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Saving a presentation as a self running show |
| You can save a presentation as a
self-running show by choosing File/Save As from
PowerPoint's main menu. Give your presentation a name in
the File Name box. Select PowerPoint Show (*.pps)
from the Save As Type dropdown list and click the Save
button. PowerPoint will save your file as a
presentation show that can run on both Windows PCs and
Apple Macs.
To run the show, use Windows Explorer to find the
file and double-click on it to open it. When you
double-click on the file, the show starts without making
PowerPoint visible. At the end of the show,
PowerPoint disappears.
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Inserting an online motion clip into PowerPoint |
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You can insert video clips into a PowerPoint slide by
selecting a clip from the Clip Gallery. Start by choosing Insert/Movies and Sounds/Movie from Clip Organizer
select the clip from the list that appears in the task
pane
You can also insert a video directly from a file
located n your hard disk, CD or DVD by choosing
Insert/Movies and Sounds/Movie from File. A file
browser window opens letting you select the required
video clip. When you have selected the video you
are presented with a dialog box question "How do you
want the movie to start in slide show?". If you
choose Automatically, the movie clip will play as soon
as the page is displayed on the screen. If you
choose When Clicked, the first frame of the clip will be
displayed when the page is displayed on the screen but
the clip will not play until you click on the image.
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Rotating AutoShapes |
| Each Autoshape can be rotated by moving
the mouse pointer over the small green object holder
connected to the top of the Autoshape.
For more accurate rotational positioning, you can
hold down the SHIFT key as you rotate the Autoshape.
This causes the rotation to move in 15-degree
increments. |
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Changing PowerPoint's default bullets |
| When you use templates to create
slide shows, you can change the default bullet by
altering the defaults in the Slide Master., If you
don't like the look of your bullets, click on View/Master/Slide Master.
Choose either the Master Text style or any one of the levels below it to place your insertion point in the placeholder. Next, right-click to open the shortcut menu and select Bullet to open the Bullet
and Numbering dialog box.
To change your bullets, click the Customize button located at the bottom of the Bullets And Numbering dialog box to open the Bullets dialog box.
Select your preferred bullet. |
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| Quick copying
in PowerPoint |
| There are many of ways of copying objects in PowerPoint. For example, you can create a duplicate of an object quickly by selecting it and pressing [Ctrl] D.
However, not many people know that you can also make
a copy of an object by right-clicking on an object and holding down the right mouse button for an extra second. When you let go of the right mouse button, a shortcut menu appears.
You can select Copy Here from the resulting menu to make a duplicate of the object you clicked on.
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Quickly inserting slides into a Slideshow |
| To insert a slide into PowerPoint,
press Ctrl + Enter. |
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Changing the colour of PowerPoint's pen |
| You can press Ctrl-P to cue the pen tool while in Slide Show view. If you want to change the colour of the pen, choose Slide Show/Set Up Show
to open the Set Up Show dialog box. At the bottom of the dialog box, you
will see the Pen Colour
dropdown list. Select a colour from this list and click OK.
When you draw in Slide Show view, the pen will reflect the colour change. |
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Create scrolling credits in PowerPoint |
| To create a scrolling list of credits in PowerPoint,
start by creating a text box and insert text. Place the text box
over the PowerPoint slide where you want your credits to scroll.
Once you have positioned your text, use the Custom Animation feature's Crawl From Bottom effect to animate your credits.
When you run your slide show, the credits will scroll from the bottom of the screen and disappear when they run off the top.
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MS EXCEL TIPS
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Format numbers as text currency values |
| When you combine text strings with currency data
the results often look unsatisfactory because Excel simply
uses the numeric value when it concatenates the data, not the
formatting.
For example:
1. In cell A1, enter £10,000.00.
2. In cell A2, enter the following formula:
="The total amount is " & A1
Excel returns the following string:
"The total amount is 10000".
However, it is simple to change things so that a numeric value
is processed as a text
currency string. You use the DOLLAR function with the following syntax:
=DOLLAR(number,decimals)
The number argument is the numeric value or reference to the
cell containing the value. The decimals argument, which is optional, specifies the
number of decimal places returned.
If you leave it blank, Excel uses two decimal places.
