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Bypass Word's automatic word selection feature (method
1) |
| You can bypass Word's automatic word selection feature by pressing
[Alt] as you select text with the mouse. This technique turns on Word's vertical
selection feature which, by design, allows you to select a "square" text range
character by character. |
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| Bypass Word's automatic word selection feature (method 2) |
Instead of pressing [Alt], press [Ctrl][Shift] as you click
and drag to select text. Both techniques allow you to select text character
by character on a single line; however, when you want to select more than one
line of text, the [Ctrl][Shift]-drag method selects the entirety of each line
that falls between the beginning and ending selection points.
When you select
multiple lines using the [Alt]-drag method, Word selects only the portion of
each line that falls between your beginning and ending selection points.
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| A shortcut to Word's Cell Height And Width dialog box |
When you're working with a table, the Cell Height And Width
dialog box (Table Properties in Word 2000) can be one of your most-used tools. This dialog box enables you to specify row height, column width, and table
alignment. It also enables you to automatically resize the table to accommodate
its contents and specify whether Word should break a row across pages.
You may
find yourself opening the Cell Height And Width (or Table Properties) dialog
box repeatedly as you check or adjust various settings. Although you can
choose Cell Height And Width from the Table menu (Table Properties in Word 2000),
you may want to take advantage of a shortcut. Just double-click on a column marker
on the ruler. Word instantly opens the Cell Height And Width (or Table Properties)
dialog box, where you can select the tab containing the options you need.
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| Another way to create a Word template desktop shortcut |
You can easily create a template shortcut using the drag
and drop method.
First, open Windows Explorer and resize it so that a
portion of the desktop is visible. Then, navigate to the directory in which
the Word template you'd like to create a shortcut to is stored. Most Word 97
(and higher versions) templates are stored in the
\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates folder (and its subfolders) in the
root directory.
Right-click on and then
drag the desired template file to the desktop, and then release the mouse
button. Then, select Create Shortcut Here from the resulting shortcut menu. Windows
adds a shortcut to your desktop that points to the template you selected. When
you double-click on the shortcut, Word opens a new document based on the template
you assigned to the shortcut.
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| Access Word's Find And Replace dialog box quickly |
When you proofread or revise documents, you frequently need
to access the Find And Replace dialog box and its Find, Replace, and Go To
tabs.
You might need to search for a word or phrase using the Find tab,
which you can access by choosing Edit/Find from the menu bar.
Or, you may
want to replace a word or phrase with something different using the Replace
tab, which you can access by choosing Edit/Replace from the menu bar.
The
Go To tab enables you to jump to a bookmark, comment, or other location in
your document, and you can access it by selecting Edit/Go To from the menu
bar. However, since the Find, Replace, and Go To tabs are so frequently used,
it can be tedious to access them repeatedly from the Edit menu. Instead,
try using their built-in keyboard shortcuts.
To access the Find tab, press
[Ctrl]F; to access the Replace tab, press [Ctrl]H; and to access the Go To
tab, press [Ctrl]G.
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| Toggle upper case and current case in Word |
You probably know that you can toggle the case of
selected text by pressing [Shift][F3]. time you press [Shift][F3], the
selected text's case cycles from lower case to title case to upper case.
A lesser known case-toggling keyboard shortcut that you
may find useful is the [Ctrl][Shift]A shortcut.
When you select
text that contains both upper-case and lower-case characters and then press
[Ctrl][Shift]A, Word toggles the case of the lower-case characters to upper
case.
For example, if you select the text "The Leith Police
dismisseth Us" and press
[Ctrl][Shift]A, the text becomes "THE LEITH POLICE
DISMISSETH US". If you press [Ctrl][Shift]A
again, the text returns to its initial state.
Note - the
[Ctrl][Shift]A shortcut works just like the Caps Lock key. If you don't select
any text before pressing [Ctrl][Shift]A and then begin typing, your text will
all be upper case. To turn the feature off, press [Ctrl][Shift]A again.
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Convert symbols to bullets with Word's AutoFormat feature |
Word's AutoFormat As You Type feature enables you to convert symbols to bullets
as you type. First, select Tools/AutoCorrect from the menu bar to open the
AutoCorrect dialog box, then click on the AutoFormat As You Type tab. In the Apply As You Type section, select the Automatic Bulleted Lists
check box and then click OK.
To convert a symbol to a bullet, select
Insert/Symbol from the menu bar. In the Symbol dialog box, locate and select
the symbol you'd like to use, and then click Insert. Click Close to dismiss
the Symbol dialog box. Now, type two or more spaces after the symbol you inserted,
followed by the text you want to accompany the bullet. Finally, press [Enter]. Word automatically converts the symbol to a bullet and continues the bulleting
on the next line.
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| Restoring Word's Normal.dot template |
If you've ever unintentionally saved changes to Word's global template, Normal.dot,
you've probably gone to any number of lengths to restore it to its original state.
The easiest way to restore the Normal.dot template to its original state
is simply to delete it.
When Word can't find the Normal.dot template in the User
Templates or Workgroup Templates location (you can determine these locations
by selecting Tools/Options from the menu bar and clicking on the File Locations
tab), it creates a new Normal template with the standard Word document formats,
menu, toolbar, and shortcut key settings.
