I know how to use password protection for Excel when it is saved to my harddrive, but the password protection is not working in my SharePoint folders. How does password protecting documents, Example for Excel, work in SharePoint 2003?

 

Thanks,

Anil

Is it possible to change the Numeric row headings on a blank worksheet from Numeric to Alpha characters.  And is it possible to change the Alpha column headings on a blank worksheet from Alpha to Numeric characters?  Thanks.  Steve  Email: sweinreich@aol.com

Courtesy of dummiesdaily.com; edits by Donna Southard

 

Sometimes, you need to date-stamp or time-stamp

your worksheet. Excel provides two shortcut keys

that do this for you:

 

 Current date: Ctrl + ; (semicolon)

 

 Current time: Ctrl + Shift + ; (semicolon)

 

Use these shortcuts to insert the date or time into a

worksheet cell.

 

courtesy of dummiesdaily.com; edits by Donna Southard

 

You may find it interesting to stop and think about the actual

size of an Excel worksheet. Do the arithmetic (256 x 65,536), and

you'll see that a worksheet has 16,777,216 cells. Remember:

This is in just one worksheet. A single workbook can hold more

than one worksheet.

 

If you're using the standard VGA video mode with the default row

heights and column widths, you can see nine columns and 18 rows

(or 162 cells) at a time. This works out to less than 0.0001 percent

of the entire worksheet. In other words, nearly 104,000 VGA

screens of information reside inside a single worksheet.

 

If you entered a single digit into each cell at a relatively rapid clip

of one cell per second, it would take you about 194 days, nonstop,

to fill up a worksheet. To print the results of your efforts would

require more than 36,000 sheets of paper--a stack about six feet tall!

 

courtesy of dummiesdaily.com; edits by Donna Southard

 

Suppose you have a lengthy formula that contains

an error, and Excel won't let you enter it because of

the error. In this case, you can convert the formula

to text and tackle it again later. To convert a formula to

text, just remove the initial equal sign (=). To try the

formula again, insert the initial equal sign to convert the

cell contents back to a formula.

 

A person's age indicates the number of full years

that the person has been alive. The formula for

calculating the number of years between two dates

won't calculate this value correctly. You can use other

formulas, however, to calculate a person's age.

 

The following formula uses the DATEDIF function to calculate

an age:

 

   =DATEDIF(A1,TODAY( ),"Y")

 

If you're a stickler for detail, use the following formula to

calculate the exact age in years, months, and days:

 

   =DATEDIF(A1,NOW( ),"y") & "years," &

   DATEDIF(A1,NOW( ),"ym") & "months,"&

   DATEDIF(A1,NOW( ),"md") & "days"

 

This formula will return a text string such as 49 years, 3

months, 29 days.

 

Note: The following formula returns the age of the person whose

date of birth you enter into cell A1. This formula uses the

YEARFRAC function, which is available only when you

install the Analysis ToolPak add-in.

 

   =INT(YEARFRAC(TODAY( ), A1))

Courtesy of dummiesdaily.com; edits by Donna Southard

 

When the file you're working with contains many columns or rows,

you'll often want to squeeze as much viewing area out of your

monitor's display as possible. In those cases, you should select

"View"| "Full Screen" from Excel's menu bar. Doing so maximizes

your view of the data without all the cumbersome steps that would

be required to manually achieve the same results. All toolbars

are hidden, as are the application window, Formula Bar, and Status

Bar. You'll still have access to worksheet tabs, scroll bars, and

the menu bar when your worksheet is in this view.

 

To restore the regular window view of your file, click the

"Close Full Screen"button on the floating "Full Screen" toolbar or

choose"View" | "Full Screen" again.

 

If you have several workbooks open and you want to close them without

quitting Excel, doing so can be tedious. Fortunately, you can quickly

close multiple files in Excel. To do so, just press the [Shift]

key and open the"File" menu. You'll find that the usual "Close" command

has been replaced with"Close All".

 

If you have a chart that contains data, value or percent labels

that you want removed, you don't have to go to the trouble of

displaying the"Chart Options" or "Format Data Series" dialog boxes

to get rid of them. Just click on one of the chart labels ($, %, , etc.),

which selects all of the labels for the data series, and press the [Delete]

key. As an alternative, you can right-click on one of the labels

and choose"Clear" from the shortcut menu.

