Drop Down Menu

Validation

You can create a dropdown list that gets its choices from entries located in another part of the spreadsheet.

1. Type the entries in one column or row.
   
   You can name the list by selecting the entries and then clicking in the Name box on the Formula bar and entering a name, and then press Enter.
   
   
2. Next, select the cell where you want the dropdown list.
   
   
3. On the Menu bar, go to the Data menu, click Validation, and then click the Settings tab.
   In the Allow box, click List.
   
   
4. Enter the name of the list or its location.
   
   Make sure the reference or name is preceded with an equal sign (=).
   
   Make sure the In-cell dropdown check box is selected.
   
   If your list is short, you can type the entries directly in the Source box, separated by commas.

Debra Dalgleish, Excel MVP has a complete discussion on her Contextures.com site. She covers resizing the dropdown box. The site also includes other information about data validation:
Excel — Data Validation —Tips  



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Soup is no Joke

A ladle humor

"Garçon, le mouche dans ma soupe!"

"Non, monsieur, la mouche"

"Mon Dieu, you Belgians have wonderful eyesight!"

Soup Jokes



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Hiding Columns

In Datasheet view

When you're working in Datasheet View, you can easily hide columns containing data that you don't need to immediately work with.

To do so, select any field in the column and choose Format >Hide Columns from the menu bar.

As an alternative, right- click on the column's field name and select Hide Columns from the shortcut menu.

To redisplay hidden columns, select Format>Unhide Columns from the menu bar.
Then, select the check boxes next to the field names of any columns you want displayed and click OK.

You can select the Unhide Columns command even if no columns are hidden, allowing you to easily hide multiple columns by clearing the appropriate check boxes.



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Footnote Customization

Line it out

In Normal View:

1. Go to View>Footnotes.
   
   
2. Click the All Footnotes box arrow, and select Footnote Separator from the drop-down list.
   
   
3. Click on the existing separator line and delete it.
   
   
4. Go to Format>Borders And Shading.
   
   
5. On the Borders tab, select the border you want.
   
   
6. Select the color you want.
   
   
7. Click OK.

You will see the new separator line for your footnote will appear in Print Layout or Print Preview.

Also:
Footnote FAQ



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New Folder

Organize

If you are involved with a project, or you do a lot of work in a specific area, you may wish to create separate folders for e-mail related to that assignment.

You do not have to limit yourself to creating folders for e-mail; you can also create new Calendars or collections of Contacts.

One way to do this is to go to View>Folder list.

Select the "Root" of the directory tree, or choose a folder to create a sub-directory.

Right click the location and choose New Folder ...

Give it a name and then choose what information that folder should contain.

You can have a Contacts folder with names from a single company, or your personal list.

This way they will not be intermingled with your main collection.

You can do the same thing with personal Calendars.




Managing Outlook Folders in Office 2003
Special Edition Using Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 from Que publishing

Microsoft Office Online:
Using Folders



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Hide Dups

Format don't show

Duplicate entries can be formatted to "disappear", but still be available for computation.

1. Select the range
   
   
2. Goto Format>Conditional Formatting
   
   
3. Select Formula Is
   
   
4. Enter
   =A2=A1
   
   
5. Click the Format button.
   
   
6. Select a font color to match the cell background color.
   
   
7. Click OK and OK

Dups can also stand out:

1. Select the range
   
   
2. Go to Format>Conditional Formatting
   
   
3. Choose Formula Is
   
   
4. Enter
   =COUNTIF($A$2:$A$100,A2)>1
   
   
5. Click the Format button.
   
   
6. Select a font or background color for highlighting.
   
   
7. Click OK and OK

Hide Duplicate Values

Also:
Hide Records with Duplicate Cell Entries



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STIFF

The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

By Mary Roach
ISBN 0-393-05093-9
W.W. Norton 2003

About the Author
Has written for Salon, Discover, New York Times Magazine

Book Description

For two thousand years, cadavers -- some willingly, some unwittingly -- have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They've tested France's first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, and helped solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800. For every new surgical procedure, from heart transplants to gender reassignment surgery, cadavers have been there alongside surgeons, making history in their quiet way.

In this fascinating, ennobling account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries -- from the anatomy labs and human-sourced pharmacies of medieval and nineteenth-century Europe to a human decay research facility in Tennessee, to a plastic surgery practice lab, to a Scandinavian funeral directors' conference on human composting.

Quote
Besides a study about what happens to our remains, Roach has this comment:

"Anthropologists will tell you that the reason people never dined regularly on other people is economics. While there existed, I am told, cultures in Central America that actually ranched humans -- kept enemy soldiers captive for awhile to fatten them up -- it was not practical to do so, because you had to give up more food to feed them than you'd gain in the end by eating them. Carnivores and omnivores, in other words, make lousy livestock."

