Express Tips

Outlook - Add holidays to your Outlook calendar

Word - Remove formatting from a text selection.

1. Select the text from which you want the formatting removed.
2. Press Ctrl+Space Bar.

Outlook - Add a contact from an e-mail message

Outlook - Open Calendar, Contacts, or Task List in a separate window

Outlook - Get rid of unwanted add-ins

Outlook - Use shorthand abbreviations for dates and time

Word - Remove all hyperlinks from a website paste in one fell swoop

First paste the text from the web into your Word document. Then click the Paste Options smart tag and select Keep Text Only. Doing this will also remove all of the text's formatting, such as style, font, bullets, and line spacing.

Excel - Displaying text vertically in a cell

Excel - Create an in-cell dropdown list of acceptable values

To demonstrate with a blank worksheet, enter the label Sales Reps in cell A1 and then select range A2:A10. Next, choose Data | Validation from the menu bar. Then, choose List from the Allow dropdown list. In the Source text box, enter the values you want to appear in the list, separated by commas, such as: Jed, Bill, Liza Finally, click OK. When you select any of the cell in the range A2:A10, a dropdown arrow appears next to it. Click the arrow and Excel provides the list of accepted names.

Internet - Search for useful Adobe PDF files online with Google

For example, if you want to search for PDF files about Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP), type 'VoIP filetype:pdf' without the quotes. Google locates all available PDF files with VoIP in the text.

Excel - Insert a row or column in Excel using the keyboard

You can use a keyboard shortcut to insert a row or column in Excel. All you need to do is select the row or column that you want the new row or column to appear before. Then, press Ctrl++ (that's Ctrl and the plus sign (Typewriter keypad) at the same time). Excel adjusts your worksheet so the new column or row appears as directed.

E-mail - Add a default signature to your emails (Outlook 2003)

To add an automatic signature in Outlook, choose Tools | Options from the main menu, and then click on the Mail Format tab. Click the Signatures button in the Signature(s) section, and then click the New button in the Create Signature dialog box. Enter a descriptive name for your signaturethis is especially important if you have multiple signatures. Then, select the Start With A Blank Signature option button and click Next. In the Signature Text text box, enter the information that you'd like to appear in your signature you can enter up to six separate lines. Click Finish, and then click OK twice to close the open dialog boxes. Now when you compose a new message, your signature automatically appears at the end of the message. If you'd like to include a signature on replies and forwarded messages as well, select the signature from the Signature For Replies And Forwards dropdown list in the Signature section on the Mail Format tab.

E-mail - Decrease your liability with email disclaimers

If you'd like to learn more about email disclaimers, check out Emaildisclaimers.com at
http://www.emaildisclaimers.com.
In addition to information about the benefits and pitfalls of email disclaimers, this site provides sample disclaimers you can use in your own messages, as well as links to third-party resources.

Excel - Easily enter numeric characters as text strings

There are a number of ways to avoid the problem, but the easiest is to take advantage of a simple entry shortcut. Simply precede your data with an apostrophe character ('). Doing so forces Excel to treat the entry as text data. For example, enter '8-2099. When you complete the entry, Excel doesn't display the apostrophe in the cell, although you can still see it in the Formula bar.

Note that Excel aligns the entry along the cell's left edge. That's because the entry actually becomes a text value. Because of this, you generally don't want to use this shortcut simply to left-align numeric values. Any formulas that depend on the numeric values could return errors or incorrect results if you do.

Word - Four quick ways to select an entire document

1. Triple click in the left margin.
2. While pressing [Ctrl], click once in the left margin.
3. Press [Ctrl]A ([command]A in v. X).
4. Press [F8] repeatedly until the entire document is selected. This takes about 5 clicks. When you want to deselect the text, press [Esc] and click anywhere in the document.

Excel - Sort month and day names chronologically

1. Select any cell in the column of month or weekday data.
2. Choose Data | Sort from the menu bar.
3. Click the Options button.
4. Select the appropriate custom list using the First Key Sort Order dropdown list.
5. Click OK on the open dialog boxes.

Word - Avoid the My Documents default

When you choose Save As or Open, Word automatically opens the My Documents folder in the resulting dialog box. If you tend to work from a folder other than My Documents, you'll save valuable time by setting that primary folder as your default.

To do this, choose Tools | Options from the menu bar, and click on the File Locations tab. Select Documents from the File Types list box and click Modify. In the Modify Location dialog box, open your preferred folder, then click OK. Click OK to close the Options dialog box. Each time you start Word, it opens the folder you designated as the default working folder the first time you access the Open or Save As dialog box.

Regardless of which folder you've selected as the default, Word remembers which folder you navigate to during your Word session and sends you there for subsequent saves or opens. For example, if your default is the C: drive, that folder opens when you first launch Word. But if you navigate to a folder on your network to open or save a document, Word opens that folder next time you click Save As or Open. When you close and reopen Word, the Save As or Open dialog box again defaults to the C: drive.

Windows - Fix A Mangled IP Configuration

You can't uninstall TCP/IP in Windows XP, because there is no Uninstall button for this protocol. According to Microsoft, that is because TCP/IP is an integral part of the operating system, and removing it would cause major problems. You can, however, use the Windows XP command line utility NetShell to reset all IP-related Registry settings to their default values. The result is a brand-new TCP/IP configuration.

The Netsh.exe program is located in the C:WindowsSystem32 directory. To use the program, enter the command
netsh int ip reset filename
You must specify a filename, such as Ipstuff.txt. After Netsh.exe runs, the file will contain a detailed log of the Registry keys that were modified.

Internet - What to do with your downloads

If you download a lot of files from the internet, it's easy to loose track of where you placed them. If downloading a program, you might place it in your Program Files folder one day, and in your My Documents folder the next. For those of us who don't use a desktop manager like those offered by Copernic or Google, tracking down these files can be a challenge, especially since the folders may be named something not be immediately intuitive or recognizable, like 'wppwin4' instead of WinPainterPro4.

It's a good idea to create a designated folder on your desktop or in another well-traveled folder that is specifically for internet downloads. Once it's created, whenever you download an item from the web, you can place it in that folder and know exactly where it is. In addition, you'll be able to keep track of the plug-ins and files you've downloaded since they're all saved in one convenient folder.

Word - Quickly toggle between upper and lower case for selected text

Excel - Setting Print Titles

Often it is helpful to repeat a certain number of rows at the top of the your worksheet printout, or a certain number of columns at the left of the printout. This is particularly useful if you are using the rows or columns as titles for the information in your worksheet. To set print titles, follow these steps:

1. Select the worksheet whose titles you want to set.
2. Choose Page Setup from the File menu. Excel displays the Page Setup dialog box.
3. Make sure the Sheet tab is selected.
4. In the Rows to Repeat at Top field specify the rows you want to repeat (if any).
5. In the Columns to Repeat at Left field specify the columns you want to repeat (if any).
6. Click on OK.

Note, titles are not started until they are actually encountered when printing. Thus, if you select titles that would appear on page 3 of your printout, they will not begin repeating until page 4 is printed.

Excel - Quickly select a column

The other method works great if you are working in a particular column and your hands are on the keyboard. All you need to do is press Ctrl+Space Bar and the entire column is automatically selected.

Excel - Getting to the end of the Excel worksheet.

For instance, if you load a worksheet for which the bottom cell is H20, and then delete three rows and one column, you would expect Ctrl+End to take you to G17. Instead, it still takes you to H20.

The only way around this is to save the file. You don't have to close it, simply save the file. Doing so causes Excel to recalculate the bottom cell.

Word - Get a list of all Keyboard Shortcuts in MS-Word

Here are the quick and dirty clues to MS keyboard secrets.

1. Click the 'Tools' menu, then hit 'Macros In.'
2. Pick 'ListCommands' in 'Macro Name.'
3. Hit the 'Run' button.
4. When the 'List Command' box appears, choose the 'All Word Commands' and click OK.

Note: For users with different versions of MS Word, hit F1 to access the help file and then type in 'keyboard shortcuts' to see the list as well.

Excel - Selecting formulas

1. Press F5, press Ctrl+G, or choose Go To from the Edit menu. Excel displays the Go To dialog box.
2. Click on Special. Excel displays the Go To Special dialog box.
3. Choose the Formulas radio button.
4. Using the four check boxes under the Formulas radio button, indicate the type of results that should be produced by the formulas you want selected.
5. Click on OK.

Word - Reset default character formatting

1. Select the text from which you want the formatting removed.
2. Press Ctrl+Space Bar.

Internet Explorer - Control full screan view

If you want your address bar to be available, just right-click a blank area of the toolbar. A menu will pop up that lets you add your address bar, menu bar, and any other Explorer bars you feel the need to have.

If you want to remove the toolbar, simply right-click the toolbar and select Autohide from the resulting menu. Now, when you move your mouse away, the toolbar disappears. Move your mouse back to the top and the toolbar reappears.

Windows - Simulate a right-click within an application or Desktop menu

To simulate a right-click on an item in an application or desktop window without using the mouse, select the item and then hold down the Shift key while pressing F10. Modern keyboards have a key with a picture of a menu on it that has the same effect as Shift+F10.

Excel - Entering dates into Excel

Dates are a special case in Excel. If you enter information that can be translated as a date (by any stretch of the imagination), then Excel treats it as a date. It converts your data into a serial number that is internally used to represent dates and times. For instance, any of the following entries will be translated to a date by Excel:

• 6/11
  
• 6-11/06
  
• 11 Jun
  
• June 11, 2006
  

If you enter the first example, Excel will convert it to a date and
display that date as best it can determine. If you leave off the year in your entry, Excel assumes you mean the current year. Regardless of how you type a date, it is converted to a special serial number by Excel, and stored internally in that format. How you see the date on your screen is a consequence of how the cell is formatted. Even though Excel stores dates in a standard format internally, they can be displayed using any number of different formats.

Windows - Simulate 'No to all' when copying in Windows XP

By default, when you are copying files and there is a name conflict, Windows gives you the option to replace all of the destination files with 'Yes' or 'Yes to All' buttons in the Confirm File Replace dialog box.

That's a nice feature because clicking Yes to All will not bring up the Confirm File Replace dialog box again for any other name conflicts. However, you may have noticed that there isn't a 'No to All' button. Why? Maybe I want to only copy the new files and not overwrite the current files in the destination location.

As of right now, you would have to sit there and press No each time there was a filename conflict. This would be a royal pain if you had hundreds or thousands of files to replace.

Luckily, there is still a stealthy way to tell Windows not to overwrite all the files with name conflicts and thereby skip them. You can create this 'No to All' functionality by simply pressing and holding the SHIFT key when you click the No button in the Confirm File Replace dialog box.

That's it! Now you will only be asked once to not overwrite the destination files instead of each time. I believe that this issue has been corrected in Windows Vista, since it gives you more advanced options when copying files, but it's a great trick to know in Windows XP!

Word - Checking for Commonly Confused Words

The make sure that Word is checking for this type of grammar error in your documents, follow these steps:

1. Choose Options from the Tools menu. Word displays the Options dialog box.
   
2. Make sure the Spelling & Grammar tab is selected if you are using Word 97 or later versions. If you are using Word 6 or Word 95, make sure the Grammar tab is selected.
   
3. Click on the Settings button (Word 97 or later) or the Customize Settings button (Word 6 or Word 95). Word displays the Grammar Settings dialog box.
   
4. Make sure the Commonly Confused Words check box is selected.
   
5. Click on OK twice to close the dialog boxes.
   

If you are using Word 97 or later and you want to see a list of the confusing words that the grammar checker checks, then do the following after step 4, above:

1. Click on the small question mark button in the upper-right corner of the dialog box.
   
2. Click on the check box for Commonly Confused Words. Word displays a quick explanation of what the grammar rule checks for.
   
