Word: Double Spacing
By default, MS Word documents are single-spaced, which is great for most of what we do. But, what about that small percentage of documents where you need things double-spaced?
Now, as I’ve said before, I’m a teacher. I have a lot of opportunities to see how people (both students and staff) are using their technology. I’m always amazed when I find someone using the enter key to… Continue reading
Word Pages With Pizzazz—The Basics
So, you’re working in MS Word and you’re trying to create a unique, eye-catching document.
You’ve been looking for just the right touch to make it grab their attention. Something that’s not too over the top but definitely says “Read me!”.
You’ve eliminated the idea of AutoShapes and pictures. No, you’re looking for something to tie it all together.
Hmmm…
Wait, I know, what about… Continue reading
Quick Excel Copying With Keys
If you’re looking to do some copy / paste work in Excel with adjacent cells, then here’s a quick trick for you.
If you want to copy the information in the cell immediately above use Ctrl + D.
Try it…
Whatever is in the cell above is immediately copied into the selected cell.
Need the information transferred into more that one cell?
Highlight all the… Continue reading
Page Border Printing Problems
By now I’m sure more than one of you have run into a problem with your page borders (from last Thursday’s tip) that is when you print the page it’s not a complete border.
No matter how thin you make the bottom line, it seems determined to be uncooperative!
In fact, I bet you’ve seen this lovely little message a few times
Custom Page Borders Demystified
So, if you worked through the tip from last Thursday (7-22-04) on Word’s Page Borders then you probably noticed the Custom Setting at the bottom of the list.
Some of you may be wondering “What’s that all about?” and I’d say that’s a very good question.
To put it simply, this is a setting that allows you to pick and choose between… Continue reading
Now You See It, Now You Don’t
Ever have a beautiful MS Excel worksheet, I mean absolutely perfect, except that one column. You know, the one column with the necessary data for your calculations but not really a part of the presentation. We’re talking about the essential column that you must keep, but don’t want displayed for a presentation or on the hard copy.
Often, Excel users have a lot… Continue reading
Quick Table Splits
You’re working in MS Word and you’ve got a beautiful table—it’s perfect!
Well… almost perfect.
Unfortunately, for whatever reason, you’ve just come to the conclusion that it really should be two different tables.
Now what?
Are you having copy / paste nightmares?
Or, worse yet, you’re picturing a situation where you’ve got to create a whole new table and re-enter all that data!
Well worry no more.… Continue reading
Hide / Unhide Excel Key Combinations
In keeping with last Thursday’s theme (July 29, 2004) involving the hiding of rows and columns in MS Excel, I thought we might take a look at how to accomplish this task with some handy key combinations.
Hiding columns or rows is a good way to make necessary data “invisible”. This allows you to organize your worksheet the way you want… Continue reading
MS Excel Formatting Without The Mouse
I thought today might be a good time for an installment of keyboard shortcuts…
In MS Excel:
Outlook Startup Choices
Here’s a tip that comes to you courtesy of a reader’s question. She was looking for a way to force Outlook to open straight to the Inbox.
Sounds like a very relevant and legitimate concern.
I don’t know about you, but when I start up Outlook I’m looking for my email. Don’t get me wrong, there’s lots of other great stuff in Outlook, but 99.9% of the… Continue reading
One-Click Cell Addresses
Did you know that there’s a faster way to enter cell references in Excel formulae… a way that doesn’t involve typing cell addresses?
Interested? (Yeah, I thought you might be.)
Here’s the scoop…
Next time you’re entering a formula and you get to a cell reference (like A5 for example), instead of typing A5 use your mouse and click on A5.
Some of you are already thinking… Continue reading
Formatted Text in AutoCorrect
I’m sure we’re all aware of MS Word’s AutoCorrect feature—that little gem secretly working in the background replacing many of our common typos with the correct spelling.
And, for you more advanced users, I’m sure you’ve already modified the list to be used as an automatic replacement tool for complex or long text strings.
My question is: do you find that you’re constantly going back to… Continue reading
To The Bottom Right Now
As I’m sure most of you know that when working in MS Excel Ctrl + Home will take you to the upper left corner of your worksheet (cell A1).
Do you know where Ctrl + End will land you?
Let’s all hope that it’s not in the bottom most corner of a worksheet! Have you ever scrolled out right or down to find out just… Continue reading
The Word Highlighter
Have you ever been working on a Word document and come to a point where you need to enter a fact that you’re not sure of? Do you really want to stop this very minute to look up the information?
