Month Day, Day Month

"QDE is a fully-functional Excel Add-in that provides quick input of dates, in all international formats. It handles quick data entry interpretation and reflects the three interacting issues of Date System, Day, Month Year ordering, and number of digits used in the quick date entry. With QDE you enter just as many digits as needed to clearly identify the date, QDE will do the rest."

Also see:

Chip Pearson:
Date and Time Entry

MathTools.net:
Time and Date

And:
Date Arithmetic


See all Topics excel

Labels: Formulas, Functions, General, Reference, Tips

Who's counting?

"Under the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard 8601, a week always begins on a Monday, and ends on a Sunday. The first week of a year is that week which contains the first Thursday of the year, or, equivalently, contains Jan-4.

While this provides some standardization, it can lead to unexpected results - namely that the first few days of a year may not be in week 1 at all. Instead, they will be in week 52 of the preceding year! For example, the year 2000 began on Saturday. Under the ISO standard, weeks always begin on a Monday. In 2000, the first Thursday was Jan-6, so week 1 begins the preceding Monday, or Jan-3. Therefore, the first two days of 2000, Jan-1 and Jan-2, fall into week 52 of 1999.

An ISO week number may be between 1 and 53. Under the ISO standard, week 1 will always have at least 4 days. If 1-Jan falls on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, the first few days of the year are defined as being in the last (52nd or 53rd) week of the previous year.

Unlike absolute week numbers, not every year will have a week 53. For example, the year 2000 does not have a week 53. Week 52 begins on Monday, 25-Dec, and ends on Sunday, 31-Dec. But the year 2004 does have a week 53, from Monday, 27-Dec , through Friday, 31-Dec."

"The function WEEKNUM() in the Analysis Toolpack addin calculates the correct week number for a given date, if you are in the U.S. The user defined function shown here will calculate the correct week number depending on the national language settings on your computer."

Labels: Functions, Reference, Tips, VBA

Choose your own location

Word

you can change the default location by going to Tools>Options. On the "File Locations" tab you can modify the storage location.

Excel

Tools>Options. On the "General" tab change the default location.

PowerPoint

uses Tools>Options and the "Save" tab.

Access

Tools>Options and the "General" tab for Databases and Projects

Publisher

Tools>Options "General".

Outlook

will make you take an underground tour into the Registry to change the location to save e-mail attachments.

FrontPage/Expression Web

appears to require the same sort of spelunking.

Labels: Customize, General, Reference, Tips

Free money (tracker)

Your income

Just your take-home pay, which is what you control and spend.

Cash reserve

A reserve equal to 3-6 months of take-home pay.

Savings

A portion of your income set aside to fund your retirement.

Fixed expenses

Expenses that you must pay over the course of a year.

Replacements

You also must pay to replace things that eventually wear out.

Weekly allowance

Partly discretionary, partly not; paid by cash from your pocket.

Periodic purchases

Discretionary purchases paid by check periodically.

Future purchases

Big-ticket discretionary purchases that you must save for.

Summary

A summary of your income and where it goes—and where you are.

QuickForm

You can switch to this format once you're familiar with the method.

Tips

Ideas to help pare your expenses.

Labels: General, Templates, Tips, Tutorials

Shake hands with a worksheet

• Add a Get Started tab to the Ribbon
  
  
• Take advantage of the Quick Access Toolbar
  
  
• Minimize the Ribbon, maximize your workspace
  
  
• Choose your own default font
  
  
• Restore missing worksheet tabs
  
  
• Freeze panes here, there, and everywhere

Labels: General, Reference, Tips