Excel: Five Issues to Consider When Developing an Excel Template - Computers

Microsoft Excel Templates are fantastic tools that allow you to get your team to put in their data for your business quickly and easily whilst still allowing for the consolidation of the data with very little work. There is however five key issues you need to consider when developing the Excel Template.

Issue 1: Protect the Worksheet and Cells

The first issue when creating a template is to ensure that your worksheet and cells are protected. For example the cells you want people to put data into should not have protection applied and the headlines you need to use to explain where to put the data into should in fact be protected.

Further to this in Microsoft Excel 2003 you can set that cells that are protected cannot be selected and I recommend that all headline areas are set in this way..

Issue 2: Lock the Workbook against Structural Changes

There are different levels of security in Microsoft Excel, such as security at the cell level, worksheet level and workbook level. Previous to this, I recommended that you use protection at the worksheet and cell level to restrict the access people can have to certain cells. The workbook also should be protected to ensure that your users cannot modify the underlying template. You can set two levels of security which are the Modify option and Read Only Option. The only time you would use the Read Only option is if your template was only being used to print out the data.

Issue 3: Use Formatting to make it easy to know where to put the data

There are some basic fundamentals I always follow when it comes to formatting in Microsoft Excel. The background of the area where I want my team to enter the data is always a lighter color, with the headings backgrounds being formatted with a darker color. This strategy is in line with that used in software development. You will notice in applications like Microsoft Word, you always type the text in the lighter area and the darker area is the headings.

The flip side is that if your background is a light color then the text being entered must be a dark color and for the headings, if your heading backgrounds are dark then the text should be light.

Always be carefully when using the colors Red, Green and Blue on templates as people with color blindness can find those colors confusing. The other issue to watch with formatting is to ensure that your colors print out correctly, especially if you have used color on the screen but it prints out in black and white. Some colors do not print out well on black and white printers.

Issue 4: Hide Unused Cells

One of the biggest mistakes I see people do with templates is to not hide any unused cells. Having unhidden cells runs the risk that your team may put in information in the wrong position or they may believe they need to put more information in than they need to. Always hide your unused cells.

Issue 5: Use Formatted Gridlines

When ever you are setting up a spreadsheet where a range of data needs to be entered always use dark gridlines to indicate exactly where the data should be entered. Generally I will use gridlines only where I want my team to enter the data. I do not generally use them around the headlines.

These five key issues will help ensure that your team uses the template in the manner that you intended. To finish off I would like to outline in one list the Five Key Issues you need to consider when developing a Microsoft Excel template:

Issue 1: Protect the Worksheet and CellsIssue 2: Lock the Workbook against Structural ChangesIssue 3: Use Formatting to make it easy to know where to put the dataIssue 4: Hide Unused CellsIssue 5: Use Formatted Gridlines

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Excel: Five Issues to Consider When Developing an Excel Template - Computers

Microsoft Excel Templates are fantastic tools that allow you to get your team to put in their data for your business quickly and easily whilst still allowing for the consolidation of the data with very little work. There is however five key issues you need to consider when developing the Excel Template.

Issue 1: Protect the Worksheet and Cells

The first issue when creating a template is to ensure that your worksheet and cells are protected. For example the cells you want people to put data into should not have protection applied and the headlines you need to use to explain where to put the data into should in fact be protected.

Further to this in Microsoft Excel 2003 you can set that cells that are protected cannot be selected and I recommend that all headline areas are set in this way..

Issue 2: Lock the Workbook against Structural Changes

There are different levels of security in Microsoft Excel, such as security at the cell level, worksheet level and workbook level. Previous to this, I recommended that you use protection at the worksheet and cell level to restrict the access people can have to certain cells. The workbook also should be protected to ensure that your users cannot modify the underlying template. You can set two levels of security which are the Modify option and Read Only Option. The only time you would use the Read Only option is if your template was only being used to print out the data.

Issue 3: Use Formatting to make it easy to know where to put the data

There are some basic fundamentals I always follow when it comes to formatting in Microsoft Excel. The background of the area where I want my team to enter the data is always a lighter color, with the headings backgrounds being formatted with a darker color. This strategy is in line with that used in software development. You will notice in applications like Microsoft Word, you always type the text in the lighter area and the darker area is the headings.