Try changing the formula in cell A2 to
="The total amount is " & DOLLAR(A1)
Excel will now show:
"The total amount is $5,000.00"
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Sort month and day names chronologically |
| If you sort data based on a column of month or weekday names,
Excel sorts the data alphabetically.
As often as not you will prefer to sort the information in chronological order.
Here's how:
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 |
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| Automatically open a workbook when you start |
| When Excel starts up, it checks two
folders for workbooks. If any are found, Excel opens the files.
Your operating system affects the XLSTART folder's location, so
the easiest way to access it is to use your operating system's
built-in Find or Search feature. In addition to the XLSTART
folder, you can specify another folder that Excel should check:
1. Choose Tools/Options from Excel's menu bar
2. Click on the General tab
3. Enter the folder path in the At Startup, Open All
Files In text box
4. Click OK |
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| Use in-cell dropdown lists of acceptable values |
| Most of us will have created a worksheet where we want to limit the values that can be entered into a cell by using predefined dropdown lists of valid values.
For
example, you might want to provide a dropdown list of
divisional
codes to ensure that a form is accurately completed. You can create a dropdown list
with ease using the Data
Validation feature.
Start in a blank worksheet by entering the label
"Divisions" in cell A1 and then select range A2:A10. Next,
select Data/
Validation from the menu bar.
Next, 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:
UK, France, Germany, Holland.
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.
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| Create hyperlinks that point to areas in a workbook |
| Navigating round workbooks
can become awkward as they grow with data, formula and
text.
You can
simplify things by creating hyperlinks that jump exactly to a
specific place in the file.
For example, select the cell that you
want to contain a hyperlink. Enter the text that you want
the hyperlink to display. Next, choose Insert/Hyperlink from
the menu bar.
1. Select the Places In This Document button on the Link To bar. If
your workbook contains named ranges, you can select a name from
the Defined Names list to have the hyperlink jump to it when
clicked. 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.
2. click OK.
3. Click the
hyperlink and Excel immediately assigns focus to the appropriate range.
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Taking advantage of the Name Box |
| The Name Box is the text box to the left of the formula bar
which you
can use to assign quickly names to ranges. For example,
if you want to define a selected range as TotalSales,
type "TotalSales" (without the quotation marks) in the Name Box and press [Enter].
This is much
easier than using the Name option on the Insert menu. Names must
begin with a letter or an underscore and you cannot use spaces; however,
you can use an underscore or a period to separate words. Names
are not case sensitive.
The Name Box is also useful for navigating to or selecting
remote ranges. Click the arrow button on the right side of the
Name Box to display a list of defined names. When you select one
from the list, Excel selects that cell or range.
Another way to
navigate to or select a cell or range is to type its literal
address in the Name Box and press [Enter]. For instance, to go to
cell Z200 on sheet8, you'd type sheet8!Z200 in the Name box and
press [Enter].
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Emphasize chart information without editing your chart |
| Sometimes, you want to emphasise some data in a chart
but you do not want to modify the chart permanently.
One way of drawing attention to something without interfering with its
original state is to add a callout AutoShape to your worksheet.
To do so, view the Drawing toolbar by choosing View/Toolbars/Drawing from the menu bar.
Click the AutoShapes
button to access the AutoShapes options and choose Callouts. Once
you choose a callout style, click anywhere in your worksheet to
place the AutoShape. Then, type your text and press [Enter].
You
can use the resize handles to modify the size and shape of the AutoShape or click
and drag to move its location when you see a four-headed mouse
pointer. You can also adjust the connector that points to an
area in your worksheet by clicking and dragging its yellow
handles.
For further customization, select the AutoShape so that
a cross-hatch border appears and select Format | AutoShape from
the menu bar. In the Format AutoShape dialog box, you can change
font styles, colours, fills, protection, and more. The callout's biggest
advantage is that it is easy to remove while still keeping
your chart intact. Just click on the AutoShape's cross-hatch
border and press the [Delete] key.
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| Quickly display the code for a specific worksheet |
| You can quickly open the Visual Basic Editor to display a worksheet's code without filtering through the program to find the worksheet you're interested in. This helps a great deal if you're working with a workbook that has several worksheets.
All you have to do is right-click on the worksheet tab and choose View Code from the shortcut menu. The VBE launches, already displaying the code specific to that worksheet. |
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Sandy
Pratt
is a director of 4-consulting,
click
here to view his profile. |
