Office Tips and Methods

Linked In member Victor Chan publishes an excellent blog at Launch Excel. In two of his recent articles,

 

Working with Data in Excel Part 1- 10 Excel Data Entry Tips Everyone Should Know

and

Learn how to become an Excel Power User with our Top 20 Mouse Tricks for Excel

Victor discusses very useful Excel Data Entry techniques. Check out Victor’s articles to learn how to improve your Excel efficiency. He also offers a nicely organized collection of Excel shortcuts free if you subscribe to his blog.

Here’s another nice trick I recently learned about. Create and use a custom list to manage lists of names that you use repeatedly in a worksheet.

 

Create and Use Custom Lists

You can create and use custom list for sorting and for speeding data entry

For example, you are using an Excel Worksheet to manage shift assignments for the same group of people every week. Occasionally you need to sort the list by the names but you do not want the sorted list to be in alphabetical order. A custom list will give you that flexibility.

 

Start by typing the list of names, in the order you would like them, in an out of the way place. This list can be located on an otherwise unused worksheet for example. Just type one name in a cell and press enter and type the next name. When you are finished you should have a vertical list of names with no blank cells. I have created a list of six names but your list could be much longer.

If you select this list before starting the next step you will be able to import it into your custom lists with just the click of a button.

 

 

Now, in Excel 2010, click the File button (in 2007, click the Office button) and click Options (in 2007, Excel Options).

Select Advanced. You will need to scroll down a bit. Look for the Edit Custom Lists button and click it.

That will bring up the Custom lists dialogue. There will be at least four custom lists already there if Excel was properly installed on your system.

 

 

 

You should see the range you selected already filled in beside the caption, “Import list from cells.” Click the Import button and your newly created list will appear at the bottom or your custom lists.

 

 

 

 

Sort Using a Custom List 

Whenever you want to sort a list that contains these names into the order of your custom list, all you need to do is select the Sort button on the Ribbon and specify custom for the sort  level that refers to the column containing these names.

 

When the custom list dialogue appears, select your custom list.

Use a Custom List for Data Entry

If you have ever used autofill to create a list of months or days, you will love this added benefit of having a custom list. Once you have create a custom list, you can type one of the names form the list and then use autofill to create a list of all the names in the order of the custom list.

So, for the shift assignment example, when it comes time to create new shift assignment list, all you need to do is type one of the names from you custom list and use autofill to type the rest for you either vertically or horizontally.

Don’t Discard Your Original List

If you must occasionally add or remove names from your roster, do it in the list you built to import into custom lists. When you have that list up to date, select it and go to the Custom Lists dialogue. Click on your original custom list and delete it, then Import the revised list.

Using this technique will save you a few minutes every time you have to create a new roster for you shift assignments. The time it took you to build and import the list as a custom list will quickly be paid back ten-fold.

I have long been an unabashed fan of Microsoft OneNote. I recently realized that OneNote could help streamline one of my routine tasks.

In one of my other lives, I edit and publish the weekly bulletin for my parish church. The pastor sends me an email with most of the information to be included in the current week’s bulletin. The organist sends me another email about music selections for the week and occasionally other parishioners email me additional material.

Putting the bulletin together is largely a matter of copying content from the emails and pasting it into Microsoft Publisher. Because I am copying one ‘story’ (announcement, notice, or hymn selection) at a time, I need to keep track of what I have already included in the bulletin and what is not yet included.

Space in the bulletin is limited to what will comfortably fit onto six 8-1/2 x 5-1/2 pages. That means that some items have to be omitted. Often these omitted items could be used within the next week or two, space permitting. So I need to efficiently track those items as well.

Along the way, I started using a reply copy of the pastor’s email so the I could apply Outlook’s highlighting tool to each item as I finished adding it to Publisher. So, I could look through the reply email for anything to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. After I put that week’s bulletin to bed, I simply discarded the reply email.

Enter OneNote. A few weeks ago, while working on the bulletin, I thought, “There has to be a better way to do this.” That’s when Outlook’s OneNote shortcut caught my attention and a new and improved solution was born.

Now when each email arrives I use the OneNote shortcut to send the email to OneNote as an unfiled note. I move each unfiled note to my Bulletin notebook and put it in the Raw Materials section.

The first thing I do when I start to work on the bulletin is copy the contents of each of the raw materials pages to a new page for the current week. With Publisher and the OneNote Bulletin notebook open side by side, I select (highlight) each item to copy and then paste into an appropriate place in the Publisher document.

