When you need to round up data on when your customers last placed an order, an Access query can do the trick. Here’s a quick walk-through that shows you how.

Orders have fallen in the last month and you are wondering whether you should send out another promotion. You decide to send one promotion to customers who have ordered recently and another to those customers whose last order was more than a month ago. Customers who haven’t ordered in six months will be excluded from the mailing. To find out when each customer placed their last order, follow these steps:

Figure A

1. Right-click the Query grid and select Totals (Figure B).

Figure B

1. Click the drop-down arrow of the Totals cell under the OrderDate field and select Last (Figure C).

Figure C

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1. Click Run.

The query Datasheet view lists each customer’s name and last order date.

If you build a little space between your borders and text, the results will be better looking and easier to read. Here’s a quick way to fine-tune the spacing so it’s just right.

Did you ever wonder why it looks like you need to insert a blank line between the top border of your paragraph and the paragraph text? By default, Word leaves only one point of line spacing between your top border and the text, which can look a little crowded (Figure A).

Figure A

You could click before the first word in the paragraph and press Enter, but that might not give you the exact spacing you want. Let’s say, for example, you would like 6-point line spacing between the border and the paragraph. To achieve that formatting, follow these steps:

Figure B

1. In the From Text section, click the up arrow of the Top box until 6 pt is displayed.
2. Click OK twice (Figure C).

Figure C

Now your text will be situated six points below the top border, as shown in Figure D.

Figure D

Your users probably have a few favorite keyboard shortcuts for formatting text — like Ctrl + B for applying boldface, Ctrl + I for applying italics, Ctrl + U for underlining, and maybe Ctrl + L to left-align text. But Word provides buttons for those tasks on the Formatting toolbar, so any efficiency gains are kind of a toss-up.

The real convenience lies in knowing some more obscure keyboard shortcuts — ones that have no default button equivalents and that can save users from having to scrounge around dialog boxes looking for the appropriate options. Here are some shortcuts that are especially good for users to have under their belt.

Note: A comprehensive list of 80 Word shortcuts is available as a PDF in the TechRepublic Downloads Library. 

Tell the truth, now. When you see a new worksheet arrive in your Inbox, your pulse doesn’t exactly quicken, does it? I’m guessing that you don’t lean forward in your chair, eager to open the file and see what exciting new numbers the worksheet is likely to present.

Or maybe you do have a pulse-pounding reaction to worksheets, but it’s due to anxiety, not excitement. What am I supposed to see in all this data? How hard is this going to be to decipher? Am I really smart enough to figure all this stuff out? What time is lunch?

You can lessen this type of math anxiety for those who view your worksheets by using some simple techniques in Excel to get your data message across clearly. Here are a few tips to get you started.

Note: This information is also available as a PDF download.

#1: Give your worksheet a good title

The ultimate goal of your worksheet is to present information in a way others will understand, right? Give readers a head start by titling your worksheet clearly. A good title lets readers know immediately what the content of the worksheet is going to show them — that way, they won’t have to work so hard. “2008 Projections” isn’t bad, but it leaves a lot of things out. What kind of projections? Sales? Hired Employees? New Store Openings? Be as clear as you can and, if necessary, add a subtitle. And if you plan to circulate the worksheet by e-mail, be sure that you title the worksheet file with something that reflects the content of the sheet itself. That way, when people open the file, they’ll know what to expect.

#2: Wake people up with color

Sure, black and white does the trick. But. It’s. Boring. For those of us who aren’t numbers people to start with, pouring over a black-and-white grid stuffed with an ocean of numerals is torture. Jazz it up by splashing a little color on the page. Choose an energizing color — green, orange, purple — for your column heads. Do something special with the title — maybe format it in a complementary color, add a picture at the top, put a background behind it to make it pop. Just be sure the color you add doesn’t actually detract from the readability of the page. You want the color and design of the worksheet to draw people into the page, not make them forget what they’re looking at.

