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THE OFFICE LETTER
STANDARD EDITION
Tips, Tricks, Tools, and Techniques for Microsoft Office
Volume 4, Number 13 September 13, 2004
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IN THIS ISSUE
1) Word: Columns -- Balancing Length, Defining Headlines
2) Reader Tip: Saving Snippets from Outlook E-mail
3) Excel: Shortcut to Delete Rows or Columns
4) Review: RoboForm Gets an Upgrade
This Week's Premium Edition Extra:
Manage Internet Explorer Favorites from Outlook
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1) WORD: COLUMNS -- BALANCING LENGTH, DEFINING HEADLINES
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In a previous issue of The Office Letter we described how to set up
columns, including first setting up the column and then entering
text (and vice versa). We also discussed the Format/Columns dialog
box in some detail. (Premium subscribers, see
http://www.officeletter.com/prem/v01/n07.html#col.)
What we haven't discussed to date is how to balance columns. For
example, create a new document and define it to have two columns.
Word will enter your text in the first column as you type. When
there's no more room in the first column of the first page for your
text, Word flows the text into the second column on the page.
Unfortunately, what you end up with (depending on your text) may be
a long first column and a very short second column (see
illustration in our online edition).
There's a way to balance out the text automatically, however, so
that both columns are of approximately equal length. The trick is
to use a section break.
1. I usually work in either Normal view (if I'm just getting
started with a document), but I prefer Print Layout view if my
document contains columnar text; it's so much easier to work in
this mode.
2. Click at the end of the last column of the columns you want
balanced.
3. Use the Insert/Break command from the main menu. Word displays
the Break dialog box. Choose the Continuous option (in the
"Section break types" portion of the dialog box), then click on OK.
Word switches to Print Layout view and displays the columns
adjusted now to approximately equal lengths.
If you have Show/Hide toggled to show hidden text, you'll see a
"Section Break (Continuous)" notation where you inserted the break.
HEADLINES ACROSS COLUMNS
Here's another trick for columns.
If you're creating a newsletter and want to include a bold heading
for a new story (or a sub-heading for a longer story), you can do
so -- very easily. (See illustration for the results we're trying
to achieve.)
Suppose you want to use a three-column layout. Enter the headline
for the story, then press Enter twice, then enter all the text for
the story itself. Press Enter twice, type in the second story's
headline, then press Enter twice again and begin typing in the
second story. (Repeat for each additional story.)
Now:
1. Select the text to be modified. Start with the first story (but
not the first story's headline), and select the second story's
headline as well as the body of the second story's text.
2. Set the number of columns to 3. (I typically use the Columns
button in the toolbar because it's so fast, but you could also use
the Format/Columns command from the main menu.)
3. Move to the end of the first story and insert a continuous
break.
4. Select the headline for the second story, and assign the number
of columns to 1.
5. Modify the headline. I usually set it to a bold, sans-serif 16
point font.
6. Add a second line to the headline so it's separated from the
second story.
7. Adjust the extra blank lines at the beginning of the second
story. Note: when you originally entered the story, the extra
blank line wasn't strictly necessary, since here you are removing
it. However, I find that lots of extra blank lines make it easier
to find things (such as the beginning of the second story) when
you're working in Print Layout mode.
Note: There's an alternative to the technique for modifying the
second story's headline. You can place that headline in a separate
text box. I've found, however, that keeping the text box anchored
at the proper location in the text -- so the second headline
remains "above" the text of the second story -- is sometimes more
trouble than it's worth. While I've read several discussions about
this online, my preference is to use the one-column technique
described here to ensure the headline is where you want it.
-- James E. Powell
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2) READER TIP: SAVING SNIPPETS FROM OUTLOOK E-MAIL
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Office Letter reader Robin Freeman wrote to share the following
Outlook tip:
I recently signed up for the Office Letter, and am pleased I did
-- keep up the good work. I thought your readers might be
interested in the following tip.
In Outlook, while reading my e-mail, I often find pieces of text
that I'd like to save for future reference. A very convenient
way to do this is to select the text, then drag the selection to
the "Notes" icon (lower-left in the Outlook window). This
creates a "Post-It" note containing the text you selected.
Thanks for your tip, Robin. If you have a tip you'd like to share,
please send it to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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3) EXCEL: SHORTCUT TO DELETE ROWS OR COLUMNS
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Works in Excel 97 and above
Here's a keyboard shortcut for deleting rows and columns in Excel
without having to use the menus.
