Microsoft Office Tips, Tricks, and How-to's to help you use MS Office like a pro!

Carol's Corner Office

Monthly Archives: September 2013

How to Format Currency in Word

Posted on by Posted in Microsoft Word 2 Comments

Don’t you sometimes long for the easy formatting of numbers in Excel to format your numbers in your Word tables? You are not alone!

Sometimes there is a need to enter numbers in a table column complete with the dollar sign and have it look the way it would in Excel.

Follow the steps below to learn how:

  1. Place your cursor in the table of your cell where you want this number.
  2. Click CTRL + F9 to insert a pair of field braces. This is the only way to do it. You cannot enter the braces manually. It will not work.
  3. Key in the equal sign, followed by the number (125.99), complete with parentheses.
  4. Tap your space bar once, then key in \# and tap your space bar once again. This lets Word know that you are going to specify your number format.
  5. Now key in the format specification starting with a Quote mark and ending with a quote mark. It should look like this “$#,###.00”.
  6. Click Shift + F9 to collapse your field.
  7. Right-click in the cell and select update field.

You can always create a macro to speed up the process!

Insert Text Quickly With A Shortcut Key in Word 2010

Posted on by Posted in Word 2010

We should all know about AutoText entries by now right? Ever want to have a shortcut key to enter a sentence or phrase in your document? Well AutoText sort of has a built in shortcut key. Once you have created your entry, you can key in the mnemonic for your entry and tap F3. That key allows the mnemonic to expand .

But if you want a special shortcut key for a particular entry, you can do that as well.

Follow the steps below to learn how:

  1. Create your AutoText entry as you always do.
  2. Click on File | Options to display the Word Options dialog box.
  3. At the left of the dialog box, click Quick Access Toolbar.
  4. Click the Customize button to display the Customize Keyboard dialog.
  5. Position your cursor in the Press New Shortcut Key box.
  6. Click the shortcut key you would like to use (i.e., Ctrl + H). That key combination is used to open Find and Replace but you can change that, or you can select another key combination.
  7. In the Categories list, scroll down and select AutoText. You will see the defined AutoText entries at the right side of the dialog box.
  8. In the list of autoText entries, choose the one you defined above.
  9. Click on Close to close the Customize Keyboard dialog.
  10. Click on Cancel to close the Word Options dialog.

You could, instead, create a macro for your text and then assign it a keyboard shortcut. It’s all about choices and the choices are all yours!

Subscribers: Create Custom Two Line Formats in Excel 2010

Posted on by Posted in Subscribers Excel 2010

Hopefully you will agree with me when I say that Excel is very flexible and most especially so in how it allows you to use custom formats for myriad values. I think you will find that most custom formulas are very easy to create once you understand the basic way in which custom formats work.

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Subscribers: Change the Folder that Opens first in Outlook 2010

Posted on by Posted in Subscribers Outlook 2010

When you launch Outlook, it will display Outlook Today or else move straight to a specified folder, which may or may not be the folder you would prefer. Opening Outlook to your folder of choice can save you a couple of mouse clicks and land you exactly where you would like to start your Outlook

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This content is exclusively for Carol's Corner Office Subscribers.
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Not a Subscriber? Please Consider becoming one today for ONLY $20/yr. Your subscription supports the site and gives you access to many exclusive resources not available to non-subscribers, as well as substantial discounts on Carol's Microsoft Office books.

  • Exclusive in-depth content ONLY for subscribers. Use Microsoft Office like a Pro!
  • Large color screenshots illustrate the instructions so following along is easy!
  • Email notification of each new exclusive post for subscribers!
  • Exclusive discounts on Office books and other products!

How to Search for Comment Marks in your Word Document

Posted on by Posted in Microsoft Word

There have been times when I have had to search for comment marks in a Word document. For instance, a client once sent me her large document that had been copied and pasted from another document and she was getting strange strings of text throughout her document. So I had to search the entire document (and it was huge) looking for comments or fragments of comments.

Fortunately, I could use Word’s powerful searching capabilities for my search. The simplest way to do this is using the Object Browser.

Follow the steps below to learn how:

  1. Click the Object Browser icon. You will find it just below the vertical scroll bar, at the bottom right-hand side of your Word window. A palette of objects by which you can search will be displayed.
  2. Click on the Comment object. It is depicted as a yellow sticky note. Once you click on it, the palette will disappear.
  3. Use the Previous and Next control, which are located above and below the Object Browser icon, to move to the next or previous comment.

Windows Sticky Keys

Posted on by Posted in Microsoft Windows

This is not about Microsoft Office, but it is something that will affect the applications in the Office suite.

The first time I experienced Sticky Keys I was stymied. I could not figure out why my keyboard would not do what I was telling it to do! I would try to key in text but I got a mixture of letters and numbers and symbols that made no sense whatsoever. And what was more vexing was that I couldn’t even look up the answer to my problem on the Internet because I couldn’t key in the text!

