Tips and Tricks for Office XP - Part 3

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Perform Quick Operations on Your Excel Data

Have you ever wanted to quickly perform an operation on your Excel data, without replacing the data? For example, maybe you have some yearly figures, and you want to see what the daily ones look like. It's easy to do, using the Paste Special command.
1. Type =365 in a cell.
2. Copy the cell.
3. Highlight the data for which you want the daily figures.
4. On the Edit menu, click Paste Special.
5. In the Paste Special dialog box, click Divide and then click OK.
All of the data you have highlighted will be divided by 365. If you click in any of the cells, you'll see the operation that was performed displayed in the formula bar.

Import Access Tables into Excel

You've gathered the data, now you want to analyze it. Here's a quick way to copy an Access table into Excel. 1. In the Access database window, click the table you want to export.
2. On the Standard toolbar, click Office Links.
3. Click Analyze It with Excel.
Excel automatically opens and displays your table in a worksheet

Keep Links to Source Workbooks Up-to-Date

One of the great things about Excel is that you can create formulas in one workbook that link to data stored in another (source) workbook. But, when your source workbook changes regularly (for example, if you update the source and save it under a new name each month), it can be very time-consuming to find and update links to the old source workbook. Fortunately, there's an easy way to do this:
1. Open the workbook that contains the link(s).
2. On the Edit menu, click Links.
3. In the Source box, click the name of the link with the source you would like to change.
4. Click Change Source.
5. In the Change Source dialog box, click the source workbook you want to refer to.

Generate Random Numbers in Excel

Some types of analysis require you to use randomly generated numbers. You can also use randomly generated numbers to quickly populate an Excel spreadsheet. There's an easy function you can use to do this automatically. Here are a few of the ways you can use it:
1. Type =RAND() in a cell to generate a number between 0 and 1.
2. Type =RAND()*100 to generate a number between 1 and 100.

After entering a function, you can then use the fill handle to quickly populate as many cells as you'd like with random numbers. To use the fill handle, click the cell, move your pointer over the lower-right corner of the cell until it turns into a black plus sign, and drag it horizontally or vertically across the cells you wish to populate.

Create Forms for Easier Data Entry

Entering large amounts of data into an Excel spreadsheet can be very time consuming. Using data entry forms makes your task easier. A data entry form is a dialog box that gives you a convenient way to enter a complete row of information at one time.
To use a data entry form to edit a list:
1. Click a cell in the labelled row you want to add the record to.
2. On the Data menu, click Form.
3. Click OK. A data entry dialog box appears, with field labels that correspond with the column labels in your list.

Compress pictures

Presentation blues? You must have had those when your presentation became too heavy with images. Now there's a way to make your presentations light while retaining all the images. Save the pictures that you have to insert as JPGs, GIFs, or in any other format which is lighter. PowerPoint XP provides an option by which you can compress the embedded images. Click on the images you want compressed by holding down the [Ctrl] key or by selecting them all. Choose the Picture toolbar from View > Toolbars > Picture. Click on the Compress Pictures button, and choose 'Delete the cropped areas' of the picture to make the presentation lighter. Just remember that if you compress pictures by selecting the Web/Screen, Print, or 'Delete cropped areas of pictures' options from the Compress Pictures dialog box, you won't be able to restore images to their original resolution or size.

<img src="http://www.hashdot.com/ppt1_tmb.jpg" width="407" height="350" border="0" alt="" />

Add diagrams

PowerPoint XP offers a new Diagram functionality, which makes it easier to add organizational charts. Select Diagram from the Insert menu from the dialog box and choose the left-top corner chart. You could right-click any of those boxes to add Subordinates, Co-workers or Assistants to the existing charts. This reduces work when you have to build organizational charts with PowerPoint XP. You can also select Venn diagrams, Cycles, Radials, Pyramids, etc. from the Diagram listings.

<img src="http://www.hashdot.com/ppt2_tmb.jpg" width="244" height="302" border="0" alt="" />

Customize animations

You can now customise animations in PowerPoint XP. Start off by selecting your own track for the object to move on. This could either be a straight line, a curve, or a scribble. Right-click the text or the image for which the animation is to be set, and choose Custom Animation. The task pane opens and gives you a list of animations that can be assigned to an object on the presentation. To choose your own animation style, click on Add Effect and choose Motion paths. From this, choose the Draw Custom path submenu. This provides you with options to draw Straight lines, Curves or Scribble paths. You can choose any of these options and draw the path on the slide. The starting position would be denoted by a green triangle and the trailing edge by a red triangle. You can also resize and move the path. In this manner, you can even create small cartoon movies using PowerPoint XP.

<img src="http://www.hashdot.com/ppt3_tmb.jpg" width="356" height="321" border="0" alt="" />

The print preview option

PowerPoint XP has finally added the print preview facility. You can use this to preview slides before printing. This option was not present in the earlier version.

Creating alternative layouts in Word

You now have the power to create alternative layouts (for making handouts) in Word, which are not available in PowerPoint XP. You can do this by exporting the slide to Word through the Send To option. From the File menu, choose the Send To option, click Microsoft Word and then select a layout option. For example, if you want to print three slides per page but do not want lines for audience notes, send the handout to Word, choose the Blank lines next to the slides option, and delete the lines in Word. Choose any layout that suits your requirement and export the slides to Word. You can also make the necessary additions and deletions to the handouts in Word.

<img src="http://www.hashdot.com/ppt4_tmb.jpg" width="272" height="395" border="0" alt="" />

Add a button to the macro

You might be required to use a particular macro many times in a presentation or across presentations. It will be easier for you to create the macro and place it on the standard toolbar for instant access. To do this, choose Customize from the Tools menu. In the window that pops up, choose the Commands tab and click on Macros from the Categories option. The right side of the window will display all the macros available. Click and drag the one you want to access and drop it on the toolbar when you see a plus sign.
Note that the plus sign should appear while you move the macro to the tool bar. If you see a cross sign instead, it implies that the macro cannot be placed in the area you want it to be.

Write on a Slide During a Presentation

As a presenter, haven't you wished you could write on a slide-to draw a diagram or underline a word, for example-in the middle of a slide show? Microsoft PowerPoint includes a virtual annotation pen that enables you to write on a slide while giving a presentation.
To use the annotation pen during a slide show:
1. Open the presentation in Slide Show view.
2. Right-click in the window, point to Pointer Options, and click Pen.
3. When you are done using the pen, press ESC.