Technology Q&A.Q. When I'm creating an Excel spreadsheet for a special project, I generally do a lot of custom formatting-boldface, italics, indents--for different parts of the file. It's a slow and tedious job. The Format Painter in the toolbar A row or column of on-screen buttons used to activate functions in the application. Many toolbars are customizable, letting you add and delete buttons as required. Toolbars may be fixed in position or may float, which means they can be dragged to a more convenient location in the is helpful, but after a while it, too, gets to feel a bit clunky. Any suggestions for a shortcut (1) In Windows, a shortcut is an icon that points to a program or data file. Shortcuts can be placed on the desktop or stored in other folders, and double clicking a shortcut is the same as double clicking the original file. ? A. Before I suggest a shortcut, let's review the use of the Format Painter. To copy a format from one part of a document to another (it works in both Excel and Word, by the way), highlight the cell or cells that have the format you want to copy, click on the Format Painter and then, with the cursor (1) The symbol used to point to some element on screen. On Windows, Mac and other graphics-based screens, it is also called a "pointer," and it changes shape as it is moved with the mouse into different areas of the application. , swipe the text you want formatted. As you see, using Format Painter takes at least three separate actions: highlighting, clicking on the icon and then swiping. Now for the shortcut, which is especially handy if you have to apply the same formatting or style to many different cells or text. After highlighting the format or style you want, move your cursor to the text or cell to be formatted, highlight it and press Ctrl+Y. But be careful, Ctrl+Y repeats the last action, so if you've performed some other action (even deleting or adding a word), it will repeat that. Pressing F4 will achieve the same result. A related tip: If you don't remember what your last action was, click on Edit in the toolbar and it will show what you did. For example, if you boldfaced some text, when you click on Edit, the menu will display "Undue Bold Ctrl+Z" Q. I usually work with as many as seven different Excel workbooks at one time. Opening them all is a chore because I have to repeat the process for each file: I click on File, Open, locate the correct folder In a graphical user interface (GUI), a simulated file folder that holds data, applications and other folders. Folders were introduced on the Xerox Star, then popularized on the Macintosh and later adapted to Windows and Unix. In Unix and Linux, as well as DOS and Windows 3. , click on the first file, wait for it to open and then go through the whole process again. There has to be an easier way. Help! A. Before I give you the shortcut for opening multiple files, you should know there is an easier way to open any file. Instead of clicking on File, Open, press Ctrl+O. That takes you directly to your default folder. Incidentally, to set a default folder, click on Tools, Options, General, and in the box labeled Default File Location, type in the name of the folder (subdirectory A disk directory that is subordinate to (below) another directory. Also called a "subfolder." In order to gain access to a subdirectory, the path must include all directories above it. See path. ) you want Excel to default to (see screen shot below). Now, back to the shortcut. After getting to the Open screen, don't just click on the first file you want; instead, hold down the Shift key and click on each file in the order you want it to open. If you accidentally click on a file you don't want, to make the highlighting disappear, either click on it again or hold down the Ctrl key and click on that file again. After making your selections, click Open and each file will open automatically in the order you initially highlighted them. Q. I have a solo practice solo practice Medical practice by a single physician–a solo practioner, usually understood to mean a nonspecialist. See Private practice; Cf Group practice. , and I work at home with one phone line and call waiting. On occasion, when I'm getting information off the Internet or sending or receiving email, an incoming call will interrupt A signal that gets the attention of the CPU and is usually generated when I/O is required. For example, hardware interrupts are generated when a key is pressed or when the mouse is moved. Software interrupts are generated by a program requiring disk input or output. the modem, wiping See wipe. out my e-mail connection or my Internet download. If I turn off call waiting, I miss a call. I guess I can buy a second phone line, but since I don't really need it, except when I'm surfing surfing, sport of gliding toward the shore on a breaking wave. Surfers originally used long, cumbersome wooden boards but now ride lightweight synthetic boards that allow a greater degree of maneuverability. or e-mailing, it seems like a waste. Is there anything else I can do? A. A second phone line is the most obvious solution, but if you're adamant about sticking with one line, there is an option with a one-time charge of about $100. Actiontec Electronics Actiontec Electronics, Inc. is a company headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, that designs and sells networking and broadband equipment. They are best known