Sunday, April 24, 2011

How to Change the Order of the Legend in an Excel Graph


1. Locate the chart data in the Excel spreadsheet. To locate the applicable data, click on the graph: the data will be surrounded on the worksheet by a blue box.
2. Copy the data, then paste it to a clear area on your workbook. Alternatively, paste it into a new worksheet.
3. Change the data into the order you want it to appear on the graph then copy and paste the columns.
4. Copy and paste the new data order back into the original spot on the workbook.
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How to Remove Leading Zeroes in Excel


1. Open the spreadsheet that you want to edit in the Microsoft Excel program.
2. Highlight the cells that contain decimal information for which you'd like to remove the leading zero.
3. Right-click the highlighted cells and choose 'Format Cells.' This will open a cell-formatting options window.
4. Click the 'Number' tab and select 'Custom' from the category list.
5. Click the text box underneath the 'Type' heading and press the 'Backspace' key multiple times to clear the contents of the field.
6. Type a decimal point and then type the number of zeroes that correspond to the number of decimal places that you want to display in the cells. For instance, to display three decimal places with no leading zero, you would input: .000.
7. Click the 'OK' button to save your changes. The decimal information in the formatted cells will now be displayed without a leading zero.
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How to Create an Alphanumeric Custom List in Excel 2007


Create the List
1. Open Excel and click on the Office button, which is located in the top left-hand corner of the window.
2. Click the 'Excel Options' item from the menu that drops down.
3. Click on the category labeled 'Popular.' Locate the section called 'Top options for working with Excel.' Click the 'Edit Custom Lists' item in this section.
4. Click the 'New List' option located in the 'Custom Lists' box.
5. Type the first item of the custom list. Choose any combination of alphanumeric text characters. Enter the item into the 'List entries' box. Press the Enter key on the keyboard.
6. Type the rest of the list items, pressing Enter after each list item.
7. Press the 'Add' button when the list is complete. The new list displays in the 'Custom lists' box.
8. Press the 'OK' button, and then press it again to close out the open windows. The custom list is now created in Microsoft Excel 2007.
Use the Custom List
9. Type the first custom list item into a cell in the Excel 2007 window.
10. Type the second list item in an adjacent cell to the first item. This may be entered in a cell on any of the four sides of the first list item.
11. Select the two cells by clicking on one and dragging with the mouse to the other. The two cells will appear with a dark, translucent overlay.
12. Hover the mouse over the lower right corner of either cell. The mouse cursor will change to a small black ' ' sign.
13. Drag the mouse in the desired direction for the completed list. Drag for as many cells as you desire. Release the mouse, and the custom list is filled into all the cells.
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Saturday, April 23, 2011

How to Insert the Time Date in an Excel Spreadsheet


1. Navigate to the cell to which you want to add the date and time. Click on the cell to highlight.
2. Move your mouse up to the 'Fx' bar above the spreadsheet. This is the bar where you enter formulas for specific cells.
3. Type '=Now()' without the quotation marks. This enters the current date and time into the Excel spreadsheet in the selected cell.
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Friday, April 22, 2011

How to Merge 2 Excel Workbooks in Excel 2007


Share the Workbook
1. Launch Microsoft Excel on your computer. Click 'File' and then 'Open' on the ribbon bar. Navigate to the file to share, highlight it and click the 'Open' button.
2. Click 'Tools' and then 'Share Workbook.' Click the 'Editing' tab and then enable the 'Allow Changes by more than one user at the same time' option.
3. Click the 'Advanced' tab and then click 'Track changes.' Click the 'Keep change history for:' option. In the 'Days' text box, enter a number of days for the estimated time needed for others in the group to edit the file and review changes. Click the 'OK' button.
4. Click 'File' then 'Save' on the ribbon bar to save the workbook.
Merge the Shared Workbooks
5. Launch Excel and open the original version of the shared workbook -- not the ones that users edited.
6. Click 'Tools' and then 'Merge Workbooks' on the ribbon bar. In the pop-up box, click and select one of the distributed copies of the workbook. Click the 'OK' button.
7. Merge other distributed workbooks as needed using the 'Merge Workbook' function.
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How to Save Margins in Excel


1. Open Excel and click the 'Page Layout' tab and then click 'Margins.'
2. Click 'Custom Margins' in the menu that appears. Click the 'Margins' tab in the 'Page Setup' window that appears.
3. Click the number in the 'Top' box and type the margin size you wish to use in the 'Top' box. Repeat this step for the 'Left,' 'Right,' and 'Bottom' boxes.
4. Click the 'OK' button to save the settings for the worksheet.
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How to Use a Microsoft Excel 2003 Dashboard


