Category Archives: Office 2003

Question of the week of 9/12/11 – Remove duplicate values in Excel

Posted by on September 12th, 2011
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Question: Is there a way to remove duplicate values from a long list of names in Excel?

Answer: Yes, select your range and from the Data tab, click Remove Duplicates. A popup will allow you to select which fields to select for your duplicate values. You can unselect all fields, and selecting just a couple of fields will break down your list more than if you have many fields included. Be careful, as this will delete your data, so you may want to save the results with the different name using “Save As” (you can also click “undo” if the list does not look correct or not save your file at all).

Question of the week of 8/22/11 – disabling bulleted lists from renumbering after deleting sections

Posted by on August 24th, 2011
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Question: I have a document which has a numbered outline. I would like to delete a section of the outline without having the rest of the outline renumbered. How can I do that?

Answer: I thought it was a matter of unchecking autoreplace  for bullets/numbering and lists options in your Word Options. However, after disabling many other options, the rest of the outline updated when a section was deleted. 

The only workaround I found is to let the list renumber and then go to the place where you want your numbering to change and click the drop down arrow under the number or outlining tool on the ribbon and select change list level, select numbering and set numbering value. (In many cases you may be able to just right click and select set numbering value). This will allow you to have more control over the behavior of the numbering. 

If anyone finds another option to select that will disable this, let me know and I will share with others.

Question of the week of 7/11/11: Quick fill in Access

Posted by on July 11th, 2011
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Question: I my database I would like to fill multiple cells with the same info. In Excel there is that lovely function where you highlight all the cells you want to fill the same info and do a fill right or fill down select and it’s like magic. I am not finding the easy way to do this in Access but there has to be one.

Answer: That feature is not really available in Access, although you can create autonumber fields that will automatically add incremental values. But if you want to fill in a table with repeated values, you must add the field individually or create an update query. You can however, save typing by pressing Ctrl ” to repeat the contents of a field in the previous record.

Question of the week of 1/11/10 – Emailing an Access table

Posted by on January 11th, 2010
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Question: How can I email an Access table to someone without emailing the entire database?

Answer: The only way to email a table is to export it in another format, such as an Excel spreadsheet, word table or PDF document, or you can copy and paste the table into an email message.

In Access 2003, select the desired table and click Tools > Office Links > Analyze it with Excel (or Publish it with Microsoft Word). To save in PDF format in Access 2003, you must have Acrobat installed).

In Access 2007, select the desired table and click the External Data tab and select Excel, PDF , Word or  text file. (In order to expert to PDF you must have downloaded the free “Save as PDF or XPS” file from office.microsoft.com/downloads).

Question of the week of 7/20/09 – Pie Charts in PowerPoint 2007

Posted by on July 20th, 2009
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Question: I have a presentation in 2003 format which I am modifying in PowerPoint 2007. I have added a chart but it keeps asking to convert and when I do the chart no longer looks good. I can’t save it in 2007 format either. How do I fix this? Also, can I resize data labels so that long text won’t wrap improperly?

Answer: When you open a 97-2003 presentation in PowerPoint 2007, it keeps it in compatibility format, even though new charts use the 2007 format. However when you save the file without specifying 2007 format, the chart can sometimes get corrupted because they use completely different formatting. So, whenever possible, save your file in 2007 format BEFORE inserting the chart to avoid problems. Otherwise, if you save in the compatibility format and are prompted to convert to SmartArt, try to convert to objects. You won’t be able to edit the data in the chart, but your chart should maintain its appearance. Many times you have to re-create your chart altogether.

In response to the last question, you are not able to modify the data label size within the chart features, only the font size. However, if you copy the chart and from the Home tab select Paste Special as a Picture – Enhanced Metafile. The chart is converted as a a grouped image which you can right click and select “ungroup” twice so that each object is editable.