3. Click on the >> button in the explanation. Word displays a much lengthier explanation of the options in the Grammar Settings dialog box.
   
4. In the explanation are for Commonly Confused Words, click on the >> button. A full list of words appears.
   
5. When done, close all the dialog boxes.
   

Windows - Clean up the Add/Remove box

Sometimes, when you uninstall a program, its entry remains in the Add/remove
programs listing. Or you might delete something manually and find that the
entry remains in the list of uninstallable programs. You can clean up the
list and remove programs that you've already uninstalled. Run Regedit and
navigate to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionUninstall

>From there, you can remove any unwanted items, which are in the form of
Registry keys.

Windows - Clear out old files

Word - Rearrange table rows using the keyboard

You can also use this keyboard shortcut to move one or more
paragraphs in your document.

Windows - Add website links to the Start Menu

This tip courtesy of our friends at Fred's Head Companion, a source for all sorts of good stuff!

http://www.FredsHeadCompanion.blogspot.com

Ever wanted a quick way to access a website without having to open Internet Explorer, typing in the URL or searching for the site in your favorites? How about placing a link on your Windows Start Menu? Here's how:

First, you either need to right-click on the Start button or focus your screen reader on the Start button and hit the Applications key and click on Explore.

This will open Windows Explorer in the Start Menu folder under your user profile. If you want to be able to add the website shortcut to the Start Menu for all users, when you right-click, choose Explore All Users instead of Explore. There should be a folder called Programs, don't go into that folder.

Now either hit your applications key or right-click and choose New and then Shortcut. In the box 'Type the location of the item', go ahead and type in the URL for the website you want to add. For example, type in http://www.FredsHeadCompanion.blogspot.com and click Next.

Give your shortcut a name in the 'Type a name for this shortcut' box. This will be the title shown in the Start Menu and it can be whatever you like.

Click Finish and you're done! There is one thing to remember when it comes to adding website shortcuts to the Start Menu and that is which version of the start menu you're using. If you use the Classic Start Menu, your link will appear at the top, above the Programs group, hif you're using the normal Windows Start Menu that comes with Windows XP, by default the link will only appear when you click Start and then click on Programs.

Internet - Highlight your address bar in IE and Firefox without using your mouse

Instead of reaching for your mouse to click in your address bar and type a new URL, click [Alt]D instead. This highlights the current address in your browser so that you can instantly begin typing a new address or paste a URL you've copied by pressing [Ctrl]V. In addition, you can quickly move your cursor to different sections of a URL by pressing Ctrl left arrow to go backward or Ctrl right arrow to go forward.

Word - Nudging a graphic

You already know that you can insert graphics within a Word document, and that you can position those graphics using the mouse. Sometimes using the mouse doesn't give the greatest amount of control over the placement of an object. For this reason, you may want to only use the mouse to handle the rough placement of a graphic. You can then nudge the graphic into its final location.

To nudge a graphic, simply make sure it is selected, and then use the arrow keys. Pressing an arrow key moves the graphic in the direction indicated. If you want even finer control, hold down the Ctrl key as you press an arrow key. The result is a nudge of a single pixel in the placement of the object. (Thus, if you want to nudge a graphic one pixel to the right, simply hold down the Ctrl key as you press the Right Arrow key.)

Word - Quickly change font sizes

Word allows you a great deal of control over the size of the font used in your documents. If you want to change font sizes quickly, you can follow these steps:

Exactly how much the font size is increased or decreased depends. At smaller point sizes (12 or under), the point size is changed by a single point. Between 12 and 72 points, you are actually stepping through the point sizes available on the pull-down font size tool on the Formatting toolbar or in the Font group of the Home tab on the ribbon of Word 2007 (12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 36, 48, and 72). Thereafter, the font size is changed by increments of ten points. You can use this method to reduce a point size to a single point or to as large as 1638 points.

Outlook - See who's in your Outlook distribution list before sending an Email

When you use distribution lists, you can quickly address email messages to several people by typing the name of the list. But once you entered the list name in the To field of the message, you might want to check who is included in that list. A quick way to see what names are in a particular distribution list is to right-click on the distribution list name in the To field and choose Properties from the shortcut menu. The Distribution List window opens listing all the members of that list. You can make changes to the list if you need to. When you're finished, just click the Save And Close button to close the window and save any changes.

Outlook - Create a distribution list directly from the Address Book

You can easily create a new distribution list straight from the Address Book dialog box. To do so, choose Tools | Address Book from the Outlook menu bar. Next, select the location from which you want to select names. Choose File | New Entry from the Address Book’s menu bar. At this point, click on New Distribution List in the Select The Entry Type list box in the New Entry dialog box. Then, make your selection from the dropdown list in the 'Put This Entry' section. Click OK to close the New Entry dialog box and save the distribution list.

Outlook - Use the keyboard to move around Outlook more quickly

When working in Outlook, you probably move your mouse or click on menus to create new emails, tasks, appointments and so on. Instead, try this list of shortcuts that will enable you to keep your hands on your keyboard and get right to typing your information.

• Ctrl+Shift+M - Create new email message
• Ctrl+Shift+A - Create new appointment
• Ctrl+Shift+C - Create new contact
• Ctrl+Shift+Q - Create new meeting request
• Ctrl+Shift+K - Create new task
• Ctrl+Shift+N - Create new item pertaining to your current view

(Outlook 2000/2002/2003)

Excel - Add automatic date and time stamps to Excel printouts

When you review a printout, knowing when the output was created helps you view the data in the propper context. Fortunately, it's easy to add the time and date that a printout was created to the worksheet's header or footer section. To do so, choose View | Header And Footer from the menu bar. Then, click the Custom Header or Custom Footer button. Click in the section text box that corresponds to where on the page you want to position the information. Then, click the Date button, press [spacebar], and click the Time button. Or, you can directly type the following codes into the section text box: &[Date] &[Time]. Finally, click OK in all of the open dialog boxes.

Word - Use Autotext to enter address information

Consider saving your most frequently used contacts' information as AutoText entries. Then you'll be able to insert their information in a flash.

First, type the addressee's name and address information on separate lines, just like you'd write it on an envelope. Next, select the entire address (including the addressee name) and press [Alt][F3]. Or, select Insert | AutoText | New. Word automatically assigns the addressee's name as the name for the new AutoText entry click OK to save it.

Now, you can enter an addressee's complete address just by typing his or her name. If Word recognizes the AutoText entry, a yellow ScreentTip appearsjust press [Enter] to insert the entire address. If Word doesn't display a ScreenTip, just press [F3] after you've finished typing the addressee's name. You can also insert the address from the AutoText dialog box by choosing Insert | AutoText | AutoText. Remember, you can use this timesaving trick to add addresses in the Envelopes And Labels dialog box as well as in your documents. This technique is also a handy way to store and enter your business address using your home computer and vice versa.

Excel - Formatting column headers helps sort data in Excel

Although it's likely that you format column headers in a way that visually separates them from your data, you should be aware that there's value to doing so beyond just making your data easier to read. Excel looks at formatting to determine whether the first row in a table range contains column headings or data when you execute the Sort command. If the formatting is different, Excel assumes that the first row is a header row otherwise the data in that row is sorted along with the rest of the data in the table columns. Knowing this can help avoid unexpected results, particularly when using the toolbar buttons to sort data.

Word - Deleting Words While Editing Documents

It is not uncommon to delete words, phrases and the like while editing documents in Word. Different people take different approaches to the task. For instance, some people just select the text and press Delete, while others may simply hold down the Delete or Backspace keys until the unwanted characters disappear.

If you are in the latter group, and you spend a lot of time pressing Delete or Backspace, you may be interested in a handy shortcut provided by Word. All you need to do is hold down the Ctrl key to speed up your deletions. Using Ctrl+Delete deletes text from the insertion point to the end of the next word. For instance, if you wanted to delete four words to the right, simply press Ctrl+Delete four times. Likewise, Ctrl+Backspace deletes words to the left of the insertion point.

An interesting use of these shortcut keys is to speed up editing tasks, not just mass deletions. For instance, let's say you wanted to change the word sidestep to sideways. Normally you would find some way to simply delete step and type ways. This could involve pressing Delete or Backspace four times to get rid of the unwanted portion of the word. You can make your edit faster if you just position the insertion point at the beginning of step, press Ctrl+Delete once, and then type ways.

Excel - Quickly create hyperlinks to data in Office applications

You're probably aware that Excel has long been able to display hyperlinks in worksheets. For example, entering www.frontiercomputing.on.ca in a worksheet cell automatically creates a hyperlink by default. You may also already be aware that worksheet hyperlinks can point to data stored in Excel worksheets, as well as information stored in Word and PowerPoint files. Even if that's the case, you may not realize how easy it is to create hyperlinks that point to data stored in Office documents. Ordinarily, you might use the Insert Hyperlink dialog box to create your hyperlink. In many cases, there's an easier way to create a hyperlink. In fact, it's basically as easy as Copy and Paste.

For example, say you want to create a hyperlink on the first sheet in a workbook that points to data on the last sheet. First, select the cell containing the data to which you want the hyperlink to point. Then, choose Edit | Copy from the menu bar. Next, select the cell that will contain the hyperlink. Finally, choose Edit | Paste As Hyperlink from the menu bar.

This approach works best when the cell to which the hyperlink points contains text data. In such a case, the text you copy is used as the hyperlink's text. When the destination cell contains numeric data, which includes dates, the hyperlink instead uses the sheet name and cell reference for the hyperlink text. This means you have to edit the hyperlink anyway, in which case the standard Insert | Hyperlink approach actually may be more efficient.

As mentioned, Excel's hyperlinks can point to data in other Office applications. The Paste As Hyperlink technique can be used with this data as well. For example, open a Word document and select some text. Copy it as you normally would, then open an Excel workbook and choose Edit | Paste As Hyperlink. Clicking the newly created hyperlink displays the appropriate section in the Word document.

(Excel 97/2000/2001/2002/2003)

Excel - Quickly change the Zoom setting in Excel worksheets

Although you typically use the wheel found on top of a mouse to vertically scroll through a worksheet (if your mouse has one), you can also use it to change a worksheet's Zoom setting. To do so, hold down the [Ctrl] key as you move the scroll wheel. Rolling the wheel down decreases the zoom percentage and rolling up increases the percentage. If you're using Excel 2000 or earlier, the maximum you can zoom in to is 100 percent, so if you need to go beyond that limit, you must use one of the traditional zoom methods. Excel 2002and later lets you zoom in all the way to 400 percent. Note that if you'd rather have your mouse wheel zoom by default, choose Tools | Options from the menu bar, switch to the General tab, and select the Zoom On Roll With IntelliMouse check box. After you click OK, rolling the wheel zooms and rolling the wheel while holding down the [Ctrl] key scrolls up and down in a worksheet.

Word - Understanding page sizes

You probably know that you can specify a size for the paper on which you print your Word documents. If you go to the Page Setup option on the File menu, and then click on the Paper tab, you can specify a number of different paper sizes that are allowable on your printer.

If you want to specify a custom paper size, you can do so by simply adjusting the Height and Width settings in the dialog box. As you do so, notice that the Paper Size setting changes to Custom Size. Word allows you to set any page height and width between .1 inches and 22 inches. (These limits are hard-coded into Word and cannot be changed.) If you want to print documents with larger dimensions, then you need to choose a different program other than Word to do your printing.

