When you’ve collected info via a Word form, you don’t have to manually enter it into Access. Mary Ann Richardson steps through an example that demonstrates the wizard way to knock out the task more efficiently and accurately.

A Word form makes it easy to gather information from users or clients so that you can analyze it later. But getting the information into an Access table can be time-consuming, not to say error-prone. To avoid having to print out and reenter data into a table, you can use the Access Import Text Wizard to bring in the form data for you.

Before you can use the wizard, you must save the form’s data to a text file. In this example, we have asked employees to complete the form shown in Figure A.

Figure A

Follow these steps to save the data in each completed form to a text file that will be imported into Access:

You can now import the data in the text files into an Access table by following these steps:

1. Create a blank database.
2. Click File | Get External Data | Import. (In Access 2007, click the External Data tab and then click the Text File button in the Import Group.)
3. Click in the File Name box and enter the full path name of the text file your want to import (Figure B).

Figure B

1. Click Import and then click Next.
2. Click the Delimited Button (Figure C) and then click Next.

Figure C

1. In the following window (Figure D), click Next again.

Figure D

1. Click the Field One Column and enter Project ID in the Field Name box.
2. Click the Field Two Column and enter Project Name in the Field Name box.
3. Click the Field Three Column and enter Project Start Date in the Field Name box.
4. Click the Field Four column enter Project End Date in the Field Name Box (Figure E).

Figure E

1. Click Next.
2. Click Choose My Own Primary Key.
3. Select Project ID from the drop-down list and click Next.
4. Enter Training Projects in the Name box.
5. Click Finish and then Close.

To add the next form, close the Training Projects table and follow these steps:

1. Start the Import Wizard in Access.
2. Enter the full path name of the next text file.
3. Click the Append button and select Training Projects from the drop-down list.
4. Click Next twice and then click Finish (Figure F).

Figure F



Important Note: If you need to enter more than a handful of forms a day, you should consider using  ADO (ActiveX Data Object) to create a code connection to the table that will automate the data transfer process.

With a handful of well-constructed formulas, you can keep on top of the latest information in your Excel worksheets.

By adding a few formulas to your worksheet, you can keep your employees up to date on the latest sales figures. For example, suppose you use the worksheet shown in Figure A to keep track of daily sales for the month.

Figure A

To cheap generic cialis show the Total Sales-To-Date, enter the labels and formulas shown in Figure B.

Figure B

The formula in E2 searches the data cells in the column for a match to today’s date, calculated by the Today()function in E1. When Excel finds a cell whose value matches the date in E1, it returns the address of the cell to the right of the match. The SUM function uses the INDIRECT function to specify E2 as last cell in the range to be totaled.

You can perform different calculations by replacing the SUM with another function. For example, to find the average sales for the month up to today, replace SUM in the formula in E3 with AVERAGE.

Date: September 23rd, 2008

Author: Mary Ann Richardson

Word’s Open dialog box is full of functionality that lets you perform all sorts of file tasks. See how to take advantage of this convenient — and sometimes essential — approach to file management.

If you’re working on a private network, you may be restricted as to what you can do in Windows Explorer. In fact, you might not even be able to open the Explorer cheap cialis soft window. So what can you do if you want to work with one of your files? Just use Word’s Open command.

You don’t need to go outside of Word to work with another file. You can navigate to the file in Word’s Open dialog box and simply right-click it to display a shortcut menu. From there, you can perform most any function you would do using Windows Explorer.

For example, do you need to copy a file to a CD or floppy? Simply right-click it and send it to the appropriate device. Do you want to move all your files to a new folder? Click the Create New Folder button on the Open dialog box toolbar, enter a name for the folder, and then drag or cut and paste your file to it.

If you need to print a copy of two or more files, press the Ctrl key while clicking each of the files you want to print; then, right-click the selection and choose Print. Word will open all the documents and send them to the printer automatically.

To create a new document containing the contents of an existing document in your list, follow these steps:

Right-click the document containing the information you want in the new one (Figure A).

Figure A

Click New, click OK, and then close the Open dialog box.

Word creates a new document containing the information from the original document, which you can then edit and save as a new document.

You also don’t have to leave Word to open a file created in another application, such as an Excel or PDF file. Simply right-click the file, click Open With, and then choose the appropriate application. Word will open the selected file in a new window.

Do you use MS Outlook's calendar feature to keep track of your appointments and other projects or deadlines?

Have you ever found yourself constantly entering the same or similar information over and over again?

If you're thinking that sounds familiar and you're tired of all the repetition, I have a time saver for you!

Next time, instead of retyping or even copying/pasting your appointment information, try canadian cialis this little trick.

Hold down the Ctrl key and drag the appointment to another date or time.

Voila!

The appointment is now copied to the new time or day. (Keep in mind that if you move it to a new day, it will appear at the same time as the original, so you may need to adjust the time a little bit).

No more retyping. Yes!

I don't know about you, but I'm terrible with flagged e-mails.

Flagging something for later is a great idea until you forget it's at the bottom of your e-mail list! In those cases, it's forgotten just like everything I didn't flag.

So, now what?

Well, in MS Outlook 2007, you can not only mark it with a flag, but you can also set a due date. With the due date set, Outlook will list the item in your To-Do list on the To-Do Bar.

With the message buy real cialis online on the list, you'll find that it's not as easy to forget since the To-Do list automatically moves things up in priority as the due date nears.

If this sounds like a good idea, here's what you need to know:

• The first step is to right click over the message you want to flag.

  

• From the menu that opens, choose Follow Up.

• You'll then see a list of choices for setting a due date. Use either one of the pre-set dates, a custom date or no due date at all. All of those choices will add the message to your To-Do list.