Select the row(s) or column(s) you want to delete, then press
Ctrl + - (Ctrl key plus the minus key). The minus key can be the
one on the numeric keypad or on the top row of keys (just above the
letters and below the function keys) on standard keyboards.
To select a row or column, click on the grey box at the far left of
the row (containing the row number) or the grey box at the top of
the column (containing the column letter). Alternatively, you can
select a row or column from the keyboard. Simply move to a cell in
the row or column you want to select and press Shift + Spacebar (to
select the row) or Ctrl + Spacebar (to select the column). If you
want to extend the selection of rows or columns, be sure to release
the Ctrl key, then press and hold the Shift key and use the arrow
keys (up arrow, right arrow, etc.) to select adjacent rows or
columns.
To delete the row or column you can also move to a cell in the row
or column you want to delete, press Ctrl + - and select "Entire
row" or "Entire column" from the Delete pop-up window.
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4) REVIEW: ROBOFORM GETS AN UPGRADE
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Some utilities make you wonder -- how did I ever get along without
this? Everywhere I go on the Web these days, from uploading files
to reading the latest news on sites that require you to register --
I need a password. I've been using RoboForm faithfully since the
first day I loaded it (the original review, from October of last
year, is at http://www.officeletter.com/blink/RoboForm.html).
At its core, RoboForm (free limited version, $29.99 Pro version)
senses forms on Web pages and fills in your user name and password;
at new registration sites it can fill in more -- your name and
address, for example. It can manage credit card data, too, though
I'm personally not comfortable storing credit card numbers on my
system.
Version 6 has just been released. There are scores and scores of
changes -- http://www.RoboForm.com/beta.html has the full list.
Suffice it to say that while the toolbar and other GUI elements
have changed, there are a few new features that stand out for their
usefulness.
Among my favorites: a password generator -- you tell RoboForm
whether it can use capital letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and
special characters, and the length of the password needed (up to 14
characters), and the program will generate one for you. You can
even specify that the program exclude similar characters (so you
don't have to distinguish between the letter O and the number 0).
Very nice.
The more sites I visit, the more passwords I accumulate. A new
search feature lets me find passwords (and more) when I need them.
I can also enter a few characters from a site (office for the The
Office Letter, for example), and RoboForm displays a list of
possible actions (visit the Office Letter site, visit the Office
Letter Web-based e-mail reader, and so on) -- all from actions I've
defined within the program. You can also enter a term into the
search box and find the term using Google, or look it up in a
dictionary.
Each member of your family can keep his/her own set of passwords
for their favorite sites. Furthermore, each user can have multiple
sets of passwords -- I use one to store my real information and
another for alternative data (for example, it stores my hotmail e-
mail account -- a "throwaway" account I enter into forms when I
don't want any follow-up messages from a site or fear they might
sell my e-mail address).
Among other new features in version 6: the ability to segregate
entries into folders, compatibility with Mozilla/Firefox, an ignore
field command (it prevents RoboForm from automatically filling in a
field), plus recognition of form fields in Yahoo, AOL, MSN, and ICW
instant messenger programs.
In version 5, when you re-visited a protected site, RoboForm popped
up a window with your information; you then clicked on "Fill" or
"Fill and Submit" (the latter option populated the fields and then
simulated pressing the "submit" or "go" button or whatever the form
needed to "enter" the information). In Version 6, there are now
options to simply automatically fill the form -- no more
distracting pop-up window.
All in all, the upgrade is a nice-to-have, though not essential,
improvement. If you are entering user IDs and passwords by hand,
or entering your name and address frequently on Web forms, RoboForm
should be on your system. Try the free version to get the hang of
things; it may be all you need. The Pro version is more versatile,
and you'll easily save the $30 price tag in time savings alone (and
then there's the relief from no longer having to remember all those
different usernames and passwords); a list of the differences
between free and Pro versions can be found at
http://www.roboform.com/why-pro.html.
-- James E. Powell
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----------- THE OFFICE LETTER ----- www.officeletter.com ----------
Tips and Tricks for Microsoft Office - Published Weekly
Copyright 2004 Masterware, Inc. All rights reserved
Now In Our Fourth Year - ISSN: 1543-5768
Editor in Chief: James E. Powell
Contributing Editors: Jim Boyce (www.boyce.us)
Dick Archer (www.diseno.com)
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