An Update

I have a quick update for you regarding the delete info in MS Office 101.

If you're looking to bypass the recycle bin—for a complete delete—then hit Shift + Delete once you have the file highlighted.

Be careful with that one—you can't just go to the recycle bin to reclaim the file!

Thanks for the info Brian!

MS Office 101

MS Excel Default Font Fun

Do you constantly find yourself changing the font size or type in Excel worksheets?

Is it getting annoying to repeat yourself time after time after time?

I bet a few of you even tried looking in the Format menu for something equivalent to the Font choice found in MS Word.

Didn't find it, did you?

Nope—that's because it's not there.

You can find font choices under the Format menu, Cells choice—but unfortunately, that doesn't contain a default button so it only changes the currently selected cells.

So now what?

Well, you'll be happy to know that it's possible—it all depends on where you look. (Wish you'd known that before you spent all that time looking for the right place? Yeah, me too.)

What you really need is the Tools menu, Options choice.

Next you're looking for the General tab.

See it in the middle?

Yep—that's it—right where it says "Standard font".

Use the pull-down lists to select the font name and size then click OK.

Excel may need to be restarted in order for the change to take affect—but for the most part it's as my nephew would say: "All done".

Office Tip of the Day

Quick & Spiffy Tables in MS Excel

Way back in January (January 28, 2003 to be exact) we discussed using the AutoFormat feature of MS Word to give your tables a quick and easy visual "edge".

(To take a look at the January 28 issue, visit our archives at http://www.worldstart.com/archives)

For those readers who usually use MS Excel for table work, you might be happy to know that you too have the AutoFormat function at your disposal!

In other words, you can quickly and easily turn this

Into this

(Or any of several other choices.)

Ready to take a look at Excel AutoFormats?

Yes?

Good—then let's get the show on the road.

I think the most obvious place to start is to realize that you need to have a table to format. So... set up your table—data, labels and all.

Now highlight the table and data.

Next go to the Format menu, AutoFormat choice. (Alt then O then A works too.)

The AutoFormat window will look like this if you're running Excel 97

Simply scroll through the choices on the left and see each preview on the right.

If you're running a newer version of Excel then your AutoFormat window will look like this

In this window you can use the scroll bar to look through your choices and click on the preview you want to use.

In either version of Excel, at this point if you click OK your highlighted table will be converted to the new look.

Pretty simple huh? It probably takes longer to decide which look to choose than it does to actually make the changes.

But... what if you want only most or some of the format elements?

Is there a way to get just the changes you want and leave behind the rest?

You might be surprised by the choices you have!

Let's take a look.

If you click the Options button the bottom of the window will expand to give you a section entitled "Formats to apply".

In this new section you'll find six different choices—Number, Border, Font, Patterns, Alignment and Width/Height.

Any checked option (at this point probably all of them) will result in a change of that type to your table.

Uncheck any box that contains a change you don't want to make. For example, if you don't want font changes to be made—such as bolding, font type, etc.—then uncheck the "font" box.

When you choose a box to uncheck you should notice the preview(s) change too, giving you a good idea as to what the finished product will look like.

When you finish with these decisions, and you still agree with the table format you choose, click OK.

And... with a couple of clicks you changed the ordinary into extraordinary.

~ April

PS - To remove the AutoFormat go back to the AutoFormat window and select None. This choice will remove all formatting and restore the table to default fonts, colors, etc. (That means if you made some formatting changes prior to the AutoFormat you will lose these too. You are returned to worksheet defaults.)