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Let’s say you want to format cells, so that you can display preceding zeroes for a number, for example, a phone number will always begin with a zero.

1. Select the cells that you want to format.
2. Right click on selected and from the menu choose the Format Cells
3. From the Number tab in the Category click on Custom.
4. Click in the Type box, delete the displayed content and enter zeroes that correspond to the size of the required number, for example if you want to display 5 numbers, enter 00000.
5. Click OK.

When you enter numbers into the formatted cells, the preceding zeroes will be displayed, for example if you formatted the cells as 00000, when you enter 123 you will get 00123

You finally installed Office 2007 and guess what? You cannot find commands you are used to in the Menu!

It will certainly take a while to adjust to a new Menu. So what you can do to locate where your favourite Office 2003 commands are in the new Office 2007 interface?

Microsoft developed visual, interactive reference guides to help you quickly learn where things are. You can download and install them on your computer.

The only downside to it is that you have to download these guides for each of the Office 2007 Applications.

If you are not sure if it will help it, try an online demonstration from one of those listed at Microsoft Office Online.

If you are happy to proceed, use the following links to download command reference guides for each of the Office applications:

Word 2003 to Word 2007 interactive command reference guide

Excel 2003 to Excel 2007 interactive command reference guide

PowerPoint 2003 to PowerPoint 2007 interactive command reference guide

Outlook 2003 to Outlook 2007 Interactive Command Reference Guide

Access 2003 to Access 2007 interactive command reference guide

PDF is a fixed-layout electronic file format that preserves document formatting. It ensures that when the file is viewed online or printed, it retains exactly the format that was initially intended, and that data in the file cannot easily be changed.

Before the release of Office 2007 we had to either buy Adobe Acrobat for about £450 in order to convert Office files into PDF format, or install a third party software solution.

With the release of Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft introduced a file format called XPS. It is similar to PDF in that you can save a file to this format and share or print it at a later date. This XPS format is not the global standard, and not many people know what it is when they receive it.

The following Office applications can be used to convert files to PDF format:

• Access
• Excel
• InfoPath
• OneNote
• PowerPoint
• Publisher
• Visio
• Word

In order to convert files, you need to install 2007 Microsoft Office Add-in: Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS. 

Let’s use Microsoft Word application to convert a Word file into PDF format.

1. Open a Microsoft Word document you want to save in PDF format
2. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then navigate to Save As, and click PDF Or XPS.

 

 

3.  In Save as Type, make sure that PDF is selected.

 

 

If you want to open the file immediately after saving it, select the Open file after publishing check box. This check box is available only if you have a PDF reader installed on your computer.

 

4. Click Publish to create your PDF.

You may have noticed when typing into a column that if you start to enter some text that begins with the same letters as text that has been previously entered in that column, Excel completes the remaining characters for you. This feature is called AutoComplete.

It will not always work, for example, for entries that contain only dates or numbers.

If the first few characters that you type in a cell match an existing entry in that column, Excel automatically enters the remaining characters for you. Excel automatically completes only those entries that contain text or a combination of text and numbers. Entries that contain only numbers, dates, or times are not automatically completed.

You have the following choices:

• Accept a proposed entry by pressing ENTER (in this case the completed entry will match the pattern of uppercase and lowercase letters of the existing entry)
• Replace the automatically entered characters by ignoring the proposed entry and continue typing.
• Delete the automatically entered characters by pressing BACKSPACE.

However, if you find this feature is not useful, you can turn it off:

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Excel Options.
2. Click Advanced, and then, under Editing options, clear or select the Enable AutoComplete for cell values check box and turn automatic completion of cell values on or off.

Microsoft Excel – it’s just spreadsheets and formulas, right? Wrong – there’s much more to this super-smart Microsoft programme. With the right training you could get to know Microsoft Excel’s best-kept secret and be well on your way to making the most of your business information.

You may already know that Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet application that allows you to perform anything from basic mathematical computations to tasks involving massive amounts of data. But did you also realise that a training course could give you the tricks, tools and tips to really power up your business information? You’ll soon be able to create highly interactive spreadsheets that update as and when you add information – without having to become an expert in computer programming!

They may sound rather serious, but Excel Formulas and Functions can seriously liven up your business information. It’s time to think big. Very big. You can work with huge amounts of data, because Office Excel 2007 supports spreadsheets of up to 1 million rows by 16,000 columns! It’s better as well as bigger – Office Excel 2007 allows even faster calculation of formula-intense spreadsheets.