1. Produce an annual report or magazine quality visuals reports using Excel. Use templates downloaded from the Microsoft website. Create a chart by arranging the data (that you want to plot in your chart) in columns and rows. Select the cells you want to include and from the Insert menu, click the Chart option. Select the type of chart you want to represent your data. For example, select a pie chart, and decide where you want to place the chart.
2. Replace charts that do not reflect the data you want used. Because Excel is so flexible, you can lay out the flow of business processes and drill down into the lower level data necessary to make effective decisions about your business. Customizing an Excel dashboard for your particular needs makes it more useful.
3. Use ratios, calculations and other data shown on a visual dashboard to make effective decisions for your business. Dashboards provide a visual representation of your company's business performance and allow you to identify and mitigate any negative results or inefficiencies. Dashboards save executives time by aggregating data into a single visual report that allows them to make informed decisions.
4. Use Excel formulas to test for errors by comparing data, identifying missing values and listing values that exceed defined parameters.
5. Access underlying data to drill down into specific issues and make effective choices about actions to take to rectify any problems you uncover.
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How to Use Excel Cell Data to Reference a Sheet Name


1. Create a workbook in Excel. It will start with three worksheets, shown by tabs along the bottom of the screen. By default, these are named 'Sheet1,' 'Sheet2' and 'Sheet3.' Sheet1 will be active.
2. Enter ''Sheet2' in cell A2. Enter ''Sheet3' in cell A3. Note that both of these prepend the word 'Sheet' with a single quote ('), to indicate that it's a text value.
3. Click on the tab for Sheet2 and enter 'Orange' in cell A1.
4. Click on the tab for Sheet3 and enter 'Screwdriver' in cell A1.
5. Click on the tab for Sheet1, and in cell B2, enter the following formula: '=INDIRECT('''A2''!A1')' (without the quotation marks before the equals sign or after the final parentheses). Once you hit 'Enter,' the formula will evaluate, and the cell will show the word 'Orange.' The INDIRECT() function is substituting the contents of cell A2 into the normal cross-sheet cell reference format. This gives the same result as if you'd entered ' =Sheet2!A1' into cell C2.
6. Copy cell B2 and paste it into cell B3. Cell B3 will now show the word 'Screwdriver.' This is because the relative reference in the formula you entered is now pulling the name of the worksheet from cell A3 rather than A2.
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How to Convert Excel 2007 Files to dBase


1. Find out what formats the database you're importing into can accept. Nearly all of them can take comma-separated values (CSV), and many can accept legacy Excel formats, such as XLS.
2. Click the 'Office' button (the round button at the upper left with the Microsoft Office logo on it). On the menu that pops up, select 'Save As.'
3. Select the appropriate file type (either CSV or XLS) from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the dialog box that opens up. Click on the 'Save' button.
4. Import the file in dBase or FoxPro to make sure that everything worked appropriately and the data is in the right place.
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Thursday, April 21, 2011

How to Make a Word Search With Microsoft Excel


1. Make a list of the words that you want to appear in your word search. The number of words should correlate to the size of the word search: larger grids can contain more words than smaller grids. Relate the words to a common theme such as animals, colors or family members.
2. Open Microsoft Excel. Select the rows and columns that you want to appear in your word search by clicking in box A1, holding down the mouse button, and dragging the cursor to highlight other boxes. For example, select boxes A1 through Y25 to make a square 25-by-25 word search.
3. Click the 'Home' tab and select 'format' under the 'cells' section. Click 'column width' in the menu and type '2' in the box that appears. Click 'OK.' While the cells are still selected, click the 'center text' symbol under the 'alignment' section.
4. Type the words from your list into the Excel spreadsheet. Type one letter per cell and make words read in the vertical, horizontal and diagonal directions.
5. Type random letters in the remaining cells. Type fragments of words that already appear in the search to make it harder to find the real words. The word search is completed as soon as you fill all the cells.
6. Format your word search. You can select all the cells (as you did in step 2) and put a border around the word search by right clicking and selecting the 'borders' button from the menu that appears. Change the style of the letters by selecting the cells and selecting a new font, size or color in dropdown menus under the 'font' section. Type the search words from your list in step 1 below the grid of letters or on a separate page.
7. Print your word search or email it to friends or family. Print multiple copies if you are playing a game as a group or if you are a teacher who has prepared this word search for students.
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How to Set a Password on Excel 2007


1. Open the Excel spreadsheet to which you want to add a password. Click the Microsoft Office Button, select 'Save' and select a location to save the spreadsheet.
2. Click the Microsoft Office Button, select 'Prepare' and choose 'Encrypt Document' from the list. An 'Encrypt Document' dialog box appears.
3. Enter a password into the text box and click 'OK.' Confirm the password on the next menu by entering it again into the text box and click 'OK.' If you entered the password correctly, the dialog box will disappear. Save the spreadsheet again.
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Wednesday, April 20, 2011