for the Actiontec MI424WR router that is given to Verizon customers. (www.actiontec.com) recently introduced a 56K modem, Call Waiting, that can solve your problem. When you're online and a phone call comes in, the modem puts the Internet call on hold, giving you a few seconds to chat with the caller and decide whether to continue the conversation--and suspend the online session--or hang up and call back. Q. The Bookmark A stored location for quick retrieval at a later date. Web browsers provide bookmarks that contain the addresses (URLs) of favorite sites. Most electronic references, large text databases and help systems provide bookmarks that mark a location users want to revisit in the future. feature in Word is handy if you want to find many different places in a long report. But if you're scanning the report and you just want to get back to the last place you were editing, it's sort of overkill overkill Vox populi An excess of anything because you're forced to go through a bunch of keystrokes just to get there. Is there a faster, easier way? A. Yes, there is. It's not a well-known feature, but it's really handy. Let's just briefly review Bookmark first. Bookmark should be in your toolbar. If it's not, you can customize your toolbar to include it. To do that, click on Tools, Customize, Commands, Insert, and under the Commands column move down the menu to Bookmark and drag it to your toolbar. Now, once it's there, click on it, and the Bookmark screen (see screen shot below) will appear. It's quite intuitive. Be aware that you can add many bookmarks to the file. They appear as the large letter "I" in the text. If you want to hide them in the text, go to Tools, Options, Views and uncheck the Bookmark box. But if all you want to do is "bookmark" the last text you edited in a file, press Shift+FS, and it'll take you there instantly. Q. There are times I'd like to have two separate pages of a document on a screen at the same time. I can open the document twice and then go back and forth, but that's a crude solution. Is there a better way to do it? A. There is. A simple keyboard sequence can split the screen--providing two screen views of the same document, and the text of each view can be moved independently. In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke" put differently , if you want to view two different parts of the same file at once--one at the bottom of the screen and one at the top--press Alt+Ctrl S (see the screen shot below). You can move the dividing line Noun 1. dividing line - a conceptual separation or distinction; "there is a narrow line between sanity and insanity" demarcation, contrast, line differentiation, distinction - a discrimination between things as different and distinct; "it is necessary to between the two screens up or down with the mouse; when you release the mouse button, the dividing line will become stationary Stationary can mean:
(2) To stop a transmission. (programming) abort - To terminate a program or process abnormally and usually suddenly, with or without diagnostic information. the dual screen, just repeat Alt+Ctrl S. Q. I'm a Microsoft Word A full-featured word processing program for Windows and the Macintosh from Microsoft. Included in the Microsoft application suite, it is a sophisticated program with rudimentary desktop publishing capabilities that has become the most widely used word processing application on the market. user who hates using the mouse. Among other things, it slows me down. To use it, I have to take one hand off the keyboard. Aren't there keyboard shortcuts
A keyboard shortcut (or accelerator key, shortcut key, hot key, key binding, keybinding, to replace all those awkward, time-wasting mouse clicks? A. Yes, indeed. Keyboard shortcuts are a lot faster than repeated mouse clicking--especially when you want to format text in Word. The box below contains some of the most popular keyboard shortcuts. Memorize mem·o·rize tr.v. mem·o·rized, mem·o·riz·ing, mem·o·riz·es 1. To commit to memory; learn by heart. 2. Computer Science To store in memory: the ones you use most frequently.
Press To
Ctrl+M Indent a paragraph
Ctrl+SHIFT+M Remove a
paragraph indent
Ctrl+T Create a hanging
indent
CtrI+SHIFT+T Eliminate a
hanging indent
Ctrl+Q Remove paragraph
formatting
Ctrl+Shift+S Apply a style
Alt+Ctrl+K Start AutoFormat
Ctrl+Shift+N Apply Normal style
Alt+Ctrl+l Apply Heading 1
style
Ctrl+Shift+F Change font
Ctrl+Shift+P Change font size
Ctrl+Shift+> Increase font size
Ctrl+Shift+< Decrease font size
Ctrl+] Increase font size
by 1 point
Ctrl+[ Decrease font size
by 1 point
Shift+F3 Change case of
letters
Ctrl+Shift+A Format letters as
all capitals
Ctrl+B Apply bold
formatting.
Ctrl+U Apply an underline
Ctrl+Shift+W Underline words
but not spaces
Ctrl+Shift+D Double-underline
text
Ctrl+Shift+H Apply hidden text
formatting
Ctrl+l Apply italic
formatting
Ctrl+l Single-space lines
Ctrl+2 Double-space lines
Ctrl+5 Set 1.5-line space
Ctrl+E Center a paragraph
Ctrl+J Justify a paragraph
Ctrl+L Left align a
paragraph
Ctrl+R Right align a
paragraph
Ctrl+Y Copy last format
created
Do you have a technology question? Send it to Senior editor Stanley Zarowin via e-mail at zarwin@mindsping.com or regular mail at the Journal of Accountancy, Harborside har·bor·side n. The area adjacent to a harbor. Financial Center, 201 Plaza three, Jersey City, NJ 07311-3881. |
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