I’m not sure about you, but I hate to stop every few minutes to look something up. I’d rather keep going with the typing part, look information… Continue reading
Slide Hunting Simplified
Here’s the situation… you’re in the middle of your PowerPoint presentation and suddenly there’s a question regarding a different slide.
Of course it’s a question that’s not about the previous or the next slide. As luck would have it, you’ve got to go “hunting” for the right place. So now what?
Fortunately, while there are lots of ways you could get to your new destination, there’s a… Continue reading
WordArt Designed By You
Are you a person who likes and frequently uses Microsoft’s WordArt?
Yeah, me too.
But don’t you sometimes find yourself wishing there was a way to have a “toned down” version?
You know, a way to pick and choose a few elements of the whole WordArt feature?
If this is you then here’s a tip that’s sure to add to your ability to jazz up your… Continue reading
The Spaces Too?
In MS Word, what’s the difference between Ctrl + U and Ctrl + Shift + W?
Give up?
The answer is one little word: “spaces”.
Let me explain.
I’m sure we all know that Ctrl + U will underline text, spaces and all like this.
In contrast, the Ctrl + Shift + W will underline only the text.
See how the spaces are not underlined?… Continue reading
Fast And Efficient Envelope Addressing Using MS Word
You just finished a letter. It’s beautifully written, printed, and ready to go. Now all you need is an envelope.
For this next step I’m sure most of us are aware of the nifty little function in the Tools menu of MS Word that allows you to go in and address envelopes for printing.
You go to Tools menu, Envelopes and Labels… Continue reading
Keyboard Menu Magic
Here’s one for those of you who prefer the keyboard to the mouse, but don’t really know many of the “tricks of the keyboard trade”.
Have you ever noticed the underlined letter in the title of each menu at the top of your screen? (You know – the F, E, V, etc..)
Ever wonder what that was all about? I mean, there has to be a… Continue reading
Click, Click – Auto Fill It
OK, so you’ve got a long column of data in MS Excel and… in an adjacent column you’re going to apply the same formula to each and every item in the list.
What do you do?
For many of us we simply write the formula in the first cell and then use either copy / paste or the fill handle to drag the formula… Continue reading
Cell Formatting Trick
Do you constantly find yourself going to the Format menu, Cells choice to make changes in MS Excel? (You know, for things like data format, text direction, borders, fill color, etc.)
Do you hate using the mouse for all this?
Looking for a faster, keyboard-driven method to access the Format Cells window?
Yes?
Good, then you’re in the right place.
Next time skip the menu and highlight… Continue reading
Finding Excel Record Lengths
Here’s a tip I received from a reader who finds Excel’s function for determining data length (number of characters in the data) to be a useful tool.
Maybe you too have data sets in Excel through which you must search to find the longest or shortest element.
At any rate, I thought it might be a good idea to pass this one along so let’s get… Continue reading
Get Right to Business in MS PowerPoint
Are you using PowerPoint 97 or 2000 and find yourself tired of seeing this screen every time you start the program?
Looking for a way to bypass this altogether and just get right to business?
If this is you then here’s the scoop.
Take another look at that Startup Screen… maybe take a look way at the bottom?
See it?
Yep… Continue reading
AutoFit in MS PowerPoint XP
OK, so we’re all here for the same reason—to learn to control PowerPoint’s AutoFit feature. With that in mind, let’s get right down to business.
You actually have two types of control over this feature.
One type is when you choose to turn the AutoFit feature on or off globally (at the overall program level so it affects all presentation elements).
Another point of control… Continue reading
Why Does That Text Keep Shrinking?
Is this a question you’ve asked yourself while working in PowerPoint XP?
Have you ever noticed that when working in a title or text placeholder that the font will just shrink as the text fills the box?
A good thing if you want PowerPoint to help take care of the “making it fit” issue, but, not so good if you want text to be… Continue reading
I choose Blue… No, Orange! Wait, maybe Lime Green?
Have you ever found the perfect clipart for your presentation, document or worksheet only to find that it seems to clash with other elements (maybe the background or other clipart)?
Did you find yourself wishing you could change the clipart color scheme so everything would look “right?”
Well, you can… if you have MS PowerPoint.
When you insert clipart into an… Continue reading
Keyboard Font Size Shortcuts
Over the years I’ve run into a couple of different keyboard shortcuts for changing font size and I thought it might be of interest to my readers who love a good keyboard shortcut.
To be exact, I have two different sets of key combinations for increasing and decreasing font size.
This first set will increase or decrease font by the increments listed in the font size… Continue reading
