Stumbling upon new tips in a program I’ve already used for many years is always a good time. Most recently, I discovered some interesting uses for Ctrl+Enter in Excel. (This means pressing Ctrl and Enter at the same time).

For starters, I use Ctrl+Enter whenever I want to finalize typing in a cell but want the focus to stay on the cell – say because I am going to copy it next. Pressing only the Enter key shifts the cell focus down one. You could also change what Enter does through Options, but I like the ability to choose either way with the press of the Ctrl key.

Another interesting feature can be used when highlighting multiple cells, typing a value and pressing Ctrl+Enter. The value you type automatically copies down to all the highlighted cells!

And, you know, it works the same when creating or updating formulas.

Yet another way to copy quickly in Excel. Amazing!

If you’re feeling adventurous, you can also try experimenting with Ctrl+Enter in Array Formulas (Chip Pearson explains more), or you can try using Alt+Enter in some of your column headings.

Author:  Ryan Donelan
rdonelan@microknowledge.com

Remember, if you are a MicroKnowledge customer and have a software question to ask, feel free to contact us at any time by using our Support link at the top of the site. Your question might be featured in our next blog entry!

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Category: Tech Tips

Got a fancy new Windows 7 computer at work and a dusty old Windows XP desktop at home? Here’s a tool that emulates one of the best Windows 7 features, made for Windows XP. And it’s free.

The program is called AquaSnap, and it allows you to effortlessly resize your open windows. That innocuous description may not wow many people, but the ease-of-use and productivity bonus is huge. Simply drag a window to the right, drag a window to the left, and they expand perfectly to take up half the screen. No switching back-and-forth. It’s what Windows was made for.

Author:  Ryan Donelan
rdonelan@microknowledge.com

Remember, if you are a MicroKnowledge customer and have a software question to ask, feel free to contact us at any time by using our Support link at the top of the site. Your question might be featured in our next blog entry!

Do you have a related tip to share? Leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you.

Category: Tech Tips

Windows 8 is already on the horizon (probably out sometime in 2012) and for those of us just settling in to Windows 7, there’s more change coming. Nothing is official yet, but the writing is on the wall that Windows 8 will have a new look. Specifically, Windows 8 will have the same user interface (UI) as Windows phone, called the Metro UI. Bye-bye desktop.

Why the big change? Microsoft is positioning Windows 8 to run on a variety of devices, not just the traditional PC. We’re talking tablets and phones. And Microsoft is no doubt hoping the colorful, touch-friendly interface will help position Windows to finally start capturing that market. (Don’t worry, you can still use a mouse.)

But, you don’t actually have to wait until Windows 8 is released to see the new look! Open source developers have already brought the Metro-style UI to Windows 7, and one such example is Mosaic. You can install it now (it’s free). Just download, extract the zipped files into a folder, then double-click on Mosaic.exe, and you’re in.

Now Mosaic may look like it’s taken over your whole system, but you can get the taskbar and Start Menu back by going to the arrow in the upper right, clicking Options, and checking Show Windows taskbar in fullscreen mode.

So take the new interface for a spin. Now do you think Windows is on the cutting edge, or is it time to abandon ship and start saving up for that Mac?

Author:  Ryan Donelan
rdonelan@microknowledge.com

Remember, if you are a MicroKnowledge customer and have a software question to ask, feel free to contact us at any time by using our Support link at the top of the site. Your question might be featured in our next blog entry!

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Category: Tech Tips

It’s happened to everyone. You get an email, it has an attachment, and you notice something you want to change – it could be a typo, addition or some sort of note. But can you edit the attachment right in your email?

Yes, you can! But, there’s one tricky action to take before you start making those edits. Here’s the step-by-step in Outlook 2010:

• Open your email with an attachment in a separate window.
• Edit your email by going to Actions > Edit Message on the Message tab.

• Open the attachment and click Enable Editing from the yellow bar at the top.
• Edit, Save, and Close the attachment.
• When closing the email you should get this message. Click Yes.

Now you’re all set. A bit of warning though – your IT professionals might not like the idea of primarily saving attachments on your email server. They do take up a lot of space, so choose wisely!

Author:  Ryan Donelan
rdonelan@microknowledge.com

Remember, if you are a MicroKnowledge customer and have a software question to ask, feel free to contact us at any time by using our Support link at the top of the site. Your question might be featured in our next blog entry!

Do you have a related tip to share? Leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you.