 

To include more than one chart type in a chart (for example, Column and Area),

click a data series and change its chart type by clicking"Chart" | "Chart Type".

 

View two parts of the same workbook at once by going to your menu bar

and clicking on"Window" | "Split"; you'll see both parts of one window.

To see each part in its own window, click"New Window" under "Window"

on the menu bar.

 

You can control the order in which your pages are printed. Click

"File"| "Page Setup" and then the "Sheet" tab. Click the "Page order"

option you prefer.

 

To center text within the selected cells, use "Format" | "Merge and

Center".

 

Worksheets--Use worksheets to list and analyze data. You can

enter and edit data on several worksheets simultaneously and perform

calculations based on data from multiple worksheets. When you

create a chart, you can place the chart on the worksheet with its

related data or on a separate chart sheet (a worksheet that contains

only a chart).

 

To select nonadjacent sheets, hold down [Ctrl] while you click the

tabs for the sheets you want to select.

 

You can move a sheet into its own workbook. Drag the sheet tab

into an area of the Microsoft Excel window that does not already

contain a workbook.

 

courtesy of Microsoft Help©

 

Add cells to an existing print area

 

1. On the "View" menu, click "Page Break Preview".

2. Select the cells you want to add to the print area.

3.  Right-click a cell within the selection, and then click "Add to

     Print Area" on the shortcut menu.

 

Note  If your print area contains multiple ranges, you can remove ranges from the print area as needed. Select a range you want to remove, right-click a cell within the selection, and then click "Exclude from Print Area" on the shortcut menu.

 

If your work doesn't fit exactly on the number of printed pages you want,

you can adjust, or scale, your printed work to fit on more or fewer pages

than it would at normal size. You can also specify that you want to print

your work on a certain number of pages. Use"Help" |

"Microsoft Excel Help"and do a "Search" on the word "print"

for specifics.

 

To print only part of the worksheet, select the area you want to print,

point to"File" | "Print Area"; then click "Set Print Area".

 

You may control the order in which your pages/worksheets are printed

by clicking"File" | "Page Setup". Click the "Sheet" tab and then one of

the"Page order" options.

 

Show Your Stripes

courtesy of dummiesdaily.com

 

Here's a quick way to apply shading to every other

row in your worksheet. This technique assumes that

you want to shade every odd-numbered row in the

range "A1:f100". Start by shading "A1:F1" with the color that

you want. Then, select "A1:F2"(row 1 is shaded and row 2

is not) and copy the range to the clipboard. Next, select

"A3:F100" and choose "Edit," | "Paste Special" (with the Formats

option).

 

A drawback of normal print previews is that the preview

image is fixed. If you see data you want to change, you have to

close the preview, return to your worksheet(s) to make the change,

and restart the preview process.

 

Although traditional previews have their place, a more

effective approach may be to use"Page Break Preview". To activate

the feature, select "View" | "Page Break Preview" from Excel's

menu bar. An informational message box may appear; just click"OK".

 

Note:"Page Break Preview" is also a choice from "Print Preview"

available under"File" on the Excel menu bar.

 

You'll now have a view of your data (with blue borders indicating

where page breaks exist) and can edit same on the spot. If you want

to resize a page, simply drag and drop the appropriate blue lines.

 

To restore your regular view of the worksheet, simply choose

"View"| "Normal"from the menu bar.

 

Often, you'll store numbers that have several decimal places in cells

that are formatted to display only one or two decimal places. In these

instances, Excel rounds the displayed result. This is usually fine, but

you may find that calculations based on the values appear to be off

because formulas use the real values, not what you see.

 

There is a quick and easy way to force Excel to use the values as they

appear in the worksheet--but use it with caution. The technique involves

using Excel's"Precision as displayed" feature, which affects all numbers

in the workbook. The conversion is one-way and you won't be able to

retrieve the original number value, even if you later disable the"Precision

as displayed"feature. Depending on how you're using the data,

permanently changing the underlying values can have serious

implications, so be absolutely sure you understand the impact that

altering the data will have on your application.

 

To use the"Precision as displayed" feature, choose "Tools" | "Options"

from the menu bar. Then, click on the"Calculation" tab, select the

"Precision as displayed"check box under "Workbook options",

and click"OK". Excel then displays a warning that the change is

permanent. Simply click"OK" to commit the change.

 

Note: This setting change applies only to the currently active workbook.

 

 

 

To select nonadjacent worksheets, hold down [Ctrl] while

you click the tabs for the sheets you want to select.

