Technology Q&A.

Keep Excel column titles on top ... Put a comment into a spreadsheet formula ... Easily review Track Changes comments from many authors ... Save the formatting when Word text is moved ... How to get those accent marks into your correspondence ... Create electronic sticky notes in Outlook ... Display nonconsecutive dates in Outlook's calendar ... Get your computer to reveal its inner secrets ... Shortcuts 

Key to Instructions

To help readers follow the instructions in this article, we use two different typefaces.

Boldface type identifies the names of icons, agendas, URLs and application commands.

Sans serif type indicates instructions and commands that users should type and file names.

Shortcuts

* 0ffice: To quickly remove a toolbar icon, hold down the Alt key as you click on the icon and then drag it off the toolbar.

* Outlook: To create a contact (name, address, phone) from an e-mail message, drag the message to the Contacts icon in the Outlook bar.

* Excel 2002: To insert a path and file name on the header or footer of a spreadsheet, click on View, Header and Footer, Custom Header (or Footer) and click on the icon that looks like a folder with a piece of paper falling out of it (see screenshot at right).

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

EXCEL

Q. When I have a spreadsheet with many pages, I make sure all the column titles appear on the top of each page so pertinent data are easy to find. But then, after painstakingly setting up the formatting for the dries, I sometimes have to add more data and that messes up all those carefully placed titles. Do you have any ideas on how to keep the tides in their place?

A. Indeed, that is a problem practically every spreadsheet creator faces, and yes, there is a neat solution for it built into Excel.

To make titles print on each page, no matter how you alter the data or the formatting, select File, Page Setup. When the dialog opens, click on the Sheet tab, producing this screen:

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Next, click on the icon at the right side of the entry box Rows to repeat at top:, bringing up this screen:

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Click on the row where your titles appear and press Enter, which takes you back to Page Setup. Click on OK, and your dries now will print on all worksheet pages.

Q. I know I can add a comment to a cell by clicking on Comment under the Insert toolbar, but is there a way to embed a comment inside a formula? That way, I can explain to viewers what the formula represents without having all those little red triangles sprinkled throughout, making my spreadsheet look as if it has chickenpox.

A. Well, there is a way to add a comment inside a formula (and yes, it's hidden, except when you put your cursor over it), but there also is a way to get the "chickenpox" marks out of Comments. I'll tell you how to do both.

Answering your immediate question, insert some numbers in a spreadsheet and then, when you write the formula that adds them up (=SUM(D2:D4), attach the following to the end of the formula: +N("Comments without chickenpox"). So, for example, the complete formula might look this:

=SUM(D2:D4)+N("Comments without chickenpox").

Now, when you highlight the formula cell, the comment appears in the formula box under the toolbar.

You can achieve a similar result using the Comment function. To add a comment to a cell, click on Insert, Comment and type your comment into the balloon that appears. In Excel's default setting, when you move the cursor off the cell, a small red triangle appears in the upper right-hand corner of the cell (see screenshot at right).

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

When your cursor passes over the comment-embedded cell, the full comment appears in the balloon (see screenshot at left).

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

You can adjust the default setting so you can control how, or even whether, those red markers appear. To make the adjustment, go to Tools, Options and then click on the View tab.

Under Comments, you have three options: None (all signs of the comment are hidden), Comment indicator only (only the red triangle shows) and Comment & indicator (every comment and its marker shows).

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

WORD

Q. When I send a memo to my three partners for review, they use Word's Track Changes to add their comments and make changes. When I'm ready to review their comments, I have to handle one reviewer at a time. Isn't there a way to do it all at once and yet keep the identity of each person? It would save lots of time.

A. You're right; it would be a time-saver. But if you have a version of Word earlier than 2002, you're out of luck. Your only choices are to do each individually or accept or reject them all as a group. In 2002 Word shows a list of reviewers, each with a check mark. Each time you select one, its check mark disappears.

Q. When I copy text from one document to another or from one place in a document to another, sometimes the formatting comes along with it and sometimes it doesn't. Why is Word so finicky?

A. Well, Word may indeed be finicky at times, but when this happens it's not because the application made a mistake, it's because you were unaware of a strange, even unintuitive, feature of Word. Few users realize it, but in Word, the formatting information is stored in, of all places, the paragraph mark.

"Wait a minute" I can almost hear you saying, "there are no paragraph marks on my screen."

