Calculator at Your Fingertips

Most of the time I do my calculations in Excel, but occasionally I reach for a calculator instead — and it’s never where I left it. Fortunately, my keyboard has a button that launches the Windows calculator, so I can do quick calculations there.

The Calculator key is at the top of the keyboard, just above the ScrLk key, buried under a layer of dust and crumbs.  Fairly well hidden, but it’s nice to have.

Another way to do a quick calculation is in Google. Type a formula in the Search box, then click Google Search, or press the Enter key, to see the result.

Find Office Files with Keywords

When you save a Microsoft Office file, you can store keywords to help you find that file later. For example, when you’re creating an estimate for a client’s Excel project:

1. In Excel, click on the File menu, and click on Properties
2. On the Summary tab, enter Estimate, Excel in the Keywords box, then click OK.

Later, you can use one or more keywords to find relevant files:

1.  In Excel, click the Open button on the toolbar.
2. At the top right of the Open dialog box, click the arrow on the Tools button
3. Click Search
   
4. In the Search dialog box, click the Advanced tab.
5. From the first drop down, select Keywords
6. Enter a keyword in the third box, and click Add
   
7. Enter more keywords, or any other search criteria, including location.
8. Click the Go button, to start the search.

On-line Stop Watch

When working on projects that I’m billing on a per-hour basis, I use this on-line stop watch to record my time: http://www.online-stopwatch.com/

The site also has a count down feature, which you could use to limit yourself to 15 minutes of Internet browsing. When the bell rings, get back to work!

Energy Savings Calculator

Energy Star, a branch of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has free guides with energy saving tips for businesses. They even have a fancy Excel workbook to help you get started — Energy Star’s Cash Flow Opportunity (CFO) Calculator.

Tidy Up Your Charts

If you’ve created several reports in an Excel workbook, you might want to line them up and make them all the same size before printing. Instead of doing this manually, you can download and install Jon Peltier’s free Align Chart Dimensions utility. There are installation instructions on Jon’s site. 

After you install the add-in, you can select specific charts, or let the utility align all the charts on the sheet. Check the options to align and resize the charts, then click OK, and your report is ready.

Create a New Document From the Desktop

To quickly create a new document, you can use a desktop shortcut:

1. Right-click on an empty area of the Windows desktop.
2. Click on New
3. Click on the program that you want to start

Note: This blog has moved to http://blog.contextures.com. Please check there for new posts.

Repair an Excel File

If you’re having problems with an Excel file, using the built in repair feature might fix the problem. This can help when data validation drop down arrows don’t appear, or there are other signs of corruption.

1. Close the file
2. In Excel, choose File►Open
3. Locate and select the file
4. Click the arrow at the right of the Open button
5. Click on Open and Repair
   
6. When prompted, click the Repair button.
   

This might save the file, and if not, you can follow the same steps, but click Extract Data instead, to retrieve as much of the data as possible. And remember to make backup copies of your work!

Note: This blog has moved to http://blog.contextures.com. Please check there for new posts.

Moving the Blog

I’ve been setting up this blog on my own domain, http://blog.contextures.com/, and now it’s ready. At the end of this week, no new posts will be made here, and everything will appear on the new site. This week the sites will be duplicated (except for this post), so you can read either one.

Please join me at the new site, so you can continue to get the daily tips. I appreciate your support!

Find the Mouse Pointer

When working on my laptop, especially with a second monitor plugged in, it’s sometimes hard to find the mouse pointer. Too often, this happens in the middle of a meeting, while I’m trying to demonstrate something to a client.

To make the pointer easier to find, you can use one of the built in features:

1. Click the Start button on the Windows taskbar, and click on Control Panel
2. Double-click on Mouse, to open the Mouse Properties dialog box
3. Click on the Pointer Options tab
4. Add a check mark to Show Location of Pointer When I Press the CTRL Key
   
5. Click OK
6. Close the Control Panel window.

The next time you lose the pointer, press the Ctrl key, and circles will flash on the screen, showing its location.

Note: This blog has moved to http://blog.contextures.com. Please check there for new posts.

Email Response Templates

If you frequently type the same responses to email questions, you can use an email response template to make things easier.

1. In Outlook, create a new email, with the Subject “Standard Paragraphs”
2. Leave the To and From boxes blank
3. Paste in your most frequently used paragraphs.
4. Save the message, and close it.

Next time you need one of the standard responses, open the Standard Paragraphs draft message, copy a paragraph from there, and paste it into your current email.

Note: This blog has moved to http://blog.contextures.com. Please check there for new posts.