Be aware that if you specify a custom size for printing, the results may not be exactly what you think they will be. For instance, if you specify a page width of 15 inches, but the printer can only handle paper up to 10 inches wide, then the resulting printout will not be satisfactory, and the printer may actually reject the print job. You should make sure that you specify paper sizes that are within the limits of what your printer can actually handle.

Word - Full Justification in Word 2007

At first glance, it may appear that the ability to make Word do full justification in the same way that WordPerfect did seems to be missing from Word 2007. The Word method of justifying text has traditionally been to add spaces between words to stretch a line, whereas WordPerfect's method was to add or narrow the spacing between letters throughout the whole line. This meant that WordPerfect's method provided a better looking printed page, without spacing gaps that could appear as a result of Word's method.

The good news is that the option to do justification the way WordPerfect did is still alive and well in Word 2007, it is just much more difficult to locate. Follow these steps:

1. Click the Office button in the upper-left corner of the screen, then click on Word Options. Word displays the Word Options dialog box.
2. At the left side of the dialog box, click Advanced.
3. Scroll through the entire list of advanced features to the very end. There you'll see Layout Options with a plus sign next to the option.
4. Click the plus sign next to Layout Options. You'll see a huge list of options appear in the dialog box.
5. Scroll through the list of options, locating the one entitled 'Do Full Justification the Way WordPerfect 6.x for Windows Does'. The layout options are listed alphabetically, so this option will be located near the top of the list.
6. Make sure the check box next to the option is selected.
7. Click OK.

Vista - Copy as path

Right-clicking on a file or a folder usually brings up a menu with basic choices such as Open or Copy. But if you hold down the Shift key when you right-click, the menu will also include an option labeled Copy as Path. This copies the entire path of the file or folder to your clipboard, free for you to paste wherever you please.

This can be useful when you've located a file in Windows Explorer and you want to upload it to a Web site, to give just one example instead of browsing for the file through the site, just copy and paste the path directly.

Word - Give your text underlining some new style in Word (

Although you can quickly apply standard underlining to your text using either the Underline button on the formatting toolbar or the ctrl + u keyboard command, many people don't realize how easy it is to jazz up the underline style using the Font dialog box. To add a unique style of underlining, select the text you wish to underline and choose Format | Font. Next, click on the Font tab in the resulting Font dialog box, and then click on the dropdown arrow in the Underline Style list box (near the center of the Font property sheet). Now you can select any option, from dotted and dashed to waves or double straight underlines. You can check out how the selected style looks with text in the Preview window. Once you've decided on an underline style, click OK to apply the formatting and exit the Font dialog box.

Outlook - Creating a line

You can create a line across the page of your Word or Outlook document with just a few keystrokes. Type three consecutive hyphens and press Enter to get a normal line. Type three underscores and Enter, and you'll get a bold line. And if you type three equal signs and press Enter, you'll get a double line.

Excel - Create hyperlinks that point to areas in a workbook

Excel workbooks can store a huge amount of data, and getting from one place to another in a file can be tedious. You can simplify things by creating hyperlinks that jump exactly to a specific place in the file.

To insert a hyperlink to a specific location in your workbook:

1. Select the cell you want to contain a hyperlink.
2. Enter the text that you want the hyperlink to display.
3. Choose Insert | Hyperlink from the menu bar to open the Insert Hyperlink dialog box.
4. Select the Place In This Document button on the Link To bar on the left side of the dialog box.
   If your workbook contains named ranges, you can select a name from the Defined Names list and the hyperlink will jump to it when you click it. Otherwise, select the appropriate worksheet name under the Cell Reference node and enter a cell or range address in the Type The Cell References text box.

This tip works with Excel 2000/2002/2003.

Internet Explorer - Save ink when printing web pages

Save ink by omitting background colors and images when you print Web pages. To do this, choose Internet Options from Internet Explorer's Tools menu. Click the Advanced tab and scroll down the list to the Printing heading. Remove the check next to Print background colors and images, then click OK.

Microsoft Office - Easily select large areas of your document without dragging the mouse

Selecting a portion of your Word document for formatting purposes by *dragging your mouse across it is simple unless the area you wish to edit doesn't all fit on your screen. When this is the case, you need to click at the one end of the area you want to select, hold down the mouse button, and then drag your mouse up or down as your document's viewing scrolls by until you reach the other end of the desired area.

Although it sounds easy in theory, controlling how fast your Word document scrolls can be very difficult. Often, large portions of your document flash by and you can spend a frustrating amount of time trying to maneuver your mouse so the end point of your desired selection appears on the screen. Fortunately, there's a much simpler method for selecting large areas of your document. Simply position the insertion point at one end of the area you want to select and execute a left mouse click. Then use the scrolling bar, the arrow keys, and/or the [Page Up] and [Page Down] keys to navigate to the other end of the desired area. (Be careful not to click on your document while you're navigating.) Finally, press and hold the [Shift] key, and then left click on your document at the opposite end of the desired area. When you do, everything between the original insertion point and the new insertion point is selected and ready for any formatting or editing changes you wish to make to it.

Word - Jumping to the Ends of Table Columns

Word provides a handy shortcut that allows you to quickly jump to either the top or bottom of a column in a table. This can be quite helpful, particularly if you are working with very long tables. If you press ALT+PGUP, you are taken to the first cell in the column, where the insertion point is placed just before the first character of the cell. Likewise, you can jump to the last cell in a column by pressing ALT+PGDN. This moves the insertion point to the last cell in the column, where it is positioned just before the first character in the cell.

If you try to use these shortcuts outside of a table, they have no effect in the document.

Internet Explorer - Store information locally

Internet Explorer's off-line browsing capability lets you keep important reference information close at hand. When you want to retain a local copy of a page or site, choose Favorites | Add To Favorites and check Make available offline. Press the Customize button to choose just what you'd like to store and how often to update it.

When you pull down the Favorites menu, you'll see your off-line Favorites marked with a red dot. Choose one and even if you're not connected to the Internet, you'll get whatever portions of the page Internet Explorer had downloaded. You can even follow links, so long as the target pages are also stored locally.

You can update the off-line material on your hard drive by selecting Tools | Synchronize. If you click on a favorite item's properties, you can also set a schedule for updates.

Windows - Save space by removing Online Services

During installation, most versions of Windows install a desktop shortcut called Online Services, whose files you can use to install one of several online services for your computer. But once you've chosen to install one of the online services (or chosen not to), the desktop shortcut and corresponding files can be deleted to save you 1 MB of hard drive space. Although this might not seem like a lot of space to save, in the long run every little bit counts. Plus, it's a good practice to remove unused programs and shortcuts from your system to keep your computer running efficiently.

To permanently remove Online Services from your computer, delete the desktop shortcut, and then launch Control Panel. Double-click on the Add/Remove Programs icon and select the Windows Setup tab. From the Components list box, scroll down and select Online Services and click Details. Deselect the services you don't want, and then click OK. Click Apply, and then click OK to close the dialog box.

Word - Change the default font

The default font for the Normal.dot template is Times New Roman. To have all your New documents use a different font automatically (for example, Arial), click Font from the Format menu. The Font dialog displays. In the Font field, scroll the list of typefaces until the font you want displays in the Font window. Click this font. Select the appropriate Font style, size settings, and font color, then click the Default button at the bottom of the Font dialog box. Word pops up an alert box asking if you want to change the default font to the selection you've made and advises you that the change you are about to make will affect all new documents based on the Normal.dot template. Click Yes.

Windows - Quick access to Device Manager

As you may know, when you're troubleshooting a problem in Windows, Device Manager is invaluable. If you need to access it often, there's a quick way to open Device Manager from the desktop - simply hold down the [Alt] key, double-click My Computer, and depending on your version of Windows, choose Device Manager from either the shortcut menu or System Properties dialogue box.

Word - Toggling Print Preview

If you are the type of person that likes to keep your fingers on the keyboard as much as possible, you will be interested in this tip. Normally, if you want to print preview your document, you need to use the mouse to select the Print Preview tool, or use the ALT process to select the Print Preview option from the File menu. A quicker way to toggle print preview is to simply press ALT+CTRL+I. Press it once, and Print Preview appears. Press it again, and Print Preview disappears.

It is interesting to note that many people overlook this shortcut since it is not listed on Word's menus. Normally, Word shows available keyboard shortcuts to the right of a menu choice in the menu. For instance, if you look to the right of the Print option in the File menu, you can see that CTRL+P allows you to print. Word doesn't list the Print Preview shortcut on the menus, however.

Excel - Improve Your Printouts By Separating Groups Of Data With Page Breaks

Oftentimes, your workbook contains thousands of rows. When you print it out, the sheer volume of records may be overwhelming, making it hard to locate the data you need.

Fortunately, you can insert manual page breaks to separate groups of data onto their own pages.

To insert a new page break, first switch to Excel's Page Break Preview mode. Launch Excel and open the workbook to which you want to add page breaks. Choose View | Page Break Preview from the menu bar. Then, select a cell (or an entire row or column) below the line where you wish to insert a horizontal break, or to the right of a line where you wish to insert a vertical break. Right-click on the selection and choose Insert Page Break from the resulting shortcut menu.

Word - Quickly Access The Save As Dialog Box

(Applies to Word 97, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003).

If you haven't yet saved a new document, the Save As dialog box automatically appears when you click the Save button. However, once you've saved your new document, clicking the Save button no longer opens the Save As dialog box, instead, it simply saves your document in its current location using its current filename. If you want to access the Save As dialog box to save your document in a different location or to a different filename, you probably know that you can choose File | Save As from the menu bar. However, if you want to spare yourself a few mouse clicks, try using the F12 shortcut key instead.

Word - Applying Superscript Or Subscript Formatting From The Keyboard

(Applies to Word 97, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003).

As you may know, you can apply superscript and subscript formatting to your document using the Font dialog box. Just select the text you want to format, then choose Format | Font from the menu bar. Select the Superscript or Subscript check box from the Font sheet, as appropriate, and then click OK. However, there's a much quicker technique you can use to apply superscript and subscript formatting on the fly. To apply superscript formatting, select the text you want to format and then press Ctrl+Shift+=. To apply subscript formatting, press Ctrl+=.

You can also use these shortcut keys to toggle superscript and subscript formatting on and off as you type.

Word - Understanding Justification

In typography, justification refers to the way in which text is changed in relation to the margins in which it is placed. There are several types of justification:

• Left-justification. All lines in the paragraph butt up against the left text margin. No extra spaces are added to the line.
• Center-justification. All lines in a paragraph are centered between the left and right text margins. No extra spaces are added to the line.
• Right-justification. All lines in a paragraph butt up against the right text margin. No extra spaces are added to the line.
• Fill-justification. All lines in a paragraph are expanded so they butt up against both the left and right text margins. Space is added, between words and characters, as necessary to fill out the line.

In Word, these four justification types are referred to as paragraph alignments. Thus, a paragraph can be left, center, or right aligned. It can also be justified, which is the same as fill-justification.

Excel - Deleting All Graphics

Excel allows you to easily add graphics to a worksheet. This can be helpful, at times, but at other times you may want to delete all the graphics in a worksheet. The easiest way to delete all the graphics is to follow these steps:

1. Press F5 to display the Go To dialog box.
2. Click on the Special button. Excel displays the Go To Special dialog box.
3. Make sure the Objects radio button is selected.
4. Click on OK. All the graphics in your worksheet are selected.
5. Press the Del key. All the graphics are deleted.

This solution works only if there are no other objects (besides graphics) in your worksheet. If you have other objects that you don't want deleted, then all you need to do is perform steps 1 through 4, and then hold down the Ctrl key as you use the mouse to click on each object you don't want deleted. When you are satisfied with the objects selected, finish up by following step 5.

