Excel

You've compiled a big, complicated spreadsheet full of numbers and you want the important ones to stand out. Give conditional formatting a try - it's an Excel technique that changes cell appearance based on rules you set up, like "Turn the cell green if its value is less than 100."

Conditional formatting allows Excel to apply a defined format to cells that meet specific criteria. You can use a different background color, font color or border. The goal is to make important cells stand out so you can find them easier. Excel already does some of this for you. An example is when you format cells with numbers, there are options on how to display negative numbers in red.  read more »

When you click Excel's AutoSum button from a cell next to a row or column of numbers, Excel automatically sums those numbers.

You don't have to type a formula (=sum()) or drag through the cells. Excel figures out what’s needed and adds the precise summing you need.

Now here's the really nice part. There's a keyboard shortcut that lets you do this without having to change your focus from the worksheet to the toolbar.

In Windows, just press the Alt key and = (the equal sign).  read more »

How do I change the default font for things like page numbers, headers, footers, footnotes, and endnotes?

These are all styles. You can change the attributes of any style for the current document or for all documents based on the current template. If the current template is the Normal template and you select the Add to template option below, all of your ordinary new documents will reflect the style changes that you make.

Word 2000:  read more »

If you've got rows of formulas that are similar (x+y=z), here's an easy way to have Excel solve those for you.

 read more »

Here's an easy exercise you can try to display the number of days between two dates:

1. Start Excel. A new, blank workbook appears.
2. In cell A1, type 1 June 2002, and press ENTER.
3. In cell B1, type 15 April 2001, and press ENTER.
4. In cell C1, type =A1-B1, and press ENTER.
5. Right-click cell C1, and click Format Cells.
6. On the Number tab, in the Category list, select General and then click OK.

Cell C1 displays the number of days between June 1, 2002, and April 15, 2001, which is 412.

If you look at the upper-right corner of your spreadsheet above the scroll bar, you'll notice a small bar:

Click and drag this bar down. You will see a gray bar move up and down when you move your mouse. Let go when it's where you want it. Now that section will not move when you scroll up and down.

Microsoft Excel and Word allow you to split the screen to give you different views into the same document or spreadsheet. The first thing to look for, to see if your program offers this feature is a tiny spacer next to the scrollbar. There may be one above the vertical scrollbar.

There may be one to the right or left of the horizontal scrollbar.

Or both. (Note: in Microsoft Excel, there is also a spacer to the left of the horizontal scrollbar, but that one merely adjusts the size of the scrollbar.)  read more »

This tip is from Michelle Rosenberg, for Oshkosh ILL staff. But, I thought it would apply for others as well.

AutoFilter allows you to easily sort all field of your spreadsheet.

Highlight the header row:

From the menu choose Data, then Filter, then click AutoFilter.

You will now see arrows in the right of each of the column headers  read more »

If you wish to set up alternating row colors in Excel, first highlight the rows that you wish to apply the formatting to. In this example, I've selected all rows in the spreadsheet.

Under the Format menu, select Conditional Formatting.

Then the Conditional Formatting window appears, select "Formula Is" in the drop down. Then enter the following formula:

=mod(row(),2)=1  read more »