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Where to look when Microsoft Word Help isn't helpful |
| When you need some help about Word, the first
place you'll most likely look in is Word's Help pages.
The Help menu
offers a number of ways to use Word Help. You can ask
search the Word Help contents and index. You can even link to information on the
Internet. Even when Word Help does not provide the answer to your question, have
a look at the
Microsoft Knowledge Base. You can find this searchable database of technical
support articles covering Microsoft products at
http://support.microsoft.com/search/.
For additional support, visit Microsoft Product Support Services at
http://www.microsoft.com/support
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| Changing AutoRecover frequency
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The AutoRecover feature helps to protect
you from losing information by saving information about the current
document and template. If your computer has a crash or power-out, Word
will try to restore unsaved data and template
changes the next time you run the program.
By default, Word
automatically saves your document for AutoRecovery every 10
minutes. You can change the interval between automatic
saves by choosing Tools/Options from the menu bar and
click on the Save tab. In the Save Options panel, enter the new AutoRecover frequency in the Save AutoRecover Info Every
text box with a value in the range 1 to 120 minutes. If you want to turn off
the feature altogether, clear the corresponding check box.
When you've finished, click OK. |
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| Search subfolders from Word's Open dialog box |
When you search for files using Word's Open dialog box,
the search is limited to the current folder. However, you can configure Word to search the current
folder's subfolders by clicking the Advanced button, selecting the Search Subfolders
check box, and then clicking the Find Now button.
Another, and easier way, to prompt Word to search in
the current folder's subfolders without leaving the Open dialog box to
do it. After you specify your search criteria in the Open dialog box, click the
Commands And Settings button in the Open dialog box's toolbar. Select Search
Subfolders from the resulting submenu,. Word will
perform your
search, automatically looking in the current folder's subfolders and
it will return all matches in the
results pane.
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| Remove a document from Word's Recent Files list |
If you have worked recently on
a private document that you do not want others who use your
computer to know about, you can remove it from the Recent Files
list.
Start by first pressing the [Ctrl][Alt][-] keys. When you do, the
mouse pointer changes to a minus sign. Next, from the menu bar
select File, then click on the item in the Recent Files list
that you want to remove. This action removes the item from the
list, reducing it by one item. The next time you open
a new file, the Recent Files list will be increased by one so that the list will
again contain the number of items you opt for in the Word's Tools/Options
choices. |
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| Display text boundaries in Word |
When you're working on complex
publications that contain multiple columns, graphics,
snappy margins and other design and layout tricks of the
trade, it can be very helpful to know where the document
area ends and the margins begin as you work on your
document.
Working in Print Layout view can give you a vague idea
where these delimiters fall, but displaying your
document's text boundaries is much more effective.
To display text boundaries, first switch to Print Layout
(or Page Layout) view. Select Tools/Options from
the menu bar (Tools/Preferences on the Mac), then click
on the View tab. In the Print And Web Layout Options
area (Show area in earlier versions), select the Text
Boundaries check box and then click OK. You will
see dotted lines indicating document margins and text
columns, as well as inserted objects. |
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| Options for underlining text in Word
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| The most common way of underlining text
in Word is to use Underline button on the Formatting
toolbar. However, Word offers other ways for
underlining text that are just as easy to apply.
To add one of these other underlining formats, select
the text you wish to underline and choose Format/Font.
Click on the dropdown arrow in the Underline list box
(directly below the Font list box) and select an option,
such as Dotted, Dash, and Wave. The selection
appears in the Preview window. Once you've made
your selection, click OK to apply the formatting and
dismiss the Font dialog box.
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|
Indent text using keyboard shortcuts in Word |
Word offers its users several different
ways to add a left indent to text including using the
ruler, Paragraph dialog box or the Increase Indent
toolbar.
You can also use keyboard shortcuts to indent text. The
following list provides eight commands and their
corresponding keystrokes. Just select the text you wish
to indent and execute the appropriate keystroke.
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Centre |
[Ctrl]E |
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Justify
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[Ctrl]J |
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Left align |
[Ctrl]L |
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Right align |
[Ctrl]R |
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Left indent |
[Ctrl]M |
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Remove left indent |
[Ctrl][Shift]M |
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Create hanging
indent |
[Ctrl]T |
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Reduce hanging
indent |
[Ctrl][Shift]T |
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| Create AutoCorrect entries as you type in Word |
The AutoCorrect feature in Word
recognises commonly misspelled words and corrects them
for you. You can add new entries to Word's default
AutoCorrect list in the AutoCorrect dialog box which you
can access by selecting Tools/AutoCorrect from the menu
bar.
However, if you have Word's automatic spell checker
turned on, you can quickly create AutoCorrect entries as
you type. To do so, first make sure the automatic
spell checker and AutoCorrect features are turned on.
To turn on Word's automatic spell checker, select
Tools/Options from the menu bar, click on the Spelling &
Grammar tab, select the Check Spelling As You Type check
box, and then click OK. To turn on Word's
AutoCorrect feature, select Tools/AutoCorrect from the
menu bar, select the Replace Text As You Type check box,
and then click OK.
Word's automatic spell checker marks unrecognised words
in your document with a wavy red underline. To add
an unrecognised word and its correct spelling to the
AutoCorrect list, right-click on the word.
If Word's spell checker is able to suggest alternative
spellings for the unrecognised word, AutoCorrect appears
on the resulting shortcut menu. Select
AutoCorrect, then choose the word you'd like to replace
it with from the submenu. Word adds the
unrecognised word and its replacement to the AutoCorrect
list; the next time you type the misspelled word, Word
automatically replaces it with the word you specified.
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MS EXCEL TIPS
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Use the Data Series Fill handle to copy formats |
There's an easy way
to format cells when the destination cells are
immediately adjacent to the range that's already formatted by using the Fill Handle. First, select one of the formatted
cells. Then right-click on the small square in the bottom-right
corner of the cell and drag to select the area you want to apply
formatting to. Finally, release the mouse button and choose
Fill Formats from the shortcut menu.
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| Create default attributes for a UserForm |
You can reduce the amount of time you spend on formatting
UserForm objects in your Excel worksheets.
If you set font attribute properties at the UserForm level, any
controls you add to the form will use those properties by default.
Similarly, if you set font properties for a Frame control, any items
you place within the frame will use those properties.
If you later change the attributes for a UserForm or Frame,
the changes won't be transferred to the items they contain.
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| Zoom in on Excel data |
| If you ever need to focus in to a specific range in Excel, there's an
easy way to magnify the data. Select the range of data that you want to magnify. Then
open the Zoom dropdown list on the Standard toolbar and choose Selection. Excel magnifies the view of the data by whatever percentage is necessary
to fill the viewable area of the file's window, up to 400%. When you want
to restore your normal view of the worksheet, simply reopen the Zoom
dropdown list and choose 100%. |
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| Freeze Excel column and row titles |
When you work with a large Excel
worksheet, it can be difficult to
remember exactly what kind of data columns or rows contain once you begin
scrolling around the sheet. However, you can freeze rows and columns
that contain headings so that you always know what data you're looking at.
To freeze a row, select the row number or the cell in column A
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 headings 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.
To restore the workbook to its
normal view, simply select Window/Unfreeze Panes from the menu bar.
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| Format additional list items automatically |
Sometimes, when you add an item to a list that has already been formatted,
you then have to spend time formatting the new item to match the others.
However, Excel can format the new item automatically 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 anyway you want. In cell A7, type a
new item for the list. When you press [Enter], 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 [Enter] 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.
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| Tracking down Excel formula errors
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When you get a worksheet formula error like #VALUE! you may have a
hard time finding the cells referenced in the formula that are
contributing to the error. You can use Excel's tracer arrows to
simplify the process.
First, select a cell that contains an error, then choose Tools | Auditing | Trace Errors. Excel displays tracer
arrows from any referenced cells that contribute to the error to the
cell containing the error. You can quickly jump between the formula
and the referenced cells by clicking on the appropriate tracer arrow.
If you choose Tools | Auditing | Trace Precedents from the menu bar,
you can display arrows for the next level of referenced cells. You
can use the Trace Precedents feature with any cell that contains a
formula, regardless of whether an error has occurred. To remove the
tracer arrows, choose Tools | Auditing | Remove All Arrows from the
menu bar. These features, and related auditing tools, can also be
accessed through the Auditing toolbar. To show the toolbar, choose
Tools | Auditing | Show Auditing Toolbar from the menu bar.
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| Launch Excel without using your mouse |
| It's simple. If you have a keyboard that
includes a [Windows] key, you can start Excel by just pressing [Windows][R] to launch
the Run dialog box. Then, type "excel" (without the quotes)
and press [Enter].
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| Set print options for multiple Excel sheets
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| To copy print settings from one sheet to others in the same
workbook, activate the sheet with the desired settings. Holding the [Shift] or [Ctrl] key
and, at the same time, click on the worksheet
tabs of the other sheets into which you wish to copy the settings. As you do this, the sheet with the desired print
settings must remain the active sheet. Next, select
File | Page Setup from the menu bar. Finally, click OK. All the
basic print settings, including headers and footers, will then be
copied over from the active sheet to the other selected sheets |
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