The flip side is that if your background is a light color then the text being entered must be a dark color and for the headings, if your heading backgrounds are dark then the text should be light.

Always be carefully when using the colors Red, Green and Blue on templates as people with color blindness can find those colors confusing. The other issue to watch with formatting is to ensure that your colors print out correctly, especially if you have used color on the screen but it prints out in black and white. Some colors do not print out well on black and white printers.

Issue 4: Hide Unused Cells

One of the biggest mistakes I see people do with templates is to not hide any unused cells. Having unhidden cells runs the risk that your team may put in information in the wrong position or they may believe they need to put more information in than they need to. Always hide your unused cells.

Issue 5: Use Formatted Gridlines

When ever you are setting up a spreadsheet where a range of data needs to be entered always use dark gridlines to indicate exactly where the data should be entered. Generally I will use gridlines only where I want my team to enter the data. I do not generally use them around the headlines.

These five key issues will help ensure that your team uses the template in the manner that you intended. To finish off I would like to outline in one list the Five Key Issues you need to consider when developing a Microsoft Excel template:

Issue 1: Protect the Worksheet and CellsIssue 2: Lock the Workbook against Structural ChangesIssue 3: Use Formatting to make it easy to know where to put the dataIssue 4: Hide Unused CellsIssue 5: Use Formatted Gridlines

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Excel: Five Issues to Consider When Developing an Excel Template - Computers

Microsoft Excel Templates are fantastic tools that allow you to get your team to put in their data for your business quickly and easily whilst still allowing for the consolidation of the data with very little work. There is however five key issues you need to consider when developing the Excel Template.

Issue 1: Protect the Worksheet and Cells

The first issue when creating a template is to ensure that your worksheet and cells are protected. For example the cells you want people to put data into should not have protection applied and the headlines you need to use to explain where to put the data into should in fact be protected.

Further to this in Microsoft Excel 2003 you can set that cells that are protected cannot be selected and I recommend that all headline areas are set in this way..

Issue 2: Lock the Workbook against Structural Changes

There are different levels of security in Microsoft Excel, such as security at the cell level, worksheet level and workbook level. Previous to this, I recommended that you use protection at the worksheet and cell level to restrict the access people can have to certain cells. The workbook also should be protected to ensure that your users cannot modify the underlying template. You can set two levels of security which are the Modify option and Read Only Option. The only time you would use the Read Only option is if your template was only being used to print out the data.

Issue 3: Use Formatting to make it easy to know where to put the data

There are some basic fundamentals I always follow when it comes to formatting in Microsoft Excel. The background of the area where I want my team to enter the data is always a lighter color, with the headings backgrounds being formatted with a darker color. This strategy is in line with that used in software development. You will notice in applications like Microsoft Word, you always type the text in the lighter area and the darker area is the headings.

The flip side is that if your background is a light color then the text being entered must be a dark color and for the headings, if your heading backgrounds are dark then the text should be light.

Always be carefully when using the colors Red, Green and Blue on templates as people with color blindness can find those colors confusing. The other issue to watch with formatting is to ensure that your colors print out correctly, especially if you have used color on the screen but it prints out in black and white. Some colors do not print out well on black and white printers.

Issue 4: Hide Unused Cells

One of the biggest mistakes I see people do with templates is to not hide any unused cells. Having unhidden cells runs the risk that your team may put in information in the wrong position or they may believe they need to put more information in than they need to. Always hide your unused cells.

Issue 5: Use Formatted Gridlines

When ever you are setting up a spreadsheet where a range of data needs to be entered always use dark gridlines to indicate exactly where the data should be entered. Generally I will use gridlines only where I want my team to enter the data. I do not generally use them around the headlines.