Word - Automatically Save Changes To Defaults

(Applies to Word 6, 95, 97, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003).

Many configuration changes that you make to Word are stored in a special template called Normal.dot. This template is used to help create new, blank documents and to define some of the system-wide settings used by Word. As you make changes to these settings, Word marks Normal.dot as 'dirty' so that it will be saved when you exit the program.

By default, Word saves Normal.dot without any notification to you. However, you may want notification. Why? In case there were some changes done without your explicit action--for instance, by running a macro. If you want Word to notify you when it is about to save Normal.dot, follow these steps:

1. Choose Options from the Tools menu. Word displays the Options dialog box.
2. Make sure the Save tab is selected.
3. Make sure the Prompt to Save Normal Template check box is selected.
4. Click on OK.

Microsoft Office - Getting Rid Of The Office Assistant

(Applies to Microsoft Office 97, 2000, 2002 and 2003).

The Office Assistant has been a part of the Office landscape for several years now, and it still evokes strong reactions, just as it did when it was first introduced. Some people love the Office Assistant while others hate it.

If you are one of those who hates the Office Assistant, you may wonder how to best go about getting rid of it--permanently. The answer depends on the version of Office you are using.

When using Office 2003, you can turn off the Office Assistant so it doesn't pop up all the time by following these steps:

1. The next time you see the Office Assistant, right click on it and choose Options from the resulting Context menu. The Office Assistant dialog box is displayed.
2. Make sure the Options tab is displayed.
3. Clear the Use the Office Assistant check box.
4. Click OK to close the dialog box.

Now, the only time you will see the Office Assistant is if you choose Show the Office Assistant from the Help menu.

If you are using Office 97, then you can use a different approach to get rid of the pesky characters. Follow these steps:

1. Exit all Microsoft Office programs. (Better still, just exit all your programs. This includes Outlook and Outlook Express).
2. Use the Find or Search capability, available from the Start menu, to search for a folder with the name Actors. Windows should locate one or two folders named Actors.
3. Examine the folders. If they are used by Office products, they include files that end in the .ACT file extension. These are the Office Assistant actors. (Actors are the characters used by the Office Assistant. You know--such lovable characters as Clippy and the genius).
4. Right-click on the Actor folder in the Find dialog box. Windows displays a Context menu.
5. Choose Rename from the Context menu and change the folder name to something different. (Perhaps DeadActors or RetiredActors)?
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each additional Actors folder.
7. Close the Find dialog box.

You can now restart any of your Office 97 programs, and the Office Assistants are gone for good. If you later want them back, simply rename the folders back to Actors.

In later versions of Office, Microsoft did away with the Actors folder. Instead, you need to follow these steps:

1. Exit all Microsoft Office programs.
2. Use the Find or Search capability, available from the Start menu, to search for any files with an ACS extension. Whereas earlier versions of Office used the ACT extension for Office Assistant actors, later versions standardized on the ACS extension.
3. Examine the files located in the search. Not all of them will be for Office Assistant actors. You can tell if they are by whether the files are located in folders obviously related to Office.
4. Create a new folder and move the Office Assistant actor files to that folder. You can name the folder anything you like. As you move the files, make note of their names.
5. Use the Find or Search capability to find any files with the ACG extension. These are the preview files for the Office Assistant actors.
6. Examine the files located in the search. There should be one ACG file for each ACS file you moved in step 4. There may be other ACG files on your system which can be ignored.
7. Move the ACG files to the same folder you created in step 4.

Microsoft could certainly have made it easier to locate and move Office Assistant actor files by placing them all in a single folder, as they did in Office 97, but all in all it is not that difficult to locate them and move them.

Once done, you can restart your Office programs, and the Office Assistants are gone for good. If you later want them back, simply rename the folders back to Actors (Office 97) or move the ACS and ACG files back to their original locations (later versions of Office).

Outlook - Type Dates In English

If you need to enter an appointment based on a day instead of a date (E.G., two weeks from Thursday) you don't have to use Outlook's pull-down calendar to find out what the date is. Instead, you can simply type '2 weeks from Thursday' or even '2 wks from thurs' in the appropriate date field, and Outlook will (usually) come up with the right date. Other plain-English expressions that work include 'Christmas', 'first tues in nov' and '2 mo from next tues'.

Windows - Save Space By Removing Online Services

During installation, most versions of Windows install a desktop shortcut called Online Services, whose files you can use to install one of several online services for your computer. But once you've chosen to install one of the online services (or chosen not to), the desktop shortcut and corresponding files can be deleted to save you 1 MB of hard drive space. Although this might not seem like a lot of space to save, in the long run every little bit counts. Plus, it's a good practice to remove unused programs and shortcuts from your system to keep your computer running efficiently.

To permanently remove Online Services from your computer, delete the desktop shortcut, and then launch Control Panel. Double-click on the Add/Remove Programs icon and select the Windows Setup tab. From the Components list box, scroll down and select Online Services and click Details. Deselect the services you don't want, and then click OK. Click Apply, and then click OK to close the dialog box.

Internet Explorer - Create Shortcuts To Web Pages

You can create a shortcut to the Web page you are viewing in any of four ways:

• Drag and drop the icon in the upper left corner of IE to a folder (or onto your desktop)
• Drag and drop the icon that's next to the URL in the Address line to a folder
• Right-click a Web page (not on a link or graphic) and choose Create Shortcut
• Go to the File menu and choose Send/Create Shortcut to Desktop.

Word - Change The Default Font

The default font for the Normal.dot template is Times New Roman. To have all your New documents automatically use a different font (for example, Arial), click Font from the Format menu. The Font dialog displays. In the Font field, scroll the list of typefaces until the font you want displays in the Font window. Click this font. TAB to the different controls selecting the appropriate Font style, size settings, and font color, then click the Default button at the bottom of the Font dialog box. Word pops up an alert box asking if you want to change the default font to the selection you've made and advising you that the change you are about to make will affect all new documents based on the Normal.dot template. Click Yes.

Outlook - Task-List Feature

The Task-list feature keeps track of projects in progress or planned. To create a task, go to the File menu and select New, Task. Enter the details of the task, the start and end dates, and whether you want to be reminded about it. Select Save and Close when you are finished. You can view your tasks by selecting the Tasks folder in the Folder list. If you select View, Current View you can choose from a variety of different views of your task list.

Outlook - Print An Attachment With The Message

In these days of email viruses, you can't be too careful about attachments. However, if you do have an Outlook message with a safe attachment enclosed, you can easily print both the message and the attachment all at the same time. To do this, either select the message in your Inbox or open the message. Then, choose File | Print from the menu bar. In the Print Style list box, select Memo Style (if it's not already selected). Then in the Print Options panel, select the Print Attached Files With Item(s) check box.

Now click OK. The message will print with the attachment icon followed by the attached document.

Internet - Cutting Your Web Graphics Down In Size

The larger in file size a Web graphic is, the longer it takes to load. Unfortunately, the speed offered by cable modems and DSL (digital subscriber lines) isn't available to everyone yet, so the size of your graphics still needs to be a consideration when you're designing your Web site. If your page takes too long to load, potential visitors will be tempted to bail out. One way to limit file size is to limit your graphics' resolution to 72 dpi. This is the standard resolution for most computer screens and is the optimum resolution that they'll be able to output.

Excel - Inserting Entire Rows Or Columns In a Spreadsheet Using The Keyboard

In Excel, the easiest way to insert or delete entire rows or columns (opposed to partial rows or columns) is to use keyboard shortcuts: [Ctrl]+ and [Ctrl]-. Specifically, use either keyboard commands or the mouse and drag across the row numbers or column letters in the worksheet frame to select the rows or columns you want to insert or delete. Then, you press [Ctrl]+ (Use the plus sign on the numeric keypad) to insert entire rows or columns at that spot. You press [Ctrl]- to delete the entire selected rows or columns. You'll find this approach quicker than choosing Insert | Rows or Insert | Columns from the menu bar.

Word - Jump To a TOC Entry By Pressing The Enter Key

When you automatically create a TOC in Word, the entries in the TOC are actively linked to the headings referenced by the TOC entry. This happens because Word uses the /h option with the TOC field, by default. If you use the mouse to click on a TOC entry, you are automatically taken to the appropriate heading. (In Word 2002 you must hold down the Ctrl key as you click on the TOC entry).

The interesting thing is that if you position the insertion point anyplace within a TOC entry and press Enter, Word behaves as if you had used the mouse to activate the link, and you are taken to the appropriate heading. Note that the insertion point must be inside the TOC entry, not just to the left of it. If the insertion point is at the beginning (or even at the very end, to the left of the paragraph mark), then pressing Enter will result in a new paragraph being inserted in the middle of the TOC.

This is apparently the way that Word is designed, and there is no way around this. You cannot 'turn off' or modify the behavior of the Enter key within a linked TOC. Nor can you 'lock' the lines in a TOC so that Enter doesn't insert new paragraphs if the insertion point is outside the actual TOC entry. The only thing you can do is remember to move the insertion point within the TOC entry--even by one character--before pressing Enter.

Excel - Specifying The Behavior Of The Enter Key

When you type information into a cell, it is normal to press the Enter key at the end of your entry. Excel allows you to specify exactly what should happen after you press Enter. Basically, you can specify that nothing happen (the cell into which you entered information remains the currently selected cell) or that a different, adjacent cell is automatically selected. to make your specification, follow these steps:

1. Choose Options from the Tools menu. Excel displays the Options dialog box.
2. Make sure the Edit tab is selected.
3. Either select or clear the Move Selection After Enter check box, depending on whether you want the selection to move or not when pressing Enter.
4. If you select the Move Selection After Enter check box, use the Direction drop-down list to specify the direction of the cell that should be selected.
5. Click on OK.

Outlook - Create a Distribution List From a Category Of Contacts

Assigning categories to your contacts makes it easier to filter out special groups of contacts. You also might want to send email to this group. To make it easier to input the names in the To field, create a distribution list from that category of contacts. To do this, display your Contacts folder with the By Category view. Then select all of the contacts in the category and choose Action | New Message To Contact from the menu bar. When you do, a new message form opens with all the selected names in the To field. Now, select the text in the To field and choose Edit | Copy from the menu bar. Close the message form. Then choose Actions | New Distribution List from the menu bar or press [Ctrl][Shift]L. In the Name text box, enter a name for this group and press [Enter]. Then click the Select Members button. Right-click in the Add To Distribution List text box and choose Paste. All the email addresses you copied are added to the list. Then click OK and click Save And Close in the Distribution List window. Now you can use the new distribution list to contact all the people in that category.

Word - Adding Line Numbers To Your Documents

If you work with lengthy contracts or manuscripts, you'll often need to verbally refer your colleagues or clients to a specific passage as you review the piece together. Chapters, page numbers, section titles, and descriptive headings can certainly come in handy during a sit-down review. However, Word offers another reference tool that you may not be aware of: line numbers. To add line numbers to your documents:

1. Switch to Print Layout view by selecting View | Print Layout from the menu bar. (If you're using Word 97/2001, switch to Page Layout view by choosing View | Page Layout).
2. Select the text you want numbered. If you want to restrict line numbers to just a portion of your document text, select only the text you'd like to number. (Note: When you use this method, Word will automatically sandwich the selected text between Next Page section breaks when it applies line numbers.) Or, if you want to add line numbers to a specific section, place the insertion point anywhere within that section. If you want to number the entire document, you don't need to select anything.
3. Choose File | Page Setup from the menu bar (Format | Document in Word 2001), and then click on the Layout tab in the Page Setup dialog box. Select the item you want to number from the Apply To dropdown list.
4. Click the Line Numbers button. Select the Add Line Numbering check box in the Line Numbers dialog box, and customize the available numbering options as desired. When you've finished, click OK to close the Line Numbers dialog box, and then click OK again to close the Page Setup dialog box.

