Announcements

WOW!!

The response to our Top 500 Business Forms offer was incredible! Thanks to all who ordered, your software is on the way!

If you missed out, we still have a few of these left. They are only $8.97 and the shipping is FREE if you live in the US!

This program has letters for just about anything you can imagine. The main categories include:

Banking
Customer Relations
Human Resources
Legal (I really liked these)
Marketing
Personal Relations
Supplier Relations

This program will save you hours of time. Just find the letter you need and double-click. Up pops a professionally written letter - you just fill in your information, print, and mail. It makes writing business letters a snap.

If you want to join the hundreds who have already ordered, head to the link below ASAP. We are starting to run low and once these are gone, that's it - they;re ain't no more (it was a one time deal and we bought out the supplier).

http://www.worldstart.com/store/500businessletters-MST.htm

PS - Don't miss out! For $8.97, this is one deal you don't want to pass up!

MS Office 101

Ever notice that an Excel workbook opens with lots of sheets? (I believe my program was initially set somewhere around 10 sheets.) Have you ever wished that a new workbook would open with more sheets? Less?

Yep, you've got it. There's a way to change the default number of sheets. Another on of those "That was so easy, why didn't I know about that before?" items.

To start with we will need to go to the trusty old Tools menu, then choose Options.

Once the Options window comes up, go to the General tab.

Halfway down the window you should find Sheets in new workbook: with a little box to the right.

Simply set the number of sheets you want each blank workbook to begin with and click OK. (My program told me that the number had to be between 1 and 255.)

I want to warn you, changing this number will not change the workbook currently open. It will affect blank workbooks opened after the change.

That's it! "More or less" - on command. There are some many things in life that I wish came with this adjustment. You know: more paycheck, more mpg, less purchase price, less calories…. You get the idea.

Office Tip of the Day

MS Word Table Mania - Part 1 - Inserting Tables

Well, I think it's time to address tables in MS Word. This is a rather long topic to discuss so it will be divided into a couple of parts. Even after that there will be some extras that will need to be addressed in the future.

To begin with we need to look at ways, and there are several, to insert a table into a document.

One way is to use the button on the standard toolbar for Inserting Tables.

When you click on the button a drop-down screen will appear allowing you to choose the number of columns and rows to be created in your table. While still holding the mouse button, simply drag the mouse pointer into the drop-down screen and the blocks will be highlighted, showing the number of rows and columns you're selecting. (It will also tell you this information across the bottom of the drop-down screen.)

The drop-down screen will expand to the size your screen will allow provided that you're still holding down the mouse button. If you let go of the mouse button when you clicked on the Insert Table button you will find that you can only choose a size table that is allowed on the original drop-down screen.

Once you've selected the table size you will find that a table will appear in the document. Tables will be inserted where your cursor was when you began the process. Be sure to place the cursor where the table should be inserted before starting.

The second way to insert a table would be to go to the Table menu, and choose the Insert Table option.

A window will come up where you can dictate the initial settings for your table. You can set the number of columns, rows and determine column width options.

In MS Word 97 you can choose to leave the column width at Auto or set an exact width. Auto will get you a table that fills the page from the left to right margin with the columns at equal widths. If you set a specific width then the will be created with you exact measurements.

In the newer MS Word versions you can choose to set:

• Fixed column width: width doesn't change to accommodate data, the rows grow deeper as data is wrapped within the current cell.
• AutoFit to contents: columns will keep getting wider to accommodate data
• AutoFit to window: widths will change to keep the table within the margins of the page.

Once these options are set click on OK. The table will be inserted into your document at the point where your cursor was in the document.

And finally, a third method for creating a table in MS Word would be to draw the table using the tools available in either the Table menu or the Tables and Borders toolbar. (Edit menu, Toolbars, select Tables and Borders.)

To begin drawing a table you will need to click on the Draw Table tool.

This will replace your regular pointer with a pencil pointer. To draw tables simply click and hold in the document where a corner of the table should be then drag in a direction that completes the size and placement of the table.

This creates the outer border of the table. Then, using the same tool, draw lines through the table to create rows and columns.

Do not worry about drawing them evenly spaced, which would be next to impossible anyway. Once the rows and columns are drawn, highlight either rows or columns. Then click on the option to evenly space rows or columns in either the Table menu or toolbar.

(To highlight entire rows or columns run pointer on edges of table to get arrows that when clicked, held and dragged will highlight entire rows or columns. This will take some practice.)

Should you make a mistake and need to erase lines click on the eraser tool and then click on the lines that need to be erased. (Good thing too, if you're like me there's always a mistake that needs to be fixed.)

Ok, so there's three ways to insert a table.

There's so much more to discuss. So many tiny details to be found. We'll continue this discussion next time, but in the meantime, explore. You'll find lots of things between the Table menu and the Tables and Borders toolbar that can be used to make the table an efficient, organized and attractive way to present your information in a Word document.