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Headline Animator

Up to date

Introducing the Headline Animator:

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

FeedBurner.com

"We're happy to introduce our latest publisher service: the Headline Animator. When you burn your RSS or Atom feed with FeedBurner, you can take advantage of this cool, different way of looking at your feed.

Just by pasting some HTML code into, say, your email signature file or bulletin board profile, you'll get a nice little badge that always shows your latest five blog postings. No Javascript or Flash required -- we generate an animated GIF on-the-fly from your feed."

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Hue has the Color

Interactive Color Wheel

Richard Franzen has an interactive color wheel that you may want to play with.
You can experiment with saturation, intensity, hue, and luminosity.

SIH Wheel



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Where in the World is it Not

Trouble map

If it's not happening here, it's coming down over there.

Here's a Google map mashup of the world wide mashups.

Global Incident Map



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EMail Fontcology

Comic vs. Arial

Does the font used in an email message color the perception of the reader?

"Summary: This study investigated the effect that a font has on the reader's perception of an email. Based on a previous study by Shaikh, Chaparro, and Fox (2006), a sample email message was presented in three fonts (Calibri, Comic Sans, and Gigi). The three chosen fonts represented a high, medium, and low level of congruency for email messages."

The Effect of Typeface on the Perception of Email

Also:

The Personality of Fonts



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Downloadable 2013 Books

On the Internet shelf

• Downloadable book: Getting started with Office 2013
  
  
  
• Downloadable and printable content (available in .doc, .pdf, or .xps file formats) about how to get started with Office 2013.
  
  
• Downloadable book: Planning guide for Office 2013
  
  
  
• Downloadable and printable content (available in .doc, .pdf, or .xps file formats) about how to plan a deployment of Office 2013.
  
  
• Downloadable book: Deployment guide for Office 2013
  
  
  
• Downloadable and printable content (available in .doc, .pdf, or .xps file formats) about how to deploy Office 2013.
  
  
• Downloadable book: Group Policy for Office 2013
  
  
  
• Downloadable and printable content (available in .doc, .pdf, or .xps file formats) about how to deploy and configure an installation of Office 2013.
  
  
• Downloadable book: Operations guide for Office 2013

and more.

Technet.Microsoft.com



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Translate on the Fly

Translate Text

Ahora usted puede exhibir un grado de la sofisticación que excede tu conocimiento


On the Tools menu, click Research.

1. In the Search for list, select Translation.
   
2. To change the languages used for translation, in the Research task pane, under Translation, select the languages you want to translate from and to.

Do one of the following:

• To translate a specific word, press ALT and click a word. The results appear under Translation in the Research task pane.
  
• To translate a short sentence, select the words, and then press ALT and click the selection. The results appear in the Research task pane under Translation.
  
• To translate a whole document, in the Research task pane, under Translation, click Translate whole document A translation of your document appears in your Web browser
  
• To translate a word or phrase, type the word or phrase in the Search for box, and then click Start Searching .

Also see:

• Babel Fish
  
• Google Language Tools
• LangToLang.com
  
• Promt Online Translator
  
• Foreignword.com

Speaking of translating a fly, here's another kind of translation: BzzzPeek A collection of 'onomatopoeia' from around the world using sound recordings from native speakers imitating the sounds of mainly animals and vehicles.



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5 of 10 Commandments - Access

Writ on tables

"And it came to pass that the cries and lamentations of the Access newbies were heard on high by the gods of the Database, and their hearts were moved to pity for their followers. And they opened their mouths and spake, saying: "Nevermore shall the young and innocent wander witless on their journeys!

1. Thou shalt design normalized tables and understand thy fields and relationships before thou dost begin.
   
2. Thou shalt never allow thy users to see or edit tables directly, but only through forms and thou shalt abhor the use of "Lookup Fields" which art the creation of the Evil One.
   
3. Thou shalt choose a naming convention and abide by its wisdom and never allow spaces in thy names.
   
4. Thou shalt write comments in your procedures and explain each variable.
   
5. Thou shalt understand error handling and use it faithfully in all thy procedures.
   
6. . . .
   

Thus spake the gods of the Database, and blessed be their names!"

The full list can be found on:
The Access Web



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Browser Utensils

Tiny tools

Bookmarklets
Easy to use, free Java scripts.

"Bookmarklets are simple tools that extend the surf and search capabilities of Netscape and Explorer web browsers.

Bookmarklets are free.

Bookmarklets allow you to:

• Modify the way you see someone else's webpage.
  