Category: Tech Tips

There’s got to be a better way… We’ve all uttered these words before. In my case, it’s when I have to repeat the same action over and over to make something look right. Here’s another tool in your belt to help you retain your sanity.

Imagine you’ve just pasted a list of items into Word and this is what you got:

Did it paste the way you wanted? Probably not. In this case I wanted a list where each keyword is on its own line. Before you start pressing Backspace and Enter 20+ times, consider using Find and Replace:

• Press Ctrl+H to bring up the Replace window
• Type a comma and space next to Find what
• Type a ^p (which is a paragraph mark) next to Replace with
• Click Replace All

Now my list looks like this. Perfect!

If you actually wanted to remove the line breaks, you can instead replace the paragraph marks with nothing (leave the replace field blank). Now Replace acts like a mass-delete.

Author:  Ryan Donelan
rdonelan@microknowledge.com

Remember, if you are a MicroKnowledge customer and have a software question to ask, feel free to contact us at any time by using our Support link at the top of the site. Your question might be featured in our next blog entry!

Do you have a related tip to share? Leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you.

Category: Tech Tips

Want to encourage better data entry in your Excel form? (And maybe have a little fun?) You can write customized error messages that appear if someone enters invalid data in a cell. To set it up, click on the cell you want to watch, go to Data > Data Validation and choose what to allow someone to type in the cell.

For a quick example, you can choose to allow a whole number between 1 and 5. Next click the Error Alert tab and type in a message to display if someone doesn’t follow the rule. Click OK and test it out.

Did you type a 6? I knew it!

Author:  Ryan Donelan
rdonelan@microknowledge.com

Remember, if you are a MicroKnowledge customer and have a software question to ask, feel free to contact us at any time by using our Support link at the top of the site. Your question might be featured in our next blog entry!

Do you have a related tip to share? Leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you.

Category: Tech Tips

You can password protect most Office documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) quickly and easily. If you’ve never seen the option, I don’t blame you – Microsoft hid it pretty well. From the Save As dialog box, click Tools > General Options. Now simply type in a password and you’re protected!

Extra Tip: If you want everyone to be able to open the document, but only people with a password to be able to change it, use the Password to modify option.

Author:  Ryan Donelan
rdonelan@microknowledge.com

Remember, if you are a MicroKnowledge customer and have a software question to ask, feel free to contact us at any time by using our Support link at the top of the site. Your question might be featured in our next blog entry!

Do you have a related tip to share? Leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you.

Category: Tech Tips

You may have noticed the blue number that shows up next to each folder in Outlook. That number is a count of your unread messages in that folder. But you can configure Outlook to show you the total number of emails instead.

To change the number displayed, right-click on the folder, choose properties, and toggle between the two count options on the General tab. Do you have more than 1,000 Sent items? It might be time for a cleanup.

Author:  Ryan Donelan
rdonelan@microknowledge.com

Remember, if you are a MicroKnowledge customer and have a software question to ask, feel free to contact us at any time by using our Support link at the top of the site. Your question might be featured in our next blog entry!

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Category: Tech Tips

Ask anyone who takes an Excel Basic class and they’ll tell you one of the best tools in Excel is called the auto-fill handle. You might know it more commonly as the black plus sign you get when hovering over the lower-right corner of a selected cell. If you drag the fill handle down the spreadsheet, your formula copies down to each row you select.

But what if you have hundreds or thousands of rows? That’s a lot of dragging.

Next time, write your formula, then when you see the auto-fill handle double-click on it. Your formula automatically copies down to every row that has data next to it. And you know what ? It’s still handy if you only have 3 rows.

Author:  Ryan Donelan
rdonelan@microknowledge.com

Remember, if you are a MicroKnowledge customer and have a software question to ask, feel free to contact us at any time by using our Support link at the top of the site. Your question might be featured in our next blog entry!

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Category: Tech Tips

Editing Emails in your Outlook Mailbox

I often find that I receive emails that are missing one crucial piece of information. If that sounds familiar, ditch the paper and pen, and edit the email directly in your mailbox. Simply open the email in a separate window and go to Actions > Edit Message. Now you are free to type away!

For even better email organization, you can edit email subjects too. When your email is open in a separate window, just click in the subject and type.

Author:  Ryan Donelan
rdonelan@microknowledge.com

Remember, if you are a MicroKnowledge customer and have a software question to ask, feel free to contact us at any time by using our Support link at the top of the site. Your question might be featured in our next blog entry!

Do you have a related tip to share? Leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you.

Category: Tech Tips