These five key issues will help ensure that your team uses the template in the manner that you intended. To finish off I would like to outline in one list the Five Key Issues you need to consider when developing a Microsoft Excel template:

Issue 1: Protect the Worksheet and CellsIssue 2: Lock the Workbook against Structural ChangesIssue 3: Use Formatting to make it easy to know where to put the dataIssue 4: Hide Unused CellsIssue 5: Use Formatted Gridlines

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Five tips and tricks for using Word for business - Computers

Most people don't use all the features of their software. We tend to pinpoint the most helpful and stick with them.

Here are five features in Microsoft Word that could save you time and money.

Every business needs an official letterhead. You don't have to buy it. If you know what you want you can create it in Word and save it as a template to use time after time.

A letterhead doesn't have to be complicated. It can be as simple as the company name, address and telephone number. Word provides lots of fonts, and you can change the size and style.

You may want to add art. You can scan in your logo and use it. Or alternatively make use of Microsoft Office's Clipart Gallery. There you'll find thousands of royalty-free images available to users of Microsoft Office.

Microsoft also offers free templates for letters, labels and forms. They can be found in the Template Gallery.

Word's Mail Merge makes it easy to send the same letter to lots of different people.

It uses a list of names and addresses from a table. You can create the table in Word, Access (a Microsoft database program) or even Outlook. All are part of Microsoft Office.

This works best with planning. You have many options; this example uses Excel but there are other ways to achieve the same thing.

Start by writing your letter. The same letter goes to everyone; you can't do much customisation. When you write it, leave space for the person's address and the salutation.

When setting up Excel, you need the person's name and address. You'll also need a salutation field. If Rocky Jones is one of the people receiving the letter, you might want the salutation to be Dear Rocky. If your relationship with Dr. Rocky Jones is more formal, the salutation might be Dear Dr. Jones. So the names in the Salutation column would be "Rocky" or "Dr. Jones."

Now open your letter. Go to Tools > Letters and Mailings > Mail Merge Wizard. Follow the instructions on screen. You can also make things easier by addressing envelopes and labels with Mail Merge.

If you are circulating a proposal to your staff, you don't want it mistaken for the finished product. A good way to avoid that is a watermark that says "Draft".

A watermark is clearly visible on the document but does not damage the legibility of the writing. You can use text or a picture, black and white or colour.

To use a watermark, go to Format > Background > Printed Watermark. Make your selections and click OK. If you expect to use a watermark regularly, create a template (see above).

Be careful not to go overboard. There's a fine line between cool and irritating. If the watermark makes a document hard to read then people just won't bother.

When a document is returned to you, it can be difficult to see changes made by others. Word will highlight them so you can see what's been altered.

Here are the instructions for Word 2002/ 2003:

* First, open the newer Word document.

* Click Tools > Compare and Merge Documents.

* Browse to the original Word document.

* Click it once to highlight it.

* In the lower right corner, click the drop-down box and select "Merge Into Current Document."

For Word 97 and Word 2000:

* Click Tools.

* Go to Track Changes.

* Click Compare Document.

* Find the original Word document and click it once so it is highlighted.

* Click Open.

Sometimes developing a document is so arduous that we lose sight of what we're trying to do. Looking back at older versions can help.

That's easy to do in Word. Click File > Versions. Select "Automatically save a version on close." Every time you close the document, that version will be saved.

When you want to look at an old version, follow the same path. All of the versions will be listed in the box. The most recent will be on top. Highlight the version you want and click Open.

You can turn off this "versioning" feature by clearing the check mark from "Automatically save a version on close." Or, you can delete individual versions. Just highlight the ones you want to lose and click delete.

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Five tips and tricks for using Word for business - Computers

Most people don't use all the features of their software. We tend to pinpoint the most helpful and stick with them.

Here are five features in Microsoft Word that could save you time and money.

Every business needs an official letterhead. You don't have to buy it. If you know what you want you can create it in Word and save it as a template to use time after time.

A letterhead doesn't have to be complicated. It can be as simple as the company name, address and telephone number. Word provides lots of fonts, and you can change the size and style.

You may want to add art. You can scan in your logo and use it. Or alternatively make use of Microsoft Office's Clipart Gallery. There you'll find thousands of royalty-free images available to users of Microsoft Office.

Microsoft also offers free templates for letters, labels and forms. They can be found in the Template Gallery.