• Extract data from a webpage.
  
• Search more quickly, and in ways not possible with a search engine.
  
• Navigate in new ways.

…and more. Over 150 bookmarklets are available."

Here's a list of available bookmarklets:

List of Offline Bookmarklets



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All Programs Sort

Alpha my Adobe

After a while, the list of programs on the All Programs list can get out of order.

Here's the super tech way to fix it:

Right click on the Programs menu and select Sort by Name.

Thank you very much.



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Show Suggestions

10-20-30

A show should have 10 slides, last no more than 20 minutes and have at least 30 point font.
Guy Kawasaki is a venture capitalist with some piquant points about presentations.

The 10-20-30 Rule



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Resend Again

Send the same message

Here's how to resend a message. The intended recipient might have accidently deleted it or would just like to see it again.

Open the message. Now you'll see the correct menus:

In Outlook 2003 – look on the Actions menu.

In 2007+ it's under Other Actions




For 2010:

1. In Mail, in the Navigation Pane (Navigation Pane: The column on the left side of the Outlook window that includes panes such as Shortcuts or Mail and the shortcuts or folders within each pane. Click a folder to show the items in the folder.), click Sent Items.
   
2. Double-click the message that you want to resend.
   
3. On the Message tab, in the Move group, click Actions, and then click Resend This Message.

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Numbers to Words

Cardinal numbers

You can create a User Defined Function in Access to covert numbers to words.
The function can be used in a calculated field or control in a form or report.

From the Microsoft Knowledgebase collection:
How to Convert a Numeric Value into English Words



Also:
The Access Web (MVPS)
Convert Currency ($500) into words (Five Hundred Dollars)

TECH on the Net.com
Convert currency into words
(The Access code also works in Excel)

To create Cardinal numbers in Excel see:
Excel - Numbers to Words
(The Excel code also works in Access)

Word appears to be the only Office app with a built in cardinal number function.

For Word see:
Word - Numbers to Words



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Numbers to Words

Cardinal numbers

From the Microsoft Knowledgebase collection:

How to Convert a Numeric Value into English Words

This support article contains the VBA code needed to create a User Defined Function, You can, then, change 32.50 into "Thirty Two Dollars and Fifty Cents" by entering something like the following formula into a cell:

=SpellNumber(32.50)


Also:

For Access see:
Access- Numbers to Words


To create cardinal numbers in Word, see:
Word - Numbers to Words



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Numbers to Words

Cardinal numbers

Word can format numbers in several ways when they are represented by field codes. The DollarText field code is one choice.

Press Ctrl-F9 to insert a pair of field-code delimiters, which resemble boldface curly brackets {}. (The brackets can not be entered directly from the keyboard).

Between the field-code delimiters, enter = followed by the number. Then append the DollarText field switch. The result should look like this:

{ =34,582.13 \*DollarText \*Firstcap }
There are spaces in the field. Here is how it should be entered:
{space=34,582.13space\*DollarTextspace
\*Firstcapspace}

Right-click on the field and choose Update Field. You should now see the number spelled out in words:

Thirty-four thousand five hundred eighty-two dollars and 13/100.

Word provides some other numeric field codes. Here are a few of the more useful ones:

{ =42 \*CardText } - forty-two
(Spell our page numbers with a fields like this { PAGE \*CardText \*Caps } )

{ =42 \*OrdText } - forty-second

{ =42 \*Ordinal } - 42nd

{ =42 \*ROMAN } - XLII

KB article:

How to Use DollarText to Convert Numbers to Cardinal Text

and:

Microsoft Word - General Switches for Field Codes

For Access see:
Access - Numbers to Words

To create Cardinal numbers in Excel see:
Excel - Numbers to Words



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Print Web Pages

Control Internet Explorer

The first few attempts to print from the Explorer Browser usually turn out to be a mess.re are some hints that may help.


Print Pages in IE Without Headers or Footers



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Make Your Own Fonts

No molten lead required

Not satisfied with the billions of available typefaces for free or pay? Do it yourself.

"Okay. Fine. I'll let the secret out. This tutorial explains my personal font-making technique. It may not be the academically approved typographic design process, but it works for me, and it can be done on any Mac or PC with the proper software installed. You've been working with the alphabet since you were a small child. Now you can make a font of your own."

How to Make Your Own Fonts



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Color Feels Right

Colors and emotions

When you're mad, do you see teal?

"Color plays a vitally important role in the world in which we live. Color can sway thinking, change actions, and cause reactions. It can irritate or soothe your eyes, raise your blood pressure or suppress your appetite.

When used in the right ways, color can save on energy consumption. When used in the wrong ways, color can contribute to global pollution.