Excel makes it easy to add a picture to the background of the worksheet as well. This is really a neat effect, if you have a reason to use it. As a general rule, don’t put pictures behind your data just for the fun of it — readers have to work harder to see what’s in the foreground. But if you want to promote something fun, such as a summer sales competition, you can raise the energy by adding a special picture behind the scenes.

#3: Let the format lead the eye

Have you ever felt your heart sink because you’ve got five minutes to prepare for a meeting and the worksheet you’re looking at makes no sense? Chances are, the problem is one of three things:

The way in which you format your worksheet can solve all three of these potential problems for you. As a general rule, the largest items on your page will get the first look. Then, the eye will look for the next largest, and the next largest after that. The actual content — the data in the cells — is likely to be what your readers see last.

You can use this idea to your advantage when you plan the format of your page. Make the title stand out, good and bold, and make sure it says something clearly about the content you’re showing. Next, enlarge the column and row heads just a bit and put them in a second color. Readers will quickly scan the column and row headings to get a sense of how the information on the worksheet is organized. This will help them see what’s most important on the page and where they should begin.

If you have extra information you want to be sure readers see — for example, a note explaining why you’re displaying projected 2008 data even though it’s only 2007 — you can set it off by enclosing it in a border or using a second color. This will draw the reader’s eye to the note after they’ve taken in the most important items on the page.

#4: Apply a theme

Excel 2007 benefits from the propecia interactions hip new (or should I say, expanded and improved) themes feature that has been added throughout the core Office 2007 applications. Themes exist in Office 2003, but they were limited in design and functionality (and much less fun).

When you apply a theme to your Excel 2007 worksheet (by clicking the Page Layout tab and choosing Themes), you make a design choice that includes the font, color, table style, and effects of the information on your worksheet. The great thing about this feature is that you can dramatically change the look and feel of your information simply by opening the Themes gallery and clicking another choice.

#5: Don’t cram your charts

What would we do without charts in Excel? Charts are a saving grace for those who need to provide their information in the easiest possible way for readers to understand. A chart quickly shows readers what’s most important in your data (or at least, what’s most important in what you want to show right now) and presents each data item in relation to other items in the chart.

One mistake that Excel chart novices often make is to try to show absolutely everything under the sun in a single chart. You’ve got one shot, right? The best way to ensure that your readers will keep viewing your information is to make sure they understand what they’re looking at. And that means paring your chart down to the essentials and not littering the bars or pie slices with all sorts of labels and percentages and other nonessential items. Show what you need to get your point across and no more. Your readers will thank you for it.

#6: Diagrams are helpful

Excel 2007 includes another way to show your data visually. Now you can use SmartArt to create professional-looking diagrams for flowcharts, org charts, and much more. Creating a SmartArt diagram is similar to creating a chart — you choose the type of diagram you want to use, add your text, and then add bars, lines, suns, moons, whatever. You can tailor the diagram in an almost unlimited number of ways (including adding pictures to the shapes in the diagram).

#7: Take advantage of conditional formatting

I admit that I am easily amused by simple, colorful things. So I love the improved conditional formatting in Excel 2007. This is another feature that’s been dramatically enhanced and made easier to use in the newest version. Now you can use a variety of visualizations to help show trends in the data you’re presenting. You can use symbols, color bars, and more. To add conditional formatting to your worksheet, select the cells you want to showcase and click Conditional Formatting in the Styles group of the Home tab. Select the style of formatting you want to apply, and Live Preview will show how the formatting will look on your data. Nice.

#8: When in doubt, spell it out

If you are working on a complex worksheet and just can’t see how everyone will understand what you want them to focus on without a note or two, you can easily add comments to cells in the worksheet. Simply select the cell or range you want to add a note to, right-click, and choose Insert Comment. A small text box opens on top of your worksheet so that you can type the note you want to add. Your readers will know a comment exists at that point in your worksheet because a small red triangle appears in the upper-right corner of the cell. When a reader hovers the mouse pointer over the triangle, the note opens.