 

To select non-adjacent cells or ranges, hold down [Ctrl]

and click with mouse.

 

There are several ways to jump to cells referenced in a worksheet

formula. However, one of the easiest ways isn't available by default,

due to the way Excel typically handles formula editing.

 

If you disable the ability to edit formulas within a cell, double-clicking

a cell containing a reference to another cell will move your cell

selector to the referenced range. This, of course, means you'll

need to make any formula changes within the"Formula Bar", but

the convenience may be worth it.

 

If a formula contains multiple cell references, double-clicking the

cell will select all the references (assuming they're all on the same

sheet).

Note: This technique even works for references to ranges on other

sheets or external references to other workbooks.

 

Configuring Excel to behave this way (editing in the"Formula Bar"),

select"Tools" | "Options" from the menu bar. Then, click on the

"Edit"tab, clear (uncheck) the "Edit directly in cell" check box

and click"OK".

Have you ever wished you could get right to work in Excel

without waiting for the splash screen (introductory window)

to load? You can set up your desktop to do just that.

 

Use the"Start" | "Find" feature and look for Excel.exe on

your system (on your"C" drive). When you find it, right-click

on it and choose"Create Shortcut". Windows will tell you it

can't create the shortcut there, so click"Yes" to save it on

the desktop.

 

Then, right-click on the newly created shortcut and choose

"Properties". You can now set it up to prevent the splash screen.

Choose the"Shortcut" tab and in the "Target" text box, place

your insertion point after all the path information and enter a

blank space followed by [/e] (no brackets). Click"OK".

 

Once you've saved the shortcut, rename it if necessary.

Right-click on the"Start" button, choose "Open" from the

shortcut menu, and double-click on the"Programs" folder.

Drag the new shortcut into place and delete the existing

Excel shortcut.

 

Note: there's a caveat to disabling the splash screen: Excel

will also no longer display a blank workbook after the program

starts.

 

Often, you'll want to refer to numbers in terms of thousands or

millions. If you already have the complete numbers entered

in worksheet cells, you can easily convert them.

You don't have to change the entries at all--just change the number

format.

 

To do so, select the cells you want to change and then select

"Format"| "Cells" from the menu bar. Then, click on the "Number"

tab and select"Custom" from the "Category" list box. Next, replace

the codes in the"Type" text box with one of the codes, i.e.:

 

For thousands: #.##,

 

For millions:  #.##,,

 

Finally, click"OK". The numbers will be displayed in terms of

thousands or millions, with two decimal places.

 

You may change the format of dates, times, fractions, etc. in a similar

manner.

 

Have you ever wished you could change the typeface, style, and/or

type size of your Excel documents one time and the

changes you make when you close out of the application would

apply the next time you start it?

 

Excel uses a 10-point Arial font as its standard worksheet font. To

change Excel's default font, choose"Tools" | "Options"; click on

the"General" tab. Use the "Standard font" and "Size" dropdown lists

to set the font and size you want to use; click"OK" when you've

finished.

 

A few weeks ago we sent a tip about creating macros in Excel.

Since then questions are being asked about creating such a macro to include

the filename/path of individual Excel files so that they will print that information

as Word does. Those specifics follow for Step 3,"Carry out the actions you want

to record . . .": You may reference that tip at:

 

 

then click"Support and Training" | "Tips" |  "Microsoft Excel"

 

Click"View" | "Header and Footer" | "Custom Footer"

You will likely want this to print on the left, so click in"left section".

Click the button (second from the right) with the Excel icon;"&[File]" will appear

    in left section box. Click the last icon on right ("Sheet Tab" which inserts the

    name of the active worksheet) on the right; "&[Tab]" will appear immediately

    after "&[File]".

 

If you want to control the font and size, highlight the type in the left section box

    click the Font button [A] and reformat.

Click"OK" and "OK" again.

 

Be sure to click"Stop Recording" on the "Stop Recording" toolbar.

 

Note: If you want a macro to be available whenever you use

Excel, store the macro in the"Personal Macro Workbook" in

the Excel Startup folder.

 

 

 

 

To have the filename/pathname print

 

To create an Excel Macro:

 

1. In the"Macro name" box, enter a name for the macro.

Note: The first character of the macro name must be a letter.

Other

characters can be letters, numbers, or underscore characters.

Spaces are not allowed in a macro name; an underscore

character

works well as a word separator.