As a powerful form of communication, color is irreplaceable. Red means "stop" and green means "go." Traffic lights send this universal message. Likewise, the colors used for a product, web site, business card, or logo cause powerful reactions.

Explore : The concept of color can be approached from several disciplines: physiology, psychology, philosophy, and art."

ColorMatters.com



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Time Interval

Run code at timed intervals

You may occasionally want to run a procedure associated with a form at set intervals. To do so, add the code to the form's Timer event procedure. Then, set the form's TimerInterval property to the number of milliseconds that should elapse between each time the code is run. (in Access 2007+, the TimerInterval property setting is a Long Integer value between 0 and 2,147,483,647.)

Keep in mind that you shouldn't use a very small TimerInterval, otherwise your application will likely suffer a performance hit. To prevent the Timer event from firing, set the TimerInterval to 0.

Also see:
HOW TO: Create a Stopwatch Form in Access



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Microsoft Bob

No second act

"Microsoft Bob was one of the most publicly scorned programs Microsoft has released. Microsoft, like other companies who made software for OS/2, BeOS, and others that flopped in the retail sector, learned a hard lesson; if you try to be a smart aleck in your user interface or application software, it won't sell. You might have a few loyal users that are supportive of your wit, but will they sustain your business?

And speaking of Bob's "creator," a lady named Melinda French was the Project Manager for Microsoft Bob and also came up with the concept of Bob's "personal guides" (and Microsoft Office has never been the same since 1996).

Ms. French went on to become none other than Mrs. Bill Gates."

Also see:

Melinda Gates goes public



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Select Text

Pick a word

• If you double click on a word, it will be selected.
  Triple click and you will select the paragraph.
  
  
• If you hold down the CTRL key and click, you will select a sentence.
  (Word is looking for a period, so it will also stop after the period in "Mr. Smith")
  
  
  
• Move the mouse pointer to the left side of the document. It will change to a NE (upper left) pointing arrow.
  
  
  • Click once and a line is selected; a line, not just a sentence.
    
    
  • Click twice to select the paragraph.
    
    
  • Click three times and the entire document will be selected.
    
  
  
• Place the insertion point where you want the selection to begin, press F8, and use the arrow keys on the keyboard to highlight the selection. Press Esc to end the extended selection.
  
  
• Click to the left of the first word you want selected. Hold down the Shift key and click to the right of the end of the selection.
  
  
• Hold down the ALT key and drag down to select a "column"; perhaps the first two characters that precede a list of items.
  
  

Also:
See this link for a way to enter text for testing

Also:
Selecting Text from Word Tips.



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Select by Code

Programmatically pick cells

Microsoft has provided 22 ways to select cells/ranges by using Visual Basic procedures in Excel.

Here are a few of the subjects covered:

• How to Select a Cell on the Active Worksheet
  
  
• How to Select a Cell on Another Worksheet in the Same Workbook
  
  
• How to Select a Range of Cells on the Active Worksheet
  
• How to Select a Named Range on a Worksheet in a Different Workbook
  
  
• How to Select a Cell Relative to the Active Cell
  
  
• How to Select the Union of Two or More Specified Ranges
  
  
• How to Select the Intersection of Two or More Specified Ranges
  
  
• How to Select the Last Cell of a Column of Contiguous Data
  
  
• How to Select the Blank Cell at Bottom of a Column of Contiguous Data

How to select cells/ranges by using Visual Basic procedures

Dick Kusleika has some comments on the coding:
Spreadsheets are the Devil



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Nameless Surfing

Masked strangers

Anonymous surfing is exactly what the terms suggests. You go online without revealing any of the personal or technical information on your computer. It's done by having a special computer -- called a proxy server -- screening you from the websites you are contacting. Your computer contacts only the proxy server, which contacts the website for you. The website, in turn, sees only your proxy server and not you. In addition to hiding your IP.

From Ask Bob Rankin:
Anonymous Web Surfing



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Animation Samples

A little taste

The samples on this site make use of advanced animations that are introduced in PowerPoint 2002/XP and above. They will not run correctly when viewing with PowerPoint 2000 or earlier versions. You are free to use it for your presentation as long as proper credit is given.

Note: The animations found in these presentations or showcases are done entirely using PowerPoint. NO animated gifs, video or flash are used.

Shawn Toh was awarded Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for PowerPoint (MVP PowerPoint) and has been certified as Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS PowerPoint, Word, Excel).

PPTHeaven.MVPS.org



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Sunrise, Sunset

Times

Here is a location that will give you times for sun and moon, rise and set,
Civil Twilight, Nautical Twilight. and Astronomical Twilight anywhere in the world.




SunriseSunset.com



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