Imagine having to manually perform calculations on a worksheet that contains huge volumes of data. It’s dull, time consuming – with plenty of scope for human error. Cut out the complex manual calculations and use Formulas and Functions to quickly perform calculations on large data sets. Fast, efficient and free of headaches!

Monthly profits…business budgets…sales figures – whatever information you need to manage, you’ll find Excel is flexible enough to adapt.  Excel offers 10 choices of functions – from nice and simple like Summary to more complex functions like calculating financial data. You can even calculate data across different spreadsheets by using the Summary option and Three-Dimensional Cell reference! With training you’ll soon have the skills to create charts, graphs and other visuals based on all kinds of business data, whatever sector you work in.

Excel also allows you to see into the future!  Well, not quite – but it can help you plan ahead for different business scenarios. You can use its Logical functions to perform what-if analysis, for example to calculate a bonus for an employee if a sales target is met. There are also clever features like Date and Time Function for performing calculations on dates and Text functions to easily manipulate the look of your text.

Getting trained in Excel’s many smart features will give the skills to power up your data. Getting better control of your information is great for business. And that’s no secret.

Suppose you need to shift the content of rows with the content of columns. What shall you do?

The Transpose option shifts rows and columns on the worksheet. For example, if you have a table where the months appear as rows and the sales as columns, the transpose option will reverse the rows and columns.

You need to do the following:

1. Select the range you want to change
2. From the Home tab in the Clipboard group, click the Copy button
3. Select a cell outside of the range you copied
4. In the Clipboard group, click the Paste drop-down arrow and select Transpose

To insert the above using your keyboard, place your cursor on a cell, row number or column letter and use <CTRL> + <SHIFT> + <+> keys.

A few friends of mine recently told me they don’t have a new .docx format and couldn’t open a file in Word format.

Do you have Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003 and receive an error message when you try to open a file in Word, Excel or PowerPoint?

Error messages include:

• Windows cannot open this file
• The file is not in a recognizable format
• PowerPoint can’t open the type of file represented by filename

This article may help you to get rid of the problem.

Microsoft has added the new Office Open XML Formats to the following 2007 Microsoft Office programs:

• Microsoft Office Excel 2007
• Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007
• Microsoft Office Word 2007

Some of the formats have been changed and are now:

• Word Document (*.docx)
• Excel Workbook (*.xlsx)
• PowerPoint Presentation (*.pptx)

To be able to read files in new formats from the earlier versions of Microsoft Office you will need to install and download a Compatibility Pack.

A compatibility pack is available to help you open and save Office Open XML formats in earlier versions of Microsoft Office. You can install the compatibility pack on a computer that is running Microsoft Office 2003 programs, Microsoft Office XP programs, or Microsoft Office 2000 programs. When you install the compatibility pack, you can open, edit, save, and create files in the Office Open XML Formats.

All you need to do is:

1. Make sure that you have all High-Priority updates from Microsoft Update. Just press the Express button from the Welcome to Microsoft Update page and follow the instructions.

2. Download the Compatibility Pack by clicking the Download button from the Microsoft website on http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en and save the file to your hard disk.

3. Double-click the FileFormatConverters.exe program file on your hard disk to start the setup program.

4. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation.

These simple steps will ensure you can open and save files in the Office Open XML Formats. They will also mean you have the latest Microsoft Update for your Windows application, which is a MUST for protecting your computer from threats.

We all know a successful company is only as good as its information. The secret of every thriving business is definitely in the detail. So how can you manage your business information to get more out of it?

It’s one of the best-known features of Microsoft Office, but many people still aren’t making the most of Excel. O.K, so you might already know you can create spreadsheets on Excel. But did you know the level to which Excel can help you use, share and show your business information? It works for all kinds of business activities too – from creating timesheets to generating invoices to tracking your business income.

It’s great for everyday business activities, but Excel can also help you plan for the future.  And that’s a must in today’s tough financial climate. After an advanced training course you could use Excel to see exactly what’s ahead for your business by creating detailed financial forecasts. You can even change the financial model with updated information to view the results of different business scenarios!

Here’s another smart Excel secret. Ever wished you could get more out of your business information? Of course you have. This powerful tool is called a pivot table and it allows you to drop in your data and rearrange it to answer all kinds of questions.  Want to know your sales levels for a specific product range?  Looking to check which parts of your business are performing best? The pivot table helps get much more out of your business information. And it’s simple – once you know how to use it.

Excel can’t run your business for you. But, with the right training, it can help you boost your business planning – long into the future.