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MS EXCEL TIPS
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Better browsing in Excel |
If you find Excel's Web functionality helpful, but use it infrequently,
you probably display and hide the Web toolbar as you need it. There's
an easy way to take advantage of Excel's Web features without doing
this, and you won't need to take up a lot of room with a dedicated
toolbar.
Most of the Web toolbar's features are available from the
Go button's menu. By simply adding the Go button to a toolbar that's
always displayed, you can have quick access to the Web address text box
and navigation arrows, in addition to your search and home pages.
To do
this, click the Web Toolbar button on the Standard toolbar to display
the Web toolbar (in Excel 2000, choose View/Toolbars/ Web from the menu
bar). Then, hold down the [Alt] key and drag the Go button up to either
the Standard toolbar or Excel's menu bar. Finally, hide the Web toolbar
by repeating the steps you used to display it.
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| Save time undoing actions in Excel |
Power users of MS Office will know that [Ctrl]Z is a great
way undoing an action in Excel.
While the shortcut-key method is ideal for sequentially
backtracking through actions, it can be can
be confusing if there are many backtrack steps. It's also pretty repetitive. Unless you're sure
of how many steps you need to undo, you may backtrack too far
and then wind up redoing more than you had planned.
The next time
you find yourself in this situation, use the dropdown arrows on
Excel's Undo and Redo buttons. These provide you with a running
list of your recent actions so that you can easily undo or repeat
exactly the steps you want.
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| Open Web pages directly in Excel |
| When you come across data on the Web that would be
helpful in Excel, you may spend time copying and pasting data, or worse,
retyping it in a workbook. However, Excel can read HTML files directly, so
there's no need to do so. To open a Web page in Excel, first open your
connection to the Internet. Then, select File/Open from the menu
bar. Type or paste the URL you want to open in the File Name text box.
Finally, click Open. |
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| Use Excel's fill handle to copy formats |
A popular way of copying formats is to use Excel's Format Painter to apply existing
formats to other parts of a worksheet. However, there is an even easier
method.
When the area you want to format is immediately adjacent to the range
that's already formatted, you can use the Fill Handle. First, select one of
the formatted cells. Then, right-click on the small square in the bottom-right
corner of the cell and drag to select the area you want to apply formatting to. Finally, release the mouse button and choose Fill Formats from the shortcut menu. |
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| Create meaningful Excel project names |
If you've ever created or recorded a macro in Excel, you probably
noticed that the VBE Project Explorer displays the workbook's objects as
VBAProject(workbook name).
You can change the VBAProject name to something
more meaningful. To do so, right-click on any of the project's objects and choose VBAProject Properties from the shortcut menu. Then, change the name in the
Project Name text box and click OK.
Note that you can't include blank
spaces in the project name.
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| Create email hyperlinks in Excel workbooks |
If you want to make it easy for users to request information or
send feedback regarding a workbook, create a hyperlink that generates a
pre-addressed email. To do so in Excel 97, select
Insert/Hyperlink from the menu bar. Then, in the Link To
File Or URL text box, type:
mailto:[your email address]
without the brackets. For instance, to send an email to
us, the syntax would be:
mailto:sandy.pratt@4-consulting.com
Finally, click OK.
If you're using Excel 2000, select Insert/Hyperlink from the menu bar and then
click E-Mail Address on the Link To bar. Next, fill in the E-Mail Address and
Subject text boxes as if you were addressing a regular email. Finally, click OK.
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| Prevent numbers from expanding Excel columns |
Excel has an annoying habit of automatically widening a column
when you enter a number that exceeds the current width. Or, if the column has
previously been resized, Excel displays "#" characters instead of digits.
If the formatting of your worksheet requires the current
column widths, you can avoid this behavior by using the TEXT function. This function will display
the number as text, so the column width won't change and you'll be able to see
the complete number. However, you still can use the numeric value in calculations.
To see how this works, open a new worksheet and change column A's width to a
setting of 3. Then, enter the number 12345 in cell A1. Excel displays "###". Now, change A1 so that it contains the formula
=TEXT(12345,"#")
You'll find
that Excel displays the number by letting it overlap onto column B.
Note that
you can replace the "#" argument in the TEXT function with other number formats
if your needs require it. |
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| Use Outlook to remind you of upcoming Excel work |
You can create an Outlook task to remind you to
do something with an Excel workbook by switching to Outlook, opening a task
form, and creating the task item. However, there is an easier way to create a task
from Excel.
When you're ready to create the task item, make sure that Outlook
and Excel are both open. Also ensure that the workbook has been saved and that
the Reviewing toolbar is displayed in Excel. I f the toolbar isn't visible,
right-click on any toolbar and choose Reviewing from the shortcut menu. Then,
click the Create Microsoft Outlook Task button.
A new task form is displayed
with a shortcut to the open workbook inserted into the form. In the Subject text
box, type the name of the task. You can add more descriptive text beside the
workbook shortcut. Next, select the Reminder check box and set the appropriate
time and date. Finally, click Save And Close.
When the reminder time and date
arrive, you'll see a Reminder box appear (as long as Outlook is running at the
time.) In the Reminder box, click the Open Item button to open the task item.
Then double-click on the workbook shortcut to open the workbook. You can also
open the Outlook task item from Outlook to access the workbook shortcut. |
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Sandy
Pratt
is a director of 4-consulting,
click
here to view his profile. |