Word adds printable line numbers in your document's left margin, in accordance with the specifications you made in the Line Numbering dialog box. (Note: The Line Numbers feature does NOT number headers and footers, tables, footnotes and endnotes, text boxes or frames).

Windows - Open Applications In Maximized State or Quickly Maximize Any Window From The Keyboard

You can tweak the properties for any shortcut to specify the way you want it to open—Normal, Minimized, or Maximized. Right-click the shortcut and choose Properties from the pop-up menu. Alternatively, with the shortcut selected, press the Alt-Enter key combination to open the Properties dialogue box. The drop-down list labelled 'Run' is the one that controls this setting. Change it to Maximized and click OK.

This setting is just a request from the operating system, so it doesn't have any real teeth. Windows will inform the program that you want it to launch Maximized, but the program may or may not comply. If it doesn't, don't worry. There is a simple key combination you can use to maximize the active window. Press Alt-Spacebar (which opens the system menu at the window's top left) followed by X, the shortcut key for Maximize.

Internet Explorer - Deleting Individual Autocomplete Items

When you start typing in a Web form with AutoComplete enabled, you will see a list of previous entries for the same field that begin with what you've typed so far. You can select one to avoid retyping it. To see all stored entries for a field, click in that field and press the Down Arrow key. To remove an entry that is erroneous, outdated, or private, highlight it using the Down Arrow (not the mouse) and press Del.

Excel - Protecting Selected Cells From Accidental Modification Or Deletion

By default, all Excel worksheet cells have locked definitions associated to them. This function will take effect only if the worksheet has been protected, and it covers all cells in the protected worksheet or workbook.

If you want to protect only specific cells, such as those with formulas, you would first need to unlock all the cells on the worksheet, lock the cells that you want to protect, and protect the worksheet.

1. Select all of the worksheet (hold down the Ctrl key and A) or all of the working cells in your sheet (hold down the Ctrl, then select Cells).
2. When the selection has been made, right-click the mouse and select Format Cells from the drop-down window.
3. Click the Protection tab, deselect the Locked check box, and click OK.
4. Now click the specific cells that you want to protect. You can select them all at once by holding down the Ctrl button on your keyboard while you click each cell.
5. Once all cells are selected, right-click the mouse again, go to Format Cells, click the Protection tab, and this time select the Locked check box and click OK.
6. The final stage is to protect the worksheet. Click Tools, go down the menu to Protection, click Protect Sheet, then click OK. A password is optional here. If you want to password-protect it, enter a password (you will need to reenter it to confirm), then click OK. Don't forget your password because there is no way to retrieve it.
7. Save your work!!

Now your worksheet is protected, and locked cells cannot be tampered with unless you follow step 6 to Unprotect sheet or open it with the protection password you assigned to it.

Word - Selecting a Sentence

You can select entire sentences using your mouse, if you first hold down the Ctrl key. This tip explains some of the ins and outs of using this handy editing technique.

Chances are good that you already know how to select words and paragraphs using the physical or simulated keybord mouse. (To select a word, you double-click on it. To select a paragraph, you triple-click.) You may not have known, however, that you can use the mouse to select a sentence.

To select a sentence using the mouse, simply hold down the Ctrl key as you click anywhere within the sentence. The entire sentence, along with any trailing spaces, is selected. Note that Word does get a little confused if the sentence contains a period for an abbreviation (such as in Mr. or Mrs. or Dr.). If you have such a sentence, simply continue to hold down the Ctrl key as you move the mouse past the abbreviation. The rest of the sentence is then selected.

Word - Opening A Backup File

You are probabably aware that Word does not automatically save backup files of your documents, but that you can enable such a feature. If you instruct Word to save backup files, there will undoubtedly come a time when you want to open one of the backup files. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Select Open from the File menu, or click on the Open tool on the toolbar. You will see the Open dialog box. In the File Name box, type *.WBK and press Enter. (If you are using Word 6 or Word 95, you should use *.BAK instead).
2. Select the desired backup file from the list of files.
3. Click on OK.

Excel - Freezing Column And Row Titles

When you work with a large Excel worksheet, it's often difficult to remember exactly what kind of data columns or rows contain once you begin scrolling around the sheet and lose sight of the column and row labels. Fortunately, you can freeze rows and columns that contain headings so you always know what data you're looking at. To freeze a row, select the row number or the cell in column A that's immediately beneath the last row you want frozen. Then, select Window | Freeze Panes from the menu bar. Excel inserts a thin line to show you where the frozen pane begins. To freeze a column, select the column letter or the cell in row 1 that's immediately to the right of the last column you want frozen. To freeze horizontal and vertical areas simultaneously, select the cell that's in the upper-left corner of the range you want to remain scrollable and then invoke the Freeze Panes feature. If you later want to make all regions scrollable again, simply select Window | Unfreeze Panes from the menu bar.

Excel - Protecting a Workbook With a Password

If you want to prevent people from opening a certain Excel workbook, you can assign a password to the file to control who can access its contents. In addition, you can use a password to limit the number of people able to edit the file. To set such passwords, open the file and choose File | Save As from the menu bar. Then, click the Options button on the Save As dialog box (if your dialog box doesn't have that button, choose General Options from the dialog box's Tools menu).

Type the password you want to use in the Password To Open text box. As you type, the password is masked with asterisks. This password determines who can view the file's contents. Keep in mind that the password is case-sensitive, so capitalization matters. If you also want to control whether edits can be made, enter a different password in the Password To Modify text box.

At this point, click OK. You'll then need to confirm any password selections you've made. If you assigned two passwords, the first one you confirm is the one you entered in the Password To Open text box. When you return to the Save As dialog box, click Save and then click Yes to save over the original workbook with the new password-protected workbook.

When you later reopen the file, you'll be prompted to enter its password. Enter it in the Password text box and click OK. If you supply an incorrect password, Excel displays a warning and the open process is cancelled.

If you also assigned a password to control modifications, you'll be prompted to enter it now. If you're unable to supply the right password, or you don't need to make changes, you can click the Read Only button to open the file. However, you won't be able to save changes you make to the workbook unless you save to a new file.

Word - Getting Rid Of The Startup Document

Every time you start Word from the Start button or, in older versions of Windows, the Program Manager, the program is started with a blank document. This is great if you are ready to start a new file. Most people, however, find themselves working with the same files over and over. If you are tired of closing that opening document every time you start Word, then follow these steps if you are using any version of Windows currently in common use:

1. Using the desktop browser, display the folder containing the shortcut used to start Word.
2. Right-click on the shortcut icon. This displays a Context menu for the shortcut.
3. Select the Properties option from the Context menu. This displays the shortcut's Properties dialog box.
4. Click on the Shortcut tab.
5. At the end of the Target field, add the following: /n (If there are quote marks surrounding the text in the Target field, makes sure you place the /n outside the quote marks.) There should be a space just in front of the slash.
6. Click on OK.

If you are using an older version of Windows, you can follow these steps from the Program Manager:

1. Select the Word program icon, do not open it.
2. Select the Properties option from the Program Manager's File menu. You will see a Properties dialog box.
3. At the end of the Command Line, add the following: /n
4. Click on OK.

Once this change is made, whenever you start Word there will be no blank document.

Word - Centering a Table

By default, Word automatically left-justifies a table in your document. If you want to quickly center the table between the page margins, follow these steps if you are using Word 6, Word 95, or Word 97:

1. Position the insertion point somewhere within the table.
2. Choose Select Table from the Table menu. This selects the entire table.
3. Choose Cell Height and Width from the Table menu. This displays the Cell Height and Width dialog box with the Row tab selected.
4. Click on the Center radio button.
5. Click on OK.

If you are using Word 2000 or a later version, centering a table is even easier:

1. Right-click on the table. Word displays a Context menu.
2. Choose Table Properties from the Context menu. Word displays the Table Properties dialog box.
3. Make sure the Table tab is selected.
4. Click on Center.
5. Click on Close.

Outlook - Print a Blank Calendar

If you ever need to print a blank calendar page, the last thing you want to do is clear all your appointments for that time period. Instead, create a blank calendar folder in Outlook and print your blank pages from that folder. To create the blank calendar folder, choose File | New | Folder from the menu bar. In the Create New Folder dialog box, type a name for the folder in the Name text box. From the Folder Contains dropdown list, select Appointment Items. In the Select Where To Place The Folder list box, select the Calendar folder then click OK. When prompted to add this folder to the Outlook Bar, click No. Then select the new folder in the Folder List. To print a blank calendar page, choose File | Print. In the Print Style panel, select the calendar style you want to create. In the Print Range, select the dates you want to include then click Preview to see what your page will look like. If you like what you see, click Print in the Preview window then click OK. Your blank calendar page is then sent to the printer.

Excel - Spell Check All Sheets In a Workbook At Once

If a workbook contains several sheets, you probably spell check each sheet individually. However, you don't have to. If you'd like to spell check an entire workbook, first right-click on any sheet tab, and then choose Select All Sheets from the resulting shortcut menu. To spell check specific sheets, hold down the [Ctrl] key and click on the appropriate sheet tabs, or hold down the [Shift] key to select a block of adjacent worksheets. After you've made your selection, simply press [F7] to launch the spell checker.

Outlook - Add Regional Holidays To Your Calendar

To add regional holidays to your Outlook calendar, select Options from the Tools menu, click the Preference tab, and select Calendar Options. Click the Add Holidays button, and click the box next to each country whose holidays you would like added to your calendar.

Internet Explorer - Printing Only Part Of a Web Page

Sometimes you may want to print part of a Web page, but printing the entire thing can be very distracting and would be a waste of paper. Fortunately it's easy to print sections of a Web page with Internet Explorer. To print one frame of a Web page, right-click within the frame and choose Print from the shortcut menu. Alternately, you can highlight an area you wish to print, and then right-click on the selection and choose Print from the shortcut menu.

Outlook - Retrieve Or Replace Messages You Already Sent

If you and the recipient of your mail are both using Outlook, you can retrieve a message that you need to change, or wish you hadn't sent. To do this, the recipient must be logged on, using Outlook and the message must be both unread and in their Inbox. To retrieve your message, open your Sent Items folder, double-click the message, then select Recall This Message from the Tools menu. To recall the message, select Delete Unread Copies Of This Message. To replace the message with a new one, select Delete Unread Copies And Replace With A New Message. Click OK, and type a new message. If you'd like to know if the recall worked, select the box labeled Tell Me If Recall Succeeds Or Fails For Each Recipient.

Word - Merging Table Cells

You can increase the flexibility of tables by creatively merging cells to get just the look and layout that you need. This tip describes a couple of different ways you can perform the merging tasks. It covers using menus and the more flexible toolbar approach.

Word contains a handy table editor that allows you to create complex tables. One of the features of the table editor is that you can merge adjacent cells together. Merging cells simply means that the adjacent cells are thereafter treated as a single cell, even though they are not really a single cell. If the cells are on the same row, you can merge them together by following these steps:

1. Select two or more adjacent cells, on the same row or same column, that you want to merge.
2. Choose Merge Cells from the Table menu.

You can also easily perform cell merging by using the Tables and Borders toolbar:

1. Choose the Toolbars option from the View menu, and then make sure Tables and Borders is selected from the resulting submenu.
2. Move the toolbar or adjust your document so you can see both your table and the toolbar.
3. Click on the Eraser tool on the toolbar. This is the one just to the right of the tool that looks like a pencil.
4. Click and drag to select the dividing lines between different cells. When you release the mouse button, the cells are merged.
5. Use the Eraser tool to merge any other cells desired.
6. Click on the Eraser tool again (on the toolbar) or press the Esc key. This turns off the Eraser tool.
7. Close the Tables and Borders toolbar when finished.

