Creating Sparklines in Excel

Microsoft Word 2010: Ribbon, Rulers and Gridlines

Undocking that pesky tab in Internet Explorer

Do you ever have that tab in Internet Explorer that you want to make into another window?  If so, it is simple! 

1. Select the tab that you want to move to a new window.
2. Click and drag the tab in any direction of your choice. In the picture, I drag mine to the left.

Shortcut to adding date and time in Excel

Yes, you could write a formula or you could manually put in today's date (10/28/11), but there is an easier way!!!

In the cell you want the date to appear, press Ctrl-; (semicolon) and watch it input the current date! 

If you really want the exact time (3:49 PM), then you need to press Ctrl-Shift-; (semicolon).

The important thing to remember is that these do not update, so if you open the workbook tomorrow, it will still be 10/28/11.

Try it out! It just might save you time!

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcuts are... well shortcuts to getting something done. There are some really common ones and then there are ones that you wished you would know!  Microsoft has created a listing of all shortcuts.

http://www.microsoft.com/enable/products/keyboard.aspx

My favorite are the basic ones; Ctrl-Z or Ctrl-C.

Commonly Used Formulas

Often, learners will ask questions where the answer already existed out there. This one, someone asked, what are the most common formulas in Excel and here is what I found.

Commonly Used Formulas

Thank you Microsoft!

There are No Shortcuts

Came across this awhile ago on the Office Blogs...

Use the Quick Access Toolbar

Some of your favorite Excel tools can be accessed quickly by depositing them on this toolbar. You can customize the toolbar using the Customize tab within Excel options (Click on the Office button, then Options).



The tools on the bar are: increase/decrease decimals, background color, font color, text alignment and the camera tool.

To access a tool press ALT, which activates the Quick Access Toolbar, then press the desired number.

This works in 2007 and 2010 Microsoft Programs.

Create Appoinments and Tasks with Dragging!

Ever catch yourself retyping someone else's message for a calendar invite or a task? Microsoft Outlook has a simple process that will copy the entire message to an invite or a task!

Just select the message you want to turn into an appointment or task and drag it to the left task bar.

Once the item is dragged to the calendar or task list, it will open the dialog box to create an event or a task!

No need to retype the message, it was automatically copied from the original.

Tip of the Day 10/20 Duplicate Shortcut

Do you ever find yourself doing the same copy/paste function over and over again in MS Office. Well here is quick tip to save you some time. After selecting to the object you want to copy simply press ctrl + D as many times as you want to create copies of you object.

Appointment Scheduling

Recently, I was forced to use Outlook to schedule appointments... typically, I just click on accept!  So, when I was playing around with the start and end times, I found out that you can just type in "Friday" or "Fri" and it will fill in Friday's Date.


It also works with Christmas, New Years, Next (pulls from next week), and many more! Instead of just always typing or selecting the date, let the computer do it for you!

Hidden Ribbon... OH NO!

Do you ever catch yourself hiding the ribbon? It may just be that you clicked in the wrong spot or that you actually want it hidden. Either way, it can be frustrating or incredibly useful!

For example, in Excel, it is useful to "hide" the ribbon. It gives you 4-8 more rows of data! But if you accidentally made it disappear, then it can be a problem.

To hide or unhide follow is as easy as this!

Double-click on any tab in the ribbon OR Crtl-F1.

Join the 2010 Bandwagon..

Many people ask, Why should I join the Microsoft Office 2010 Bandwagon? This answer is simple. The features of the new software will make you more productive and a lot more fun to do the same tasks!

Take slicers... They are no different than filters, but they can make analyzing data so much more fun!

What about Sparklines? Sparklines are minature graphs that show a data sequence... Also, will make it so those people that do not want to read all the numbers, can actually see the trends!