You may not see them, but trust me, they're there. Every time you hit the Enter key, an invisible paragraph mark is embedded at that cursor location. I'm telling you that because when you want to paste text from one place to another and you want the formatting to go with it, make sure you select the paragraph mark, too.

"But if I can't see it, how can I be sure I'm taking it along?" you're probably asking now.

The answer is: Make the paragraph mark visible. To do that, you can either change the Word default and make them visible all the time (which I don't recommend because they make the screen very busy and you don't need them most of the time), or you can add an icon to your toolbar that lets you turn them on and off as needed.

To change the default, click on Tools, Options and then on the View tab. Under the Formatting marks category, select the check box labeled Paragraph marks and click on OK, as shown here:

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

A better way is to add the paragraph icon ([paragraph]) to your toolbar. To do that go to Tools, Options, Customize and click on the Commands tab. Under View, grab the paragraph icon (Show All) with your mouse and drag it to your toolbar.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Now you can hide and unhide the paragraph marks with a single click.

Q. I have international clientele and when I correspond with them, I must use letters, accents and sometimes even punctuation marks that are not on my computer keyboard. Any suggestion on how I can accomplish this?

A. if you use foreign characters only occasionally, I can show you how to produce them with your regular keyboard. But if your correspondence is heavy, you may want to buy a special foreign-language keyboard.

In the meantime the box at right shows the keystroke shortcuts that will produce the most popular foreign characters.

Ctrl+` (accent grave, which is above the Tab key) a, e, i, o, u, A, E, I, O, U

Ctrl+' (apostrophe) a, e, i, o, u, y, A, E, I, O, U, Y

Ctrl+Shift+^ (caret)

a, e, i, o, u, A, E, I, O, U

Ctrl+Shift+~ (tilde) a, n, o, A, N, O

Ctrl+Shift+: (colon) a, e, i, o, u, y, A, E, I, O, U, Y

Ctrl+Shift+@, a or A a, A

Ctrl+Shift+&, a or A ae, AE

Ctrl+Shift+&, o or O oe, OE

Ctrl+, (comma), c or C c, C

Ctrl+' (apostrophe), d or D [eth], [ETH]

Ctrl+/, o or 0 0,[empty set]

Alt+Ctrl+Shift+? ?

Alt+Ctrl+Shifi:+! !

Ctrl+Shift+&, s [beta]

OUTLOOK

Q. I love those clever Post-It notes. I know there are computer applications that produce electronic Post-Its, however, I'm not anxious to add any more programs to my computer. Does Windows have anything like that built in?

A. Yes, they are in Outlook, and they are very handy for jotting down questions, ideas or reminders because they can be moved around and pasted on top of any application's screen or even tucked away and hidden.

To create a note, click on the File, New and then on Note. That will bring up this blank note:

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Just type your message inside the note. When finished, click on the X in the upper-right corner.

You can store them, copy them and even attach a Note icon above your Outlook toolbar for quick access. Right-click on the note, and you'll see other options--such as changing its color, font and even storing it under various categories.

Q. I'm usually in my office on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Is there a way to get my Outlook calendar to display only those days?

A. Displaying nonconsecutive dates is easy. Open the calendar to the current workweek or week view. To the right of that calendar is the date navigator that displays the two-month period surrounding the selected date. Go to the first date you want selected, and then, while holding down the Ctrl key, click on any other dates you want to view. The big calendar now will show the nonconsecutive dates, and on the date navigator, those dates will be dimmed, as shown below:

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

SYSTEM INFORMATION

Q. How can I find out all the technical information about my computer--such as how much RAM and what kind of processor it has?

A. Press the Start button, select the Run command (see screenshot at right), and at the prompt, type MSINF032. That will produce a dialog box with all kinds of information about your computer.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Do you have technology questions for this column? Or, after reading an answer, do you have a better solution? Send them to Senior Editor Stanley Zarowin via e-mail at zarowin@ mindspring.com.

Because of the volume of mail, we regret that we cannot individually answer submitted questions. However, if a reader's question has broad interest, we will answer it in a forthcoming Technology Q&A column.

On occasion you may find that you cannot implement a function I describe in this column. More often than not it's because not all functions work in every operating system or application. I try to test everything in the 2000 and XP editions of Windows and Office. It's virtually impossible to test them in all editions and it's equally difficult to find out which editions are incompatible with a function. I apologize for the inconvenience.