Word - Searching For Paragraph Marks And Line Breaks

Paragraph marks (created by pressing Enter) and line breaks (created by pressing Shift+Enter) are two of the most common special characters in a document. Word allows you to easily search for these characters.

1. Choose Find from the Edit menu. Word displays the Find tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.
2. In the Find What box, enter the text for which you want to search. To search for a paragraph mark, enter ^p, to search for a line break, enter ^l. It is important to use a lowercase p or l.
3. Set other search parameters as desired.
4. Click on Find Next.

Internet Explorer - Make Address Bar Text Bigger

When your display is set to a high resolution, reading the text in Internet Explorer's Address Bar may be difficult. The Address Bar uses the same font as the icon titles on the desktop, which can be changed through Display Properties. Right-click on the desktop and choose Properties, then the Appearance tab. If you're running Windows XP, click on the Advanced button. In the pull-down Item list, select Icon. Choose a more readable font and click on Apply. If the icon titles are now truncated, change Icon Spacing (Horizontal) and Icon Spacing (Vertical) to larger values.

Internet Explorer - Back Up Your Favorites

To back up or transfer your Internet Explorer Favorites, select Import and Export from IE's File menu. Choose Export Favorites and click on Next. Choose the main Favorites folder for the source folder and hit Next. Click on Export to a File or Address, select a filename to hold the Favorites list, click on Next, and then hit Finish. You now have an HTML file containing your Favorites, including submenus, in an outline form. You can store this on a disc for backup, copy it to another computer and import it, even launch the HTML file and click on the links directly.

Word - Adding Borders Around Paragraphs

If you want to draw attention to a particular paragraph, a great way to do it is with a border. Word allows you to easily add borders, as described in this tip. You can add a pre-defined border or a custom one - it is up to you. (This tip works with Microsoft Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, and Word 2003.)

Unlike some word processors, Word allows you to quickly and easily add different types of borders to your paragraphs. You can add borders to any or all sides of a paragraph, or you can create a drop-shadow effect. (Drop shadows cause your boxed paragraphs to 'stand off' the page, providing almost a three-dimensional appearance.) To add borders to your paragraph, follow these steps:

1. Position the insertion point in the paragraph to which you want the border added.
2. Select the Borders and Shading option from the Format menu. You will see the Borders and Shading dialog box. Make sure the Borders tab is selected. For a regular boxed appearance around your paragraph, select the Box option from the Setting area. To use a drop-shadow box, select the Shadow option from the Setting area. Word includes a 3-D box that you can use by selecting the 3-D option from the Setting area. If you want a custom border, select the Custom option from the Setting area. Then, you can control the border by clicking on the line buttons located in the Preview box.
3. Select a line type from the Style list.
4. To adjust the distance the borders of the box will be from the paragraph text, click on the Options button to set the From Text options.
5. Change any of the From Text distances, clicking OK when done.
6. Click on OK to close the Borders and Shading dialog box.

You can quickly remove a paragraph border by selecting None in the Borders and Shading dialog box.

Internet - Store Your Passwords With An Online Password Protection Service

We all know we shouldn't use the same password with different applications, and writing passwords down or storing them on your PC introduces another set of problems. Needless to say, remembering all your passwords can be a mental strain. We've found a few free services that store all your password information, in addition to offering other features, such as PIN numbers, web login information, and software keys, depending on the service. Check them out and decide which is best for your needs:

• http://www.moonsoftware.com/pwagent.asp
• http://www.passwordsafe.com
• http://www.accountlogon.com
• http://www.roboform.com

Internet - Find a Huge Glossary Of Internet Terms Online

If you're confused by internet jargon, such as Backbone, Extranet, MIME, and Proxies, there are many places you can go for descriptions, but one of the best is Matisse Enzer's Glossary Of Internet Terms. Found at
http://www.matisse.net/files/glossary
This site has a huge number of terms that dwarfs Webopedia's collection, all with concise descriptions that are sure to help you better understand the changing technology we use.

Excel - Change The Default Number Of Worksheets

To change the default number of worksheets, from the Tools menu, select Options, then click the General tab. In the Sheets in New Workbook text box, type the number of worksheets desired (from 1 to 255), then click OK. Every new workbook created will automatically include the number of worksheets specified.

Word - Linking Microsoft Excel Data In Your Microsoft Word Documents

Many of us create numerical reports using Excel spreadsheets. Unfortunately, numbers don't always speak for themselves. You can make Excel spreadsheets more comprehensible by accompanying them with a written interpretation in the form of a Word document. However, this solution leaves you with two separate files: a Word document that contains the theory and summary of the spreadsheet values and an Excel spreadsheet that contains the calculations and values themselves. A simpler alternative is to incorporate the key numerical figures--the bottom line, so to speak--from the Excel spreadsheet in your Word document. You can configure pasted Excel data to update automatically in your Word document using Word's Paste Link feature. Copy the data from the Excel spreadsheet that you want in your Word document. Switch to Word and place the insertion point where you'd like the linked object to appear. Choose Edit | Paste Special from the menu bar and select the Paste Link option. Select Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object from the As list box then click OK. The data you selected appears in the Word document. To manually update the link from Word, choose Edit | Links and click the Update Now button, then click OK.

To change the wrapping style around the linked data, right-click on it and select Format Object from the shortcut menu. In the Format Object dialog box, click on the Layout tab. Select a wrapping style from the Wrapping Style area and click OK. Then, drag the object to its final location.

Word - Formatting a Cover Page

Cover pages, which often have a different format than the main body of a document, can easily be created in Word. The trick is to add a section break between the cover page and the body. You can then format each section independently of the other. This tip explains this concept and how to add the necessary section break.

If you are writing a report, you will probably want to create a cover page. In some word processors, this would be done as a separate file. You can also use this approach in Word, but you can also format a cover page as part of the document containing the report. This is done by making the cover page one section and the rest of the report another section. To do this, follow these steps:

1. At the beginning of your document, enter the information you want for your cover page. Don't worry about formatting yet - just enter the text.
2. Position the insertion point at the beginning of the report, but after the cover page information.
3. Select Break from the Insert menu. Word displays the Break dialog box.
4. Click on Next Page.
5. Click on OK
6. Format the text in your cover page as you desire. You can even change headers, footers, and page margins. (If you change the page layout, make sure you only apply the changes to the section you used for your cover page.)

Word - Understanding Point Sizes

A point is a typographical term for a unit of measure. It is roughly equivalent to 1/72 of an inch. Points are understood and used extensively by everyone in the publishing trade, particularly in design, typesetting, and printing. They are most commonly used with type specifications. Word uses point sizes to specify the height of all the fonts it uses. Thus, when you use a 12-point type, you are using one that occupies a character box approximately 12/72 (or 1/6) of an inch high. Likewise, 72-point type uses a character box that is about one inch tall.

In typesetting, points are also the measurement of choice when specifying line leading. It is not uncommon to specify type in the format 10/12, meaning 10-point type on 12-point line leading.

If you are familiar with points, you can use them as a standard measurement in Word. When entering a measurement in points, simply use the characters pt at the end of the measurement. Alternately, you can set your default measurement to points by choosing Options from the Tools menu, then clicking on the General tab and changing the Measurement Units selection to Points.

Word - Cut Down Email Response Time By Including a Default Subject Line

When you include your email address in an electronic document, you can save yourself some email-sorting time by including a default subject line with the hyperlink to your email address. To do so, select Insert | Hyperlink from the menu bar (or press [Ctrl]K) to open the Insert Hyperlink dialog box. Select E-mail Address in the Link To area. Type your email address in the E-mail Address text box and type the default subject line in the Subject text box. In the Text To Display text box, type the text that you want to appear as a hyperlink, and then click OK. If you've already created the email address hyperlink and you'd like to add a subject line, right-click on the hyperlink and select Edit Hyperlink from the shortcut menu. Fill in the Subject text box and click OK. When the user clicks on your hyperlink, the email message pops up with your email address in the To line and the subject you've specified in the Subject line. Of course, it's important to keep in mind that the user can change the subject line if he desires.

Word - Deleting MRU Entries

The MRU refers to 'most recently used', which is the list of files you have used recently, as noted at the bottom of the File menu. This list is a wonderful aid most of the time, but is also very revealing. Everyone who uses your computer knows the name of the last file (or files) you've been working on. You may not always like this.

To remove a file name from the MRU list, press Alt+Ctrl+- (that last part is a dash, right next to the 0 key, not the minus key on the keypad). The mouse pointer changes into a thick bar. Use the bar pointer to click on the File menu, then click on the MRU entry you wish to remove from the list. The entry is removed, and the mouse pointer changes back to normal. This does not delete the actual file - it only removes the entry from the MRU list.

Note, once you have pressed Alt+Ctrl+-, you can use regular keyboard commands to navigate the menu bar and File menu. Pressing the Enter key will remove the MRU entry and return you to your document.

Outlook - Attach a Read Or Delivery Receipt To Your Messages

Instead of waiting and wondering if a message you sent was delivered or opened, you can attach a delivery and or a read receipt to the message. Outlook sends you an automated message when your message is delivered to the recipient's Inbox and when it is opened. You can set this option for individual messages or for all messages you send. Obviously, this feature might not work across the internet.

To set these options for one message, open the message and click the Options button. In the Voting And Tracking Options panel, select Request A Delivery Receipt For This Message and/or Request A Read Receipt For This Message check box. Then, click Close.

To set tracking for all messages you send, choose Tools | Options from the menu bar and click the E-mail Options button. Then, click the Tracking Options button. In the Options panel, select the Read Receipt and/or Delivery Receipt check boxes. Click OK repeatedly until you return to Outlook. Now, every message you send will have these features attached.

E-mail - Create a Shortcut To Preaddress Common Emails

Are there a couple of people you email continually - perhaps a friend or a colleague? If so, you can save time by creating a desktop shortcut that creates preaddressed messages using your default email client. Just right-click on a clear area of the Windows desktop and select New/Shortcut from the shortcut menu. In the Command Line text box, type mailto: followed by an email address
(mailto:someone@frontiercomputing.on.ca, for example).
Click Next and type a name in the Select A Name For The Shortcut text box. Click Finish, and the new shortcut appears on your desktop. When you double-click on the shortcut, your default email client opens with the address you specified in the To: text box. Simply complete and send the preaddressed message as you normally would.

Windows - Clear Out Old Files

Use Disk Cleanup to clear out temp-file directories, caches, the Recycle Bin, etc. From the Start Menu, select Programs, Accessories, System Tools, then Disk Cleanup. Choose the locations to be cleared out, then click on OK.

Internet Explorer - Print a Table Containing All The Links On a Web Page

Many users print copies of Web pages for reference purposes. While some pages may not be Favorites material, they may contain information or links to other sites that are at least worthy of your filing cabinet. After all, if you ever feel the need to revisit the page you've printed, its URL is more than likely listed at the bottom of the printout. However, if you're more interested in cataloging and revisiting the sites linked to the page than the page itself, you can add a table of the page's link URLs at the end of your printout. To do so in Internet Explorer, select File/Print from the menu bar to open the Print dialog box. Select the Print Table Of Links check box at the bottom of the Options dialog box, and then click OK. Internet Explorer prints the Web page and, at the end, includes a table that lists the URL associated with each hyperlink on the page.

