| ;) Announcements
 A 
        Word of Caution - Hiding MS Excel Columns / Rows A reader sent me a 
        caution for last Tuesday's tip on using hidden columns and rows that I 
        felt warranted a few moments. Be careful of hidden 
        columns and rows when sorting data. Excel can create quite a mess of your 
        data. Solution: Unhide all 
        columns and rows BEFORE sorting! Better safe than sorry. Thanks Trish! Gettin' Religious We have a *super* deal on Compton's Interactive Bible 
        this week.  WAIT - before you stop reading, 
        I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that a CD ROM bible is probably 
        a big rip-off and isn't something you want anyway. After all, you probably 
        already have the book, so why bother with the CD? Well, that's what I thought when I first considered offering 
        this one, but after looking at the program, I have changed my mind - big 
        time. This ain't your grandma's Bible! This thing is awesome. You can, of course, read and run 
        searches (great search capability, by the way), but there's lots more 
        to it. Here's a few samples: - Built in dictionary. If you run across a word you aren't 
        familiar with, just double-click it for a definition.  - Expert commentary - both audio & text.  - Historical Atlas - see the word mapped the way it was 
        in biblical times. - Religious paintings, videos, and photos. - Personal Study Journal - for your own notes. And these are only some of its many features. Again, I 
        was very surprised at both the quality of the software and the ease of 
        use. And I was VERY impressed with all the extra commentary, audio, and 
        video.  Finally, this software is CD only - no book, no box (it 
        is easy to use and has an extensive help file though). It retails for 
        $49.95, but are offering it for only $12.97 and US shipping is FREE! Here's the info (check out the screen shot) and order 
        link: Click 
        Here Now For Compton's Interactive Bible! As always, supplies 
        are limited, so don't be one of those who are going to miss out on this 
        awesome deal. ;) MS 
        Office 101
  Quicker 
        Hiding of Rows and Columns Another reader came 
        through with a timesaving tip regarding the hiding of rows and columns. When we discussed 
        hiding in last Tuesday's newsletter, I sent you through the Format 
        menu and then to the row or column submenu.  (See archives at http://www.worldstart.com/archives/index.htm 
        to see the original tip.) Of course there was 
        a quicker way. Reading the e-mail was one of those "Why didn't I 
        think of that?" moments. After highlighting 
        the row(s) or column(s) to be hidden simply right-click and choose 
        Hide from the pop-up menu. Poof! Data gone (or 
        at least out of sight). This also works with 
        the Unhide option. Thanks for the reminder, 
        Patrick! It seems I'm getting more forgetful every day
 ;) Office 
        Tip of the Day
 Comment 
        Capers 2 - MS Excel Last Thursday we went 
        over the handy little comment gadgets in MS Word. Today we move on to 
        MS Excel. To quote myself: "Basically 
        they're an electronic sticky note. They can be displayed on the screen 
        and/or printed with the document. 'Comments' will let you attach the question 
        to the troublesome spot."  How cool is it to 
        be quoted? Who needs fame? OK, so back down to 
        Earth and back to the business of comments in Excel. Right off the bat 
        you need to decide where a comment is needed. In other words, to which 
        cell should the comment be attached? Once the decision 
        is made you have a couple of methods to choose from for inserting the 
        comment. One way is to use the Insert menu, Comment choice. 
        The other method is to right-click on the cell and select Insert 
        Comment from the pop-up menu. ;)
 A text box will pop 
        up with the author's name on the top line. The author's name is determined 
        by the User's name entered in the Options.  (To change the author's 
        name go to the Tools menu, Options choice, General 
        tab. You should see the User's name box at the bottom. Change the text 
        in the box to reflect your preference for author's name. This new name 
        will apply to all new comments put into the worksheet but not previously 
        created comments.) You are then free 
        to type your comment into the text box. When you have completed the comment, 
        simply click outside the text box to exit the comment. Now that the comment 
        has been created, you should see a red triangle in the upper right corner 
        of the cell to which the comment is attached. ;)
 To view the comment, 
        run your mouse pointer over the cell. A text box containing the comment 
        information should pop up. Now I bet you need 
        to edit the comment, don't you? (The inevitable oops - I hate it, but 
        can't seem to get away from it.) There are several 
        ways to edit comments. One way is to select the cell, go to the Insert 
        menu and choose Edit Comment from the menu. The comment text box 
        will open allowing editing. Another method is 
        to right-click over the cell and select Edit 
        Comment from the pop-up menu. ;)
 Either way, you are 
        put back into the text box where you can edit to your heart's content. Need to delete the 
        comment completely? No problem - right-click 
        over the cell and choose Delete Comment from the pop-up menu. By now you may have 
        noticed the Show Comment option in the right-click menu. (Just 
        below the Edit and Delete choices.) Selecting this choice will display 
        the comment text box on the worksheet all the time, not just when you 
        run the pointer over the cell. If the comment box 
        is displayed, you can click in the box for instant editing. You can also 
        use your mouse pointer on the edge of the text box to click and drag the 
        comment to any location on the worksheet. (This is good to keep the box 
        from covering data.) Once the comment box 
        is shown this way, the choice on the right-click menu changes to Hide 
        Comment. This will reverse the Show Comment operation. Now, let's talk about 
        that little red triangle. My first question when I saw it was, "Does 
        it show on a printout?" The answer I found 
        was, "No!" In fact, I printed with the comment box showing on 
        the monitor and that didn't appear on the printout either.  But never fear, they 
        can be printed either in the worksheet itself or at the end if you need 
        them on your hardcopy. Want to know how? To tell Excel how 
        you would like your comments printed with your file, if at all, go to 
        the File menu, Page Setup. On the Sheet 
        tab, in the middle, you should find the Comment options in the 
        form of a pull-down list.  ;)
 "None" 
        will tell Excel to print no comments or indicators. "At end of 
        sheet" will print the worksheet and then print the comments on 
        a separate sheet. (Each comment is headed with the cell location for the 
        comment. For example Cell: B6 would precede a comment for cell B6.) "As displayed 
        on sheet" will have Excel print the worksheet exactly as you 
        see it on the monitor. Comment boxes will appear exactly where you have 
        them placed with their connecting arrows to the proper cells. OK, hang in there, 
        I've got one more area to point out. If you go to the Tools 
        menu, Options choice, View tab, you'll find a section in 
        the center with a few choices for how Excel should show comments. ;)
 "None" 
        will display nothing on the monitor - no red triangle, no comment will 
        pop up when the mouse pointer is run over the cell, and you won't see 
        the comments if you set the worksheet to print comments "as displayed 
        on sheet". However, they will show up in a list if you choose to 
        print comments "at end of sheet". "Comment indicator 
        only" will insert the red triangle marker when you first create 
        the comment but you will need to run the mouse pointer over the cell to 
        display the information. "Comment & 
        indicator" will have comments marked with the red triangle and 
        display the comment box on the screen immediately. This can save you the 
        trouble of using right-click to Show Comment later on. "But April, what's 
        the difference between all of this and a right-click?" Well, you'll find 
        that choices made from this window affect ALL comments on the worksheet 
        whereas comments from the right-click menu affect the currently selected 
        comment only. Whew! That's it (I 
        hope). Now, you're a comment pro! |