July 22nd, 2010
Microsoft Project is a great tool to help people manage their projects. You may know that the default view when you open MS Project is the Gantt Chart View, but do you know why it’s called a Gantt Chart?
Henry Gantt (1816 – 1919) was a mechanical engineer and management consultant. He created Gantt charts to show scheduled and actual progress of projects in a graphical manner. Gantt charts were first used on a large scale on projects like the Hoover Dam in 1931.
With the advent of personal computers and project management software, they became easy to create and are a common sight in project managers’ office world-wide.
Now you know a bit of trivia for your next cocktail party when project management comes up. If you’d like to learn how to best utilize Microsoft Project, we’d be happy to see you in class!
Tags: project management, trivia
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July 20th, 2010
Do you have Excel workbooks with 5 or more worksheets? Most of us do! I know it can be frustrating to scroll through all the worksheets with the tiny arrows, but did you know there’s an easier way?
Right click on those navigational arrows, and a pop up box will appear with the names of all your worksheets. Select the one you want, and you’ll be there. It’s much faster and easier than moving through all the sheets with the arrows.
These are the kinds of great tips you’ll gain from attending one of our classes. We hope to see you soon!
Tags: Excel
Posted in Excel, Tips | No Comments »
July 15th, 2010
Everyone is familiar with the most popular pieces of software — Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook. There are more Microsoft applications, though, that might help you be more productive! Microsoft InfoPath is one of those applications.
InfoPath has been around since Office 2003 and is an XML-based application for designing and filling in forms. The advantage to using InfoPath is that forms can be designed that will capture the information that users will input, which can then be distributed in various ways thanks to the XML features. It is often used with SharePoint, but it can also integrate with Word, Excel and web browsers.
You don’t need to understand XML to use InfoPath, but you can take advantage of the flexibility of XML by using InfoPath.
Data validation and security are easily built into the form design, and distribution of the data can be through a variety of means. It’s a powerful tool that can be an asset for any business that needs many forms filled in.
If you want to learn more about Microsoft InfoPath, attend our next class. We look forward to showing you all that it can do!
Tags: forms, InfoPath
Posted in InfoPath | No Comments »
July 13th, 2010
When you have a long document, there are plenty of times when you want to easily find areas that need more work, or may need facts verified. Using the bookmark tool makes this easy.
Select the text you want to come back to in the future. On the Ribbon, choose INSERT / LINKS / BOOKMARK. You will then be able to name the bookmark — anything works as long as it begins with a letter.
When you need to return to that spot, choose INSERT / LINKS / BOOKMARK again, but instead of adding a new one, choose an existing one.
When you’re finished and no longer have a need for them, choose INSERT / LINKS / BOOKMARK and delete the ones you don’t need.
This is a great editing tool and removes the need for scrolling through 50 pages, or trying to remember what phrase you used so that you could do a FIND.
For more great tips, please attend one of our classes. We look forward to sharing our knowledge with you!
Tags: bookmarks, Word
Posted in Word 2007 | No Comments »
July 6th, 2010
Macros allow you to automate something that you do often, and may require many steps to accomplish. Recording macros is a fairly simple process, but sometimes errors occur. There may be times when someone else has created (or programmed) a macro in VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) but didn’t thoroughly test it. If you run a macro and it gets stuck, or loops endlessly, press CTRL + BREAK and you’ll be able to enter the Visual Basic Editor and step through the remaining steps of the macro (or just exit!)
This tip will work for macros created in all Microsoft Office programs.
To learn more great tips, attend one of our many Microsoft Office classes. We’ll hold a seat just for you!
Tags: macros, Office
Posted in Office | No Comments »
June 29th, 2010
If you’re a fast typist, it can slow you down significantly if you have to stop and use your mouse to apply formatting, or find a word, or do pretty much anything that is on the menu or ribbon. Microsoft Word has many keyboard shortcuts which can help you be more efficient. You probably already know a few — thinks like CTRL + N to create a new document and CTRL + P to print a document.
If you’re curious to find out all the keyboard shortcuts available in Microsoft Word, you can easily list them all in a document of their own.
- Press ALT + F8 to bring up the MACRO dialog box
- Type LISTCOMMANDS in the MACRO NAME box
- Press ENTER
- A box will pop up, and select “Current Keyboard Settings” and OK
- A table will appear in the document with all the keyboard shortcuts
The document is around eleven pages long, but you can skim through it and find the ones that will be most useful to you. If you want to spend a day learning more about all the features in Word, attend one of our classes.
Tags: Word
Posted in Word | No Comments »
June 24th, 2010
If you need to gather information from your customers, forms are a great tool for you to use. For many years, forms were printed off and filled in with pen or pencil. Today, you can use Microsoft Word to create forms that your customers can fill in using their computers.
If you’ve created a form, and then run into difficulty making it work as you expect, chances are that the form document has not been protected. Once you protect the form (on the DEVELOPER tab) and change the editing restrictions to “Filling in Forms” you will be able to tab through the form document and enter data.
If you want to learn more about forms, or other great things you can do in Microsoft Word, attend one of our classes. We look forward to teaching you soon!
Tags: Word
Posted in Word | No Comments »
June 22nd, 2010
You may have noticed the CUSTOM VIEWS button on the VIEW tab in Microsoft Excel, but not known what that button was used for (Custom Views are available in older versions as well, but not as obvious on the tool bar.)
Custom Views allow you to set print margins, hidden columns, and other view options so that you can have multiple views saved with your spreadsheet.
This can be useful if you and a co-worker often use the same spreadsheet, or you need one view for data entry and another for printing reports.
In Excel 2007, go to the VIEW tab, and choose the CUSTOM VIEW button in the WORKBOOK VIEWS group. At this point, a dialog box will pop up and you can ADD and name different views. Note that these views are then applied to all worksheets in the workbook.
For more tips and tricks using Microsoft Excel, attend one of our classes. We are holding a seat just for you!
Tags: Excel
Posted in Excel | No Comments »
June 17th, 2010
The main reason most people use Microsoft Excel is so that it can help them perform mathematical functions. Sometimes, you know what a formula or function should do, but it doesn’t appear to be doing what you expect. If you’ve double-checked your order of operations (which is the order calculations are performed — parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction) and you think you have plenty of parentheses, then use the Formula Auditing tool available to you.
In earlier versions of Excel, go to TOOLS / FORMULA AUDITING / EVALUATE FORMULA. In Microsoft Excel 2007, you will go to the FORMULAS tab and choose EVALUATE FORMULA. The location of the option is the only difference in 2007.
This will give you the ability to step through your formula one calculation at a time to try and find your error. It’s a great troubleshooting tool.
For more great tips, attend one of our many Microsoft Excel classes! We look forward to helping boost your productivity.
Tags: Excel
Posted in Excel, Excel 2007 | No Comments »
June 10th, 2010
The tables in Microsoft Excel 2007 are great for so many things — easy to sort, format, total, and more. Sometimes, though, you have a table in Microsoft Excel and you don’t want it to work as a table any longer. A recent client needed to combine two sets of data that were both configured as tables and was having a hard time.
Once she realized she could convert the table back into a range and combine the data, she was happy. If you find yourself in a similar situation, do the following:
- Click anywhere inside your table
- Go to the TABLE DESIGN tab on the RIBBON
- In the TOOLS group, click CONVERT TO RANGE
For more great tips, attend one of our classes. We have seats waiting for you!
Tags: Excel, Excel 2007
Posted in Excel, Excel 2007 | No Comments »
