Welcome to
SPREADSHEET TIPS FROM AN EXCEL ADDICT
(Online Edition)

Helping Average Spreadsheet Users
Become Local Spreadsheet Experts

A Free Weekly Publication of TheExcelAddict.com

Publication Date: February 4, 2004


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CONTENTS
  1. Editor Notes
  2. Excel "Quick Tip"
  3. Empower And Improve
  4. T-Shirt Contest
  5. "How To Excel" Mini-Tutorial
  6. Spreading The Word
  7. "Non-Excel" Tip
  8. Subscription Management

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EDITOR NOTES Top

Hi Fellow Excel Addict,

I hope you're having a great week. The responses I received from my email asking for your opinion on my giveaway prize were phenomenal. I'll have a separate email going out later with more details on that. To everyone who responded, Thank You!

I hope you avoided that email worm virus. I received hundreds of those infected emails but I was smart enough to delete them.

Just another reminder if you want to send an email to me. I get so much junk email, it is sometimes difficult to determine which emails are good and which are junk. To make sure I don't accidentally delete an email from you, please put "Excel Addict" in your Subject line. That way I won't miss it. If you are responding to one of my emails or newsletters, just Reply to it as usual and there's no need to change the Subject line. I wouldn't want you to think I'm ignoring your emails.

Well , I have more new tips for you this week. I hope they help make your week a little easier.

To Your Success!
Francis Hayes (The Excel Addict)


EXCEL "QUICK TIP" Top
Editing Using Your Keyboard

Entering and editing formulas are the two most common tasks in Excel. You are constantly clicking back and forth between the cell and the formula bar. I'm a big believer of knowing both a keyboard method and a mouse method for almost everything.

Here are some tricks that will allow you to edit a cell without reaching for your mouse.

  1. Use the arrow keys to move to the cell.
  2. Press the F2 key to enter edit mode.
  3. While in edit mode, use these tips to make changes.
    • Use the arrow keys if you need to select cells to use in your formula. When selecting cells, remember to press F2 to toggle between edit mode and select mode.
    • Press the HOME key to move the cursor to the beginning of the formula.
    • Press the END key to move the cursor to the end of the formula.
    • Hold down the CTRL key plus the left or right arrow to move quickly through the formula.
    • Hold down the SHIFT key and use the left or right key to highlight a part of your formula.
    • Press the END key and then CTRL+SHIFT+HOME to select the whole formula.
    • If you need to, you can copy (CTRL+C) and paste (CTRL+V) parts of your formula.
  4. When you've finished making changes to your formula, press ENTER to accept the changes or press the ESC key to cancel changes (i.e. if you've made a mistake).

Click here for more Excel "Quick Tips".


EMPOWER AND IMPROVE Top
I have recently discovered that in addition to increasing ones business knowledge and working on improving ones career it is equally important to work on improving ones self.

Jim Rohn says, "What you don't know WILL hurt you." I wish I had known this when I was younger. I can honestly say that, over the past two years, the wisdom of Jim Rohn has had a major positive affect on my life, both personally and in my business.

-- Personally recommended by Francis Hayes (The Excel Addict)

If you would like to benefit from the wisdom of 'America's Foremost Business Philosopher' check out his FREE weekly E-Zine.

Jim Rohn's Weekly E-Zine is a free weekly publication dedicated to providing valuable insights and information that can help empower and improve both your business and personal life. Find out more at http://www.JimRohn.com.


T-SHIRT CONTEST Top
Every month I am giving away a really cool t-shirt to one of my newsletter subscribers. You can sneak a peek at my t-shirt here.

All you have to do each month is click here to recommend my newsletter and website to a friend. For each person that you refer, your name will go into the t-shirt draw. The more Excel friends you refer, the more chances you have of winning a t-shirt. But please, recommend it only to people you know and who are Microsoft Excel users.

If you use the 'Tell A Friend' link at www.TheExcelAddict.com you could win $10,000 and you will also qualify for my t-shirt draw.

