Revealing Formulas in Excel

To view all formulas and functions quickly when using any version of Excel, hold down the Ctrl key followed by the accent key. This is normally the first key on the left of the top row of the keyboard (above the tab key). This will immediately display all formulas. A new toolbar will also appear called Formula Auditing. The first button on the left checks for errors and the next two along draw arrows to show where formulas take their information from. Use the same shortcut to return to normal view.

Keep Track of Notes

It's easy to lose notes kept on scraps of paper, so why not keep them handy on the desktop?

Right-click the desktop, select New, then Text Document, call it "Notes". From now on, to make a note, simply double-click the file, press F5 to insert the date and time, type a note and then press the Control and S keys together to save.

How do I gain access to a fax service from word?

For the visitor who left me an IM at 12:48 am last night!! ....... Here is your answer

Do one of the following:

In Microsoft Office Word 2003, Microsoft Office Excel 2003, Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003, or Microsoft Office Document Imaging (MODI), on the File menu, point to Send To, and then click Recipient using Internet Fax Service.
From Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, on the File menu, point to New, and then click Fax.

The first time you use fax services, you will be prompted to sign up with a provider. Click OK to open your Web browser, and then follow the signup instructions on the Web site.
Close your Web browser, and then return to the Microsoft Office program you want to fax from.
Repeat step 1. An e-mail message will open in Outlook with your document attached as a .TIF (image) file, or you can attach a file to the message.
I can recommend e-fax.
awaypa: Here is the link to sign up with e-fax: https://www.efax.com/en/intl/product/pricing?rqcp=1

Old Style Office Menu for Office 2007

Some people love the new Microsoft Office 2007, but for those of us who still miss the old menus from Office 2003, there is a useful little add-on to bring them back called "UBitMenu". Go to: http://www.ubit.ch/software/ubitmenu-languages.

Find and access recent documents easily

The Recent Documents menu on the Start Button is really useful because it makes it easy to access a document, movie or photo that you worked on previously, but not all computers have it enabled - perhaps for privacy reasons?

It might be helpful to know how to enable and disable and clear it, so here goes......

1. Right click the Start Button and select Properties.
2. Select the Start Menu tab and click the Custom button.
3. Select the Advanced Tab and tick the option to list your most recently opened documents.
4. The Clear Button that empties the list is also located here.

Compound Interest

There is no function in either OpenOffice.org or Microsoft Excel for calculating interest on an investment (or loan).
There is a simple formula to work this out that needs three figures:
- the initial value
- the number of payments
- the percentage rate that each payment is worked out at.

Assuming A2 is value, B2 is the interest rate and C2 is the number of periods, the formula in OpenOffice.org would be =A2*(power(1+B2;B2)).
This also works in Excel, but change the ; to a comma.

Alternatively, if you are comfortable with Maths you may want to use the ^ symbol for the power calculation, in which case the formula wold be =A2*(1+B2)^C2 in both programs.

Microsoft has instructions for making this formula into a macro at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/141695
The advantage is that all you would need to enter into the cell would be =Yearly_Rate(A2,B2,C3).

Fast Foreign Accents

While you can enter accented characters in Word by holding down Alt and entering a four-character number with the numerical keypad, there is an easier way!

Click on the link to find out how: Fast Foreign Accents