 

Note: To run the macro by pressing a keyboard shortcut key

(so that you don't have to access the Macro dialog box each

time you want to execute it), enter a letter in the Shortcut

key box. You can use CTRL+ letter (for lowercase letters)

or CTRL+SHIFT+ letter (for uppercase letters), where letter

is any letter key on the keyboard. The shortcut key letter you

use cannot be a number or special character such as @ or #.

The shortcut key will override any default Microsoft Excel

shortcut keys while the workbook that contains the macro is

open.

 

If you do not assign the keyboard shortcut now when you

create the macro, you may do so later by choosing

"Tools"| "Macro" | "Macros". Select the appropriate macro;

click"Options" on the menu bar. In the "Options" dialog

box, click in the"Shortcut Key" text box and press the key

you want to assign to the macro.

 

2. In the"Store macro in" box, click the location where you

want to store the macro. To include a description of the macro,

type the description in the"Description" box. Click "OK".

 

Note: If you want a macro to be available whenever you use

Excel, store the macro in the"Personal Macro Workbook" in

the Excel Startup folder.

 

If you select cells while running a macro, the macro will

select the same cells regardless of which cell is first selected

because it records absolute cell references. If you want a

macro to select cells regardless of the position of the active

cell when you run the macro, set the macro recorder to record

relative cell references.

 

On the"Stop Recording" toolbar, click

"Relative Reference". Excel will continue to record macros with

relative references until you quit Excel or until you click"Relative

Reference"again.

 

3. Carry out the actions you want to record in your macro.

 

4. On the"Stop Recording" toolbar, click "Stop Recording".

 

Do you prefer not touching the keyboard unless absolutely

necessary? When a worksheet formula contains references to

worksheet cells, you can double-click on the cell containing the

formula you want to change. Note that the cell reference

arguments then appear in different colors with the corresponding

range of affected cells highlighted in a contrasting color.

 

You can now click and drag the small box in the lower-right corner

of the cell or range for more or fewer referenced cells. Note that you

can also click on the side of a cell range and drag and drop it to a new

location.

 

By default, printed Excel worksheets don't include the numeric

row headings and alphabetic column headings found in the electronic

version of a spreadsheet. To print these headings for a particular

worksheet, choose"File" | "Page Setup". Click on the "Sheet" tab,

select the"Row and column headings" check box under "Print",

and click"OK". Note that the setting change applies only to the

active worksheet.

 

To print column titles on each page,  click "File" | "Page Setup"

and then the"Sheet" tab. In the "Rows to repeat at top" box,

select the worksheet rows you want to print on each succeeding page.

Do you have an Excel workbook with many sheets? Is switching

between them a tiring task? Since there is only so much space

available for Excel to display the worksheet tabs, you're often forced

to scroll between the sheets, using the arrow keys immediately to the

left of the worksheet tabs.

 

Fortunately, there is an easy way to get to a specific sheet. Simply

right-click on the worksheet tab scrolling buttons, and Excel

displays a menu of the worksheets stored in the workbook. Choose

the appropriate sheet from the menu and you'll be taken to the desired

worksheet.

 

If the workbook has more sheets than can be displayed in the menu,

you'll see a choice for"More Sheets". Selecting this option displays the

"Activate"dialog box, which contains a list that shows the names of

all the sheets in your workbook. Simply select the appropriate sheet

and click"OK

 

Thanks to Robin Raskin, Gannett News Service, for the following

time-saving tip.

 

Do you have favorite fonts, sizes, and colors you use frequently?

Do you create a lot of headings all in Bold, Size 16, and colored Red?

You may create them only once and use the"Format Painter" tool to

copy them.

 

Compose your document in either Word or Excel, format the section

of text you want Word to remember, and highlight it with your cursor.

Click on the"Format Painter" icon (looks like a paintbrush) on your

Standard toolbar. Now, when you move your cursor, the paintbrush

will float along beside it. Highlight an unformatted section of text;

it instantly changes to reflect your formatted preferences.

 

You can easily apply one paragraph's (or character's) formatting

to another using Word's"Format Painter" feature. To copy paragraph

formatting using the"Format Painter", first place the insertion

point anywhere within the paragraph whose formatting you'd like

to copy. Next, click the"Format Painter" button in the Standard

toolbar (looks like a paintbrush). Finally, click in the paragraph

to which you'd like to apply the formatting.