#9: Frame it

It’s an old trick, but it still works — if you want to draw a reader’s eye toward something on the page, box it. Newspapers do it, magazines do it, Web pages do it. If the design is done well, readers think they are getting something “extra” in that little box — and we all love getting something extra.

Select the cells you want to border and right-click on your selection. Choose Format Cells and select the Border tab. Test out different border styles and choose one that frames but doesn’t overwhelm your worksheet design. Click OK when you’ve found the style you want to use.

One caveat: Use the box idea sparingly. If you create more than one box on the page, readers might get confused about which one to read first and maybe even give up on reading any of it.

#10: Invite feedback

Finally, if you really want to make sure people are getting the message of your worksheet, ask. E-mail one or two coworkers and ask them to take a quick look at your data; then find out whether:

• It was easy to understand what the worksheet is about.
• They could clearly see what was most important on the page.
• They have any suggestions for ways you could make it easier to understand.

So what’s the result of all this? People will smile at you more when they pass you in the hallway, because you made their day easier — and helped them feel smarter — by making your information easier to understand. And who knows, you might even get a free lunch out of the deal.

Outlook comes with two types of built-in command bar objects, the Menu Bar and toolbars. Only one Menu Bar is allowed, but you can customize both it and the built-in toolbars. In addition, you can add custom toolbars to automate specialized or repetitive tasks. Fortunately, command bars are easy to configure and create in any Office application, including Outlook. Here are some of the various ways you can tailor Outlook to suit your working style.

Note: This information is also available as a PDF download.

#1: Rearrange existing commands

Most of us use a few commands a lot, and seldom, if ever, use the rest. You can rearrange the commands on the Menu Bar or a toolbar, making selection a bit more efficient. To do so, choose Tools | Customize, click the Commands tab, and click Rearrange Commands. In the Rearrange Commands dialog box, select either the Menu Bar or Toolbar option. Then, choose the appropriate menu (if you selected the Menu Bar option) or toolbar (if you selected Toolbar) from the drop-down list at the top of the dialog box. The Controls list box will display the commands, including submenus, as they appear from top to bottom on the menu (or left to right on the selected toolbar).

You can add, delete, or move a command up or down (or left and right). Clicking Add will position the new item above or to the left of the selected command. You can also modify the selection by changing its caption and other attributes. Select Begin A Group if you want to add a separator above or beside the selected command. Clicking Reset removes all the customization in case you need to start over.

#2: Move commands the easy way

You don’t have to use the Customize dialog box to move commands on a toolbar. Hold down the Alt key, click on a button, and drag it to an alternate position or off the toolbar completely. To restore the tool, reset the toolbar or use the Customize dialog box to put it back.

If you remove a custom command, you’ll have to rebuild it if you ever need it again. Consider removing custom commands to a custom toolbar created for the purpose of storing custom commands you think you no longer need. Someday, you may want that command and you can simply restore it from the custom toolbar instead of rebuilding it.

#3: Disable personalized menus

The personalized menu feature displays only the commands you use the most often. You might find this feature more irritating than helpful, especially when you’re looking for a seldom-used command and can’t find it simply because Outlook isn’t displaying it. To disable this feature, choose Customize | Tools. In the Options tab, check the Always Show Full Menus option and click Close. This option will affect the entire Office suite, not just Outlook.

Developers can find the details for personalized menus in a file named msout11.pip in the C:\Documents and Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Office folder.

#4: Store your customization

Outlook stores the changes you make to command bars in a file named outcmd.dat. If you want to reset all of your command bars to their default settings, simply delete this file. But be careful. Deleting this file will wipe out all of your custom command bars.

If you’ve spent a lot of time customizing Outlook, store a backup of outcmd.dat in a safe place. Then, if you have to reinstall Outlook, restore your customized command bars by replacing outcmd.dat with your stored copy. You can also use outcmd.dat to copy your customizations to other systems. Simply save it over the exiting file.

