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

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Author Archives: Carol Bratt

Quick Notes with WordPad Scrap

Posted on by Posted in Microsoft Windows

Some folks use Notepad to create quick notes to themselves and then save the file on their desktop. While the process is pretty simple, there is an alternative that you may want to investigate. Creating scraps is as easy as a quick drag and drop operation and there is no need for all the steps involved in naming and saving the file.

Follow the steps below:

  1. Launch WordPad.
  2. Create your note.
  3. Select/highlight the text.
  4. Drag the selection and drop it on your desktop.
  5. Close WordPad and click No when prompted to save changes.

Once you drop the selection on your desktop, Windows XP recognizes the selection as an OLE object from WordPad and creates a scrap, complete with a special icon with a default title name of Scrap.

To make it easier to recognize, you can rename the scrap. When you want to view your note, just double-click it and WordPad will open the Scrap.

Use the Shortcut Menu to Enter a Series of Dates in Excel

Posted on by Posted in Microsoft Excel

You all know by now that I love saving time and keystrokes and this is a little beauty that you will love!

Follow the steps below to learn how to enter a series of dates in MS Excel in short order:

  1. Select Cell A1 and click Ctrl + ; (semicolon).
  2. Select the Fill handle in the bottom right corner of the cell. The cursror will change to a plus sign (+).
  3. Right-click.
  4. Drag vertically and release the mouse.
  5. From the shortcut menu, select the series you want to use.

Adding Comments to a Formula in Excel

Posted on by Posted in Microsoft Excel

Sometimes you would just love to have a comment that would make things clearer for the person using the worksheet in MS Excel wouldn’t you?

Well you can use this handly little trick to add a comment to a formula in MS Excel:

  1. At the end of your formula, add a plus sign (+), the N function, and an open parentheses.
  2. Key in your comment in quotation marks.
  3. Close the parentheses.

You can view the comment in the formula bar whenever you select the cell.

Removing Formatting for Good

Posted on by Posted in Microsoft Word

If you are working on a document that lots and lots of heavy formatting, and you want to get rid of the formatting and start from scratch, there is an easy fix for you.

Follow the steps below to learn how:

  1. Highlight your text selection, whether it be a paragraph or the entire document.
  2. Cut or copy the selection to the Office clipboard.
  3. Open the Notepad by clicking on Start | Programs | Accessories | Notepad.
  4. Paste the text you previously copied to the Clipboard.

The Notepad can only work with unformatted text and so all formatting for your text selection is removed. You can now copy your text back to the Clipboard and paste it back into an MS Word document.

How to Hide Text in Word 2007

Posted on by Posted in Word 2007

There may be times when you would like to share most of a document, but not all of it.

There are myriad reasons why you might like to do this, such as hiding the technology jargon in a software rollout document being sent to customers. You might like to include the technology jargon in the document that is being sent to the customer’s IT department, but you do not want to overwhelm your customer with too much technical detail.

Fortunately, you can accomplish this task in MS Word rather easily. Follow the steps below to learn how:

  • Select the text in your document that you would like to hide. You can make a contiguous selection by depressing your SHIFT key while you select the first and last selection. To select non-contiguous text, depress your CTRL key while selecting the text.
  • Now that your text has been selected, click on the Font tab of the Ribbon in MS Word 2007 and click the Font dialog launcher in the bottom-right corner of the Font group.
  • Under Effects select Hidden.
  • In version 2003, and earlier you will want to click on Format | Font.
  • Under Effects, select Hidden.

Please note that even though the text is hidden, it is still there and easily found should you send your document to someone electronically.

Word 2007 Styles Identification

Posted on by Posted in Word 2007

A reader recently wrote with this inquiry:

"Please, tell me how to identify the style used in a document developed by someone else. They sent me the style *.dotx and I saved it in my MicroSoft QuickStyles Folder. However, I have several similarly named styles."

My Reply:

Display the Home Ribbon if it is not already visible.

Right-click on the tiny arrow at the lower right-hand end of the Style box (or use Alt+Ctrl+Shift+S), That will drop down the Style list and the style being used will be highlighted.

Another solution is to go into the Customize dialog, select Commands Not in the Ribbon, and then select the Style item. When you hover over it, it says Commands Not in the Ribbon | Style (StyleGalleryClassic).

Addi it to the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) and it will always show the current style, the same as the one in the toolbar in Word 2003.

If you open the Style Dialog by clicking the little arrow in the right-hand corner of the Style Group on the Home Ribbon, you will see an icon for Manage Style which lets you restrict or recommend styles.

If you use the Option button, you can control which styles are displayed in the Style dialog. You can also assign which styles you want to display in the Home group Quick Style Gallery by right-clicking on any style in the Style dialog and choosing to add or remove it from the Quick Style Gallery.

Envelope Bar Codes in Word 2007

Posted on by Posted in Word 2007

A reader recently wrote to inquire:

“Does Word 2007 provide a destination barcode for printing envelopes? If not, is it available from elsewhere?

My Reply:

You cannot simply check the barcode box in the Envelope dialog any longer, but you can still manually insert the {BARCODE} field on your envelope.

Having said that, please know that the option has been removed from Word 2007 because the POSTNET codes produced by the BARCODE field were no longer compliant with USPS regulations.

See: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=897290.

There are other software add-ins out there, both free and paid versions that are compatible with MS Word 2007 that will do the trick for you. As an example, there is one available at Tec-It online.

AutoComplete in Excel?

Posted on by Posted in Microsoft Excel

A subscriber wrote to me last week asking why there isn’t an AutoComplete feature in MS Excel.

My reply:

Well it’s not exactly AutoComplete but it will do the trick for you. Follow the steps below to learn how:

Whenever you want to repeat data that already appears in a column, simply click:

  • ALT + Down Arrow

Quick as a flash you have a list of all previous entries in that column!

Use the arrow keys to select an item and click on Enter.

Pretty cool huh?

Is Your Outlook Calendar a Patchwork Quilt?

Posted on by Posted in Microsoft Outlook

A subscriber recently wrote to me with this plaint: “Why does my calendar look like a patchwork quilt with different colors? I know it is most likely related to color categories on appointments, but why are only some of the dates shaded when I use color categories on all of the appointment?”

My Reply:

When you add a color category to a times appointment, the background of the appointment is shaded in Day/Week/Month view.

When you add a color category to an all day event, the entire day may or may not be shaded. What you select in the Show time as field will control the coloring.

When set to Busy, the entire day is shaded the category color. If it is a tentative event, the day is shown with category-colored crosshatching. Events marked Busy will always be purple, while Free time is not colored at all.