 

To copy character formatting, first select

the text whose formatting you'd like to copy. Click the"Format

Painter"button, then select the text to which you'd like to apply

the formatting. If you'd like to apply the formatting to a single

word, there's no need to select it; simply click on the word, and

the new formatting will be applied. To apply formatting to multiple

selections, select the item whose formatting you'd like to copy,

then double-click the Format Painter button. Proceed to apply the

formatting as applicable, then click on the Format Painter button

to turn it off.

 

 

Thanks to Scott Gabbard, Shelby County, Indiana, for this further insight

into use of"Format Painter":

 

In addition to being a great paint tool (Format Painter), it has a

wonderful"trick" hidden within. If you highlight text of the font

characteristics you want, click the paint icon, and highlight the text you

want to reformat, it will turn off after you have done one operation.

However, if you double-click on the paint icon you can use multiple

highlights throughout the document. To turn off this feature, simply

click on the paint icon again.

 

 

Courtesy of Microsoft Help©; edits/additions by Donna Southard

 

Do you repeat a certain operation within an application daily or

several times daily? If so, you may want to create a macro(s) for

these operations if one does not already exist.

 

To view a list of built-in macros in any of the Microsoft applications

(Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher), click “Tools” | “Macro” | “Macros”.

on the menu bar. If one does not exist you may record a new macro

in any of these applications by clicking “Tools” | “Macro”, but press

“Record New Macro” this time.

 

To create an Excel Macro:

 

1. In the “Macro name” box, enter a name for the macro.

Note: The first character of the macro name must be a letter. Other

characters can be letters, numbers, or underscore characters.

Spaces are not allowed in a macro name; an underscore character

works well as a word separator.

 

Note: To run the macro by pressing a keyboard shortcut key

(so that you don’t have to access the Macro dialog box each

time you want to execute it), enter a letter in the Shortcut

key box. You can use CTRL+ letter (for lowercase letters)

or CTRL+SHIFT+ letter (for uppercase letters), where letter

is any letter key on the keyboard. The shortcut key letter you

use cannot be a number or special character such as @ or #.

The shortcut key will override any default Microsoft Excel

shortcut keys while the workbook that contains the macro is open.

 

If you do not assign the keyboard shortcut now when you

create the macro, you may do so later by choosing

“Tools” | “Macro” | “Macros”. Select the appropriate macro;

click “Options” on the menu bar. In the “Options” dialog

box, click in the “Shortcut Key” text box and press the key

you want to assign to the macro.

 

2. In the “Store macro in” box, click the location where you

want to store the macro. To include a description of the macro,

type the description in the “Description” box. Click “OK”.

 

Note: If you want a macro to be available whenever you use

Excel, store the macro in the “Personal Macro Workbook” in

the Excel Startup folder.

 

If you select cells while running a macro, the macro will

select the same cells regardless of which cell is first selected

because it records absolute cell references. If you want a

macro to select cells regardless of the position of the active

cell when you run the macro, set the macro recorder to record

relative cell references.

 

On the “Stop Recording” toolbar, click

”Relative Reference”. Excel will continue to record macros with

relative references until you quit Excel or until you click “Relative

Reference” again.

 

3. Carry out the actions you want to record in your macro.

 

4. On the “Stop Recording” toolbar, click “Stop Recording”.

 

Note: If you want a macro to select a specific cell, perform an action,

and then select another cell relative to the active cell, you can mix the

use of relative and absolute references when you record the macro.

 

To record a macro by using relative references, make sure that

”Relative Reference” is pressed in. To record with absolute references,

make sure “Relative Reference” is not pressed in.

 

 

Have you ever wanted to extract data that is different from a

particular cell value? You may use Excel's"AutoFilter" to do so,

but, in some cases it's faster to use a little-known keyboard shortcut

that lets you select cells in a row or column that are different from

a specific cell in that range.

 

To see how it works, open a new Excel workbook. Then,

in Column A, enter the names"Jen", "Liz", and "Jo" in a

series until you've filled in about a dozen cells. Now, let's use the

shortcut key to select all the cells in the range that don't contain the

name"Liz".

 

To do so, select the range of entered data (highlight Column A).

Then, while holding down the [Ctrl] key, select any one of the

cells that contains the value"Liz". The selected cell will be the

comparison cell, which is the one that determines what data is

excluded. Finally, press [Ctrl] [Shift] [|]. The appropriate cells are

selected (in this case, all the cells without"Liz"), suitable for special

formatting or copying to another range (press"B" (bold) to test this).

