typing in afunction, just select your figures andglance down at the status bar – you’llfind the sum of the selected cells there.

The Paste Function buttonenables you to browseformulas and is the easiestway to enter Functions.

PCAnswers April 2001

➤ Screen. Click on it again to return to anormal window.

17Fit textautomatically

Make your work look neater by selectingthe relevant column, and clicking onFormat, Column, AutoFit Selection.

18Fast copy, noclipboard

Pressing [Ctrl] + [‘] is a speedy way toduplicate the formula or figure in thecell above the one you’re in.

19Fast and easymultiple entry

If you need to enter a formula in severalcells at once, simply select all the targetcells, type your formula as normal andpress [Ctrl] + [Enter].

20Pick cells forAutoCalculator

You can select unconnected cells byholding down [Ctrl] while you click onthe individual cells.

21Hide comments toreduce clutter

You can hide notes and other commentsby using the Insert Comment function.Highlight a cell, click on Insert,Comment and type your text. Clickaway from the input box when you’vefinished. The comment will appearwhenever you pass your mouse overthe relevant cell.

22Re-colouring thegrid lines

You can change the colour of the gridby clicking on Tools, Options…,selecting the View tab, clicking on theColor: list box and choosing a newcolour from the palette. Choosing whiteeffectively removes the grid completely.

23Angle yourentries…

To make Excel display the text in cells atan angle of 45 degrees, right-click onthe toolbar, select Chart, and pick eitherof the ab icons on the new toolbar.

24…to any degreeyou like

If you want custom angles right-click onthe cell and select Format Cells…From the pop-up menu, click on the

Alignment tab, and then drag the Textpointer in the Orientation window.

25Zoom in to your selection

You can have Excel display just the areayou’re working in by highlighting therelevant cells, clicking on the arrow onthe Zoom box on the toolbar andselecting Selection from the list.

26Another defaultentry direction

When editing cells the cursor movesdown when you press [Return]. Tochange the direction click on Tools,Options… and select Edit. Click on theMove selection after Enter list box andchoose another direction from the list.

27Launch Excel, openyour file

Launch Excel, open the file you usemost often, and click on File, SaveAs… In the Save As dialog, navigate tothe Xlstart folder in your Office folderand click Save. Now the file will openautomatically when you launch Excel.

28Set decimal points

Click on Tools, Options… and selectthe Edit tab. Place a tick in the Fixeddecimal tick box and use the arrows inthe Places: input box to set the numberof decimal places.

29Calculate themedian value

To calculate the median value of anumber of figures, say A1 to A10, enter=median(A1:A10) into the target cell.

30#NAME! and#NUM! errors

Excel returns a #NAME! or #NUM!error whenever a formula refers to non-existent names or numbers. To sort itout, re-enter the formula correctly.

31Quick sort yourcolumns

The quickest way to sort a column intoa hierarchy is to select it and click onthe Sort Ascending or Sort Descendingbuttons (the ones with the AZ arrows).

32Quickly changecell dimensions

The quickest way to change a column’s

What’s more, if you right-click on thesum a pop-up menu will appear offeringadditional quick calculation functions.

13A quick way toenter the time

To enter the current date or time clickon a cell and type =today() or =now().Excel updates the result every time youopen the sheet, so it’s always current.

14Enter a fixed timeinto Excel

If you want Excel to enter the currentdate or time and fix it at that point – forexample, to show the last date the sheetwas modified – click on a cell and press[Ctrl] + [;] for the date and [Ctrl] + [:]for the time.

15Find the currentlyactive cell

If you’ve been scrolling around yourspreadsheet and you lose your place,you can jump back to the currentlyactive cell by pressing the [Ctrl] +[Backspace] keys.

16See the big picture

If you’re working on a large sheet youmight want to switch to Full Screenmode: simply click on View, Full

Special feature • 300 office tips

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Excel has two distinct datecalculators: one returns the

current date, the otherreturns the creation date.

Use angled text to addvisual interest to your lists

and graphs.

April 2001 PCAnswers

300 office tips • Special feature

07

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width or a row’s height is to place yourmouse pointer close to the join betweentwo columns or rows, then click andhold down the mouse button, and dragthe column or row to the desired size.

33Erasing entrieswhile typing

If you mistype your formula, press[Esc] to erase the cell’s content.

34Enter numbersequences

Enter the first number in a cell, pressthe [Ctrl] key, and then click, hold anddrag the cell’s handle until you’vereached the desired number of cells.Release the mouse button first, andthen the [Ctrl] key.

35See formulas at aglance

You can view all of your formulas atonce by clicking on Tools, Options…,selecting the View tab, and placing atick in the Formulas tick box.

36Highlight cells ofa kind

You can select all the cells of a certaintype by using the Special functions.Click on Edit, Go To…, click on theSpecial… button, choose the cell typefrom the dialog box and click on OK.

37Switch off the zeroes

You can prevent zeroes from clutteringyour sheets by clicking on Tools,Options…, selecting the View tab, andunticking the Zero values tick box.

38Protect your work

Open the sheet you wish to protect andclick on File, Save As… Click on theGeneral Options… item in the Toolsmenu (in the top right corner of theSave As dialog) and enter a passwordin the Password to open: input box.Finally, click on the Save button. Youmight want to make a note of thepassword before continuing.

39Customise your dates

You can customise the format of a datein a cell using the Custom cell formatter.To do this, enter a date in a cell, clickon Format, Cells…, click on Custom

in the Category: pane, click on theType: input box and press [M]repeatedly until the desired format isdisplayed in the Sample area above.

40Quick column copy

You can fill out the cells in a column bydouble-clicking on a cell’s handle.Excel will place copies of the clickedcell in each cell below, stopping whenit reaches a cell with blanks either side.(Confused? Try this: enter a figure incell A1, then enter figures in cells B1 toB5, then double-click on A1’s handle.)

41Merge cellcontents

To merge the contents of cells A1 andB1, click on cell C1 and enter =A1&B1.The result is not a sum but a textstring, so merging 10 and 7 will return107, rather than 17.

42Use dynamicformatting

You can set Excel to alert you to criticalfigures in cells by setting it up so thecolour or size of text in a given cellchanges whenever a certain condition isreached. Select a cell (say, the cellcontaining the total of your bankbalance) and click on Format,Conditional Formatting… Choose theconditions in the pop-up dialog (say‘Cell value is less than 0’) and click onthe Format… button. Now choose anew colour in the Color: list box andclick on OK. Click on OK again tofinish. From now on Excel will displayyour chosen figure in the new colourwhenever the figure falls below zero.

43Border connectedcells

You can place a border around a groupof related cells – all the totals, forexample – by selecting them andclicking on Format, Cells…, thenselecting the Border tab and clickingon the Outline button.

44Shrink entries tofit their cells

You can force Excel to display the fulltext of a cell by using the Shrink to fitoption. Click on Format, Cells…, clickon the Alignment tab and place a tickin the Shrink to fit tick box. Obviously,the more text you have, the smaller it’ll

be, so this isn’t practical for small cellswith lots of content.

45Create hyperlinksto support files

To place links in cells that enable youto load other documents with one click,enter a name for the link in a cell andpress [Ctrl] + [K]. Click on the File…button. Navigate to the file you wish tolink to. Double-click on it and clickOK. From now on, whenever you clickin that cell, Excel will jump to the file.

Prevent cellcontent fromoverlappingneighbouringcells by shrinkingit to fit.

Select the current column [Ctrl] + [Space]Select the current row [Shift] + [Space]Edit the active cell [F2]Move to the beginning of the worksheet [Ctrl] + [Home]Move to the last cell on the worksheet [Ctrl] + [End]Paste a name into a formula [F3]Paste a function into a formula [Shift] + [F3]Alternate value/formula view [Ctrl] + [`] (on key [1])Calculate all sheets in all open workbooks [F9]Display the Go To dialog box [F5]Display the Find dialog box [Shift] + [F5]Display the Format Cells dialog box [Ctrl] + [1]Create a chart [F11]Insert a new sheet [Alt] + [Shift] + [F1]Repeat the last action [F4]Repeat Find [Shift] + [F4]Open [Ctrl] + [F12]Exit [Ctrl] + [F4]Check spelling of current cell [F7]Activate the menu bar [F10]Display the Macro dialog box [Alt] + [F8]Apply outline to active cell [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [&]Convert to a percentage [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [%]Select all filled cells around active cell [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [*]Move to next sheet [Ctrl] + [Page Down]Move to previous sheet [Ctrl] + [Page Up]Complete a cell entry and move up [Shift] + [Enter]Complete a cell entry and move right [Tab]Complete a cell entry and move left [Shift] + [Tab]Edit a cell comment [Shift] + [F2]

Handy keyboard tips30 shortcuts to speed up your calculations.

PCAnswers April 2001

7Quickly adjust fontsizes, no mouse!

Getting the font sizes right is paramountto a well-designed layout, and if you’reconstantly shifting and resizing frames,it can become a bit of a headache.However, there is a speedy method forswitching font sizes without any mouseoperations: highlight the text you wishto change and press [Ctrl] + [rightsquare bracket] to increase the font sizeby a point, and [Ctrl] + [left squarebracket] to decrease it by one point.

8Build your ownDesign Gallery

The Design Gallery is Publisher’s libraryof professionally-designed elements andobjects that help to bring consistentdesign to your projects. It’s handy for

dabblers but pretty useless formore committed users. To

get the best from theDesign Gallery, you shoulduse it to store your ownobjects. To add an object

to the Gallery, select it andclick on Insert, Add

Selection to Design Gallery…Enter a name and category in the inputboxes and click OK.

9Check your designfor problems

Once you’ve finished your project itpays to run it through its paces in theDesign Checker and check it for flaws:select Tools, Design Checker… andclick on Options… Select the Check

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separate spell-checking options – tickeach box for the optimal spellingsystem. If you want to switch the wholething off, you should untick the secondbox in the list.

4Automaticallyaddressed email

Click on Folder, Contacts, select thecontact you want to email and click onActions, New Message to Contact. Anew message pane will open with thecontact’s address details alreadyentered for you.

5Track your mail

You can find out when your mail is readby sending a receipt request with yourmessages. Click on Tools, Options…and select the Preferences tab. Click onthe E-mail options… and TrackingOptions… buttons on the followingdialog. Finally, place a tick in theRequest a read receipt for allmessages I send tick box.

6Resize objects usingcentral origin

To keep the centre of an objectin the same place while youresize it, hold down [Ctrl]while you are dragging theobject’s handles.

2Shred your waste,don’t bin it

Outlook doesn’t really delete messages,it places them in the Deleted itemsfolder. To delete them click on Tools,Options..., select the Other tab, andplace a tick in the Empty the DeletedItems folder upon Exiting tick box.

3Spell check youroutgoing mail

To spellcheck your email before yousend it, click on Tools, Options… andthen on the Spelling tab. There are five

1Find the contactyou’re after quickly

To locate a contact from just a fragmentuse the Find a Contact input box onthe main toolbar. Just click on the boxand enter what you remember of thecontact’s name. Outlook will find thecontact and open his or her details in adialog box.

Special feature • 300 office tips

08

Bringing up the rear are Microsoft’s email client, presentation, andDTP software. Here are the hottest 15 tips and 35 shortcuts…

Display Inbox [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [I]Check for new mail [F5]Reply to selected mail [Ctrl] + [R]Create new mail [Ctrl] + [N]Send mail [Ctrl] + [Enter]

Outlook shortcutsFive email shortcuts no one should be without,.

Outlook

Publisher

Outlook, PowerPoint,

You can use the design gallery to store yourown page elements.

Let Publisher solve your layoutproblems for you with theDesign Checker.

Find a Contact brings upthe Contact Properties.

Here you can add, edit orremove the contact from

your address book.

April 2001 PCAnswers

300 office tips • Special feature

09

all problems radio button and thenboth OK buttons. Publisher now checksthe integrity of your frames, bringingattention to any potential problems,and suggesting remedies by way of apop-up dialog box.

10No need to cut and paste

To copy an object simply select it,press [Ctrl] and drag it to a newlocation. The copy is left behind in theoriginal position.

11Get the most fromyour videos

If you’re using a video clip in yourpresentation, make sure it’s in the samefolder as the presentation, otherwise itwill display a Find Files dialog whenrun. Once you’ve loaded your film youcan access its properties by rightclicking on it and selecting Edit MovieObject… from the pop-up menu. Thedialog displays the clip’s total playingtime and playing options.

12Add buttons toyour slides

Buttons make your presentation lookand feel professional. Activate theAction Buttons sub-menu on the SlideShow menu and hover your mousepointer over each of the availablebuttons to view their descriptions. Touse one. click on the button and drawa square on your slide. A dialog thatenables you to link sounds, programs

and slides to the new button will appearonce you’ve released the mouse button.

13 Just pack and go

If you want others to be able to watchyour presentations and you’re not surewhether they have PowerPoint, use theFile, Pack and Go… command. ThisPack and Go Wizard enables you tocollate all of the presentation elementsinto one standalone, portable program.

14Make your textstand out

To add instant pizzazz to your headingsgo to WordArt on the Drawing Toolsmenu. You can configure WordArt textto run in a line, around a circle or in anyother shape. It can be multi-coloured,3D or textured. Used sparingly,WordArt can be an eye-opener.

15Use Guides toplace frames

Guidelines are non-printing lines thatenable you to align frames with ease.When you drop a frame close to aGuideline it automatically snaps into

the same place as the line. Thismeans you can align all thepieces of your document withvery little effort. Once yourelements are in position youcan drag the Guides to newlocations or you can disablethem. The frames areunaffected. To activate theGuidelines click on View, Guides.

Insert slide [Ctrl] + [M]Move to the next pane [F6]Move to the previous pane [Shift] + [F6]Insert a hyperlink [Ctrl] + [K]Start slide show [F5]

Five shortcuts to increase your speed.

Toggle frame opacity [Ctrl] + [T]Nudge frame [Alt] + [Arrow] (any of the four directions)Format copy [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [C]Format paste [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [V]Toggle current/actual page view [F9]

Publisher shortcutsFive essential DTP shortcuts.

Open [Ctrl] + [O]Exit [Alt] + [F4]Save [Ctrl] + [S]Print [Ctrl] + [P]Select All [Ctrl] + [A]Cut [Ctrl] + [X]Copy [Ctrl] + [C]Paste [Ctrl] + [V]Undo [Ctrl] + [Z]Redo [Ctrl] + [Y]Help [F1]Open pop-up menu [Shift] + [F10]Open window control menu [Alt] + [Space]Scroll one page length down [Page Down]Scroll one page length up [Page Up]Delete [Delete]Switch applications [Alt] + [Tab]Activate menus [F10]Close menu [Alt]Select first/last menu item [Home]/[End]

Generic shortcutsThese shortcuts work in all Office applications, aswell as some third-party software.

PowerPoint

and Publisher

Adding buttons is a simple two-step process.

Share your presentations more easily withPack and Go.

Add impact to your presentation with amovie object.

PowerPoint shortcuts

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