MS Office 101

Did you know...

... that you can set the vertical alignment of a Word document?

That is, you can tell Word whether to align the text at the top of the page, the bottom of the page, the center of the page or to justify the text on the page.

This one sure could come in handy if you're trying to accommodate some weird spacing or simply are looking for the "finished" look (for full pages to go from top to bottom margins). It could save you a bit of pain from the headache of extra spacing, margin adjustments and the endless work created when you're trying to "move" text and leave white space.

Interested?

Good—then let's get to work.

To set the vertical alignment in Word simply go to the File menu, Page Setup choice.

When the Page Setup window opens go to the Layout tab.

You're looking for the Vertical alignment section on the bottom left of the tab.

Use the pull down menu to make your selection.

• Top alignment is the default and will align all text starting at the top margin.

• Bottom alignment will align all text on the page with the bottom margin.

• Center alignment will align all text around the center of the page.

• Justify will take full pages and add extra space between lines to ensure that the text fills from top margin to bottom margin. Partial pages of text will still align to the top.

When you've made your decision click OK.

Poof! Page aligned as needed with absolutely no pain.

Office Tip of the Day

What's Up With The ##### In My Worksheet?

Have you ever found yourself happily working in MS Excel only to be befuddled by the sudden appearance of #### in a cell where there should be a number?

Or maybe something along the lines of 2E+15 appeared?

Now what is that?

Good question, and believe it or not, there's a good answer. (You may not like the answer—but it's a valid one just the same.)

The deal with the ### is that your number is too long to fit in the cell width you've set.

I've found that as long as I haven't previously made manual changes to the cell width it will automatically adjust to a numbers width.

But, if I've been messing with the width setting than it just leaves it where it's set. So, when the number is too long to fit it's letting you know that by displaying the ###.

And what about the 2E+15 you ask?

Well, that's your number put into scientific notation.

I find that Excel puts my data into scientific notation if the cell has the default cell format of general and the number is too long for the cell but still long enough to get this in.

If the cell is specifically formatted some other way than you may not see this one, but Excel is trying to display some sort of value and that's often the shortest way to display a large number.

Looking for a solution to the problem(s)?

Simple - make the cell width larger.

There are many ways you can accomplish this task. A couple of the fastest have to do with the column label letter.

At the top of the column you'll find the letter label - each letter is separated from the next column by a vertical line.

One way to change the column width using this divider is to slowly run your mouse pointer over the divider to the right of the letter. When it turns into a double-sided arrow click the left mouse button and hold it.

Now simply drag the divider to the right and release the mouse button when you feel you've made the column wide enough. (You'll know if it's big enough immediately - the number will be completely displayed.)

Another way is to get the program to AutoFit to the longest piece of data in the column.

The fastest way to accomplish this is to go back to the column label divider to the right on the column.

This time, instead of the old "click and hold" thing, double-click on the divider.

Instantly you'll see the column jump to just the right width to accommodate your data.

BTW - you can also change column with Format menu, Column submenu.

Manual adjustments can be completed through the Width choice. AutoFit Selection will expand all columns currently selected. If only one cell is selected than it works just on that column.

Whatever your method choice - they all remove the #### blues.

~ April