How to Recover a Protected Password in Excel 2007


Excel 2007 Password (Software)
1. Download Excel 2007 Password from the Last Bit website (see Resources). Double-click the downloaded installer to set up the application. Click quot;Startquot; then quot;All Programsquot; and quot;Excel 2007 Passwordquot; to open it.
2. Click quot;Startquot; then click the folder icon to locate the Excel document you want to recover. Click quot;Open.quot;
3. Wait for Excel 2007 Password to crack the password. If it is successful it will prompt you for payment to release your password to you; if it is not successful it costs nothing.
Excel Key (Shareware)
4. Download Excel Key from the Passware website (see Resources). Double-click the downloaded installer to set up the application. Click quot;Startquot; then quot;All Programsquot; and click the application to open it.
5. Click quot;Recoverquot; to locate your Excel 2007 document for which you want to recover the password. Click quot;Openquot; to load it.
6. Wait for Excel Key to search the file. If it manages to crack the password it will display it in the quot;Passwords foundquot; tab of the program. If you have a trial version, it will display the first two letters or numbers of your passwords, but you have to buy the full version to read the rest.
7. Check the passwords displayed on quot;Passwords found.quot; It displays the quot;File-open passwordquot; the quot;File-modifyquot; and any quot;Workbookquot; and quot;Worksheetquot; passwords it might find. Close Excel Key when you are finished.
Excel Password Recovery Master (Shareware)
8. Download Excel Password Recovery Master from the Rixler Software website (see Resources). Double-click the downloaded installer to set up the application. Click quot;Startquot; then quot;All Programsquot; and click the application to open it.
9. Click the folder icon next to quot;Excel document name.quot; Locate your Excel 2007 document, select it and click quot;Open.quot;
10. Wait for Excel Password Recovery Master to recover your passwords.
11. Make a note of the quot;Open,quot; quot;Write,quot; quot;Workbookquot; and quot;Shared Workbookquot; passwords it can recover. Click quot;Open document in Microsoft Excelquot; if you want to otherwise close Excel Password Recovery Master.
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How to Remove Excess Area in an Excel 2007 Graph


1. Move your cursor over the white space behind the graph until you see a cursor with four arrows in a cross.
2. Click the mouse to select the 'Resize' function.
3. Click on one of the circles located on the corners or sides of the graph and drag until the graph fills the chart area as desired. This will remove any excess white space in the chart.
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How to Make a Guest List on an Excel Template


1.
Open Excel. It doesn't matter if you are in a blank workbook or an existing spreadsheet. If you are using Excel 2003 or earlier, click 'File' and then 'New.' If you are in Excel 2007, click the Office button and then click 'New.'
2.
Type 'Guest List' into the 'Search Online' box in the 'Templates' section if you are using Excel 2003. In 2007, click 'Microsoft Office Online' under templates, and then type 'Guest List' into the 'Search Microsoft Office Online for a Template' box. Click 'Go.'
3.
Click on a template in the 'Search Results' box to preview it. When you have found the basic template you like, click the 'Download' button. The guest list template will open as a new Excel worksheet.
4.
Make changes to the way your guest list looks. If you want to use a different graphic than the one on the template, click the picture to select it. Go to the 'Insert' menu of Excel 2003 and point to 'Picture,' and then click on 'Clip Art.' Go to the 'Insert' tab in Excel 2007 and click on 'Clip Art' in the 'Illustrations' group. Find a clip art that suits your event and insert it. You can format fonts and alter colors by selecting a cell or range, right clicking and choosing 'Format Cells.' Change text by clicking on the words you want to change, selecting them with your mouse and typing the text you want.
5.
Save your guest list in your My Documents or another folder. Give it a name that pertains to your event, such as 'Party Guest List.' As you decide who you will invite, type the names and addresses in the appropriate location.
6.
Sort your list after you have entered all of your guest information. This will help you make sure you didn't forget anyone, and also ensure that there are no duplicates on your list. Start by clicking the square between A and 1 in the top left corner of the guest list. This will select your entire sheet. In Excel 2003, go to the 'Data' menu and click 'Sort.' In Excel 2007, go to the 'Data' tab and click 'Sort.' Make sure 'Header Row' is selected and click 'OK.'
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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

How to Add a Bullet in Excel


1. Start Microsoft Excel and open a spreadsheet.
2. Point to the cell that you want to add the bullet to with the mouse and double-click the left button to edit the cell.
3. Hold down the 'ALT' key and press the '7' key on the number pad. When you release these keys, a bullet will appear in the cell. When using a laptop keyboard, an additional key may be necessary if it does not have a number pad. The key sequence for a bullet on a laptop is 'ALT' 'Fn' '7.'
4. Hit 'ALT' then 'Enter' to go to the next line in a cell. Once your cursor moves to the next line, enter the bullet keystrokes to get a bullet on the next line. Repeat this sequence to add as many bullets as needed to a cell.
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