Accessibility Shortcuts

Several resources are available to help increase speed and effectiveness for keyboard users. Here are keyboard shortcuts for leading Microsoft products that help save time and effort and provide an essential tool for some people with mobility impairments.

• Internet Explorer 7/6/5/4
  
• Office (2007/2003/XP/2002/2000/97)
  
• PhotoDraw
  
• PowerPoint
  
• Producer
  
• Publisher
  
• Windows (Vista/2003/XP/2000/98/ME/NT)
  
• Windows Media Player
  
• Windows Movie Maker
  
• Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

Labels: Shortcuts

Financial enlightenment

Time Value (xls)

Introduction to time value concepts, such as present value, internal rate of return, etc.

Lease or Buy a Car (xls)

Basic spreadsheet for deciding to buy or lease a car.

Top Five NPV & IRR (xls

Explains Internal Rate of Return, compares projects, etc.

Statements (xls)

Generate a set of financial statements using two input sheets - operational data and financial data.

Business Financial Analysis Template

for start-up businesses from Small Business Technology Center

Income Statement

What If Analysis

Assessment Templates

Set of templates for assessing an organization based on the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Model.

Labels: Templates

Remember it the way you want to

"Most communities in the fifties had small town print shops that doubled as printers of local news and advertising papers. These printers could not afford graphic artists so they used stock clipart supplied by large companies who distributed common graphics for use in advertising sections of the papers. They were provided for the printer in lots of categories to meet any advertiser's needs."

Labels: Graphics

CrossNumber puzzles

"Sudoku , sometimes spelled Su Doku, is a logic based placement puzzle, also known as Number Place in the United States. The aim of the canonical puzzle is to enter a numerical digit from 1 through 9 in each cell of a 9x9 grid made up of 3x3 subgrids (called "regions"), starting with various digits given in some cells (the "givens"). Each row, column, and region must contain only one instance of each numeral.
Completing the puzzle requires patience and logical ability. Its grid layout is reminiscent of other newspaper puzzles like crosswords and chess problems.
Although first published in 1979, Sudoku initially became popular in Japan in 1986 and attained international popularity in 2005."

1. Enter puzzle values in Starting position grid
   
2. Set Game state to 1
   
3. Press F9 to calculate
   
4. The Possible numbers grid will show the first step in the solution
   
5. The Final position will show the current result
   
6. Continue to repeat calculation by pressing F9 until the puzzle is solved or the solver stops responding

Labels: General

Make it work and look good

Design and layout

One of the easiest ways to set up spreadsheets that calculate or generate results that need to be reported is to separate the function from the form. Just like a shiny exterior on a car hides the internal engine and wiring. I always create my reports and front end menus to look good and generate results and calculations in more functional sheets.

Hiding unnecessary sections

If you must have calculations and working sections visible, then hide the unnecessary bits. Hiding a row or column is only one way of doing this. Using the group function you can rollup whole rows of information, e.g. components that add to a subtotal or constants and variables such as exchange rates, interest rates, and other indexes.

Use of colour and graphics

I like to use the company logo or other graphic as a design element in my spreadsheet. Sometimes I do this by using the corporate colours, other times by using the graphic itself. If I have a spreadsheet with a lot of macro buttons, I may use command objects and use the logo as a picture on the button.

Removing excel components

There are a number of excel components that you can turn off. Menu screens and reports screens may not need horizontal or vertical scroll bars, sheet tabs or row and column headings. Using macro buttons to return to a menu can overcome the need for sheet tabs. Not displaying gridlines will give a clean uncluttered look to a layout, and then using borders as necessary can create emphasis in the right areas.

Labels: Formats, Tips, Tutorials

Statistical collection

• Charting Data
  
• Data Presentation
  
• Cumulative Frequencies
  
• Fishbone Diagram
  
• Flowcharts
  
• Frequency Distributions
  
• Gantt; PERT Charts
  
• Graphing With Excel
  
• Analyzing and Plotting Data with Excel
  
• Organizational Charts/Mapping
  
• Social Network Analysis

Labels: Charts, General, Lists

Sprinkle carefully

• Display clip-related toolbars
  
• Customizing your clip art
  
• Cropping
  
• Sizing
  
• Adding text wrapping
  
• Blurring
  
• Rotating and flipping
  
• Adding a drop shadow

Labels: Graphics

New Boundaries

The total number of available columns in Excel

Old Limit: 256 (2^8)

New Limit: 16k (2^14)

The total number of available rows in Excel

Old Limit: 64k (2^16)

New Limit: 1M (2^20)

Number of unique colors allowed a single workbook

Old Limit: 56 (indexed color)

New Limit: 4.3 billion (32-bit color)

Number of conditional format conditions on a cell

Old Limit: 3 conditions

New Limit: Limited by available memory

Number of levels of sorting on a range or table

Old Limit: 3

New Limit: 64

Number of items shown in the Auto-Filter dropdown

Old Limit: 1,000

New Limit: 10,000

The total number of characters that can display in a cell

Old Limit: 1k (when the text is formatted)

New Limit: 32k or as many as will fit in the cell (regardless of formatting)

The maximum length of formulas (in characters)

Old Limit: 1k characters

New Limit: 8k characters

The number of levels of nesting that Excel allows in formulas

Old Limit: 7

New Limit: 64

Maximum number of arguments to a function

Old Limit: 30

New Limit: 255

The number of characters that can be stored and displayed in a cell formatted as Text

Old Limit: 255

New Limit: 32k

Labels: General, Tips