Word's Mail Merge makes it easy to send the same letter to lots of different people.

It uses a list of names and addresses from a table. You can create the table in Word, Access (a Microsoft database program) or even Outlook. All are part of Microsoft Office.

This works best with planning. You have many options; this example uses Excel but there are other ways to achieve the same thing.

Start by writing your letter. The same letter goes to everyone; you can't do much customisation. When you write it, leave space for the person's address and the salutation.

When setting up Excel, you need the person's name and address. You'll also need a salutation field. If Rocky Jones is one of the people receiving the letter, you might want the salutation to be Dear Rocky. If your relationship with Dr. Rocky Jones is more formal, the salutation might be Dear Dr. Jones. So the names in the Salutation column would be "Rocky" or "Dr. Jones."

Now open your letter. Go to Tools > Letters and Mailings > Mail Merge Wizard. Follow the instructions on screen. You can also make things easier by addressing envelopes and labels with Mail Merge.

If you are circulating a proposal to your staff, you don't want it mistaken for the finished product. A good way to avoid that is a watermark that says "Draft".

A watermark is clearly visible on the document but does not damage the legibility of the writing. You can use text or a picture, black and white or colour.

To use a watermark, go to Format > Background > Printed Watermark. Make your selections and click OK. If you expect to use a watermark regularly, create a template (see above).

Be careful not to go overboard. There's a fine line between cool and irritating. If the watermark makes a document hard to read then people just won't bother.

When a document is returned to you, it can be difficult to see changes made by others. Word will highlight them so you can see what's been altered.

Here are the instructions for Word 2002/ 2003:

* First, open the newer Word document.

* Click Tools > Compare and Merge Documents.

* Browse to the original Word document.

* Click it once to highlight it.

* In the lower right corner, click the drop-down box and select "Merge Into Current Document."

For Word 97 and Word 2000:

* Click Tools.

* Go to Track Changes.

* Click Compare Document.

* Find the original Word document and click it once so it is highlighted.

* Click Open.

Sometimes developing a document is so arduous that we lose sight of what we're trying to do. Looking back at older versions can help.

That's easy to do in Word. Click File > Versions. Select "Automatically save a version on close." Every time you close the document, that version will be saved.

When you want to look at an old version, follow the same path. All of the versions will be listed in the box. The most recent will be on top. Highlight the version you want and click Open.

You can turn off this "versioning" feature by clearing the check mark from "Automatically save a version on close." Or, you can delete individual versions. Just highlight the ones you want to lose and click delete.

iAutoblog the premier autoblogger software

Five tips and tricks for using Word for business - Computers

Most people don't use all the features of their software. We tend to pinpoint the most helpful and stick with them.

Here are five features in Microsoft Word that could save you time and money.

Every business needs an official letterhead. You don't have to buy it. If you know what you want you can create it in Word and save it as a template to use time after time.

A letterhead doesn't have to be complicated. It can be as simple as the company name, address and telephone number. Word provides lots of fonts, and you can change the size and style.

You may want to add art. You can scan in your logo and use it. Or alternatively make use of Microsoft Office's Clipart Gallery. There you'll find thousands of royalty-free images available to users of Microsoft Office.

Microsoft also offers free templates for letters, labels and forms. They can be found in the Template Gallery.

Word's Mail Merge makes it easy to send the same letter to lots of different people.

It uses a list of names and addresses from a table. You can create the table in Word, Access (a Microsoft database program) or even Outlook. All are part of Microsoft Office.

This works best with planning. You have many options; this example uses Excel but there are other ways to achieve the same thing.

Start by writing your letter. The same letter goes to everyone; you can't do much customisation. When you write it, leave space for the person's address and the salutation.

When setting up Excel, you need the person's name and address. You'll also need a salutation field. If Rocky Jones is one of the people receiving the letter, you might want the salutation to be Dear Rocky. If your relationship with Dr. Rocky Jones is more formal, the salutation might be Dear Dr. Jones. So the names in the Salutation column would be "Rocky" or "Dr. Jones."

Now open your letter. Go to Tools > Letters and Mailings > Mail Merge Wizard. Follow the instructions on screen. You can also make things easier by addressing envelopes and labels with Mail Merge.