 

If your data is organized in a row, you can perform a similar action

using the shortcut key [Ctrl] [\].

 

Note: If your selection contains more than one row or column, the

value in the selected cell is not applied throughout the entire selection

(it's not multi-row or multi-column). Instead, the cell that's in the

column or row relative to the active cell is used.

 

For instance, if you use the column shortcut [Ctrl] [Shift] [|] on a

range in multiple columns, the respective cell from each column in

the same row as the active cell determines what is selected. The same

holds true when you use the [Ctrl] [\] shortcut on a multi-row range.

 

Are you artistically challenged? Do you sometimes wish you had a

custom logo or a graphic appropriate for a worksheet?

 

Excel's WordArt feature is a perfect tool. To create a WordArt object,

you need to display the WordArt or Drawing toolbar. To do so,

choose"View" | "Toolbars" from the menu bar (or right-click in

the gray area of the menu bar) and choose either"WordArt" or

"Drawing". Next, click on the"Insert WordArt" icon (from the toolbar)

to display the WordArt Gallery.

 

As you can see, there's quite a bit of variety among the 30 different

graphical formats you can apply to your text. Select the thumbnail

graphic that represents the format you want to use and click"OK".

Then, choose your font options and replace the"Text" phrase

in the"Edit WordArt Text" box with the word or words you want

to use to build the drawing object. Finally, click"OK" to create

the object.

 

You can then manipulate the WordArt object as you would any other

drawing object.

 

Excel's "merged cells" feature often helps boost worksheet

appearance. This is especially useful when you want to center text

across several worksheet columns, such as for a heading.

 

However, a drawback is that you can't copy or cut rows or columns

that intersect with merged cells. If this is a requirement, there

is a way around this limitation.

 

Enter the text in the far left column of the range of columns you're

working with. Select the cell with the text and extend the selection

across the remaining columns (click in another cell; return to far left

cell (cursor will be white cross) and drag, holding down left mouse key).

Then, choose"Format" | "Cells" from the menu bar. Click on the

"Alignment"tab; choose "Center Across Selection" from the

Horizontal dropdown list, and click"OK".

 

Despite all the paperless office hype, there are probably many

times that you want to review hard copy of a worksheet before printing

the final output. With color inkjet printers being standard equipment in

many offices,users are making the most of Excel's shading and graphics

capabilities. But, you don't want to waste a lot of time and ink printing a

document that you know will, undoubtedly, wind up in the trash.

 

The solution is to print a lower-quality version of your file.

Unfortunately, constantly changing your printer settings can be

cumbersome, and Excel's Draft feature

("File"| "Page Setup" | "Sheet" | "Print/Draft quality") may produce

too low a quality since"Draft Quality", in addition to ignoring color

shading, removes gridlines, objects and graphics from the printout.

 

A happy medium is to print in black and white. Excel removes cell

shading, but leaves gridlines and objects if you so designate.

Additionally, Excel replaces the colors on the printout with different

patterns; you need not spend time converting chart colors to grayscale.

 

To print in black and white, select"File" | "Page Setup" from

the menu bar. Click on the"Sheet" tab, select the "Print/Black and white"

check box (you may also want to select"Gridlines" and/or "Row and

column headings"), and click"OK".

 

 

 

If you want to delete a range of data, you can simply select the range

and press the"Delete" key. However, this won't remove borders and

shading.

 

To remove the borders and shading, you would need to select/highlight

the whole range and then select"Edit" | "Clear" | "All" from the menu bar.

(An alternative may be to drag and drop an adjacent range of totally blank

cells over the range of formatted ones.)

If you need help choosing a function and entering its arguments,

click the Edit Formula button (=)on the Formula bar

 

If the formula requires a function, select the function from the list

that appears just to the left of the formula bar being edited.

You may also type a formula directly into the formula bar yourself

and then press"Enter".

 

A formula is an equation that performs operations on worksheet data.

Formulas can perform mathematical operations, such as addition and

multiplication, or they can compare worksheet values or join text.

Formulas can refer to other cells on the same worksheet, cells on

other sheets in the same workbook, or cells on sheets in other

workbooks. (See Help,"How formulas calculate values", for

more information and an example on this subject.