#5: Create custom toolbars

To create a custom toolbar, open the Customize dialog box by choosing Customize | Tools. Everything you need is in one spot. Click the Toolbars tab and then click New. In the New Toolbar dialog box, enter a name and click OK. Outlook will create a new, empty toolbar. Just switch to the Commands tab to add built-in commands to the new toolbar by dragging them from the Commands list.

You can create commands for any folder or form, except for Note forms. Outlook displays custom toolbars in all views, but it’s smart enough to enable only those commands that apply to the current view.

# 6: Create hyperlinks for quick access

All of us have a folder we use more than the others. It might contain e-mail from family and friends or store critical information about your current project. Instead of wading through the folders hierarchy to access it, add a hyperlink command to a command bar.

First, display the Web toolbar (right-click any toolbar and select Web). Then, navigate to the folder in question so you can see its path displayed in the Web toolbar’s address box. For instance, if you selected the Inbox, the Web toolbar would display the path Outlook:Inbox.

Next, choose Tools | Customize, click the Commands tab, and choose Web from the Categories list. Scroll to the bottom of the Commands list box and drag the Folder command to a toolbar. Right-click the Folder command, choose Assign Hyperlink, and then select Open from the resulting submenu to open the Assign Hyperlink: Open dialog box. Enter the folder’s path in the Address field and click OK. Now, anytime you want to access that folder, just click the new hyperlink command. This shortcut also works for Web addresses and local files.

#7: Create a Mail To hyperlink

If you send the same e-mail message to the same list on a regular basis, you can create a hyperlink command to reduce some of your work. For instance, let’s suppose your group has a weekly meeting and before that meeting, you e-mail an agenda to everyone in the group. Now, there’s more than one way you could automate this task, but a hyperlink command is the simplest.

Begin by choosing Tools | Customize and clicking the Commands tab. With File selected in the Categories list box, drag Mail Message from the Commands list box to a toolbar. Right-click the Mail Message command to display its properties. Since Outlook uses the New Mail Message icon, choose Text Only or select Change Button Image to pick a different icon for the command.

Next, click the Assign Hyperlink option and choose Open from the resulting submenu. In the Edit Hyperlink: Open dialog box, click E-mail Address in the Link To section (bottom left). Then, enter the name of your group’s distribution list or enter each individual’s e-mail address separately in the E-mail Address field. Add a descriptive subject and then click OK.

Each week, when you’re ready to send the meeting’s agenda, click the hyperlink command and Outlook will display a new e-mail form, pre-filled with the appropriate e-mail addresses and subject text.

#8: Use command bar shortcuts

Not everyone uses propecia insurance the mouse for everything. If you’re more at home using the keyboard, you probably appreciate keyboard shortcuts. There are a number for working with command bars. First, activate the menu bar by pressing F10. Then you can use any of these shortcuts:

#9: Create a button image

Use the Office Button Editor to create custom icons for your custom commands. It’s a bit limited, but it will get the job done most of the time. With the Customize dialog box open (Tools | Customize), right-click the command and choose Edit Button Image to launch Button Editor. Choose a color and then click a square or selection of squares in the Picture grid. You can also paste in a bitmap file that’s 32 x 32 pixels or smaller.

#10: Beware of the Reset option

If you add a custom tool to the Menu Bar or to one of Outlook’s built-in toolbars, you need to be careful about the Reset option. In fact, you might be better off creating a custom toolbar instead of altering the built-in Menu Bar or toolbars. It’s just too easy to reset them without realizing that you’re wiping out a custom tool — until later when you need it and it’s no longer there. To reset the Menu Bar or a built-in toolbar, all you do is choose Tools | Customize, click the Toolbars tab, select the object you want to reset, and click Reset. This will remove all customization from the selected command bar, so make sure that’s what you really want to do.