Then, when I return to the notebook, before selecting the next story, I click the highlighter shortcut while the section I had just copied to the bulletin is still shaded. I repeat the process, item by item, until every story in the original email is highlighted.

When an item has to be omitted from the current bulletin because of limited space, I change the highlight colour and copy the item to an Unpublished page in the notebook. When space becomes available in a future bulletin, I can easily find and use an unpublished item without having to wade through old emails looking for them

OneNote has helped me streamline producing the bulletin, helping me to do a better job as editor and publisher, and reducing the time it takes to do the job.

 

Incidentally, if you would like to see the final product of this process, visit our website at http://churchoftheascensionsudbury.com/Events/Bulletins/tabid/68/Default.aspx

- Canadian IT Professionals, Check out the pre-release of System Center 2012 and get a coffee gift card.

How would you like a DoubleDouble ? – Canadian IT Professionals – Site Home – TechNet Blogs

This article demonstrates how to create a co-ordinated set of Access forms that could be used, among other things, as a Dashboard or Launching Pad in an Access User Interface. Form content depends on the needs of the application. The forms in the demonstration application are just simple examples to illustrate what can be done. They are there just to show what the code behind the scenes does.

The concept is similar to Frames in HTML Documents.

The Forms

There are six forms in the demonstration application:

	frmShell can be thought of as an outer container or framework. It has one subform control and command buttons and a toggle button that swap actual forms in and out of the subform control. This the opening form for the application. When the application starts, this nested form displays a simple welcome message which is contained in frmShell_ContentWelcome.
frmShell

The other forms take turns populating either frmShell’s subform control second level subforms. The form name indicates each form’s relative position in the overall hierarchy.

	frmShell_ContentA is at the second level of the form hierarchy. If you consider frmShell to be at the top level of the form hierarchy (the patriarch) then frmShellContentA represents a child of the patriarch. frmContentA itself has two children (siblings if you don’t mind the metaphor.)
frmShell_ContentA populated with frmShellContentA

	The content forms can be loaded as individual standalone forms.
frmContent and its two child forms

frmShell_ContentTabs	frmShell_ContentTabs with Mouse pointing at the Child Tab
frmShell populated with frmShell_ContentTabs (populated with frmShell_ContentA)

frmShell_ContentA_1 and frmShell_ContentA_2 populate two subform controls on frmChild when that form is the main child form of frmShell

frmShell_ContentTabs is an alternate child form to frmShell. This form uses a tabbed style of interface to swap its subform content in and out.

frmShell_ContentWelcome populates frmShell with startup information.

Behind the Scenes – the Code

The main code that makes it all work is quite simple as long as you get the notation right. Content screens are swapped by assigning a form to the SourceObject property of the desired subform control.

For example, if a form has a subform control named fsbMainWindow, then a content form (for example, frmContent1) can be assigned to the control with this statement:

me!fsbMainWindow.SourceObject = “frmContent1”

Once the content form has been assigned to the subform control you can then refer to any controls or public properties in one of two ways:

me!fsbMainWindow.Form.[name of property or control]

or by creating a form object and assigning the subform object to the form object. Of course you have to declare a from object.

Dim frm as Form

then you can use the object by assigning the subform control to it.

Set frm = Me!fsbmMainWindow.Form

You can then use the object to refer to the content form and its controls and properties.

frm.txtDate = Now()

assigned the current date and time to a textbox named txtDate on the content form.

If there are several ‘windows’ on the form, then the object approach makes it easier to keep track of which window content you are referring to.

A subform can talk back to the form that contains it using its own parent property.

me.parent.CurrentChild = me.name

is a trivial example. Of course you would have to declare a public variable or property, CurrentChild in the parent form.

It is possible to nest up to seven levels (Access XP and later, three in Access 2000) of subforms on a form. The notation can be confusing because you have to have the bang operator (!) in all the right places. For example,

Me!fsbMainWindow.Form

refers to the subform one level down. If you want to refer to a subform nested on the form one level down, the notation is

Me!fsbMainWindow.Form![name of subform control].Form

For a general reference on referring to sub forms and sub reports see this page on The Access Web.

If you need to set the focus to a control on a sub form, first set focus to the sub form control and then set focus to the control you want to have focus.

General Development Guidelines

If you will be swapping several forms in and out of the same subform control, it helps to first create a simple empty form that is set up with the appearance that you would like all of the forms that you will use in that particular subform. Use that form as a template for each of the others.

A naming convention also helps keep the various forms straight in you mind. For example begin the name of each related form with frm followed by a generic name for the group of forms. For each sub form, append an underscore followed by a meaningful name for the particular sub form. Using this approach, all of the related forms are listed together in the database window or navigation pane depending on your version of Access.

