Monday, May 21st, 2007

Put a button on an Excel worksheet

I love the form tools in Excel they let you do so many cool things. One thing I love to do is to make buttons run my macros. To do this, use the Forms toolbar, click the Button tool and drag to create a button on the worksheet. When you do, a dialog appears with all your macros listed so you can select the one to use. You can also edit the text on the button and when you’re done simply click it to run the macro – sweet huh?

If you’re using Excel 2007 you have to add the button tool to your Quick Access toolbar (it’s in the Commands Not In The Ribbon group and it’s called Button (Form Control).

For more tips and tricks and helpful Office columns, visit Projectwoman.com

Helen Bradley

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 6:42 pmNo Comments links to this post

Thursday, May 17th, 2007

Camera Icon in Excel 2007

Hi Jim from Calgary!

Jim wrote and asked, “I’ve been using the camera icon for years and I can’t find it in Excel 2007. Can you see it anywhere?”

He also said, “nice blog thanks” – so anyone that nice deserves an answer.

So, Jim, don’t go looking for the camera on the Ribbon it isn’t there. You probably already know you can’t customize the Ribbon either so you can’t put it just anywhere you like – thanks Microsoft! You’re limited to the Quick Access toolbar – that little bar to the right of the Office button. Click the down arrow to its immediate right and choose More Commands. From the Choose Commands From list choose ‘Commands Not in the Ribbon’ (that’s how I figure it probably isn’t on the ribbon), and then locate the Camera. Click it and click Add. Then click Ok. Now the camera is on the Quick Access Toolbar and it works as it always used to – least so far as I can see.

If you’ve now got a great new camera icon on your toolbar but you don’t know what to do with it, then visit my Snap an Excel range blog entry to find out…

For more tips and tricks and helpful Office columns, visit Projectwoman.com

Helen Bradley

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 3:43 am10 Comments links to this post

Friday, May 4th, 2007

Reuse a Chart’s "Look"

Sometimes you’ll create a chart that just looks so good you want to save the ‘look’ so you can use it again. You can do this by turning your chart into a template. This would be a technique you could use if you were creating a report and you need to use multiple charts that are all formatted in a similar way.

To save a chart as a template, first display or create the chart and select it. On the Chart Tools, Design tab, choose Save As Template in the Type group. In the Save In box check you’re using the Charts folder and type a name for your template and click Save. Later, to apply the template, to a chart you’re about to create, select your data the Insert tab, click the Other Charts button to open the list and choose All Chart Types. Choose Templates and then the template you just saved. If you already have a chart created, click the chart and click the Design tab, then Change Chart Type. Click Templates, then click the template to use from the My Templates area.

You can store lots of templates to meet any need you might have and change from one to the other as required.

For more tips and tricks and helpful Office columns, visit Projectwoman.com

Helen Bradley

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 4:34 pmNo Comments links to this post

Wednesday, March 21st, 2007

Too cool for school – Office 2007 SmartArt

New to Microsoft Office 2007 PowerPoint, Excel and Word is the SmartArt feature which is one you’re just going to love.

To test it out add a new slide to a PowerPoint presentation, for example, and select the blank layout. From the Insert tab on the Ribbon, select SmartArt and then one of the SmartArt objects.

I like the one called Staggered Process which I’ve shown here as it makes a great display for a simple step-by-step process. Select your choice of design and then you’ll see text brackets appear on the screen. Click in them or click the double-pointing arrows at the left of the SmartArt object and type your text in the special dialog.

Once you’ve got your bullet points in – and you can add more than the default three if you need more – you have a simple step-by-step graphic. But – this is only the beginning.

There are lots of different looks for your graphic including beveled edges and 3D effects, and you can choose these from the SmartArt styles dropdown list in front of you. You can also change the colors used in the design which, of course, are based on the current document Theme colors. Change the Design Ttheme and the look of the project changes with it.

It’s about as simple as it’s ever going to be to add great looking step-by-step graphics to a PowerPoint slide. They are, seriously, way cool…

For more tips and tricks and helpful Office columns, visit Projectwoman.com

Helen Bradley

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 6:21 pmNo Comments links to this post

Saturday, February 17th, 2007

Start Smart in Excel

When Excel starts a default new workbook displays. This workbook contains many of the default settings for Excel and it can be customized so it looks the way you want it to look.

You can configure the defaults for your starter Excel worksheet if you place your settings in one of the two Excel templates; Book.xlt and Sheet.xlt. Neither file is required but, if you have one or other, or both, stored in your XLStart folder then Excel opens them whenever it opens and uses the data you have stored in them as its own default settings.

When you’re creating either or both of the files make sure to put the relevant settings in the right file. Book.xlt should contain the defaults for all new workbooks such as styles and toolbars.

Use Sheet.xlt for options appropriate for all new sheets in a workbook which are added when you choose Insert, Worksheet. A word of warning, when you save a workbook as sheet.xlt make sure it contains only one Sheet.

For more tips and tricks and helpful Office columns, visit Projectwoman.com

Helen Bradley

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 7:07 pmNo Comments links to this post

Thursday, February 8th, 2007

Excel 2007 goes total color!

It’s always been confusing to me and my readers why you have an unlimited number of colors to choose from in Word but only a handful of really ugly colors to use in Excel. It doesn’t make sense – do Word users have better design skills than Excel uses – do they think that those of us who create worksheets somehow won’t be blindsided by how ugly the color combinations we’re being served up are?

Well, if you’ve been hankering after a rich color palette for your worksheets, you need do so no more. Excel 2007 gives you access to a full range of 16 million colors from the colors dialog so that you can use these colors, for example, for formatting text, charts or drawn objects. You can also select a Theme which gives you instant access to colors that are selected from the same monochromatic group and guaranteed to look great together. The new and very colorful options in Excel 2007 are guaranteed to wow you!

For more tips and tricks and helpful Office columns, visit Projectwoman.com

Helen Bradley

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 5:38 pmNo Comments links to this post

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