Excel - Shortcut To Redo An Action

Many Excel users are familiar with the shortcut key that allows you to undo an action. By pressing [Ctrl]Z, it's easy to eliminate the last action you performed. However, what if you realize that you should have kept the action, or the undo was accidental in the first place? Fortunately, you can press [Ctrl]Y to redo an action in a flash.

Internet - Use LookSmart To Find Research Articles

LookSmart updated it's FindArticles feature with an improved sort mechanism and is now easier to use. Point your browser to

www.findarticles.com

and prowse over 500 publications with 2.5 million articles, many of which are free to the public. An icon with a dollar sign will appear if an article must be purchased to review. To search only magazines and publications that offer free content, make sure the Premium Content option is deselected. Or, when your results appear, select the Free Articles Only check box. This is a welcome addition to the universe of research resources available to students and professionals alike.

Microsoft Office - Copy, Delete, Rename And Move Files Without Leaving Office

You don't need to switch to Microsoft Windows Explorer to perform basic file management tasks. You can do much of this from Office's Open dialog. First, make sure the files you want to work with are closed.

Then select File | Open. Navigate to the files you want to work with. Right-click on a filename, and cut, copy, delete, or rename the file.

To work with a block of filenames, hold the Shift key down as you click on the first name in the group and then on the last name. For noncontiguous filenames, hold the Control key down and press the Spacebar to select or unselect each file.

Internet - Get Web Page Info

If you'd like to know a little more about the Web page you're currently viewing, select Properties from the File menu. The window that opens will tell you the URL, the size of the page, as well as its protocol and type, and the dates on which it was created and last modified.

Windows - Create Flexible Music Files

By default, Windows Media Player creates protected WMA files when you rip CDs. Because protected files require licenses for playback, you won't be able to listen to the files on another computer. But you can turn this feature off. In Windows Media Player, open the Tools menu and select Options. Then click on the Rip Music tab, and uncheck the box next to Protect music.

Excel - Adjust Column Widths When Pasting

When you copy a range of data (several columns), you can't automatically paste the column widths that accommodate your data. You must first select the data you want to copy and press Ctrl+C. Click a destination cell, and press Ctrl+V to paste the data to the new range. Right-click the new range and choose Paste Special. Select the Column Widths option in the Paste section, then click OK. When you return to your worksheet, the columns in the new range will be the same width as the columns in the original range.

Word - Summing a Table Column

Word allows you to do simple spreadsheet-style calculations on tabular data. You do this using equation fields. For instance, let's assume you had a 20-row table in which you wanted to total the values in the third column. All you need to do is the following:

1. Position the insertion point in the cell you want to contain the total. (In this example, you would position the insertion point in the bottom cell of the third column.)
2. Choose Formula from the Table menu. Word displays the Formula dialog box. Notice that a suggested formula is already filled in the Formula box.
3. Using the Number Format drop-down list, select how you want the number to be formatted. (This step is optional.)
4. Click on OK.

At this point Word places the sum of your column in the cell. If you have the Tables and Borders toolbar visible on your screen, there is an easier way to sum a table column. Follow these two steps:

1. Position the insertion point in the cell you want to contain the total. Typically, this is the bottom cell in a column of numbers.
2. Click on the AutoSum tool on the Tables and Borders toolbar.

Once the sum is placed in the cell (whichever method you follow to place it there), and you later change the column figures, remove rows, or add new rows, you will need to update the sum. You do this by selecting the field you inserted and then pressing F9.

Internet - Stay Informed By Checking Out The Most Emailed News Stories

Yahoo! has an interesting page that features the most emailed stories and photos for the current day. To check it out, go to
Yahoo News

Outlook - Create Recurring Appointments

When you know a certain appointment will regularly happen again, you don't have to manually enter that appointment on each date. Let Outlook do it for you. Open the appointment form and enter all the details such as a subject and the time and date. Then, click the Recurrence button. In the resulting dialog box, select one of the options in the Recurrence Pattern panel such as Weekly or Monthly. Depending on the pattern you select, the options for the pattern change. For example, if you select Weekly, you can set how many weeks between recurrences and on which day the appointment should recur. If you know the end date of the appointment schedule, you can set a range of recurrence instead. Select the options you need and click OK. Outlook enters new appointments on the appropriate days in your calendar.

Word - Strip Personal Information From Word Documents

When you select Properties from the File menu In Microsoft Word, and then click on the Summary tab, you often see information you may not want to share with others. For example, you may want to clear the company and author lines. Or, maybe you want your e-mail to be anonymous. Depending on the version of WORD you are using, there is a way to accomplish this without the need to modify the properties for every file.

The company and author name may be the least of your worries. Have you ever written a venomous letter and then edited it down to something less offensive? If you've enabled the fast save feature, earlier versions of your document may still be present. If the document was edited with Track Changes enabled, a name is associated with each change. Fortunately, you can get rid of all the personal information with a few simple settings.

Choose Options from the Tools menu, click on the Save tab, and uncheck the box labeled Allow fast saves. Now click on the Security tab and check the box titled Remove personal information from this file on save. In Word 2003, the check box's title is slightly different: Remove personal information from file properties on save. When you save the file, the Author, Manager, Company, and Last saved by fields are cleared. Names in comments or edits are changed to simply Author. Any routing slip or email header information is also removed. If the document contains tracked changes, you may want to accept them all before saving.

The Allow fast saves option is global and is present in Word 2000 also. The Remove personal information option is specific to the current file and is present only in Word 2002 and later. If you want that option to be the default, click on the File Locations tab in the 7bo/s | Options dialog and note the folder containing user templates. In that folder, open the file Normal.dot. Check the Remove personal information box as noted above, then save and close the file. All new files created from this point on will have that feature enabled by default.

Excel - Create a Range Name For Only One Sheet

(Applies to Excel 97, 2000 and 2002).

Named ranges make it significantly easier to construct formulas and find particular sets of data. Typically, you can reference a name from any sheet. For example, if you create a range named Results on sheet 1, you can enter the formula

=SUM(Results)

on sheet 2. Likewise, the name Results appears in the Name box and Go To dialog boxes. Sometimes, you may want to create a range that's applicable to a particular sheet. To do so, simply preface the range name with the appropriate sheet name using the sheet!rangename syntax. For example, to create a range that points to a summary section on sheet 2, you might name the range Sheet2!SummaryData. The SummaryData range name will only appear in the Name box, or dialog boxes that show range names, if you're working with sheet 2. If you create a formula that should reference a named range that was exlusively associated with another worksheet, you can do so using a fully qualified reference like

=SUM(Sheet2!Results)

Word - Don't Work Off Floppies

People who are new to computers have a tendency to store their data files, including Word documents, on floppy disks. They think this is safer, in case the hard disk has a problem. This may have been true in the early days of hard disks, but there are a number of reasons not to use floppy disks to store your documents:

• It is much slower loading and saving documents.
• Floppy disks are more prone to disk errors than hard disks.
• It is too easy to misplace a floppy disk.

The biggest reason to not work on floppies has to do with how Word handles its temporary 'scratchpad' files. Microsoft designed Word to stash critical parts of the document in 'temp files' on disk instead of trusting them to RAM. There are a couple of temp files opened in the %temp% folder when Word starts, and there are two or more opened where the document file is located.

If your document file is on a floppy disk, that's where the temp files will be created. There is no way to keep Word from doing this, and it's always been this way, clear back to the days of Word 2.0. A problem arises if you remove the diskette too soon. Some of the temp files are closed when you close the document, but if you have copied anything to the Clipboard, a temp file or two will remain open until Word itself is shut down. At some point, it is guaranteed that Word will try to clean up after itself, and if you've prematurely removed the diskette, it can't access the temp file and may pester you for it until you either give it the file it wants or until you forcibly end Word.

The other and more important reason for not working directly from floppy disks is their small capacity. Word temporarily needs a little over twice the amount of space that the saved file will occupy to properly save the file. If you fill up the diskette in the process of saving the file, Word may crash and you may corrupt your file.

Excel - Quickly Switch Between Open Workbooks

(Excel 97/2000/2002/2003)

If you have multiple workbooks open, you can quickly switch from one to another using a shortcut key combination. To do so, simply press [Ctrl][Tab] to cycle through the workbooks. Note that pressing [Ctrl][Shift][Tab] lets you cycle through the workbooks in the reverse order.

Excel - a Straightforward Way To Center Data On a Printed Page

When you print a worksheet, you may feel that the printout would look better if the data were centered on the page. If so, you don't have to insert a lot of extra rows and columns or change the individual page margins to get the data to print where you want it. Instead, choose File | Page Setup from the menu bar. Then, click on the Margins tab. You can now use the check boxes in the Center On Page section to control how the data is presented. Note that the centering options apply to the space defined by the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right margins, not the physical dimensions of the page.

Excel - Display Formulas In Their Cells Instead Of The Results

(Applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002 and 2003).

You can easily look over the formulas in your worksheet by displaying them in their cells. It sure beats selecting them one by one to look at the formula bar. To display your formulas instead of their results, just choose Tools | Options (Excel | Preferences in v. X) and click on the View tab, if necessary. Select the Formulas check box in the Window Options panel and click OK. Now, all of the formulas in your worksheet appear in their cells until you re-open the Options dialog box and deselect the Formulas check box. Also, the Formula Auditing toolbar may appear to help trace and correct any errors in your formulas, but you can close it if you wish.

Word - Format Painter Shortcut

(Applies to Word 97, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003).

The Format Painter is a great help when it comes to applying consistent formatting in a document. If you memorize two easy-to-use shortcuts, you can gain even more advantages by using the keyboard instead of the Format Painter itself.

Many people use the Format Painter tool to copy formatting from one place to another in a document. Unfortunately, using the Format Painter requires that you take your hands off the keyboard and use the mouse--a process that is anathema to many people who would rather use the keyboard for all their tasks.

In reality, Word does provide simple keyboard commands for copying and pasting formatting. The shortcut for copying formatting is Ctrl+Shift+C and the shortcut for pasting is Ctrl+Shift+V.

If you place the insertion point into a paragraph or select the entire paragraph, then Ctrl+Shift+C copies the formatting of the entire paragraph. This includes Bullets & Numbering, spacing, indentation, style, character formatting that's shared by most characters, etc. If you select a short text selection (perhaps one or two words) without selecting the end-of-paragraph marker, then Ctrl+Shift+C only copies character formatting (bold, italic, underline, etc.).

The keyboard commands to copy and paste formatting are actually more powerful than the Format Painter tool. With the keyboard, you can copy formatting, perform numerous other actions, and still paste the formatting anywhere into an open document as many times as you want. So long as you don't copy different formatting, the same formatting will be ready to paste for the entire Word session. You can think of it as copying formatting to the Clipboard, even though the Windows Clipboard really isn't involved.

Excel - Automatically Format List Items As You Type

Have you ever added an item to a list that has already been formatted and then had to format the new item to match the others? Excel 2002 and 2003 can automatically format the new item using the Extended Formats And Formulas option. For this feature to work, at least three of the preceding five rows must have the same format.

For example, let's say you have five items listed in cells A2 through A6. Format the items any way you want. In cell A7, type a new item for the list. When you press the Enter key, the new item is formatted to match the preceding items.

This feature also copies down a formula if the preceding rows contain the same formula. For example, suppose you have several rows of data in columns B through G with column H containing a formula at the end of each row. When you add a new row data to the bottom of the list and press the Enter key for the last item of data, the formula will be filled in the last cell for that row.

To turn this option on or off, choose Tools | Options from the menu bar and click on the Edit tab. On the right side of the dialog box, either select or deselect the Extend List Formats And Formulas check box.

Word - Decrease The Time It Takes To Create A Table Using AutoText

(Applies to Word 97, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003).

It can take a lot of formatting to make your table look just the way you want. If you've created a table that you're likely to reuse in other documents, you should save it as an AutoText entry. To do so, select the entire table by selecting Table | Select | Table from the menu bar (Table | Select Table in Word 97). Next, select Insert | AutoText | New from the menu bar to open the Create AutoText dialog box. Type a name for your AutoText table in the text box and click OK. Whenever you begin typing the AutoText entry's name, Word will display a ScreenTip that prompts you to insert the AutoText entry.

Word - Making Text Bold

You probably already know that there are a number of ways you can make text bold in Word. One common way is to press Ctrl+B when you want to 'turn on' the bold character attribute, type your word (or words), and then press Ctrl+B to turn it off.

Word provides another quick way to make text bold--using asterisks. This may sound strange, but is actually quite common in the on-line world. In plain text e-mail messages, people often use asterisks to *emphasize* words. If you type asterisks in this manner (directly next to a word or group of words, with no intervening spaces) in Word, the asterisks are automatically removed and the word(s) are shown in bold type.

You can try this yourself by typing *this is bold* (exactly as shown here, including spacing) within Word. When you type the second asterisk, both asterisks should disappear and the words 'this is bold' are shown in bold type.

If this formatting shortcut doesn't work for you, it is because of a setting in Word's AutoFormat feature. Follow these steps:

1. Choose AutoCorrect Options from the Tools menu. Word displays the AutoCorrect dialog box.
2. Make sure the AutoFormat As You Type tab is displayed.
3. Make sure the *Bold* and _Italic_ with Real Formatting check box is selected.
4. Click OK.

The shortcut should now work just fine.

Internet - How Fast Is Your Internet Connection?

If you're wondering about your slow connection or just interested in testing your dial-up connection, DSL, cable, or network connection, the online testers we've found can tell you what your current performance is. This information is helpful if you're gauging the best times of the day to exchange or download files from a remote server. Since download speeds are constantly shifting, you'll want to repeat your tests more than once through several services to get an accurate estimate. Here are a few services to help you:

• The Bandwidth Speed Test
  http://bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/
• The Online Speed Test
  www.cable-modem.net/features/oct99/speed.html)
• The Speed Test
  www.dslreports.com/stest)
• YourSpeed
  www.numion.com/)
• The Bandwidth Meter speed test
  http://webservices.cnet.com/Bandwidth)
• The Bandwidth Test
  www.pcpitstop.com/internet/Bandwidth.asp

Word - Creating a Hanging Indent

(Applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002 and 2003).

A common design element is known as a hanging indent, where all lines of a paragraph except the first one are indented from the left margin. Word allows you to easily add hanging indents by using the Paragraph dialog box.

Hanging indent is the typographical term for a paragraph in which the first line is not indented, but subsequent lines in the paragraph are. Typically, hanging indents are used for numbered and bulleted lists. To create a hanging indent in Word, use the following steps:

1. Position the insertion point in the paragraph in which you want the hanging indent.
2. Choose Paragraph from the Format menu. You will see the Paragraph dialog box.
3. In the Special drop-down list, choose Hanging. The By field changes to a value, most often one-half inch.
4. Adjust the By field to indicate how much you want each line in the paragraph (except the first) indented.
5. Click on OK.

Of course, Word provides shortcuts to create the most common application of hanging indents--numbered and bulleted lists. To apply these, you can simply use the appropriate Numbering or Bullets tools found on the Formatting toolbar and the Format menu.

Internet Explorer - Find a Forgotten Web Page Using The History Pane

You probably look at dozens of pages every day, and may sometimes forget to bookmark a crucial page. Microsoft Internet Explorer gives you a way to recover the page using its History feature. To enable and use it:

1. Click the History button (or View | Explorer Bar | History) in IE 6. This pane appears in the left side of the Internet Explorer window and contains shortcuts to every page you visited to up to three weeks ago. By default, the links are organized by date.
2. Click on the link corresponding to the week in which you believe you last viewed the site. Links in each week's groupings are listed alphabetically.

You can change the number of days pages are saved in the History pane. To do so:

1. Choose Tools | Internet Options in Internet Explorer.
2. On the General property sheet, change the number in the Days To Keep Pages In History spin box.
3. Click OK.

Word - Include Text That Does Not Print

Have you ever wanted to include text in a Microsoft WORD document that appears on screen but does not print? If so, here is what you can do.
Highlight the text in question, choose Font from the Format menu, and check the box titled Hidden. The text disappears - it is not visible on your screen or in print. To bring it back into view, select Options from the Tools menu and click on the View tab. In the Formatting marks area, check the box titled Hidden text. Now the text appears on-screen (with a dotted underline to let you know something's different about it) but still will not print.

Word - Double-Spacing Your Document

(Applies to Word 97, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003).

Have you ever wanted to double-space your document for a printout, without double-spacing the document itself? This tip provides a quick way to get just the results you need.

If you are writing for a living, you already know that many publishers require manuscript to be submitted double-spaced. This allows them to manually edit the manuscript prior to typesetting. (Yes, there are still some publishers who do not edit manuscripts on-line. Sad, but true.) As you are writing, you probably will want to keep your manuscript single-spaced so there will be more of it on the screen at a time. When you are ready to print, there is a quick way to double-space your document:

1. Save your document.
2. Press Ctrl+A or choose Select All from the Edit menu.
3. Choose Paragraph from the Format menu. You will see the Paragraph dialog box. Notice that none of the fields are filled in. This is because you have selected the entire document, and no single paragraph setting applies to the entire document.
4. Choose Double in the Line Spacing box.
5. Click on OK.
6. Print your document.
7. Close your document without saving.
   This last step is important. If you save your document before exiting, then the double spacing will be permanently saved with the document, as well.

Internet Explorer - Increase Your Browsing Speed By Viewing Only Text

Most of the time you spend on the Internet, you probably welcome the addition of graphic elements, such as digital photographs. However, if you don't need these images or, if your Internet connection is bogged down and your browsing speed is frustratingly sluggish, you can speed things up considerably (even if its only temporarily) by eliminating pictures from your view. To do this in Internet Explorer 5 or later, choose Tools | Internet Options, and then click on the Advanced tab in the Internet Options dialog box. Scroll down within the Settings window until you see the Multimedia category. Then remove the checkmark from the Show Pictures check box, click Apply, and then click OK to close the dialog box. If you're using Netscape Navigator 4 or later, choose Edit | Preferences, and then click on Advanced in the Category panel. Next, remove the checkmark from the Automatically Load Images option and click OK to close the dialog box.

Now when you open the next Web page, it will load much quicker but without any pictures. If you want to return to a graphically rich cyberspace, simply repeat replace the checkmark for the appropriate option in the Internet Options or the Preference dialog box.

Outlook - Create a Rule From An Existing Message

Rules can be time-consuming to create, so use this shortcut to save precious time. Create a rule from an existing message by either right-clicking on the message in the message list and choosing Create Rule or by opening the message and choosing Actions | Create Rule from the Message form's menu bar.

Outlook - Remove Formatting

Whether you reply or copy/paste, cleaning up formatting in HTML-based e-mail messages can be tough. Just because the sender liked pale green text against a background of clouds doesn't mean your reply needs to be equally illegible. The easiest solution is to convert the message to plain text and then, if desired, back to HTML. To do that in Outlook, you would select Format | Plain Text from the message's menu, click Yes to confirm you want to discard the formatting, and then select Format | HTML. Using just the keyboard, you can accomplish this by typing Alt-O, T, Y, Alt-O, H. In Outlook Express, you'd select Format | Plain Text, click OK to confirm, then select Format | Rich Text (HTML). Again, this would be Alt+O, X, Spacebar, Alt+O, and R on the keyboard. Once you've removed the unwanted formatting, you can format the remaining text any way you please.

Word - Add Or Remove a Table's Cells Without Affecting Its Outer Dimensions

(Applies to Word 97, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003).

As you may know, it's easy to add and remove individual cells from a table by choosing Table | Insert | Cells, or Table | Delete | Cells, as applicable. However, using these commands to add or remove cells also affects the table's outer dimensions, often resulting in a table with uneven outside edges. If you'd like to add or remove cells from a table without changing the table's outer dimensions, use the Split Cells and Merge Cells commands instead. The Split Cells command lets you easily divide one or more table cells into many more cells. For instance, you can easily change a group of four cells into a group of six cells. First, select the cell(s) you'd like to split, and then choose Table | Split Cells. In the resulting dialog box, choose the number of columns and rows the selected cells should become, and then click OK. Or, if you'd like to consolidate multiple cells into a single cell, use the Merge Cells command instead. For instance, you can easily change a group of three cells into a single cell. Just select the cells you want to combine, and then choose Table | Merge Cells.

Excel - Easily Remove All Non-Text Entries From A Worksheet

(Applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002 and 2003).

Even though using a worksheet template is usually considered the ideal solution, it's common to just base an Excel workbook on an already existing file when you need multiple files that share the same general structure or data labels. For instance, you may create monthly worksheets that list product sales for different regions. Since the regions and product names are the same from month to month, it's easier to copy the previous month's file and delete the sales figures than it is to re-enter everything from scratch.

In such cases, you may be able to reduce your cleanup efforts, particularly if the variable data is in a lot of noncontiguous ranges. Assuming you just want to keep the worksheet's text entries, which act as descriptive labels, you can easily select all of the numeric, date, and other remaining data at once and delete it.

To do so, choose Edit | Go To from the menu bar. Then, click the Special button to display the Go To Special dialog box. Next, select the Constants option button and clear the Text check box. Finally, click OK. Excel will select all of the non-text entries. All you have to do now is press the [Delete] key to remove the unwanted data.

Excel - Perform Two Tasks At Once With The Paste Special Command

(Applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002 and 2003).

The Paste Special command offers several options for effectively controlling what and how you paste your Excel data. One of those options includes performing calculations with the data you are ready to paste and the data in the cells to which you're pasting. For example, let's say you'd like to copy the Quarter 1 Sales to another cell in your worksheet and then add the copied value to the figure in the cell where you're pasting. You can do it all in one step. Select the cell and press [Ctrl]C ([command]C in v. X) to copy it. Then, select the cell containing the value with which you'd like to sum the copied data. Choose Edit | Paste Special from the menu bar to access the Paste Special dialog box. Then, select the Add option button in the Operation panel and click OK. The new cell's original value is overwritten with the sum of the two values. So, as long as you're aware that you can't preserve the value in the cell or range to which you're pasting, you can perform simple operations while you move data. In addition to summing, you can also multiply, subtract, and divide.

Word - Preventing Unwanted AutoCorrect Changes

The AutoCorrect feature is designed to help automatically correct common spelling errors and capitalization typos. However, you may find that there are certain words, acronyms, or abbreviations that you'd prefer AutoCorrect not change at all. For example, many websites use combinations of uppercase and lowercase letters that the AutoCorrect feature sees as mistakes. Rather than disabling the AutoCorrect feature or using the Undo feature, you can avoid unwanted corrections by creating exceptions.

You can add a word to AutoCorrect's exceptions list by choosing Tools | AutoCorrect from the menu bar, and then clicking on the AutoCorrect tab (if it isn't already active). Click the Exceptions button. In the AutoCorrect Exceptions dialog box, choose the tab that corresponds to the type of correction you'd like to prevent. In the Don't Correct text box, enter the text that you want to prevent AutoCorrect from changing, and then click Add. Next, click OK to close the AutoCorrect Exceptions and AutoCorrect dialog boxes. AutoCorrect no longer changes the word you added when you type it in a document.