Summary

Using a shell form to ‘house’ the main forms of a user interface makes it easier to create and maintain a consistent ‘look’ and feel for the application.

Demonstration File

The demonsration file can be downloaded from:

I’d like to know for an article I am writing, just how difficult you think it is to learn one of more of the office applications:

• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• Access
• Publisher
• Visio

I have posted a small survey here if you would like to participate.

Glenn

Mouse and keyboard essentials can become second nature quite quickly, once you learn them. However, if you are new to Windows computing or have simply learned by doing, you may be missing some of the basics.

This article will focus on basic keyboard skills which all seem simple once you know how to use them but which some people find very difficult to use in the first place. The article includes some examples of shortcuts that are possible with the mouse or keyboard actions but our main interest is how to use the mouse and keyboard keys alone or in various combinations. Many times when you ask for help the article or forum post suggests that you use mouse or keyboard keys is certain ways. This article is about what these suggestions mean.

How familiar are you with your mouse? Here are some basic points to be aware of:

• Mouse

  • Right or Left

    A basic windows mouse has two ‘keys,’ left and right. When you rest your right hand, palm down on the mouse, your index finger rests naturally on the left key and you second finger rests on the right. The left key is used to select or choose the item you have used the mouse to point to on the screen. The right mouse key is typically used to open a shortcut menu of choices that are appropriate to whatever it is you are doing at the moment.

  • Click or Drag

    A Click is a single quick down and up motion of the specified mouse key. A Drag on the other hand, means that you should press and hold down the specified mouse key while you move the mouse in the desired direction.

  • Scroll Wheel

    Your mouse may have a wheel between the left and right keys. You can spin this wheel in either direction. The action spinning the wheel causes depends, in part on where you are pointing when you spin it. For example, in Word 2007, or 2010 (or any of the Office applications with the ribbon interface), spinning the wheel which change the active ribbon tab.

  • Single Click

    Different actions require different kinds of clicking. A Single Click means quickly pressing and releasing the mouse key once only.

  • Double Click

    A Double click, on the other hand, means rapidly pressing the mouse key twice. The setting for just how quickly it is necessary to repeat the click for Windows to interpret your mouse action as a double click is adjustable (see below.)

  • Control Panel Adjustments

  

You can use the Mouse options in the Windows Control panel to adjust double click speed and to switch the Left and Right mouse key if you prefer to use the mouse in your left hand

• Adjust double click speed

  If you have difficulty double-clicking you can use the mouse properties to adjust the time between the first and second click.

• Switch Left and Right

  If you are left-handed you can use the mouse properties so that the mouse keys are reversed.

A computer application is nothing more or less than a tool, a device used to do a job. Personal computer applications rely on the skills of the person using the application to get the job done. Some of these skills are application-specific, some relate to a general understanding of computer use, and some relate to the user’s general knowledge level and understanding of how to solve the problem at hand.

Some applications, like some tools, are easy to use and require only basic personal skills. Other applications, like some other tools, are more difficult to use and require higher personal skill level.

Take such a simple task as driving a nail. That is probably something you learned to do as a child. Most likely, though, when you first started trying to use a hammer, you held it, perhaps in two hands and close to the head. You had to learn that the tool works best when you hold it in one hand, close to the end of the handle, so that the hammer became like an extension of your arm. Most likely that skill is now so basic to you that you don’t even recall learning it.

The point is, whether you realize it or not, every tool, virtual or real, requires at least some skills in order to be useful in helping you to do the job at hand. When it comes to looking at the Microsoft Office Suite in this light, there are some common skillsets that apply to the whole suite. Additional skills specific to each application build on this foundation.

Here, in no particular order, are essentials for the office suite that people suggested when I asked or gleaned from my own experience.

• Know the correct way of starting and shutting down your computer.
• Know the difference between shortcuts and application icons.

I once had a client who deleted an application to make space, because “there was a much smaller version on the desktop”!

• Know what version of Windows you are using.
• Know what version of Office you have available.

Newer versions of Office and Windows have more features and do things differently than earlier versions. You can help others help you (especially in on-line forums) if you can indicate your version of Office.

• Understand the work and task at hand that you think you can use an Office application for.

Just as it is difficult to pound a nail with a backhoe, each Office application is better suited to some purposes than others.

• Mousing basics
  • the difference between click and drag
  • mouse pointer shapes
  • how to manage Windows
• Keyboard shortcuts.