 

To copy data into another application that supports linking and

embedding, drag the Microsoft Excel data to the other application's

window.

 

You may control the order in which your pages/worksheets are printed

by clicking Page Setup on the File menu. Click the Sheet tab and then

one of the Page Order options.

 

To print column and row headings on each worksheet page, click

Page Setup on the File menu and then the Sheet tab. In the Rows to

Repeat at Top box, select the worksheet rows.

 

If you have a formatted list or a formula in a column,

you may want to add to the list or the column without

having to format the new cell or recreate the formula.

Excel 2000 automatically formats new items or copies

a formula from preceding rows.

 

For the auto-formatting feature to work, at least three

of the preceding five rows must have the same format.

For example, you have three items in cells C1 through C3;

format them (dollars, percent, bold, etc.). Go to Tools

on your menu bar and click on Options and then the Edit tab.

On the right side of the dialog box, be sure Extend list

formats and formulas is checked.

 

In cell C4, type a new list item and press Enter. Voila-the

new item format matches the preceding three in C1 through C3.

 

Copying formulas from preceding rows in a column works the

same way. You may have several rows of data in columns A

through G with a formula at the end of each row. If you

add a new row of data at the bottom of the list and press

Enter after the last item, the formula for the last cell in

that row fills in.

 

To turn this option off, choose Tools | Options from the menu

bar and click on the Edit tab. On the right side of the dialog box,

deselect the Extendl list formats and formulas check box.

 

 

 

If you have a keyboard that includes a Windows key

(Windows icon, bottom left row of your keyboard), you can start Excel

without ever removing your hands from the keyboard:

     Press Windows key and the letter R simultaneously to launch the Run dialog box.

           Type excel and press Enter.

Highlight cells to be affected;

Choose Format and then Cells from the menu bar;

Choose the Font tab and modify font, style, color, and/or effect.

 

You may also add a background to your worksheets:

 

Format | Sheet | Background

and choose from appropriate graphic-formatted files.

Question: How can you use the Sort buttons  on the toolbar in Excel? When

would you not want to use these buttons and use the Sort dialog box instead?

 

Answer: There are two ways to sort in Excel—using the Sort buttons on the

Standard toolbar and using Data ->Sort. The method you use will depend on

the layout of your data and how many criteria (columns) you want to sort.

 

If your data to be sorted is in a contiguous area (cells are side-by-side)

and you only want to sort by one column, then you can use the Sort

buttons on the Standard toolbar (Sort Ascending, Sort Descending).

 

You would use the Sort dialog box (Data ->Sort) if you want to sort by multiple

criteria (up to three columns) or if you have rows that you want ignored

in the sort. (Be sure to highlight all columns to keep all data on that line

together).

 

The Sort dialog box option would be most useful in larger files with

many columns, since the Sort buttons only let you pick one column

by which to sort.

Question: How do I increase row height in Excel? Can

I allow row heights to vary?

 

Answer: You can change the height of a row several ways:

Highlight the row; (click on the row number on the left);

Click on Format (on your menu bar) | Row.

Move to the right and click on Height.

You can then change the number in the Row Height dialog

box to whatever is appropriate for your typeface and size.

Click OK.

 

You may prefer a shortcut: right-click on the affected row and

choose Row Height or double-click on the horizontal line

between rows to autofit type to height.

 

You can select multiple rows (hold down Alt key and left-click)

and affect several rows at once. A group of adjoining rows may

be selected by clicking the first and then the last row while

holding down the Shift key.

 

If you want to make rows vary in height (headers larger and bold),

you can click in the left corner (between A and 1) to highlight

the entire document and choose

Format | Row | Autofit after formatting.

Make the sheet with the preferred settings the active sheet.

Hold down either the [Shift] or [Ctr]l key (not both) and click

on the tab of the worksheet(s) where you want to copy those

settings. (The tab turns white/light in color and cursor changes

to a white-outline cross.) Remember: the sheet with the preferred

print settings must remain the active sheet.

 

Click on File (on the menu bar) and choose Page Setup.

When the Page Setup dialog box appears, click OK.

The hourglass, indicating work in progress, may appear

as headers, footers, and all other basic print settings

are copied from the active sheet to the sheet(s) you selected.

You may now add appropriate text, etc. to your copied sheet(s).

You may rename the copied (or new) sheet(s) by right-clicking

on the Sheet tab(s) and choosing Rename, then typing in the new

worksheet name.