If you are circulating a proposal to your staff, you don't want it mistaken for the finished product. A good way to avoid that is a watermark that says "Draft".

A watermark is clearly visible on the document but does not damage the legibility of the writing. You can use text or a picture, black and white or colour.

To use a watermark, go to Format > Background > Printed Watermark. Make your selections and click OK. If you expect to use a watermark regularly, create a template (see above).

Be careful not to go overboard. There's a fine line between cool and irritating. If the watermark makes a document hard to read then people just won't bother.

When a document is returned to you, it can be difficult to see changes made by others. Word will highlight them so you can see what's been altered.

Here are the instructions for Word 2002/ 2003:

* First, open the newer Word document.

* Click Tools > Compare and Merge Documents.

* Browse to the original Word document.

* Click it once to highlight it.

* In the lower right corner, click the drop-down box and select "Merge Into Current Document."

For Word 97 and Word 2000:

* Click Tools.

* Go to Track Changes.

* Click Compare Document.

* Find the original Word document and click it once so it is highlighted.

* Click Open.

Sometimes developing a document is so arduous that we lose sight of what we're trying to do. Looking back at older versions can help.

That's easy to do in Word. Click File > Versions. Select "Automatically save a version on close." Every time you close the document, that version will be saved.

When you want to look at an old version, follow the same path. All of the versions will be listed in the box. The most recent will be on top. Highlight the version you want and click Open.

You can turn off this "versioning" feature by clearing the check mark from "Automatically save a version on close." Or, you can delete individual versions. Just highlight the ones you want to lose and click delete.

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PowerPoint Tip: Get rid of a template - Computers

Have you ever wanted to redesign an existing PowerPoint template from scratch? And get rid of that awful template?

One solution is to design your own template and apply that to the presentation. I provide steps for creating a template in another tip.

But what if you don't want any template at all? You just want to start with white space? Many presenters don't use templates these days. Instead, they use a lot of white space, add a small amount of text and perhaps an image. It's a minimalist style, sometimes called the Takahashi or Lessig Method, after two presenters that used this style. One or two words per slide, keep the pictures simple.

For another concept of a background-less presentation, look at this presentation on the Web, by Dick Hardt of Sxip Identity. I recommend that you watch it.

So, how do you start from scratch? Simply attach the Blank template. In PowerPoint 2002 and 2003, follow these steps:

1. Choose Format > Slide Design to open the Design task pane. 2. Under the Available for Use section, choose Default Design.pot.

Note: Even though the tooltip says Default Design.pot, the name of the file is blank.pot.

In PowerPoint 2007, choose the blank slide from the Themes group of the Design tab. Its tooltip is Office Theme.

To remove the current template for one slide in PowerPoint 2002 or 2003, select the slide in the left pane, and then open the Design task pane. Instead of clicking the image of Default Design.pot, click its down arrow and choose Apply to Selected Slides. In PowerPoint 2007, right-click the Office Theme image and choose Apply to Selected Slides.

Unfortunately, PowerPoint hides the actual file, which is called blank.pot in 2003. If you look in the default location for templates, you won't find this file! The default location in Windows XP is c:Documents and Settings[username]Application DataMicrosoftTemplates. In Vista, it's c:Users[username] AppDataRoamingMicrosoftTemplates.

Earlier versions used blank presentation.pot. In PowerPoint 2003, the default template must be named blank.pot.

If for some reason you can't find it in the Design task pane, you can probably open a new template based on it, as follows:

1. Start a new presentation. 2. In the New Presentation task pane, under New Presentation, choose Blank Presentation. In 2007, use the Design tab and choose Office Theme. 3. You can change this any way you like. 4. Save the file. 5. In the Save As dialog box, choose Design Template (*.pot) from the Save as Type drop-down list. (In 2007, choose PowerPoint Template (*.potx). When you do this, the folder automatically changes to the default Templates folder. 6. Type blank in the File Name text box. (The file name extension is added automatically.) 7. Click Save.

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For more free PowerPoint tips, go to /powerpoint_tip.html

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