There are literally pages and pages of keyboard shortcuts. Learn the shortcuts that are most useful to you, even if you prefer to use you mouse. There are time that you can’t use the mouse but you can use a keyboard shortcut to do what you need. Keep in mind also that some keyboard shortcuts depend on the language and keyboard version you are using. A good grasp of basic keyboard shortcuts will help you with all of the Office applications. Some keyboard shortcuts are useful in or apply to just some of the applications.

• How to organize and manage your files.

Develop a standard naming and filing system for your work. You will spend far less time looking for that file that you created and saved a couple of days ago. Don’t mimic the M*A*S*H episode where Klinger filed all correspondence under C. That might work if you have only a few files but with the huge capacity of today’s storage media, it’s easy to lose track of your work and have to waste valuable minutes tracking it down.

• Know how to backup your work and preserve working versions (drafts) of work in progress.

Sure your IT department backs up your files regularly (they do, don’t they?) but if you have your own system of backing up individual files that are important to you, you will be able to recover from a disaster much more quickly than if you don’t.

• Know how to proof-read your work. Don’t pass anything along to anyone else until you have proof-read it two or three times.

Remember that it is easy to overlook typos and spelling errors if you proofread immediately after you type. Take a break from the task and go back to proofread your work several hours later or even the next day. Develop a work buddy system for proofreading someone else’s work in exchange for their proofreading yours.

• Know how to use Office’s Review tools (Spell Checker and Grammar Checker) and be aware of their limitations. Be sure to add local spellings to the dictionary if appropriate.

Automated grammar checking is still far from perfect. In English, for example, the word “place” can be used as either a noun (‘Let’s go to John’s place.’) or as a verb (‘Place the parcel on the table.’) When you do use it as a verb, the grammar checker reports that you have an incomplete sentence.

• Understand templates and how to use them to save yourself work.
• Be willing to reinforce new skills by using them frequently until they become second nature.

No doubt there are other Office essentials that could be added to this list. However, if you are just starting to learn about using Office applications, keeping these points in mind (and raising them with your trainer/instructor) will help you focus learning experience.

The basic notion for this article came from my classroom experience with people who had come to an Introduction to Excel class. Many of these people were unable to answer the question, “What type of work will you be doing in Excel?” In coming articles, I will discuss application specific essentials. I also frequently ran into (again with Excel newcomers) what seemed to be an almost mystical belief that Excel users could use the application to handle all of their math problems; these people (and perhaps their bosses) seemed to think they did not need any math skills. All they wanted to do, they said, was to learn formulas. More about that in the Essentials – Excel article.

 

Acknowledgements:

Recently I asked a number of applications experts and users what they thought were essential skills for using Microsoft Office applications. Thanks to the UtterAccess members, and members of the Microsoft Excel Users, Microsoft MVP Professional Group, and MVP@Work groups at Linked-In who responded.

Congratulations 2011 Microsoft MVP!

When I opened my inbox this morning, one message jumped out at me. Microsoft has honoured me with the Most Valuable Professional award for 2011. I am just as thrilled today as I was when I received my first MVP in 2007. Thank you Microsoft!

See a sneak preview of the next version of Windows. Microsoft have published the first of a series of videos demonstrating what is coming in the next version of Windows. Interesting!

Delete queries delete all records from the specified table that meet criteria specified in the query.

 

 

Scenario: The table of country names that you have inherited contains some invalid names. You have already updated the records that used to point to these names so they now point to the correct form of the relevant country name. Now you want to remove the invalid names from the table.

 

With just a few entries, you could just open the table and delete the bad records. However, if you have many records to delete, a delete query can take care of all of them at once.

IMPORTANT: Before running a query that will modify your data, it is very important to first back up the data. You can do this either by copying the table’s structure and data or by backing up the entire database.

Setting up the query is quite straight forward. Use the table you want to clean up as the query’s record source and include the field that will determine whether or not a record should be deleted.

 

This query will delete records that contain “United States” in the Country field. All other records will be untouched.

If you include additional criteria on the rows below the first criteria, then the  query will delete records that match any one of the criteria.

 

 

 

 

 

Just to be safe, however you should not run a delete query before you view it. Notice the distinction between viewing and running the query.

 

Viewing a query will display the selected records in the query’s datasheet view.

Running the query, on the other hand, actually deletes the selected records.

 

Note also that double-clicking a query icon in the database window or Navigation Pane, runs the query. If you are not absolutely sure you should be running a query, open it in design view and view it in datasheet view.

Sample files for Action Queries (Access 2000 and 2007/2010 format) can be downloaded from: