[August 31, 2008]
The school year has started where I live and it is invigorating to see all those clean and shining faces at the bus stop in the morning with their new shoes and bookbags. One can only hope that those young minds are eager to soak up all the knowledge to be had! I know I find that I never have enough time to learn all that I would like to. I have lots of shiny new books waiting for me to tackle them but more often I end up just using them to find whatever is stumping me at the moment. I end up knowing a little bit about a lot of things when I would like to be really proficient in fewer areas!
We have had some cool days and nights and the leaves are starting to turn. I always hate to see the greenery fade to yellow, orange and red but the seasons change and we must as well!
Please help me to welcome Nick, Harmeet, Eileen, Claudia, and Susan as our newest premium edition members!
Let's get to the tips now!
Table of Contents
Display Negative Times in MS Excel - Perform Math using times!
Transfer Info to Other Documents in MS Word 2007 - Another time saver!
Apply Multiple Formats in a Word Document Quickly - Save Time and Keystrokes!
Display Negative Times in MS Excel
My son-in-law came to me recently with a problem he was experiencing in MS Excel. He is a director in his company and is charged with keeping track of his employees time. He wanted to be able to display a negative time in his MS Excel spreadsheet. I have to tell you - I had a time figuring out this one.
After doing some research and digging around a bit, I found that the easiest solution to this problem is to simply change the date system used by the workbook. I agree that it sounds a bit strange, but it works.
The default date system for Windows versions of MS Excel is 1900 and if you are using this system, and attempt to subtract a larger number from a smaller one, you result will she displayed as ############ in the cell.
If you switch to the 1904 date system, which is the default for Mac versions of Excel, you will see the correct elapsed time in your formula.
Follow the steps below to learn how:
From the Tools menu, select Options.
Ms Excel will display the Options dialog box.
Be sure that the Calculation tab is selected.
The 1904 Date System check box controls which dating system is used. If the check box has not been selected, the 1900 dating system is in use. If it is selected, the 1904 system is in use.
Follow the steps below to do the same in MS Excel 2007:
- Click Office Button | Excel Options.
- MS Excel displays the Excel Options dialog box.
- On the left side of the dialog box, click Advanced.
- Scroll through the options until you see the section titled When Calculating This Workbook.
The Use 1904 System check box controls which dating system is in use, like above.
Return to Table of ContentsTransfer Info to Other Documents in MS Word 2007
There may be times When you need to copy information from one Word of your Word 2007 documents to another, and you could simply copy the information from one document, open the destination document, click where you want to insert it, and paste it. Or, you could just right-click and drag the information from one document to another. The View Side By Side feature in MS Word 2007 makes it easy to do!.
Perhaps you might want to copy a picture in Document A to Document B.
Follow the steps below to learn how:
- Open Document A.
- Open Document B and scroll to the place you want to insert the picture.
- Click the View tab.
- in the Window group, click the View Side By Side command.
- Click in Document B
- Click Window under the View tab.
- Click Synchronous Scrolling to turn it off.
- Select the picture in Document A.
- Right-click and drag the selected picture to where you want to insert the picture in Document B.
- Release the mouse button and select Copy Here.
After copying your selections, you can turn off the View Side By Side feature by clicking Window under the View tab of the active window and then clicking the View Side By Side command.
Apply Multiple Formats to a Word Document Quickly
When applying formatting to a single word or the random phrase I usually will do it manually, but we all know that I am the queen of saving time and keystrokes and so, if I have Lots of changes to make in a document, you can bet that I will be doing it in the quickest manner possible. It simply is not efficient to keep manually repeating the formatting process.
Fortunately, there is a key combination that will greatly simplify this and I am going to share it with you!
The key combination is CTRL + Y. This key combination remembers the last set of formats applied. By set, I mean multiple formats applied to a selection.
There are, however, some limitations with this shortcut. It only remembers the last set of formats applied. This means you will want to apply the set to every occurrence in the document before beginning a new formatting change.
You also must apply the first set of formats using the Format dialog box. If you use the icons on the Formatting toolbar, MS Word remembers only the last icon clicked. It cannot remember a set of formats applied using the toolbar.
Follow the steps below to quickly apply multiple formats:
- Select the first word or phrase.
- Select Font from the Format menu.
- In the Font dialog box, select the appropriate formats.
- Click OK to close the dialog box.
- MS Word will have applied the specific formats to the previously selected text.
- Highlight the next word or phrase that you wish to format and click CTRL + Y to apply the same formats previously chosen.
- Repeat until you are finished applying that particular set of formats.
Aren't you glad I love to save time and keystrokes?
Included in the Premium Newsletter:
- Advanced Search and Replae in MS Word
- Compute the Entire Excel Worksheet with Just One Click!
- Put Finishing Touches on your MS Access 2007 Forms
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