Sticky keys is an accessibility design for folks who have difficulty holding down two or more keys simultaneously. It causes the Shift, Ctrl and Alt keys to remain depressed when tapped so that a person can use them with only one finger at a time.

Sticky keys is enabled by tapping your Shift key five times in succession. That may seem difficult to do accidentally but trust, me, I have done it on more than one occasion!

The reason for default-enabling keyboard shortcuts for accessibility options was so that folks with disabilities could sit down to any computer and be able to use it. A great idea actually unless you turn it on accidentally!

The good news is that you can turn off Sticky Keys just as easily as it is turned on – simply tap your Shift key five times and you should be good to go again!

Subscribers: Hide Your Graphics when Filtering in Excel 2010

Posted on by Posted in Subscribers Excel 2010

Suppose you have a worksheet that contains a fair amount of graphics over the cells and when you sort the graphics are included. But wait, they don't look exactly right! They seem to be all squeezed together! It's all in how you have the properties set! Follow the steps below to prevent that from happening:

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This content is exclusively for Carol's Corner Office Subscribers.
If you are a Subscriber please Log In below.

Not a Subscriber? Please Consider becoming one today for ONLY $20/yr. Your subscription supports the site and gives you access to many exclusive resources not available to non-subscribers, as well as substantial discounts on Carol's Microsoft Office books.

  • Exclusive in-depth content ONLY for subscribers. Use Microsoft Office like a Pro!
  • Large color screenshots illustrate the instructions so following along is easy!
  • Email notification of each new exclusive post for subscribers!
  • Exclusive discounts on Office books and other products!

How to Delete a Range of Pages in Word

Posted on by Posted in Microsoft Word

Say you have a rather large document in Word – say a Contract or something like that with about 50 to 75 pages. Now suppose, as an example, you need to delete pages 25 through 40. Can you do it with a single action? The answer is No. The reason for that is that Word doesn’t know squat about pages because all pages are different, depending on the text, formatting, etc.

There is, of course, an easy way to delete pages 25 through 40. Follow the steps below to learn how:

  1. Click F5 to display the Go To tab of the Find and Replace Dialog box.
  2. The Pages option should be selected by default.
  3. Key in 25 into the Enter a Page Number box and click Enter. Word wil jump to the beginning of page 25.
  4. If the Find and Replace dialog box doesn’t disappear, click Esc to make it do so.
  5. Click F8 to turn on Extend mode.
  6. Click F5 and Word will again display the Go To tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.
  7. Key in 40 into the Enter a Page Number box and click Enter. Word will now jump to the start of Page 40, but will select everything from the last insertion point location because you are using Extend mode. That means that you now have all text on pages 25 through 40 selected.
  8. As above, if the dialog box does not disappear, click Esc and it will so.
  9. Click your Delete key

It’s a lot to read but very little to actually do!

  • Another way to quickly select the text on a range of pages you would like to delete is jump to the beginning of page 25 and be certain you place your cursor there.
  • Then click on the thumb button on your Vertical Scroll bar at the right of your Word window and drag it until you see it is on page 40.
  • Hold down your Shift key and click on the page where you want your text selection to end.
  • You can now delete that selection.

Easily View Your Formulas in Excel 2010

Posted on by Posted in Excel 2010 2 Comments

I don’t want to insult anyone’s intelligence! I know that most of my subscribers already know how to see the formulas in the cells of their worksheet instead of the results of the formula.

I am also pretty sure you do this by following the steps below:

  1. Open the Excel Options dialog box in version 2007 by clicking the Office button and Excel Options. In version 2010, by clicking the File tab of your Ribbon and then Options.
  2. Click Advanced.
  3. Scroll down to Display Options for this Worksheet section.
  4. Be certain the Show Formulas in Cells Instead of their Calculated Result check box is selected.
  5. Click OK.

Isn’t that about right??

Well, as you all know, I just LOVE to save time and keystrokes so I am going to show you how to accomplish the above with a key combination! Ready?

Click CTRL +`

Voila! Done! For those of you who do not know that is after the plus sign above, it is an accent Grave and you can find it to the left of the number 1 key on your keyboard above the Tab key.

How to Paste a Comment in your Word 2010 Document

Posted on by Posted in Word 2010

Comments in Word are a great tool that allows you and your colleagues to to share thoughts and ideas while collaborating on a document. So, it would follow, that it would be nice if you could just copy one of those comments and paste it right into your document right? Well the truth is that you can and very easily!

Follow the steps below to learn how:

  1. First, be certain that the Reviewing Pane is showing at the bottom of your Word screen, or that the comment balloons are visible on the right-hand side of your document.
  2. Select the text of the comment that you would like to paste into your main document. Select ONLY the text and do NOT select the comment mark or the paragraph mark!
  3. Click CTRL + X to cut the text or CTRL + C to copy it to your Clipboard.
  4. Place your cursor at the spot in your document where you would like the comment inserted.
  5. Click CTRL + V to paste the text into your document.

That’s all there is to it!