*** Each monthly winner will be notified by email and will have 10 days to reply with a shipping address. If I don't receive a reply within 10 days, another name will be drawn.

T-Shirt Contest Winners
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
Joseph Mathew, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Alexandre Gusmao, Lisbon, Portugal
Apollo Tigalo, Angeles City, Philippines
Jim Henderson, California, USA
Beki Chambers, Indiana, USA
Keith Bannister, North Carolina, USA
Lisa Hobbs, Pennsylvania, USA


"HOW TO EXCEL" MINI-TUTORIAL Top
Display Values With Dollars And Cents Symbols

There may be times when you want to show a cents symbol (¢) for values that are less than $1.00 and a dollar symbol($) for values that are a dollar or more. To do this you need to use a "conditional number format" (i.e. a number format that depends on the condition). If the condition is that the value in the cell is less than a dollar, the cents symbol will be displayed (i.e. .87¢) otherwise, the dollar symbol will be displayed.

To create this conditional number format...

  1. Select the range of cells you want to apply this format to.
  2. Select Format, Cells, and click the Number tab.
  3. In the Category field, select Custom.
  4. In the Type field, enter [<1].00¢;$0.00_¢
    Note: You can copy this format directly from this email or if you enter it yourself, remember that to get the cents symbol you need to hold down the ALT key and enter 0162 (don't forget to enter the zero before the 162) then release the ALT key.
  5. Click OK.
Caveat: Technically .87¢ is not 87 cents, it's 87 one hundredths of a cent. So use this with caution. No, you can't get rid of the decimal - I tried it.

Click here for more "How To Excel" Mini-Tutorials.

SPREADING THE WORD
Every week this newsletter is being read by Excel Addicts in: Albania, Antarctica, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Guam, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Mexico, Nepal, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, The Netherlands, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam.

There are tens of millions of other Microsoft Excel users all over the world. The vast majority of them have a very limited knowledge of Excel's capabilities. My goal is to share this information with everyone I possibly can and help them to benefit from Excel's amazing capabilities.

Please help me spread the word about my newsletter. If you know other Excel users, please tell them about "Spreadsheet Tips From An Excel Addict". I'm sure they'll appreciate it.

Maybe you know someone who supervises or employs many Excel users. That's where your referral could have a big impact.

VERY IMPORTANT: Please refer only people you know personally, who use Microsoft Excel and would benefit from this newsletter.


BONUS "NON-EXCEL" TIP Top
Quickly Copy Files In Windows Explorer
Last week my "Quick Tip" showed you how to open a duplicate of an existing Excel workbook. I got a great tip from fellow Excel addict Steve Basford who suggested a simple way to copy a workbook (or any other file for that matter) in Windows Explorer.

  1. Select a file in Windows Explorer.
  2. Press CTRL+C (copy)
  3. Select the folder where you would like to place the copy and press CTRL+V (paste)
Thanks Steve.

Here's another great tip to use when copying a single file or multiple files in Windows Explorer.

  1. Select the file you want to copy (for multiple files hold down the CTRL key and select each file).
  2. Make sure the destination folder is in view in the left pane of your Explorer window. Drag the selected files by holding down the CTRL key and holding down your left mouse button then drop (i.e. release the mouse button) them in the destination folder.
Note: When you hold down the CTRL key while dragging a file, you'll notice a small "plus sign" in the small sheet icon as you are dragging. This indicates that the file is being "copied." If you don't hold down the CTRL key, there will be no "plus sign" and therefore the file will instead be "moved" from the original folder to the destination folder - a very important point to remember.

Click here for more Bonus "Non-Excel" Tips

SUBSCRIPTION MANAGEMENT Top
This online version of Spreadsheet Tips From An Excel Addict is available only to subscribers of my free email newsletter. Each week, in addition to the email version of my newsletter, you will be emailed a special link to the online version. If you haven't subscribed yet you can click here to subscribe NOW or you can send a blank email to TheExcelAddict@DemandMail.com


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"Spreadsheets Tips From An Excel Addict"
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